“We’re not that close.” Gavin rested his hands against his sides, his elbow grazing my arm.

  Iturro wrote something else down, then closed her notepad. “If you hear anything else, give a call down to the station.”

  Gavin and I looked at each other, not saying anything until the police officers had left the football field.

  “What now?” he asked.

  “Maybe Lilura knows something.”

  A thousand scenarios of what might have happened to Luke had spiraled through my head by the time we got to Lilura’s house. None of them ended well. I couldn’t even deal with the fact that Mara might be responsible for Emily’s death. Or Dr. Klein’s. If Luke ended up dead too, Mara could technically be labeled a serial killer. I started to wonder if saving my sister would condemn someone else to die. The likelihood of that alone tied my stomach in knots.

  Lilura tipped her head up as I told her about Luke.

  “Missing, eh? I learned something from an old friend of mine. I don’t know if it will help,” she said, “but we don’t have a hell of a lot of options. I’ll need something personal of the boy’s.”

  “Um, okay. I’ll call Naomi.” I pulled out my cell phone. “She’s good at stuff like this.”

  As I made the call, Chase came down the stairs. He and Gavin greeted each other, stiffness in both of their voices. Gavin stuffed his hands into his pockets and inched closer to me.

  “He’s missing?” Naomi said after I’d explained what I needed from her. “Oh, man. Maybe he killed Emily and the guilt has driven him over the edge.”

  “Maybe.” I didn’t tell her I hoped that’s what had happened. I couldn’t fathom why Luke would kill Emily, but at least that would mean my sister wasn’t a serial killer. Yet. “Call me when you find something of Luke’s, okay?”

  “Roger that.”

  I hung up and slipped the phone into my jeans pocket.

  “Ready to train?” Chase asked. The corner of his mouth twisted up.

  I ran a hand down my face. “I can’t. I’m in a lot of pain. I think I pulled something in my shoulder. I’ve shot that crossbow every day after school this week. I should probably give my muscles a rest.” I glanced at my watch. “Plus Mara will probably wake up soon. I want to be there when she does.”

  “Good thinking,” Lilura said. My eyes widened at her positive reaction. If I had more energy in me, I would have jumped up and down in victory.

  “I made a salve that can ease the muscle pain.” Chase pulled a small tin out of his pocket.

  “Sounds great. Can I bring it home with me?”

  “I can give you a ride home if you want,” Chase said.

  “That’s okay,” Gavin cut in. He hit the bottom of Chase’s hand, popping the tin into the air. Gavin caught it and smiled. “I can walk her home.”

  I waved. “See you tomorrow. And thanks for the salve.”

  The morning air was still cool. I held my arms out at my sides and let the breeze caress me. The run had definitely helped with mental alertness, but my body was screaming for relaxation.

  “You ever look up any of this stuff online?” Gavin tilted his head in my direction.

  “What?”

  “You know, witches and faeries and Vila?” He rubbed at his chin. “I mean, there are tons of web pages about Reapers. Who hasn’t heard of the Grim Reaper? But you know what I found when I looked up Cation?”

  I shook my head.

  “A Wikipedia page about ions. A Cation, in science, is an ion with fewer electrons and protons, giving it a positive charge.”

  I laughed. “Chase did say you were my battery.”

  He scoffed. “Chase. Thinks he’s so smart.”

  “Well, it’s not about being smart. Did you see all those books Lilura has? Those books pretty much trump anything Wikipedia has to offer.”

  Gavin walked me into my house. We were mere inches away as he reached behind him to shut the door. I turned toward him. It was dim in the front hall, but I didn’t bother switching the light on. “I forgot. My dad went into work today.”

  Gavin’s blue eyes searched my face. “Think Mara’s still sleeping?”

  I couldn’t stop staring at his lips. “Probably. She usually stays in bed till noon on weekends.”

  “Oh.”

  We stood there, watching each other, the sound of our breaths the only thing between us. He reached out, brushing a strand of hair away from my face. My pulse sped up and my cheeks warmed. Suddenly I didn’t know what to do with my hands.

  “Zadie?” His voice was a whisper.

  “Yeah?”

  He reached for me again, stroking a long finger from my jaw to my ear. His eyes focused on my mouth. I held my breath as he dipped his head, inching closer. Finally, our lips met. Smooth yet firm, his mouth fit mine. I didn’t have to think about what I was supposed to do with my hands, because they were in his hair. His hands found my waist, pulling me closer.

  And then came the scream.

  Mara!

  Fear washed everything else away. I tore free from Gavin’s arms and vaulted up the stairs, Gavin on my heels. I threw open the door to Mara’s room. She stood against the wall, thrashing. Candlelight flickered and shadows danced on the wall behind her. Black eyes in the shadow narrowed at me. The sides of the shadow morphed into arms. Black fingers beneath ragged cloak sleeves materialized from the shadow. Coming out of the wall. The fingers wrapped around Mara’s waist and pulled her upward.

  One second Mara was there, screaming in the corner of her room, hair whipping around her face as the shadow dragged her up the wall. The next second the candles went out and the room was steeped in darkness. I hurriedly flipped on the light, only to find that Mara wasn’t there.

  The Reaper had Mara. And I had no idea how to find her.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Lilura hobbled through my front door, her head tilted back, sniffing the air.

  I led her to the stairs and pointed. “It was upstairs, in Mara’s room.” I wiped at tears that had been flowing since Mara disappeared. Gavin rubbed my back and squeezed my shoulder.

  “Show me.” Lilura grabbed the rail, grunting with each step she climbed. I wiped at my nose and followed her upstairs, Gavin close behind me.

  “Is Chase coming?” I asked.

  “He’s outside, checking for signs of a portal.” Lilura didn’t ask me which room was Mara’s, and I didn’t ask her how she knew.

  “It was there.” I pointed to the corner. “Mara was trapped there or something. It held her in his … his hands, and then she just disappeared. He’s worn her down, hasn’t he?” Nausea stung my throat. Oh, Mara. I’m so sorry. I should have been here for you. “What do we do?”

  “Let’s see if Chase has found anything.” Lilura turned swiftly and brushed by me. I swallowed and pushed my hand to my chest.

  “What would he find?” Gavin asked as we scurried down the stairs.

  “We need a portal to get to the In-Between, the Reaper realm,” Lilura explained. We headed out the back door. “Reapers can traverse the realms without using the portals, but we can’t. Unless a Reaper drags us through. Reapers dwell in Haunts in their realm. They’re impossible to find without actually following a Reaper. That is where he’ll feed on Mara’s soul. If we hurry, we can try to catch up to him.”

  And save Mara before it’s too late.

  Gavin and I followed Lilura through the backyard. I could just make out Chase’s form in the woods out back. As we got closer, I saw he was carrying a messenger bag, the bow I’d been training with, and the Reaper knife, fastened to an arrow. The leather strap of the quiver stretched across his chest. In my ears, my heartbeat was as loud as a garbage truck racing over a street of potholes.

  We pushed our way through the woods. The foliage got thicker, and I gripped Gavin’s hand tightly as I climbed over fallen branches and underbrush. Could this really be happening? I wasn’t ready.

  But I wasn’t ready to lose Mara either.

  “There’s a faery ring here.” Chase pointed to the ground. Light tan mushrooms skirted a patch of grass. “It could work.”

  Lilura bent over, running her fingers over some of the mushrooms. Then she held her hand out to Chase so he could help her straighten up. “Yes, these are Marasmius oreades. The right species for a proper faery ring. It could open a portal. We don’t have time to lose. We have to try.”

  Chase whipped his messenger bag open and took something out. It looked like a bag of marbles, except the objects inside were tiny, jagged blue rocks. He tossed them into the center of the faery ring and nodded at Lilura.

  “Hurry then,” Lilura said. “Gather round.”

  She held her hands out to her sides. Chase grasped one of them as he stepped inside the mushroom circle. Lilura hobbled into place beside him, stretching her hand out to Gavin. Gavin linked his hand with hers. Both Gavin and Chase reached for me.

  “I … I don’t know what I’m supposed to do if this works.” I wiped my sweaty hands on my pants, eyes darting between Gavin, Lilura, and Chase.

  “I believe in you.” Gavin reached for me.

  “We’ll be right there with you,” Chase said. “Don’t worry.”

  I stepped forward and took their hands. Lilura grunted. At least, I thought it was grunting at first. Her eyes closed and her lips twisted. I forced myself to swallow and listen past the hammering in my chest. I realized she wasn’t grunting at all. She was chanting.

  The fingers of my right hand tingled. That was the hand Chase held. The tingling moved. It felt like bugs crawling along my skin, from my right hand to my chest. When it reached my heart, its vibration intensified. My blood burned inside me. The vibration scuttled down my other arm, to the hand Gavin held. My vision blurred, and for a moment I couldn’t tell if I was still holding hands with anyone.

  Then my balance shifted, as if the ground had fallen out from underneath me; gravity pulled at me hard. My ears rang and rumbled at the same time. A white light emanated from the center of the circle, a simple glow that grew until it was a hot, white, blinding light that burst from the ground and shot into the sky. The light engulfed us. I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the intensity.

  Slowly, the ringing in my ears faded, and I dared to peek at what was happening. For a moment everything appeared to be black and white, like a negative photo, the contrast sharp and confusing. Then the colors bled back into the world. Only the woods were not the same woods we had been standing in. The trees here were black under a blood-red sky.

  I glanced in the direction of my house, but it wasn’t there. Instead, a river of fire streamed on the forest’s cusp. I had only a moment to wonder if we’d somehow landed in Hell before something crashed into me, knocking me to the ground. Once the dizzying stars cleared from my eyes, I realized Gavin was sprawled on top of me.

  He rolled to the side, looking behind him. Chase and Lilura were crouched down, staring in the same direction. I twisted to see what they saw and immediately regretted it. On the opposite side of the woods, a shadowy figure with piercing black eyes stared back.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The Reaper glared at me, his thin face gray and ashen. His pointed cheekbones seemed to poke through his skin, connected to his flesh by an exposed mesh of bloody muscle. His tattered cloak fanned out behind him in the wind.

  Gavin pulled me to my feet, shielding me with his body. I looked over my shoulder. Smoldering blades stuck into the tree behind me. Gavin had tackled me to protect me from the Reaper’s attack.

  “Watch out!” Chase grabbed Lilura and ran for cover behind a thorny bush. Lilura struggled to keep up with him.

  Gavin took my arm and we rushed to join them, my shoes fighting muddy soil with each step. Dozens of triangular blades whirred past us, the sharp metal stabbing into the trees around us, spraying splinters of bark everywhere. I gasped for breath as we crouched down beside Lilura and Chase.

  I pushed my hands through the bush and pressed the branches to the side in an attempt to get a look at the Reaper. Mara lay on the ground behind him. She wasn’t moving. Mara, no.

  The Reaper raised his hands to the red sky. From one of his hands, a long form slid out, extending like a thin pole. When the shaft reached its full length, a long, curved blade emerged from its top end. The Reaper’s scythe. As the Reaper swiped the scythe across the sky, spears fell like rain, striking the ground a few yards from our bush. The next volley landed in the bush, and we scrambled back. Lilura stood and spread her arms in an arch, much like the Reaper had done. The next round of spears were deflected as if they’d hit a force field, bouncing to the ground. Her power over air was impressive.

  Chase grabbed a small pouch from his trench coat and slammed it into the ground. A glowing, electric-blue cloud burst from the pouch to make a dome over us. The last of the spears struck the dome and crumbled like sand.

  “Take the bow.” Chase shoved it into my hands and slipped the quiver strap over his head. Gavin helped me put it on.

  I looked into Gavin’s eyes. “I’m scared.”

  “Me too.” He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me. “Now go kick some ass.”

  I glanced at Chase. His eyes flitted between me and Gavin. I knew Chase disapproved of my connection with Gavin, but this was no time to be judgmental. He tapped the quiver on my back. “The arrows are laced with the tincture I’ve been working on. We’re pretty sure they’ll slow the Reaper down.”

  “Pretty sure?” I was risking everything on pretty sure?

  “We couldn’t exactly test it, now, could we?”

  I pursed my lips and peered over the bush.

  “I’ve also got a few throwing daggers in here. They’ve been treated with the tincture as well. If we get close enough, Gavin and I can try to hit him as well.”

  “Dude,” Gavin said. “If you knew we were going to be throwing daggers, why didn’t you have us practice?”

  “I just came up with the plan last night,” Chase said, pulling two daggers out of his messenger bag and handing them to Gavin. “You can’t expect me to think of everything.”

  “That’s enough,” Lilura said. She put her hand on my shoulder. “Zadie, if he’s slowed down, you can line up the arrow with the Reaper knife. Aim for his heart.”

  “He’s moving!” Gavin said, tucking the daggers through his belt.

  “What?” I stretched my neck. The blue dome dissipated. The Reaper, whose scythe was now gone, picked up Mara from the ground and marched away from us. He slipped into a thicker, darker part of the woods. We had to act fast or we were going to lose my sister. Jumping to my feet, I ran forward a few yards. The others ran up behind me. As soon as the black of the Reaper’s cloak was in my sights, I froze, grabbed an arrow, and lined it up in the crossbow. I held my breath, praying I wouldn’t hit Mara, and pulled the trigger.

  The shot was off, but it struck him in the shoulder. He stumbled forward, almost dropping Mara. I ran forward again and lined up another arrow as the Reaper turned to stare me down. His glare made me fumble. The arrow zoomed past him and disappeared into the forest.

  Gavin and Chase caught up with me. They each threw a dagger. Chase’s stuck into a tree by the Reaper’s head. Gavin’s penetrated the ground at the Reaper’s feet.

  The Reaper crumpled Mara against his chest with one hand and reached his free hand into the air in front of him, his black eyes reflecting the fire-red sky. His mouth gaped open, slimy strings of fluid stretching from one lip to the other. The ground between us exploded into flame. A wall of fire rose, ten feet high, blocking our path to the Reaper. The heat was sweltering. I gasped for air.

  Lilura shielded her face. “Zadie! The candles. Remember the candles. I’ll help you.”

  I held an arm above my eyes. She wanted me to put out the fire. But this blaze was a thousand times bigger than anything I’d practiced with. I could barely see the Reaper between the jumping flames. His shoulders shook as if he was laughing. He turned and started to walk away again. I couldn’t stand here debating whether I could or not. I just had to do it.

  Lilura stood beside me. She squinted, flinching away from the heat and concentrating on the flames. The fire diminished to chest-height, but the displaced flames spread off to the sides.

  “Gavin! I need you. Stand behind me.”

  He reached out to me. I wrapped his arms around my waist.

  He pulled me back, pressing me against his chest. I didn’t know if it was to be closer to me or to help shield him from the flames, but it didn’t matter. The Reaper was getting away. I concentrated on the fire, on the glowing embers, twisting and coiling into the air. On the snap of hungry flames licking the ground in search of something, anything, to devour.

  I envisioned a giant blanket, snuffing the flames of everything but a few puffs of smoke. Then it was like that blanket was inside of me. Suffocating me. I couldn’t breathe. I scratched at Gavin’s arms, desperate for air that wouldn’t come. He held me tighter, and the blanket circled my lungs, seizing them.

  Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. I welcomed that energy. Gathered it to me. Focused it. I raised my hands, palms out, and sent the energy arcing into the flames. The fire drew in on itself, smaller and smaller, until all that remained was the black, charred ground, and I could breathe again.

  I waved a hand in front of my face to see past the smoke. The Reaper was nowhere in sight.

  I pushed free of Gavin’s arms and ran. I jumped over fallen trees, using hurdling skills Gavin had taught me. My breath was ragged, but I couldn’t stop until I found the Reaper. Just past the first set of trees bordering the clearing, I saw him. I fumbled with my bow, raised it to the right position, flipped an arrow into it, and pulled the trigger. This arrow struck the Reaper in the back. A low, guttural growl rumbled through the air as he bent forward. Mara’s limp body fell to the ground. Mara!

  I swung another arrow into the crossbow. Daggers flew past my head. One hit the Reaper in the leg. The Reaper straightened. He raised his palm toward me, extracted his scythe, and swiped it across the air.

  The air between us filled with fog, a dense cloud tinted a putrid green. A shadow drifted toward me through the mist. I raised my bow, ready to fire.