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I hated to, sat down next to Finn so I could face Emma. He had her hand wrapped up in his like a present. I noticed his fingers squeeze hers as I sat down, and I ground my teeth.
    “Hey,” Emma said, brokenly. She had been crying. Shit. And I’d really had my heart set on being mad for at least a month.
    “Hey,” I said.
    “You’re back.”
    “Yeah, well, it’s go to school or see a shrink.” I fiddled with my earbuds. I hated small talk. Especially when there was something this big between us. “I’m trying the school thing.”
    “I tried calling you.”
    I looked up, and she brushed the curtain of blond hair out of her face. “Yeah, I know.”
    Finn shot me a killing look and sat back in his seat, letting Emma’s fingers fall out of his. “Stop punishing her.” He pinned me with that freaky-ass green gaze of his. He didn’t look like his perky self. He had dark circles under his eyes and his T-shirt looked like he’d slept in the thing. He looked like crap. I would’ve told him so myself, but I was pretty sure I didn’t have room to talk.
    “She lied to me.” I folded my arms across my chest and shuddered when a ghostly shadow slithered down the white brick wall and under the table. I could feel it curling around my ankles. Filling my lungs with ice. I coughed into my fist, needing the ice out.
    Stay cool. It won’t hurt you. It won’t hurt you.
    “I didn’t lie!” Emma looked up at me, eyes glistening with hurt.
    “You kept it from me,” I whispered across the table. “Same difference.”
    Emma folded her arms onto the table and leaned closer, her blue sweater balled up in her fists. “Would you have believed me?”
    “I—” I stopped. I wouldn’t have. Before all this…no way would I have believed her if she’d told me she was dating a freaking reaper. A dead guy. And that he’d magically come back to life to be with her. Hell, I probably would have driven her back to Brookhaven Psychiatric Hospital myself. I took a deep breath and said, “No. I wouldn’t have believed you.”
    “Then why are you avoiding me?” she asked. “I know there’s something wrong. Why won’t you tell me? Why won’t you let me help you?”
    I kicked at the thing crawling around my feet and gritted my teeth. My pulse raced. I tried to swallow the lump of fear that was lodged in my throat, but it wouldn’t budge.
    “You can’t help me, Em.” I sucked in a painfully deep breath that stretched my lungs and turned to Finn. “You, on the other hand…”
    Finn sat up and his brows furrowed together. “What do you mean?”
    Stealing a quick glance around the crowded cafeteria to make sure no one was close enough to hear, I leaned across the table and lowered my voice.
    “You need to tell me what the fuck is going on,” I whispered. “I’ve got these… things following me. I know I’m not crazy. This shit is real. And it all started the night of that fire, so in my eyes, it all comes back to you, dead boy.”
    Finn sat back, shaking his head as his gaze darted back and forth between Emma and me. “What exactly do you mean by things ?”
    “How the hell am I supposed to know what they are?” I pushed my fingers through my hair and blew out a breath. He was going to make me explain it. Say it out loud so we all could hear just how batshit crazy I sounded. “They look like shadows. At least that’s the best way I can describe them. But they’re not shadows. It’s like they’re alive or something. They never leave me alone. Day, night, sleeping, awake, they never fucking leave me alone.”
    “Shadow demons,” Finn breathed, sitting back and lacing his fingers over the back of his neck. “Shit.”
    “Excuse me?” I raised a brow at the word demons. He had to be kidding. Please let this guy be kidding.
    Finn clenched his jaw and his eyes drifted to Emma.
    “W-why would shadow demons be following Cash?” Emma’s face turned white. “I though they only came around when someone