He gave me a warm smile and waved me over. I couldn’t leave him hanging; his feelings would be hurt. And I couldn’t hurt his feelings because I kinda owed him. As I lugged my thousand-pound backpack to the end of the bus, I noticed that the dark-haired girl who sat across from him was glaring at me. I didn’t know her and had no problem ignoring her.

Justin slid to the window, making room for me. I eased down beside him. “Hi,” he said. He smelled nice, like some kind of fruity cereal and toothpaste.

“Hi.” His hair wasn’t brown, as I’d assumed. The morning sun cast bright rays through the glass, highlighting the strands. He was a redhead. In fact, the strands suddenly looked as if they were on fire.

“I’m Justin.”

“I know. You kinda made an impression in the cafeteria, and the girls filled me in. I’m surprised you don’t go by Ace or Killer, though.”

His eyes flashed with irritation. “Why? What’d they tell you about me?”

I wasn’t sure what I’d said to annoy him and hurried to soothe. “Only your name and the fact that you keep to yourself, but everyone at school seems to go by a nickname. Kat, Frosty, Bronx,” and because I didn’t want to single out Cole’s group, I made up a few. “Boo Bear, Jelly Bean, Freckles.”

The irritation vanished and he laughed. “Good point. What about you?”

“I’m Ali.”

“Just Ali? Not Angel or Snowcake?”

A bubble of amusement grew. “Snowcake? Really? That’s what you’d pick for me?”

He reached out, pinched a lock of my hair between his fingers, reminding me of Cole. “Yeah. Don’t kill the messenger, but it kind of fits.”

“Maybe I’ll just hurt the messenger a bit.” I felt at ease with him, I realized. I liked him. And, the good news was, he had to live close to me since we were riding the same bus. Maybe we could, I don’t know, hang out after hours. Clearly I needed to break up my routine. “By the way, I never thanked you,” I said. “Sorry about that.”

“Thank me for what?”

“For helping me out with Mr. Butthole that first day, as well as the pointer about Mackenzie.”

He raised a brow, even as he gave another laugh. A warm, natural sound, as if he found amusement in a lot of things and wasn’t afraid to enjoy himself. “Butthole? You are into nicknames, aren’t you?”

I shrugged.

“By the way, the trick with Buttle slash Butthole is to suck up. If you tell him that he’s the smartest teacher you’ve ever had, he’ll be yours all year.”

Buttle. Duh. How could I have forgotten that? “Is that what you did?”

“I manned up the words a little, but yeah.”

“Manned up,” I replied with a snort. “So you grunted a lot and drilled your knuckles into his shoulder.”

“That’s cave-manning up. Learn the difference.”

Now I was the one to arch a brow. “Show me the difference.”

“All right. Here’s manning up.” His expression took on an awed cast. “Dang, Mr. Buttle. My brain hurts from information overload. Good job, dude.”

The bus hit a bump, and we bounced in our seats. “So telling him that he clearly put the ‘fun’ in ‘funeral’ is out?” The moment I spoke, I wanted to snatch the words back. No way did I want to talk about funerals.

“Please, please, please tell him that. I’ll even walk you to his room the moment we get to school,” Justin said, but he must have noticed my discomfort a second later because he quickly changed the subject. “So, hey…I noticed you hanging with Kat.”

“Yes.”

“Have you known her long?”

“Met her over the summer. Why?”

A long, heavy pause; a shrug. “Last year she hung out with Cole Holland’s crowd, and she definitely will again. Once someone breaches their inner trust circle, that someone doesn’t leave it without a world of pain. I’d be careful if I were you, or she’ll drag you down with her.”

I liked Kat. A lot. I didn’t care who she hung out with or dated, even if that “who” had Cole on speed dial. As for Justin’s second warning, I wasn’t sure what was happening between me and Cole—something? Anything? Nothing?—but I wasn’t going to discuss it with him. I could barely even discuss it with myself.

“So you know him? Cole, I mean?” I asked, not changing the subject but making it clear relationships were off the menu.

Justin lost his smile. “Yep.”

“Have many people entered that trust circle of his?”

“Nope. Hey, we’re here.”

I looked around, and sure enough, the bus had stopped in front of the school, and all the other kids were standing, moving outside. The ride had never ended so swiftly.

I stood and strode down the aisle, Justin close on my heels. Automatically my gaze shot to the sky. A long stretch of baby blue, fat clouds inching by—but no rabbits. Thank you, Lord.

Justin stayed by my side as we entered the massive, winding building. “We should hang out this weekend,” he said.

“Yeah, I—” Had promised to go to Reeve’s party, I recalled. Well, Kat had promised for me. Because I adored her, I had to keep that option open. Just in case. And wow, what a difference a few days could make. Before, I’d scrambled for an excuse, any excuse, to avoid going. Now, I was actually considering making an appearance. “Wait. I’m not sure—”

“Never mind,” Justin muttered, his voice thick with embarrassment. “Don’t worry about it.”

“No!” I rushed out. “Not never mind. I wasn’t thinking of ways to turn you down or anything like that. I was figuring out the best time.”

He gave me another warm smile, all straight white teeth and happiness. “Yeah?”

It was a grin I found myself returning. “Yeah.”

Of course, that’s when I ran into Cole. Literally ran into him. I had been looking at Justin, not paying attention to the path ahead of me, and plowed right into Cole’s solid chest.

His arms snaked around my waist, preventing me from ricocheting off him. I grabbed his shirt automatically, fisting the material. He was so strong, so steady, that he didn’t move an inch.

“I’m so—” Our gazes locked, my blue with his violet, and once again the rest of the world faded away. Only, this time we didn’t kiss. We—

—fought?

Night reigned, the full moon hemorrhaging from its overhead perch, practically dripping crimson into the sky. Trees surrounded us. Cole had his back pressed against mine. We were alone—except for the twenty or so monsters slowly stalking toward us.

Each had matted hair that was falling out in chunks, and sagging, pitted skin. Sunken eyes. Bloodstained cheeks. Dirty, ripped clothing. Each and every one of the monsters was moaning, creating a chorus of evil.

Violent tremors shook me, squeezing my lungs in a vise grip. Cole held two broadswords. How I knew they were broadswords when I’d never before heard the term, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I was freaked out. Those weapons were long, thick and sharp—and stained with black ooze, just like the monsters.

“On my count, go low,” he demanded.

“The count of what? Three?” My voice squeaked with hysteria. Monsters, monsters, so many monsters, here, there, everywhere. Were these the ones who had eaten my parents? Was I next? Was Cole?

“One,” he said.

Closer…closer still…

“Two…”

Oh, sweet heaven. This was it. The end of me, of us. There was no way we could fight off so many.

“Three!”

I fell forward, going as low as possible. In the vision, I watched as Cole twirled those swords, slashing two monsters across their throats. No blood flowed as those bodies twitched…twitched…and rose again.

I should be on my feet. I should be helping him. He couldn’t fight them on his own. Not all of them. I should—

“—Ali!”

The world whooshed back into focus. I stood in a hallway, kids all around me rather than monsters. Cole was still in front of me, still holding me, and horror filled his beautiful eyes. Black hair fell over his forehead, as if he’d plowed his hands through a time or twenty. No hat today. His cheeks were fever flushed, probably a mirror of mine.