“A cheeseburger withfries,” she said, still sulking. “And the beer, don’t forget the beer.”

So, definitely not Alona. “Right, fine.” I slammed her door shut, the wheels turning in my brain. I’d gotten the impostor out of Misty’s; step one complete. But now what?

I opened the driver’s-side door and slid behind the wheel. My brain was buzzing with anxiety and too many questions. Was it better to confront her immediately or try to play along a little longer? She obviously wanted me to believe she was Alona. And where was Alona? Oh, God, if she was gone for good…

I dared a glance from the corner of my eye to find Ally—no, it was Erin, and I had to remember that—staring down at her hands in an admiring manner, as though pleased with the manicure…or, you know, just that she had a physical form that could havea manicure.

Shit.I had to play this carefully. She was possessing Lily’s body, and I couldn’t make her get out. It was like having a built-in hostage. She could theoretically hurt “herself ” (a.k.a. Lily) at any time or threaten to do so to keep me in line.

I started the car and backed out of the driveway, on to the street.

Okay, think. I can’t keep her in the car forever.Taking her to the Turners’ was out of the question. And I couldn’t exactly lock her up at my house.

God, when had things gotten so complicated?

Edmund. Maybe Malachi/Edmund would have something to say about this. It was his freaking sister, after all.

“I screwed up, didn’t I?” she asked, just as I realized the silence had dragged on for a few seconds too long. She turned to face me, her eyes glittering with a hardness that had never been there with Lily or Alona.

I shivered, seeing something alien behind such a familiar face.

“What was it, the fries or the beer?” she asked, still not sounding too concerned about her cover being blown.

No point in further pretending, I guess. “Both,” I said.

She gave an annoyed sigh. “I should have known. She was probably counting calories.”

And her mother was, until recently, a raging, out-of-control alcoholic, not that that was any of her business. “Erin, right?”

She nodded, pleased.

“Where is Alona?” I asked tightly.

She laughed. “Gone. Vanished,” she proclaimed, sounding way too self-satisfied.

I winced, even though I’d been expecting that. “Permanently?”

“How should I know?” she asked, sounding annoyed.

“What did you do?” I demanded.

She heaved an exasperated sigh. “I don’t see how it matters now.”

“It matters,” I said, trying to keep my voice level.

“Is this about the ceremony?” she asked with a frown.

The what?I stopped the words from coming out just in time. A ceremony? There was no ceremony. At least, none that Alona had mentioned to me. “How do you know about that?” I asked instead, trying to weasel more information out of her without giving anything away.

She shrugged. “Alona said something about needing you there for a ceremony, but I figured she was just trying to stall me, keep me out.”

Oh. My chest ached. That was exactly what Alona must have been trying to do. And even though I hadn’t known what was going on, I still felt like I’d failed her.

“Like that’s even fair,” Erin scoffed. “She had her turn.”

“So you ambushed her instead?” I muttered.

“What?” she asked.

I shook my head, feeling the tension creaking in the back of my neck. “Just tell me what happened.”

She shrugged again. “I tried to claim her at first, as my ghost-talker, but that didn’t work any better with her than it did with you.” She rolled her eyes. “But once I figured out she was your spirit guide, it wasn’t that hard to put it all together. Then when I grabbed her, this body sort of pulled me in and forced her out.”

Wait, Alona was still my spirit guide? That would explain why Erin hadn’t been able to make the connection with either of us. We were still connected to each other. Or, at least, we had been up until an hour or so ago. And I’d just left her there.

I shook my head, pushing those thoughts, and the fear squeezing my chest, aside. If anyone could have survived all of this, it was Alona. Maybe another spirit taking over Lily’s body would have been enough to save her. If Lily’s body didn’t need her anymore, maybe that would give her more energy to sustain herself. Maybe.

She smoothed her hands down her body in an utterly creepy manner. “Must have been nice having it all in one package, huh?” She grinned and elbowed me, none too gently, in the ribs. “A spirit guide in a tight, living body. All the perks.”

I grimaced and shifted away from her. She made it sound so gross. It wasn’t like that, had never been like that. We hadn’t even known that Alona was still my spirit guide after she took over Lily’s body. But I doubted Erin would believe me, and I didn’t want to waste my breath explaining something she’d never understand. So weird the way Erin changed everything about Lily into something creepy and threatening, in a way that Alona had not. It said something about how much the soul or spirit in charge mattered. “What do you want?” I asked.

Erin laughed, and I shuddered.

“What do I want?” she repeated. “Nothing more than I’ve got right here, baby,” she said, slapping her thighs. “It’s a little beat up, sure, but nothing I can’t work around.” She sounded delighted. “I’m going to live it up.” She winked at me like this was all no big deal. Like she hadn’t potentially sentenced Alona to a more permanent form of death. “Now, are we going to get burgers or what?” she demanded.

I drove on autopilot, steering the car toward Krekel’s, Alona’s favorite burger place, and thinking furiously. I needed a plan. One thing was for sure: I couldn’t let her out into the world like this. God only knew what Erin would get up to if left to her own devices, and she was, for all intents and purposes, Lily. Around here, someone would eventually recognize her, and that would be bad. Not to mention her parents, who would be worried sick about her. And what if Alona wasn’t gone and she needed Lily’s body back? The Order had said the two of them had become dependent on each other. Lily seemed to be doing okay with Erin in Alona’s place, but Alona didn’t have that same option.

Locking Erin up, at least until I had a better grasp of the situation, seemed to be the only logical solution, as much as I hated the idea. But where? Maybe Edmund/Malachi would have an idea.

I looked over at Erin, her arm on the rest between us. She was weakened by her transition into Lily’s body; I could probably drag her along pretty easily. But some of what I was thinking must have shown on my face.

“Oh, no.” She snatched her arm back and scooted away from me. “I’ve already wasted too many years watching and not living. You’re not going to do that to me again. You try to lock me up somewhere and I’ll scream until someone calls the cops.” Her chin jutted out in determination, pushing aside any doubts I might have had that she would do less than she claimed. And the Turners, when they got wind of it, as they surely would, would probably press charges against me, thus eliminating any chance I had of fixing this mess.

“In fact,” she said, “I think you can let me out here.” She nodded at the red stoplight we were approaching.

“Here?” I asked, incredulous. “We’re not even close to anything, and she can’t…you can’t walk—”

“We’ll manage,” she said, already tugging at her seat belt.

“Erin, wait,” I said, fighting desperation. “What about Edmund? I know he’ll want to see you and—”

“Right,” she scoffed. “Like I’m going to waste any of my time on him.”

“He’s your brother,” I argued.

“Fat lot of good that did either of us,” she muttered. She yanked at the handle and shoved the door open as soon as we reached a stop.