“And what are you going to do with Eli, now that he’s in your home?”

“We’re going to implement punitive measures.” He sighed and shook his head, the picture of bored irritation. “We’ve had to take such actions before. It’s a shame we’ll have to do the same to Eli now.”

Well, that explained what had happened to Eli’s former mentor, and why Eli had acted so cagey about the subject yesterday in the forest. Not that the discovery provided me much comfort, especially when I considered the fact that, judging by the dark man’s cold expression, he wouldn’t have known shame if it slapped him in his creepy face.

The man studied me for a moment longer and then, in a genuinely curious tone, asked, “Do you care what happens to Eli?”

Part of my brain was raving, screaming at me to stop acting like a lunatic and run. Another part of my brain made me straighten my back and answer.

“Yes, I do. I care about everyone you’ve hurt. Everyone you’ve trapped here. Even Eli.”

The corner of the man’s mouth twitched with amusement. “How . . . interesting. What’s your name, girl?”

I shook my head, my bravado wavering slightly. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you need to let all the souls in this place go, including Eli . . . and my father.”

His eyebrows lifted again. “You think your father’s in here?”

“I . . . I’m not sure. But if you let them all go, I can probably find out.”

He laughed, but the sound was too brittle for real humor. “How about I do something better? How about I offer you a job?”

I balked. “You mean, what Eli does for you?”

He nodded. “Judging by that light of yours, and by the redecorating you’ve done to this place, I think you could prove quite valuable to us. Besides, the position is now open.”

I bit back what I really wanted to tell him he could with his offer and instead asked, “What exactly does that job entail?”

“We need an intermediary to build our world: a human soul who hasn’t moved on yet. One who can still go between worlds at will and influence the living . . . make them join us, one way or another.”

I frowned, examining the smooth contours of his perfect, inhuman face. “Why can’t you just do the job yourselves? Why would you need Eli, or me?”

“We have no desire to leave our home, to perform such tasks—we have everything we need in there. Every creature comfort.” He gave me a small, skin-crawling kind of grin and then went on. “We don’t condescend to come up here unless we must do something out of the ordinary. Like punish. Or collect.”

At the word “collect,” he titled his head, once again studying me. Assessing me and my usefulness to him, no doubt.

I tried not to gag at the thought of serving someone like this. No, not someone—something. Some demon, I was sure of it.

I had to get away from him. Immediately.

But even if these dark beings had no desire to follow me out of this world, I had no idea how I would leave it, either. Something told me that this man—this creature—wouldn’t just let me wander off toward the exit.

I tried to stall, tried to think my way out of this situation. My voice shook as I asked, “Why do you have to build your world at all? If you have everything you need in your . . . home?”

The man gave me a disdainful smile. “You don’t really think that’s how the afterlife works, do you? Is that what you’ve been taught about the whole cosmic game: that heaven and hell just sit back, waiting?”

At those two names, so deeply laden with meaning and myth, I finally shivered. I felt certain that I wasn’t standing over one of the entrances to heaven right now.

“So you want to do what?” I asked. “Win the game?”

“Yes,” he said, his smile growing wider until his teeth looked unnaturally sharp and bright, like a cluster of knives. “My side wants to win. And you’re going to help us do it.”

His eyes suddenly sparkled, dancing with a cold, soulless glow as they moved up and down my body. The appraisal chilled me—an actual chill, one that brought goose bumps to my arms.

As if it sensed the danger I was in, my light brightened suddenly, flaring with my fear, shining out toward the man as if it meant to protect me. I could see its glow reflected in the dark depths of his eyes and the glinting edges of his teeth.

The whole netherworld must have felt my fear, because the road beneath us began to groan as it split farther apart, just behind the place where the man stood. Unlike Eli, however, the dark man didn’t respond in fear to the display. His eyes flickered down to the damaged roadway, then back to the light that insulated me from him. When he met my gaze again, he looked pleased—no, overjoyed—by what I could do.

He took one step toward me, then another. His eyes widened with manic excitement, and he stretched a pale hand out to me. To catch me and drag me into the darkness with him, no doubt. To keep me here forever.

My eyes darted to the tree line of the netherworld forest, where my father might be trapped, pacing with all the other condemned souls. The sight held my gaze for one brief, regretful second and then I closed my eyes tight.

“Materialize,” I whispered desperately.

The bridge groaned again under my feet. Then, just beneath groan, I heard the soft whoosh of air flying past me.

My eyes flew open. At first all I saw was the blinding white light. As it faded, however, I could make out the faint outlines of my surroundings. My vision became progressively clearer, and I searched frantically around me. But I saw no demonic man, no glittering netherworld. Just the bent metal and churned-up asphalt of the real High Bridge.

I stared at the black patch of air where the dark man had just been. I didn’t trust that darkness; I didn’t yet believe it was empty. But when I realized that he was gone—truly gone—I sighed. At my sigh, the glow around me extinguished with a soft pop.

“Huh,” I muttered, raising my arms and looking down at my body. “Well, how about that.”

I didn’t have a mark on me. No cinders, no singeing, no streaks of soot on my white dress.

Does this make me flammable, or inflammable? Or are they the same thing?

Despite the horror of this evening, I heard a small, hysterical giggle escape my lips.

The sudden wail of a siren, however, broke into my reverie. The noise reminded me of where I wanted to be, and it certainly wasn’t on this bridge. I closed my eyes, and, mere seconds later, I reopened them to the sight of Joshua and Jillian at my feet. The siren still sounded, now above me.

My easiest materialization yet, it seemed.

Joshua hadn’t seen me arrive, so I knelt beside him and gently placed one hand on his back. At my touch he whirled around with one fist clenched. The violence of his reaction startled me, and I moved to step backward. Before I could take the step, however, Joshua’s eyes lit up with recognition. He grabbed my hand and pulled me down to him. While keeping one hand clasped around one of Jillian’s, Joshua draped his free arm across my shoulder. I leaned into him, closing my eyes and dropping my head against his chest.

“I have no idea what just happened,” Joshua said. “And I want to know everything. But we don’t have much time to talk before the EMTs get here.”

I opened my eyes and looked up at the grassy embankment above us. The ambulance had come to a stop at the edge of the ruined bridge, and a handful of emergency responders now moved carefully down the steep hill toward the river.

“I’m glad they’re here,” I said, looking down at Jillian’s wan face. Joshua must have stretched her out upon the riverbank again, because she lay in the mud again, close eyed and pale.

“Yeah. She’ll be okay, I think.” Joshua stared down at his sister, frowning heavily. Then he abruptly chuckled and turned back to me. “She’ll probably just wake up really, really pissed off.”