After school, Sam was waiting at her car, swirling her key chain around her fingers.

"Hey Sam my girl," Taylor said as the four of us slid inside. Then, noticing that someone was absent, added, "Where's Billy?"

"He has lacrosse practice today," she said as she buckled herself into the seat. "And thank God because I hate driving his smelly gym-soaked self home."

All of us laughed except for Lana, who had been re-reading her notes in the back seat. At this announcement, she sent me a half worried, half annoyed look.

It'll be fine, I mouthed to her. Lacrosse practice would be done in two hours max, which meant we just needed to stomach a few hours with Sam—where maybe we could relax with some popcorn and get some intel—and then intercept Billy when he got home.

But then Sam veered right instead of left on Main Street.

"Where are we going?" Lana asked, peering out the window.

"The craft store," she said, as if this were something we should have already known. "I have a few errands to run before the dance on Friday." She glanced back at us from the overhead mirror. "You guys don't mind right?"

"No," Taylor said, good-natured as always. "Not at all."

And thus began our descent into Sam Stevens madness.

I had hoped—rather naively—that we were just picking up a few things at the craft store and that it'd be an easy in-and-out process. There was a giant Halloween section right as soon as we walked in with plenty of orange and black decorations, but after a quick glance, Sam eschewed the whole section and instead opted to walk down each and every aisle. She didn't think the Halloween decorations on display were well-made enough, and that they were overpriced for the craftsmanship, so she decided she would DIY the decorations. This meant we spent over an hour debating whether she should buy this vase or that glass globe, this candelabra or that bunch of faux flowers, this shade of orange paint or that set of sponge brushes.

I glanced at Taylor to see how she was handling this, but, like a good friend, she was totally on board with this shopping trip. She pushed the cart dutifully, grinning at us as if to say, Come on, cheer up! This is fun! Only I wasn't smiling. And neither was Lana, which, to be honest, was a lot more concerning.

I could see the Devil's fingers twitching as Sam loaded all her items onto the conveyer belt at the front of the shop, and then at the last minute darted back into an aisle to grab yet another fake pumpkin.

"You sure you want to be her sister-in-law?" I joked under my breath.

Lana just shook her head and glanced down at her watch.

"Are we all set?" Lana asked when we were finally back in the parking lot and loading all the decorations into the trunk of Sam's car. Her voice was sweet, but I heard the underlying current of annoyance.

"Well," Sam said, sliding into the front seat and starting the ignition, "I really need to swing by Target..."

The shopping adventure took three hours. We hit up the craft store, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and a Chinese grocery store (I had a sneaking suspicion that the last stop had nothing to do with the dance.)

When, at long last, we finally pulled into Sam's driveway, I was absolutely exhausted. I had never been much of a shopper, and my shopping stamina was unusually low. Lana, meanwhile, who had gotten grumpier and grumpier with each store, perked up as she climbed out of the car, her eyes alight. It was as if she could sense that Billy was inside the house, just a few feet away.

She offered to carry in several of Sam's shopping bags as we all filed into the Stevens' home together. However, it was clear that Billy wasn't in any of the rooms downstairs: not the kitchen, the living room, or even the downstairs powder room—which Lana confirmed after quickly excusing herself.

"I'll pop some popcorn and then we can start working on making the decorations," Sam said, disappearing into the kitchen.

Lana's eyes widened and she shot both me and Taylor looks. "I'm sorry," she hissed, too quietly for Sam to hear in the other room. "But did we all just get put on Dance Committee against our wills?"

"It'll be fine," I said, looking at the staircase. "I bet you Billy's upstairs."

"You know how Sam is," Taylor added, trying to keep things light.

Lana's eyes locked onto the staircase. "Be right back." She tiptoed up the stairs, paused at the top landing, and then hurried back down. "He's in the shower!"

"See!" I said, rubbing her shoulder. "We'll see him soon. Don't sweat it."

She nodded her head, her eyes drifting up the steps, ears tuned to the rustle of running water.

When Sam returned with a bowl of popcorn, Lana convinced her that we should work on the decorations up in her room, which was conveniently across from the upstairs bathroom.

Sam agreed, and once we were in her room, she split us up, making us work on various creations. Taylor carved the fake pumpkins, the task that clearly required the most artistic skill. Sam started painting the candelabras black. Lana and I, meanwhile, were delegated to creating large chains out of orange and black construction paper. Sam was very particular about how things were done, and I made a mental note to add "Dance Committee" to my resumé; I was not going to let all of this work go to waste.

At one point, Sam got up to close her bedroom door and Lana snapped, "Keep it open!" Her tone was just nasty enough that Sam gave her a confused look, but obeyed.

Finally, the sound of water died away, and the moment Lana was waiting for arrived. Billy walked out of the bathroom, half wrapped in a towel. "Hey Billy," Lana called, but he didn't stop to chat. He just called back "Hey!" and then he disappeared into his bedroom.

Lana's jaw dropped and she sent me a look. He didn't stop to say hello! she mouthed.

I picked up my phone and sent Lana a quick text. He's naked! I typed. Humans don't like to talk to each other when they're naked. Wait for him to get clothes on!

She rolled her eyes at my text, but didn't say anything.

However, Sam suddenly spoke up, her eyes flitting to the alarm clock on her side table. "Billy is cutting it close today," she murmured.

Lana frowned, looking at Sam. "Cutting it close for what?"

"Volunteering at the hospital. He should have left already. He's going to be late."

Sure enough, a minute later Billy darted past again. Only this time, he was fully clothed. The smell of cologne wafted through our open door as he ran past, but he didn't stop and say bye.

Lana stared at the empty doorframe for a moment and finally cleared her throat. "Wow. That is... nice of him to volunteer there. How long is his shift?"

"Pretty long," Sam said. "He probably won't get back until like nine tonight."

Lana's eyes widened and for a horrifying second I thought she was going to explode. I curled my hand around a pair of scissors, making sure Lana couldn't reach them in case she resorted to stabbing Sam to death. But she just put the paper chain down, smoothed down her skirt, and said, "Well, thanks for having us, but Jessa and I need to go."

This got Sam's attention. She blinked widely. "Oh. So soon? I had more stuff we could do..."

"We have to get some other work done," Lana said, standing up and sending me a sharp look. I put my end of the chain down and stood up.

"Thanks again," Lana said brusquely, and without waiting for a response, she left the room.

I shrugged and gave a wave. "Thanks for having us over." And then followed her out.

Lana was fuming in the driveway; her hands were balled into fists and her jaw was clenched. "Can you call your dad to pick us up?"

"I don't think he's home from work yet. My mom too."

"Well, call a cab."

I stared at her.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Call. A. Cab."

Stunned, I googled a cab service (the only one in town) and told them to pick us up down the street from Sam's house. The dispatcher said someone would be there in five minutes.

"I can't believe I wasted a whole day," Lana grumbled, "with that stupid, neurotic girl. Please tell me that this is not what being a good host is like these days. She is absolutely delusional. And we didn't even see Billy."

"I mean," I said, sliding my hands into my pockets, "technically we did see him—"

"Two seconds of him running past a doorway does not count!" Lana shouted.

The air rumbled, but it wasn't with thunder. It was a deeper, darker feeling. And although I hadn't felt it before, I knew in my core what it was: Magic. And not the pleasant type.

I grabbed Lana's hand. "Stop it," I hissed, looking her dead in the eye. "What are you doing? You can't use your powers on Sam! We just talked about this with Valerie this morning. It's wrong!"

Lana yanked her hand out of mine. "Well I wouldn't want to do anything to Sam if you were actually holding up your end of the bargain." She started storming down the street, her shoes stabbing into the asphalt like knives.

I tried to bite my tongue, but I couldn't. "What the hell, Lana. I'm doing the best I can!"

She laughed. It was a short, harsh sound. "I doubt that." She sent me a dark look. "This is the first time I have ever done a deal like this. You know that, right? Whenever the power has been in my hands, I have always delivered. The people who make deals with me get results." She narrowed her eyes. "I don't know why I'm even making this deal with you. You don't know what you're doing. Your 'plan' has no finesse to it, no guarantees. It's just 'Let's get near Billy and hope for the best!'" She had pitched her voice up, mocking me. "I don't know why the universe thought it'd be a good idea to pair me up with you. It's ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous."

I felt my eyes sting; her words were like a slap. "I don't have to be doing this," I said. "But I agreed to this deal because I wanted to help you. Because I believed you when you said you were lonely, when you said that you were stuck in Hell because of one mistake." I shook my head. "But I see it now. You're just as bad as they say you are. You don't care who gets hurt as long as you get what you want. Valerie, Sam, me." I shook my head. "I was a fool for wanting to help you."

Lana rolled her eyes. "Oh please. Don't act like you were doing this out of the goodness of your heart. You know you get a reward at the end of all of this. No one helps people for no reason."

I felt anger stir in my chest. "I don't care about a reward! I help people because I'm a good person!" I said. "And you know what? Maybe I was wrong to try to help the fucking Devil." I turned away from her and started walking down the street.

Bright headlights flashed behind me, lighting up the road. Lana called out, "The cab's here."

"Get in it yourself," I muttered, my eyes locked on the road. "I'm going to walk home."

"Wait," the Devil said, and I heard an unsteadiness in her voice, "Jessa—"

"Good night, Lana," I said. There was a finality to my tone that I didn't know I could muster. But Lana didn't say anything after that, and I didn't look back.

- - -

Drama! I love a little fight scene. Thanks so much for reading and supporting <3 ~Bdicocco