Lana followed me onto the bus. She walked me to my locker. She escorted me to homeroom. She was around me so often that I was surprised no one had asked yet if we were dating.

Lana was asking me yet another question—"We've still never had a female president... Do you think you'd like to give it a shot? Or maybe you're more into a dictatorship..."—when I noticed that Taylor's seat was empty. And Taylor was always in class early; she lived a block away from the school.

I wheeled towards Lana, cutting her off mid-sentence as she rambled about political affiliations. "Where's Taylor? What did you do to her?"

She blinked. "I don't know what you're talking about and I didn't do anything to her."

I pulled out my phone and frantically started texting my best friend. I didn't believe Lana Gibbons or her supposed code of "ethics." What if she was so desperate to make a deal with me that she had hurt Taylor?

Where r u?? I demanded.

Her response came a few minutes later, but it felt like an eternity. Sick. Staying home.

"See!" Lana said, reading the text over my shoulder. "I told you I did nothing!"

But my stomach started to churn. Because even though Taylor had been essentially non-existent last week, I had held out hope that this week she would be here for me. And now that she was sick, I was alone.

Again.

I had never had any sort of mental health issues before, but when I realized this, I felt a rush of anxiety like I had never felt before. My heart started racing, pounding beneath my breastbone like an angry animal. My skin clammed up, I started to sweat, and a voice in my head starting shouting: Danger! Danger! Go! Go! Go!

So I listened to the voice. I darted out of the classroom, leaving Lana in my wake. I ran down the hall, ignoring a shout from one of the teachers, and only stopped when I reached a bathroom on the opposite end of the school. I had wanted to run outside and go home, but I knew that wasn't feasible, so I had chosen the bathroom that was the furthest away from Lana. I arrived just as the bell rang, signaling the start of class.

Part of me expected Lana Gibbons to be in there, lounging against a stall in her short skirt, watching me with her dark eyes. But, thankfully, the bathroom was empty.

I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my face. My skin was paler than usual with shadowy crescents beneath my brown eyes. I looked like I had seen a ghost—though I guess that wasn't too far from the truth.

I turned on the faucet and splashed some water on my face, letting the droplets drip back into the sink. I cranked the black handle of the paper towel dispenser, wiped off with a brown disposable towel, and looked back in the mirror. I still looked awful—only now, my hair was wet as well. Wonderful.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. I needed to talk to someone. I couldn't make it another day feeling so alone and helpless. Taylor was my first choice, but I didn't want to bother her when she wasn't feeling well. So my next thought was my mom. But what could I say? Hey Mom. So Lana Gibbons is actually the Devil and she wants to make a deal with me. What do I do?

I stared at my favorites list. I can still call her, I reasoned, needing the comfort. Just for a moment. Just to hear her voice. I'll make up something about school...

Before I could talk myself out of it, I hit dial and pressed my phone to my ear.

After three rings, the phone crackled as someone picked up. "Hello?"

I frowned. The voice was male. "Mom?"

"No. It's Evan."

I blinked and looked down at my phone. My brother's name stared back at me, the little star symbol that marked him as a favorite almost twinkling. I had accidentally dialed him.

I pressed the phone back against my ear. "Hey, sorry Ev. I was trying to call Mom."

"Ah got it." His voice was matter of fact, but I could have sworn I heard a bit of disappointment.

My stomach panged guiltily. I hadn't spoken to my brother in over a month. Once he had left for college—disappearing with my parents in the Mom-obile on the two-hour trek—he had mostly vanished from my life. Out of sight, out of mind. Sure, my parents called him once a week for updates—and sometimes I'd shout out a "hi!" from the background while watching TV or doing homework—but we hadn't spoken one-on-one since the day before he had left. A lot had changed since then. For me definitely, and most likely for him as well.

"So," I said, leaning against the porcelain sink. Now that I had him on the phone, his voice was nearly as therapeutic as my mother's. I didn't want him to hang up; I wanted to talk. "How are things?"

I could almost hear him shrug. "Not bad. Classes are hard but not too bad... Speaking of which, shouldn't you be at school right now?"

"Free period," I lied. "What's your excuse?"

"I don't have class until 10 today, but I woke up early to finish a chem pre-lab." He paused, and in the silence, I imagined him in my mind: his brown curly hair, the same shade as mine. And his eyes, a lucky shade of green that no one else in the family had.

Finally, he asked, "What's so important that you were gonna call Mom? She's at work right now, isn't she?"

"It was about a stupid thing at school." My eyes floated around the bathroom, landing on one of the peeling blue stalls. "Lana Gibbons is driving me insane."

"Who?"

"Lana Gibbons," I repeated. "Tall, thin, super pretty girl. Straight black hair. Wears short skirts like a wannabe Catholic schoolgirl. She's one of my best friends." The last bit I said with a hint of sarcasm, but Evan clearly couldn't make that out through the phone.

"Best friend?" Evan repeated. "What happened to Taylor? Did you ditch her for someone new already?"

"Nothing happened to Taylor! I still hang with her. Lana's just... another friend."

"Honestly, I don't remember you ever hanging out with someone named Lana, but okay."

My heart skipped a beat and Lana's words came floating back through my head: The spell temporarily messes with the memories of those around me...

Evan was in college, two hours away from Arlington. Two hours away from Lana Gibbons, Devil in disguise. Her spell must not have reached out that far.

Maybe he can help, I thought, but almost immediately I recognized I couldn't tell him everything. He might not be under Lana's spell, but he would still think I was crazy if I started ranting and raving about how the Devil was my new classmate. And, worse of all, he would definitely tell my mom. Bye-bye school, hello psych ward.

So I just need to phrase this all the right way, I thought.

"Hey Ev," I said, "I need to get back to stuff soon. But before I go, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Lana Gibbons, she's actually a new student here, but she really isn't a..." I struggled to find the words, "...good person. And I don't know what to do around her. Should I just avoid her? Or should I try to... I don't know, try to be nice to her while she's here?"

"Well what's your definition of 'not a good person'?"

His question caught me off-guard. "What do you mean?"

"Like, does she drink alcohol or does she make fun of disabled kids?"

I couldn't help but let out a laugh. It was the first time I had laughed in about a week; I was surprised by how much I had missed it. "Sorry, Ev. You're going to have to explain that one."

He chuckled. "Sorry. I just meant that there are a lot of things you can do where you'll be labeled a bad person. Like if you drink underage—yeah, that's against the law. But if that's the only thing you do and you're responsible and don't drink and drive, then it's not really that bad. But if you're a mean person who makes fun of people, talks behind their back, do that sort of thing—then yeah, I'd say that's worse than breaking the law."

He paused for a moment. "I don't mean to ramble," he said, "but I didn't realize how small Arlington was until I got out of there. Things that used to seem like such a big deal seem a lot smaller, you know?"

"I guess," I said. I ran a finger along the edge of the sink. "Right now I guess I'm also feeling a little trapped. In Arlington, that is."

"You won't be for long," he said. "This year will fly by."

"I hope so," I mumbled, because if the next month was going to be as bad as the past week, I didn't think I was going to make it out of here alive.

"But back to your question about this Lana girl: I think it depends. If she is truly a bad person, then dump her. But if it's something else, maybe give her a chance? There may be something more to her. Does that help?"

I stared at my reflection; color had started appearing on my cheeks again. I was beginning to look less like a hollow doll and more like myself. Yet my mind was churning. "Honestly, it complicates it all a bit more," I said. "But I think it's what I needed to hear. Thanks, Evan." My eyes flitted to the clock. "I should probably get going now."

"All right. Thanks for calling, Jessa."

"Yeah, maybe I'll do it again."

He laughed. "Considering Mom and Dad call me too often, you could just shoot me a text."

"Note taken. Text ya later."

"You too, sis. Bye."

"Bye."

When I got back to class, Ms. Morgan was halfway through her lecture. I took my seat wordlessly and pulled out a notebook.

Lana was silent the whole time, her little black notebook closed on her desk. I think she had finally realized that she had gone too far.

She was silent through all of our morning classes and didn't say a word as we entered the cafeteria. But as we waited in line for our food, piling pizza onto our trays, she said, "Why don't I pay for you?"

I looked her straight in the eye. "I'm not trading my soul for a slice of pizza."

"I wasn't proposing a deal this time," she said. "I was just trying to be nice."

"Well, no thanks," I said, paying the woman myself and grabbing a seat. Lana sat down next to me, head tilted downwards.

I took a deep breath, exhaled, and then said the most honest thing I could. "You know, you're going about this all wrong. There's no way I'm making a deal with you when you're just harassing me all day."

She shot me a very tired glare. "You don't think I know that? It's just... you're baffling." She stabbed at her pizza with a knife, perforating the cheese. "It never takes this long to figure out why I was summoned to earth. I even checked my spell this morning to make sure there wasn't some sort of error. But it's certain. There's a deal to be made here. With you. I'm just not figuring it out."

"Listen," I said. "Can we take a break from this deal talk? Why don't we—I don't know—try to act like normal high schoolers for the next few weeks?" I rubbed my face. "Fending you off is getting really old, and I can tell you're not particularly enjoying it either. And if I'm going to be living this Hell—metaphorically—for the rest of the month, I'd rather it be somewhat pleasant."

She looked hurt. "Hell is rather pleasant. At least, I think it is."

"Well, then why are there a ton of epic poems condemning it in English class?"

She chomped at her pizza looking peeved. And for once, I laughed.

I stared at her, this ancient being, now flesh and bones, with flawless skin and a haunted look in her eyes. "Tell me about yourself," I said suddenly.

She seemed startled by the question. "What?"

"Tell me about yourself," I repeated.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Why?"

"Because I'm curious," I said. "You spend all day asking me questions and I know almost nothing about you." I hesitated and then added, "And I need to figure out if you're the drinks-at-parties type or the be-mean-to-disabled-kids type."

"What?"

"It's a long story."

She pressed her lips together, thinking for a long while. "No one has ever asked me that," she said, drumming her fingers on her lunch tray. She looked outside, peering through the large glass doors that led to the back courtyard. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

I glanced at the clock. "We have gym in a half hour."

"We can skip gym. I'll make Mr. Edwards mark us down as present so we won't get docked for skipping."

Ooh. As conflicted as I was feeling, the offer to skip gym was tempting.

I looked out the window. There was a strong breeze stirring up the fallen leaves. "If you kill the wind, you have a deal."

She wiggled her nose and I watched as the leaves died down. "That good enough?"

Maybe I should have been scared of her—after all, she could mess with minds and control the weather. But in that moment, I was too curious. Evan was right—I needed to see for myself what kind of person she was. "Perfect." I stood up, not quite sure what I had gotten myself in to, but curious to see what would happen next. "Let's go."