I stayed in the art studio for the rest of the period, playing around with the watercolor paints while Taylor worked on her latest piece. The studio was a strange little bubble where I could pretend that the past few weeks hadn't happened. But as the clock hands drifted onwards, I knew I would see Lana again, and I wasn't looking forward to it.

When the bell finally rang, Taylor shooed me onwards. "Go on without me," she said. "I have to put all these paints away... I don't want to make you late."

"But you're going to be marked late," I pointed out.

Taylor batted away my concerns. "I have an old hall pass in my backpack. Security never looks at it close enough to realize the date is off by like three months. So I'll be fine."

"Okay," I said, "I'll see you in English then." And then I was off into the throng of students.

However, I was only halfway to class when I heard someone call my name.

I stopped, turned, and saw Alex Mason flagging me down.

"Alex," I said, trying to stop by face from twisting in confusion. "What's up?"

"Hey Jessa. Sorry to interrupt," he said, walking alongside me.  "I just... wanted to see how you were doing."

I felt my brows furrow. "About what?"

"About Lana." When I continued to stare at him blankly, he explained, "Lana sat with us at lunch today. She said you guys had a fight."

"Oh... yeah, that happened," I said. "But it's fine. I just... yeah it's whatever."

"Was it bad enough that you were thinking about skipping the dance?" Alex asked. "Lana mentioned that you guys had some plans and she had been excited..."

I rolled my eyes, realizing that Billy had probably been at that lunch table and she was trying to drum up some sympathy. I guess Lana isn't done trying to win him over. "I'm probably still gonna go," I said. "Honestly, I think I'm going to need a party by the end of this week."

"Oh. Cool," Alex said, his brown eyes darting to the wall. "Because, I was wondering if you... if maybe we could go together?"

I blinked, and then I blinked again, convinced I had heard him incorrectly.

Alex Mason had just asked me to the dance. Me.

My mouth felt dry, and for a moment, all I could do was stare at him, confused and numb. And then I nodded and said, "Um yeah, I think that could work."

He grinned suddenly, a look of relief crossing his face. "Awesome. Cool. So it's a Halloween thing, so give me a text if you have any costume ideas. I have to get to class so... I'll catch you later." And with that, he started to run off, although not before adding, "And I hope you and Lana patch things up!"

I paused for a moment, staring at Alex's retreating form. His last few words replayed in my head: I hope you and Lana patch things up.

I crinkled my nose. Did she...?

I took a deep breath and splayed my fingers, as if trying to feel something in the air. If Lana had used her magic on him, wouldn't the air smell of brimstone and fire? But I only breathed in the small of high school: stale hallway air with a hint of cologne.

I rushed to English class, but Lana wasn't there. In fact, she wasn't in any of my afternoon classes.

But she wasn't gone. I knew that because the teachers still called out her name, questioning her absence. She may not be at school, but she was still on Earth.

I found her eventually. When I stepped off the bus that afternoon, she was sitting on my front porch.

I didn't recognize her at first. In fact, I initially thought it was one of Mallory's friends. She looked so much smaller, and her face was bare, without a hint of makeup.

"Hi," she said, lifting a hand limply.

Part of me wanted to ignore her—sidestepping around her hunched body and strolling into the house without a second look back—but I found myself pausing in front of her, looking down. "What are you doing here, Lana?"

She took a deep breath. "I'm going back. To the Underworld, where I belong. But... I wanted to say goodbye."

"Oh." Her admission surprised me. "I'll be honest, I thought you were going to try to do this on your own."

She laughed and her voice cracked. "Well, that's what I wanted to do. You made it clear this morning that you were done helping me, but I figured that we had already put in so much work that maybe I could get Billy to ask me myself. So I sat at his lunch table, and as I stared at him, I was this close," she pinched her fingers together, "to just using my powers and making him kiss me. That's all I wanted at that point: a single kiss. But as I was about to do it, I felt this awful, heavy feeling in my arms and in my gut, and I knew it wouldn't work. My powers only work when I'm helping a human, when I'm making a deal. And you broke off our deal. So I'm powerless." She shook her head. "I can't do this on my own. And since you don't want to help me, there's no reason I should still be here. So I'm going home."

"You're powerless?"

She nodded.

"So... this afternoon, when Alex asked me to the dance... you didn't do that?"

She tilted her head, raising her eyes to look at mine. "He asked you to the dance?"

I nodded, gauging her reaction. "You weren't involved with that?"

She hesitated, then admitted, "I kind of was involved... But there was no magic, I swear! Even though you broke off the deal, I... I felt bad. You put a lot of work into coming up with a plan and dealing with me and I didn't want to leave you with nothing. I know you've been feeling weird ever since Taylor started dating Clarissa and I saw how you and Alex were at the party so I just put in a good word for you at lunch—nothing more, I promise." She rubbed her arm. "I didn't realize he was going to ask you to the dance, but I'm happy he did. At least you got something out of these past few weeks."

"Lana..." I said, and I could feel my heart twinge painfully in my chest. "You did that for me?"

She shrugged. "A parting gift."

"You don't give gifts, though," I said. "You were the one who said it... people don't do anything out of the goodness of their hearts."

She sighed. "Well, maybe I wanted to give it a try." Lana stood up and took a breath. "Anyway, before I go, I just... wanted to apologize. I should have apologized last night, but I haven't apologized to anyone in years and I'm a bit rusty at it." She fiddled with her hands, as if unsure of where to put them. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, and for taking advantage of you. Last night, I felt powerless and it scared me and I snapped. I'm not trying to make excuses. It just... what I did wasn't right. And I'm sorry about that." Now her lip was quivering, and I thought there might have been a glisten of tears in her eyes. But before I could confirm that, she was walking away, whispering, "I'm sorry," one more time.

I watched at she scurried down the driveway, her apology weighing in my mind. Then, as she was stepping onto the street, I took a step forward. "Apology accepted, Lana."

Lana paused and turned to look at me. She nodded her head, cracked the smallest of smiles, and turned away.

I hesitated for a moment, my thoughts battling for control in my skull. In the end, I made my decision.

"Do you want some cookies?" I asked.

Lana paused and I watched her brows wrinkle. "What?"

I pointed over my shoulder. "Do you want to go inside and bake Christmas cookies with me? They're your favorite, right? Because of the irony." When she continued to stare at me, I rolled my eyes. "Come on," I said, climbing up the porch steps. "We need to celebrate."

"Celebrate what exactly?"

"The deal," I said. "It's back on."

Lana's jaw dropped, and for a long moment, she didn't say anything at all. Finally, she stammered, "B-but..."

"The deal is back on," I repeated. "But we have to do it my way. No more of you hurting people with your powers. And no more being mean to me when I'm trying to do my best. You have to prove that you've earned this... that you're actually trying to be good. You're the one who said it before: Billy's a good guy, and you have to match his goodness. Does that sound like a deal?"

Lana stared at me flabbergasted as I unlocked the front door. When she continued to stay where she was, I gestured for her impatiently. "Come on. Does that sound like a deal?"

The Devil took a breath, and then she wiped her eyes and walked up the driveway. As she climbed up the porch stairs, she paused, looked me in the eyes, and mouthed, Thank you.

I held out my hand. She took it tentatively, and I pulled her inside.