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everything seem chilly and unwelcoming.
    Jillian stood a few feet ahead of me, facing the other car and rubbing her bare arms furiously against the cold. I closed the distance between us warily, still unsure of how Jillian intended to make my problems hers. The fact that High Bridge obviously played some part in her plans didn’t help my mood.
    Nor did the fact that Joshua stepped out of the sedan’s passenger seat. He saw Jillian first and gave her the barest of acknowledgments. Then his eyes caught mine. Through the darkness, I could see the apology in them.
    I tilted my head to one side and frowned. I had no idea what warranted the Mayhews’ strange behavior. At least, not until the driver stepped out of the sedan.
    Scott Conner—Joshua’s good buddy and Jillian’s newest crush—had no business here. Yet there he stood, his shaggy hair sticking up in peaks and curls, as if someone had recently woken him up from a deep sleep. Which, I realized, had actually happened.
    Although we’d never technically met, Scott gave me a shy, close-lipped smile. It was a kind look, gentle, but it was far too familiar. Too knowing.
    I took an involuntary step backward, away from Scott. I was afraid of him, then—afraid of the boy who shouldn’t be smiling at me in a way that suggested he knew my secrets, and felt sorry that I had them.
    Joshua confirmed my suspicions, speaking quietly although no one else was around to hear us.
    “Scott knows, Amelia. About you, and what you are.”
    Joshua gave me a few seconds to process this news. Then he turned and pointed to the ugly heap of metal and concrete behind him.
    “Scott knows, and he’s here to help us bring High Bridge down. Tonight.”

Chapter
SEVEN

    N o.” I tried to speak firmly, but my voice came out edged with hysteria. “No, no, no.”
    My nerves vibrated as though they’d been strummed, echoing back anger, excitement, uncertainty, and even a touch of betrayal. I felt a sudden flush of heat, like my glow might break free and cut a path of fire across the road.
    When Scott took a step forward, I held up both palms as a warning.
    Come any closer, pardner, and I’ll blast ya.
    I heard someone choke out a strangled laugh and then realized it was me. In an effort to control myself, I took a few deep breaths.
    “No,” I repeated, locking eyes with Joshua again. “No to all of it.”
    In the past when I’d been so clearly shaken, Joshua had approached me cautiously. Almost like I was a wounded animal. But tonight he rushed to my side, unafraid. He stood as close to me as he could, brushing one hand through the air above my shoulder.
    “I’m so sorry,” he said. “Jillian asked him to pick me up. Apparently he already knows—”
    “I already know a thing or two about the afterworlds,” Scott interjected.
    I blinked back, stunned. Not because Scott had just interrupted his friend—something I’d never heard him do—but because of what he’d said. His casual use of the word “afterworlds” was particularly interesting. It wasn’t a term that the average teenage boy threw around lightly.
    The average Seer boy, however, was a different story.
    I raised my eyebrows at Joshua, signaling him to let me work through this, and then turned back to Scott. Slowly, tentatively, I took a step forward.
    “What do you know about the afterworlds?” I asked softly.
    “Probably not as much as you guys.” Scott gave me another sheepish smile. “But enough to help.”
    That answer didn’t satisfy me. I narrowed my eyes and moved one step closer, all the while keeping my gaze trained on him. “How? How do you know enough, Scott?”
    He held up one hand in a motion of caution and, with the other, pulled something from his pocket. He raised the object into the light of a nearby streetlamp so I could see it, and then took his own slow steps toward me. When we were within reaching distance, he handed it to me. It looked like a thin, cheaply made wallet, its fraying edges held