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assists, thirty-two points and three rebounds.
    He’d definitely been in the zone—that is, until the girl who’d burned up alive had appeared to him.
     
    Before heading to the locker room, he touched base with Kyle, Nicole, and Mia and they agreed to meet at Kyle’s house at ten. Since Kyle didn’t live too far from school, where Daniel had left his car, that sounded doable.
    Curfew wasn’t a major deal to Daniel’s dad when there was no school the next day, but still, he typically wanted him home by midnight and Daniel did his best not to push things.
    So, when he texted his dad the score, he also let him know he was planning to hang out with his friends, but that he would be home by twelve.
    After showering and changing, Daniel was on his way down the hall from the locker room when he saw a man leaning against the wall near the school’s trophy case. As he approached him, the guy looked his way, took a step toward him, and extended his hand.
    “Nice game, Daniel.”
    Daniel shook his hand. “Thanks.”
    He couldn’t remember ever meeting this man before and it was a little weird that he’d called him by name, but on the other hand, anyone watching the game could’ve found out who he was just by listening to the announcer.
    He looked like he might be in his earl y thirties, had black, carefull y combed hair, and a fiercel y strong handshake.
    Then the meeting was over. That was it. The guy was turning to go and Daniel was on his way, but a few seconds later he glanced back to get another look at him.
    The man was gone.
    Daniel paused.
    It was possible that he might have slipped out another door, or hurried down the hallway and gone back to the gym, but it seemed unlikely. He would have had to really be moving.
    A troubling thought hit Daniel: What if that man hadn’t actually been there?
    It wouldn’t be the first time yo u’ve had a conversation with someone who wasn’t real.
    N o— y o u shook his hand. If he was just in yo ur mind yo u wouldn’t have been able to touch him.
    Outside the school, Daniel and the rest of the team piled into the bus.
    He made sure he didn’t fall asleep on the ride back to Beldon.

CHAPTER
SIX
    Daniel picked up his car from the parking lot and cruised over to Kyle’s house.
    Nicole hadn’t arrived yet, but Mia had.
    Tonight she wore torn skinny jeans and a faded Kurt Cobain T-shirt. Lank and willowy, she made it work. With her studded tongue and pierced lip she had an edgy look to her, but it was more emo than goth.
    She pointed at him. “You, son, were smokin’ tonight.”
    “Thanks.”
    “Yeah.” Kyle was shaking some Tabasco sauce onto a bowl of cheese curls sitting on the coffee table. “You have mad skills, my friend.”
    “I should’ve hit that free throw, though. And I think that’s enough Tabasco sauce.”
    Kyle gave the bottle one more hefty shake, set it down—then picked it up and dolloped a little more on before setting it down for good. “It was better this way—didn’t go into overtime.”
    “That is true.”
    He offered Daniel some of the cheese curls.
    “I’m good.”
    Mia declined as well, and Kyle shrugged and dug into them by himself.
    Daniel assumed that Kyle’s four-year-old sister, Michelle, was asleep down the hall. His mom had the TV on softly in her own bedroom, but came to the living room to say hi to Daniel. “I couldn’t make it to the game, but Kyle said you played great.”
    “I’m just glad we won.”
    “Of course.”
    Kyle’s dad had been killed in a car accident a couple years ago. Recently, his mom had started dating someone from the real estate company she worked at. Daniel didn’t know how serious it was, but she seemed genuinely happy for the first time since her husband died, and he was glad she’d found someone.
    Mrs. Goessel returned to her room and while Daniel and his friends waited for Nicole, Kyle noted that the curlazoids were much better with the Tabasco sauce.
    “Curlazoids?” Daniel