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banana.
    “Hey,” said Jason as she peeled the fruit. He stared at the floor and she kept eating. She finished the banana and pulled out an apple. At least they had fruit here.
    “I cried when I first got here too.” Jason’s voice was scarcely louder than a whisper and he still didn’t look up. “It must be super-hard being a girl.”
    “What do you want?” Suzie didn’t mean to sound cold, but she was tired and hungry. Jason was a Death. He might look like a sniffling little boy, but he was one of them.
    “I had a backpack when they took me. They grabbed me right at recess. If you want this, it's yours.” He held out a chocolate bar. Suzie put down the apple and looked at him.
    “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she said.
    For the first time since meeting him, Jason looked up. His eyes were wide and watery. He straightened his glasses and turned away. He put the chocolate bar on the counter.
    “I’m scared too,” he whispered. “Being here, I mean, in this place.”
    Suzie nodded. “Thanks for the chocolate, Jason.”
    “Good night.” He started toward his room.
    “Wait a second,” she said. Jason stopped and Suzie walked to him.
    “We’ll get through this. It’s only a year.”
    “Maybe.”
    “We will.” She wasn’t sure she believed herself, but opened her arms and gave Jason an awkward hug. He stiffened and then started to relax, but did not open his arms. She sensed he wanted to cry.
    “Good night,” she said.
    He hurried into his room and closed the door. Suzie threw out the apple core and took the candy into her room. She closed the door and peeked in the drawers. They had even left her a long pink nightgown. She wondered where everything was from, but guessed they had stolen it from somewhere in the real world, the living world.
    She finished getting ready, lay down, and closed her eyes. Billy was supposed to show them around over the weekend, and on Monday, school would begin. Though depressed, she was also curious. What would school be like for a Death? How do you train a Death?
    Suzie smiled again. She’d always imagined Death being one guy: a fairy tale skeleton who takes souls to Hell or something. Yet here she was, one of many in an entire world.
    A world of Deaths.

 
Chapter Five
    Fire by the Lake
     
    Suzie’s dreams were strange. A man in a purple robe laughed when Cronk stumbled out a door. The dream shifted. Screams echoed in the darkness beneath the flapping of enormous leather wings. A pair of red eyes glowed in the distance, and whispered voices hung in the air. Someone called out to her, a beautiful woman dressed in white with long flowing hair. Men in black robes surrounded the woman, waving scythes and yelling. The woman opened her eyes. Suzie stared at her own face.
    “You awake?” Billy’s voice called through the door. “C’mon, time to get up.”
    Suzie muttered something, and Billy must’ve heard because the knocking stopped. She crawled out of bed and opened the curtains. The window looked over a large grass courtyard. An enormous tower stretched to the sky, looming over one side of the lawn: a mass of twisted, writhing stone. The sky was light and blue.
    She showered and dressed in some of her new clothes. They fit perfectly. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She looked good, better than she ever had. Her face was fleshy and her body hinted at curves. The skeletal girl was a distant memory, she was pretty again.
    Suzie walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. Jason stared at his breakfast, while Billy gave her a big grin.
    “Morning Suzie, are you doing a little better today?”
    “Yes, thank you.”
    “I made you some eggs and toast, for your first morning here. I’ll show you two around when you’ve eaten.”
    “Thank you, Billy.” She took the breakfast and started eating. “This is delicious.”
    “Where are you from?”
    “I’m from Damascus, Maryland, in the United States.”
    “Yeah,” said Billy. “We’re both