“What are you doing?”

Julia looked up at Jason with a mixture of confusion and pain. She was sitting on the floor in his room. “What do you mean?”

“Why are you messing around with the hallways?”

“Thomas needs to be punished.”

“Even if that were true, Sarah and the others don’t.”

“You’re not even here. Did Rebecca send you?”

“No, she didn’t. Now…”

Julia stood quickly, her fists clenched. In a single moment, her sadness was replaced with anger. “Shut up! You’re not real! You died! You died because Thomas was keeping secrets! He deserves to be punished!”

“You mean, you want revenge.” His disappointment was evident.

“So what if I do?” Her voice had dropped almost to a whisper.

“You’re better than that.”

“You always tell me that. But it’s not true. You want me to be better than I am; that’s different. You always see the good in people. Not everyone is good, and now you’re dead because of Thomas’ scheming.”

“You don’t know that. He brought David here to protect you. When David failed, I . . .”

“Stop. Please.” Her voice cracked. Hearing Jason say that he died to save her would be more than she could bear. Besides, she knew it was Thomas’ fault. Thomas, not her. This was just some trick to distract her from that.

When she regained a little control over her emotions, she looked back at him. “And anyway, how do you even know David was here to protect me?”

“Thomas had asked me to give David a crystal. When he found out I hadn’t given it to David yet, Thomas went after you two immediately. I think he believed David could use it to beat that worm.”

“You’re making this up.”

“I’m not.”

Julia broke again, collapsing to the floor. This was too much. Jason was gone, and she was in a house with strangers. Alone once more, she could feel the world collapsing around her.

“Why did you even bring me here?” she managed.

Jason crouched down in front of her to peer directly into her eyes. “We need people. You need people. I wasn’t going to be around forever, so I wanted you to find a place for yourself.”

“I was just fine. We came here, and now you’re gone. Great plan. So now I’ll just make this house mine. I’ll show you I don’t need anyone.”

“Julia…”

“No. Stop. Tell Rebecca her little trick didn’t work. I don’t believe you’re Jason. Tell them to leave. If they go, I’ll let them. But if they don’t…” Her voice caught in her throat. Jason looked profoundly sad, which wrenched a sob from her. “Just go. Just go. Go.” She closed her eyes and continued to chant those two words over and over.

When she opened her eyes again, he was gone. His lifeless body lay on the couch where she had placed it. A sense of urgency, that something needed to be done, gnawed at the back of her mind. Yet the only thing she could think about was that her friend was dead. She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked herself as sob after sob rolled over her.