“Yeah.” Luca started pressing buttons. “You two get out of here. And call my aunt.”

I promised him I would, then I took my backpack in one hand and Nash’s hand in the other and blinked us into his living room, after a stop behind a convenience store about halfway between.

Sophie sat on the couch in tears, and she nearly jumped out of her own skin when we appeared right in front of her. “Where’s Luca?” she said, frowning when he didn’t appear with us.

“At school discovering Brant’s body.”

“Brant Williams?” More tears filled her eyes. “Brant’s dead? How? What happened?”

“That hellion you saw? That’s Avari. He tortures and kills people for fun. Which is why he pretended to be Meredith—to hurt you.” I couldn’t tell how much of that she’d actually heard over her own sniffling, but she had enough to process already. “Where’s Sabine?” I asked when a cursory glance into the kitchen revealed no disgruntled mara.

“Back there somewhere.” Sophie gave a tearful glance down the hall, and I turned to look just as Sabine stepped out of Nash’s room with a half-full bottle of tequila.

“Hell, no.” I grabbed for the bottle as she stepped into the living room, but she pulled it out of my reach. “The last thing we need right now is a drunk Nightmare.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, your cousin’s a bit of a delicate flower.” Sabine gestured toward Sophie, who still sat curled up on one end of the couch, in spite of Nash’s best efforts to comfort her. “So you can give her a shot, and hope that makes her a little easier for me to stomach, or you can give me a shot and hope that makes her a little easier for me to stomach. Otherwise, I’m outta here.” The mara shrugged. “Your call.”

I sighed, digging my phone out of my pocket. “Fine. Give her a shot. One.” Was that really any worse than the pills her mother had given her when Meredith died the first time? At least you don’t need a prescription for tequila.

Sabine produced a shot glass from her pocket, and while I texted Tod, I tried not to worry about the fact that Nash had a bottle of tequila in his room and Sabine carried a shot glass in her pocket.

@ Nash’s. Can u come?

Tod appeared in front of the television just as Sabine handed the full shot glass to Sophie. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing new,” Sabine said as my cousin took a sip from the shot glass, then grimaced. “Just getting a cheerleader drunk.”

“She’s not a cheerleader. She’s a dancer,” I said, sliding my phone into my pocket.

“Wow. Look how much of a damn I don’t give.” Sabine pushed the shot glass back at Sophie. “What, you’re too precious todrink it straight?” She twisted to glance around the room. “Anybody got some lime and a cute little paper umbrella?”

“I’ll get her a chaser.” Nash headed for the kitchen without a word to his brother.

Tod glanced at me with one brow raised, and I sighed. “Avari showed up at school as Meredith Cole, another one of the girls Marg killed for Belphegore. Meredith was on Sophie’s dance team, and we all saw her die last September.”

“Seeing a classmate return from the dead would freak anyone out,” Tod said as we both watched Sabine try to get my cousin to drink.

“Yeah, but he made an effort to upset Sophie specifically. I’m worried he’ll go after her next.”

“What’s with the jacket?” Tod asked as Nash crossed the room with a glass of soda.

“Oh.” I’d forgotten I was wearing it. “I ruined another shirt.” I unsnapped Nash’s letter jacket and pulled it off, then laid it over the arm of the nearest chair.

“You know, there’s a much easier, simpler way to sedate her,” Tod whispered as Sophie downed half the shot, then gulped the soda Nash handed her.

I rolled my eyes. “No, you can’t knock her out. She’s traumatized, but she’ll come around.” She’d evidently survived a trip to the Netherworld, which told me that as upset as she was about Meredith, Luca was right. She was stronger than she looked. She had to be. “I have to text Madeline.” I sank into the chair, typing with both thumbs, and Tod sat on the arm opposite Nash’s jacket.

“I get that that was a hellion.” Sophie leaned back on the couch, clutching the glass of soda as she stared at the shot glass standing empty on the coffee table. “But why did it look like Meredith? Why did it sound like Meredith?”

Sabine picked up the shot glass and refilled it. “It looked and sounded like your dancing chick because it was wearing her soul like a raincoat.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” I insisted as Sabine tossed the shot back.

“Sure we do. But on the bright side, Kaylee freed her soul, so she’s no longer being tortured in the Netherworld.”

“Tortured?” Sophie’s chin quivered, and Sabine nodded, pouring another shot.

I stood and grabbed the bottle from her, and tequila splashed onto the coffee table. “We can’t afford for you to be at less than your best right now.”

“Kaylee, we just watched you stab the undead cheerleader who threatened to drag your cousin into hell. I think we could all use a drink.”

“You just had one.”

Sophie was sniffling again. “Why would a demon want to torture Meredith? Or send me to hell?”