“Mr. Hale!” I boom, tossing open the door. Mr. Hale and Jesse are nose-to-nose, and both startle at my appearance.
“Mina? What are you doing up here? With him?” Mr. Hale looks aghast. “Mina, this behavior isn’t like you.”
I glance at Jesse, expecting to find him gathering up these Good GirlMina morsels to tease me over later. But Jesse’s lips are pursed, a hand fisted in his pocket.
“Someone had an accident in the downstairs bathroom.” The lie falls from my tongue like water, smooth and almost thoughtless. “I wanted to get back to class quickly, so I came up here. I’m sorry.”
“Oh. Well, I suppose I understand. You always follow the rules, don’t you? Sweet little Mina and her perky ponytail.” Mr. Hale giggles. Jesse and I glance at each other.
The smell hits my nose with the force of a truck, sending me back a step.
No!It can’t be here! Jesse’s with me—I’m not alone with Mr. Hale. How is it here?
The harshest truths carry the worst timing, and each one hits me like a bolt of lightning.
Ms. Diaz was still possessed when Jesse rescued me, and Jesse is immune to possession.
It doesn’t count him as a person.
He was telling the truth about his soul.
Jesse’s nostrils flare. He understands what the smell means.
He understands we’re out of time.
Mr. Hale’s voice changes, becoming deeper, harder. A million echoes scraping together to form a single, hollow sound. “Do you break the rules like your Mommy did?”
I raise my arm, but it’s too late. Mr. Hale’s fist catches me in the jaw, smashing me against the door. It swings open with my weight, and I crash to the ground.
In seconds, he looms over me, blotting out the weak light. “It didn’t have to be so bad, Yasmina,” Mr. Hale croons. His orange eyes widen in mock sympathy. “It doesn’t have to this way at all.”
The single bulb bursts, shooting electric sparks over Mr. Hale’s head. I cover my head with an arm and curl my knees into my chest.
I vaguely register the sounds of a struggle. Mr. Hale is the PE teacher and football couch. He can bench higher than I can count. Even Jesse’s quick fists won’t be able to deter him.
I should get up and try to run. If I leave, it’ll evacuate Mr. Hale, leaving him dizzy and confused, with no memory of nearly murdering two students. If I leave, Jesse stands a chance.
But my bones refuse to loosen. My teeth clamp together, as rigid as every muscle in my body.
So it’s a surprise that while I hold myself still, the ground beneath me begins to move. The floor undulates, rippling like water sloshing in a tub.
A small, cold hand brushes my face. I gasp, finally kick-starting into motion, but I’m too late.
Another little hand grabs my ankle, dragging me into the darkness.
Bright blue waves lap at my feet. Freezing, despite the sun shining overhead.
On the other side of the beach, a group of children chase an inflated ball while their mothers lounge on plastic beach chairs. I’d passed them on my way here and counted no fewer than three trays of cheesy macarona bechamel and two platters of tightly wrapped mahshi korumb.
Despite the pockets of chaos, the beach in this neighborhood of El Agamy is the quietest one yet. The part of the coast me and Khalto Safa visited near San Stefano had been chock-full of people. The activity and chaos had been thrilling in its own way, but the quiet soothes me. I can hear the water rush and retreat. Listen to the distant sound of children’s laughter.
Someone sits on the sand to my right, and I count it a miracle that my heart doesn’t up and quit right then. I’d let the rhythmic sound of the waves lull me into a kind of hypnosis.
A pretty woman settles on top of a torn beach towel. A blue scrunchiewith almost no elasticity remaining fights for its life to keep her thick curls wrapped in a bun. She seems younger than the streaks of white in her hair would indicate, her round face and soft features placing her somewhere in her thirties.
“Sorry,” she says, her gaze rapt on the water. “I didn’t mean to startle you. Hey, you! Come here!”
I jump. It takes me a second to see the shout isn’t aimed at me, but at a little girl playing in the water.
