An hour later, after Father Fahey had heard both of our private confessions and armed us with a gallon of freshly blessed holy water, Mischa and I argued about what to do next as we stepped out of the cold and into Hennessey's Pharmacy.

"He said we need to move quickly," I reminded Mischa. Father Fahey had told us that if Trey were truly possessed by a demonic presence, he'd already know that we were plotting to confront him. He'd be expecting us when we arrived, and the longer we waited to address the problem, the more prepared he'd be to thwart us.

We wandered down the pharmacy's junk aisle, in which shelves boasted discounted holiday merchandise, household objects like flashlights, and the item we sought: plastic spray bottles. "Yeah, but I don't think putting this off until tomorrow would be such a bad thing," Mischa argued. "I mean, he told you to read that booklet over a couple times, didn't he? So what if you go home and study up, and I'll go home and eat pumpkin ravioli, and we can reconvene to drive the devil out of town in the morning?"

"Seriously? You want to put off saving Trey's life for pumpkin ravioli?"

"My mom only makes it once a year!"

Our bickering was interrupted by an unexpected male voice. "Hey, McKenna." We both turned to find Henry Richmond, Olivia's older brother, standing behind us. I hadn't seen handsome Henry since earlier that fall when I'd run into him after Olivia's funeral.

"Awkward," Mischa said in a tiny voice beside me. Henry had asked me to be his date to the Homecoming dance, which had been postponed because of Olivia's tragic death. He'd been a tennis star at Weeping Willow High School before he graduated. The last time I'd talked with him he had mentioned taking a leave of absence from his college studies at Northwestern to remain in town with his parents, who were still reeling from the shock of Olivia's violent death.

"Hey, Henry," I replied in a shy greeting. It felt like it had been a long while since Henry Richmond had crossed my mind. He and his parents had sat in on some of my court proceedings following the incident in November, but I'd avoided his gaze—half out of shame, half in apology. Although he had auburn hair and Olivia had been blonde, Henry looked so much like his deceased sister that it made me feel a little uncomfortable to look at him. It hadn't been so long ago that Olivia had been thrilled at the prospect of my dating her older brother, but that was before I'd fallen in love with Trey. Henry Richmond was the embodiment of the path not chosen; he was what my future might have been if I hadn't agreed to play Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board with Violet.

"I know it's kind of a weird thing for me to say, but thank you," he said to both me and Mischa. "I mean, for all the stuff you did in the fall, to you know..."

He didn't have to finish. My head filled in the words for him: avenge my sister's death.

"My parents and I... we didn't want to believe it could be true. Candace had come over to our house after Olivia's funeral and was talking all kinds of craziness about some game that you guys had played, and how that girl Violet was evil," Henry said. "Anyhow, when you got in all that trouble in November, everything kind of fell into place and made more sense. She really did, um, cast a curse on my sister and Candace?"

Mischa, standing next to me, raised the plastic gallon jug of holy water that she was carrying. "She cast it on all of us. We wouldn't be standing here in the holiday fun aisle of Hennessey's with a gallon of holy water if we weren't in a crapload of danger."

Henry looked from the jug to me with concern in his eyes. "Are you guys serious? What's going on?"

"We can't talk about it here," I said. Word traveled fast in a town as small as Weeping Willow.

Twenty minutes later in the cab of Henry's blue pick-up truck, Henry stared out at Tallmadge Park in wonderment. The swing set and slide were abandoned on the frigid winter afternoon.

"Whoa," he said. Mischa and I had just informed him of the entire history of our dealings with Violet, and why we had been on our way home from St. Monica's when we ran into him that day. I didn't feel good about pulling another innocent person into our predicament, especially someone about whom I'd spent quite a bit of time daydreaming a few months earlier. However, if there was anyone in the town of Weeping Willow who might consider helping us, it was Olivia's older brother.

"Demonic possession?" he asked in disbelief. "You guys are sure?"

"That's what the holy water's for," Mischa said. We'd bought a plastic spray bottle at Hennessey's with the plan of spritzing Trey to see what might happen. The rest would be used during the exorcism, if we ended up having to conduct one.

"But now we have to figure out how we can get Trey over to St. Monica's, or somewhere else safe enough to actually conduct the procedure," I explained. "I mean, we definitely can't do it at Trey's house. His parents would not be cool. And if he suspects we're coming for him, he's probably had time to plant dangerous stuff in his room."

Just then, a fat, fluffy snowflake drifted down from the sky and landed smackdab in the center of Henry's windshield. Wordlessly, we watched as it stuck to the glass and held its delicate form for a few seconds before dissolving. "It's starting," Mischa murmured. Around the parked truck, more flakes fell from the sky.

"This must be it. The big snowstorm everyone's been talking about," Henry replied.

A sour feeling swelled within my chest. Weather reports were claiming that the snowstorm would endure for days, blanketing Wisconsin in up to four feet of snow. Travel advisories had been issued. Flights were probably already being cancelled. It wasn't uncommon for our entire town to shut down for a few days during the winter if snow blocked the streets. If we didn't act quickly, we'd lose our chance to save Trey.

"You guys? I have an idea. It's kind of a long shot, but it might be the only way we'll ever be able to deal with this," I said.

Fortunately, Matt—Mischa's boyfriend—was willing to assist us in spreading the rumor that Violet's party was cancelled due to inclement weather. He texted everyone he knew and asked his friends to text people, too. Word spread across Weeping Willow like wildfire that Violet's parents were arriving home early and that she was begging people not to show up at her house expecting to rage.

"Here goes nothing," Mischa muttered as she chose Violet's name from the list of contacts in her mobile phone. Henry and I listened eagerly as Mischa waited for Violet to answer. When it seemed like enough time had passed for Violet to have sent the call to voicemail, suddenly Mischa exclaimed, "Hi, Violet!" She excitedly pointed to her phone for our benefit to indicate that Violet had picked up.

Henry and I strained our ears to hear Violet's voice over Mischa's phone. "Have you been telling people my party's cancelled?!" she shrieked at Mischa.

"Yeah," Mischa flashed a mischievous grin at us. "That was us. But there's a good reason. I mean first of all, it's already snowing, and you probably don't want everyone to get stuck at your house overnight. And there's something way more important going on that you should be aware of—" Mischa sucked in her breath and prepared to tell a massive lie. "Trey Emory's been acting scary since he got home from his boarding school. He keeps saying crazy things, like how he knows what you are and what's inside of you—and how he's come back to town to get you and bring you with him."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Violet replied, "That's messed up. Get me and bring me where?"

Mischa winked at us for dramatic effect. "Back where you belong."

"You're crazy. I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" Mischa exclaimed. "He's going to find you, Violet. McKenna and I think he might be possessed by a demon, and Father Fahey at St. Monica's agrees with us."

"McKenna Brady's not supposed to come anywhere near me. You shouldn't even be contacting me. I could call the police on you," Violet warned.

Mischa sputtered, "We think you're in danger—and I think you know what kind of danger I mean." Mischa was suggesting that Violet was now in the same kind of jeopardy she'd put us in, the kind that parents and police can't save you from. "That's why we told everyone that your party's cancelled—it's not safe for you to have people over if Trey sneaks out of his parents' house to attack you."

"I don't want to be here alone if he's coming over to attack me!" Violet exclaimed.

Mischa grinned from ear to ear. "Well, that's good. Because we're coming over later and we're bringing Father Fahey with us."

By the time we backed out of the parking lot at Tallmadge Park, we'd secured a safe place to stage an exorcism. Now we had to confirm whether or not we really had a demon among us.