"Here you go, Mr. Macogniscov."

"Thanks Claire," he slung the bag of chicken nuggets over his shoulder, "Nice necklace."

I smiled. "Thank you."

"Claire," Peggy jabbed me in the waist once he'd left. "Can you imagine what it'd be like if his name was Macogniscock?"

I turned to see her grinning widely like a silly mischievous cat.

"What do you mean?" I decided to play blind to the dimension to where she was steering the conversation.

She leaned in. "Macogniscock? You know...as in Macognis' cock? So you'd go like thank you Mr. Macognis' cock." She threw her head back and laughed mightly, as if I'd cracked the joke of the year.

"Uh," I winced, though her gaudy laughter was beginning to infect me. "Get out of my face Peggy Donihugh." I shoved her off and skated from behind the counter.

I looked at Peggy still laughing and laughed, hating myself immediately for making fun of that poor old man.

"Peggy, you think you could give me a hand out back?" Sam called from the kitchen.

"Sure thing Sam!" Peggy shouted and whispered to me before leaving, "Macognis' cock."

***

"Hey Claire. Are you alright? Do you feel sick?" Aspeth asked from somewhere inside our room.

I turned to see her in a brown morning coat, sitting cross legged Indian style on the floor and braiding her hair into corn rolls.

"I'm fine. Just feeling a little homesick."

"Me too," Aspeth said and let out a sad sigh. "But at least there's a party tonight right?"

"You'll be going for the party?" I was surprised.

"Yeah. Why? Aren't you planning on going?" Her eyes grew wide.

"I don't really know. I just--" I shrugged.

"Everyone will be going Claire," she cut in, "and I'm not sure you'd want to stay in here alone. You know, ghosts and monsters and all."

"I don't believe in stuff like that," I said.

Aspeth stopped braiding her hair and gaped at me as if I had suddenly turned into a monster. "You're kidding right?"

"They're not real."

She opened her mouth to speak but closed it again. "Ghosts are real. Monsters are real too," she said serenely after a while.

I didn't want to argue any further.

"I'm going to see Peggy," I said, and jumped down from the windowsill.

She didn't say anything.

When I got to the door, I heard her ask in a quiet voice, "Did I say something to offend you Claire?"

I turned around and put on a smile. "Of course not Aspeth, everybody is entitled to their own opinion."

She smiled a sad smile. "Okay."

My head suddenly felt light and the room felt like it was undergoing a complete revolution. I gripped the door for support.

"Are you okay, Claire?" Aspeth asked.

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine." I rubbed my eyes and stepped out.

Another Deja Vu. What was happening to me?

***

I leaned back and stretched, glancing sideways to see Chelsie coming towards my side. She appeared so confident and beautiful and happy that a cool prickling feeling of jealousy filled my chest.

A bright green leaf floated onto my lap from the tree above me.

"Hey Claire." Her perfume filled the atmosphere as she sat, complementing perfectly the fresh scent of rain in the air.

"Hey Chelsie."

"Is everything okay with you?"

"Yeah," I tried to match the positive energy with with she'd asked the question.

We sat in silence for some seconds.

"I know we aren't the best of friends," Chelsie said, after a time, "but you know you can share with me anything that's bothering you right?"

I wasn't so sure about that, but there was something so tranquil and genuine about her that made me want to.

"I had this nightmare two days ago..." I fidgeted with the leaf in my hand and ripped it apart.

"Mhm?"

"So more like a deal with the devil?" Chelsie asked once I'd ended my perhaps too vivid narration.

"Huh?"

Chelsie scratched her neck. "The killings and everything started after that Read For Read deal right?"

I nodded. "Uhuh."

"Yeah, so the number of reads on your book suddenly rising and -"

I tried to ignore the small feeling of panic rising up my chest. Everything was beginning to fall into place, making sense.

"So whoever was behind the killings-"

"Yeah, was the same person you made the deal with." Chelsie added and laughed softly.

"But why would he want to kill me and my friends-"

"Can't you see it?" She whipped a stand of hair over her shoulder. "In your narration, you never once mentioned holding up your end of the deal-reading the person's book. So the person decided to seek revenge." Her voice rose at the end of the sentence, making it sound like a question.

"Oh my God."

Chelsie smiled tenderly at me. "Hey, relax. It's just a dream. Nothing's going to happen. You're-"

My eyes widened as it dawned on me. "What's the time?" I was beginning to feel giddy.

"What?"

"The time..." I tried to steady my breathing.

"6:23. Why?"

I clutched Chelsie's hand. "8 hours more."