CHAPTER 1 Ahhhh Lucy O’Connell let out a bloodcurdling scream and waved her arms in front of her as she backed into a corner of her bedroom Get it away from me Eww Ewww Her best friend Emma Donovan laughed and hopped up from the bed where she’d been sitting while she scrolled through pictures on her phone Chill out Lucy she said It’s just a moth I don’t care what it is It dive-bombed my face Lucy said shuddering Emma snorted back laughter She watched as the winged insect fluttered around Lucy’s bedroom finally landing on the domed ceiling light Its brown and black speckled wings twitched and then closed Emma dragged a wooden chair from the desk
climbed onto it and reached up to the light Slowly calmly she cupped her hands around the moth Then she said Open the window Luce Lucy nose still wrinkled in disgust dashed to the window and threw it open A cool wind snaked inside and wrapped itself around Emma making her shiver Emma could feel the moth’s wings tickle her palms as she reached her cupped hands out the window She released the moth watching it fly up into the darkening October sky until it disappeared Then she closed the window again There she said It’s gone Better Much Thanks Lucy said letting out a deep breath No prob Though no sixteen-year-old liked to admit it most still held on to their childhood fears Some were afraid of the dark some of heights and some as in Lucy’s case apparently of harmless insects searching for light and warmth Not Emma though Emma didn’t get scared Emma had always been fearless She’d always been the first to catch a snake or a frog or a millipede The first to climb to the top of the jungle gym in elementary school balancing atop it as easily as an Olympic gymnast
One Halloween when Emma was nine years old her older brother Peter had tried to pull a prank on her He’d dressed up as a scarecrow and sat in a plastic chair on the front porch of their house his arms and legs and head dangling limp pretending to be nothing more than flannel and overalls and a mask stuffed with straw When Emma had returned home from trick-or-treating a pillowcase full of candy slung triumphantly over one shoulder Peter had leaped from his chair right in front of her and snarled in his best undead scarecrow voice Boo Emma didn’t jump She didn’t scream or cry or drop her trove of goodies and run away in fear like Peter had hoped she would Instead Emma’s reaction had been to punch the scarecrow right in its face She’d given Peter a black eye that his friends would not let him live down for the rest of the school year Lucy shaking off her fear of moths went back to rummaging in her closet The guys will be here any minute she said Unless they’re already here Can you check Emma glanced out the window at the tree-lined street outside Lucy’s house Lamps were sparking to life leaving pools of light and long shadows of
