“the demon shrieked.“ You will pay for that! Ethan laughed. “ Whatever, dude. I live in a little town. That’s payment enough.”

“Angie breathed deeply, then turned ten shades of puce. “Aren’t you guys dead? Why are you still able to fart?” I laughed at her. “What are you talking about?”“It seriously stinks in here, and it wasn’t that bad a minute ago.”“I didn’t fart,” I said defensively.“And if I farted, you’d be dead,” finished Ethan.”

“Bro, get in the shadows . You’re just hanging it all out there for every one to see .”Ethan grinned at me. “Maybe everyone wants to see it .”

“Nearing two a.m., Liam stretched and yawned, smiling at me. “Don’t you have jet-lag or something? I’ve kept you up too late.” His smile was impossible not to reciprocate. I could feel a smile blossoming unwillingly across my face. “It’s okay. Your mom paid me to stay up and talk to you.” He didn’t even miss a beat. “Well that’s good, since Emily sent a check over in advance for my services to keep you out of trouble.”

“You know I’m here no matter what, right?” “Yeah, I know. I appreciate it.” “You mean the world to me.” I buried my face into his shoulder. “You know you mean the world to me, too.” “I’m serious, though.  If we could make some money off of you…”

“I liked this.  I liked this a lot.  Memaw said a boy would woo me.  I had just been wooed in one evening’s conversation.  If my hunch was right, he seemed to be wooed by me as well. He wasn’t even blind. This could be good.”

“It was obvious why humans weren’t supposed to know when they were going to die. They became basket cases.”