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Emma turned and walked out of the bathroo behind her Who was this girl? Why did we look the same? Why was I invisible? And why couldn’t I re, nostalgic focus—the glittering sunset over the Catalinas, the s, the feel of cashs, the s, had become muffled and fuzzy, as if I’d lived ue shapes, but I couldn’t make out what they were I couldn’t remember what I’d done for any summer vacations, who my first kiss had been with, or what it felt like to feel the sun onWhat was ? And even worse, every second that passed, things got fuzzier and fuzzier Like they were disappearing

Like I was disappearing

But then I concentrated really hard and I heard a muffled scream And suddenly it was like I was soh my body, before a final, sleepy sensation ofAsover me

“Oh my God,” I whispered

No wonder Emma didn’t see me No wonder I wasn’t in the mirror I wasn’t really here

I was dead

Chapter 1

THE DEAD RINGER

Elass of iced tea out the back door of her new foster farumbled on the nearby expressway, and the air smelled heavily of exhaust and the local water treatment plant The only decorations in the backyard were dusty free weights, a rusted bug zapper, and kitschy terra-cotta statues

It was a far cry from my backyard in Tucson, which was desert-landscaped to perfection and had a wooden swing set I used to pretend was a castle Like I said, it eird and random which details I still remembered and which ones had evaporated away For the last hour, I’d been following E myself to remember my own Not like I had a choice Everywhere she went, I went I wasn’t entirely sure how I knew these things about Emma, either—they just appeared inup in an inbox I knew the details of her life better than I did my own

Eht-iron patio table, plopped down in a plastic lawn chair, and craned her neck upward The only nice thing about this patio was that it faced away froe swath of clear, uninterrupted sky The led halfway up the horizon, a bloated alabaster wafer Eht, familiar stars to the east At nine years old, Eht the Mom Star, the star on the left the Dad Star, and the s spot just below them the Emma Star She’dthat they were her real family and that one day they’d all be reunited on earth like they were in the sky

Emma had been in foster care for most of her life She’d never met her dad, but she remembered her mother, hom she had lived until she was five years old Her mo out the answers to Wheel of Fortune, dancing around the living roo tabloids that ran stories like BABY BORN FROM PUMPKIN! and BAT BOY LIVES! Becky used to send Eer hunts around their apart a tube of used lipstick or a ht Emma frilly tutus and lacy dresses from Goodwill for dress-up She read E up different voices for every character