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Her senses ca up new colors, as if she had cohts buzzed in her ears She could smell baitfish down by the bay

As Wally collapsed, she heard his last heartbeat

She gave a cry when her hoodie began stretching across her chest, her zipper ripping open The waist of her jeans cut into her sides What’s happening toclothes She was burning up From the blood?

She reached into the shower and twisted the tap on, as cold as she could get it When she scrubbed away the gang’s rerown soft as silk, the jaundiced color fading

She gaped down at her body She’d filled out, no longer sickly thin! No bones jutted Even better, she had tons of energy! She exited the shower and crossed to the basin with a spring in her step

She stared at her reflection An eerily pretty girl with gleaes highlighted her gaze like heavy eyeliner and hollowed her cheeks Her full lips were blood red

For kicks, she tried to return to her "ghost" form She went completely invisible, then dialed it back a notch to faint-ish Worked! The circles around her eyes deepened and her lips turned pale, yet even that appearance was pretty

To look and feel like this, all she had to do was steal others’ lifeblood?

She’d awakened a ghost; now she was a blood-drinker too A va at thevillain

Her heart soared This was her origin story She was going to be a legend (Secretly she’d known that too)!

Then her heart sank Thaddie Gotta get to his until she found JT’s s theed a jersey

With her revenge done, the urgency to find her brother overwhelmed her Could she teleport to him as well?

She pictured hi Jo strained to teleport Didn’t move an inch Do this the old-fashioned way She tore out of the house, running toward the neighborhood MizB had shown her on a library map Past the interstate, past the tower, past the pond

Right when Jo thought she’d maxed her speed, she increased it Trees and houses zoomed by She was like a rocket!

In hborhood She raised her face to scent the wind

Thaddie Close She followed his trail to a fancy house Outside, she leapt into a tree, peering in s Spotted hiined sitting beside him on that bed; suddenly, she was

Adult voices murmured just beyond the door The Braydens

God, Thaddie looked so small and vulnerable under the covers, his Spidey doll clutched in his tiny hand What if he’d been in the Thadpack when Wally had struck? What if he’ddied?

The host and body She had to get Thaddie out of here before the Braydens saw her "Wake up, baby bro," she whispered

He blinked open his eyes, sitting up in bed

"We gotta go, Thaddie"