"I feel like we should start singing We're off to see the wizard," Jade said.

"This isn't a yellow-brick road Jade," Dave said, gesturing to the cracked concrete.

"And neither of us is a scarecrow or a lion or made of tin," John added. Definitely not the scarecrow, Dave thought to himself, eyeing the crows that were perched in trees and on telephone poles.

"Whatever, I just felt like we should sing it!" Jade pouted and rolled her eyes at them. Dave noticed that since she'd become a werewolf her eyes had a more wolfish look to them. They were actually really pretty. Whatever. That's just something friends notice about each other.

A few minutes later they arrived at Rose's. She greeted them carrying Jaspers in her arms.

"Hello," she said. Jaspers looked up at them.

"Ooh! It's Rose's friends!" he said. Dave did a double-take. Did he just talk?!

"Come in," Rose said, stepping aside. John and Jade walked inside as if nothing had happened, which meant they hadn't heard Jaspers. Okay, am I going insane then? Because cats don't normally talk—wait a minute!

"Did any of you bring me tuna?" Jaspers asked. That's when Dave realized Jaspers's voice was inside his head. Oh my god. He's undead. He died and Rose brought him back to life. Wait, but his eyes are…okay but there's no other way I could hear him so…Rose put contact lenses on him?! God, what the hell is going on now?!

Dave walked calmly with his friends to Rose's room. He kept his poker face on and gave no sign whatsoever that he could understand what Jaspers was saying. But inside he was panicking. Just being in the same room as Jaspers was freaking him out. He was paranoid Rose would notice and figure out his secret. She was the last person he wanted to figure it out.

"Okay, so we're studying, right?" Jade asked. "School or supernatural?"

"School, sorry," Rose said. "We don't want to fail now, do we?"

"Fiiine," Jade whined. She and John sat down and Rose got some textbooks out.

"I gotta go to the bathroom first," Dave said. Rose sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Be fast," she said. Dave nodded and walked out of the room. Once he was down the hall he sent a mind-message to Jaspers.

"Come with me."

"Are we going to get fish?"

"Sure, I'll give you some fish after you help me out."

A few seconds later Jaspers came trotting up to him. He purred and looked up at him expectantly.

"I'll give you fish in a minute," Dave said. "Can you answer some questions for me?" Of course he wasn't going to talk out loud in case Rose's mom heard him.

"Sure!"

"You died, didn't you?"

"I don't know, I might have."

"What do you remember happening after we went after that risen yesterday night?"

"I woke up on the floor and there was a strange drawing on it. There were a bunch of unlit candles too. Rose gave me a hug." Jaspers purred fondly as he said the last bit.

"Where was this?"

"The basement."

"Can you show me where that is?"

"Sure! Will I get fish after that?"

"Yeah, I'll grab you some from the kitchen once I'm done with this."

"Oh boy! Follow me!"

Dave followed Jaspers downstairs and down a hallway he'd never even noticed before. They soon came to a set of stairs. Jaspers bounded down them, avoiding a few of the steps. Dave avoided them too, just to be on the safe side. He had to be fast though. He figured he had maybe another minute before Rose came looking for him.

"In here!" Jaspers called. Dave walked into the room and flicked the lights on. What he saw took the breath out of him.

It was the same diagram drawn on the floor. The candles arranged in the same way. And the broken bowl and the blood stain. Memories began to flash before Dave's eyes: Dirk calling his name, the evil gods' garbled language, pain, her smile, the crows, the-

Dave gasped and collapsed against the wall. He clutched his head and willed the memories to stop. He didn't want to think about it. He wished he could just forget what had happened. But he never could. The crows were always there, a constant reminder.

"What are you doing here?!" Dave felt Rose grab his arms and drag him up the stairs. She kept mumbling "You saw nothing, you saw nothing, you saw nothing!"

"I saw nothing," Dave agreed. He could hardly hear himself. He was aware of Jaspers calling after him about fish, and he might have mumbled a response, but he wasn't sure. He didn't snap out of it until Jade touched his cheek.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Dave blinked. Her hand was nice and warm against his skin, which he realized had become colder than normal. Her eyebrows were knit together with worry and there was just a small hint of fear in her wolfish eyes. Dave immediately decided they didn't look as good like that.

"I'm fine," he said quickly.

"You sure?" John asked. "You look like you might puke." Dave swallowed and wished John hadn't said that.

"Yeah, I'm definitely fine."

"In light of this, I think we should skip studying," Rose said. John and Jade cheered. "We'll go outside instead. I'll get lemonade."

"Alright! Come on Dave!" Jade grabbed his arm and dragged him along with her and John. As they passed by Rose, she gave him a steely glare. He got the message: don't breathe a word of what you saw. Dave didn't intend to. But he was definitely questioning her later. He wanted to know what the evil gods had said to her, and why they'd let her live.

But before he could do that, he had to frolic with John and Jade. He didn't mind. He could do that all day if they asked him to.

"Fish?" Jaspers asked, looking up at Dave.

"Later Jaspers," Dave responded. "I gotta play with these two a bit."

"Play! That's fun! I'll join you!"

Dave briefly wondered if Jaspers could smell the wolf on Jade. Then he got spun around in a circle and stopped wondering. He just focused on the sound of Jade's laughter instead.