"Yeah, no." Sascha takes another swig off her water bottle. "Hey, did you hear Margo's mom got her real estate license? It's gonna be surreal seeing her squinty-eyed face on for sale signs around town."

I nod. "My mom told me."

"Hey, I finally checked out your mom's website," Sascha says. "I loved the description of the witch b.a.l.l.s! Something about how they harken back to the days when it was believed witches and evil spirits roamed."

"Yeah, I got a kick out of that, too," I say. "They're actually selling really well, and she casts a spell on each one so if an evil spirit did show up at someone's house, it would get trapped in the ball."

"Speaking of which, did you get around to putting your ball in a safe deposit box yet, Dani?"

"My mom did-though I still don't see what was wrong with it sitting in my sock drawer."

"Maybe by the time we get home, someone will have found a spell to restore your soul," I say.

Dani scoffs. "I keep telling you all, I'm fine with the way things are, and I don't want the other vamps making fun of me. Besides, I'm a lot more fun now, right, snuggims?"

"You were fun before."

They giggle, and I shake my head. It'd be nice to have her soul back in place, if only to restore her inner censors.

"Well, hopefully we can locate the necklace quickly, get it to Mr. Big Naked Purple Guy, and then start some partying," Sascha says.

"Yeah," I agree. "I'm still burnt-out from finals."

"At least you got to take them," Dani says.

I turn around and look back at Dani. "Are you serious? You were forever stressing out and complaining about tests!"

"But I liked the grades afterward. And getting a GED is not the same as standing on the stage getting a diploma."

"Trust me, you didn't miss a thing," Michael says. "It was like ninety degrees in the gym, and Evan's valedictorian speech about ships getting ready to set sail was riddled with cliches. I was hoping one of you would throw a spell at him and end our misery!"

Finn laughs. "I wanted to tell him to keep it short, but after I told him Dani and I hooked up, I'm not exactly his favorite person."

"He's being such a baby about it," Dani says. "He's the one who dumped me-he didn't even give the new me a chance."

I look out the window and wonder for the millionth time about Connor. Would I have given him another chance? I shake my head. Probably not. Too much had happened, and being able to trust someone implicitly-like Michael-shows me what I was missing.

I watch the moon whip by just above the trees on the side of the road. It's been seven months since Connor was taken away, and I still have nightmares each and every night about what might be happening to him. I can't help but feel guilty, like I should have done more to stop it. Especially since it was Connor's mistake that freed the rest of us.

Sort of.

I glance at the rolled-up parchment the demon-whose purple hue prompted Dani to dub him "Brimstone Barney"- gave us. The necklace is with a human, which means breaking and entering instead of slicing and dicing. And with Dani's morphing ability it should be a fairly easy task.

Who knows how long we'll be working for the demon, but at least there's hope of a soulful death, and that's something worth living for.

end.