And solid. She looked at Xian, imagined touching her, and her eyes watered.
“They never get caught up in the warfare?” Eddie asked.
“No. Not them, not their friends. The Prettygirls rise above it all.”
“And they decide who’s the human sacrifice each year,” Jake grunted.
Ling shook her head. “The spooks use us to fight each other through the first term, until winter break. When we come back to classes in January, whichever haunt’s won, whichever group’s strongest, they take an outcast . . .”
“And eat him?” Jake asked.
“This year, it’s Boys’ Basketball.” She shivered. Their kraken had been drooling over Eddie from day one of the school year. “To stay off the menu, you need to have a spook of your own. You have to qualify to get into a club.”
“Qualify,” Eddie repeated.
“Rite of passag
