Chapter One ~ House of Dust

We don't allow flowers on the psych ward.

After sixteen-year-old Ari Jones overhears a nurse forbidding roses, she's determined to rid herself of anxiety-induced hallucinations. That means burying her panic attacks on the compost heap. But Samael Lowood-a ghost with a smile like winter-refuses to cooperate.

When a demonic mailman appears in Ari's bedroom and offers a deal--the return of her father in exchange for a long-lost Nanorian--Sam opens a doorway to an afterlife for corrupted souls. There, surrounded by snow-dusted roses and eternal night, he tells Ari about the Nanorian: a demon's heart stolen over a hundred years ago.

With Sam's help, Ari sets out to find the Nanorian and rescue her father. But even gentlemanly ghosts have agendas. When Ari learns the Nanorian grants the innermost desire of whomever knots it around their neck, she realizes the wrong choice is as devastating as a killing frost. Though Sam claims he wants the Nanorian destroyed, his story doesn't add up. Either he's lying, or he's believed a lie for over a century.

Excerpt:

Amusement lifted the corners of his mouth. "My name is Samael Lowood."

She took a step closer. "I know who you are. I heard about your mur...about what happened to you."

"Good," he replied. "I won't have to explain that bit."

Enough talking. Ari closed her eyes and dug her nail into the cut on her finger. Are you real or a hallucination? Fire bloomed in her hand, bright and white-hot. She concentrated on the flames, stoking them until her legs trembled, until every nerve was as charred as her mom's pancakes. And now... Her heart clattered as she opened her eyes.