Dead Weight

Everyone has a thing. Some people bake. Some people binge true crime podcasts. Seventeen-year-old Salem Whitlock? She really, really wants to murder people. And not in the haha what if I just stabbed Chad way. No—Salem has an itch. A magical, bone-deep craving that festers under her skin like wildfire until it's unbearable. It's a family trait, passed down like a cursed casserole recipe. Her mother made her swear not to kill anyone until her eighteenth birthday. "Be responsible with your impulses," she said. "Make your first kill mean something." So Salem waits. She journals. She daydreams. She sharpens knives and avoids group projects. Then her birthday hits. And the itch is raging. Enter Wyatt Morrison. Arrogant, manipulative, the kind of guy who thinks he's a gift to women and insults you while asking for your number. He's a perfect first kill. And Salem? She's feeling generous. One murder, a messy ritual, and a suspiciously casual "oops" later… and Wyatt is still here. Dead. But still here. Now Salem has a ghost problem. Wyatt's spirit is bound to her through the unfinished spell—and while he's surprisingly chill about being murdered by a girl with eyeliner sharp enough to kill on its own, he's also incredibly annoying. He haunts her locker, critiques her murder technique, and insists on being her afterlife wingman. Worse? The school is investigating his death. Her magic is getting stronger. The itch is back. And every time Salem thinks she might be in control… someone else ends up bleeding. Oh, and she might be falling for the dead guy she killed. Which, as it turns out, is so much more complicated than murder.