Elliot Davenport is fourteen, asthmatic, and small enough that the boys at school don't bother learning his name before shoving him into lockers. When his family moves from Ohio to a three-story Victorian in Marblehead, Massachusetts, a house so colorful the neighbors call it the Painted Lady, Elliot claims the attic bedroom because no one else wants it.

The girl who lives up there has been dead since 1918.

Violet Marsh was fifteen when the Spanish Flu quarantined her in this room. She watched the harbor through the window and waited for someone to come. No one came. She died alone, and she's been alone ever since.

Elliot can see her. They talk every night after his parents fall asleep. Two invisible people who understand exactly what it means when the world looks through you like you aren't there.

From the attic windows, Violet watches the neighbor's house. She sees what Elliot can't: Cody Brennan, the boy who makes Elliot's life hell, flinches every time his father enters the room.

On a Thursday in November at 2:47 AM, the Brennan house catches fire. Mr. Brennan is on the lawn. Mrs. Brennan is trapped inside.

Elliot runs into the fire without thinking. He pulls Mrs. Brennan out. She tells him Cody is still upstairs.

Elliot goes back in. For the boy who broke his nose. For the boy who called him invisible.

Cody isn't there. He snuck out hours ago.

The floor gives way.