Mom didn’t look away from me. She lifted the crown. “I would never fight you for something like this,” she said. “You’re my daughter.”

“Mom,” I said, voice strangled. Why couldn’t they see that this wasn’t me? That I was trying to stop myself, trying to save them.

Sebastian reached for his sword.

He would betray you, cut you down even though you are his sister. Traitor!

She wanted him dead, wanted his ashes in the dirt under my boots. Our boots. It was too confusing. The bats descended on Sebastian. His hands bled in rivulets when he covered his face, until Quinn threw one of the decorative shields at me to stop me. I wished he’d hit me with it. But I ducked, or Viola did.

“Don’t,” I begged, but to whom, I wasn’t sure. “Beware the royal daughter…”

They have to pay. Let me out, Solange. Let me out!

I exuded pheromones as hard as I could. “Kneel.” I gagged on the word, tried to clamp my lips shut together. No, Viola, please no.

My family members all knelt, struggling fruitlessly. Bats dipped and whipped over the heads of the other vampires, forcing them down on their knees as well. Constantine was the only one who remained standing, at my side, the air currents from so many bat wings whipping his hair about. My own lifted like silky black snakes, hovered.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

I snatched the crown out of Mom’s hands.

The moment it touched my head, my hair lifted higher, the bats screamed, and a wall of power exploded out of me, knocking everyone flat.

Chapter 27

Lucy

Saturday night, 9:30 p.m.

“Don’t be a wuss, Lucy.”

“Hello to you too,” I said as I picked my way through the prickly remains of a cornfield at the edge of Megan’s family farm because I’d promised Nathan I’d show my face at Megan’s party. I was wearing one of Logan’s old frock coats that he’d outgrown, over a white slip dress with lace at the hem and jeans. Cows mooed grumpily from the comfort of the barn. A light dusting of snow covered everything from the iron weathervane to the dead chrysanthemum on the border of a pumpkin patch. Jenna and Tyson were with me, moving with the stealth and grace you’d expect from a couple of young vampire hunters. Only they were here as fellow “art students” today. And Tyson was here under duress. I’d bribed him with an essay. I wasn’t really in the mood for a party but it was the only way to get out from under adult scrutiny for a few hours. And it appeased my school counselor.

And it might give me a chance to do some scouting in the area.

My boots crunched loudly as I left the lawn for the scraggly woods. I hadn’t been here in three years, but I knew there was a field on the other side. All I had to do was follow the flickering light of bonfires and the noise.

“Where are you?” Nathan asked. “You said you’d be here. I don’t care if there’s snow.”

“I’m here, you lunatic.”

“I don’t believe you.” He was pouting. Nathan didn’t pout unless he meant it.

“I can hear MJ DJing again,” I said to placate him. “She always plays the worst music no one can dance to.”

“You are here!” Nathan exclaimed before he hung up on me.

Climbing over a sagging wire fence bristling with ice and rust, I could smell the wood smoke when the wind shifted. The bonfires crackled and snapped invitingly as my old classmates milled around them wearing thick scarves and mittens. It was way too cold for a backfield party, but since it was the last one of the year, no one complained. Until spring the parties would have to be in basements and living rooms, too close to adult supervision for any real fun.

Megan’s parents had a profitable working farm; they weren’t selling crystals and homemade pickles and plowing snow in the winter to make ends meet the way mine did. Mom talked about this farm all the time. Apparently Megan’s grandmother grew the best squash. I hated squash. Regardless, Megan’s parents let her have parties out here when they were out of town. Possibly, they didn’t know about them.

“Try not to look like a cop,” I told Jenna. She shook her shoulders and tried again. “Or a bodyguard.”

She winced sheepishly. “I can’t help it.”

“Try looking scared to death like Tyson instead,” I suggested. Tyson just swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing frantically. I patted his shoulder. “You’d rather come face to fang with a Hel-Blar, wouldn’t you?”

“Hell, yeah. Way less scary than girls,” he muttered.

Jenna was trying not to look too curious. “And you want to take notes, don’t you?” I shook my head. “You guys are in serious need of socialization.”

“H-R is a small school,” Jenna agreed. “And a small world.”

I knew everyone, and it was easy to slip into the old rhythm. The only difference was that one of the school bullies, Peter, now went out of his way to avoid me. Christabel had kicked him in the balls for threatening Nathan. I was glad to see Peter avoided him too. Nathan, being far nicer than me, wouldn’t take advantage of the situation.

“Hey, Lucy.” Megan waved, tottering on a pair of boots with ridiculous heels. She wanted to be a big-city girl so badly she gave herself frostbite the year Crocs were in fashion. “Are you back?”

“Just visiting,” I said, accepting the paper cup of apple cider she passed me. There was an iron cauldron full of the stuff boiling over one of the fires. There was beer and cheap wine too, but I preferred something warm. Jenna and Tyson did the same. I knew they weren’t comfortable enough to let their guards down, not this close to the forest at night. And especially not with a Blood Moon going on. “Great turnout. Have you seen Nathan?”