You wouldn’t know it to look at her, standing there smiling at everyone like they were her favorite people in the world, but Maria knew exactly what she wanted. How much of her was real and how much was her playing at what she thought these people expected from her?

“Hey,” Kei said. “I’ve got a scary story, actually.”

“Oh, come on,” Lily said. “Just because the lights went out that doesn’t mean we have to pretend we’re at a little kids’ slumber party.”

“What’s the matter, Lily, you scared?” Mateo grinned at her. “It’s just another blackout. What, you think La Llorona’s gonna get you in the dark?”

Lily kept her lips in a tight line. Most girls cheered up when Mateo teased them, but Lily wasn’t most girls.

When Mateo turned away, he saw Maria looking right at him. Her face was pale, her eyes narrow.

“What did you say?” she asked Mateo.

“What? About your roommate being a wuss?”

“No, the other part.”

Maria looked drunk all of a sudden. Really drunk. Mateo felt bad for not noticing sooner.

“You sure you’re okay?” Mateo asked her.

Maria must’ve imagined it. He couldn’t have said La Llorona’s name. No one knew about La Llorona except Maria.

And her old nanny, Altagracia. But Altagracia was dead.

“I’m okay,” she told Mateo.

She was not at all okay. Tonight was not a normal night. “Okay, so here’s my story,” Kei said. “Back in the Civil War, there were a bunch of Union officers camped out here, using the house as their command base, and there was a mutiny, and—”

“Everybody knows that story,” Tamika interrupted him. “The ambassadors tell it to you on the tour.”

Maria’s eyes drifted in and out of focus as she gazed from face to face. Room parties always felt endless.

“Yeah, but did you know the security guards still hear them?” Kei said. “They said you can hear the soldiers marching out on the grounds at night. They say that one lieutenant—the one who was shot by his own soldiers—you can still hear screaming at midnight when the moon’s full.”

“Oh, that’s so not true,” Emily said.

“I’ve never heard any soldiers, and I’ve been going to this school since the fourth grade,” Ryan said.

“Yeah, that’s bull,” Tamika said. “Like the one about the ghost of the old lady who’s supposed to come sit on your chest and smother you at night. Or the rampaging Indian spirits who stalk little kids. I mean, come on.”

“They’re not Indians, they’re Native Americans,” Caitlin said. “And you’d be pissed too if your land got invaded and your whole tribe got slaughtered.”

“Yes, please, tell me more about the evil things white folks have done,” Tamika said.

“Has anybody ever seen the kids on the lake?” Caitlin asked.