I’m about to explain to Xander what’s happening before he snaps Adam in two, but before I can open my mouth, Aristelle lets out a vicious scream. Her skin steams under the hands that hold her.

“Dunk her again,” Stacie screeches.

No. I turn to Stacie, my mouth opening in shock. Nothing quite makes sense. My former high school world and my magic world don’t belong together at all.

The vamps aren’t fast enough. Aristelle’s arms ignite, and they drop her and move out of the water in a blur. Pausing, they share a look with each other.

I’ve never seen Aristelle so on fire. It gives the scene an eerie light, as if we’re all standing on the brink of some kind of portal to hell.

“Get back here and help us,” Adam yells.

“Sorry, man,” says a vamp that looks like he spent the morning surfing. “You said easy magician blood. I like surfing in the sun, but not enough to take on four.” He sprints off into the night with the girl following close behind.

“Four against two now,” Xander says. “You’re going to regret this.”

“Stacie?” I ask, because it just seems like a reasonable question.

Xander straightens from his stance for a fraction of a second and glances back at me. “You know this leech?”

Everything explodes like a scene from an action movie. Adam springs like a cat toward Xander’s turned shoulder, but I don’t see whether he lands the hit or not.

Stacie lunges forward with superhuman speed. She’s nothing but a flash of blond, glowing red in Aristelle’s burning light.

The word “vampire” screams in my head, but it refuses to connect with the bubbly, boy-obsessed girl who paints her nails a different shade of pink every day. Boy-obsessed or blood-obsessed? Maybe all those dates weren’t what they seemed. But it makes no sense—we’ve been friends for a few years. How could she pretend for that long? How much magician blood did she have to drink? I’m trying to make it fit when cold hands with what I’m sure are hot-pink nails grip my upper arms from behind. The very tip of something sharp brushes against my neck along with sticky lip gloss.

I’d freeze if I weren’t already standing like a statue.

My knife plinks into the water, and I realize my hands drip with cold sweat.

Vampire. Vampire. It’s not Stacie at all anymore—it’s this one word drumming in my head.

Xander and Reina have Adam pinned against the brick wall. His head snaps back and forth between them, but it’s clear he’s no match for the two of them together. Aristelle stands in front of him with a stake in one hand and a ball of fire in the other. Her damp hair clings to her cheeks. She lines the stake up with his chest.