They both turn to me, and I’m not sure I should have blurted that out, but I can’t take it back now. And I really don’t want to. I want to tell somebody. I wave at them to follow me over to the bed and start spreading out Mom’s journal pages and pictures again. “This is my mom. She used to be part of this. So I know full-fledged magicians can leave. She did. But you’re right. The Society doesn’t like when people leave. I’m not supposed to let anyone know I’m her daughter. At least not yet.”

“Why’d she leave?” Nadine asks. “How’d she do it? Did she send you here?”

Each question hurts a little too much.

“Her mom’s dead,” Willow says.

Nadine’s eyes darken like none of this makes her feel any better.

“A vampire killed her,” I say. “She didn’t die here.”

“But she left,” Nadine says, picking up the photo of Lucius and my mom. Her eyes narrow. “Do you know him? You talked to him like you did.” Suspicion drips from her voice.

“I was pissed. I don’t actually know him from anywhere except this photo. I never knew any of this existed. My mom… she always told me magic wasn’t real.”

Nadine’s brows draw together. “Why would she do that if there was anything good about this place?”

I want to tell them about my dad, and how she left for love, but it feels like a sweet lie I’ve been holding on to since I spoke to Julia. Because there’s something else that’s not adding up. Julia told me not to dig. You tell someone that only if there’s something buried. So instead I say, “We moved around a lot when I was a kid… I think she was running from something. Someone. I thought it was vampires, but I don’t know that for sure.”

I look at the picture of Lucius and my mom again—how he’s staring at her and not at the camera. It’s strange. There’s a possessiveness in the way he leans toward her.

“Have you asked anyone about her?” Willow asks.

“Xander didn’t know. I asked him as soon as I recognized Lucius. But I’m not walking around polling people either.” I decide not to mention Julia quite yet.

“Because you don’t trust them,” Nadine says.

“I rarely trust anyone.”

“But now we trust each other.” Willow stands between us, looking back and forth. “I say we do some snooping.”

“Tonight?” I ask. My bones feel tired, but my mind buzzes.

“Are any of us really going to sleep?” Nadine asks.