But what do you do when there’s a bunch of boys looking expectantly at you? You can’t punk out.

Graves had a faint line between his eyebrows, and I wished I had time to talk to him. Alone.

“What are they like?” I tried not to sound like a scaredy-cat and tucked some of my hair nervously

behind one ear.

“Assholes,” Graves replied promptly. “They interrogated Bobby and Dibs together. Almost made

Dibs cry. But they’re just assholes.”

Benjamin coughed. He’d flushed a little. “They’re the Council. The heads of the Order, each one a

warrior against the darkness. They won’t hurt you, Milady. You’re the most hopeful thing we’ve

seen in twenty years.”

Now there was an interesting statement. I opened my mouth, but he stepped back.

“We’ll wait here for you.” He gave Graves a narrow-eyed, meaningful look. “Him too, if he wants.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Graves folded his arms and leaned against the wall between two empty

marble pedestals. The velvet hangings framing him just made him look scruffier and more unshaven. He was starting to get a definite bloom of dark stubble on his cheeks now. I didn’t think

half-Asians ever got stubble. It made his cheeks less babyish, and the new faintly mocking expression helped.

Back in the Dakotas, he’d looked eager, or pained. With that edge of desperation that loners have—

the black sheep, the ones cut out of the crowd. I think even normal people can smell that powdery

bloom of not belonging. It’s all over the kids who get tripped, beat up, practical-joked, and just

plain savaged all the time.

Now he just looked unpleasantly amused and unsurprised. A big change.

I swallowed hard. Approached the doors, one soft sneaker-clad step at a time.

“Dru.” Graves clicked his lighter, and I heard the inhale of another cigarette starting up. Boy was

gonna get lung cancer in no time. Did loup-garou get cancer?

If I went to classes here, would I be able to ask?

“What?” I stopped, but I didn’t turn around, watching the door. I’d heard a little about the Council.

Not enough to know anything except Anna was one of them. Would she be in there? Graves hadn’t

said anything about seeing another svetocha. She was supposed to be a secret.

Anna. A shiver touched my back. She’d tried to make me believe Christophe killed my mother. I

still couldn’t figure out why, unless she just plain hated him.

Christophe had made it sound like it was the Order against the suckers. It looked like it was the Order against itself, too. You’d think people would band together, but if there’s one thing I’ve seen all

over America, it’s people shooting themselves in the foot like this over and over again.

Graves exhaled, hard. “I’ll be right here. You yell; I’ll be in there.”