framed by the shabby, plush textures of the study.

Which presented an interesting choice. Did I slide right past her, hunching my shoulders and being

the good little nerd, or did I say fuck it and call her on this cheerleader bullshit? I seriously had to

pee, and she was top of the heap here at the Schola.

But Anna hadn’t told anyone here about me. What kind of secret was I, for her? Was she “protecting” me? Even though the vampires had found me after all?

She wanted me to hate Christophe, too. Why?

More questions. And I had half a second to decide what I was going to do.

I squared my shoulders, tilted my chin up, suppressed a bacon-smelling burp, and walked straight

for her. Hiro made a graceful, blurring movement, and before I knew it he was somehow in front of

me. Anna stepped aside, smart as you please, and I sailed past her like I was on a parade float.

“Dru.”

I looked over my shoulder. The thought—I turned my back on her—made my skin tingle with

awareness. Like waiting for the slap of a paper sign taped to the back. Or the prick of a knife blade

sliding through cloth.

Anna leaned against the open door, just like an illustration in a fashion magazine. Perfect, poreless,

and with a sweetly poisonous smile. Another nasty, tiny little thought struggled in the back of my

head, then drowned in the need to find a bathroom really, really quick.

“What?” As in, What do you want now?

“Welcome to the Schola Prima, sister.” Her glossy mouth quirked up at one corner, a half-smile that

held no warmth. “We’re going to be great friends.”

If she was aiming for sarcasm, she was doing a pisspoor job of it. “Yeah. Great to be here.” I didn’t

have to work to sound snide. “I wonder who’s going to try to kill me next.”

I followed Hiro’s narrow back through the hall, and the uncarved door shut behind us with a dry little click.

“That was unwise.” He avoided the chairs with an ease that spoke of long habit and led me through

the mahogany door, and I had the sudden sense that I was in an air lock. No windows in here, no

sunlight coming in. Just the fire and electric lights, and when the study closed itself up behind me,

there was no air moving.

You’d think djamphir would want all the daylight they could get.

“What?” I really, really wanted to find a toilet. Next time I drank coffee, it wasn’t going to be by the

gallon. And good luck getting any sleep for awhile. My heart was pounding, both from caffeine and

from the persistent idea that I was somehow in some kind of danger.