They go down to the tent, which is still in the pool. Cass gets stoned, stretches out on her back, and zones out, rubbing the corner of a thin, gauzy blanket carefully against her cheek.

It turns to the golden hour. Light spills through the canvas, turning her into a creature made of shadow and cream. She’s dappled with shocks of color, streaks and splotches of pink and red and yellow. A breeze blows through the tent’s unzipped flap. The air is thin and dry, soft with the scent of sage that grows wild around the property, at least where Ryan’s gardeners haven’t cut it back.

Lulu didn’t see Ryan bring the camera in with them, but then he lifts it to his eye. Because it’s digital, there’s no sound when he takes a picture. Cass doesn’t even seem to notice he’s doing it. He said he was documenting The Hotel, but Lulu has only ever really seen him take pictures of girls.

“Ryan says there’s a curse on this place,” she says, mostly to get Cass’s attention.

But Cass keeps her eyes closed. “Yeah,” she agrees. “He says that.”

“You don’t believe in it either?”

“No one should believe in it,” Cass says. “But Ryan likes talking about it because it makes him sound fearless. As if it’s anything to be afraid of. It isn’t. It’s just— You know how it is.”

“I don’t,” Lulu says.

“Beautiful women and their faces. What aren’t they responsible for?”

“I’ve never said it was anyone’s fault,” Ryan says.

“If there is a curse, she’s the one who cursed it. Connie.”

“Okay, Cass, fine. Sorry for being the patriarchy.”

Lulu bristles on Cass’s behalf at Ryan’s tone, which has the hint of a sneer. But Cass doesn’t seem to hear that, or if she does, it doesn’t bother her.

“It’s not your fault,” she says. “It’s just how it is when people tell stories about girls. Like they’re unnatural forces or something. Witches. If she was beautiful, of course she had to end up cursed.”

Lulu feels like she’s lost track of the conversation. She turns to Ryan to see what he’s making of it, and catches him in the act of taking a picture of her. Which means that he’s noticed it, probably, that she isn’t hiding it the way she wanted to—the way Lulu’s face looks when she looks at Cass.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“YOU’RE STILL COMING on Friday, right?”

Lulu was already halfway home from her second final before she realized she’d just ditched Bea again. She sent a Flash apology filmed while driving, her saying “B, I’m risking life and limb and the world’s most expensive ticket to apologize, I feel like shit, I’m so sorry,” and didn’t get anything back.