I did not—could not—look at Lina, so I’d kept my eyes on the council. “The whole thing ends with awards for best costumes and best parade floats. The committee says people always stay for that part, because you have to be present to claim your prize.”

I had gone on to declare that I could not only extend the event into the night but also get most of the crowd inside the school, where they’d be more easily surrounded. With every promise, I’d assured myself that I was saving lives, not the least of all, our own. It came down to our mortality versus their town, and it was no contest. Wasn’t Nowhere the kind of place everyone was trying to escape anyway?

If that was selfish, I could live with that. And if all went according to plan, I would live with it . . . for a very long time.

“And how, precisely, do you plan to do all that?” Reg had asked nervously at my side.

“I’ll figure it out.”

“See that you do,” Adante had said.

Then he’d read from the flyer. “‘October 31, from sunup to sundown.’” He’d smiled as he folded the paper and pocketed it once more. “Sundown, indeed.”

Lina’s voice pulled me from the candlelit basement back to the dim interior of her car.

“I agree you had little choice,” she said. “They are the Elder Seat. You are a human trying to reclaim your place among them. They know full well the position you are in. It’s a weakness, and they exploited it.”

“What about you though?” I asked. “You have no weaknesses.”

She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Oh, I absolutely do. A weakness for humans, for one thing. Certain humans in particular . . .”

“But I saw the way they all respect you.”

“They fear me.”

“Same thing.”

She shook her head. “Not remotely. They fear the mental instability of some Ancients far more than they fear our strength and speed. There is a reason Elders are the governing body and not Ancients. Vampire minds grow tired, if not old. Some lose their grip on reality altogether. We must follow the law to keep the system from collapsing, and the Elder Seat is best suited to make and enforce those laws . . . even if I don’t always agree with them.”

I hesitated. “And you don’t agree this time?”

“I agree that you should have the chance to reclaim your lives. I just wish our friends and neighbors didn’t have to pay the price.”

“Do you think we should have refused?” Reg’s question floated up from the back seat, and I heard in his question the same needling doubt I was feeling.