His eyes dropped to her pendant. Her smile faded as she saw the look on his face. It reminded her of that time in the dining hall—the same look of shock, of disbelief. “Two more rubies,” he said, his voice strangled. “Two more rubies have fallen.”

Jaya’s gaze automatically dropped to her pendant. “Oh no,” she said, gently touching the empty sockets. “I’ve been thinking about just leaving this in my room until I can take it to a jeweler to get repaired—”

But when she looked up at him, he was shaking his head. “I was dancing with you,” he said, “and then two more rubies fell.”

“I’m not sure when they fell, exactly…,” Jaya said, not seeing the connection. She was about to ask him to explain what he meant when Daphne Elizabeth rushed by, looking nervous. The last strains of the song rang out at the same time, and a freckle-faced boy in her literature class—Adam? Alan?—came up and tapped Grey on the shoulder. “May I cut in?” he asked, smiling at Jaya.

No, you may not! Jaya wanted to yell. But she was fairly sure Aiden was the son of some famous diplomat.

Grey stepped wordlessly back to let the boy take his place.

Jaya forced her frustration down and let the new boy take her hand. Grey disappeared toward the far corner of the balcony.

As Jaya let herself be swept around in a waltz, her gaze snagged on Daphne Elizabeth again, who was now covertly looking over one shoulder and stepping through the French doors and into the interior of the building. Jaya scanned the rooftop. Caterina was engrossed in conversation with a group of other seniors, and Alaric was nowhere to be found.

When the song ended and the boy (Albert??) bowed deeply at his waist and took his leave, Jaya walked to the corner of the balcony where she’d seen Grey disappearing to.

He was gone, like some kind of superhero afraid of being unmasked. But why? They’d been talking and connecting—as much as Grey Emerson was capable of connecting with people, anyway. Jaya had felt like she was finally getting somewhere with him. And not just that, but she was finding herself… rather intrigued by Grey and whatever secrets he held so closely. Also, what had he been saying about the missing rubies in her pendant?

“Have you seen Grey?” Jaya asked Samantha Wickers, who was talking to a very tall girl in a killer Alexander McQueen, but she shook her head.

She looked around the rooftop, feeling uncertain, as she usually did after a conversation with Grey Emerson. Like she was two steps behind in a very complicated dance. Jaya let out a breath. What now? Well, she kind of had to visit the ladies’ room. Perhaps she could take a moment to do that and regroup.