“She must have performed sentry spells—guards around the kind of magic that could damage her plans. Sort of like the barrier around town but more specific.”

His memories of the wreck came flooding back. Looking down at that shattered car, seeing Nadia there, bloodied and trapped in the muck—that was what Elizabeth’s barrier had done. Any step outside the margins Elizabeth had set for them could mean death. “If that’s how we’re going to stop her—but she can sense that we’re doing it—”

“I know.” Her voice was so tired, so shaky. Mateo wanted to put his arms around her; if they hadn’t been in the middle of the quad, with Verlaine only a couple of feet away and people walking by every second, he would have. “I’ll have to think of another way, or—or I’ll have to wait until Elizabeth’s in the middle of her own magic, when she might be too deep in one spell to cast another, or too distracted to notice.”

Verlaine chewed on a fingernail. “Waiting until the last possible second doesn’t sound like the ideal A-game.”

Nadia nodded. “Believe me, I know. But we’re so out of our depth here.”

For a few seconds they all sat there, depressed and slightly scared—and then Gage suddenly sat down at the table with them. “Hey, guys. What’s up?”

“Hey,” they all said in unison. Mateo thought they couldn’t have sounded sadder if the funeral march had been playing.

“Whoa. You guys look like your dogs just died.” Gage paused. “Oh, wait, did somebody’s dog actually die? If so, I’m sorry. Way sorry.”

“No dead dogs,” Mateo said. He managed an expression that might pass for a smile. “What’s happening with you?”

“Something that should cheer you guys up, so I’m guessing I got here in the nick of time. Night before Halloween, my aunt’s place on the beach, it’s party time. An actual fun party, Mateo—you might want to check one of those out sometime. Not the same jerks standing around being rude to one another while everybody acts cool.”

“A party?” Verlaine frowned in confusion, like that was a word in English she didn’t know yet. Then again—nobody had ever asked Verlaine to any of the parties before; at least Mateo had never seen her out. Probably she wasn’t used to being invited. For his part, Gage only now seemed to have realized he’d asked Verlaine, too, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Mateo said, “The jerks are still going to be there, though. They always show up.”

“Yeah, but after the first hour they’ll blow it off because they’re too cool, and then the rest of us can enjoy ourselves.”

“Like, Kendall Bender would be there?” Verlaine didn’t look reassured. “I can think of more fun things to do than hang out with her. Lots more. Up to and including reorganizing my dads’ spice rack.”

That was weird—Mateo didn’t usually think of Kendall as being that bad. Yeah, she was as dumb as a box of hair, and about equally sensitive, but it wasn’t like she went out of her way to be mean to anyone. Well, anyone except Jinnie, but those two hated each other and Jinnie was one of the jerks.