When I fling open the door to find Hope and Adriana waiting tensely in the hallway, I burst into unashamed tears. “W-what are you guys doing here? Didn’t you leave?”

“Not a chance!” Adriana pushes me back inside, throwing her arms around me.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your thoughts,” Hope says, her cheeks pink, “but I could tell how freaked out you were down in the lobby. We figured you might want some company afterward.”

“We hid until Marcus and Abuela left, and then we came up.” Adriana wraps her arms around me a little tighter. “This is the apartment where they met with Hope, too.”

I’m a wreck; I can’t stop crying, and I can’t stop hugging them. We shuffle to the sofa as a unit and collapse into it, and within a few minutes I’ve told them everything. The girls hold hands while they listen, and there’s a tiny ache in my heart, but this time only a fraction of it is envy. I’m glad they have each other. I don’t want the world to end for them.

“I’m still not sure I trust the coven,” I admit, squeezing my hands together in my lap. “But it’s not like they’re just going to leave if I say I won’t play ball.” A lump forms in my throat, and it takes me two tries to swallow it down. “Apparently, Friday night is when it’s all supposed to go down, and they’ll come for the Corrupter whether I make it easy or not.”

“They’re not the only ones,” Adriana chimes in fretfully. “Those Knights won’t care if this thing comes back in a hundred years, so long as they stop the apocalypse—and even if they learn about the coven, they won’t take chances. They’re still going to want you dead.”

“And the vampires will want to keep you alive.” Hope bites her lip. “They’ll just raise the pressure—try to make you pick one of them before it’s too late.”

“Why are you here?” Adriana blurts the question, swinging her arms around. With the sun shining through the windows, the apartment is spare but cheerful; it has molded ceilings, exposed brick walls, and a small kitchen with a floor of checkered tile. “They could have taken you anywhere—like Bhutan, or Patagonia, or whatever. Somewhere nobody would ever think to look for you. We’re not even an hour away from home!”