Lily heads toward Walcourt, but my attention is diverted to a figure standing with his hands in his pockets, head inclined, watching Lily. It’s Thane, and he’s the only one who doesn’t move aside as if she’s the plague. As she nears him, she glances up momentarily. I can’t see her face, but there’s hesitation in her step. It’s the way Thane looks at her—with soft features and eyes, as if to say it’s okay, I’m here, and yet Lily doesn’t move to him. She continues past him, brushing his shoulder, disappearing into Walcourt.

I look away and start walking. Lennon follows beside me.

“Does Lily have enemies here?” I ask.

Lennon shrugs a lithe shoulder. “It’s not about having enemies. Anyone can end up on Roundtable, even the most popular. It’s like standing trial and your peers are the jury. Depending on what they read, you’ll either retain your rank or fall from grace.”

“That’s absurd. They need to figure out how to get rid of that app. Who do you think posted the texts?” I ask, glancing at Lennon.

“Who knows. The site is anonymous… That’s why Roundtable is so powerful.”

I want to laugh at the seriousness of Lennon’s words, but I know she’s not joking.

“Has anyone ever posted about you?”

Lennon’s smile cuts across her face wickedly, and I get the sense someone would rue the day they tried to expose Lennon Ryder.

“Never.”

Chapter Eight

Shy and Roundtable

I’d left home early so I could get to school and search for Vera, but I haven’t exited my Jeep before Natalie shoves her phone in my face. She stands there, glaring at me while I read through a stream of intimate messages between one of my best friends and a human boy from our rival school. I press my lips together, jaw locking tight. A headache’s forming at my temple, fueled by the pain pulsing up my arm from the hellhound bite I received last night outside Anora’s house. I used a small amount of Mom’s medic supplies to doctor my arm, but apparently not enough.

I’m not going to have a good day.

I don’t need to ask where Natalie got the screenshots, I know well enough—Roundtable.

“Has—?”

“Jacobi crashed the site,” Natalie says, guessing my thoughts. “It’s back up, of course, minus the conversation, but the damage has been done.”

Not surprising. I’m sure there are a number of students who saved the images just as Natalie had done. And even though Jacobi can work magic, I’ve long suspected part of the reason Roundtable isn’t taken down for good is someone in the Order finds it beneficial for “gathering information.”

“Where is Lily?”

“Bathroom in the library. She won’t talk to me.”