Stargazer

“What are you doing here? You little sneak!” Courtney’s face was twisted in a furious grimace, despite the fact that her cheeks still shone with tears. “What makes you think you have the right to follow me around?”

“I wasn’t—I didn’t mean to—” But I had been following her, and I had meant to, and there was no way for me to explain why without saying too much. “How did you even get into town? You’re supposed to get Mrs. Bethany’s permission before leaving campus!”

“There’s a laundry truck you can hitch a ride on, which you might’ve noticed if you weren’t so completely stupid.” Grabbing my elbow, Courtney dragged me away from the house. She didn’t want us to be seen, I realized. The people inside only knew that Courtney had died a quarter of a century ago, nothing more. If they saw her, risen from the dead, a vampire—I couldn’t even imagine how they would react. Probably Courtney couldn’t either.

“I’m sorry,” I said, more quietly. “I wouldn’t have followed you if I’d known.”

“Known what? What is it that you think you know?” Courtney grinned at me, though the grin was a terrible fake that made her look sadder than her tears. “All I know is that you’re supposed to be with Balthazar tonight, and you’re not.”

Crap. I should’ve known Courtney’s gossip radar could never go down for very long.

“What’s the matter, Bianca? Trouble in paradise?” She folded her arms and tossed her hair, once again the queen of the school, totally in command. “Did you guys have a fight? Another fight, that is?”

“If it’s none of my business that you’re here, then it’s none of your business that I’m here. So you leave me alone, and I’ll do the same for you.”

Although Courtney clearly wanted to rub in the supposed failure of my supposed relationship, she apparently wanted to hush me up even more. “You say one word about this—one word to anyone—I will know.”

“Your secret is safe with me.”

“I don’t have any secrets!”

We could still hear the laughter from the party. I stared at Courtney, hard, and her face fell. She turned to go—and then froze. When I heard the voices, I froze, too. No, no, no, not now!

“We don’t know that Bianca’s in trouble,” Lucas said.

Balthazar walked next to him, their paces in stride. “She’s not on the square where we arranged to meet. That doesn’t spell trouble to you?”

“Bianca has a way of not being where she’s supposed to be. If you knew her better, you might realize that,” Lucas said. Then he stopped in his tracks. I knew that he had seen Courtney and me, which meant that Courtney had seen him. Lucas. The Black Cross hunter.

“Ohmigod,” she breathed. “You’ve been—Lucas Ross—this is—”

“Courtney, listen to me.” Balthazar hurried toward us, hands outstretched. It was the most attention he’d ever paid her, but she shrank back as if repulsed. “I can explain.”

“You can explain that you’re hanging out with a Black Cross hunter?

That ought to be good.”

Lucas’s jaw was clenched. “I’m not hunting tonight.”

“Oh, wow, that’s a huge relief. Not out to kill me or my friends tonight. Gosh, let’s be BFFs until tomorrow when you change your mind.” Courtney clutched her trench coat more tightly around herself. “I get you, Lucas. You’re a rabid psycho killer, so, that’s your motive. I get you, too, Bianca. Still in love with your psycho ex. That’s pathetic, and honestly pretty much what I should’ve expected from a loser like you. But Balthazar? What are you doing? What could you possibly be thinking?”

“I can explain if you’ll listen.” Balthazar looked unnerved now—

even frightened. I’d never seen him frightened before, not even at the Autumn Ball. He knew, as I knew, that Courtney would almost certainly report us to Mrs. Bethany.

Courtney didn’t listen. She stomped down the block without another word.

Lucas gestured after her. “What—are you going to just let her go?”

“What do you want us to do?” I protested. “Stake her?” Courtney, who apparently couldn’t tell I was being sarcastic, started to run. Balthazar took off after her, and Lucas and I followed. I knew that Balthazar and I were trying to catch Courtney to reassure her and explain, but Lucas—I wasn’t sure about Lucas.

I hated that I wasn’t sure.

“Courtney, wait!” I called.

She only ran faster. Balthazar was quicker, though, and he managed to grab her shoulder and spin her around. Courtney shrieked, but Balthazar pleaded, “We’re not going to hurt you.”

“Not hurt me? What does the guy from Black Cross say about that?” Lucas sighed heavily. “You’re safe.”

Courtney cocked her head, like he’d spoken in some language she didn’t understand. “Whatever this bizarro arrangement is, this is totally screwed up.”

“Sometimes I agree with you,” Balthazar said. “The point is, it’s no danger to you or to any other vampire, and we’d appreciate it if you would keep it a secret.” Poor Balthazar—he’d try to be calm and reasonable with a rampaging bull.

“If you’re in with Black Cross, I can’t keep that secret.” Courtney backed away from us. She bumped against a parked minivan, then slid around it, her hands pressed flat against the metal like a blind person finding her way. “That’s dangerous. You should know better, Balthazar.