“Rye,” Embry corrected, because calling Rye by his dead father’s name was a bit harsh if accurate. And then because she couldn’tbelieve Alistair didn’t know, given how long they’d been friends, and the fact that he’d been to her house many times and thusseenRye’s house through the trees many times, she added, “He’smyneighbor. Last year’s salutatorian.”
“Ah,” Alistair said, latching onto one of those two statements. “The orphan.”
Embry’s heart squeezed. “Yes.”
“And Macbeth,” Fairfax amended.
“Yes,” Ames agreed. “And our Scottish king. Oh! And he was Hamlet the year before. All the tortured kings, that broody beanbag.”
Embry sighed. “Please don’t let Rye hear you call him royalty; his ego doesn’t need the encouragement—especially if he’s going to be in charge of us in some way.”
“Now his shirt makes way more sense,” Alistair commented.
They all squinted to read the wording scrawled across his tee between the brackets of his open button-up.TOQUOTEHAMLET,ACTIII,SCENE3,LINE87:“NO.”
Had he been wearing that shirt this morning? Embry wasn’t sure. She just knew that apparently Rye’s gap year had spread from the coven to his alma mater. And the context clues indicated his presence wasn’t a surprise to Jonesy, nor was it temporary.
A fact the teacher confirmed by clapping her hands together, dark eyes nearly as large as Oakley’s under glasses she only wore half the time, as she leaped to her feet on the stage. Then she proceeded to lavish Rye with compliments while introducing him to the class as the musical’sassistant director.
And, of course, because he was Rye, an hour later he couldn’t let Embry leave class without catching her eye. He held up his hands in a stage combat version of self-defense. “Before you say anything, Jonesy knew I was around, could play piano, and wouldvolunteer if asked, so she reached out. Not to mention I adoreInto the Woods—you know I do. How could I not?”
Okay. When he put it that way, Embry herself had a really hard time coming up with why he shouldn’t. So, instead she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that this morning?”
Rye knocked her gently on the shoulder. “So I could see that look on your face.”
Then he plunged his hands in his pockets and walked away.
CHAPTER 4
MAKEOVER!!!
“OAKLEYRIDDLE, CAN YOU SING?”
The vampire had just crossed the threshold into Embry’s single suite on the fifth floor and was gaping at the massive size—a privilege of head prefect status—when Ames volleyed the question straight at her from her comfy spot on the love seat.
Embry and Ames had worked it out while running laps in Heston’s seventh-period gym class. Jonesy’s advanced stage performance still had ten spots until the enrollment cap, which meant instead ofreplacingthe football team, all they needed to do was convince seven girls/femme-presenting peopleto jointhe class to fill the open roles.
And the brand-new vampire with an unfortunate schedule was an excellent candidate.
Oakley was so startled her answer came out as a question. “Yes?”
Ames grinned and Embry took the baton from her spot curled up on the ottoman opposite the love seat. If Embry had learned anything from dorm life, it was that the first step in creating community was to make sure everyone had a place to sit. “Fantastic. We’re going to get you into sixth-period advanced stage performance and out of that monstrous early morning gym class while we’re at it.”
When Oakley’s lips dropped open but no sound came out, Embry laughed at herself. They’d just plowed over the vampirewith the welcome wagon. Such was the pair’s particular single-minded determination when they wanted something.
“We just totally pounced on you, didn’t we?” She prodded the empty spot next to Ames with a pedicured toe. “Come, sit, tell us about your first day and then we’ll go down to admin and hit up the registrar after she’s had her four o’clock boba. It’s imperative that we catch Paloma at her best if we’re going to get that schedule fixed easily.”
The vampire blinked at Embry as if she’d spoken at the speed of light as she sank into the velour cushions next to Ames. Embry smiled and pinned the girl with her complete attention and prodded, “What did you learn today?”
Oakley fiddled with the buttons on her Raven’s Head vest. “One thing I learned is that I’m not the first vampire to go here. But I’m the first one in a while, it seems.”
Ames grinned. “Hannah Crawford was the last, graduating in 1943. I looked it up.”
A sudden pang of envy stabbed Embry in the heart—she had yet to have the time to research the history of vampires at Raven’s Head or the magical species at large. She definitely needed to hole up in her home conservatory and learn more about Oakley and her kind. She’d consistently researched her classmates since freshman year, learning about their magical proclivities, customs, cultural nuances, and needs. As head prefect, it was important to be knowledgeable about all Raven’s Head students. As a friend? Even more so.
Ames dabbed Oakley on the wrist. “Do you know her? Vampire circles are small, right?”
“No, I don’t know a Hannah Crawford,” Oakley replied immediately before glancing away. She didn’t answer the second of Ames’s questions. “But anyway, people are… excited? They keep asking me so many questions, like if I can turn into a bat and stuff, or theywant to see my fangs.” Her eyes lifted like the full moon rising. “You were right—I don’t really fit with all the groups. The shifter girls were the ones that asked me if I could turn into a bat. I mean,I can. But it was like a test or something? This girl Skye asked me like four times.”
