Page 109 of What Happens at Nightfall

A parrot circled overhead, cawing in irritation.

“Adam!” Jess raised her hand and his face lit at the sight of her.

Before she could say hello, or anything else, his arms were around her, not in a romance novel clinch, but in a giant, enveloping hug. His worn Forest School fleece was very soft against her cheek.

“Thank you for being here,” he said into her hair.

Jess lifted her face to his. “You haven’t found Ben?”

“No sign.” He released her, taking a step back. “Melinda is trying to hack the drone to make it look for Ben instead of oak wilt.”

“I won’t ask who Melinda is,” said Jess’s mother.

Jess had entirely forgotten about her mother, who seemed to have made friends with the parrot. It was perched on her shoulder, as though she were a hippie pirate. “Oh, Mom, this is Adam. Adam, Mom. Melinda is Adam’s daughter.” To Adam, she said, “What can we do?”

“Avast!” insisted the parrot.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Jess’s mother told the parrot.

Adam ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve got Melinda back at the house. She’s monitoring the drone and she’ll call me if Ben comes home. There’s still the chance he’ll just come home.”

“Of course there is. Do you have a tracker on him?”

“He left his backpack at school. The tracker was still on it.”

“His phone?”

“I didn’t let him have one yet. Just a flip phone in case of emergencies. He’s not picking up. It went straight to voicemail.”

“Okay.” Jess tried to think logically. “Are there security cameras at the gates? Can you tell if he came back to Green-Wood? You said someone said they saw him here?”

“Allison complained to me that he’d diverted one of the paths the wrong way.” Adam looked down at her, hope blazing in his eyes. “Do you think that’s why he’s disappeared? He knows he’s in trouble?”

“Diverted a path?”

“He had the lights leading straight into the Valley Water—so people would fall in. And some other stuff, Allison said. Switching street signs so people would get lost. This isn’t like Ben,” Adam said fiercely. “I know every parent says that, but . . . I wonder if it’s these boys he’s been hanging out with at his new school. Maybe he’s doing stupid things to impress them. Trying to be a guy’s guy.”

A guy’s guy. Just a few hours ago, Kimmy had sat on Jess’s couch and told her it was only the boys that mattered to Horace Vanderwilt.

Boys. Like Ben.

“Adam. I saw Kimmy today. We’ve had it all wrong. About the demon.”

“Demon?” said Jess’s mother.

“Can we think about the demon later? After we find Ben?”

Jess grabbed his arm, her fingers digging into the soft fabric of his fleece. “Just listen. Kimmy told me it wasn’t Cornelia who called the demon; it was her son Horace. She thinks he bound it to the male line, Adam. Only to the male line.”

“But—Kate wasn’t the male line. I mean, Kate wasn’t a male. You know what I mean. Ben isn’t the son of a son.”

“I could be wrong, but isn’t that how it works in some monarchies? The daughter doesn’t inherit but the daughter’s son does if there are no son’s sons?”

“It’s complicated. Under Salic law . . .” Ingrid broke off her lecture at the look on Adam’s face. “Yeah, basically. It can happen.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it,” Adam said hoarsely. “Ben’s suddenly Mr. Popularity. His Latin is perfect even though he never took it before—I thought it just meant he’d discovered a knack for ancient languages. Even the Cookie Monster—the Cookie Monster was his.”

“Ben’s your kid,” said Jess quietly. “Of course you didn’t see it.”