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The sound was high, light, and immediately familiar.

My entire body tightened.

Three figures emerged from the stairwell and stepped into the lamplight. Without my glasses, I could only make out pale faces and dark clothing, but I didn't need clear vision to recognize the tallest of them. Her white hair fell all the way to her waist.

"Oh," Delphine Marrow said, sounding genuinely delighted by what she had found. "Look, girls. The Stray's having a bath."

I lowered myself deeper into the pool until the water reached my chin, crossing my arms tightly over my chest beneath the surface.

"It's a public pool," I said.

My voice came out quieter than I wanted.

"Of course it is."

Delphine moved along the edge of the pool toward the stone bench where I'd left my clothes. The two Fenhall girls with her followed, one blonde and one dark-haired, both familiar enough that I knew I had seen them around campus but not well enough to remember their names.

They were already giggling.

"We just wanted a little chat," Delphine continued. "Didn't we?" She gestured toward the dark-haired girl. "Imogen saw you taking the stairs down by yourself. We thought we'd make sure you didn't get lonely."

Delphine reached the bench and looked down at my things.

My gray sweater. My jeans. My plain cotton underwear. The bra with the frayed strap I had been telling myself for months I needed to replace.

Then she picked up my glasses.

She held them between her thumb and forefinger and turned them over slowly, examining them with mild interest.

"I saw you, you know," she said. "In the Glasshouse. During the storm."

I said nothing.

There was nothing I could think of that wouldn't make things worse.

"I don't know what you think you're doing," she continued, her voice still pleasant. "Maybe you think you're some kind of charity case. Some little project for him." She looked down at the glasses in her hand. "Kaelen's always had a soft spot for strays. It's embarrassing, really."

My throat tightened.

"But you need to understand something." She finally looked at me. "He's mine. He's been mine since we were children. Our fathers settled it before either of us could walk, and he is never going to look twice at some fat little Hollow from nowhere with split ends and a dead mother."

The words should not have surprised me. I had known about Delphine and Kaelen since my first dinner at Ironmoor. Still, hearing her say it brought several pieces together at once. Kaelen checking the east-wing windows before rejecting me. His father running the Council. Delphine's father sitting on it.

I rejected you to keep you alive.

I still didn't understand the whole picture, but I understood enough to know that Delphine was part of it.

She smiled. "So I thought I'd help you remember what you look like."

The dark-haired girl had taken something out of her pocket.

A phone.

There was no signal at Ironmoor and never had been, but a phone didn't need a signal to take pictures. I saw the small red light appear on the screen.

"Stand up, Stray," the blonde girl said. She was smiling.

I stayed where I was.