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“It’s part of their stupid ritual.” Danny shakes his head. “And there is no way I’m letting them do this to you.”
“Squirrels don’t really put up much of a fight against wolves,” Rory says, sounding completely unapologetic about it. He turns to me. “It’s either she does it alone, or I make all the girls do it.”
Beside me, Li stiffens. “You’re joking.”
Rory raises his gaze to her. “Nope.”
“I’mnotgoing out there. And you can’t make us.” Just when I think it’s great to have tough-talking Li on my side, she adds, “Jessa’s enough for all of us.”
“What?”
“Well, it’d be overkill for usallto go into the forest when the ritual only requires one person.”
“And whatisthis ritual?”
In his best dramatic voice, Finlay murmurs, “At the stroke o’ midnight, a student ventures forth intae the cursed depths o’ the Lochkelvin forest. They have tae reach the loch… and return in one piece.”
I stare at Finlay, my brows furrowing. That’s it? Go down to the loch?
“And besides, I’veseenyou wander down there, oh, saintly one,” Rory says dismissively. “I’ve seen you do a lot of things down there.” My face feels warm as I remember Rory watching me dance. “It should be second nature to you by now.”
“She has crutches, you moron,” Danny snaps. “From thelasttime she fell down there.”
“If you’ve seen me at the loch,” I say, staring at Rory, my voice sounding slurred and unlike myself, “then why the hell don’tyougo down there?”
“Because I’m the wolf. The wolf chooses its prey.”
I shake my head in disgust but my head grows dizzy, and part of me wonders if I’m about to throw up. Standing beside the brazier is only making me feel worse, so I stagger to the side, away from them all.
I tilt my head back at the vast expanse of sky. There are so many stars here, it’s as though galaxies have exploded above us. There are so many twinkling, blinking lights, and I didn’t notice… they spin and streak and smear across my vision. They almost look like they’re weaving together, undulating.
Someone takes my arm, guiding me to a quiet part of the grounds, far from the noise and sparking fires.
“Are you okay?” It’s so much quieter here in the depths of the ground that the soft question feels like an ambush.
I turn my head to the side and an array of glittery green sequins wink back at me. I hadn’t realized, but Luke’s dark eyes are decorated with green makeup.
“Yeah. I don’t know. I’m just tired.” It’s an excuse that rolls off my tongue easily, an excuse I’ve used many times in the past year. I sit down on the grass, staring up at the sky, the position grounding me as though I can feel the planet spinning beneath my body. But my attention is caught on Luke. Even with his tail feathers narrowed behind his back, he still looksbeautiful. Majestic. He’s decorated in jewels like a true prince.
I turn my head to him from my position on the grass. The world seems so peaceful and Luke is so sad.
“I know we have not spoken much—”
“I’m sorry about London—”
He stops, stares at me. There’s a tightness around his mouth. “Thank you.”
There’s a long silence, although it doesn’t feel long to me. I can’t tell if I say or just think my next words until I hear them leaving my lips. “I don’t know what it’s like to have lived in a palace, but I know what it’s like to lose your home.”
“Buckingham Palace was not my home,” he informs me. “It was a show home for the tourists. But as a symbol, it obviously means a great deal to my family.” Luke seems to debate sitting beside me, but after a moment he does so, flicking his tail upright and looking immensely awkward. “What became of your home?”
“A hurricane,” I say distantly, gazing at whorls of galaxies I’m not even sure are there. “We lost everything.”
“My condolences,” Luke says stiffly, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Hurricanes are not commonplace here.”
“No. Just rain, and more rain, and on the one day it might not rain, there’ll still end up being rain.”
Luke smiles. “There is much more sun down south. Positively tropical. I miss it.”
