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  By the time we pulled up to the front doors, I wondered if we had made a serious mistake. The only vampires I had met were Vicken’s father and the students at the Academy, and the hostility I had face during my first days at Haunted High didn’t bode well for the parents who had raised them that way. I already knew Vicken’s parents hated werewolves, and me in particular as evidence by my father’s argument with Don Ruvine during his last visit to the Academy. Maybe walking into a vampire lair as a lone wolf wasn’t the brightest idea.

  “You coming?”

  I realized Vicken, Alden, and Ren had already gotten out of the car. Attempting to keep the reluctance I felt from my face, I followed them to the door. It was opened by a white-gloved woman before we reached the top of the steps. Vicken walked past her without a word as though he was used to such service. Alden and I fumbled over thank yous before we followed our friend inside. Ren’s face was pale and she looked at everything but didn’t say a word when she dogged my steps.

  I couldn’t help staring. The grandeur of the towering white marble pillars, the sweeping white and gold staircases, and the immaculate red carpet was far finer than any house I had ever been in.

  “Are you sure this is just a secondary mansion?” Alden asked.

  “Yeah,” Vicken replied in a distracted tone. “This is just a backup in case something goes wrong at the main house. The coven has dozens of these.”

  “Dozens?” Alden repeated in a strangled voice.

  Vicken led the way down the massive hall. Several men and women in black and white uniforms and with spotless white gloves stood at spaced intervals along the corridor. Vicken didn’t seem to notice, but I caught questioning looks on a few faces after we passed. When they saw that I had noticed their expressions, they quickly went back to staring straight ahead.

  A man with white hair to match his white jacket met us at the next hallway.

  “It is a pleasure to see you, my lord. May I assist you with anything?” he asked in carefully measured words. I caught a glimpse of vampire fangs when he spoke.

  Vicken glanced at us and I swore I saw embarrassment on his face before he turned to the man. “I want to check out the medical facilities. I have a large group of individuals coming here tomorrow and want to ensure that we’re ready for them.”

  The man looked offended at the question in the vampire’s voice. “Of course we are ready, my lord. Our blood stores are refreshed weekly. Any need your friends have will be met immediately.”

  “They’re not friends,” Vicken said in a cold voice. He speared the man with a piercing look. “Don’t assume you know my needs. Such assumptions can be dangerous.”

  “I was the one who said assumptions were dangerous,” Ren whispered behind me.

  The man looked down at his shoes. I recognized fear on his face. “I-I’m truly sorry, my lord. Please tell me how I can assist you.”

  Vicken looked appeased at the man’s apologetic tone. He shoved open the door to a room that turned out to be a huge infirmary. Pristine white tables, stands ready to hold bags of blood, and spotless white curtains waiting to be drawn lined the room. Relief filled me at the sight.

  “This will work,” Alden said with amazement.

  Vicken nodded. “It’ll have to do.” He glanced at the man. “Bring in staff from the other mansions and prepare to host a variety of mythics as well as meet their needs.”

  “A-a variety?” the man stammered.

  From his expression, I guessed that no other mythic race besides vampires had ever set foot in the mansion.

  At Vicken’s straight look, the man straightened. “Yes, my lord. Anything you say, my lord. We will be ready.”

  When we rode from the mansion in the limousine, amazed silence filled the vehicle.

  “You’re pretty scary when you want to be,” Alden said after a few minutes had passed.

  Vicken glanced toward the front of the vehicle where the divider had been raised to give us privacy.

  “That comes from growing up a Ruvine,” he admitted.

  “I wouldn’t mess with you,” Ren said. She tipped her head wolf-like to the side and continued with, “I was going to mess with you, but now, not a chance.”

  Vicken sat back in his seat and stared out the window at the dark buildings that rushed past. “At least there’s that,” I heard him mutter.

  Silence filled the car again. I watched the streets of New York flow by in a blur.

  The driver finally pulled in past the Pizza Palace and stopped.

  “This is it,” I told Ren.

  She followed us out of the limousine. We waited for the car to back up, then walked down the alley toward the gate that spanned the space between two buildings.

  “That’s it?” she repeated. Trepidation warred with the certainty that had been on her face when she said she wanted to go with us. “A haunted high school sounds interesting,” she had said. Now that confidence was gone.

  I had to admit that the school looked pretty intimidating. The gargoyles, carved eaves, and even the gate intertwined with the letters RA appeared foreboding in the rapidly gathering darkness.

  “What does RA stand for?” she asked, eyeing the gate that swung inward at our approach.

  “The official name of Haunted High is the Remus Academy for Integral Education,” Alden told her as we made our way inside. “The school was named after one of the Greek twins, Romulus and Remus, who were raised by a she-wolf. Both twins carried the genes of a werewolf, but while Romulus remained human, Remus showed signs of werewolfism during a time in which the laws dictated that all mythics should be killed. Romulus faked his brother’s death and helped him flee those who wanted him dead. His ancestors eventually founded the Remus Academy to keep mythics a secret from a dangerous world.”

  “Is that true?” I asked Vicken in surprise. The thought that the Academy was actually named after a werewolf was a shock given the haughty welcome I had received when I first attended.

  “That’s the first time I’ve heard it,” Vicken replied.

  The gate swung slowly shut behind us. It didn’t make a sound when it closed. That had put me on edge my first time at the Academy. The thought that it didn’t bother me now told how much I had gotten used to in my few short weeks of attendance.

  “It’s true,” Alden said simply. “What other Remus do you know?”

  Neither of us had an answer, but when we reached the Academy steps, Ren said, “I knew of a Remus. He was also a werewolf, but they used a moonstone to keep him in wolf form to see if staying an animal would eventually make him think like one. It was pretty cruel if you ask me. I could tell he missed being in his human form.”

  A moonstone could keep a werewolf in wolf form? The thought sent a shiver down my spine. I forced myself to ask, “What happened to him?”

  Ren gave a nonchalant shrug. “The last I saw him, he was being hauled off to fight in some sort of fighting ring. I guess the bets on him were pretty high.” At the horrified look on my face, she said, “When you’re in a cage, you don’t think of getting anyone out but yourself.” Her eyes narrowed. “Trust me. It becomes all you think about. And if you judge me, it’s only because you haven’t been there.”

  “I’m not judging you.” I didn’t know how to erase the anger from her face. I went with the truth and said, “I just wish you hadn’t experienced all that. I feel bad you went through it.”

  Ren watched me from her place on the second step of the Academy. The darkness that filled the shadows of the porch grew deeper when I looked up at her. I saw her inner turmoil, the battle she fought to keep her sanity in a world that had been so cruel to her. She wanted to believe my words, to hold onto the belief that someone cared, but she had been hurt by everyone in her life. I didn’t know if I could ever get her to trust me.

  “Why do you try so hard, Finn?”

  It seemed as though the world around us fell away at her quiet words. As she watched me, her blue-rimmed hazel eyes caught and reflected the half-
light. I felt like her question was a lifeline that she threw out, that she needed an answer she could hold onto. I knew Alden and Vicken waited for us on the top step, but I saw only Ren, taken apart and sewn back together, surviving pain, imprisonment, being afraid and hurt, and yet alive despite everything.

  “Because you’re worth it, Ren,” I replied.

  Ren’s head jerked back and for a split-second, tears showed in her eyes. She turned her head away and said so quietly I barely heard it, “You don’t know what I am.”

  She stalked up the stairs toward the vampire and Grim and left me standing there looking after her. The door opened and Alden showed her inside.

  “You’re playing with fire,” Vicken said when I made my way to the door.

  I ignored the way my cheeks burned at the assumption in his voice. “She needs a friend,” I told him.

  “But can you trust her?” the vampire asked quietly. “She has so many personalities you don’t even know who you’re talking to.”

  “If you saw the look on her face, you’d know nobody ever fought for her. She needs to know she’s not alone,” I told him.

  “Maybe she should be,” he muttered.

  I ignored him as we followed Alden and Ren into the main corridor of the Academy. The sight of the unicorn picture across the hall and the smells wafting from the cafeteria eased my tense muscles. We were back where the world made sense.

  A smile crossed my face at the thought. If a high school that was filled with every kind of monster imaginable and with secret passageways, classes taught by witches and warlocks, and a hallway with doors that led to faraway places felt like home, I had definitely found a way to fit in at the Academy.

  “Welcome to Haunted High,” I told Ren.

  Students were rushing past us toward the cafeteria.

  “It must be dinner time,” Alden said.

  A look of longing crossed the scrawny Grim’s face. I fought back a laugh. “Why don’t you and Vicken take Ren to get some food. I need to talk to Mercer and figure out if our demon trap is going to work.” At the look of trepidation on the vampire’s face, I nudged him in the ribs and lowered my voice. “You need some fresh blood and I’m sure your coven’s missed you. Just help Alden keep an eye on her so things don’t get out of hand.”

  Vicken rolled his eyes. “Fine, but only because I’m hungry.”

  “I’ll grab a sandwich for you,” Alden said as he and Vicken escorted Ren to the door.

  “You mean I can get whatever I want?” I heard the girl say when they went inside. “That’s amazing!”

  My stomach growled at the thought of food, but more pressing matters sent me jogging up the stairs to the second floor. I entered the infirmary and paused at the sight of Mercer arguing with Dr. Six. At the far end of the room, Jean and Lorne slept in the crystal-maintained slumber Dr. Six had put them in after surgery to help them heal.

  “You can’t confine me to this blasted bed every day and expect me to be okay with it,” Mercer said in a surly growl.

  “If I have to pick you up from the floor one more time, I’ll chain you there,” the short, rotund woman replied. Her bespectacled top hat made her look taller than she was, even though she was only a little taller than Mercer where he lay on his bed. “You’re a horrible patient!”

  “I’m not patient,” the sweep growled. His ordinarily expressionless face showed the barest hint of annoyance to match his tone; on him, it looked like the darkest glower. “I’m supposed to be taking care of this school, not laying around like some invalid.”

  “You are an invalid,” Dr. Six pointed out. “Taking care of the school is what landed you here in the first place. You’re lucky I can patch up damage from demons with the best of them, otherwise you would’ve been buried with your insides on your outside.”

  “Pleasant thought,” Mercer said with a grunt. “Keeping me here isn’t doing either of us any favors.”

  Dr. Six speared him with a glare as she adjusted the crystals that were set around his bed. “My job isn’t to do favors, it’s to ensure the rapid recovery of those who look to me for care. Regardless of their compliance.” She finished the last sentence with pointed syllables.

  Mercer sighed and settled back on his bed. His gaze shifted to me and I swore I saw relief on his stony face.

  “Finn, what do you have to say for yourself?”

  I crossed the infirmary to the sweep’s side.

  Dr. Six gave me a welcoming smile. “Hello, Mr. Briscoe. It’s good to see you up and about.” She paused, then said, “What happened to your head?”

  I had forgotten about the injury. I put my fingers to the butterfly bandages, but touching the wound no longer hurt. “It’s, uh….” I glanced at Mercer. His expression revealed nothing. “Just something that happened when I forgot to look where I was going. It’s not that bad.”

  She gave my head a skeptical look, then nodded. “It looks like you’ll survive. How’s your hand doing?”

  I held it out but cringed inwardly at the sight of the mangled burn on my palm. After jumping off the bridge after Ren, I had forgotten to wrap it again. It was obvious by the raw red flesh that my hand wasn’t fairing too well.

  Dr. Six made a tisking sound and shook her head. “Mr. Briscoe, we talked about the importance of taking care of this wound. It may never heal, but if you don’t care for it, it definitely never will. Give it a chance.”

  “I will,” I promised. I fought back the urge to drag my toe on the ground like a scolded child.

  “Wait here,” Dr. Six said.

  When the doctor went to rummage through her drawers, Mercer grunted. “At least it takes the attention off me,” he said in his rough voice.

  “Yeah, you’re welcome,” I replied wryly.

  He gave another grunt that could have passed for a laugh from the man, then gripped his side. I knew better than to ask him what was wrong. The mage waited for several seconds before he let his side go.

  “Did you find Briggs?” he asked in a tight voice.

  I nodded, then shook my head. “Yes, well, no. We found where he’s being held, but demons guard the entrance to the Mythic Labs, and by the smell of it, there’s more of them than swarmed the Academy.”

  Mercer nodded. “I figured as much. Did you use the box I sent with you?”

  Chagrin filled me at the thought of the black box he had told me to take when we left to find the professor.

  “It’s, uh, still in my backpack,” I admitted.

  Mercer rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky you’re not trapped in the Labs with Briggs. Open it up.”

  I obediently set my backpack on the next bed and unzipped it. Withdrawing the box, I opened it where the sweeper could see.

  “There,” he said, pointing to a vial.

  I picked it up. “To be fair, it’s not labeled.”

  He grunted again. “Are you covering up your embarrassment at forgetting about my box by pointing out its lack?”

  I grinned at how accurate his guess was. “Maybe.”

  He gestured. “Open the vial.”

  I did as he instructed. Instead of a scent wafting out, exactly nothing touched my nose. I sniffed it to be sure, but whatever was inside contained no smell. It was strange. Everything had a scent, even if just a faint one. I held the dark vial up to the light to ensure that it did indeed contain something. The presence of the liquid was revealed by its dull yellow color.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “The scent of nothing. Put it on and you won’t have a smell,” Mercer replied.

  I stared at him. “It covers up all smell?” The thought of the demons following fear and pain made me cringe inwardly. “That would have been helpful.”

  Mercer nodded. “I know. Next time maybe I’ll label the box ‘Use this so you don’t feel stupid.’”

  I had to acknowledge the truth of his words. “I might have used it then.”

  The slightest hint of a smile touched his lips before it vanished to leave his us
ual stony expression. “Briggs was right. You are a stubborn one.”

  I nodded as I browsed the other contents of the box. “What’s this?” I asked, holding up a small square container.

  “That’s for the pieces of Chutka’s heart if you find any. It’s made of ironwood that will keep the presence of the heart from being felt by the demons.”

  I picked up the final item, a key I recognized as the one I had pulled from the chest of the Demon Knight, Chutka’s first subordinate.

  “I thought we needed to keep this far away from the box Professor Briggs has,” I said with concern.

  Mercer nodded. “We do, but I have a feeling you might need it. If you do find all three of the pieces, you may have to destroy them quickly.”

  “That’s a good point,” I replied. I put everything back in the box and set it in my backpack. “At least we know where Briggs is; the problem is getting him back out. But I have a plan. Do you want to hear it?”

  “Does it look like I have anything better to do?” Mercer asked gruffly.

  Used to his brusque attitude, I sat on the edge of the bed where my backpack was and outlined my thoughts about making a trap for the demons, as well as how we had found the Labs in the first place.

  “You do realize you’ll have more than just demons to deal with when you reach the Labs, right?” Mercer pointed out when I was done.

  I nodded. “Ren said something about Spikeys, but I don’t know what those are.”

  “I’m sending you with guns.”

  I stared at him. “Guns?”

  Mercer nodded. “Not with real bullets, mind you. They’ll be stun bullets designed to bring down your enemies, not kill them. It’s something I’ve been working on.” He gave me a straight look. “You don’t need deaths on your shoulders and you aren’t trained. I’ll send enough for your entire team. How many are going?”

  “Six,” I replied. “Lorne and Jean are still recovering, so it’ll be me and Vicken, Dara, Lyris, Brack, and Alden. Oh, and Ren, but I don’t know if she should have a weapon.”

  “Ren’s the girl you jumped off the bridge after?” Mercer asked.

  I wished I had been able to leave that part out, but we wouldn’t have found the entrance to the Labs if it wasn’t for her. “Yeah,” I finally said.