“Eveny?” It’s Peregrine, her voice hushed. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Beside me, I hear Max drop his fork. He and Liv stare, and I’m not sure if it’s because she’s gracing us with her presence in the cafeteria, or because even with her Louboutin boots, a fitted fur vest, and perfect makeup, she looks terrible.
“About what?” I ask. I take another bite of lasagna and do my best to ignore her.
“You know,” she says. She’s being uncharacteristically meek, and it’s freaking me out a little. “Please?”
“I’m eating now,” I say stiffly.
She leans down and whispers in my ear, “Please? There’s a serious problem.”
“No kidding,” I reply.
“What’s the problem?” Max pipes up eagerly from across the table. His eyes dart over to Peregrine. “If you need help with something, I’ll help you.”
Liv smacks him on the back of his head, but Peregrine acts like she hasn’t heard him. “Just come talk to me for a minute, Eveny. I’m asking nicely.”
I slam my fork down. “I’ll be right back,” I say. I stand up and follow Peregrine outside. She begins to head for the Hickories, but I say, “No. I’m eating with Max and Liv today. If you have something to say, say it to me here.”
She looks wounded. “How come you don’t want to eat with us?”
“For real?” When she doesn’t reply, I say, “Look what you’ve done! You wanted to have a party so you could have more hot guys than usual drooling all over you. And someone ended up dead because of it!”
“But I didn’t mean for that to happen!” she protests.
I look back toward the cafeteria and see through the window that Drew has arrived at the table and is deep in conversation with Liv. Max is staring at us with wide eyes. “Well, Liv, Max, and Drew don’t create situations where innocent people die,” I say.
“This isn’t totally my fault,” she says. “Look, I know I screwed up. But there’s a bigger issue here. The guy they found dead was killed before my party.”
“So?”
“So, everyone at the party was accounted for,” she says urgently. “We had a guest list at the door. Every single person signed in. So how did that happen if one of them was already lying dead outside the gate?”
My blood runs cold. “What are you saying?”
“That someone stole the dead guy’s identity and used it to get into town. Into our party. For all we know, he’s still here.”
“But the gate’s closed again, right, so we’re protected?”
“Not exactly,” she says miserably. “If someone got into town when the gate was open, he’d still be able to do what he pleased here. Including kill us.”
“So fix it!” I cry.
“I can’t,” she says. “Not alone, anyway. Just like I couldn’t open the gate on my own, I can’t restore the protection by myself either.”
I shake my head. “I should never have taken part in this,” I say, more to myself than to her.
“You didn’t know,” Peregrine says. “Please, Eveny. If you, Chloe, and I work together—”
“Why should I trust you?” I interrupt her.
Peregrine looks at me blankly. “What are you talking about?”
“I know there are more important things to worry about, but couldn’t you have clued me in about the fact that Caleb’s my protector? Or were you having too much fun watching me make a fool of myself?”
“So he told you.” The corner of her mouth twitches. “Well, it was kind of amusing watching you stare at him like he was God’s gift to earth.” When I just glare at her, she adds, “Fine, so Chloe and I thought it might be too much for you to handle along with everything else, okay? In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been trying to ease you into this whole zandara thing. It’s obvious that you like him, so why hurt your feelings right away by telling you that you two can never be together?”
“Yes, you’re a benevolent angel,” I say drily. “So while we’re on the subject, is there anything else you’re keeping from me? Any other secrets about my own life I should know about?”
“Now you’re just being a drama queen.” She sticks out her lower lip in a dramatic pout. “So are you going to keep yelling at me, or are you going to help us fix this?”
“Obviously I’m going to help you. Tonight?”
Her shoulders sag. “It’ll take us a day or two to put together the necessary herbs to render the intruder powerless. We’ll need the help of the whole sosyete too. This is a big deal.”