But then the door flies open, and the moment is over as Peregrine and Chloe stumble out. Their eyes focus unsteadily on Caleb and me, and Peregrine’s mouth opens into a little o.
“Eveny,” she begins, her eyes flicking uncertainly between Caleb and me. “I didn’t mean for you . . .” Her voice is slurred and she trails off.
“We’re sorry, Eveny.” Chloe’s voice is stronger and clearer, but she doesn’t sound normal either; it’s more like she’s just run a marathon and is weak and out of breath. “We didn’t expect the spirit to say what he did through Pascal,” she says. “But whatever it is, we’ll deal with it together.”
It takes me a moment to realize that she and Peregrine think I’m shivering in fear because of what happened during the ceremony. “It’s not that,” I tell them. “I . . . I tried to run home, but in the cemetery, I was attacked by the guy from Main de Lumière.” I add pointedly, “The one who was posing as Blake Montoire at your party.”
I watch as their eyes widen into saucers, and I realize for the first time how dilated their pupils are. “Wait, what?” Peregrine whispers.
“Are you sure?” Chloe asks at the same time.
“Yes,” I say and recap my encounter in the cemetery.
“Well, he was just bluffing,” Peregrine says when I’m done, her eyes darting nervously to Chloe, who’s chewing her lip. “The ceremony worked. He’s powerless in Carrefour now.”
“But he confirmed that there’s already an operative here,” I tell them. “Someone we trust. Someone who killed Glory. Someone who isn’t powerless because they have a key to Carrefour. It’s just like we thought.”
Peregrine grabs my right hand and Chloe my left, and before I know it, I’m being pulled away from Caleb. The moment I’m out of his arms, I feel cold and exposed.
“We’ll call our mothers now,” Peregrine says. “Let’s get inside.”
Caleb steps back into the darkness, and I hesitate. “Aren’t you coming in?” I ask.
“There’s something I have to do.” His jaw is set, and I realize what he means.
“You can’t go after him, Caleb,” I say. “It’s not safe.”
“I’ll be fine.” He doesn’t give me a chance to argue. He turns away and strides toward the cemetery, his fists clenched.
“Caleb!” I cry out. But Chloe and Peregrine hold me back as he vanishes into the darkness.
“He’ll be okay,” Peregrine says. “Don’t worry.”
“Don’t worry?” I demand. “You just let him go after a Main de Lumière general!”
“A Main de Lumière general who’s powerless now,” Peregrine corrects. “Caleb can take care of himself.”
I don’t believe her. I call out once more for him, but the only answer is the cawing of a raven from somewhere beyond the cemetery wall.
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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26
“You performed a ceremony with Eveny without “ bothering to explain it to her first?” Peregrine’s mother demands twenty minutes later once we’re all gathered in her living room. She and Chloe’s mother came right away from a cocktail party on the other side of town. Peregrine’s mother has her black hair done in a thousand tiny braids, and she looks impossibly slim in a shimmery silver dress. Chloe’s mother’s sleek blond hair is pulled into a chignon at the nape of her neck, and she’s wearing a black cocktail dress that hugs her slender curves. They’re both clutching flutes of champagne, which the maid handed to them as soon as they walked in the door.
“We thought it would make it easier on her if she didn’t know what was going to happen,” Peregrine whimpers, looking at the floor.
“Easier on her?” her mother asks, her eyes flashing. “Or easier on you?”
“I—” Peregrine begins, but her mother cuts her off.
“Enough,” she says in a voice that’s deadly calm. She looks at me. “Eveny, on behalf of my daughter, and of both sosyetes, yours and mine, I apologize. What Peregrine and Chloe did was inappropriate. You’re one of us, and you deserve a full explanation from now on.”
“Chloe knows better too,” Chloe’s mother pipes up, looking nervously at her daughter, who, like Peregrine, is staring at the floor like it’s the most interesting thing she’s ever seen.
I shrug uncomfortably. I don’t need an apology—particularly not from the mothers, whose carelessness has nearly destroyed the town. “What about Caleb?” I ask. “He’s out there all alone.”