"I let Luke know I told both of you about him." Mia announced to her friends. "Well...actually, I told him I was going to tell you, but..." she shrugged; it was close enough, as far as Mia was concerned.

"What?" Carmine asked.

"Why?" Anna said at the same time.

"I thought we decided it was better if he didn't know we knew." Carmine added.

"Because I thought it was fair." Mia said. "If we're going to be friends with him for a while, it only makes sense to tell him we know."

"Yeah, but why?" Carmine asked again.

"Because what happens if he tells us later on? Would you act surprised or would you tell him, 'Oh, I've known for three years already.'?"

Carmine pursed her lips but didn't say anything. Mia wasn't surprised; what else could Carmine say? Mia knew she was right.

"What did he say when you told him?" Anna asked.

"He was really worried."

"I'll bet he was." Carmine said, giving Mia a look that said that was obvious. "Did you tell him we wouldn't tell anyone?"

"Of course." Mia said; she wasn't stupid. "But that wasn't the only thing he was worried about."

"Why else was he worried?" Anna wondered.

"You know what people usually think werewolves are like?" Mia asked. When her friends nodded, Mia told them, "He's worried you're going to think he's like that – he was worried you wouldn't talk to him anymore."

Mia knew Luke would have hated to hear that she'd told them that, but oh well. She decided it was more important to make sure everyone was on the same page than to worry about whether or not she'd embarrassed Luke behind his back.

"He was really concerned?" Anna asked.

"Yeah. I told him you wouldn't mind him being a werewolf, though."

"And he believed that?" Carmine raised her eyebrows. Mia decided to ignore her.

"I told him we could hang out together this weekend, so he could see that everything was ok. And Zev and Conner are probably going to come too."

"That's a good idea." Anna said.

"It is." Carmine agreed. Then, under her breath, Mia heard her mutter, "This'll be one of the strangest times I've ever had."

Mia couldn't agree more.

***

When Mia let Luke know the next day that she'd told her friends about him, he started looking sick all over again. When she said they'd been ok with it, she was greeted with a mixture of relief and skepticism.

"Really?" he said in a way that let Mia know he was trying to decide if she was playing a trick on him.

"Really." she told him. "They were...surprised...at first." Mia said, remembering how they'd reacted when she'd actually told them. "But I explained it to them. And they still want to hang out with you."

"So they were ok with getting food with us?"

Normally, going out to eat was about the last thing either Mia or Anna would want to do. But they'd decided to make Luke comfortable, so they'd all agreed to say yes to whatever activity he chose to do.

"Yeah. I told you, they're ok. Anna likes you, and you know Carmine likes supernatural things."

Luke was still looking surprised and not completely convinced. Mia decided to just let him wait until he met up with everyone; he would see for himself.

They'd decided to meet at the mall the next night after school; there were plenty of restaurants there, and they'd be able to choose one once everyone got together. Mia had hoped to wait until Saturday, but that just wasn't an option. Not only was Luke afraid to wait that long, but they still had plans to look for the Dullahan that weekend. As much as she wanted to, Mia knew they couldn't afford to put that off for very long.

When Mia walked through the doors at the front entrance to the mall, only Anna was there. Carmine came a few minutes later, jogging slightly.

"Sorry I'm late." she said as soon as she was within earshot. "Where's Luke?"

"He's not here yet." Mia told her. She found herself wondering if he was going to show up at all – maybe he'd decided to just skip the whole thing.

"He's usually late." Anna said, obviously not thinking the same way as Mia. "He'll be here soon, don't worry."

Sure enough, Luke showed up about five minutes later, Zev and Conner in tow. Mia couldn't help but notice Luke looked like he had combed his usually shaggy hair, and even Zev was wearing a collared shirt. Mia almost laughed; Luke was definitely trying to make sure they gave a good impression.

Luke walked nervously towards the girls, giving a small smile and a short nod when he saw them. Even from across the room, he looked nervous. And as he got closer, Mia could see how pale he was. Conner stayed slightly behind Luke, almost like he was using him as a shield. Zev seemed to be the only one of the group who didn't look a little scared. Mia couldn't tell if it was because he'd already had a similar conversation with Mia, or if he just didn't care what Anna and Carmine thought.

The meeting had started out surprisingly awkward. Luke was obviously waiting for them to get up and run away at any minute, and Conner was even more quiet than usual. Even though Zev was wearing his usual I-don't-care expression, he was still following Luke's lead, and it looked like the three of them didn't really know what to say or how to act. And to make everything worse, Carmine was staring at the boys like they'd each grown an extra head. Mia really wished she would stop.

It wasn't until they were seated and ordering food that the mood finally started to lighten. Mia couldn't help but wonder if it was because Luke figured they'd stick around at least until the meal was over.

"So, Mia told you guys? About us?" Luke said finally, looking at both Anna and Carmine.

"Yeah." Anna said. She looked like she was going to say something else, but Zev had turned to Carmine.

"Did you have something you wanted to ask?" She still had a kind of wide-eyed stare.

"...I'm just... surprised." she said, her cheeks turning red. "I guess I still kind of thought Mia was lying – I mean, I didn't really know you guys until recently, but I've seen you in school for years."

"We try to be careful." Zev said, deciding to take her reaction as a compliment.

"Yeah, but still..." Carmine shook her head, at a loss.

"So you're really ok with it?" Luke asked, still skeptical.

"I was worried at first." Anna admitted. "But Mia's really good at explaining things."

Luke looked surprised, like Mia was the last person he'd expected to stand up for them. He looked like he was going to say something, but decided against it. Mia was glad; she was pretty sure that anything he would say about her with regards to this particular topic wouldn't exactly paint her in the best light.

"So we're still on for this weekend?" Zev asked. Mia shot him an appreciative glance, glad to get onto any other subject.

"It would be really great if you helped out." Carmine told them, finally managing to get a normal expression on her face.

"But if you don't want to, that's ok too." Anna cut in hurriedly.

"Why wouldn't we want to?" Luke asked. "I told you already – there's no way we're going to let you do this by yourselves... Unless, you don't want us to join you?"

"No – we do." Carmine said quickly. Luke looked relieved.

"So what's the plan?" Conner asked. "Are we just going to grab it, or what?"

"Well, from everything I've read, they tend to be in remote areas normally." Carmine said. "So, probably near the woods."

"I've never seen anything near the woods." Zev told her.

There was a brief pause while the implications of what he'd said sank in; Mia had a flash of wolves running through the trees. Carmine was the first to recover, shaking her head to get rid of whatever thoughts she'd had.

"I don't think it's really come around yet. There was some kind of connection with the banshees, but I'm not sure exactly what it was. I tried to ask Summer and her friends, but none of them were very much help."

"Summer's not coming, is she?" Conner asked, looking for the first time like he was rethinking his plans to join them. Carmine shook her head.

"No, they're sending us to do it." She tried to sound neutral, but Mia could hear the resentment. For the first time since they'd met up that night, Luke actually laughed.

"She's staying home where it's safe." he said.

Zev and Conner both snickered. Anna looked surprised that he would think that, and Mia had to hide her smirk behind her hand.

"So what do we actually do?" Mia asked. As glad as she was for the opportunity to make fun of Summer, she really didn't want to go anywhere near the woods without a plan set firmly in place.

"It seems pretty simple to me." Luke said. "I mean, this Dullahan is just something the fae can't control – like the banshees, right?"

Mia turned towards Carmine, waiting to see her reaction. It was true that Carmine had been telling them how dangerous this thing was, but Luke did seem to have a point.

"It's not like the banshees at all." Carmine told them. "Banshees don't actually hurt people. They cry when someone's about to die, but they don't actually cause the deaths – they're more like pre-mourners. But with the Dullahan, it's a little more complicated. The Dullahan can actually hurt you. And if it calls out your name, it means you're marked for death."

"Marked for death?" Conner tried to sound skeptical, but the worry was written all over his face.

"Yeah." Carmine told them. "So it's really important that everybody knows what we're doing so we can get this whole thing over with as quickly as possible."

"And make sure no one uses any names during the process." Luke said. "Just in case."

"Since they're magic, they might know your name anyway."

"You think everything's magic." Mia said before she could stop herself.

"Well, what would you call it then?" Carmine snapped.

Mia shrugged; she guessed Carmine did have a point. When Mia didn't respond, Carmine continued.

"Anyway, the only thing I've found that they're scared of is gold."

"Like the banshees." Luke said, nodding.

"Yes. In that sense they're like the banshees." Carmine sighed, and Mia could tell she was tired of everyone comparing the two.

"I'm not trying to say they're the same." Luke said quickly, remembering that he was supposed to be on his best behavior tonight. "I just wanted to make sure."

Carmine eyed him suspiciously but didn't say anything.

The rest of the night went by quickly. Once they had a general plan for what to do this weekend, Mia started to feel much better about the whole thing. The conversation drifted to school and the latest gossip. Eventually, they headed out towards the parking lot. Conner's older brother, Colin, was picking the boys up in about ten minutes and Carmine's mom was already waiting for her. Anna and Mia were each going to take the bus home.

"We can take you home if you want." Luke told Anna. "You don't live far from us – you're on the way."

Anna looked hesitantly at Mia, but Mia nodded.

"Go ahead." Mia told her friend. "I've waited for the bus by myself before. I'll be fine."

"We can wait for your bus." Luke told her. "I didn't mean that you should wait by yourself."

Mia tried to tell him she'd be fine. Actually, she'd been hoping to maybe grab someone off by themselves if she had the time, but Luke was adamant that they wait. So they walked towards the bus stop as a group, still keeping an eye out for Colin's car. As they walked, Mia hung back a little and Zev followed suit.

"Nice shirt." she told him. She'd wanted to mention it since the beginning of the night, but she hadn't had a chance. Now that she was basically alone with him, she just had to mention it. Zev looked down and laughed.

"Yeah, I know." he said. "I wanted to wear what I had on at school, but Luke wouldn't let me. He said we had to dress up."

"I knew it." Mia told him triumphantly. "Hopefully he's not so worried now."

"Oh, I think he'll be fine." Zev told her. She followed his gaze and saw Luke walking hand-in-hand with Anna.