Saturday morning, Carmine laid down on her bed. The sun was just starting to shine, but she'd been up for hours already. She didn't have anything better to do at the moment, so she'd decided to get started on the next book they were supposed to read in English. She'd already done all of her homework this week – one of the benefits of never really sleeping. And now, she was bored. She figured this would be as good a time as any to get a little bit ahead in English. Besides, they were going to be reading The Canterbury Tales soon, and Carmine figured that might actually take her a little time to get through. And this would give her something to do until Conner actually woke up.

She didn't hear from him until almost eleven.

We still on for today? he texted her.

Yeah. Know what you want to do? she responded. She'd decided to let him pick for once.

Hike? he asked.

Sure. Carmine hadn't done that in a while anyway. She used to go out all the time with her parents when she was younger, but somehow she didn't have a lot of time for that since she started high school. It seemed like every year there was always something that kept her preoccupied. It'd be nice to get outside for once.

Carmine started going through her closet, looking for a pair of decent shoes. She knew she had some hiking boots somewhere, but her closet always seemed to be a bottomless pit of things she never even knew she owned. She'd finally found them hiding under a box of old sweatshirts that didn't fit her anymore when her phone buzzed again.

Ok if Luke comes? Conner asked.

Sure.

Carmine thought it was a little weird, especially since Luke didn't really come with the two of them when they went out together. But he'd been kind of off lately – not down exactly, but Carmine could see that something wasn't quite right. Maybe getting him out would help. Besides, it wasn't like Luke wasn't a friend of hers anyway; there really wasn't any reason why he shouldn't come with them.

K. We'll pick you up. Conner told her.

Carmine sighed to herself. She didn't want to say anything, but that meant they were going to be late for sure. Luke was always terrible about figuring out how long it actually took to get anywhere. Not that Carmine was much better, but she figured if someone made her look punctual, they might need to step it up a little. At least it would give her time to finish the chapter she was on before they actually got here.

Carmine was sitting in the living room, almost finished with the third story in the book when she finally heard a car pull up outside. She looked at the clock and realized Luke and Conner were actually only a minute or so late – on time as far as she was concerned, and practically early for Luke. Carmine had to admit, she was impressed. She put her book down and met them before they even had time to get out of the car.

"See you later!" Carmine called out to her parents as she closed the door.

"You ready?" Conner asked, meeting her halfway up the walkway.

"Of course." she told him. How could she not be ready if she was already outside? They walked back to Luke's car, and Carmine and Conner exchanged a brief look.

"Who gets front seat?" she asked as casually as she could.

Conner stared at her for a minute, eyes narrowed. He looked like he was trying to decide if he could actually force her to sit in the back, or if she'd make an issue out of it.

"...You do, I guess." he said grudgingly. Carmine grinned; at least he'd correctly interpreted the look on her face.

"Thank you." she beamed.

She opened the door and pulled the seat down for him. He didn't look happy, but Carmine didn't care. Besides, Carmine was one of the taller girls at their school. And she didn't want to say anything to him, but she was pretty sure she was an inch or two taller than he was anyway. And wasn't it a rule that shorter people got in the back? Still, she pulled the seat up as far as it would go. It wasn't much in an old car like that, but at least it gave him some room.

"Thanks." he mumbled.

"So where're we going, anyway?" Carmine asked Luke as she slid into the passenger seat next to him. Luke looked over his shoulder at Conner.

"There's a place a couple miles south of here that I kinda wanted to check out." Conner said.

"Yeah?" Carmine asked. She kind of figured Luke would be overriding any plans that Conner'd make. But maybe he didn't want to step on their toes since he was technically tagging along.

"You know the way?" Luke asked him.

"Yeah – it's pretty close to the college." Conner said. He'd already looked up the directions on his phone, so all he had to do was read them off to Luke.

They were there in just under an hour. They got out of the car and Luke locked the doors.

As they made their way to the head of the trail, Carmine found herself wondering what the difficulty level actually was. She hadn't been hiking in a while, and she'd never done it with only two werewolves for company. But Carmine decided not to let it bother her; she was already in pretty good shape before, and now that she was a vampire, she was pretty sure she could match the boys in terms of stamina. At least, until they changed. But she figured they wouldn't do that today; if they were planning that, they probably wouldn't have invited her along.

They walked along the path for a while, no one really saying anything. Carmine didn't mind; she was kind of glad for the silence. She contented herself with just looking around her. The trees were actually pretty thick around here – much more so than by Conner's neighborhood. And even with the chill in the air, it was still pretty nice out. Carmine had to admit, she'd missed these kinds of hikes; and the fact that she knew it wasn't a place she'd ever been while running for her life just made these woods even nicer.

As they neared the top of the mountain, the trail curved around to the right. There was a little outcropping of rock on the left before the mountain dropped off steeply, flattening out to the forest below.

"Nice view." Carmine said. She hadn't realized they'd actually climbed so high up.

"Yeah." Luke said absently. He followed Carmine as she stepped out onto the ledge to get a better look. Conner stayed behind.

"I'll be back in a sec." he said.

Carmine just nodded.

Luke looked like he'd been expecting Conner to say that, and she wondered vaguely why. Still, she didn't bother to ask; she contented herself with just looking out across the trees below. She was pretty sure she could see the edge of the boys' neighborhood off to the left. Which of course meant that the place where the Dullahan had been was just in front of that. She suppressed a shudder and decided to look over to the right instead. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luke watching her.

"Everything ok?" Carmine asked him.

He seemed better now that they were outside – definitely not as lethargic as he'd looked when he picked her up this morning. But he was still being unnaturally quiet.

"Yeah." he nodded, but of course Carmine didn't believe him.

"What's wrong?"

"Has Anna seemed a little...weird to you lately?" he asked finally. Carmine wondered if that was why Conner had left – to give Luke a chance to ask Carmine about her friend without him hanging around.

"I don't think so. I mean – not any more than usual." Carmine said.

Anna was pretty normal, but she was still a little off at times. Carmine tended to give her a pass, though. How could you be that old and not be a little weird? Especially if you hadn't actually talked to humans for almost three hundred years?

"I think she's going to break up with me." Luke said suddenly.

"What? Why would you think that?"

Carmine was sure she must have heard him wrong. She knew things between them had been a little tense lately, but it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Other than the fact that she avoids me at school all the time?" Luke asked, looking at her.

"She doesn't avoid you. I mean, look at lunch – she's there every day."

"And that's the only time she's anywhere near me." he said. "And did you notice how she looks really uncomfortable every time I sit down?"

"Well..." Carmine started.

It was true Anna usually looked like she was thinking about getting up and moving to another table as soon as he came near them, but Carmine had kind of hoped that had been because of Rudi. And even though it looked like Mia hadn't done anything about it like she'd said, Carmine hoped that the mistletoe idea would finally work. That would get everything back to normal, and Anna wouldn't have to be worried anymore.

"I think she's just stressed." Carmine assured him.

This whole thing with Mia had really been putting a lot of pressure on all the girls. Luke didn't look any better, so she figured she'd remind him of what had been going on. "I think the Rudi thing's just been on her mind a lot lately."

"I thought that was taken care of." Luke told her.

"I guess not." Carmine shrugged.

She wanted to tell him that it would be now, but she wasn't exactly sure how to mention to him that she'd given Mia the mistletoe idea; he probably wouldn't be that excited about it anyway.

"Well, when I talked to Rudi, she said she'd stop." Luke said it in a way that gave Carmine the distinct impression he'd done a little more than just politely ask.

"So if that's taken care of, what's the problem?" Carmine asked. She got the feeling she was missing something.

"I have no idea." he said. "That's why I'm asking you."

"I think it'll be ok in a few days." Carmine told him. "Just wait until Mia's better, and it'll all blow over."

"You sure?" He looked completely unconvinced.

"Yeah." she nodded. "And if I find out anything, I'll tell you, ok? Promise."

"Thanks." he said. He still looked worried about the whole thing, but it was the best Carmine could offer.

Carmine sat there with him a few minutes, thinking. She knew Rudi didn't want Anna to talk to Luke anymore, but Carmine had a hard time really believing that was the whole story. Besides, if it was just to keep Rudi happy, why hadn't Anna broken up with Luke at the end of last year? Carmine didn't think she'd ever seen Rudi so annoyed as when she caught them all out after getting rid of Adam. So why would Anna really wait almost six months to finally worry about it? Carmine was definitely going to have to ask Anna what was really going on.

Carmine's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coming down the path towards them. She looked up and was almost surprised to see Conner.

"Yeah, this'll be good." Conner told Luke as he approached them.

"Good for what?" Carmine asked.

"Well, you know...to get away. If we need it." Conner shrugged, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

Carmine tried not to roll her eyes. She didn't see why he'd be so hesitant about it – it wasn't like she didn't know all about them anyway.

"College going to change that much for you guys?" she asked.

"No. We'll be fine." Luke said a little too forcefully.

Carmine actually caught herself looking over at him. She couldn't remember the last time he'd worked that hard to convince someone of something. He must have seen the look on her face because he just shrugged somewhat resignedly.

"It's more of a...backup option." Conner mumbled. "Just in case things don't quite go according to plan."

Carmine nodded vaguely, pretending she didn't really care. But her mind was racing. She tried to remember if there was something he'd told her that she should be remembering. Of course, there was no way she'd be asking him with Luke around; that would only guarantee that he'd never tell her anything else again. Still, she made a mental note to ask him later what that meant. All she knew right now was that she was starting to get really sick of everyone she knew lying to her.