The flower crown turned into a headband with crystal flowers the moment we left Necrontium, though it took me a while to notice it. Its beauty alternatively made me sniffle and clench my jaw in determination to not break down as I endured Sunday. Dad didn't even let me come with him to pick my Mini from the Eternal Acres, and without my phone, I nearly went insane, wondering what tales people concocted about Cruz and me. Late night standoff in our driveway was bound to get the rumor mill spinning its wheels.

So, on Monday, when I could finally leave the house, I wore my crown and held my head high, braced for the worst.

The closer I drove to the school, the faster my heart beat. It went into complete overdrive as I turned into Third Street, but my worries disappeared as if by magic: Cruz's Porsche was parked where I usually parked my Mini. Even better, the man himself leaned against his car.

If Cruz was with me, why did I worry in the first place? Silly me.

Washed-out jeans and varsity sweater Cruz wore that morning made the scene look like a picture out of a fashion magazine. Even a plastic bottle in his hand didn't spoil this impression. He took a sip of what looked like tomato juice, and most definitely wasn't, then circled the Mini and leaned into the rolled-down driver's window.

"Good morning, my queen." The dazzling smile that graced his face the moment he saw me, wavered. "How are you doing?"

"So much better now," I answered. "How's Bartolome?"

Cruz shook his head sadly. "No changes, alas."

"But the Coven, they let you go to school?"

He laughed. "My parents stormed the Acres, demanding that I must have access to conventional public education."

Cruz's parents knew so much more than mine, but wouldn't it be nice if Dad gave me the benefit of the doubt? Or just had my back, without needing an explanation. Believed, that I wasn't always on the verge of doing something dumb simply because I was sixteen.

And if wishes were horses... I sighed, flipping my hair I wore down that day, and for a good reason.

Cruz's glance traveled to the blue-and-purple mark his teeth left on my neck. "Gosh. Sorry about that...I...I have something for it."

He dug into his pocket. I expected some vampire salve, like the elixir he was drinking, but he pulled out my scarf with a flourish of a magician.

"You kept it!" My chest was warm and twinging, while my stung with wanted tears. Basically, a state of total aww.

"Allow me."

The other students' cars honked, as they drove around my double-parked Mini and Cruz. Their noise came from a great distance, not reaching our private paradise, as Cruz wrapped the scarf around my neck. I melted, as he adjusted the silk with cool, elegant fingers until the bow hid the bite mark. It should have been enough, but he freed my trapped hair, spilling them over the scarf. His brown eyes misted dreamily, as if he was trying to come up with more things that kept our heads bent together.

"Cruz, just kiss me already."

We did. We kissed out in the street, but the street was gone for a second, lost to us. So, I guess, it was okay.

Cruz finally released my lips from his and rubbed his temples. "You make me forget things," he mumbled.

"I...I'm dazed myself." I looked around, still melting inside, to ground myself in reality. Street. School. Porsche...in my spot. I tilted my head toward it. "Why...?"

"Oh. Park in my spot in the parking lot, Zoe. I might need a getaway vehicle after I talk to Aiden. I'm closing in on where to look for Freida's hideout."

"Sounds great! Hop in, I'll come with you."

He did, but he looked anxious. "Your dad and I started on the wrong foot already. I'm worried your parents will get mad at me again."

I shrugged one shoulder, merging into the string of students' cars flowing into the parking lot.

"What are they going to do worse than taking the prom away from me? Ground me for the summer? Please..." I sounded like a bad girl, and it made me tingle. Zoe Green, she's so bad!

"They can forbid you to see me," Cruz said soberly.

"Then they would be wrong, and they taught us in social studies that obeying an unjust law is bad." Or something like that. "So, we'll just have to sneak away to Necrontium. We can, right?"

"Yes. Actually, we should. Necrontium trusted us, so we owe the shard as much cultivation as we can do."

I smiled up at him, looking forward to eloping into our world. "There you go."

"We just need a private place where I can anchor the portal, and we're all set."

Place, I could get to whenever, without arousing Dad's suspicions. Hmm. I bit my lip, but let it go—this was a problem for another day.

I'd solve it, however, because I promised Necrontium would have stars, and that was one promise I intended to keep.

"Great. We'll find Dylan and other feeders, then sneak to Necronium. Together."

"You're amazing! Absolutely amazing." Cruz brightened. "Step one, is to question Aiden. He gave me some ideas, but I hope he remembered something crucial overnight, to narrow my list down."

As we walked toward the school building, Cruz explained.

According to Aiden, Dylan's job, for which he quit the school, was out of town. Somewhere on the coast, and it involved a high end resort, health club or something of the kind.

Really upscale, Aiden had said, according to Cruz.

Hence, unlike me, Cruz spent his Sunday productively. He compiled a list of a dozen potential places.

"You really remind me of Esha," I murmured while scrolling through it on his phone.

Cruz chuckled. "You honor me, but we have our work cut out for us, unfortunately. The less legwork the better, particularly if we want to keep our sleuthing a secret from our folks and the Coven. Particularly the Coven."

I sighed, because Cruz was right—the Ancient vampires didn't grasp how long normal humans live, after operating with the immortality timeframe in mind. If they knew what we were up to, they would waste their efforts apprehending us, and then the feeders would perish for sure!

Secrecy was our only hope, and we couldn't count on anyone's help...well, anyone's, save for Aiden's.

Secrecy was our only hope, and we couldn't count on anyone's help...well, except Aiden's.

***

I normally dreaded Delys High's front entrance just before the school day began. Everyone hung out on the steps, watching everyone else. It was worse than a stage!

Today, my stomach curled inward into an even tighter knot, because I was climbing the steps holding Cruz's hand. Then it fluttered. Only sixty percent of these reactions were from anxiety, the rest came from a bubbly joy coursing through me.

Cruz is my boyfriend! Wow!

I gripped his hand tighter, as two groups converged on us from the opposite sides of the concrete staircase. From the right, came Esha and my friends, five girls. From the left—Aiden and his buddies, four boys. They moved in unison, like they rehearsed it beforehand, I swear! All we needed was a catchy tune, and we would be in a musical.

"So, it's true," Esha said, eyeing our clasped hands.

Aiden was just as eager to abandon the traditional good mornings. "Triana, I ran into McCrank. The gist is, if you stop being an idiot, he'll put you back on the team. I mean, given we lost the game—" he peered at Cruz with sad puppy eyes I didn't know he was capable of.

Cruz snuggled my waist besides holding my hand. If he could sweat, he'd probably be dripping with it.

"I...I won't be playing again. Apparently, I have this weird congenital condition, and my doctor said I can't exert myself."

"Crap." Aiden's gaze drilled into me with hatred. If anyone was watching—and, sure, everyone was watching!—there could be no doubt about who Aiden blamed for losing Cruz from the team.

"Bet, you're happy," he snapped at me.

Esha rolled her eyes. "Just as I think we've explored the breadth of your stupidity, you open new horizons, Rosen. For the idiots present, congenital means Cruz was born with it. And Zoe is a huge fan of your team, though it beats me why. How you can blame her, boggles my mind."

"Yeah, Chawla, whatever, so long as you go and be boggled somewhere else. I have to talk to Cruz about some important stuff."

"Nuh-huh, I'm not going anywhere. I need to talk to Zoe about some important stuff," Esha parroted Aiden with a biting precision. I never suspected acting was among her many talents.

Also...was it just me, or was their bickering and how they called each other by their last names...sort of cute? In a strange I-hate-you-so-much-I-can't-stop-talking-to-you way?

"Esha, I'm sorry to interrupt, but Zoe and I need to talk to Aiden before the first period starts," Cruz said softly, obviously trying to get rid of her, but I had a light-bulb moment.

"Wait! Esha can help too." I glanced at my BFF. "You're neighbors with Dylan, right?"

Esha's enormous eyes narrowed. "Dylan? Why Dylan? I thought we were over the Dylan phase?"

"Because, Chawla," Aiden said with an air of self-importance, "Cruz and Zoe think he's in trouble. Like, human trafficking, or something equally bad. I am helping them to figure it out, while you're distracting us."

For a long second, Esha taped the corner of her lips with her index finger. It was such an obvious call to let the girl think, we all watched her with a rapt attention, even Aiden.

"It tracks," she said at last, with a sigh. "Okay, Zoe, you have to forgive me because I knew it for a while and didn't tell you. But, in my defense, once Dylan stopped coming to school, I didn't have to use this info. So, I filed it away as useless.

"You see, Dylan isn't my neighbor."

This didn't seem like that big of a revelation, but the intensity of Esha's delivery made us gasp.

Satisfied with our reaction, Esha continued.

"You remember when he first moved to Delys, Dylan said he was living with his uncle. Who, everyone assumed, was the rich douche living on my street in the enormous mansion. Everyone whispers about what was going on in there, what 'these people' do, but nobody wants to cross them.

"So, at some point, I just went there and asked after Dylan. The douche guy was so surprised by my civility, he spilled the beans. Dylan wasn't his nephew or lived there. He was working off his actual uncle's debt."

"Gosh!" I cried out. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to use the intel behind the scenes to resolve things without more drama," Esha said. "But as I said, there was no need."

"Wait," Aiden said. "So, he wasn't living there, so what?"

"You really need to learn to read between the lines." Esha cringed. "I spent an evening with a phone book, then did a drive-by Dylan's actual uncle's address. It was a run-down slam, Rosen, but in case you're clinically incapable of putting two and two together, his uncle is an addict."

"And you are a bit too good at putting two-and-two together! Because that wasn't prejudiced at all," Aiden muttered.

She speared him with a glare, while her voice jumped an octave. "The people on my street are gangsters and thugs, Rosen, that's a fact. What jobs they made Dylan do for them, I shudder to think."

Esha, indeed, shuddered. She made it look so pretty; it made me doubt her earlier statement about not wanting drama.

But Aiden wasn't buying her act. "Dylan never said anything about it to us."

"Well, you're not exactly an emotional support group, are you?" she snapped and planted her hands on her hips.

They locked gazes.

I butted into...whatever was going on there between these two. "This explains why nobody reported Dylan as missing to the police yet. If his uncle is in too deep, he probably doesn't have a firm grip on reality or is afraid of Esha's neighbors."

"Which means Cruz and you shouldn't mess with it," Esha pointed out. "Go to the cops and leave it at that."

I heaved a giant sigh. Leave it to the cops, leave it to the vampires, leave it to the grown-ups...always the same thing! "Esha, we can't. I can't explain why, but just trust me, okay?"

Esha wiggled her brows, like really, that just-trust-me card, again?

"Wait!" Aiden snapped his fingers and turned to Cruz. "All this talk about drugs! I remembered one more thing, Cruz! The place where Dylan works now is not an effing spa. It's a fancy rehab place. Restorative, something, something." He snapped his fingers, looking uncharacteristically thoughtful.

Cruz, who stayed cold and aloof for the entire conversation, whipped up his phone and scrolled through his list. "Thanks, Aiden, I got it. Let's go, Zoe!"

It was obvious he had to restrain himself from using the vampire speed in front of half the student body, but we bounded down the stairs and the Third Street as fast as mortals could go.

"Zoe!" Esha's forlorn cry trailed after us. "She's doing it...she's doing it again!"

Once we were safely in Cruz's Porsche, he handed his phone to me—since I was still a phone-less loser.

I barely caught the name of our destination—The Nine Lives Restorative Center—on Google Maps, and Cruz floored the gas pedal.