“I don’t mind the cargos,” I told her, shrugging.

“Please, I’ve seen what few clothes you have and they’re all pretty and lacy.”

“Not a lot of call for lace camisoles in survivalist training and drills,” I pointed out.

“Well, since I don’t intend to set foot in that smelly old gym until I absolutely have to, I demand you wear something pretty.” She grinned at me. “I took you to dinner, didn’t I?”

“We went to the caf for mac and cheese,” I shot back, also grinning. “And you’re not my type.”

“Please, you should be so lucky.”

A knock at the door interrupted us. Spencer poked his head in. His dreads were even longer and more blond, nearly white. He’d spent most of the summer at the beach, as usual. “I am so stoked to finally be on the ground floor,” he said by way of a greeting. “I’m never climbing those stairs again.”

“Tell me about it,” Chloe agreed.

The dorm was an old Victorian five-story mansion. Ninth graders lived in the converted attic and had to climb the narrow, steep servant stairs several times a day. Every year we were promoted, we descended a floor. Our window now overlooked the pond behind the house and the single cranky swan that lived there.

“That bird’s looking at me again,” I said. He’d nearly taken a finger my very first day at the academy when I tried to feed him the bagel I’d saved from lunch.

Spencer sat on the edge of my bed, rolling his eyes. “It’s dark out, genius.”

“I know he’s out there,” I insisted. “Just waiting for me.”

“You can take out a vampire, you can take out a pretty white bird.”

“I guess. You don’t know how shifty those swans are.” I wrinkled my nose and sat on the end of my bed, resting against the pillow. “But speaking of vampires—”

“Aren’t we always?” Chloe said. “Just once I’d like to talk about boys and fashion and Hugh Jackman’s abs.”

“Hello? Like you ever talk about anything else?” Spencer groaned. “I need more guy friends.”

I nudged him with my boot. “Guys would never have been able to put in a good word for you with Francesca last year,” I told him.

“Yeah, but she broke my heart.”

“Give me a break. You dumped her.”

“Because there’s only room in my heart for you two lunatics.”

I threw a pillow at his head.

“What she said,” Chloe agreed, since she couldn’t reach her own pillow.

“And anyway, if you were hanging out burping and scratching with other guys you wouldn’t hear about my visit to the vampire royal caves last week.”

“We don’t burp and scratch,” he turned to eye me balefully. “And what?”

Even Chloe put down her nail polish. “Seriously?”

“Kieran took me,” I said, a little smugly. It was rare that I was the one with the story to tell. Usually I was too busy trying to get Chloe and Spencer out of trouble to get into any of my own.

“Dude,” Spencer whistled appreciatively. “How did you get that past your grandfather?”

“I didn’t exactly tell him,” I admitted. “I said I was going out for extra credit.”

“Finally.” Chloe pretended to wipe away a tear of pride. “She’s sneaking around and flat-out lying. Our little girl.”

Spencer and I both ignored her.

“So what was it like?” he asked eagerly. “Tell me everything. Any rituals? Secret vampire magic?”

“Sorry, nothing for your thesis,” I told him. “But a princess from the Hounds tribe was there.”

“Get out,” Spencer stared at me. “You are the luckiest. What was she like?”

“Quiet, intense, French.” Like the other Hounds, she’d had two sets of fangs. “She had amulets around her neck.”

“Can you draw them for me?” he asked immediately.

“I could try.”

“You two are boring.” Chloe huffed out a sigh. “Quit studying—we haven’t even started classes yet. Tell me about the Drake brothers. Are they as yummy as everyone says?”

“Totally.” I didn’t even have to think about that one. “It was like being in a room full of Johnny Depps. One of them even kind of dressed like a pirate.”

Chloe gave a trembling, reverent sigh. Then she narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t you dare leave me behind next time.”

“I think it was a one-time thing. Hart was there and everything.” Hart was the new leader of the Helios-Ra and Kieran’s uncle. “It was mostly treaty talk. I still don’t know why I was invited.”

“Because you’re good at that stuff,” Chloe declared loyally. “Idiot,” she added, less loyally.

I hadn’t felt particularly skilled, more like the bumbling teenager at a table full of adults. I’d had to remind myself more than once that I’d been invited, that I wasn’t obviously useless or an outsider.

Especially when Quinn Drake smirked at me.

All the Drake brothers were ridiculously gorgeous, but he had that smoldering charm down to an art. The kind you only read about in books. I’d always thought it would be annoying in real life.

So not.

Although the fact that he called me “Buffy” all night was less fun.