LITMIR.BIZ

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one of a kind.” Way, way, way more than Carlee would ever know. She just laughed and we danced for a few minutes before I left the middle to watch from the edges and wait for Lend. The Vicious Redhead, my old soccer nemesis, was awkwardly grinding with a tall, skinny kid who was one of the stars of the basketball team, and Carlee was now surrounded by no less than four guys. I was surprised at how many of the kids I recognized under their masks, and how many of them I considered my friends. Maybe I wasn’t on the fringes of normal society. Too bad I’d already volunteered for, like, ten clubs. Probably could have thrown an awesome party and called it good.

      I scanned for Arianna but didn’t see her anywhere. Turning to look out the window, I noticed a small point of light like fire, going in and out.

      It took a minute, but I made it through everyone, nodding and grinning to birthday wishes, before bursting out the open front door. A bunch of kids lingered there, talking and laughing on the wraparound porch, but I walked straight off and into the trees that hugged the borders of the yard.

      “You know you aren’t supposed to be smoking those things,” I said.

      Arianna swore, surprised, and dropped her cigarette on the ground. “Great, that was my last one.” She ground it out with her foot.

      “Come in,” I said, taking one of her hands, but she pulled back.

      “Nah, not my thing.”

      “Arianna, seriously. This dress? The masks? It’s incredible, and you did it, and you should be in there with me.”

      I could barely see her in the dark, but I think she smiled. “Vicariously living through you is enough for tonight. Tell me it’s the best party you’ve ever seen.”

      “This party kicks the masquerade episode’s trash.”

      “Got that right.”

      I took her hand again. “You’re telling me you spent all that time on masks and didn’t make one for yourself?”

      Her voice was soft. “You know I already wear one.”

      I scrambled for words, but she squeezed my hand and let it go.

      “Get back in there or I’m never doing anything nice for you again. And if you don’t have the best night of your life after I spent all that time on this stupid party, I’m gonna turn you and make you spend eternity playing MMORPGs with me.”

      I hugged her tight, feeling her tiny body through my dress. “Thank you.”

      “Go be a teenager.”

      “That’s my specialty,” I said, grinning at her and going back to the house.

      The rest of the night passed in a blur of color and noise and laughter. There were no fistfights, no furniture thrown through windows, nary an overdose or tragic revelation, so it wasn’t quite the same as the Easton Heights episode, which I was grateful for.

      Around 1 a.m. people were mostly filtering out, stopping to wish me happy birthday and to congratulate Lend on a party well thrown. David had been around on the periphery all night and looked exhausted as he pushed furniture back in. Lend was beat, too, beneath his always flawless dark-haired dark-eyed hottie glamour, but I was still buzzing.

      When the last guest left, Lend leaned his head on my shoulder heavily. “Meet me on the porch in five minutes,” he whispered.

      “If you’re surprising me with another party, I don’t think it can top this one. Or that you’ll make it without passing out.”

      He laughed softly. “No more parties. Pretty sure that’d kill me, immortal or not. Just a little present.” He kissed my neck then went upstairs. I grabbed an afghan off the back of the couch and walked out, wrapping it around myself. The house was too brightly lit to see many stars, but it was a gorgeous night.

      I wondered what more Lend could possibly have in store when I saw the light, bobbing and twinkling on the trail that led to his mom’s pond. It winked on and off a few times, then slowly started moving away.

      I bit my lip and smiled. He must have gone around the back way. I couldn’t imagine what surprise he had for me at the pond, but I couldn’t wait to find out. I stepped off the porch and followed the light as it stayed always the same distance ahead of me, barely visible.

      I could just make out where the edge of the pond would be through the trees; dozens of pale lights shimmered around its edges. He must have set up out here, too. I shivered, anticipating spending time with him, alone, on such a magical night.

      Then I came through the trees and saw that Lend wasn’t there and the lights weren’t lights at all.

      They were people.

      Well, no. People was definitely the wrong word.

      

      My eyes flicked around the group gathered at the edge of the frozen pond. I saw the three black-haired and mournful beauties from the diner—now definitely floating above the ground, their filmy dresses fluttering in a nonexistent wind. Banshees? Then there were Nona and Grnlllll, who had that same glowy salamander thing on her arm I’d seen them talking to once. The dragon, because this situation couldn’t suck as much without a dragon. A little furry thing that looked sort of like Grnlllll but with massive, luminous orbs for eyes. It was holding up a small lantern—the source of the winking light. Of course. A will-o’-the-wisp, how fabulous that I’d meet one now. At least it hadn’t led me to my death in a bog. So far. Kari and Donna, the traitorous seals. And there, floating over the pond, bleep! It was the stupid sylph who had flown off with me. I still had a part of its soul crackling around in me, and neither of us was happy about that.

      The lights I’d seen around the pond were obvious now—the glow they each had centered around their hearts, their bright, immortal souls like dim lanterns behind fabric.

      No faeries, though. That was something, I suppose. I didn’t like my odds against most of these things, but at least I didn’t have to worry about being whisked into the Faerie Paths.

      “Child,” Nona said.

      “Stop right there. Enough with this ‘child’ nonsense. In case you hadn’t noticed, I had a birthday. Which makes me seventeen. You are welcome to use my name, but if you’re going to ambush me like this, the least you can do is treat me like an adult.”

      “Happy birthday, Evie!” Donna said, grinning.

      I couldn’t help but smile, exasperated by her enthusiasm. “Thank you. But somehow I doubt this is another party.”

      Someone in all black melted out of the woods next to me and I tensed, shocked to see Arianna. I frowned. “You’re part of this? Did you set all this up?”

      She rolled her eyes. “Please, so not my crowd. I saw you wander off into the woods alone and followed.”

      A huge crack echoed through the air, and water and ice shot up in a fountain from the middle of the pond, slamming back down and breaking more of the frozen surface. The fissure pushed straight through to the bank in front of me, water spraying up as the ice creaked and groaned and moved to the sides. The pulsing cold in my veins left over from the fossegrim I’d partially drained swirled as if in recognition. It had better not be him in there.

      I stepped back, waiting to see what would come out of the water. It bubbled up into the form of a woman, and I let out a surprised breath. Cresseda—Lend’s mom. Lend’s mom whom no one had seen in months.

      “Evelyn,” she said in her rushing-water voice. As usual she glowed from the inside, far brighter in the night. Her features were perfect and strange and beautiful, and I could see points of starlight through her.

      “Did you want to see Lend?” I asked. He’d be relieved to see her, even if I wasn’t.

      “I am not here for my son. It

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