Redgrave said, “I waited as long as I could. This really is easier if you cooperate, Skye. But the word has spread. The messengers with the shades of Lorenzo’s blood have traveled far and wide—beyond this continent, almost across the world. They all know where to find you.”

Skye clutched at Balthazar’s shoulders. He’d just barely managed to keep her protected from half a dozen vampires; no matter how strong or how fast he was, or how hard he tried, he couldn’t protect her from hundreds.

“You see it now.” Redgrave put his hands behind his back; his old polish had been restored to him, as if neither of them had landed a blow on him tonight. “You’re a vital resource, Skye. One I intend to exploit. And that’s why you should join me—because I have the ability to think long term. To plan ahead. That’s why I see the wisdom of keeping you alive. Most of the other vampires who will mass here within the month? They’ll want nothing more than to drain you dry.”

“They won’t all follow you,” Balthazar said. “Some are too decent to do it. And others will fight you. Soon the wars won’t even be about her blood anymore.”

“The noble ones are harder to marshal now than they were before, aren’t they? Without Evernight Academy to bind them together, they’re more truly lost souls than ever. And Skye’s blood will give me power beyond any other. Loyalty beyond any other.” He took a few steps back, becoming part of the shadows farther down the hall. “It’s too late to stop it, Balthazar. But it’s not too late to join me, even if she won’t. Bring her to me and save yourself.”

Balthazar threw the stake so hard and fast that Skye didn’t even recognize it until after Redgrave dodged it—but only barely. A bright red line welled up along his high cheekbone, though the blood didn’t flow out. Because his heart didn’t beat, Skye supposed. Balthazar said, “You’ll die for this.”

“Doesn’t matter if I do,” Redgrave pointed out. “They’ll still come.” Then he melted into the dark and was gone.

Skye breathed out, half a sob, and put her hand to her chest. “Oh, God. Balthazar, what are we going to do?”

“I don’t know.” He remained tense, at the ready, like he still hoped for a chance to kill Redgrave with his bare hands.

“Will it happen like Redgrave says it will?”

“Probably.” Balthazar’s frustration was palpable—he kept clenching and unclenching his fists, rocking on his feet, like he needed to beat the hell out of something but didn’t have anything handy. Skye could recognize that feeling, because she had it herself.

“What am I going to do?”

“You should leave town. Get away from here—from me, too. Someplace where Redgrave won’t know to look for you.”

“I can’t leave my parents.”

“They’ve already left you.”

The harshness was one thing more than she could bear. “Don’t say that! They need me to be strong for them! They already lost Dakota—”

“That’s why they can’t lose you, too,” Balthazar said. “Please, Skye. If anything happened to you, I couldn’t bear it.” He glanced at her over his shoulder, and in his eyes she saw raw fear, raw need. She knew that she’d meant to keep her distance from him, but that seemed absurd. As if she could ever be parted from Balthazar—he was always in her, always a part of her.

Down the hall, someone—Coach Haladki?—yelled, “Hey, is somebody back here? We’re closing this place up!”

“They shouldn’t see us,” Skye whispered, looking around quickly for some kind of exit, but Balthazar found it first.

“Come on,” he murmured, pulling both of them into a nearby closet and softly pulling the door shut behind them.

Now they were hidden—and they were face-to-face, only inches apart, in a small and very dark space. Skye put her hands against his chest, though she didn’t know whether it was to keep them slightly apart or to touch him however she could.

“Hello? Being locked in until Monday morning isn’t going to be any fun!” Coach Haladki’s footsteps echoed in the hallway outside. Then, in a normal voice, she said, “Jesus, what is this? A tent peg or something? Are they camping in here? Somebody’s getting suspended.”

So quietly it was barely a sound, Skye said, “You found me.”

“It took me too long. I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight—I went after you when you walked out, but I only saw Keith and followed him—then I had to bust Madison and the rest of them for drinking in the library, which was idiotic, but I was stuck.”

“Will you come on?” Ms. Loos’s voice came from farther down the hallway. “Nobody’s here.”

“I thought I heard voices!” Coach Haladki protested.

Ms. Loos replied, fake-sweet, “Maybe it was the echo of your amazingly loud voice that never stops talking.”

“Fine. If they were here, they’re gone. Let’s lock up.” Coach Haladki walked off, her footsteps becoming fainter with each step.

Balthazar’s hands covered hers. She realized only at his touch how icy with shock her fingers were; he was the one warming her. “Redgrave didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No.” That dance didn’t count, she decided, disgusting though it had been. “Did you see him come in, or—or sense that he was here?”