Nobody answered. Lucas had already vanished into the crowd.

Vic turned back to me, clearly confused by his roommate’s disappearing act. I was confused, too—but I couldn’t imagine why Lucas had come back at all.

Obviously it was going to take Lucas a while before he could talk to me again. Given what he’d learned about me, Evernight, and vampires, I figured he probably deserved as much time as he needed. Until then, there was nothing for me to do but wait.

A couple of days later, as I got ready for class, I pretended to be really fascinated by Patrice’s tales of her Swiss holiday.

“I’m always shocked that there are people who claim to prefer skiing in Colorado.” Patrice wrinkled her nose. Did she honestly think every place in America was tacky? Or was she compensating for something, pretending to be more sophisticated than she really was? Now that I kept so many secrets myself, I was starting not to take everyone at face value. “Switzerland is so much more civilized, I think. And you meet a more interesting cross section of people.”

“I don’t like skiing,” I said blithely as I brushed on my mascara. “Snowboarding’s more exciting.”

“What?” Patrice just stared at me. I’d never dared disagree with any of her opinions before. Even on a subject as unimportant as skiing versus snowboarding, apparently, she didn’t like being contradicted.

Before I could state my case, the door burst open. It was Courtney, who actually looked rumpled—Courtney, who had perfectly polished hair and makeup even when you ran into her in the bathroom at two A.M. “Have you guys seen Erich?”

“Erich?” Patrice raised an eyebrow. “I don’t remember inviting him to my bedroom. Did you, Bianca?”

“Not last night, anyway.”

“Cut the sarcasm, okay?” Courtney snapped. “I would think you’d care that one of your classmates is missing. Somebody runs away, and you act like it’s a big joke. Genevieve’s crying her eyes out over here.”

“Wait, Erich’s missing?” Raquel appeared in the doorway, along with a couple of the other students, all in various stages of readiness for class. The news was traveling fast.

“You know his roommate, David? He only just got back today.” Courtney’s concern, I noticed, wasn’t too deep for her to enjoy being the center of attention. With relish, she continued, “David says that Erich’s room looks like it’s been ransacked. The place is completely trashed! And there’s no sign of Erich at all. He and Genevieve were supposed to hang out this weekend, and now she’s crushed.”

“We’ll only laugh silently from now on,” Raquel promised, obviously not that worried about Erich. Who could blame her? Courtney scowled at us, then flounced out again.

Later that morning, on the way to our first class, Raquel muttered, “I just bet Genevieve hates missing out on that prime opportunity for date rape.”

“I guess Erich got sick of school,” I said. “I hear that every year, a lot of students leave before the term is up.” Of course, I knew that Erich had been just one of the dozens of vampires who came to Evernight to learn the ropes of the modern day, got bored with being treated like a student, and took off to amuse himself elsewhere. Or maybe Mrs. Bethany had seen the danger in him that I had seen, and she’d ordered him to leave the premises immediately.

“The students who escape are the smart ones. Which makes me surprised that Erich was the first to leave.” Raquel paused. “They seem awfully sure that he ran away, given that he didn’t talk to anybody about it. And you’d think he would’ve cut out over Christmas break, if he was going to go. Do you think the cops are coming? They ought to at least be asking us questions.”

“Probably he just called his parents to come pick him up, ship him off to some other fancy boarding school. Mrs. Bethany knows all about it, I’m sure. Courtney’s just being a drama queen.”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be a surprise. And he’s just the kind of jerk who’d trash his room before he left to make a mess somebody else would have to clean up.” But Raquel didn’t appear to be convinced. “They should be asking questions, though. The teachers, and maybe even the cops.”

“Everybody just found out.” The whole subject made me uneasy. “Give it time.”

“People at this school act like it’s no big deal when a student disappears.” Shaking her head, Raquel said, “What I said last semester goes double now. I am never coming back here next year.”

I wondered if that was what Erich had said.

Everyone behaved strangely the rest of the day. Students were distracted in class, placing bets about where Erich had gone. David pointed out that Erich had taken all his books and papers but left his clothes behind—pretty much the opposite of his usual priorities. I kept waiting for Mrs. Bethany to call an assembly and offer some kind of explanation, but she never did.

That night, I found myself hanging out in the turret stairwell, the one with narrow windows one brick wide that provided the best view of the gravel pathway that led from the main road to the school. I didn’t expect to see Erich down there, but all the same, I was waiting for something.

“So, I guess the police won’t come.”

I turned from the window to see Lucas standing a few steps behind me. He wore the black version of the uniform, and the light from the next story’s hallway silhouetted him so sharply that I couldn’t make out his face. Only his outline was clear—his broad shoulders, the way he leaned against the stone wall of the stairwell. All my fear melted away into longing.