Free Revealers by Amanda Marrone

out.
    “Yeah,” Z says. “You can’t leave us hanging.”
    Margo doesn’t say anything and I can almost hear her mind working out whether Helena’s pet hunter can buck the rules and spill initiation secrets. I think she wants to tell us— she wouldn’t have laid the whole rug thing on us if she wasn’t at least thinking about it.
    “Margo, you can tell us,” I say. “We won’t let on, right?”
    Dani and Z nod.
    “I can’t,” she says finally. She turns and picks her broom off the ground and wipes the dirt off the handle. “We just can’t be screwing around with hunts, okay?”
    A car pulls up near the dugout and we all freeze.
    “Is that Troy and Andrew?” I ask. “We’d better cloak!”
    “No,” Zahara says. “My mom said Michael was going to ‘divert them’ from keeping their date with Kelsey.”
    “Look, it’s the van,” Dani says. “It’s probably Michael or maybe Connor.” She wrinkles her brow. “But we don’t need a cleanup tonight ‘cause it was a …”
    Margo puts her hands on her hips and glares at Dani.
    “Well, you know,” Dani says, shrugging her shoulders.
    My heart races, hoping I’ll get to see Connor again. The van lights go off, but it’s Michael who opens the door and gets out.
    We head over, and Michael puts an arm around Dani and Zahara’s shoulders. “I was on decoy duty, so my mom told me what was going down tonight. I was kind of friends with Kelsey, and I know Sascha was, too.” Michael looks around at us. “Where is Sascha—did she leave already?”
    “Yeah, she took it kind of hard,” I say, glaring at Margo.
    Michael nods, like he’s not surprised. “Well, I didn’t know how you all would be doing, and even though it’s against the rules, I thought you might like a ride home in a warm van instead of having to stick it in the cold tonight.”
    Margo and Zahara look at each other. Z gives the slightest shake of her head, and I know she’s following Margo’s lead and pulling herself back into traditional icy-hunter mode. I can’t help but wonder if she’d be able to do it so quickly if Kelsey’s body was still lying on the ground by the dugout.
    “Thanks,” Margo says, “but I think we should fly home. Kelsey won’t be the last person we know on the hunt list, and we need to keep with the program. Right, everyone?”
    “Yeah, right,” Zahara says, slipping out from under Michael’s arm. She takes out the flask from her cloak and takes a long swig, and then hands it over to Margo.
    “Hunt list?” I ask.
    Margo chokes on the brandy.
    “Oh, my God!” I say. “Is that how it works—is there a list of spooks we go after?”
    “What?” Margo sputters. “No! Well, sort of, but…”
    “Come on, Margo!” I say. “We’re all going to find out what’s going on in a few weeks anyway—so what’s the big deal? Just tell us how a spook gets on the list. How did Kelsey end up being tonight’s hunt?”
    “Look!” Margo says. “It’s complicated—and Helena would kill me if I said anything.”
    Margo suddenly looks worried. “Don’t tell her I said anything, okay? And if she asks about tonight, make sure you tell her it was me who finished Kelsey off.” She pauses and looks at us one at a time with a steely face. “And I won’t tell her how I found you all standing around not doing your job.”
    Margo hands me the flask and mounts her broom. “There is one thing I can tell you, Jules.”
    She reaches into her cloak and pulls out the star necklace—the inside of the stone flashes and glimmers with light. “Not showing your loyalty can gel you or your family in a hell of a lot of trouble.” She tips her head toward Michael. “I suggest you keep your mouth shut, too! You coming, Z?”
    “Yeah! Um, I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” she says slowly. She gets on her stick and looks back at me. She shrugs and then they both take off in a shimmer as their cloaking spell takes effect.
    They vanish into the low clouds, and Michael