Free Evernight by Claudia Gray

students. It seemed
as if everyone was laughing with a friend except me. Raquel and I might have
consoled each other, but she had already skulked away.

Then I heard someone say, "Another Henry James reader."

I turned to see Balthazar, who had fallen into step at my side. Maybe he was there
to offer support; maybe he was just trying to avoid Courtney. Either way, I was
grateful to see a friendly face. "Well, I've read The Turn of the Screw and Daisy Miller . That's about it."

"Try Portrait of a Lady sometime. I think you would like that one."

"Really? Why?" I assumed that Balthazar would say something about how
good the book was, but he surprised me.

"It's about a woman who wants to define herself, instead of letting other
people define her." He navigated easily through the crowd without ever
taking his eyes from me. The only other guy who had ever looked at me so
intently was Lucas. "I had a hunch that you might respond to that."

"You might be right," I said. "I'll check it out of the library.
And—thanks. For the recommendation." And , I thought, for
thinking of me that way .

"You're welcome." Balthazar grinned, showing off the dimple in his
chin again, but then we both heard Courtney's laugh, not far away. He gave me a
mock-scared look that made me laugh. "Gotta run."

"Hurry!" I whispered as he dodged down the nearest hallway. Although
Balthazar's encouragement had helped, I still felt wrung out after Mrs.
Bethany's interrogation. I decided to take a quick walk on the grounds for some
fresh air and quiet before I ate. Maybe I could have a few precious minutes
alone.

Unfortunately, I was far from the only one with the same idea. Several students
were milling around outside, playing music and talking. I noticed a group of
girls sitting in the shade, none of them apparently headed back to their rooms
for lunch. Probably they were dieting for the Autumn Ball, I decided as I watched
them whispering together in the shadows cast by one of the old elm trees.

There was only one person on the grounds I wanted to see. I recognized him from
the first day, and Lucas's description. "Vic?" I called.

Vic grinned at me. "Yo!"

You'd have thought we were old friends, instead of speaking for the first time.
His floppy, sandy-brown hair stuck out from the sides of the Phillies cap he
wore, and he carried an iPod emblazoned with a skin swirled with orange and
green. As he loped to my side and tugged out his earbuds, I said, "Hey.
Have you seen Lucas?"

"That guy, he's crazy ." In Vic's world, crazy seemed to
be a compliment. "He cut out of study hall, and I was, like, what are you
doing? And he was all, just cover for me, right? So I did, until now, but
you're not gonna narc on him. You're cool."

Since Vic and I had never even spoken before, how could he know I was cool?
Then I wondered if Lucas told him, and that made me smile. "Do you know
where he is?"

"If a teacher asks me, I don't know anything. Since it's you, I think it
might have to do with the carriage house."

The carriage house to the north, near the lake, had been where they'd kept the
horses and buggies back in the old days. Now it had been remade into Evernight
Academy's administrative offices and Mrs. Bethany's residence. What would Lucas
be doing there?

"I think I'll take a stroll over that way," I suggested. "Just
going for a walk. Not doing anything in particular."

"Ohhhh, riiiiiiiight," Vic said, nodding his head, like I'd actually
said something really sly. "You got it."

He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer , I decided as I casually
wandered in the general direction of the carriage house. Despite that, Vic
seemed like a nice guy. Not the Evernight type at all, thank God. Nobody
noticed me as I slipped farther away from the rest of the students. I guessed
that was the one good thing about being beneath attention: You could get away
with a lot more.

There was no forest here to shelter me, just softly rolling grounds, thick with
clover, and a few trees at