“So you’re living in the woods,” I observed.
“Cut the shit, Brant. I know you’ve seen Biba. She’s in danger.”
“We’re all in danger.”
“You can’t protect Biba. She needs to leave Stormcloud.”
I don’t know why, but that was the last straw. I’d spent the better part of the season in my own private hell, watching the girl I loved debase herself for the fucking Kings. Now one of them had fallen on hard times, and he saw fit to lecture me about ethics.
I dove forward, grabbed Sol by his shirt, and got close to his self-satisfied mug.
“How’s this for protecting, huh!”
“Get off!”
“I know you,” I hissed. “You’re the most two-faced of the Kings. You act reasonable and human, but you’re a parasite just like the rest of them.”
He wrenched away from me and stumbled back, his fists balled and ready for a fight. But he didn’t come back at me. Instead, he told me, low and clear:
“Maybe . . . but right now, I’m the only one who doesn’t want you dead.”
CHAPTER 23
BIBA
They canceled classes the day after Halloween.
That’s all you need to know about the type of party the All Hallows Bonfire was. Stormcloud Academy was a humorless, overbearing institution in many ways, but its leaders understood that there were times they couldn’t control the student populace.
Halloween was one of those times.
At lunch, I found Arvo waiting for me at the table with a cup of Dunkel lager. Peeping about the dining hall, I realized that just about every student was already halfway shitfaced.
I also noticed Tess staring daggers at me from across the room. The poor girl must have received her marching orders and knew I was the reason.
“School’s out,” he laughed, sliding the beer my way.
“Maybe for you. I have Gianas in the afternoon.”
“Trust me. School’s out.”
He was right. Gianas began the lecture by preemptively announcing that he would not be covering much that day.
“I know you children are already several sheets to the wind. Consider this my capitulation to your immature revels. We’ll dismiss in three-quarters of an hour.”
At six, I was in Buffy’s room, getting ready for the party and pregaming with instant pizza and a bottle of cheap Riesling.
My sensible brain told me I should take it easy. I had important business that night. But goddamn! I could feel the electricity in the air. This was going to be a bash.
“No doubt!” Buffy confirmed, shimmying into a skin-tight cocktail number accentuating her ample rump and enormous knockers. “Tonight’ll make the Equinox Ball look like Good Friday at a nunnery.”
She started pancaking white makeup on her face, avoiding her dyed purple hair. Her vampire prostitute costume was coming together nicely.
“And as I recall,” she added, “you had quite a night at the Equinox.”
“Har-dee-har-har.”
I flopped back on her bed, and the ruffled skirts of my Medici courtesan costume puffed up around me. We were all dressing to scandalize. It was the nature of Halloween, after all.