“Hi,” I said cheerfully, determined not to let the end of the freedom to dress myself bring me down. “Are you Sarita?”

“Hi.” She smiled back at me. “Lucky?”

“Just Lucy.”

She frowned, checking a list in an uncreased folder next to her keyboard. “It says Lucky Moon Hamilton.”

“They even put my middle name in there? Were they trying to mortify me?” I dropped my knapsack.

“It’s school policy,” Sarita replied, puzzled.

She was scarily organized, between that folder and the perfectly sharpened pencils in a cup with the school logo on the side. Her bed was neatly made with military precision, and her shoes were lined up at the foot. There was no music playing and no posters on her side of the room at all. I was planning on plastering the wall over my desk with Jensen Ackles and Johnny Depp. My mom had already put together a box of Nag Champa incense for me, and I’d glued rhinestones on all my boring black binders.

Sarita was going to hate me.

I ripped open the garbage bag serving as the suitcase for my sheets and dumped them on the bed. My fleece blanket was printed with Jack Sparrow’s face. He stared at Sarita rakishly. She smiled weakly. I pulled out my laptop and set up my Ganesha statue on my desk next to it for good luck.

She blinked at his elephant head. “What’s that?”

“My dad gave it to me. He’s an Indian god.”

“Oh.”

“He likes candy.”

“Oh.”

Silence pulsed between us. My roommate thought I was a freak. I was just scared she was going to force me to make my bed every morning.

This was going to be even harder than I’d thought.

“That dresser over there is yours,” Sarita offered finally, politely. It was pine and dented all over. “And the closet there. There’s a kitchenette around the corner, and the common room is by the stairs. That’s where the TV is.”

“Okay, thanks.”

The room was small. Between the two beds, two dressers, and two desks, there wasn’t a lot of room left. I liked to dance around when I studied. That might prove difficult.

“There’s a study curfew from four thirty to six thirty, when everyone’s supposed to be quiet,” she felt compelled to add. “And lights out by one thirty a.m.”

“Are there a lot of school rules?” I asked cautiously. I had a feeling she’d know.

“They’re all for our benefit,” she said. “And you get demerits or detention if you break them.”

“What’s standard detention?” I asked, laughing. “Because I have a feeling I’m going to need to know.”

She actually looked scandalized. I didn’t know sixteen-year-old girls who were learning to stab pointy sticks into undead creatures of the night could even be scandalized.

“It’s usually kitchen duty,” she finally answered. “I’ve never actually had a detention.”

Of course not. I shrugged. “Well, I’ll let you know what it’s like.”

She swallowed. “Um …” She trailed off uncomfortably. “Vampires aren’t allowed on campus.”

Clearly my reputation preceded me here, too. All I needed was for her to find the condoms my mother had undoubtedly snuck into all of my bags.

“That’s fine. I don’t think my boyfriend would like it much here, anyway.”

Her eyes went so wide they nearly bulged. It was probably wrong of me to find that amusing. Or to want to take a photo of Nicholas with his fangs out and wearing a black cape lined with red satin and then hang it over my pillow in a heart-shaped frame.

Before my warped sense of humor could alienate her completely, there was a knock at the door. Hunter poked her head in. “Hey, guys.”

Sarita straightened in her chair, as if Hunter were a teacher. And as if she hadn’t already been sitting sword-straight before. “Hi, Hunter. Can I help you with something?”

Hunter smiled. “Just want to borrow your roommate.” She met my gaze pointedly. She looked serious. Vampire serious. I knew the expression intimately. “I need her help. Right away.”

“Sure.” I leaped to my feet, probably a little too eagerly. It was definitely a bad sign that whatever crisis was brewing seemed like more fun than sitting here in an awkward silence with my straightlaced roommate. One minute down, eight more months to go.

“You know Lucky?” Sarita asked.

“Sure, we train together.”

“Malcolm said there was a hippie in the building.” Chloe grinned over Hunter’s shoulder. “I wanted to call an exterminator.”

I grinned back. “We’re like cockroaches. You can’t even spray.” I grabbed my bag. “Bye, Sarita.” I closed the door behind me. “What’s going on? Also, good timing.”

“Come down to our room,” Hunter said quietly. “It’s more private.”

When my phone vibrated I expected it to be Nathan with another guilt trip, but the text was from Hunter.

Cameras and bugs in the halls. Act normal.

Hidden cameras and microphones? What the hell had I gotten myself into?

“Shit, they roomed you with Sarita?” Chloe said conversationally as I slipped my phone back into my pocket. “Classic Helios-Ra room assignment.” She shook her head. “They do it on purpose.”

“They do? Why?”

“To teach us how to get along with people and to see how we do under stress,” Hunter explained.