I was determined to find him, or at the very least, clues to where he was. I found a rusted-out school bus, seven abandoned shoes, a full sixteenth-century embroidered dress with a hole in the corset over the heart, and a homeless man who threw a can at my head when I tried to give him spare change. I spent every penny of my allowance on gas for the car, and then I begged my parents for more money.

All for nothing.

I shoved the map I’d been poring over off my lap and got to my feet, too restless to sit still. The sun was setting on the other side of the window, glistening on the last of the ice. I could see Jenna running the track again, her breath puffing white over her head. A class in the backfield practiced with their crossbows. Only the older students were allowed to practice with them at night. I was safe in my warm room, sitting on my Jack Sparrow blanket. I was safe and warm and Nicholas wasn’t.

Abruptly I couldn’t stand it anymore and stalked to the door.

“Where are you going?” Sarita asked, glancing up from her homework.

“Out.”

“Where?”

I sighed, turning back. “Why?”

“Because it’s dark now and you’re not allowed off campus. Headmistress Bellwood was very clear on that when she talked to me.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not going off campus.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip, looking unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

I just left, slamming the door behind me. It wasn’t her fault she was stuck with a crazy roommate, but if I had to explain myself to one more person I’d punch someone. I went back up to the roof where I could be alone to watch the last of the sunset. It was my new ritual, to stand and witness the lavender and indigo light sink between the trees, to see the stars brighten, the mountains darken. And hope and pray with all my might that Nicholas was safe out there. Somehow, if I was there watching over the light fading, I could protect him.

And freeze my ass off.

I tucked my chin into my scarf just as the door to the rooftop squeaked open. I refused to look away from the woods. Sarita or Hunter or whoever it was would just have to wait.

“Hi, sweetie.” Mom’s arm came around my shoulder. She leaned down to kiss my temple.

“You’re on duty today?” I asked. Dad had come yesterday, sneaking me real ice cream and a bag of candy.

“You’re never a duty, Lucky Moon.” It was finally dark enough that the lights flicked on and I let her turn me around. She scrutinized me. “How are you today?”

“I’m okay,” I assured her, smiling wanly. “Really.”

“We miss him too, honey.”

“I know.”

She hugged me, smelling like Nag Champa. It was comforting, making me think of simple things like drinking tea in the kitchen and family movie nights. “I know he’s okay,” she said. “You’d feel it, if he wasn’t.” She sounded so sure of it that I nodded, wanting to believe that too. “Why don’t you come home?” she asked again.

I shook my head. “It’s better to be busy. And I’m busy here.”

We stood there, just watching the stars and the moon, Mom singing one of her favorite chants softly. She pressed another bag of art supplies into my hand before leaving. Between her and the counselor, I was going to have to take up art therapy as my new major.

I stayed up on the roof for a little longer, letting the cold air clear my head and sparkle through me. A strange flash of light from the woods on the edge of the field had me squinting. Just when I wondered if I’d imagined it (great, hallucinations now), it flashed again. It bobbed erratically, like the reflection off a mirror. My cell phone vibrated in my pocket.

“Hello?”

It was Logan. “Meet me in the woods.”

“Is that weird light you?”

“Yeah, it’s a mirror. I don’t want some student screaming ‘vampire,’ so get down here quick and don’t get seen. We’ll be past the willows.”

I would have scaled down the outside of the building if I’d thought it would get me there any faster. I rushed down the stairs and burst outside, my heart in my mouth. I had to force myself to slow down so no one would notice me. I skirted around the far edge of the crossbow field and ducked down into the undergrowth, not straightening until I was well hidden in the trees.

I took the path Hunter and I usually used, crossed a narrow half-frozen creek with the help of my staff and turned left at the willow trees. Logan waited there in his favorite velvet frock coat, next to Isabeau and her wolfhound Charlemagne.

“Any news?” I asked, hugging him as hard as I could.

He hugged me back, shaking his head. “Not yet. But we have an idea.”

I eased back, smiling at Isabeau and scratching Charlemagne’s head when he shoved it under my hand. “Okay. What is it?”

Logan looked exhausted, but over the layer of grief there was a spark of something else. “Isabeau found a spell.”

I blinked at them both. “I’m in.”

“Do you not want to know what the spell is?” Isabeau asked.

“Don’t care. I’m in.”

She smiled briefly. “Logan said you would say this. Come with me.”

We crossed between more willows and into a grove of spruce trees so thick and twisted you couldn’t see into the center. Isabeau pushed through, holding back the branches for Charlemagne and me. Logan was behind us, casting a last probing glance before letting the evergreen snap together like a locked door. It smelled like Christmas and winter.