I followed them to the basement stairs. They’d take the underground tunnels that connected all the farms, with exits in the forest and out near the town, as well as farther into the mountains.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go.” I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if they were hurt on my account. Dad put his hand on my shoulder. He wasn’t tall, but he had the solid, regal bearing of a medieval king.

“We’ll be fine,” he assured me, and I nearly believed him. I watched them go, feeling utterly wretched when I heard the heavy steel door clang shut. My brothers positioned themselves in a half circle around me, staring.

This was already a disaster.

“All right.” Lucy shouldered her way to my side and made a waving motion as if they were annoying flies. “Shoo!” She narrowed her eyes. “I said shoo.” They dispersed, mostly startled into moving. Only Logan remained, leaning casually against the wall.

“Darling, I’m not some insect to be chased away.”

“Darling?” She snorted amiably. “You’re not ninety years old, either.” He straightened. “I’m charming,” he informed her. “And women like endearments.”

“Women know you just can’t remember their names, but they like your pretty face enough not to care. Now give your sister some space before she short-circuits.” He winked at her before sauntering away. She winked back. I knew they were trying to keep the mood light for my sake.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. You know how I love to boss your brothers around. Let’s go upstairs.”

I waited until we were safely ensconced in my room with the stereo playing loudly to cover our voices.

“How are we going to do this?” I asked. “I can’t believe Mom and Dad sicced them all on me.”

“It’s okay, we can totally do this.” She started to pace between my desk and the closet door. “We just have to keep them distracted somehow.” She paused. “Connor will be on his computer all night. Maybe we could ask him to track Kieran down online, keep him busy.”

“That’ll definitely work. And maybe you could try convincing the others to watch a movie or something? Make it sound like I’m sulking and just want to be left alone?” She nodded. “Brilliant. I’ll be right back.”

She wasn’t gone long, and by the time she came back I could hear the sounds of some action movie on the television in the far family room. It was conveniently on the other side of the house from the sunroom, which had a door to the backyard.

“I made it really loud,” she informed me proudly. “Logan looked a little suspicious but he’s watching it. Connor’s online and Nicholas was up in his room, so I thought it was probably safest to leave him there. If he’s brooding, it could buy us some time.” I shook my head. “No amount of brooding or distraction will keep him off our trail.” She snorted. “As long as we act suspicious, he’ll follow us for a while without saying anything and think it’s his idea. Besides, it might be good to have a little vampire instinct on our side.”

“You’re kind of evil, you know that?” I grinned at her.

“I’ve been practicing,” she shot back with her own grin. “So are you ready to do this?”

I nodded, pulling on a black sweater so I’d blend into the shadows better. “You know this is definitely one of our dumber ideas?”

“Please, would you rather sit around here and worry?”

“Hell, no. Let’s go.”

“That’s what I thought.” She poked her head out the window. “I don’t think we can climb down from here.”

“Not without you falling on your head.” I pulled her away. “I’ve seen you in gym remember?”

“Hey, you don’t even go to my school.”

“In that class you had at the park, that time you tripped on your shoelace and took out a row of girls in pink shorts.”

“Oh.” She made a face. “Right.”

“We’ll use the back stairs and go through the sunroom.” For some reason we had to stifle giggles as we crept down the stairs. I felt like I was in some bad silent movie. Lucy clutched my hand and we used the movie’s car chase to cover our movements. My brothers were still young enough that they shouldn’t be able to distinguish our heartbeats over that kind of volume, even if they thought they could.

The backyard was dark—we remembered to avoid the motion-sensor light. We stayed low, moved quickly.

“How do we know we can trust him?” Lucy worried, not sounding quite as confident and cavalier now that we were getting closer to the edge of the forest.

“I think we can.” I didn’t know why I thought that, I just did.

“Oh man, is it wrong that now I really hope Nicholas is following us?” I shook my head mutely. I was kind of hoping the same thing. Vampire hearing would be an advantage right now. We crouched in a thicket and waited. My palms were damp. Lucy fidgeted anxiously. Even the crickets sounded sinister.

The crack of a twig underfoot had us clinging to each other.

“Solange? Lucy?”

Lucy popped up, scowling. “You scared the hell out of me.” Kieran jerked back. “Likewise.”

I stood up much more slowly, wondering why I felt shy. This totally wasn’t the time.

He looked at me for a long moment, then nodded. Lucy stared at him, then at me. If she said anything I was going to kill her. She pursed her lips but mercifully stayed silent, instead staring over his shoulder suspiciously.