“You’re still stalking me, and you’re being quite obvious about it.”

“You’re being very flattering of yourself,” he says.

“Excuse me?”

“What makes you think I’m here to see you?”

“Maybe the fact that you tried to grab me the other night?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea what you are talking about.”

“Whatever,” I say. “I want my stuff back, by the way.”

He raises his eyebrows again, as if he really doesn’t have any idea of what I’m referring to. Like he’s not the one who took my tote from the grove.

“So we’re still playing that game?” I ask.

I don’t break eye contact with him until he holds out his hand and asks, “Will you dance with me?”

I am so startled by this proposition, I don’t know how to respond. Luckily, the screech of a microphone as the music stops saves me from having to do so. I turn toward the sound.

“May I have your attention?” A woman in a red gown calls into the microphone from the bandstand on the patio. The crowd of students and parents quiet down and turn their attention to her. Tobin and a very dapper-looking Japanese man, who I assume is Tobin’s father, stand by her side. “I am happy to welcome you all to our home today,” the woman who must be Mayor Winters says. “You’ve all worked so hard to get here, and I am as proud of you as I am of my own son. However, I do think Tobin deserves a round of applause for landing the lead in this year’s play.”

She starts the applause and everyone in the crowd—except Haden, who has retreated behind the magnolia tree, I notice—joins in. Next, the mayor leads the crowd in a rollicking welcome for Joe, who seems to be enjoying the company of several women in short cocktail-length dresses near the bar.

“And where is your costar, Toby?” she asks. “I hear she’s quite lovely.”

Even from where I stand, I can see the blush in Tobin’s cheeks. He finds me in the crowd and points me out to his mother. The mayor attempts to start a round of applause for me, but I am not surprised that it sounds much more feeble than for Tobin.

“I hope you will enjoy the party,” Mayor Winters says. “We will be sending the floral arrangements to Pear Perkins’s hospital room, so please be sure to sign the get-well card that is circulating the party. We want to do everything we can to take care of our own here in Olympus Hills.” She smiles, showing gleaming white teeth behind her ruby red lipstick. “Oh, and do be sure to help yourselves to the spider rolls; they’re an Oshiro family specialty.”

And with another round of applause, Mayor Winters and her husband head down the patio steps, shaking hands with party guests as they go. The orchestra strikes up again, and couples head out onto the dance floor. I slip past them and head for Tobin, who is accepting the congratulations of a man wearing a pale yellow scarf. Tobin smiles when he sees me approach and excuses himself from the conversation.

“Yowza, Daphne,” he says, looking me over. “I take it back. I was asking you to be my date tonight.”

“Too late,” I say with a smile.

He looks even more Frank Sinatra–esque in a black suit, bow tie, and a black fedora sitting on his head at a rakish angle. With my heels on, I tower over him even more than usual, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“Wanna dance?” he says.

“No,” I say. “I want to hear about this big secret of yours.”

He takes my hand and gestures me toward the house. “Like I said, it’s something I need to show you.”

Chapter twenty-seven

HADEN

To my utter astonishment, Dax’s plan to get Daphne to come to me seems to be working. Daphne moves closer and closer as the party progresses. She’s standing only a few feet away now.

Between trying to dodge the disgusting-smelling food at the buffet, warding off the attention of some short girl named Lexie, and pretending to be overly fascinated by the tree that grows near the pool, I’ve done a rather decent impression of being aloof. I don’t follow her, and I don’t look at her unless I am sure she isn’t watching. Which is an experiment in self-control, considering how she looks in that dress.

I had already been fascinated by the curves of her body, but the way that dress hugs and emphasizes them makes me wonder why everyone at this party isn’t staring at her. I am astonished that people are actually turning away from her. She reminds me of the paintings of our goddess that adorn the walls of the palace. The blue of her dress brings out the color of her eyes and complements the tanned skin on her exposed shoulders.…

I glance away quickly, realizing I’ve been caught looking.

I take a sip of the dark, bubbling liquid in my glass. It burns my throat as I swallow. When I look up, Daphne is standing right in front of me. She says something snide.

And I ruin everything when I open my big dung spout of a mouth to reply. I’m not even sure what I’ve said that annoys her so much, but she’s staring me down like she’d rather punch me in the face than speak to me again. I can’t think of what to do next. The music and smells cloud my judgment. Not to mention that dress …

Her stare intensifies. I say the first thing that comes to mind. “Will you dance with me?”

I hold out my hand. I don’t know how to dance but I hope I will pick it up as quickly as driving. That is, if she’ll accept my offer.

I don’t get to find out.

The music stops, and the woman I saw in the vice principal’s office, the mayor, I realize, calls for everyone’s attention. She starts talking and I see her son standing beside her.

Kopros. I am at the home of the boy who tried to attack me in the cafeteria.

I duck behind the tree until after the woman is done talking. I want to try to strike up another conversation with Daphne, but before I have the chance, she heads in Tobin’s direction. They speak for a moment, and then she takes his hand and they enter the house. Together.

I’m not going to follow her. That would be against Dax’s advice, and the last thing I want is to be accused of stalking her again. I’m not going to go into the house to see what they’re doing. But I don’t see the harm in watching through the windows.…

The lights are on in the house and the shutters open. I walk around the side of the mansion until I am near the gate that leads into the front yard. I see Tobin and Daphne enter an unoccupied room together. Tobin leans down and pulls something from a drawer. I am tempted to climb the trellis next to the window to see what he is showing her.