I stared at him with daggers. "You are grounded."
"You can't ground me!"
"I can try," I said. "Where are your parents?" I asked Henry.
"They went out for dinner."
"Well, I think the party is over," Alexander said. "You should get off Henry's bed now." He was glaring at Stormy.
"I don't want to go!" she said defiantly. "We were just having fun. Valentine was reading my blood."
"Well, he can read it another time."
"I don't want to leave." Stormy stayed on the bed. "I want to find out what my reading is. Then Billy's and Henry's."
"I'll tell you what your reading is," Alexander announced. "And it's not pretty."
"I'm not going," she said stubbornly. "It isn't sunrise for another eight hours."
"Shall I have Jameson come and get you?" Alexander asked. "Or I can pick you up in front of everyone and carry you down to the car."
"You aren't the boss of me!" she declared angrily. "You spoil everything."
She hopped off the bed and stormed out of the room.
Alexander shook his head. "I knew she'd be a handful."
Valentine caught up to her in the hallway, and I overheard them talking.
"You like Billy - " Valentine said.
"What?" she asked.
"I read it in your blood. You like Billy. I thought you liked me."
"Stormy likes you," Henry said to my brother.
"Who told you that?" Billy asked.
"I heard Valentine," Henry answered. Then Henry whispered to me, "I was hoping she'd like me."
"I thought we were friends," Valentine said to Stormy.
Then we peeked our heads out of Henry's room.
"We are," she said. "But I have lots of friends now." She was as proud as she was sincere.
Valentine crossed his arms as Stormy headed down the staircase and out to the car.
"I don't understand a girl who doesn't like mirrors and is allergic to garlic," I heard Henry say to Billy. "I think I'm glad she likes you and not me."
Chapter 14 Ghoul Talk
Valentine left, and after we dropped Billy off at home, Alexander drove me and Stormy back to the Mansion. When we got inside, Alexander talked privately to Stormy in her room while I waited in the library. When they were finished, he went to get a drink and I found her hanging out on her chaise longue, cuddling Phantom. She wasn't smiling.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Alexander doesn't want me to see your brother or Henry anymore."