either."
There was a fine trembling in all her muscles, her reaction nearly as severe as Audrey's. Deep inside her, though, was a steel core of determination. She knew what had to be done.
"Why can't we lose the time?" Tom asked.
"Because we've got to get the others," Jenny said "We all need to go somewhere and talk." She saw Audrey, who was slowly making repairs to her hair and dress, give her a sharp glance. "I'll explain later, for now just trust me, Tom."
Tom's hazel eyes were dark, puzzled, but after a moment he nodded. "Let me get cleaned up a little; to I'll go tell them at the front desk that there's somebody unconscious on the beach. Then we can go."
When he went, he took a note to send up to the ballroom, too. It was from Jenny to Brian, explaining that she had to leave the prom without him, and that she was sorry.
Jenny shut her eyes and leaned against the wall. Think, she told herself. Don't collapse yet, think.
"Audrey, we both need to call our parents. We've got to tell them-something-some reason why we're not coming home tonight. And then we need to think of somewhere we can go. I wonder how much a hotel room costs?"
Audrey, with two bobby pins in her mouth, just looked at Jenny. She couldn't speak, but the look was enough.
"We're not doing anything dangerous," Jenny assured her. "But we've got to talk. And I think we'll only be safe when we're all together."
Audrey removed the pins and licked her lips. "What about Michael's apartment?" she said. "His dad's gone for the week."
"Audrey, you're brilliant. Now think of what we say to our parents, and we'll be fine."
In the end they settled for the old double-bluff. Jenny called her house and told her mother she would be staying at Audrey's; Audrey called her house and told Gabrielle the housekeeper that she would be staying at Jenny's. Then they called Dee, who had her own phone, and had her come out to the hotel in her jeep, while Tom took the RX-7 to his
house to pick up Michael. Finally Tom went back out for Zach, while a cross and sleep-wrinkled Michael let the others into his apartment.
It was nearly one-thirty in the morning when they were all together.
"Caffeine," Michael mumbled. "For God's sake."
"Stunts your growth," said Dee. "Makes you blind."
"Why isn't there anything in this refrigerator except mayonnaise and Diet Coke?" Audrey called.
"There should be some cream cheese in there somewhere," Michael said. "And there's Cracks Jack in the cupboard; Dad bought a case at the Price Club. If you love me at all, bring me a Coke and tell me what's going on. I was asleep."
"And I nearly got killed," Audrey said, coming around the corner in time to see his eyes widen "Here." She distributed Diet Cokes and Cracker Jack to everyone except Dee, who just snorted.
What a mismatched group we are, Jenny thought, looking around at them. Michael and Audrey were on the couch, Michael in the faded gray sweats he wore as pajamas, and Audrey in the ruins of ha saucy little black dress. Dee was on the other side of Audrey, dressed for action in biking shorts and a khaki tank top, long legs sprawled in front of her.
Tom, on the love seat, was windblown and handsome in jeans and a dark blue jersey. Zach sat on the floor by the table wearing a vaguely Oriental black outfit-maybe pajamas, maybe a jogging suit, Jenny thought. Jenny herself was perched on the arm of the love seat in her shimmering and totally inappropriate gold dress. She hadn't thought about changing, She could see Dee's eyes on the dress, but she couldn't return the amused glance. She was too wrought-up.
"Isn't somebody going to explain what's going on?" Michael said, tearing into the Cracker Jack.
"Audrey can start," Jenny said, clasping her hands together and trying to keep them still.
Audrey quickly described what had happened.
"But what's with this hole?" Michael said when she finished. "Pardon me for asking, but how come the wolf didn't just kill you? If it's the same one that attacked Gordie Wilson."
"Because it's a Game," Jenny said. "A new Game."
Dee's piercing night-dark gaze was on her. "You've seen Julian," she said without hesitation.
Jenny nodded, clenching her hands even more tightly together. Tom turned to look at her sharply, then turned away, his shoulders tense. Zach stared at her with an inscrutable expression, the black outfit accentuating his pallor. Michael