on the plane still whispered at the back of my mind.
“Sure, we can arrange that,” said Acubens. “She’ll want to see our specialized healers pretty regularly, but Arcturus goes back and forth from the manor at least once a week, so she can tag along.”
“But in that case,” he sighed, leaning in, “we’ll have to find some other place to make out.”
His eyes were quicksilver-bright and narrowed with humor. His lips were perfectly arched in a smirk. Screw it, I thought. I grabbed his face and kissed him.
He made a little startled sound, then kissed back, his lips soft against mine.
It was difficult to pull back, to catch my breath and remember the world. Acubens looked at me dazedly, licking his lips, and my hands longed to drag him back in.
“I’ll arrange things with Arcturus,” said Acubens mournfully, as if he were making a horrendous sacrifice.
“I’ll be waiting,” I said wistfully.
Only after I left did I remember to be embarrassed. “You were right, I guess,” I told my mom, staring at the ceiling. “He’s very nice too.”
“He cares about you,” she said. “And he makes you happy.”
I swallowed, looking at her. The best years of her life had been consumed by a man who’d treated her like a useful amusement. I felt a painful, familiar guilt.
“Don’t look at me like that,” said Mom, a sternness entering her gaze. “My life isn’t over. It isn’t ruined. I’m thirty-eight, free at last, and I have a wonderful, strong, loving daughter I couldn’t be more proud of. We’re out of that house and we’re going to enjoy ourselves. Did I ever take you to an amusement park, before?”
“No,” I said, waterily.
“We’re going to an amusement park,” Mom declared. “I haven’t been on a roller coaster in years and years.”
I laughed through my tears. “Mom, you should wait until you’re better.”
“We’re free now,” she agreed. “We have all the time in the world.”
Chapter 31
“Cass!” yelled Acubens, pounding on the door. “Cass! Are you ready?”
“Almost!” I yelled back as my mom adjusted my dress, a deep purple halter top that fell in sleek folds to the floor. We’d shopped for it together off campus, where she was already making friends among the human locals. Afterward, we’d wandered the residential streets, admiring the Halloween decorations in front of the houses, and it had been nicer than all the manicured grounds of Redbriar Manor.
“You look beautiful,” said Mom, giving me a kiss on the cheek. “Go have fun tonight.”
I opened the door to find Acubens and Darshan waiting for me. “You’re hot,” said Acubens, grinning at me. “But where’s your mask? It’s supposed to be a masquerade, after all.”
“I don’t have one,” I explained, stepping out with them. “I’ve had to pretend to be someone else for months. I’m done with that. I’m going as myself. But I do like your masks, though.”
Acubens wore a cat mask, black velvet with delicately tufted ears. Darshan wore an owl mask; behind it, his eyes were warm and dark. I put my arms around them as we made our way out of the dorms.
“I’m not good at parties,” admitted Darshan, even as his hand reached up to rest over mine. “The ones I get invited to, I spend behind a book. All I can promise is that I’ll do my best not to embarrass you.”
“Do your worst,” I said, smiling fondly up at him. “I’ll take it, and I’ll like it.”
Acubens gave him a friendly punch. “No one who’s beaten up my brother can be that boring.”
We followed the throngs of other students through the entrance hall. “This is a school event, not a Great House one, so I didn’t have any say in the planning. Just so you know,” said Acubens, wrinkling his nose in a very catlike way at the WELCOME TO THE ALL HALLOW’S EVE DANCE banner hanging over the entrance.
“It looks fine to me,” I said, tilting my head.
“It’s the kerning,” he muttered. “Once you see it, you can’t stop.” He snatched up a strong-smelling drink from a passing server, but I grabbed his hand before he could swig it.
“Remember the last time you got drunk?” I said.
“Oh, that.” He actually looked a little embarrassed, to his credit. “I was really upset that time. I came up with all these party arrangement ideas for Arcturus, but then he decided to just copy what the previous host did last year without telling me. Party arrangement isn’t even close to my strong suit! I put a lot of