well-cut black coat and knee-high black boots. She looked very New York to Alex, though
Alex had never been to New York.
Alex slipped the carriage catalog back in its bag and hurried downstairs. Sandow and
Michelle were already hanging up their coats in the mudroom, trailed by an older woman
and a gawky-looking boy with a Mohawk and a huge backpack slung over his shoulders.
It took Alex a long minute to recognize them out of their white robes, but then the memory locked into place: Josh Zelinski, the president of the Aurelian delegation, and the
alumna who had led the ritual last fall with that novelist that had almost gone so wrong.
Amelia.
Darlington had convinced Aurelian the fault had been theirs and not Alex’s. And on that same night, much to Dawes’s confusion, Alex and Darlington had gotten very drunk
on expensive red wine and smashed a cupboardful of innocent crystal to bits—along with
a tacky set of china chafing dishes that had probably deserved to die. She remembered standing in a room full of broken glass and crockery shards, feeling better than she had in
years. Darlington had surveyed the damage, topped off his glass, and blearily said, There’s a metaphor in this, Stern. I’ll figure it out when I’m sober.
Now introductions were made and Sandow opened a bottle of wine. Dawes set out a plate of cheese and sliced vegetables. It felt like the prelude to a bad dinner party.
“So,” Michelle said, popping a slice of cucumber into her mouth. “Danny got himself
disappeared?”
“He could be dead,” Dawes said quietly.
“I doubt it,” Michelle replied. “Or he’d be haunting the hell out of her.” She hooked her
thumb at Alex. “You were with him, right?”
Alex nodded, feeling her stomach clench.
“And you’re the magic girl who can see Grays. Has he been hanging around?”
“No,” said Alex. And North hadn’t seen him on the other side. Darlington was alive somewhere and he was coming home tonight.
“Such an extraordinary gift,” Amelia said. She had thick honey-brown hair that fell just
below her chin and wore a navy twinset over starched jeans. “Lethe is lucky to have you.”
“Yes,” said Sandow kindly. “We are.”
Josh Zelinski shook his head. “Crazy. They’re just all floating around? Are there any Grays here right now?”
Alex took a long sip of her wine. “Yup. One has his hand on your ass.”
Zelinski whirled. Sandow looked pained.
But Michelle laughed. “Darlington must have been pissing himself when he found out
what you can do.”
Sandow cleared his throat. “Thank you for coming,” he said. “All of you. This is a difficult situation and I know you’re all busy.”
It’s not a fucking board meeting, Alex wanted to shout. He disappeared.
Michelle refilled her wineglass. “I can’t say I was surprised to get the call.”
“No?”
“I feel like I spent most of Darlington’s freshman year making sure he didn’t kill himself or set something on fire. Wherever he is, he’s probably thrilled things finally got
exciting around here.”
Sandow chuckled. “I’ll wager.”
Alex felt a stab of irritation. She didn’t like Sandow and Michelle sharing a smile over
Darlington. He deserved better.
“He’s a sensation seeker?” asked Amelia, sounding a little thrilled herself.
“Not exactly,” said Michelle. “He’s just always ready to jump in. He fancied himself a
knight, a boy standing at the door to the underworld with a sword in his hand.”
Alex had scoffed whenever Darlington described himself or Lethe that way. But it
didn’t feel silly now, not when she thought of Tara, of drugs like Merity, boys like Blake.
The Houses of the Veil had too much power, and the rules they had put in place were really about controlling access to that power, not limiting the damage it could do.
“Isn’t that kind of what we are?” Alex said before she could stop herself. “We are the
shepherds and all that?”
Michelle laughed again. “Don’t tell me he got to you too?” She looped her arm through
Sandow’s as they strolled out of the kitchen, followed by Zelinski and Amelia. “I wish I’d