The aromas woke me. Slowly, I opened my eyes, yawned, stretched. I was alone in bed. Beni wasn’t even in the room, but that didn’t surprise me. The sunlight beaming in was too pale and yellow for dawn. They’d let me sleep in. For once, I needed to. The nightmare had mostly faded, and no further terrors had muddied the night.

My stomach rumbled. Whatever was cooking down there smelled marvelous, so I rose and dressed.

“Hey guys,” I said, clomping down the stairs.

“‘Bout time.” Beni looked up from her sword (a vicious kilij) that she was sharpening on her lap. “We waited as long as we could to start breakfast, but we’re starving.”

“I take it you slept well?” Evan, fully dressed, tossed over his shoulder as he manned the stovetop. “I mean, after?”

He seemed genuinely worried, so I let out a small smile. “Much better. Thanks.”

“I’m glad to hear it, too.” Espy sat at the head of the table, as was her wont, my mom’s songbook beside her. On a notebook she’d sketched out several groups of concentric rings, Xes and various lines and numbers had been doodled over them as if she’d been charting battle forms.

“Diagrams for training?” I asked, taking a seat.

“Sort of. Maybe one day.” She tapped the hymnal. “I’ve been going through your mother’s book. Most of her notes make me believe these chants must actually be sung in time with Simon-specific techniques to be effective. I’d love to have more information, but Saint Simon hasn’t taken to the field since your mother…”

She cleared her throat. “Anyway, if I can find ways to make our forms more rhythmic, you might be able to combine these hymns with your regular fighting style.”

“That’s...wow,” I said faintly.

Her lips tugged. “No promises, yet. It’s slow going, and I’m not even sure it’ll work.”

“Your grandpa never taught you any of this stuff?” asked Beni.

“We aren’t close,” I replied. “Dad never thought it was a huge priority, either. Not much magic around these days. I’ve never even heard of any real person with power like Song’s.” My pulse quickened at the thought of having a chance against her magic.

“Our mission isn’t Song,” Espy said, sensing my line of thought. “This is only a precaution should she interfere again.”

“Esperanza’s right.” Evan brought the food to the table, easily balancing multiple plates like a professional. “Some time tonight two people will be attacked by the Damned. We need to make sure those two are you two.”

“Which is why we’re going to Ira’s party tonight,” Beni said, digging into her food with gusto.

“He’s still unconfirmed,” Evan said.

“No, he’s not.”

“Sounds like you two have already fought about this today,” I said, amused.

“They have,” Espy sighed, trailing off as she glanced down at her notebook.

“We aren’t fighting,” Evan said.

“We found a new clue,” Beni started.

“Say that part first!”

“All the victims were transfer students or paid out of state tuition.” She carried on over my affront. “None of them were native darlings of Rossberg, which makes us even tastier targets.”

“As I said earlier,” Evan cut in. “None of this is confirmed. There are just over twenty victims from a school of a thousand at least. That’s not a high enough sampling, it could just be coincidence.”

“It’s not,” Beni fired back. “Can’t you feel it? We’re on the right track.”

“The sheriff said they like things quiet,” I mused. “Then Song told us not to help. All the victims were outsiders. What if the players in town made a devil’s bargain?”

“Sacrifice the foreigners to save the locals.” Beni sounded triumphant. “That’s what I said, too.”

“Traitor,” Evan grumbled at me.

“Sorry, Ev,” I tipped a shoulder. “Just makes sense to me. Humans do have a tendency to be horrible to each other.”

“But we’re assuming so much,” he protested. “We don’t actually know any of this.”

“And that’s life,” said Beni. “Sometimes you can’t know, you just have to take a leap of faith.”

“Faith is a Pauline virtue,” he countered. “Knowledge is better.”

“It’s just an expression, Evan.” She sounded exasperated. “Of course knowledge is better, but it’s not always possible.”

“It may be possible with more information,” Evan said. “Did you even look at him with the true sight?”

Beni stifled a growl. “It was the middle of the day. Too bright to see Spirit.”

“I think Evan has a point,” I said. “Ira is still our best lead,” I continued before she could attack, “but we do have to be mindful of what he’s saying. If we go in there thinking we already know it all, we could miss something.”

“And I hear that,” she conceded. “But this is happening tonight. If it’s not Ira, we’re--” her eyes flickered to her aunt “--screwed.”

“We don’t have time to run a-whole-nother investigation by tonight if Ira’s not the one,” I agreed.

“So let’s confirm if he is or isn’t,” Evan said. “Right now. With hours to spare.”

“How?”

“We have his number.” Beni grinned. “Ask him out.”

“I can’t ask him out,” I said. “He has to think we’re a couple. And he has a girlfriend.”

“If he’s a vampire that literally doesn’t matter at all,” she said. “Besides, he was already flirting with you.”

“He was not,” I protested.

She wasn’t having it. “Of all the people in the tour, he walked right up to you and wrote his number on your hand. Guys don’t do that unless they’re flirting.

Evan’s eyes focused on me, and I could feel my blood trying to heat, though I wasn’t sure why.

“Beni’s right.” He sounded perfectly reasonable, almost the same mild-mannered tone he’d used on Song. “If we’re gonna wrap this up tonight, then we need to know.”

All of them were looking at me now. Even Espy.

“What...do I say?”

“Anything.” Beni smirked. “Doesn’t matter. He’s already interested, you just need to give him a reason to act on it.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Ask him to meet you somewhere for lunch,” Espy offered. “You’re new in town and don’t know where to go.”

“Ooh, yeah.” Beni said. “Lunchtime will give us a couple hours to get you cute.”

I swallowed. “Cute?”

“Just leave it to me.” She was already leaving the table. “Call him already.”

I cast Evan an almost pleading look, but there was no mercy there. He just nodded. With a pit in my stomach, I pulled out my phone and thumbed Ira’s number.

It started ringing.