I took a bite of a chocolate-peanut pretzel and clapped my tongue against the roof of my mouth, savoring the taste of the cocoa and salt dissolving. I made a mental note to thank Poppy for leaving me a pack of sweets every single night since The Nightmare, the night Vaughn and Arabella had provided me with a horror show.

She was religious about it, which made me feel incredibly loved.

Flipping a page in the sketchbook, I drew the general shape of a head, then gave it an elaborate crown of thorns. My mind began to reel as I thought about all the possibilities. I could find thorns in all the rosebushes in Carlisle Castle and make a crown out of them. A real one.

I could shape the head with clay—no, tin. Dirty, rusty metal. Carve the curves of the face with a Dremel.

A shriek from outside pierced the music coming from my headphones. I pulled them down to my shoulders and put the sketchbook aside, standing up and walking toward the window. My investment levels in what happened were low. Really, I only wanted to check to see that Poppy was okay.

I didn’t even wonder if Vaughn had come to the party. Not even once. It seemed like he wouldn’t. He’d been pretty much MIA for months, but had stopped attending parties altogether after our kiss in my bath—the height of his insanity, I suppose.

I watched the people in the pool.

It was completely dark at eleven at night, with glow sticks floating in the water, as well as glowing balloons and floats in the shape of bacon, onion rings, swans, and glowing hearts. Girls in bikinis splashed each other. Some were sitting on guys’ shoulders, playing chicken fight.

And then there was Vaughn, my eyes were drawn to him like a magnet. He was perched on one of the sunbeds outside the pool, completely clothed, engrossed in a conversation with Knight and Hunter. Knight was shirtless, a ball cap atop his hair without him actually wearing it, and the seahorse tattoo on his spine drew attention to his ripped, muscular back.

Guess Knight and Poppy got over their weirdness, then, if he was here. Because Knight was definitely committed to Luna Rexroth at this point, one hundred percent.

“What was that scream?” Poppy burst through the glass doors from the kitchen with a pitcher in her hand, clad in a tiny bikini, her bra like two light pink seashells.

Hunter looked up from his conversation with Knight and Vaughn, explaining evenly. “Arabella, Alice, and Stacee played cock-fight. It’s like chicken fight, but whoever makes a guy come first by sucking his cock underwater gets the prize.”

“That sounds utterly terrible,” my sister gasped. “What was the prize?”

“Vaughn.” Knight and Hunter laughed in unison.

My heart lodged in my throat. Not this again. I took a step back from the window, not wanting to see any more of it, just as Vaughn stood up and cut through the throng. The crowd parted for him. Of course it did.

“That’s not why I came here,” he said.

“Why did you come here?” Hunter wondered aloud. “You’re being a miserable piece of shit.”

Vaughn looked around, but said nothing.

“Come on.” Arabella hopped out of the pool.

My pool, that I swam naked in. I tried not to think about that.

“Don’t be such a party pooper, Vaughn. One last hurrah before we all say goodbye. I’m winning!” She laughed.

Alice was at her heel like a puppy. They both had thong bikinis. Alice’s was bright yellow, and Arabella’s was orange and looked lovely against her tan skin. I hated that they were attractive. They made it difficult to believe in karma, because if karma really went after the bad people, how come they had everything (including both parents)?

Hunter and Knight stood up, too. Knight retired into the house, putting his phone to his ear, and Hunter frowned in Soren’s direction on the other side of the pool. I followed his steps toward him with my eyes. Soren was sitting on a lounger next to a nearly passed-out girl who used to take cal with me—Bianca. Quiet, quite nerdy, always wanting to fit in. She was obviously drunk. It looked like Soren was making a move on her, and Hunter didn’t like it.

Vaughn ignored both Alice and Arabella, getting ready to leave. This time, Alice was the one who grabbed his arm. Even I knew that was a mistake. Vaughn didn’t like to be touched. He stopped on impact, narrowing his eyes at her.

“I broke up with Jason for you.” She thrust her body against his.

“I’d break up with Jason for a rock, so no great loss there. ’Sides, no one asked you to.”

“You asked me for a blow job.” She stomped her foot.

“Could’ve said no. Or is that word not in your vocabulary?”

“You’re an asshole, Spence.”

“Smelled many to recognize one? Any other mind-blowing revelations?”

“Yeah, actually, your little friend, Drusilla, told us your secret. It is quite the scandalous secret, Spence.”

The floor quaked beneath my feet, and I gripped the windowsill, trying to regain my balance.

She’s lying.

My teeth slammed together in anger, my fingers itching to fling open the window and call her out on the lie. I could see the shift in Vaughn’s face, even from where I was standing, the telling way his jaw ticked, just one time, his entire face remaining calm.

“Lenora is a liar,” he said calmly.

I closed my eyes and exhaled raggedly.

I didn’t tell them anything, you eejit.

On the other side of the pool, Hunter and Soren’s exchange of words was getting out of control. Poppy rushed to them, trying to remedy the situation and figure out what was going on. Knight got back to poolside, and as soon as he saw Hunter and Soren, he hurried to them, too. My eyes ping-ponged back to Arabella, Alice, and Vaughn.

“She said that’s why she doesn’t want you.” Arabella continued with her bullshit. “That you’re too much of a freak, even for her.”

God. She was lying to him, and he was eating it up.

“I don’t care if she wants me or not,” Vaughn said drily, but he didn’t make a move to leave. Something was rooting him in place, and he took the verbal beating. He wanted to hear this, I realized with horror, to believe I’d done this to him.

“She said she’d tell everyone.” It was Alice’s turn to strike.

I’d just shoved the window open, planning to set the record straight, when two things happened simultaneously:

My shoelace bracelet, and the key attached to it, flew off and fell straight onto the deck by the pool, where someone kicked it into the water while passing by, leaving me locked in the attic.

Hunter threw a punch at Soren’s face.

Soren stumbled and fell into the pool, making a huge splash that had people whining and shrieking. A police siren wailed down the road. Someone had called the cops—probably because the music had been blasting for hours, and way past an appropriate bedtime. Girls screamed, and guys pushed each other to get to the door. Knight jumped into the pool to drag Soren out. The sirens grew louder and closer, and I cursed under my breath. I was locked in my attic.

Vaughn, Alice, and Arabella still stood in the same spot, though. Like nothing could pierce their bubble of anger and deceit.

“Vaughn!” I finally remembered the reason I’d opened the window in the first place. He looked up, his frown smoothing into boyish surprise when he saw my face. “They’re lying.”