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What happened in that hideous castle? What happened to all those girls, each one disappeared from under our noses? I’d wondered before, but noas obsessed Never had someone so close to me been taken

Was she trapped in there, still alive? Were there other girls? What did the vae, however ed off a glove and jammed my hand deep into my coat pocket Found the handkerchief

Eed it from her room before they’d cleared out her stuff It was a siotten in our standard-issue kit bags Not ht?--except for Emma It’d been just like Prairie Girl to use her hanky all the time While mine was still folded crisply ina rusty brown patch of blood that’d never washed out co a rabbit on that night we’d been left stranded in the dark to face punishether and had been friends ever since

I took it out and folded it as I walked Folded and smoothed and refolded I’d stolen the handkerchief as a me else It was my pact Pinky swear, Em If you’re alive, I’ll find you

Frost was ahead of me on the path, and I watched as she squared her shoulders and slung her sym duffel over her shoulder She was headed back to the dorm, and if I wanted to shower before lunch, I’d need to follow her But I couldn’t bear going straight back to the room, especially not with her Did she know the secrets of the keep? Did she know the fates of all those girls and yet chose to side with vas worse The dorm was smaller, with a warren of oddly sized rooiant converted house than the first-year Acari dorular rooms lent a false impression of intimacy to our roo rooether by circumstance

I couldn’t bear to face it Not just yet

I stopped abruptly and turned, taking a detour to the boys’ housing To the castle I had to see it If E held

Could it really be true? That shethe vampires’ keep, all this time…My God, Em…It was too much to consider If she were alive, it meant I’d failed her even more than when I’d let Alcántara slash her down her belly Because, truly, I couldn’t decide which was the greater horror: to be killed by vampires, or to be i along the edge of the path, troht’s snow A thin ri crunch with every step The January light eak and gray, and it struck one

So many others had disappeared, and yet here I was, still alive Cheers to hed on h, the ancient keep had appeared, looriray-black stone What secrets were hidden within? I peered hard, studying every line, every crag and crevice in the facade, like I h the force of hts "You’ve got guts, showing up here like this"

I spun It was Yasuo

I knew that happy, relieved feeling of seeing a friend, but the sensation was instantly cut short by the look of him So crushed So pale and bleak

"Yasuo" I realized I’d hoped to run into hiive h this together I put on a brave, gentle face, hoping to convince iveness to be had "How are you doing?" I hoped he heard how the words had co?" A smirk contorted his face, and his words ca? Please tell me you didn’t come here to ask how’: I suck You killed irlfriend, re…self-involved to care about anyone but yourself" Hatred glione, and he blamed me

"No, wait," I blurted "It’s not like that I have news I think--"

"Screhat you think" He spun away fro hall

Friends were rare on this rock I needed Yasuo and I thought he probably neededto catch up "I think there’s a chance she’s still alive," I said at his back The words spilled froet his attention, to convince him there was hope That I was still a worthy friend before he shut ht What if she’s still alive?"

He froze utterly, but it wasn’t an I’ kind of pose that he’d assue had finally frozen hi him to ice "She’s not"

I refused to believe it I was desperate I had sunk ive it up so easily now "Just hearweird She said they had to tie her--"

"She’s gone"

"Wait What do you mean? Do you knohat happened?" Yasuo lived inside the castle He was privy to ranite curtain every day "What do you ht?" He speared his fingers through his hair in what looked like a gesture of desperation, and I sa his hands treh clenched teeth