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applied makeup, then looked back at the boys again, seeing that Miles had replaced his usual comic book T-shirt for a button-down. It seemed as though everyone had gone fancy for their last night.

It suddenly dawned on Kira how strange it was that this would be the last time the five of them could hang out, at least for a while. They were sort of her family, especially after helping with her recovery. But with Miles going to Harvard, Emma and Dave both going to Texas, and she and Luke "taking a year off," things would definitely be changing. Kira wasn't sure what she thought about it yet, but decided to just try to enjoy this night. She needed to have fun, because even though Luke hadn't said so, Sonnyville would be far more work than pleasure.

"Well," Emma began, and Kira knew there was a saga of a story about to begin. "I wanted to go out to a fancy dinner, and the boys wanted to play video games. So we decided that we needed to meet in the middle. You know, not go too fancy but still have fun. So, we thought about it and thought about it—"

"We're going to my place," Miles voiced up, knowing Emma could have easily talked for another ten minutes without reaching the point. She shot daggers at him through the rearview mirror.

"So, yes, we're going to Miles's house. His parents had to leave right after graduation, so we'll have the place to ourselves. And not that we really need to, but we thought about it and—"

"Now we can throw that rager we've always wanted to!" Luke cheered. Kira rolled her eyes when she heard the slap of a high five. Dave and Luke were clearly excited by the idea. Kira, not so much.

"Wait, you threw a party?" She turned to look at the three boys in the back seat, each with a goofy smile plastered on his face. She had been hoping they would have some time with just the five of them, not a crazy high school party.

"Not my idea." Emma threw an apologetic look in Kira's direction.

"C'mon. It'll be awesome. We'll be leaving with a bang," Luke said. His hand landed on Kira's shoulder and he shook her a little, trying, she assumed, to shake her into the idea.

"So, where's Tristan?" Emma asked, clearly trying to change the topic. Kira knew Emma was on her side. She could already envision the two of them chatting by the punch bowl, watching Luke and Dave try to convince Miles to talk to some girl, knowing that it would fail miserably. Kira hoped he would have better luck at Harvard; a fellow nerd would really love him, much more than the cheerleaders or Goths that Luke and Dave antagonized him into asking out.

"I didn't realize we were having a party, so I told him to go home for a while. He has some packing to do. You know he leaves for his backpacking trip around Europe tomorrow," Kira said, ending with the cover story she, Luke, and Tristan had all decided on—Tristan was spending the summer in Europe, while, totally randomly, Kira got a job at a restaurant in Orlando, and Luke was working at Disney World.

"Don't worry, I told him before we left. He's going to stop by, I think," Luke said quietly from the back seat.

Kira turned around, shocked, and heard Dave mutter "dude" under his breath.

"What, what? I'm a nice guy," Luke said and shrugged. Kira turned back around in her seat, stunned. It was no secret that Luke hated Tristan—it meant a lot to her that he made the gesture. Maybe, she thought ruefully, he was only being nice because he knew she would be with him and not Tristan for the next two months.

By the time Emma pulled over outside of Miles's house, the party was already in full swing. His house had been closed off, but his family owned an old plantation, so their backyard was gigantic. With one look at the parked cars on his yard and ring of headlights, all Kira could think was that his parents would freak out when they got home. She couldn't imagine those tire tracks would go away very fast. And it looked as though their entire class was there, dancing on the grass to music blaring from a ton of cars set to the same radio station. Plastic cups already spotted the ground, and Kira saw that the football team had set up multiple kegs in the beds of their pickup trucks. She almost felt strange as they approached the house she had visited so many times before.

"We barely know these people," she whispered to Emma. The two of them were arm in arm, a few feet behind the boys who were rushing to join the fun.

"I know, but it'll be fun! And now, we'll be the people who everyone remembers for throwing an awesome party after graduation." Emma grinned at the thought. Kira started to smile too; she could get on board with this. It would be far better to be known as a member of the party-throwing brigade than the weird coma girl.

Yeah, the last few weeks of school had been fantastic with her friends and Tristan, but everyone gave her strange looks. No one in the school really knew what happened on the night of the eclipse except for Kira, Luke, and Tristan. When Tristan had rushed her to the hospital, Luke stayed behind to clean up as much of the blood on her yard as possible. The cops still came to her house, and they had found traces of human blood despite Luke's attempts, so they started investigating. There were rumors that Tristan had beaten her up and Luke had to stop him, or that Tristan and Luke tried to kill each other. The three of them had tried to play it off as an animal attack, but it was still the town gossip for weeks. After a while, it became old news, but in high school, old news almost never disappeared completely. Going out with a bang suddenly didn't seem half bad, and Kira let Emma lead her forward to the party.

They both grabbed diet sodas and walked over to the boys who were stationed on Miles's porch, looking out over the party, surveying whom they could get him to dance with.

"I say Susie Harp." Luke pointed at the small, pixie-like girl with brown hair. Kira slapped his hand down when she and Emma got closer.

"Stop pointing," she chastised and rolled her eyes. Maybe Miles wasn't the problem; Dave and Luke could easily be holding him back.

Luke ignored her and pointed at Susie again. "Come on, she's cute and this is the last night I get to watch you in action."

"No way man." Dave put his arm around Miles's shoulder, steering him in the opposite direction. "Amy MacDougall, she's the girl you should go for."

All five of them looked over at Amy, who was dancing on the hood of a car while one of the basketball players stood at the ready in case she fell over. Her dress had wet spots from where she spilled her own drink all over herself, as Kira had witnessed five minutes before. They all looked back at Dave—he was clearly going for the "she's drunk so she'll definitely dance with you" approach.

"David," Emma started, pulling him away to reprimand him for basically telling the group that Miles's only hope was someone who had no control over her senses.

"So, I win. Susie it is," Luke said, pushing Miles forward. He shrugged his shoulders as if to say okay, shook his head to get in the zone, and then straightened his glasses before walking over.

"This is going to be good." Luke put his arm around Kira so they could watch together.

"Why? What do you know?" Kira asked, not liking the mischievous glint in Luke's eye.

"Nothing, nothing," Luke shushed her.

"Luke," Kira said harshly. He looked over at her, slightly deflated, as though Kira were totally ruining his fun.

"Okay, so I might have already told Susie that Miles had a crush on her, and she might have already told me she would love to get to know him better, if you know what I mean." He wiggled his eyebrows and they watched as Miles led Susie to the pseudo dance floor that the circle of cars created. He shot both of them a not-so-discrete thumbs up, and Kira silently prayed he didn't screw it up.

"You're quite the matchmaker." She laughed.

"I do what I can," Luke said and looked over at her. Their faces were close together, and Kira could almost feel his pulse quicken. Not for the first time, she thought maybe she was reading his mind, because Kira knew before Luke even made a move where his thoughts were going. She broke his gaze, pulling away, and Luke released his hold on her arm to step a few feet backward. When she heard his shuffling feet pause, Kira turned her eyes around to face him and eased her body back to rest against the railing. The small space between them might as well have been miles.

"So, what about you?" she asked, trying to break the tension. "Amy's up for grabs, you can always try for one last high school hurrah before we leave tomorrow."

Luke grinned at the joke, trying to ignore the fact that Kira had very clearly just blown him off. She wondered what would happen when they went to Sonnyville. He had not been overtly obvious about his feelings for her, and sometimes Kira thought she was making it up in her head, but at moments like this, when she caught a glimpse of his small tendrils of longing, Kira wondered what really went on behind his goofy exterior.

"So, are you excited for tomorrow?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall opposite her. Under the porch lights, Kira thought his bleach-blond hair seemed to glow, and she realized she would be the only person for the next few weeks who didn't have almost white locks.

"It's strange to think about being surrounded by conduits. I'm excited, but it's a little nerve-racking too," she said honestly.

"Everyone will love you, don't worry. My little brother can't wait. I think he thinks you're a shiny new toy for him to play with."

Kira smiled, already picturing a miniature version of Luke running around with a wide smile on his face, fascinated by everything around him. Luke's family would be interesting to finally meet. Kira wondered what his sister and parents would think. Had he told them about Tristan?

"And," Luke continued talking, recognizing that Kira still needed reassurance, "the council really isn't that bad. Everything is going to be great, you'll see."

"I hope so," she said and glanced back out at the party. Miles and Susie were still dancing, getting friendlier and friendlier Kira thought, and Dave and Emma had disappeared. So much for the five of them hanging out. Everywhere she looked, she saw her classmates, but they seemed more like strangers to her now than ever before. She wasn't sad to be leaving this town, just the few amazing friends she had made there.

Kira looked back at Luke, ready to ask more questions about their travel arrangements for tomorrow, when she saw him focus on something beyond her shoulder. The muscles in his face tensed, his usual laugh lines disappeared, and Kira saw his whole body stiffen. It could only mean one thing.

"Lover boy is here," he said, and Kira turned to see Tristan weaving his way through the crowd. Like a shadow sneaking between the rays of the headlights, he molded into the dark. Every part of him was hidden except for his pearly skin. Kira tried to smother the smile threatening to spread across her face and turned back to Luke to silently let him know she wouldn't abandon him to spend time with her boyfriend.

"I'll leave you two alone," Luke said, pushing against the wall to straighten his body and prepare to walk away.

"Luke, stay. I want to hang out with both of you."

He shrugged, as if to say that's not possible, and started to leave. Kira heard the porch steps creak behind her, knowing it was Tristan, and spun around.

"We need to talk," Tristan said, his voice full of concern. Luke stopped walking and looked back, alert.

"What's going on?" he asked. Kira could tell he had transitioned to business mode and had let the personal drama go for the moment.

"Privately. Can we get inside?"

Luke nodded and walked over to the door. Reaching above the doorframe, he pulled out a spare key that Miles must have told him about and opened the