"What's wrong?" I asked, panting from the dash across the lawn.
Penny looked at me scornfully. "Nothing is wrong," she said.
"Just the best news ever!" Alyssa screeched. "Duke predicted that I would meet someone tall, dark, and handsome in the near future!"
"Did he tell you that you were taking a long journey, too?" I muttered. Both "predictions" might as well be in the phony fortune-tellers' handbook. Not exactly confidence inspiring.
Penny looked sour at the mention of someone else getting a tall, dark, and handsome stranger but then brightened. "He told me that I'd have a mysterious encounter. And it's already come true. Last night, I was walking by the mortuary when I saw a light."
"Did you move toward it?"
"What?" she said. She didn't get it.
I changed the subject. "What's so mysterious about a light at the mortuary? It was probably just Mr. Bone or Nicholas working late." I assumed that it was actually a meeting of the Nightshade City Council, a secret group made up of members of the thirteen founding families of Nightshade, but that was something I wasn't going to share with Penny.
"I looked in a window. The light was just hovering there in midair. And then the wailing and banging began."
Penny was prone to exaggeration, but I still decided I'd ask Rose about it after school. Rose was my oldest sister and was dating Nicholas Bone, whose family owned Mort's Mortuary.
"Daizee," Duke said. "I looked for you after Spanish class."
"I had lunch plans," I said. "Ryan, this is Duke Sherrad. Duke, this is Ryan Mendez."
"Her boyfriend," Ryan added, smiling pleasantly, if you call baring your teeth smiling. He took my hand and pulled me to his side, but Duke ignored Ryan's show of possessiveness.
"I would be happy to give you a private reading," he said.
Ryan glared but didn't say anything.
"Uh, maybe some other time," I said.
The testosterone was thick in the air. Just as I was beginning to fear a fight, Mr. Davis, the journalism teacher, approached the group.
"Samantha," he said, "I hope you'll be trying out for the play next week."
She beamed at him. "Yes, Mr. Davis. I will."
"Me, too!" Alyssa piped in, batting her eyelashes. Girls were always flirting with Mr. Davis. He was one of the youngest teachers at school, and he helped with the play every year.
"Have you met Duke yet?" Penny asked. "He'd be a perfect leading man."
Mr. Davis's smile faded and his jaw dropped when he saw the new student. I wondered why. Was he scared of a little competition for the girls' attention?
"I am afraid I'm not much of an actor," Duke said. "How do you say it? My accent is too thick for your American audiences to understand."
I had had enough of the Duke Sherrad Fan Club meeting, so Ryan and I went back to our picnic.
"So, Duke is in some of your classes?" Ryan asked casually, a few minutes later.
"Two so far," I admitted. "Why?"
"Just curious," he said.
I changed the subject. I didn't want to talk about Duke. Something about him made me uncomfortable. I wasn't used to all that attention from someone I didn't know.
"Hey, Side Effects May Vary is playing at the Black Opal in a couple of weeks," I said. "Do you want to get tickets? Nicholas and Rose are going."
"Sounds great," Ryan said. "How is Rose doing, by the way? I haven't seen her in a while."
My sister Rose was in college at UC Nightshade, but she still lived at home. Lately, all the time she wasn't studying she was spending with Nicholas. Things were getting pretty hot and heavy with those two.
"She's fine, but I don't know how she does it," I admitted.
"What do you mean?"
I looked over at him, startled by a strange note in his voice. "I'm just not sure I could be so, so ... cool with the whole werewolf thing."
"Maybe she loves him." His voice sounded grim. "If you love someone, it shouldn't matter."
"Of course Rose loves him," I said, "but that doesn't make it any easier. She's not a shifter."
What I really worried about was my sister getting her heart broken again. Nicholas had already dumped her once, when he first found out he was a werewolf.
The bell rang, and Ryan walked me to class.
"I'll see you later in P.E., okay?" he said. He squeezed my hand and then jogged off toward his next class.
While I sat in American government, I tried to pay attention, but my mind kept drifting back to my conversation with Ryan. He had been distant lately and had seemed almost angry when we talked about Rose and Nicholas. Ryan and I had been friends forever, but our relationship, at least our romantic one, was so new. Was the romance already dead?
A voice interrupted my thoughts. "The prom committee is looking for more volunteers," Mrs. Lambert said.
Samantha nudged me with her foot, but I ignored her.
She nudged me again. Samantha was one of the bossiest people I knew, but she meant well. A little participation wouldn't kill me.
I sighed and raised my hand.
"Daisy," Mrs. Lambert said. "Excellent."
When dismissal bell rang, I hurried to my locker. On the way I spotted Duke deep in conversation with Mr. Davis. I wondered what he could have to say to the journalism teacher. Duke didn't seem like the school newspaper type, unless he was offering to write horoscopes.
"Daisy! Wait up," a voice called out. Samantha jogged up to me.
"What's up?"
"Do you want to help us make prom posters after school?" she asked.
"Sure," I said. After all, I had volunteered. Lots of my old cheerleader pals were on the prom committee, so it would be nice to catch up with them. I didn't see them as often now that I'd quit cheerleading.
Samantha led the way to the gym, where the prom committee members sat at long tables, armed with sparkly paint and poster board.
Rachel rushed up to me. "Hi, Daisy! It's great that you're helping us." She gave me a hug. "Anytime you want back in the squad, you just holler."
I smiled and nodded but avoided telling her that I'd rather walk over broken glass than get back into a skimpy cheerleading uniform. Last time it had only been because the cheerleaders seemed to be in danger and I thought I could help.
Samantha and I sat down and got to work.
"Don't forget to include the location, the time, and the cost of tickets," Samantha said, handing me a blank poster and some glue.
"Oh, yeah," I said. "Where is prom going to be this year, anyway?"
Penny rolled her eyes. "The Wilder mansion, duh! We only chose the place about a year ago."
"Well, that was before Daisy joined the committee," Sam said judiciously. "The good places go fast," she told me.
The Wilder mansion was the oldest building in town, and nobody had lived there for many years. When I was small, it had been a crumbling old building full of dust and bats. But Mrs. Wilder had spent the last two years restoring it to its former glory.
"How does it look in there?" I asked Sam. "It was in rough shape for a long time."
"Oh, it's amazing," she gushed. "The place is practically dripping with gold. That family is loaded. There's a wing with their private residence, and another wing where there's a ballroom and a little restaurant where they serve afternoon tea."
"Sounds fabulous," I said.
Samantha sprinkled some glitter on her poster. "Maybe we can double," she said.
"Double where?" I asked. Samantha dated Sean Walsh, who was the quarterback of the football team, star catcher on the baseball team, and all-round big man on campus. He also lived next door to me.
"A double date for the prom," she said.
Our last double date hadn't gone so well. I'd found an unconscious girl in the bathroom of the Black Opal, an all-ages club.
"Ryan hasn't asked me yet." I glanced at Penny, who was listening in with her mouth open.
"Well, he'd better not wait too long," Samantha said. "I hear there's another interested party."
"Who?" I asked, loudly. Penny's ears perked up again. "Who?" I repeated, this time in a lower voice.
Samantha glanced at Penny and then leaned in so we wouldn't be overheard. "I hear Duke Sherrad is smitten with you."
"I was over guys like Duke Sherrad when I was twelve," I said.
Samantha looked at me shrewdly. I don't know why I mentioned that age. The age I was when my dad left us. "Well, all I'm saying is that Ryan had better hurry. You can't wait forever."
"We don't even have the prom posters up yet," I pointed out. "He probably hasn't even thought about it. When did Sean ask you?"
"Last month," she said.
Sean was whipped, but I was starting to worry that Ryan wasn't planning on asking me.
"Does everyone else on the squad have dates?" I gestured toward Penny and Rachel, who were sitting at a table near us.
"Not Penny, but Rachel is going with Z," she said. Z was short for Adam Zeigler. My sister Poppy had dated him briefly, but they hadn't been seeing each other lately. Poppy had been having a date drought during her senior year.
I didn't want to be in any category with Penny, but dateless for prom was definitely the category to avoid.
"What about everyone else?" I nodded toward the row of cheerleaders.
She shrugged. "The popular girls get asked early."
I raised an eyebrow and looked at her solemnly.
"I mean—everyone knows Ryan will—oh, you know what I mean," she said as I slowly cracked a grin.
I had to admit that I had fun with Samantha. We'd been best friends until middle school, then enemies, and now we were working our way back toward friends again. We hadn't made it all the way back to trusting each other yet. Sam had her secrets, and I had mine.
And speaking of secrets...
"How are your parents?" I asked. The last time I'd been at the Devereaux house I'd found a secret stack of overdue bills, which was odd, since the Devereauxs were one of the wealthiest families in town. Or at least they had been.
"They're traveling again. Mom's in San Francisco, and Daddy's on tour."
Before my father disappeared, he and Samantha's father had been colleagues at the local college, UC Nightshade. Her father made a bundle off a book he wrote using much of the research he had done with my father. Of course, Rafe Giordano wasn't around to complain about the unfairness of it all.
An hour later, we were finished with the glitter, glue, and smelly markers.
"Do you want a ride home?" Samantha asked. "I'm heading that way anyway. I'm going to hang out at Sean's house and wait for him to get out of baseball."
"Sure, thanks." We headed for her car, a newer-model BMW convertible.
I was curious why Samantha would want to hang out at Sean's house, with all his little brothers and sisters running around, when she could be relaxing in her giant Jacuzzi in the privacy of her own home. Was Samantha lonely all by herself in that big house?
"Do you want to help hang the posters Thursday after school?" she asked.
"Sure." The sooner the posters were up, then maybe the sooner Ryan would take the hint.
"Hey, do you want to hang out at my house until the guys are through with baseball practice?" I asked as we pulled onto my street.
"Maybe another time," she said. "I promised Katie that I'd help her make cookies." Katie was one of Sean's little sisters.
"See you later." Samantha parked the car, and I headed to my house. She headed next door.
I threw my backpack down on the hallway table and went to the kitchen to make a snack. Rose sat at the counter, her nose in a book. She tended to zone everyone out when she was studying. I had to say hello twice before she looked up.
"Oh, hey, Daisy," she said. "I'm glad you're home. What are you making tonight? I invited Nicholas over for dinner."
Since Mom always worked late, I did almost all the cooking in our house. What did werewolves eat? Could I use garlic? If not, that left out half of Grandma Giordano's recipes. Oh, wait. Vampires were repelled by garlic. It took silver bullets for werewolves.
After a moment of consideration, I said, "I'll make fettuccini Bolognese. Werewolves like meat, right?"
"Nicholas," she said firmly, "likes everything. Whatever you make is fine. We haven't had fettuccini in ages. But do you have time?"
"If you run to the grocery store," I said. "I'll make some minestrone to start, too. Mom loves that. I have everything I need for the soup."
As I handed Rose the grocery list, Poppy appeared in the doorway.
"Need any help with dinner?" she asked. "I'm starving!"
"Can you chop the vegetables?"
Poppy didn't answer, but the fridge door opened and a parade of veggies floated onto the cutting board. She winked at me. "You should practice your powers more often. You'd be the fastest chef ever."
She had a point. The minestrone was simmering on the stove just minutes after Rose left. By the time she got back with the ground pork and ground veal, I had the sauce made and everything under control.
"When's Nicholas getting here?" I asked.
Rose looked worried. "He should be here by now," she said. "He had some kind of business meeting with his dad. Maybe it ran late."
" The kind of business meeting where they get wild and vampy?" I asked, although those particular meetings usually happened after dark.
"I don't think so," Rose said.
Not only was Nicholas a werewolf, he was a member of the Nightshade City Council. In fact, there was something different about all the council members—the town's founding families comprised paranormals of all sorts, including werewolves, banshees, and vampires. They held their meetings at Mort's Mortuary, the funeral home Nicholas's family owned. Technically, as nonmembers, we weren't even supposed to know about the council and their doings, but Ryan and I had spied on a meeting once.
I heard the door open and Mom's keys jangle.
"We're in here," I called out.
"What's cooking? It smells delicious," Mom said.
"It's almost ready," I said. "Rose, do you think we should wait for Nicholas?"
"No, it's okay," she said.
I was ladling out the soup when the doorbell rang. Rose went to get it. I could tell it was Nicholas by the tone of her voice. I telepathically picked up on a stray thought of hers that made its way into the dining room. Trouble. What did Rose mean?
She came back with Nicholas a minute later.
"Hello, Nicholas," Mom said.
"Mrs. Giordano," he said. "Just who I wanted to talk to."
"Mort's Mortuary is having a few problems," Rose explained. "Nicholas and his dad would like us to look into it."
Instead of saying yes, Mom said, "Please sit down. We'll talk about it as we eat."
Poppy helped me to dish up the plates, and then we sat in silence for a moment as we ate.
"What kind of problems?" Mom finally said.
"Things have been ... out of place," Nicholas admitted.
I asked eagerly, "You think it's something supernatural?" My specialty. "Someone at school mentioned she'd seen lights and heard strange noises coming from the building. What's going on?"
"Let's just say that the Tranquility Room hasn't been very tranquil," he said.
" They're not sure what's causing the disturbance," Rose said. "Mom, can you help them?"
"We can try. I'll see if I can get a reading."
Just then her cell phone went off. "It's Chief Mendez. I'll have to take this." My mom worked with the Nightshade police squad on a lot of cases.
She put the phone to her ear and had a low-voiced conversation. When she hung up, she said, "Nicholas, I'm afraid we'll have to table this for another time. I've been called to a case. But tell your dad the girls and I will be glad to help."
She stood and came over to kiss my forehead. "Daisy, dinner was delicious."
"But you've hardly touched your pasta. And it's your favorite," I protested.
"Save it for me. I'll eat it when I get home." She left the room.
"Let's go over to Mort's and see if we can get a reading," Rose suggested.
"But what about Mom?" Poppy said.
"You heard her," Rose replied. "She said 'the girls and I'will help."
My help? Doubtful. My psychic powers were not the most reliable, even at the best of times.