Carla stepped out of the barn underneath the string of bright paper lanterns that made a rainbow of color across the yard from the barn door to Todd's house. Inside, music wrapped the dancers from Lincoln High in a heady rhythm.
Todd and Sira stood arm-in-arm a few feet away at the refreshment table, talking and sharing a glass of red punch. Sira's father sat in a swing on the front porch watching Sira with a frown on his face and his hand gripping the armrest.
"Are you having fun, honey?" Carla's mom set another platter of cookies on the table and smiled at Carla.
"It's perfect, Mom." Carla walked over to the table and grabbed a cookie. Of course Queen Alise and her richie friends hadn't come, but just about everyone else from the school had, except the ones who had gone Under the Mountain like Eve.
"How about you, Sira?" Carla's mom asked.
Sira gave her a dazzling smile. "I've never been to a party before. This is wonderful." Her eyes slid to her father, glowering on the porch. "Um, Mrs. Greenhall, Carla says you're planning to plant crops in the spring."
"Absolutely." Her mother clapped her hands together in excitement. "Of course I don't know how or when yet. But I'll figure it out."
"My father knows a lot about planting." Sira motioned to the porch. "Maybe you could ask him about it."
"Good idea." She glanced over at Springmorning. "If he'll talk to me. Last time we chatted, he wasn't very pleasant."
"He's lonely," Sira said. "He just doesn't want to admit it. It couldn't hurt to try to talk to him one more time."
"I don't know," Carla's mom said. "He killed—"
"Queen Alise pardoned him. Dusty dropped all charges. Springmorning stood and fought when everyone else ran away," Carla said.
Carla's mom stared down at her feet for a moment then shuffled off toward the porch. "Mom's lonely too," Carla said.
"Perfect." Todd poured Carla a glass of punch. A pebble zipped through the air and hit the cup, knocking it from Todd's hand and splashing punch down his clean white shirt. Possum chortled from the shadows behind the side of the barn.
"Excuse me." Todd bolted around the table and lit after him.
Sira laughed.
Carla turned away and stared off into the darkness. Todd was nice. She liked him, but he didn't make her feel like Shadowheart had. Her lips still tingled from the touch of his. Her lungs ached for the warm breath he had shared with her. Her fingers burned for one more caress against his cool skin. She wondered where he'd gone. She'd never gotten the chance to heal the whip burn across his chest. She'd promised she would, but she hadn't. He'd killed to save her life, and she'd rejected him. She'd been so shocked when he'd shot DeWheat. The tree branches creaked, echoing her regret.
"Carla, let's go dance." Sira grabbed her arm and drew her back to the party. Carla followed her into the barn. She'd won control of the school and stopped Sunblade's attack. But that had not saved Rocky, DeWheat, or Shadowheart. She hoped Shade would come back someday so she could apologize.
The music wrapped around Carla along with the flows of power. She let it carry her with it. At least she had friends now. And she knew who and what she was. Things had turned out far better for her than she had imagined when she first arrived in The Valley.