Page 54 of Flickerstate

“No noise curfew?”

“At midnight, we put in earbuds and switch to a silent dance party. Ever done one?”

Maybe it’s because Candace and Bree are mad at me, or because I’ve become a paranoiac since the trials started—but this whole conversation, from the Academy’s birth-month traditions to its midnight dances, feels like a trap: a way of forcing me to admit that I’m a sad greenhorn from flyover country with no right to be here, wait-listed and accepted on a fluke. I hunch down uncomfortably in my seat.

“I don’t dance either,” Vik says. “If you come, you can stand in the corner with me.”

I examine his face. He doesn’t seem mocking, so I rein in my irritation. “What would we talk about in the corner?”

“More books, if you wanted.”

“Which books?”

He shrugs. “Let’s say, books that give you complicated feelings.”

I’m cranky, but that response makes me smile.

Griffin glances between Vik and me, leans forward, andmurmurs, “But you’ll step on her feet during the first dance if you guys don’t start practicing.”

Vik frowns. “First dance?”

Embarrassed, I fake boredom. “Griffin’s marrying us off in his head again.”

Vik’s eyes dart to Griffin, annoyed and—hurt? Is our betrothal that offensive to him?

Mirabel glances around the table, sighs, and ignores us all in favor of her salad.

***

When I key into the block after dinner, Candace and Bree are sitting close together on the sofa, talking in low voices. They go silent when they see me.

“Uh,” I say. “I’ll grab my stuff and get out of your hair.”

Bree shakes her head. “Stay. We’ve figured out how you can make it up to us.”

“How?” I try not to sound overeager.

“We’re the only transfers to make it past the first trial,” Bree says. “That’ll be great for our grades. You helped that happen by pushing us to practice… But you need to relax. You wentwaytoo far, siphoning us. And have you done anything but study and navigate since you got here? So when it’s time, we’re all dressing up and going to the September Birthdays party.”

“Is that…” I’m not sure how to finish.Is that all I have to do?The thing is, I’m not sure how bad what I did was—how badly Ineed to atone. Is siphoning your teammates like clipping another basketball player’s face with your elbow on a rebound? Stealing $20 from a friend’s purse? Assault and battery? Are Candace and Bree too angry with me or not angry enough? “I mean, I’ll go with you. Though I implied to Griffin and Vik and Mirabel I wouldn’t show.”

“Why?” Candace asks. It’s the first thing she’s said since I walked in. I’m relieved she sounds intrigued, not furious.

“They were acting weird.”

“Weird how?”

Under other circumstances, I might tell Candace it was no big deal, but I’m so glad we’re talking that I run my mouth. “Mirabel was hostile. I guess that’s not weird. But Griffin brought up this running joke about me and Vik getting married, which I guess he’d never mentioned to Vik, because Vik got quiet—quieter—and looked, um, wounded? Which was borderline insulting.”

Candace nods. “That tracks.”

“It does?” Bree asks.

“Simple,” Candace says. “Griffin was using Vik as a prop to flirt with Norah. Vik didn’t like it. And Mirabel’s hung up on Griffin dumping her, so she didn’t like it either. Case closed. But, Norah, before we close the case on the other thing… Why’d you do it?”

At this point, Candace sounds more curious than angry. She wants tounderstand.

My mouth goes dry. I can’t tell her and Bree the whole truth: I’m scared to die, and if siphoning them is what it takes to savemyself and Dad—yeah, I’ll siphon them.