“Me neither.” I’d finally convinced Mom and Dad to let me travel. I wanted to visit other vampire communities, learn new traditions, and forge new connections to make up for all those I’d accidentally severed. I needed to find someone to help me further control my pheromones and my hunger. And I wanted to make amends. My parents had only agreed when Aunt Hyacinth offered to come with me. My brothers would take turns joining us. Marcus was the first to volunteer, ever eager to gather new knowledge. He’d already helped me turn the copper collar into a bracelet cuff. I could wear it if I felt like my pheromones were too much.
“You have to e-mail me every day,” Lucy demanded. She threw a macaroon at my head to illustrate the seriousness of her request.
I ducked it easily. “You too.” I tossed one back at her, missed, and hit Nicholas in the temple.
“Ow,” he said mildly. He wore a strand of wooden beads with a red tassel around his neck. Kieran was beside him, wearing the same kind of necklace.
Lucy chuckled. “Mom gave you prayer beads.”
“Yes,” Nicholas replied, sitting on the wall next to Lucy. His hair was tousled, which meant Lucy’s mom had also hugged him and ruffled his hair, as she always did.
“And you’re wearing them because you’re awesome,” Lucy said approvingly.
“That too.”
“Anyone got a camera?” she asked as Kieran came to stand next to me, leaning against the wall. My knee pressed against his arm. “Because she made a set for everyone I want a photo of Bruno wearing his.”
We sat for a long time, the four of us on the wall, silently enjoying the party. “This is the best Longest Night yet,” Lucy said happily, snuggling against Nicholas and watching everyone revolving around the fire, laughing and eating homemade cake.
“Let’s make a pact,” I suggested, wanting to hold the moment in my hand like a little bird. I wasn’t ready to let it fly away yet. “No matter where we are or what we’re doing, every year we all meet up for a Longest Night celebration.”
Kieran held up my hand, our fingers entwined. He kissed my knuckles. “Deal.”
“Deal,” Nicholas echoed.
Lucy held up her little finger, crooking it. “Pinky swear?”
I looped my finger through hers. “Pinky swear.”
Because that’s what best friends did—they stood by each other.
And because no one mentioned what happened to Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, or all of those other princesses sleeping through their lives. Eventually, the Longest Night gave way to morning.
Eventually, they woke up.