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Her heels clicked on the marble as she strode toward us. “Sophie, Lara has prepared some lovely rooms for you and your guest. Why don’t you go get acclimatized? We can talk later.”
    It obviously wasn’t a request, so I just shrugged and said, “Sure.”
    Lara led us across the foyer to a tall stone doorway housing yet another set of steps. As she led us up the dim passageway, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was walking into a tomb.
    As we walked, Lara rattled off statistics that I only half listened to. They were unbelievable anyway.
    Over a million cubic feet of living space. More than three hundred rooms, thirty-one of which were kitchens. Ninety-eight bathrooms. Three hundred and fifty-nine windows. Two thousand four hundred and seventy-six lightbulbs.
    Jenna was shaking her head by the time we reached the fourth floor, where the three of us would be staying. Cal was shown to his room first, and Jenna burst into giggles when we peeked over his shoulder. The room could not have been less Cal. I mean, I guess the hunter-green bedding and drapes were kind of masculine, but the spindly gold-and-white furniture was definitely not. Nor was the giant ruffled canopy over his huge bed.
    “Wow, Cal,” I said, feeling a little bit like myself for the first time since I’d walked into this crazy house. “You will be able to have some awesome slumber parties in here. All the other girls are gonna be so jealous.”
    Cal shot me a half smile, and I felt some of the weirdness between us dissipate. “It’s not so bad,” he said. Then he flopped down on the bed, only to sink out of sight in the middle of it. As Cal drowned in a sea of fluffy coverlets and throw pillows, I couldn’t help but crack up.
    Lara looked offended. “That bed originally belonged to the third Duke of Cornwall.”
    “It’s great,” Cal said, his voice muffled. He gave her the thumbs-up, which only made me and Jenna laugh harder.
    Frowning, Lara led us down the hall a little ways. She opened a door, and there was no doubt this room had been set up for Jenna. There were pink drapes, pink furniture, and even a deep rose-colored bedspread. The room overlooked a small, private garden. A breeze from the open window carried the scent of flowers. I had to admit, I was impressed. And a little surprised.
    “It’s perfect,” Jenna told Lara. Her smile was bright, but her face was chalky, and I suddenly realized that Jenna hadn’t fed since we’d left Hecate. Lara must have been thinking the same thing, because she crossed the room and opened a cherrywood armoire. Inside, there was a mini-fridge stacked high with blood bags.
    “O-negative,” Lara said, gesturing to the blood as though Jenna had just won a prize on a really gruesome game show. “I was told that’s your favorite.”
    Jenna’s eyes darkened, and she licked her lips. “It is,” she said, her voice thick.
    “Then we’ll leave you to it,” Lara said smoothly, taking my arm. “Sophie’s room is just down the hall.”
    “Awesome,” Jenna replied, but she was still staring at the blood.
    “See you later,” I called as we left. Jenna just shut the door and, I assumed, chowed down.
    “We prepared a very special room for you,” Lara said, and her voice sounded nervous. “I hope you’ll like it.” She opened a door a few feet away from Jenna’s.
    For a moment, all I could do was stand in the doorway and gape. The room wasn’t just special, it was…amazing.
    A series of three floor-to-ceiling windows looked out on another garden, this one larger than Jenna’s. In the center of the garden, a fountain sprayed sparkling showers of water into the soft afternoon air. The drapes around the windows were white satin with a delicate green pattern that I thought were supposed to mimic leaves. Likewise, the wallpaper was white with long green stems of grass, like a jungle, punctuated by the occasional brightly colored flower.
    The bed itself was snow white, with a pale silk canopy