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“Raquel Vargas. I’m from Boston. Anything you guys can teach me, I want to learn.”
    “Good.” Eliza didn’t smile, exactly—already I found it hard to imagine her ever smiling—but she seemed pleased. “Who else?”
    I didn’t want to step forward, but there wasn’t really any way around it. “Bianca Olivier. I’m from Arrowwood, Massachusetts. I—um—” What was I supposed to say? “Thanks for having us.”
    “You’re the one Kate told us about,” Eliza said. “The one who was raised by vampires.”
    Great. “That’s me.”
    “I bet we can learn a lot from you.” Eliza clapped her hands together. “Okay, the rest of you guys, we’ve set up bunks at the far end of the track. They’ll do for now. Newbies, follow me.”
    Follow her where? I shot Lucas a worried glance, but he obviously didn’t know any more about it than I did. When Eliza stalked off, Raquel went with her, and I didn’t have much choice but to go along.
    “Are we starting our training already?” Raquel said, as thethree of us walked farther along the subway platform.
    “Eager, aren’t you?” From the sound of her voice, Eliza apparently didn’t think Raquel would be so eager once she saw what was in store. “Nah, you’ve had a big day. You can start in the morning.”
    We got to the end of the platform, and Eliza led us into what had obviously been a service corridor. It smelled of mud and rust, and I could hear water dripping in the distance. A small yellow sign informed me this place could serve as a nuclear fallout shelter. Good to know.
    I asked, “So where are we going? Why aren’t we with the others?”
    “We have some permanent cabins set up in here. They’re not luxurious, but they beat the hell out of the bunks the rest of your cell is taking. You’ll be living with us, twenty-four/seven.”
    “Why do we get those?” I nearly stumbled over the broken, uneven cement beneath us, but Raquel caught my elbow.
    “Why aren’t those for Kate and Eduardo?” I wondered if it was because Eduardo was in the doghouse and their shoddy housing was punishment. It was unfair to punish Lucas, Dana, and the others for Eduardo’s mistake.
    Instead, Eliza said, “You guys are new to the routine. You don’t know the life, and we don’t know you. Living in close quarters is a good way to make sure you learn all about us, and we learn all about you.”
    Finding opportunities to drink blood would be even harderin this environment. If I didn’t drink blood often enough, I’d react more strongly to sunlight, to running water, to churches—and every reaction had the potential to mark me as a vampire.
    How was I supposed to keep my secret?

Chapter Four
    THAT NIGHT AFTER LIGHTS OUT, RAQUEL WHISPERED, “The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?”
    I knew what she meant. A week ago, she and I had been roommates at Evernight Academy. Now everything else in our life had been transformed, but we were still sleeping in beds that were side by side. And I guess this counted as a bed.
    We’d been given a room like no other I had ever seen. Apparently, when the engineers had abandoned this subway tunnel, they’d also abandoned a few old train cars. The Black Cross cell had refitted those to serve as cabins. Our bunks sat on top of what had once been the seats, and steel poles ran from the floor to the ceiling, like we were at stripper boot camp or something. Raquel and I had about a third of a car to ourselves, with a makeshift metal wall to give us privacy on one end and the back of the car on the other.
    “I miss having your collages on the walls,” I said. The windowson the sides of the car had been whitewashed, but they were blank and cold. “And my telescope. And our books and our clothes—”
    “That’s just stuff.” Raquel propped herself up on one elbow. Her short dark hair stuck out in all directions, and if I’d been feeling any less forlorn, I might’ve teased her about it. “What matters is