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probably convince people that what they’d seen was some kind of drug-induced hallucination, if push came to shove. I mean, little ole me whupping up on the big, bad jocks? As if.
    Bobby treated my monologue to a thoughtful silence. Then, You be careful. I don’t like you being in the middle of all this.
    It warmed my unbeating heart, but at the same time seemed a bit chauvinistic. I went through the same training you did .
    I know, but I can’t help feeling like I got you into all this and I just … worry.
    Aww, that was so sweet. His bite had kind of set me on the path to unlife, but I hadn’t exactly been protesting at the time.
    If you’re feeling that badly, I know how you can make it up to me , I teased. Diamonds are a girl’s best friend, after all .
    I could practically hear him gulp right through our mental link. Diamonds … really?
    I was going soft at my young age. Okay, maybe I’m more of a rubies and sapphires kind of girl. I’m all about color. But don’t tell anyone. I have a high-maintenance rep to maintain .
    Your secret’s safe with me . He promised to talk to “Mom” and “Dad” (aka Stick and Stuffed) about the goings on and get back to me about whatever they discovered.
    He signed off and I sighed, contemplating another day as Dawn of the Dead. I turned the TV to news while I got ready. It wasn’t my usual, but I only got four semi-clear channels anyway and I wanted to see if the news had anything about Bram’s condition on it. They were on a story about some totally contested political campaign, as if that was news. I was in the closet when I heard, “ … leaving several kids hurt, two missing, and one in a coma.”
    I froze. Coma!
    “The police investigation is ongoing. Chief Reilly had this to say—”
    I stepped out of the closet in time to see a burly man with jowls and a buzz cut standing in front of a podium, flashbulbs going off around him.
    “We’re doing everything we can to locate the missing teens. Search parties started at sunup this a.m. At this time, we’re asking anyone with information to call the number below.” An 800 number scrolled across on a ticker along the bottom of the screen. “In addition, we’ve made it a priority to crack down on these underage parties. Known locations will have an increased police presence.”
    A female reporter at the front of the pack shouted down her peers. “Would you comment on the curfew that’s been discussed?”
    Chief Reilly looked momentarily nonplussed. “I don’t think we’ve yet reached the point of making this a police state, do you? Next question.”
    I didn’t hear any more. My mind was already reeling. Coma . I wasn’t a med head, but based on what I’d seen, that had to be Bram. Brave, multi-pierced Bram, who’d only been trying, far as I could tell, to protect Bella. My heart, with nothing better to do, not having to beat and all, ached. But only for Bram. I probably should worry about the guys I’d hurt in his defense. They might have been under some kind of influence, but … nope, I just couldn’t care.
    But who on earth was missing? Everyone had faded away like smoke at the 911 call. How could the police have determined anything in last night’s insanity? Maybe the kids’ parents had reported them missing. Or … a horrible, horrible thought occurred to me. Could the whole smackdown have been a distraction for a kidnapping? I didn’t know what that might or might not have to do with our mission, but … Well, dammit, if someone had suckered me into a rumble to cover for them, they were going to pay.
    • • •
    School was weird. For one thing, the hearse was nowhere in sight when I pulled into the lot … late, because I kept waiting for the news to come back around to the incident at Red Rock. Unfortunately, the top of the hour had rolled around to crappy chat-news format, where special guests demonstrated new exercise techniques or talked about websites where parents could get rankings on