He felt her shrug in his arms. "I don't know. I'm trying not to think about it. But if you can somehow convince my mom that we're safe, I'm pretty sure we'll be all right."

"Your safety is my number-one priority," he promised.

"Thank you." Her arms tightened around him again.

The feel of her body against his was exhilarating, driving all rational thought from his head. "All right, prepare yourself, Claire Brennan."

She looked up at him curiously. "Prepare myself for what?"

He gazed at her affectionately. "Repeat your mantra, or whatever it is you do. Because I'm about to kiss you."

twenty-five.

"What a nice young man," Claire's mom said later, as she and Claire did the dishes together.

A wet plate almost slipped from Claire's hands as she stowed it in the dishwasher. The memory of Alec's delectable kiss was making it difficult to concentrate on the task at hand, much less uphold her part in a conversation. Still, she couldn't help but smile at her mom's comment. "Yes, he is a nice ... young man." How old had her Grigori father been when her mom first met him? Claire wondered suddenly. Would she ever find out?

"Obviously, Alec's very good-looking and polite," her mother was saying. "The accent's charming. He's had an unusual upbringing and he tells great stories. But...."

"But?" Claire's full attention snapped back to her mom.

"It's the handsome, independent ones who often ... don't stick around," her mom uttered softly. "Just ... be careful."

"Mom," Claire said, striving to sound light and airy, "we're just singing a song together and going to a dance."

"I know. But I was in high school once too. And at sixteen, it's easy to fall for the first boy who takes an interest in you. It doesn't mean he's your one true love, or that it's forever."

"I'm not in love with Alec," Claire replied quickly. But her cheeks grew warm, and a jolt of insight made her doubt her own words. "I've ... only known him for a few weeks," she added uncertainly.

Her mom glanced at her carefully, but didn't reply.

They finished the dishes in silence.

Claire's heart beat erratically as she climbed the stairs to her room, her mom's words still reverberating in her brain. It doesn't mean he's your one true love, or that it's forever. They stayed with Claire as she started her homework, the math problems and science pa.s.sages interweaving with an elaborate parade of images and sensations in her mind: the look in Alec's eyes at the door, the deep, pure happiness she felt in his presence, the glorious sound of his singing voice, the feel of his strong arms around her, the sweet pleasure of his lips on hers.

She was still thinking about it all hours later as she lay in bed on the verge of sleep.

The jumble of intense feelings that had slowly been building up inside her over the past few weeks suddenly a.s.sembled themselves, taking on new meaning.

She was falling in love with Alec. Falling in love with an angel, just as her own mother had before her.

Friday started with a bang, and never really let up. In a good way.

Claire arrived at school fifteen minutes before her first cla.s.s. She'd just reached the top of the central stairway when she saw a big group of students crowded around the general notice board outside the library, chattering excitedly. She couldn't see what they were looking at, but figured it was probably some kind of sports announcement.

She had just pa.s.sed by the group and was en route to her locker, where she hoped to find Alec, when Gabrielle Miller's head whipped around.

"Claire!"

She stopped. Gabrielle unexpectedly separated herself from her pack of friends and descended on Claire, wrapping her in a hug. "Congratulations! This is so exciting!"

Claire-at first too stunned to reply-was relieved that she'd had the good sense to wear a long-sleeved shirt and her gloves today. "What's exciting?"

Gabrielle drew back and stared at her, tucking a perfectly highlighted lock of hair behind one ear. "You mean you haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"We've both been nominated for Homecoming Princess!" Gabrielle squealed.

Claire's jaw dropped. "You're kidding, right?"

"Don't be so modest." Gabrielle laughed. "This is so cool. I mean, come on, for two years, none of us really got to know you. It sucks that it took you almost dying to bring you out of your sh.e.l.l, but now here you are, center stage, and I'm so excited for you!"

Claire couldn't believe her ears. Homecoming Princess? She'd been shocked enough that Neil had conspired to get her name on the primary ballot ... but for her to make the final five? It was inconceivable!

Gabrielle was still talking. "If you need any help or advice about where to go to print posters and b.u.t.tons, or how to run a campaign, just call me. My sister was Homecoming Queen two years ago, and I helped her with everything, so I'm totally in the know."

Claire was too bewildered to utter more than a stammered, "Thank you."

"By the way, I love the gloves. It's a way cool look," Gabrielle said in parting, as she flitted off to join her clique.

Claire suddenly felt a lanky arm wrapping around her shoulder and pulling her close.

"You've always been a princess to me," Alec murmured in her ear.

Claire felt herself beaming. "Thanks, cheeseball."

She wanted to turn and melt into his embrace, but he added softly, "Enjoy the moment. You deserve it." Then he vanished into the crowd.

Students continued to jostle past her on their way to cla.s.s, offering Claire their enthusiastic congratulations. When she was finally able to make her way up to the notice board herself, she had to admit it was thrilling to see her name listed as one of the five finalists under Homecoming Princess. She quickly scanned the names on the other three lists-for Homecoming Queen, King, and Prince-and was delighted to see that Neil had made the cut for prince.

That was when she heard his voice over her shoulder. "Way to go, Brennan."

Claire whirled and looked up into his smiling, golden-brown eyes. "Neil! Congrats to you, too. How can I ever thank you?"

"Me?"

"My friends and I total exactly four votes. This never would have happened without you. Whatever you did-whoever you blackmailed, arm-twisted, or otherwise coerced-you pulled off the impossible."

Neil shrugged modestly. "I told you, you belong on that list. So I've been making phone calls like a madman for the past three days."

Claire laughed. "Well, thanks. I know I won't win, but just to be one of the final five is a real honor. You know, this is twice that you've done something amazingly awesome for me this year."

"All I did was open doors, Brennan. You did the rest yourself. See you in Spanish." With one last warm smile, he turned and raced off.

Wow, Claire thought, feeling a little guilty as she grabbed her books from her locker and hurried to her first cla.s.s. Neil had done all that for her, even knowing that she was with Alec. It was good to know that the guy she'd had such a ma.s.sive crush on for the past two years was truly such a great person.

All day long, people kept congratulating Claire on her nomination, many of them people she didn't even know. Brian, Erica, and Alec could talk of nothing else during break.

"Did Gabby Miller really hug you?" Erica said, amazed.

"I think she's just excited because she knows I'm no compet.i.tion for her. With me taking up s.p.a.ce, there are only three other girls fighting for her tiara."

"I think you could win, Claire." Alec shot her an admiring grin, taking her gloved hand in his and squeezing it.

"You are biased," Claire pointed out. She'd been dying for a moment alone with him today, but it hadn't happened. Ever since her revelation last night, her mind had been soaring on some alternate plane. Did Alec feel the same way about her as she did about him?

"He's not wrong, though." Erica's voice broke into Claire's thoughts. "You definitely have a shot at princess, Claire. It's all about politics." Erica chewed on the end of the ballpoint pen she held in her pink-gloved fingers as she spoke. "Whoever puts up the most posters and hands out the most b.u.t.tons and cookies always wins."

Claire cringed. "I can't imagine going to all that effort to promote myself. I'd feel like such an egomaniac. And with all this supernatural, life-altering stuff going on, I can't really take this princess thing very seriously."

"That's exactly why you should take it seriously," Erica insisted. "It will take your mind off that other c.r.a.p for a while."

"I doubt it. Anyway, you guys deserve to be on the ballot more than I do. I nominated all three of you."

"Well, I'm glad I'm not on the ballot." Alec shrugged.

"You only missed it by three votes, Alec," Erica said.

"And Erica and I weren't allowed to be on it," Brian added, "so, Claire, you owe it to us to at least try."

Claire looked at them, puzzled. "Why couldn't you two be on the ballot?"

Erica sighed, exchanging an awkward little glance with Brian. "Okay. This wasn't how I planned to bring this up, but ... according to school rules, no one on the committee can be in the running ... and neither can their date."

"Their date?" Alec repeated, surprised. "You guys are going to the dance together?"

"We just decided yesterday." Erica blushed.

"We figured, why not? You've got this guy." Brian pointed at Alec. "So we couldn't exactly go as a group."

Claire couldn't decide how she felt about this. Their group had been so perfect up to now. If they started pairing off romantically, it might get a little weird. But admittedly, things had already changed between them since she and Alec were together. Trying to put all worries from her mind, she gave her friends a genuine smile. "That's great! But we can still all drive there together, right?"

"Of course." Erica leaned forward eagerly. "We now have two important things to plan, Claire: what we're going to wear to the dance, and what kind of campaign we're going to run for you. We'll all pitch in and help. Am I right, guys?"

"You bet," Brian said.

"Whatever you need, Claire," Alec agreed, "I'm there."

"Thanks for the support, everyone," Claire said steadily, "but no thanks. It's nice to be nominated, and I'm looking forward to the dance, but I'm not running a campaign. I'm just going to concentrate on maintaining my scholarship, and"-with a smile at Alec-"on today's audition for the Homecoming a.s.sembly. Which is the one thing I think I-we-really have a shot at."

Before Claire knew it the school day was over, and she was sitting tensely on an upholstered bench in the theater lobby with Alec and another duet, waiting for their chance to audition. The windows of the lobby were still masked by plastic, an unsettling reminder of the scaffolding accident that had occurred two weeks before.

"Those guys have listened to way too much Nirvana," Alec said, shaking his head at the steady beat emanating from the music room.

"What's wrong with Nirvana?" Claire asked.

"Nothing, but I think grunge rock is way too dark for the adult judges. That makes us a sure thing."

Despite Alec's obvious confidence (which, she had to admit, was s.e.xy), her stomach was full of knots. They had only practiced the song that one time, on Monday afternoon. The past few nights, she'd had nightmares about choking at this audition, and she just hoped they hadn't been visions of the future.

She said quietly, "I'm terrified. I don't even remember the song we're about to sing."

"Don't worry," he whispered back. "When I play the first note, you will."

Claire was still dumbfounded that anything could work that way. "This is so nuts." She leaned closer and whispered into Alec's ear, "Are we cheating?"

"What?"

"Isn't this like the Flash entering a footrace? Or Colossus entering a weight-lifting compet.i.tion?"

"I suppose the morality is kind of fuzzy," he whispered back with a grin. "But we're using our natural-born gifts, Claire, just like everyone else. And we're only using them to entertain people, not for financial gain."

Claire conceded silently. Just then, the music in the other room ended. She heard the murmur of voices and the shuffle of feet. A minute later, a trio of boys dressed in plaid flannel and denim emerged, followed by Erica, holding a clipboard.

"You guys ready?" Erica asked enthusiastically, pointing to Claire and Alec. "You're up."

As Erica ushered them into the room, she announced loudly, "Don't think this is a slam dunk just 'cause I'm on the committee. I've promised the other judges to be very objective when it comes to you two, so you're going to have to work hard to impress me."

Alec took a seat and gave his guitar a confident strum. "We'll try our best, Your Honor."

Erica nodded to Alec in a businesslike manner, then secretly darted Claire a quick grin as she took her seat behind the table. The five judges beside her-two students and three teachers-all looked a bit weary.

Claire took her position, standing at Alec's side. Sure enough, as Alec strummed the opening chords of their song, it was as if a light had switched on in her brain. They began to sing, their voices weaving together, and she saw the faces of all six judges, including Erica's, light up with astonished delight.

Claire's heart soared along with the music. Alec's voice sounded amazing, as always, and she had to admit that it complemented her own perfectly. When they reached the first chorus, Claire saw Alec glance at her warmly. She tried to keep from grinning too widely-Mr. Lang insisted that smiling during singing distorted the quality of sound the mouth produced-but she was so happy, she couldn't help herself.

She suddenly realized she didn't care if they won the audition-just the experience of singing with Alec, here and now, was all that mattered. She lost herself in the joy of the moment and sang her heart out.

"To my favorite singing partner." Alec raised his gla.s.s of iced green tea to hers.

"To my favorite singing teacher," Claire responded, as they clinked gla.s.ses and drank.

They were at an upscale j.a.panese restaurant in Westwood, where Alec was treating Claire to a celebratory dinner. The walls around their black leather booth were exposed brick, and the ceiling was open-beamed and airy. The gentle sounds of an indoor fountain, along with soft piped-in music, made a pleasant backdrop for their conversation and the delicious sushi meal.

The audition, they agreed, had been a resounding success. The results wouldn't be posted until Monday, but the reaction from the judges when they'd finished their song-the beaming delight on their faces, the clearly evident reining in of a joint impulse to burst into applause-seemed to guarantee them a spot as part of the Homecoming a.s.sembly entertainment.

"Alec," Claire said suddenly, as a fresh concern invaded her mind, "is there any chance that Vincent will be at the Homecoming a.s.sembly?"

"I don't know. Why?"

"You said when Vincent comes back, you're going to ask him to take me off the wanted list, without giving away my ident.i.ty."