I stare back at Cecily and grin. “Nope, but we can definitely try.”
“You’re going to get us killed, aren’t you?” she whispers as we sneak along the mansion’s garden.
“Don’t be a bore, Ces. This is, like, our only chance to see inside the Heathens’ place.” Ava bumps her shoulder against mine and I nod, agreeing with her.
“I thought this was supposed to just be a party,” Cecily whisper-yells even as she keeps her head down. Her steps are a lot more silent than ours. Like a ninja.
I peek around the corner of the mansion and then quicken my steps to the annexed house. “I know this will sound like blasphemy, but parties can get boring sometimes.”
“Unless you’re getting dicked down by a hot prick like Glyndon is.” Ava waggles her brows.
“Are you sure you want to call someone hot when Eli has ears in the damn sky?” Cecily asks.
“Bitch, please. I couldn’t care less about him.”
“Shh, you guys. If any of the guards see us, they’ll report back to Jer and we’ll be done for. As in, expelled from the Heathens’ mansion for life. Oryouwill be. I’ll just go back to being a prisoner à la Rapunzel.”
“Okay, okay. Is this where the fire happened?” Ava, who’s wearing a gorgeous lacy pink dress that matches my purple one, leans closer to my side.
We’re at that point in our friendship where we wear matching clothes in our favorite colors.
I throw a hand in the general direction of the annexed house. “Yup.”
“It looks all clean, though.”
“It’s been more than a week. Besides, it wasn’t a big fire.”
“Oh!” Ava exclaims. “Show us where they do all that violent stuff. You know, where they chase people and hunt them down.”
Cecily jams two fingers against her childhood friend’s temple and pushes her. “There’s a loose screw in your bloody head. Why would you want to see that?”
“Because it’s fun, duh.”
I lift a shoulder. “I don’t really know the exact location for that. It can happen on the whole property.”
“No, I heard the last one happened in the forest surrounding the mansion.”
“You want to go to the forest at night?”
“Yes! That should be so fun.”
“You’re crazy.” A rush of adrenaline seeps beneath my skin. “I love it.”
“No, no.” Cecily stops in front of us, hiking a slightly shaking hand up onto her hip. “We’re not going to some doomed forest in the dark. That’s where all the predators are.”
“Oh, come on, Cecy, you’ve been studying so much psychology that you see the worst before the best. Besides, this is private property. No predators are allowed, isn’t that right, Anni?”
“If you don’t count the ones inside, sure. I mean, I’m not a big fan of the dark myself, but I’m open to adventures.”
“Yes to adventures! Come on, Ces. It’s going to be loads of fun.”
“But—”
“Nuh-uh. Two to one, democracy wins.”
Cecily looks like she wants to say something, but she slides her black-framed glasses up her nose and follows us down the path to the forest.
The music and chatter from the main house wanes and eventually disappears as we wander down the dirt path.