Page 129 of Boys Who Hunt

“Yeah, it is.”

“I know how to appreciate a nice physique without lusting after it,” she says.

“Appreciate a nice physique?”

Talon’s stern voice makes us all look over our shoulders with dread.

He’s standing right behind Océane and looking madly obsessed. Or borderline psycho, I can’t tell.

“Don’t tell me you were ogling those Tartarus and Phantom Boys. They like the attention too much. Especially from pretty girls like you.” He grips her shoulders and leans in. “I might have to break their legs to take them down a notch.”

“What?” I gasp.

“He doesn’t mean it,” Océane says.

His fingers dig into her shoulders. “I don’t?”

She sighs out loud and says, “Talon’s gonna go grab me a drink. See ya, guys.” She grabs his hand and leads him through the crowd, but his gaze seems fixated on her.

“He’s madly in love with her, isn’t he?” I mutter.

“He’s something all right.” Aspen snorts. “Anyway, I’m gonna go find the bathroom. You coming too?”

I shake my head. “No, I actually wanna look around for a bit. See if I can find more familiar faces among the sea of white masks.”

“Oh, well, good luck then. I’m going to go find Mavis after this, so if you need me, call me, okay?”

We hug and each head in a different direction.

But I’m not interested in finding anyone in particular.

In fact, where I’m going, I’d rather not anyone recognize me at all.

Heath

We pickup the white masks lying near the entrance of the Phantom Society building and put them on before heading inside. The building is huge, and the glass dome in the middle of the roof lets in an eerie light from the night sky. With its wooden paneled walls and tapestries, the place itself looks haunted by ghosts of the past. A perfect place for someone interested in the occult, and I smile at the thought of digging in to all the books this place has to offer. Mavis would have a field day.

“Now I remember why I never came here,” Silas scoffs, looking around. “All these fucking creeps.”

“Like you’re any better.” I snort.

“What? They’re all liars and cheats.”

“And the Skull and Serpents are killers. We all know the gossip.”

He tilts his head and smirks. “It’s not gossip if it’s true.”

I roll my eyes and take two champagne glasses off a server walking around with a tray, and I shove one into Silas’s hand. “Here. You need to relax.”

“I’m calm.” He looks around like he’s trying to find someone.

“You don’t look calm,” I reply.

“Where is she?” he mutters.

“We have plenty of time for that later,” I say, whisking him away from the stairs and into the crowd. “Let’s mingle first.”

“We can’t catch her if we’re not there to witness it,” he grits.