if one of them is dead.

chapter one.

"Yeah," Fynn says, his voice slightly muffled with the cigarette in his mouth. "Lil's place sounds nice right now. We'll all search in the morning."

"But, it's really important," Dar huffs, tossing things around in the dumpster.

"Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen," Alrik is whispering, recounting the cash.

Aven puts her knife away and says, "We won't let you go home until you have that fucking box, Dar. Don't think we won't search for that thing. We just can't to it now. You've been looking for an hour, and doing it in the dark isn't helping."

"Fine," Dar sighs and climbs out of the dumpster.

Even though its late summer, I shiver. I wish I had brought Mattheo's hoodie and not a thin zip up.

I jump down from the ladder and we all walk out of the alley and make our way back to my house. It started raining halfway there, and now it's pouring hard.

I put my thumb to the key hole and my whole hand tingles before the door unlocks. I twist the knob and open the door, taking a step inside.

I stop short, the others almost running into me.

"Lil, you fucker, it's still raining," I hear Alrik mutter.

I would have kept going if I didn't see Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange in my living room with my father.

"Lilith," Dad says from his seat in front of Narcissa. He looks behind me. "Oh, let the others in." I eye him but step out of the way, letting my friends inside. I close the door as they all start to take their jackets off and hang them on the rack, mutter and talking to each other. Fynn flips Raine off, and Raine flips him off.

"Lilith!" Narcissa exclaims, smiling at me.

"Hi, Mrs. Malfoy," I say.

Narcissa stands up and comes over to me, wrapping me in a hug. "It's wonderful to see you, dear."

I pull away. "And you," I say, nodding.

A second later Bellatrix's arms are around me, and I have to try not to freeze. She squeezes me hard. "Be careful with your boyfriend, girl. But don't worry, the Dark Lord doesn't tell his son everything."

I pull away from her and nod.

Dad nods to the kitchen. "Go make hot chocolate and take them all to your room. Get them a change of clothes and watch a movie or something."

I nod and wave them to the kitchen. They start walking, all waving at Dad as they walk by.

"Thanks, Sev," Alrik says, snapping his fingers at Dad.

Fynn runs up and kisses my dad's cheek. Dad tries to not shake his head and laugh.

"You're the best, Sev!" Aven says.

"Lifesaver, as always," Raine says, smiling.

"You have marshmallows?" Dar asks, and Dad nods.

"You smell like a dumpster, Darcy!" Dad says loudly after her as she walks into the kitchen.

I laugh, unzipping my jacket. "She just got done dumpster diving."

"For what?" Dad asks, which makes me stop.

"Something her parents need." He nods because that means he knows what I mean. What the silent sentence between us is.

When I walk in the kitchen, Fynn and Raine are fighting over which pot to use. Alrik is looking through the fridge. Aven is getting the hot chocolate powder down from the pantry, and Darcy is getting out the mini marshmallows.