What's at Stake

Chapter Fourteen

San's eyes lit up again. "You can though, Cleo. If we go out tonight, you can dress up. You're invited, of course."

"I'm not old enough to get in."

"Neither am I," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Then how?"

"Don't worry about that. We'll get you in."

That didn't sound convincing. "Kaz said he doesn't want to."

"He only said that because he's worried about your safety."

"What?" I turned to Kaz. "Is that really why?"

Kaz shut his book now, placing it on his lap. "Not only you. If we go, Claude will join us as well. We never found the person who tried to hurt him. It's too much of a risk to leave the academy right now."

"Claude will go no matter what, you know that. And we know whoever attacked him isn't human, nor have they been seen for over a week. Doesn't that mean we'd be safer on the human side?" San pointed out.

Kaz folded his arms over his chest. "Not necessarily. They could be watching us and follow us."

"And then they'd have to deal with not only the Scouts but the hunters stationed in the area. Besides, you know how packed the club is. There will be a ton of other students there, too. We will be fine."

"Other students go?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. At least a quarter of the school goes. Not sure how the teachers have never found out. It's akin to senior skip day. It's just a ritual for the students, too, not only Kaz's birthday."

I hummed. "Would it really be safe?"

San groaned in exasperation. "There will be hundreds of people there and dim lights. It's one night." He refocused his attention at Kaz. "You really want to miss this, Kaz? Break our tradition? We'll stay on high alert, just in case. You know you want to go."

Kaz flattened his lips, stealing a glance at me.

Was I holding him back from saying yes? "I can protect myself if you wanna go," I told him. "Or I can stay here."

"Cleo, no. you have to come, too," San interjected. "You wouldn't be in any danger at all around your own kind and you just said you wanted to dress up. Kaz, can you really deny that to her? She's grown up so secluded. She should be able to enjoy things she normally couldn't do while she's here, don't you think?"

Kaz ran a hand over his face, sighing. "This is a bad idea."

A grin stretched across San's face. "So, we can do it?"

"I know I'm going to regret saying this, but I don't think you'll take no for an answer and sneak off with everyone anyway, so fine. But we all have to stick together. No disappearing off on your own once we are there."

San clenched his hands into fists. "Yes!"

"I don't have a costume," I said.

"I have one you can borrow, or I am sure Adora does," San told me.

"Are you going to dress up?" I asked Kaz.

He shook his head. "No. I don't celebrate Halloween. It's just my personal belief. But I enjoy going to the club and they like dressing up, so it works out for us to go out on my birthday."

"Oh. Maybe I won't dress up then since I don't have a costume."

"Cleo, dress up if you want to. Just because I believe one thing doesn't mean you have to, too. There will be plenty of other people not dressed up. It's your choice where to or not."