“Do you think we just found one?” Spencer asks, but even Church isn’t sure enough to answer that question just yet.

I’m flying sky-high when I step into the cute, little suburban house where my mom is staying. And that’s a metaphor, not a literal interpretation of the flight I just took from New York to Los Angeles. Dad had a flight attendant spill a drink on his shirt which I sort of took as karmic justice. We both could’ve been on the Montague’s jet instead …

“Charlotte!” Mom says, appearing in the tiled front hall in a red dress with a white apron over it. She opens her arms and I set my bags down, so I can give her a hug. Dad’s lingering behind me, like he isn’t sure he’s comfortable here. He insisted on staying in a hotel, but Mom promised there’d be plenty of room at her place and he caved.

She’s always had that sort of influence over him. I used to be jealous, but not anymore. It doesn’t matter what the relationship is—platonic or familiar or romantic—but some people just click better than others. Mom and Dad click, but apparently not in a romantic way. Dad and I just don’t click at all, but we still love each other.

Life is complicated.

“And remind me which of your many boyfriends this one is?” Eloise asks with a girlish giggle that makes me roll my eyes. If she were serious, I’d be pissed, but she just very clearly doesn’t understand my relationship with the Student Council. That’s cool though. She doesn’t have to understand it, she just has to respect it.

I smile and keep my mood upbeat. After all, she’s kept herself clean and sober since that incident at Christmas last year. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

“This is Tobias,” I say as Micah steps around him, this dizzying duplication of beautiful boys. “And his brother Micah.”

“Oh, yes, twins,” Mom whispers overly loud, so that everyone in the room can hear. She also says it in a very suggestive way that makes me wish Dad weren’t standing all of two feet behind me.

“The others are busy with family stuff, but they’ll be here on Christmas eve.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” she says, and then holds out a hand to indicate the hallway behind her. “Let me show you all where to put your stuff.”

“This is way nicer than that shithole your Mom was staying in when we last saw her,” Micah whispers as we head down the hall with Dad trailing behind us. “How can she afford this?”

“That’s why I’m wondering,” I start, glancing into the rooms as we pass. One of them looks like a study, but the pullout bed is out and clearly made up for guests. The next is a bathroom, and the one on the end is a huge guest suite with a king-sized bed.

“This is where Ian’s parents usually stay when they come into town, but I figured with Charlotte having so many boyfriends—”

“I’m sorry,” Dad says, interrupting her and pushing his glasses up his nose to further enhance his signature glare. “Did you say Ian’s parents? Is this his house? Because seeing him briefly over the holiday and staying in his home are two completely different things.”

“Archie,” Mom begins as Mr. Dave appears in the doorway behind Dad.

“Everything okay in here?” he asks, dark eyes scanning us briefly before he smiles. It looks like his face is melting off, the smile’s so damn forced. Grumpy Mr. Dave is clearly just clinging to his sanity for Mom’s sake.

“Well, actually, Ian,” Dad begins, glancing in our teacher’s direction. “I’d just as soon take Charlotte and stay at a hotel. I was told you’d be around for the holidays, not that Eloise had actually moved into your house.”

“Wait, you’re a school librarian working in Connecticut and you own a house in Los Angeles?” I ask, exchanging a look with the twins. “Because that just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.”

“This is my parents’ place; I’m renting it from them while they’re traveling. Yes, I asked Eloise to move in here. Didn’t you see where she was living before? It wasn’t safe.”

“And you’d know all about keeping people safe,” Dad quips, his face slowly changing color. I look between him and Mr. Dave, wondering what all this tension is about. Mom, surely, but there’s something else, too.

Biting my lip, I think back on the confrontation we witnessed between Nathan, the night watchman, and Eddie, the janitor. Not only is Nathan a secret badass, but Eddie’s gotta be working for the Fellowship. A lot of things make so much sense now: the patched hole in Mark’s ceiling, the power going off on Halloween, and the door to the tunnels left open in a staff office that should’ve been locked.

What a piece of shit.

“I’ll show you to your room,” Mom says quickly, moving over to take Dad’s arm.

“Is Charlotte supposed to sleep in here with these … boys?” Dad asks, turning the word boys into an insult.

“She’s eighteen, and she’s engaged to … well, to one of them,” Mom argues, her face scrunching up as she tries to get a grip on the situation. One ring, five dudes. It’s fine, just don’t think too hard about it. “Clearly, they’re going to have sex, so why have a fit about it?”

“Clearly?!” Dad chokes, but he already knows it happens. “Not when I’m sleeping right next door, they won’t be.”

“Don’t freak: there’s a bathroom in between our rooms,” I joke, and the twins snicker, but Dad isn’t having any of it. He pulls his elbow from Mom’s hands and disappears into the hallway, leaving us alone with Mr. Dave.

“You going to explain why Nathan can disable a man like a trained MMA fighter?” Tobias asks, taking my usual role of blurting out almost absurdly direct questions. I stand beside him in solidarity as Micah sets our bags on the bench at the end of the bed. “Or why you and the headmaster trust him with the key to all the dorm rooms?”

“Nathan and I are coworkers,” Mr. Dave says simply, glowering at us now that Mom’s left the room.

“Yeah, no shit. You both work at Adamson,” Micah says, giving our teacher a weird look.

“We’re coworkers in a different sort of way,” Mr. Dave corrects, and then shakes his head. “I shouldn’t even be telling you this.”

“Telling us what?” I plead, hating that we’re so close to solving this mystery, and yet so far away at the same time. “Are you a cop or something?”

“Or something.” That’s all he seems willing to offer up as he turns and disappears down the hall, leaving me to slump down on the edge of the bed in frustration.

“Don’t fret, Chuck,” Tobias says, putting his hand on the top of my head. “We all just confessed our undying love and devotion to you. You don’t get to be sad.”

“I’m not sad.” I look up and make sure that he can see in my face that I’m telling the truth. “How could I be, when I have you guys looking after me? Fuck the cult. I just can’t wait until this is all over.”

“It won’t be much longer,” Tobias says with a nod and an exhale. He looks up and across the length of the bed to where Micah’s standing. “Give Church some time to look into things, and he always figures it out. We’re just the brute strength on the force, not the brains.”