Nobody is here yet? Liska maneuvered her guitar case into her room and set it on the bed. Getting through doors with the case was awkward.

  She went back out into the common room and plopped down on the turquoise sofa, admiring the tall leafy plant in the corner with its large, striped green and yellow leaves.

  After the show, Liska had lost track of everyone. She’d seen people she knew, of course—including her sister, who was directing the cleanup backstage—but both Ephy and Airin had disappeared.

  The door opened, and Ephy came in, looking tired but pleased. She smiled when she saw Liska. “We made it through our first performance!”

  “Hopefully Airin’s parents will let them stay,” Liska said worriedly. “Is Oliver going to throw a tantrum about our award?”

  “I don’t know, but Mother texted and said she was going to complain about the technical difficulties so they wouldn’t affect our next performance. So, I guess I get to stay.”

  Liska grinned and opened her mouth to say something, but there was a knock on the door. Several knocks.

  Liska jumped up as Ephy opened the door to reveal Holly Pine and some other students from Air Quad.

  “Congrats! We loved your performance!” one of the girls gushed.

  Holly held out an envelope to them. “The owner of the pizza shop came to the performance and wrote out a coupon for you. He said you just need to call and give him this special code, and he’ll have everything delivered. No need to go to the office tomorrow.”

  Liska peered over Ephy’s shoulder as she opened the envelope.

  The note said, “Your special code is RAINBOW.” “Thank you!” they both said to Holly at the same time.

  Holly grinned at them. “Great job, Zephyr Suite! And where’s

  Airin? I wanted to tell them how much I loved their voice.” “Airin hasn’t come back yet,” Liska said.

  “Oliver’s family is here, so Airin’s might be, too,” Ephy added.

  “Oliver’s family came?” asked Liska.

  Holly looked puzzled. “Why would they come together?”

  Ephy glanced worriedly at Liska and then said, “You should ask

  Airin about that.”

  “Ask me what?” Airin appeared behind Holly and her friends.

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  Holly clapped. “You did an amazing job!” Holly’s friends patted Airin’s shoulder. Airin froze like a startled deer.

  “C’mon, let’s not scare them,” said Holly. “I gave Ephy your pizza coupon. Enjoy your suite party!”

  After they left, Airin came inside. “Ask me what?” they repeated.

  “If your family came,” said Liska, not sure whether the real question would upset Airin.

  “Oh.” Airin sat primly on the sofa. “They did. They didn’t say I had to leave, so I think I’m okay.”

  “Yay!” cried Ephy, throwing herself onto the sofa. I’d hug Airin, but I don’t think they’d be comfortable with that. Liska sat down on the other side of Airin.

  “Oh,” said Ephy, “I saw Oliver and his parents getting escorted out by the principal and Magister. Oliver looked like he was crying.”

  “Upset?” asked Liska. “Why would Oliver be upset? He won.”

  Ephy turned to Airin. “Did you parents say anything about it?”

  Airin shook their head. “No. They said the Darklighters had to leave to go to a coven meeting.”

  “Did he have something to do with the power going out?” Liska asked. “Would Oliver do something like that?”

  “If he did and Magister found out…” Airin let the thought trail off.

  Liska shivered. Magister on a good day was scary enough.

  “Maybe we’ll hear about it tomorrow,” Airin said firmly.

  Ephy nodded.

  There was another knock on the door. This time, it was Liska who bounced up and opened it. Her sister stood there, holding several bottles of soda.

  “I thought you’d want to celebrate tonight, so I got these out of the machine in the teacher’s lounge. Special treat!” Hunter handed them to Liska.

  “Thank you!” Liska handed drinks to her suitemates, cradling hers in one hand.

  “I also wanted to congratulate you all together and tell you how much I enjoyed your performance.” Hunter applauded them with a cheesy grin, and they laughed. “I could have wished for more dance, but it was pretty great anyway.” She leaned over and picked up a box that had been sitting outside the door. “And Mama brought you a care package.” She shook it. “Sounds like all your favorite snacks!”

  Liska accepted the heavy box from Hunter; it rustled as she set it on the sofa.

  “Anyway, I will see you in class on Monday. Get some rest this weekend, because we have a lot of work to do starting next week.” “Why?” asked Ephy.

  “The principal announced that the city of Savannah has asked us to perform at their winter festival. They think we’re a normal school for the performing arts, you know. We’ll do several large dance numbers, and the big music groups will perform. They’ll be

  scattered throughout the festival, so it will be a lot.”

  Ephy sat up. “Normal people know about Eclipse?”

  Hunter shrugged. “Sure. And the witches can help disguise anyone who doesn’t look human. I think it’ll be fine. See you all Monday!” She waved as she walked out of the suite.

  “It’ll be okay. I’m sure they know what they’re doing,” Liska said to Ephy, who was nervously spinning her bottle in circles, flinging drops of condensation around the room.

  Ephy nodded reluctantly. “Okay. I won’t tell Mother about it, though. She won’t like it.”

  “I won’t tell my parents either, though they will probably hear about it from the Darklighters. But I hope we don’t have to get permission slips or anything.” Airin twisted the cap off their soda and took a drink.

  “We can do our pizza party later, but how about a mini celebration now?” Liska suggested. The scent of nacho chips drifted up as she opened a bag. It’s a good night to go crazy and eat them all.

  “I’m so glad I came to Eclipse and got to meet you both,” said Ephy.

  Airin’s pale grey eyes sparkled. “I am, too.”

  Liska pulled out a chip and held the bag up to the others. “To Zephyr Suite!”

  Ephy and Airin grabbed chips and held them up. Liska extended her chip to touch theirs, but it cracked, and small orange crumbs flew everywhere. They all laughed, brushing crumbs off their clothes.

  Liska grinned at her suitemates. I hope we’ll get to perform again together soon!