“Jeremy!” Caitlin bellowed. “How are you getting home?” He’d come with her, after all.
But he didn’t turn back, ducking around a mummy and disappearing out the front door. Caitlin’s shoulders slumped. Had she lost him forever? Just like that? She wanted to go after him, but judging by the panicked expressions on her friends’ faces, something was seriously wrong.
Ava pressed something into Caitlin’s hands. “I found this at my house.”
Caitlin looked down. It was a dangling earring. “Okay . . .”
“It’s Julie’s. My dad found it in his bedroom.” Ava’s lips trembled. “The same bedroom with the balcony Leslie was pushed off of.”
“And I saw Julie in her car,” Mac broke in, “driving really slowly past Claire’s house on Wednesday night. She doesn’t live anywhere near Claire.”
Caitlin’s jaw dropped. “I went to see her yesterday,” she admitted. “And, um, I saw something on her porch. It was—it was fertilizer. Well, it’s used for fertilizer, but it’s potassium cyanide.”
Mac gasped and covered her hand with her mouth. “And you’re just telling us now?”
“Anyone could have fertilizer like that,” Caitlin protested, guilt flooding her. “And just because you saw Julie driving by Claire’s doesn’t mean anything. She could have been in that neighborhood for an entirely different reason.”
“But what about the earring?” Ava insisted.
Caitlin racked her brain. She wanted desperately to find some small detail, any tidbit of information, that would clear Julie. But she couldn’t think. There was just too much evidence pointing in the same direction.
“Why would Julie do this to us?” she breathed.
But Ava and Mac weren’t listening. They were both looking across the room, their gazes fixed on the same person.
Julie had come to the party after all.
CHAPTER THIRTY
JULIE STOOD IN THE DOORWAY leading from Nyssa’s vast double-height living room to the back hall. All around her were witches, ghouls, Kardashians, and Mileys, and even some kid who’d dressed up like the Twitter blue bird. Quite a few of them were staring at her, aghast. Others had smirks on their faces. Everyone was taking in how pale she clearly looked, how her hair was unwashed, how she was wearing a gray American Apparel tee and black Nike shorts—not exactly a costume. Julie Redding has become a freak, was surely what they were whispering. But it didn’t matter. After tonight, she’d never see any of them again. She just had to find Parker first. But as hard as she looked, she couldn’t find a pale blond girl in a dirty black hoodie.
Julie had a horrible feeling Parker had seen that post Claire had written to Mac. She deserves it, Parker had said that day in the woods. She’s a horrible person. Had that Facebook post about Mac been the straw that broke the camel’s back?
She’d been calling Parker nonstop since she realized she was missing, but Parker hadn’t answered. Julie knew she’d come here. It was the only thing that made sense—and it broke her heart. Parker had promised. She was so much sicker than Julie realized. She desperately needed help, help that Julie could no longer provide. Julie just hoped she could find her friend and get her that help before Parker found Claire.
She felt someone’s hand on her shoulder and turned. Ava, Caitlin, and Mac swarmed around her. Caitlin looked really cute in her cheerleader costume, and Ava looked tall and stately in a simple black flapper dress. Mackenzie hadn’t dressed up and seemed a little rumpled. All three girls seemed guarded and almost fearful. “Julie, can we talk?” Ava asked.
Julie frowned. “I need to find—”
“It’s really, really important,” Caitlin cut her off.
Julie stared around at them. They were closing in on her, boxing her in.
“Okay,” she said carefully, her hackles going up. “But only for a sec. I’m sort of looking for someone.”
Mac visibly flinched. Ava took Julie’s arm and led her through the entryway and down a long hallway toward the bedroom wing. It was quieter there, though they could hear cackles from Nyssa’s room a few doors down. The faint smell of pot wafted toward them.
Julie looked at her friends, their stony expressions suddenly making her uncomfortable. She let out a nervous laugh. “What is it? You guys are freaking me out.”
They stared at her for a long moment. Finally, Ava spoke. “Is there anything you want to tell us?”
Julie felt a pull in her stomach. She had a lot to tell them . . . but she didn’t dare. “Um, about what?” she asked as casually as she could.
Ava pulled something small out of her pocket and dangled it in Julie’s face. “About this, maybe?”
Julie snatched it from her fingers. “That’s my earring! Where did you find it?”
Ava looked pained. “In my house. The day Leslie was attacked—in the same room.”