FRAT HOUSE: MAIN ROOM

The party had not been going for a full half hour, and I was already exhausted. The space had been made to hold a much larger group of people, but that was not considering music from the ultimate house producer, or anyone as energetic as Earl, Nicole, or Barrett.

Barrett flung himself violently around the dance floor, crashing into the other dancers so hard, I wondered if he was actually trying to hurt them. Giuseppe and Earl stood their ground against him, and even though Nicole was actually knocked off her feet a couple of times, she didn't seem to mind.

I glanced at Rocky, holding earphones to his ear and adjusting something on his machines. The music was almost shockingly good. It was almost impossible to listen and not want to dance.

Ashley sat next to me on the dirty couch, frowning. She did not seem to have any desire at all to dance.

"Bepi's a surprisingly good dancer," I said to her. "I didn't think he was the type to let go like this."

Ashley grunted. "He told me once his officers started forcing him to drink when he was ten. Said it numbed the pain." She rolled her eyes. "Nihilism is an asinine philosophy, but it's fascinating how someone might start to believe it."

JP strolled up to us, raising a fresh glass of his pale ale in greeting. "My friends! Everything good? Everything safe?"

I glanced around the room. Aside from the dancers, I could only see Rodrigo off to the side talking to Jane with a bewildered expression on his face. "I think so," I replied. "I haven't seen anyone leave together, and no one seems to be getting out of hand with the drinking."

"You haven't seen anything yet!" JP yelled. "Yeah!" He took a chug of his beer and grinned. "Not even everyone is here yet!"

Ashley scowled. "Who hasn't come?"

"Juliet was going to help Emily get ready... you know, do her makeup and everything," I said. "She's probably planning a big grand entrance."

JP cast his gaze around. "Still think we're missing someone," he said.

"We are!" Katy, appearing as if from nowhere, plopped down onto the couch, her legs hanging over the side and her head in my lap. Somehow, she didn't spill the full glass of porter she was carrying. "Lucina isn't here!"

"Oh yeah," JP said. "When I tried to get her favorite beer, she told me she didn't want to come tonight. Too loud, or something."

"What?" Ashley shot to her feet and glared at him. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Dude, chill! It's just Lucina; she's off being quiet somewhere."

"Security for this party..."

"Lucina's pretty," Katy declared, as Ashley continued to rant at JP. Her glass of beer was somehow only a third full already, and she looked up at me sincerely. "Saya, are we friends?"

My discomfort was pretty strong, but it didn't overwhelm the feelings of affection and endearment she was prompting. "Um, yeah. I think we are."

There were literal tears in her eyes. "I feel like we're friends, too. In high school, everyone put up with me, but... I was always just kind of... different from everyone. Just the weird, gay girl. College was gonna be different."

I found myself smiling a little. "I get it. When we get out of here, things will be different."

She dropped her empty glass onto the carpet and threw her arms around my waist, squeezing tight. I had no idea what to do, so I just patted her head a couple of times uncomfortably.

"What is happening here?!" a voice bellowed, and Earl was among us. He somehow dumped an entire glassful of his dunkel down his throat in just a second or two, and then he threw a fist in the air. "Some of us are not enjoying this fine party! Come, you sticks in the proverbial mud! Join us on the dance floor!"

"No," Katy spoke up, still holding tight to my waist. "The dance floor's a total sausage party."

Earl roared with laughter. "You'll never keep a German away from a party of sausages!" He reached a hand out to Ashley, who stared at him for a moment, then reached up and took it. He yanked her back to the dance floor with him. She gave a little shriek, but her face was hugely red.

JP shook his head. "Man, I dunno what it is, but this party just isn't as lit as it should be. I'm just not feeling it like I should! You know?"

"Uh..." I fidgeted slightly, becoming very aware of Katy still holding on to me. "Kind of? The music's good."

"I know!" JP rubbed his chin in thought. "I got it!" He marched over to wall behind Rocky and turned a dial; the lights in the room dimmed.

"Whoa, hey, that's dangerous!" I tried to say, but Katy was still holding on to me and JP just gave me a grinning thumbs up. I tried to catch Ashley's eye, but she was dancing (hilariously badly) and actually had not even seemed to notice the room getting darker.

I did have to admit, the place did seem more partylike now, but with the strobe set-up Rocky had going, I had a hard time even seeing around the room.

I sat on the couch, bewildered, hoping Katy had not fallen asleep.

About an hour later, the party had become much more chaotic. Once I extracted myself from Katy, I teamed up with Rodrigo, and the two of us did our best to make sure no one wandered off, especially in groups. Still, it was difficult; the room was so dark, and people were moving around so unpredictably, it was hard to keep track. Rodrigo had tried to turn the lights back on, but everyone had yelled at him and he lowered them again. He was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing.

I sat on the couch uncomfortably. Katy sat on the floor, resting her head in my lap, sniffling. Nicole and Barrett made out next to me. Suddenly, Nicole yelled "Oh!" directly into Barrett's mouth. She pulled back and looked over at me. "Saya! Has anyone been murdered?!"

I gaped at her. "Oh god, Nicole! No, why would you ask that?!"

Nicole cheered. "No murders; everyone drink!" She chugged her beer and Barrett grabbed his glass and drank some too. "That's the drinking game! We drink whenever anyone doesn't get murdered."

"How does that work? I... really hope no one's getting murdered MOST of the time."

"No murders!" They drank some more.

Barrett finished his beer, kissed Nicole, and kicked the nearby wall. "Fuck yes!" he growled. "This may be the last fucking night I can dance, so I'm getting pissed and dancing!"

"That is such a romantic thing to say," Katy mumbled. "Straight person love is so adorable sometimes, you know?"

"No murders!" Nicole finished her lager. She set her glass down and pulled Barrett back onto the dance floor, jostling into Earl who simply saluted them in response and kept dancing.

"I wrote a book once where it was a straight person love, but they were lesbians," Katy muttered, lolling her head around. She softly began to cry. Again. I put my hand on her head, as comfortingly as I could.

Bepi walked over and collapsed down on the couch next to me, holding a bottle of water. He nodded to me in greeting. He was clearly holding it together pretty well, but he did not seem to be having as easy a time unscrewing the lid as he probably normally would. "How's things in chaperone world?"

"A disaster." I sighed. "I can barely keep track of anyone, especially with..." I trailed off and gestured down at Katy, who held on tight to my leg and was saying something about her childhood parakeet.

Bepi nodded somberly. "Some people get weepy when they drink."

"Rodrigo seems to just be completely confused, and we lost Ashley like an hour ago." I indicated the dance floor, where she was hopefully not attempting to grind on Earl.

Bepi breathed out, flapping his lips in exasperation. "Repression's a bitch. Guess you know that as well as anyone, huh?"

"Don't repress!" Katy blurted. "Be true to your heaaaaart," and she started crying again.

I barely even reacted to her, just raising an eyebrow at Giuseppe. "You should know something about it too, right? Isn't the military all about discipline?"

He laughed humorlessly. "Uh, no, being a child soldier isn't about discipline and rank and hierarchy and all that. We just get turned loose. We're the Tazmanian Devils that just come in and wreck shit." He shrugged. "You don't train kids hoping to get a bunch of little rule-followers. You do it to create monsters."

"So... you're a monster?"

He took a drink of water and considered my question for a moment. "No," he said eventually. "I'm defective. Some kids just lived on that chaos. I couldn't. I guess that's why I'm still alive." He took a deep breath. "I am wasted. Wow."

"Hey dudes!" a voice greeted. Rocky walked up to us, drinking from his own bottle of water. "How's it going over here in Lame Not Dancing Town?"

I glanced back at his rig, then back to him. "Can you just leave your equipment?"

"Oh yeah, this song just goes for five more minutes; we're cool. I've stepped out a couple of times to get some water or take a piss or whatever; didn't you notice?"

"No." I scowled at the floor. "This is just a nightmare; I can't make sure anyone's safe like this."

"If it means anything, I'm pretty sure there's always been a big group of people dancing," Bepi said. "People keep going to get new drinks and stuff, but there's never been a time where almost everyone isn't in here."

"Yeah, so chill!" Rocky insisted. "I meant it, why aren't you guys dancing?"

"I'm just taking a break," Bepi answered. "Katy's having an emotional breakthrough." He gave me a sideways look. "Saya's too hip."

Rocky laughed, which I'm not sure I appreciated. "Oh," he said, "I remember, I actually came over to ask you... did Juliet and Emily ever show up?"

I frowned. "No. I noticed, too. It's not too late yet, I guess, but... its starting to get weird."

Bepi shrugged. "Eh, making Emily hot seems like a big job. I mean, not 'cause she's not cute, of course, but she'd just look weird if she wasn't all nerdy. They'll probably swoop in here like a couple of princesses."

Katy gasped. "What if they're making out!"

"I don't think they're making out," I said dryly.

She gasped again. "What if they're with Lucina and all three of them are making out?!"

I decided it was best to ignore her. "I promise, I'm not over here because I don't like the music," I said. "I'm just trying to keep an eye on things."

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. Startled, I whipped around to see Jane leering at me with a giant, strange smile. "Saya," she said. "The gnomes."

I involuntarily pulled back an inch or so. "Um, I'm sorry, what?"

"The. Gnomes." She sank to her knees, her facial expression not changing one little bit. "I heard them." She pointed to a small box full of hackey sacks. "That's where they live. Gnomeshire. I know because of the colors."

I blinked at her. "Um... Jane. What are you talking about?"

Bepi stood up and patted me on the back. "Well, Saya, have fun dealing with whatever this is." He and Rocky walked back to the dance floor.

Jane just kept staring at me. "Guess what!" Her smile somehow grew twice as big. "I saw a ghost."

"...what?"

"I'll show you!" With ridiculous strength, she grabbed me by the arm and pulled me off the couch. Katy fell onto the floor, grunting and mumbling.

Jane nearly dragged me up the stairs and onto the second story balcony, overlooking the whole main room; I could see everyone dancing below. Jane took me to a window and pointed out, down towards the north quad. She pressed her face against the glass. "It had a white face and a scary shadow body and it was a GHOST," she stated. "It was... it was right down there, in the dark part." She looked back at me. "It was carrying something. Probably SECRETS."

I took a step back. "Jane, you... I think you're kind of not okay right now, but did you really see something outside? When?"

"Gnometime," she replied.

I sighed. I took her hand and led her back down the stairs to the couch, and I sat her down next to Katy, who grabbed onto one of her legs, sniffling. I went to find Rodrigo.

He was standing next to the main door to the outside, looking pale and uncomfortable. "This is pandemonium," he said simply.

"Yeah, it is. Have you been able to keep track of anything?"

He nodded. "The party itself is beyond my ken, but I have been making sure no one leaves in a group, or for too long. Friend Rocky left earlier, for just a minute or so, and he returned smelling of tobacco. Other than that, no one has gone outside."

I smiled gratefully. "That's awesome, at least we're on top of that." I shuddered slightly. "Listen, Jane is... I don't know, something's up with her. I think we should take her back to her room, but first, um... she said she saw something outside. She also said she saw gnomes in that box over there, so..."

"It is no problem!" Rodrigo said. "If you take over my post here at the door, I will take a look."

"Thanks. It really is probably nothing, but... I mean, it's probably good to make sure there isn't something dangerous happening for the people who aren't here yet."

"Ahhh," he breathed in realization. "You're worried about Friend Lucina."

"Ack, no!" I'm sure my face was red. "No, I just... I mean, better safe than sorry, right?"

"I understand. I will simply take a short look around the building and then return to take Friend Jane back to her room." He saluted and stepped out the door.

I uncomfortably watched the party, JP and Barrett flinging themselves into one another on the dance floor, and I was relieved when Rodrigo came back only thirty seconds after leaving.

He was paler than before. "Saya," he said. "Come outside with me."

"What? But..."

"Saya." He was very serious, and there was something else, too. It took me a moment to realize: he was terrified. I nodded, and we went outside.

NORTH QUAD

He led me around the building, and I saw what had scared him. It took me a moment to recognize what it was, though.

"...blood?"

I hesitantly walked over to the streak on the path. I dipped my fingers into the dark smudge and smelled them. Coppery. Unmistakable.

I looked back at Rodrigo, and we shared a wordless moment. I stood up and we looked around for other signs of violence.

It was not hard to find. The side door of the frat house, the one that led to JP's living area, had the same kind of dark stain on it, as if a bloody arm had been slapped against the wood. I looked down. There was a bloodstreak that started outside and led straight under the door.

We stood there. I reached over and grabbed his arm, squeezing it. His face was stark and terrified, but there was a determination there, too. He positioned himself between me and the door and slowly pulled it open.

There was only darkness inside, but the bloodstreak clearly continued on. We slowly, slowly walked in.

FRAT HOUSE: LIVING AREA

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light, but even before that happened, I knew the place was ransacked. There were papers and clothes and furniture just all over. And right there, on the side of the room, there was a shape, lumped and silent.

I stepped closer, trying to make it out. I wish I hadn't.

Because before I was ready, it settled into my vision, stark and clear. The horrible, horrible sight I don't think I'll ever forget.

Propped up against the wall, slumped and still and absolutely covered in blood, was Juliet Mountebank, the ultimate girlfriend.