The Afterlife of the Party

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Sneak Peek: I’m With the Banned

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Crave, by Tracy Wolff

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Marlene Perez. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

  Entangled Publishing, LLC

  10940 S Parker Road

  Suite 327

  Parker, CO 80134

  [email protected]

  Entangled Teen is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

  Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

  Edited by Stacy Abrams and Liz Pelletier

  Cover design by Covers By Juan

  Cover images by

  FlexDreams/shutterstock and

  Isabell Schatz/shutterstock and

  Irina Ulianova/shutterstock and

  NikhomTreeVector/shutterstock

  Interior design by Toni Kerr

  ISBN 978-1-64063-902-7

  Ebook ISBN 978-1-64063-903-4

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition February 2021

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Also by Marlene Perez

  Dead Is series

  Dead Is the New Black

  Dead Is a State Of Mind

  Dead Is So Last Year

  Dead Is Just a Rumor

  Dead Is Not an Option

  Dead Is a Battlefield

  Dead Is a Killer Tune

  Dead Is Just a Dream

  “One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach: all the damn vampires.”

  —The Lost Boys

  “Hell is empty, and the devils are all here.”

  —The Tempest

  To the friends who won’t leave you behind.

  Chapter One

  When my best friend, Skyler, told me about this party in the Hollywood Hills, I was less than enthused.

  The last thing I wanted to do was fight traffic for the privilege of watching her flirt with some guy, but I didn’t want to let her go alone, either.

  She was determined to go and friends don’t let friends go to parties without backup, so Vaughn and I were tagging along. I was riding shotgun and Vaughn was wedged into the tiny back seat of Skyler’s convertible. The top was down and a summer breeze ruffled his thick, dark hair.

  “Why are we driving all the way to L.A. again?” I asked.

  “I’ve been talking to this guy…” Sky replied, her gaze trained on the car in front of us, but she was biting her lip. That meant a long night ahead.

  I didn’t even try to suppress my groan. “Skyler.”

  She’d been my best friend since I first came to live with Granny Mariotti. Granny had been running story time at the library, where Skyler and I had fought over a copy of Mama, Do You Love Me? Pretty ironic, since we’d both been ditched by our own moms, but Granny made us sit and read the book together. We met Vaughn at the library story time a few weeks later.

  Skyler took a turn too fast and Vaughn made an exasperated sound. My gaze darted to the back seat, but he was looking down at his phone. Probably texting Ashley.

  Now it was my turn to let out an exasperated groan, but I was mad at myself. Why couldn’t I get over my crush? Luckily, Vaughn had no idea how I felt about him.

  I’d been tempted to do something about it so many times, but it was too late now. He had a girlfriend.

  “I wanted you to get dressed up and flirt with boys,” Skyler added. “You might meet someone, too, you know.”

  I groaned louder this time.

  “Tansy only likes to flirt with me,” Vaughn teased, and I tried not to squirm as heat flooded my cheeks. He had no idea how right he was—and if I was lucky, he never would.

  “Meet single dudes.” Skyler clarified with an eyeroll. “You, my friend, are very taken.”

  “Ashley and I broke up,” Vaughn replied. Succinct.

  I turned around to study his face. He didn’t seem to be suffering, but I had to check. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m not eating ice cream and listening to sad boy band music,” he said. No trace of emotion in his gray eyes or in his voice, but I knew he often tried to keep his feelings hidden.

  “Hey, that happened once,” Skyler said, bugging out her eyes comically.

  Vaughn and I laughed like she wanted us to, but it was nervous laughter. Although Skyler wasn’t BFFs with Ben & Jerry any longer, she still hadn’t recovered from Connor, and we all knew it.

  “It’s been a long time coming,” Vaughn said. “And I don’t want to analyze it to death.”

  “When did this happen?” I asked.

  Vaughn was silent but then finally supplied details. “Three days ago.”

  “Three days ago?” she asked. “Wasn’t that right after Christian asked you out, Tansy?”

  Why was she changing the subject? I wanted to know why Vaughn and Ashley had broken up.

  “Christian Choi or Christian Guerra?” Vaughn asked.

  I slid her a look. What are you doing?

  She gave me a look back and shook her head.

  Vaughn’s lips tightened. “They both asked you out?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “They’re both assholes.”

  “I thought you liked Christian, both of them,” I said.

  He looked at me like he wanted to say something, but instead, he just shrugged.

  “You snooze, you lose, Sheridan,” Skyler said to him.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked her.

  She kept her eyes on the road, but there was an aggravating smile on her face, like she knew something I didn’t.

  I looked back at Vaughn. He was blushing. For a second, I wished I could read his mind, but it wasn’t possible, not even for a Mariotti witch like me.

  I could feel warmth on my own face, too. Vaughn’s single for the first time in forever.

  It shouldn’t make a difference, but it did. It felt riskier somehow. For the first time, I noticed Vaughn was more dressed up than usual. He wore a gray button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and jeans t
hat fit him perfectly.

  I leaned back in the passenger seat and closed my eyes. “I’m glad we’re hanging out tonight.”

  “Me too.” I heard the smile in Sky’s voice, and I felt warm inside knowing I’d put it there. There’d been something off about her the past few weeks. I’d blamed it on her breakup with Connor, but maybe it was more than that.

  Skyler put on a song from a band I’d never heard of. “Play The Drainers,” she commanded, and the voice-activated playlist started.

  We listened in silence for a few songs. “The Drainers?” I asked.

  “They’re a newer band. Don’t you just love them?” she asked. Which meant she wanted me to like their music. I did not like their music.

  In the back seat, Vaughn snorted but cut it off when Skyler glared at him in the rearview mirror.

  “Vaughn’s a music snob, but I thought you’d like it,” she told me. Vaughn wasn’t a snob, not really, but he was a talented musician and pickier than most.

  “Emo’s not really my thing right now.” I settled for a polite but evasive answer. It wasn’t strictly true. Emo was my thing if it was done well. Which…this was not. The lead singer hadn’t found a note he didn’t like—even the off-key ones.

  She bounced in her seat, in no way fazed by my lack of enthusiasm. “It will be.”

  The party was off Mulholland, and Skyler took the turns with reckless abandon, which made talking for the next ten minutes nearly impossible as my stomach was firmly lodged in the back of my throat. When we pulled up, there were cars lining the street.

  Skyler circled the block, but there were no parking spots to be found within a mile radius. She stopped at a red light and turned to me.

  “We’re going to be late,” she said. She had tears in her eyes, which seemed extra, but she’d been more emotional lately.

  “Do that thing you do,” she begged.

  “Skyler, you shouldn’t ask her that,” Vaughn said sharply.

  “It’s not a big deal,” I said.

  “Your granny wouldn’t want you to use your magic on this,” Vaughn pointed out.

  He was right. My grandmother would be disappointed in me if I used my powers for something so trivial as a parking spot, but my friendship with Skyler wasn’t trivial and she rarely asked me for anything.

  “Please, Tansy,” she said. She was my best friend, and it wasn’t like she was asking me to turn her ex into a toad or anything.

  There was magic in the world if you knew where to look. Finding a parking spot in L.A. required luck and, sometimes, a little magic. My two friends were the only ones at school who knew I was a witch, and neither of them had ever needed me to prove it. But I’d needed it, so I’d shown them what I could do.

  It hadn’t been a big deal the first time I’d done magic in front of them, but for some reason, it felt like it was tonight. That if I used my magic right now, it would change the course of the night.

  But I decided to do it anyway. “Go around the block again,” I said. “Slowly.” Skyler squealed, knowing she would be getting her way.

  “Thank you, thank you,” she said. The fervent note in her voice gave me pause, but I closed my eyes and concentrated on the spell.

  We were back to the party location. At first, I thought the spell hadn’t worked, that we could turn around, head home, and eat popcorn and watch a horror movie on Netflix instead of going to this party.

  Two houses down, a Tesla pulled out of a space, and Skyler crowed triumphantly before nabbing it.

  What I hadn’t told my friends, because I didn’t want them to worry, was that magic always had a price, and I’d have to pay it eventually.

  Skyler turned off the convertible, but she didn’t get out immediately. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “Spill it.” Her excited smile reminded me of the Skyler she used to be, loud and happy and sharing every secret with me. Until Connor.

  “My new guy’s band is playing here tonight!” She clapped her hands and bounced in her seat. “Isn’t that the best?”

  I smiled at her. “It is.” I loved music, all kinds of music, but especially live performances. There was something special about seeing a band live for the first time. Maybe this party wouldn’t be so terrible after all.

  I nearly twisted an ankle on our way to the house, but Vaughn caught me by the elbow to steady me. Sky had no trouble in her impossibly high heels and a dress that masqueraded as a slightly long T-shirt. I was wearing a pink dress Skyler’s stepmom had discarded and, in honor of the momentous occasion, a freshly washed scowl.

  I’d finally pieced together what was different about Sky tonight. She wasn’t wearing her charm necklace, the one that matched mine. The ones that Granny Mariotti added charms to on every special occasion for both of us.

  “Where’s your necklace?” I instinctively touched mine. It was heavy with memories of our friendship, like a laminated corner of a ticket from our first concert, a tiny silver witch’s broom she’d given me for my sixteenth birthday, and a miniature of a photo of Skyler and me that Granny had taken when we were seven. We were covered in stepmother number one’s expensive makeup, arms entwined, grinning at the camera.

  Those necklaces were the story of us and were imbued with protective magic. It had been the first spell I’d ever cast.

  “The clasp broke,” she said. She tugged on the diamond stud in her left ear. She only did that when she was lying, which made my stomach hurt.

  I stopped walking—which made her stop, too—and narrowed my eyes at her. “The clasp broke and you didn’t say anything?”

  “Yes,” she replied flatly.

  “Skyler—” I said, but her phone buzzed with a text.

  “C’mon, hurry or we’ll miss it,” she said. Even though I was taller than she was, she walked so fast that I couldn’t keep up. She was used to walking in heels; I was not.

  From the outside, the house looked like your average multimillion-dollar home. It was a modern structure of concrete and glass, but it looked like an expensive prison to me.

  There was the sound of someone’s loud, slightly off-key singing, accompanied by jangled instruments that just managed to stay in time together.

  Skyler beamed. “That’s The Drainers.”

  Vaughn winced but then wiped his expression clean when she glared at him.

  She said the name of the band the way Granny Mariotti talked about The Grateful Dead. Or Bowie.

  The music improved, though, the closer we got. The jarring sounds were slowly replaced by music that wrapped around me like an embrace, pulling me in. The song was full of longing and promise, the singer whispering that he knew all my secrets but they didn’t matter. He would love me anyway. Forever.

  Now I understood what Skyler was talking about. I only wished I’d discovered the band first. I walked faster, suddenly eager to get closer to the music.

  Everyone seemed to be poolside, so we walked through a breathtaking living room and kitchen to the back of the house.

  The music was louder here, and a crowd had gathered around a small stage. A tall blond guy wearing leather pants with a leather vest but no shirt sang in a husky, compelling voice that oozed lust and longing.

  My jaw dropped. Three other guys, nearly the most attractive I’d ever seen—and I lived in Southern California, the home of models and movie stars—played instruments while the blond sang. Another guy, this one looking like a young Jason Momoa, with long dark hair and electric-green eyes, wore shorts and a black-and-white-checked flannel shirt over his tee as he strummed a guitar. A dark-haired guy was on keyboards, in a sharp suit with cheekbones a model would envy, and a tatted-up, muscular ginger played the drums as sweat poured down his bare chest.

  Sky didn’t take her eyes from the stage—from the lead singer. A horde of girls pushed and shoved one another to get to the band members, particularly
the guy in leather pants and no shirt. A part of me wanted to join the mayhem, but I managed to hang back.

  What was happening to me? I felt a little dizzy and had to fight the urge to jump onstage and beg one of them to kiss me.

  The lead singer held a ball of flame in his hands while the audience shouted for more, until suddenly the music ended in a loud crescendo. But something must have gone wrong with the special effects because the fire sailed over the audience’s heads and landed in the branches of a tree. And as quickly as the feeling of wanting to jump onstage had overtaken me, it vanished.

  Everyone else was still entranced with the band, not paying attention to the fire hazard or to me, so I whispered a little spell, and the fire went out.

  Most of the girls in the audience wore the same debutante white. “Is this some kind of cult?” I asked.

  “It’s summer,” Sky replied. Summer meant people in Southern California wore lighter colors, but I’d never seen so many white dresses in one place.

  “I recognize that look in your eyes,” I said to Skyler. “You are in lust.”

  “Not lust—love,” she said. “Aren’t you just obsessed with The Drainers? And Travis?”

  “Is Travis the lead singer?”

  Someone next to me snorted. This guy had obviously been listening in on our conversation. “You think this derivative bunch of posers is good?”

  Sky sent him her best death glare, but it didn’t stop him.

  “That steaming pile up onstage known as The Drainers?” he said. “I just don’t get it. Every woman here thinks this band is the next Rolling Stones or something. Is everyone tone-deaf?”

  “Hater,” Sky whispered.

  “It’s like everyone is hypnotized,” the guy continued. I followed his gaze. The crowd was mostly female, but there were a couple of guys who’d had the same heart-eyes expression as they watched the band.

  “You have no taste,” Skyler huffed. The guy looked at me, and I stared at him.

  I wondered why this guy was still smiling if he hated the band so much, and then I saw his earplugs. “My girlfriend gave me the album,” he said, noticing my stare.

  “What do you think?” I asked Vaughn.

  “Some bands are just better live,” he said. “Will you be okay for a few minutes? I’m going to find a bathroom.”