I stared at the screen, waiting for the little dots to appear, but there was no response. Shoving the phone back into my pocket, I glanced at the door, half-tempted to just go back downstairs and pretend like everything was fine. But something stopped me—something Tony said about the attic.
I found myself moving before I had time to think it through. The bathroom door creaked open, and I stepped out into the dim hallway. The house was quiet, the muffled sounds of the party far below barely reaching me. I walked toward the far end of the corridor, my footsteps echoing in the silence until I reached the attic door.
I stared at it for a moment, my hand hovering over the pull cord. My mind raced, a thousand thoughts screaming at me to stop, to go back downstairs and blend into the crowd. But
