Lisa Ochai was hurrying to meet her friends for lunch when she glanced into the empty classroom. It was nothing more than idle curiosity, but when she saw someone sitting on a desk with their hands over their face, she felt a brief agonising moment of choice.

The wavy black hair and a thin gold bracelet didn't tell her who was wallowing in misery, but the shaking shoulders told her this was more than the results of a tiff.

 Lunch, surrounded by her chirpy friends, bad jokes and quick arguments, or go hungry and cheer up someone who might not want to perk up.

 This is the problem with being the responsible one, she thought. Cougar can walk past this sort of thing, because he'd probably only make whoever it was cry even harder, but I'm going to feel guilty about this all day if I don't stop. Rats.

She stuck her head into the classroom, but whoever it was didn't notice. "Are you all right?" she said, trotting out the nonsensical question asked at all such moments.

 As the girl lifted her hands from her face, Lisa was startled to see it was Tamara Slone, nose red and eyes puffy, who looked mortified to see her. "Fine." Her voice was rough with tears.

 "That's a terrible lie," she chided, uncertain what else to say.

 "Well, it was a terrible question. Do I look like I spend all my time sitting in a classroom bawling my eyes out?" Tam choked, and Lisa was mildly impressed she could cough up some sarcasm.

 We don't get on, she thought. I should go. This is only going to end up like it always does: insults and snide remarks. Besides, if it was me, I'd be embarrassed anyone had seen me.

 So she wasn't sure why she walked in and shut the door. "Not all your time. Just this particular time," she answered. "What's wrong?"

 Tam was scrubbing at her eyes and nose, obviously trying to pull herself together. "It's private stuff."

 "Something to do with a guy then?" she guessed, having been down that road before.

 Tam gave her a hopeless look. She was so formidable usually that it made Lisa feel uneasy to see her so vulnerable. "Do you do this a lot?"

 "Stick my nose in where it's not wanted?" She perched on the opposite desk. "Sure. How do you think I met all my friends?"

 Tam raised a watery but grim smile. "And are they going to hear all about this?"

 Charming. "Could you give me just a little bit of credit for being a decent human being?"

  Lisa cursed herself the moment she'd said it. Tam wasn't deeply involved with the Nightworld, but apparently she'd found her soulmate in local neurotic and nutcase Aspen Martin, which meant she probably knew exactly how inhuman Lisa was.

 Those dark eyes, soft and shrewd, could see quite clearly despite the haze of tears. "Maybe if you were actually human."

 "You know what I meant." This wasn't going how most of these conversations did. But then Lisa had good reason to be edgy: it was Aspen's fault that Chatoya had had the Furies dumped on her. And it was Tam's fault that Aspen had suddenly decided that he wanted to swap death and destruction for cookies and kids. She couldn't help but resent this girl, who meant that her best friend was drifting further from her, tangling with dangers and devils that were beyond her.

 "I did." Tam eyed her. "I guess that was pretty mean of me. Sorry. You're the only person who's bothered to come in."

 "Believe me, I'm starting to wish I hadn't bothered," she said tartly, then relented. She might not like Tam, but she couldn't deny that she was going through a tough time. First her closest friend had vanished, and if Aspen wasn't involved with that somehow, she was the Marquis de Sade; it could be no coincidence that the moment Tam's crazy, assassin soulmate appeared, her ruggedly attractive male friend disappeared with an alacrity that would have made Harry Houdini blink.

 On top of that, Chatoya had mentioned there had been some kind of furore with Aspen's father, who had been a nasty enough piece of work for Toya to kill him without showing much regret about it.

 Throw in the fact Toya had nearly killed Aspen - accidentally, this time - and she could see that Tam Slone might want to cry about it all.

 "There's two ways this can go, anyway," she continued, making an effort to be gentle. "You can tell me to get lost, and I will, and if anyone starts rumours about you crying during lunch, it won't be me. Or you could tell me what's up, and I'll try and help, if I can. I'm good at keeping secrets."

 "You and everyone else round here," muttered Tam. She ran her hands over her cheeks as if trying to smooth away the shininess there. A deep breath. "It's Aspen."

 Surprise, surprise. "What's he done?"

 "He keeps going off with Chatoya Irkil," she said glumly. "I've hardly seen him for the last two weeks, and every time I do see him, he's all elusive about what he's been doing. I think he's getting back into that...that assassin stuff. I thought that was all done with!"

 Lisa snorted. "Well, at least you don't think they're sneaking around behind your back."

 "No way. Even if he was interested, and he's not - I know that much, at least - Chatoya belongs to Blue. Aspen wouldn't do anything that might annoy Blue," Tam said bitterly.

 Interesting. Lisa had her own problems with Blue, and anything she learned about him would be useful. So he was dumb enough to think Toya belonged to him, huh? Not if she had a say in it. "What exactly do you know about his..." She searched for a tactful term. "...former job?"

 Tam shrugged. "He was an assassin. What else is there to know?"

 Ah. That left out rather a lot of Aspen's complex past. Lisa didn't know much about the Furies, despite spending the early part of her life living with one, but she had done everything she could to discover more since Toya had taken over Pursang. Her boyfriend had let slip details here and there, and Cougar had been an unanticipated fount of information.

 Lisa tried to think how to put it. Then she was struck by insight. "You know the Mafia?"

 "Horse heads in people's beds?" Tam looked horrified. "He does that?"

 "Not...as far as I know. But there are three big organisations in the Nightworld, and they're a little bit like the Mafia, only a lot nastier. We call them the Furies, and there's three of them: Nightfire, K'Shaia, Pursang. Aspen used to run Pursang."

 Bemusement crept into her face. "Are you sure? I mean, Aspen?"

 Wow. Aspen's inner teddy bear must be a lot more cute and cuddly than I thought if she's having trouble believing this.

 "Positive. Have you met Vaje?"

 "Growly voice? Looks like he's spent every day of his life lounging on a beach?"

 Lisa was less than flattered to hear him described that way, but she supposed it was sort of accurate, if you had the observation skills of a mole. "Aspen used to be his boss."

 "But what does that mean? You say it like it's something bad."

 How did you explain to someone who hadn't grown up on the Nightworld, to whom it was all a vague and bizarre idea? Lisa struggled for the words. Finally, she came up with concrete proof of just how scary the Furies were. "You've met Blue Malefici."

 Tam shuddered. Now they were getting somewhere.

 "Well, he runs Nightfire. Imagine a couple of hundred people who are just as cold and creepy as him. Now imagine Aspen running them. That's what he's part of - that's what the Furies are. That's why they scare the hell out of us."

 The human's mouth trembled, and Lisa felt a stab of pity. She should have been hearing this from Aspen, not her. "But I thought he was leaving."

 "You don't ever leave the Furies," she said gently, guilt rising in her stomach as Tam's features slackened with a mixture of hurt and disappointment. She did what she could to take that look away. "Not because he doesn't want to leave. From what I've heard, he does."

 That was a partial lie. Aspen Martin had positively bounced into their house some mornings.

"But there's two problems."

 "Which are?" Strained made Tam's voice shrill.

She spread her hands. "Do you really think Blue would let him get away, when Aspen knows as much as he does?"

 "No." Tam stared at her hands. "I know he doesn't like me much."

 More than you think. After all, you're still alive. That's practically affection, for Blue.

 "And second...Aspen had to give Pursang to someone before he could leave. He gave it to Toya."

 Her head snapped up. "Chatoya Irkil? Your witch friend? But she's - she's so sweet! She helped me when Aspen got hurt, and she seemed to hate Blue!"

 "She does. She's trying to change Pursang, but she needs help to do it. And there aren't many people who know it better than Aspen." She spoke as if she was intimately involved with Chatoya's plans for Pursang. In fact, what she'd told Tam was the sum of her knowledge. "By staying, he's trying to help her do the right thing. And you know, I think he's doing it because he knows it would please you."

 Pure conjecture, but Chatoya did keep telling her Aspen wasn't as abominable as he once had been. Lisa hadn't been about to find out for herself, given that most of her encounters with Aspen had ended in shouting.

 But conjecture or not, it meant something to Tam. A new brightness, this one nothing to do with misery, filled her eyes, and she offered up another tremulous smile. "Really?"

 "I'm told he's quite mad about you," she said grudgingly. As opposed to being quite mad, which was what he usually was.

 "You don't like Aspen, do you?" The question was unexpected and astute.

 Lisa debated how to answer it, but finally decided not to break her policy of honesty about other people. "I think he's a horrible bigot with the IQ of a dishcloth and a complete madman."

 That muffled sound might have been a giggle. Tam had a hand covering her mouth, and when she finally spoke, she did indeed sound amused. "I used to think that. And...you're not entirely wrong. But he's trying really hard to get over that."

 Maybe he was. Even so, she didn't feel inclined to give him a break until she'd seen hard evidence of his reformation. "Well, it's bit harder to cure than tonsillitis. Penicillin just won't do it." She paused. "Although if you used it as a pessiary it might go some way to solving the problem. I'd certainly feel better."

 Tam frowned at her, as if she was trying to figure out a complex equation. "And I feel better. How did you do that?"

 Same old, same old. Reassurance, a dash of the truth, and a healthy dose of lies. But I think I'll keep that thought to myself.

 She shrugged. "Just telling it how it is."

Tam nodded slowly. "Well...thanks. You didn't have to help me. And...you told me what I needed to know."

 No, I told you what you wanted to hear. Not really the same at all.

 "No problem." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "I have to go. If I run, I might just be able to grab some food."

 As she hurried through the corridors, Lisa wound back that baffling encounter. She couldn't say to herself why she'd done it, except perhaps she knew how it felt to have your soulmate keep secrets from you. Discovering his secrets had been a cruel betrayal: she hoped Tam could cope better with what she had learned about Aspen.

 And now I have secrets, she thought sadly, and I too keep them from the people I love.

 Nor for much longer, she vowed. Soon...I'll tell them. Just not today. Maybe tomorrow.

 Or the day after. Someday.