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Krishna was there, but he kept a wide berth, eyeing me like he expected me to stride over and grab him by the scruff of his neck so I could properly reprimand him.

I had no intention of doing so, but I doubted he’d believe me, so I simply smiled blandly any time we accidentally made eye contact.

A hydra, who happened to be a hat designer, showed up with a variety of pointed witches’ hats on each of her monster heads. She handed them out like she was giving candy to trick-or-treaters. The one she gave me was draped in green and purple and gold beads, with a feathered eye mask perched like a flower on the side.

Guess it was no secret I was from New Orleans.

River hadn’t made an appearance yet. I was trying to sort through my conflicted emotions about that fact when Daruka wandered up and offered me a fresh glass of wine.

She lifted hers in toast and took a hefty swallow. “This is one of the lamest parties we’ve ever had.”

I let out a strangled laugh. “And here I was thinking I liked lame parties.”

“That’s good, because they are doing it for you.”

I waved at the small gathering of monsters. “It is my welcome party.”

“There was someone hanging from the chandelier in the lobby by now at the last welcome party.”

“Oh.” What did that mean? Did they not like me? Did they think I was boring? No one here knew me enough to make that judgment call. And while I had just told myself I was thrilled with the calmness of this party, I didn’t actually want my potential new friends to think I was lame.

Daruka leaned in and whispered, “They don’t want to scare you off.”

“I’m from New Orleans. Crazy parties will not scare me off.”

“Everyone asking you to perform a spell for them will.”

Ah. So that was what was going on. I supposed I could appreciate that Daruka or Queenie or whomever had warned everybody ahead of time. It was nice not to have to repeat, “I don’t do magic,” over and over again.

“Where’s River?” I asked. I didn’t like to spend time discussing or even thinking about my magic. And, also, I had been looking forward to seeing him.

I had been looking forward to watching his expression when he saw me in this dress Queenie had designed for me.

It was black, off the shoulder, with a wide vee in the front. It cinched at the waist and then flared like dresses from the 1950s often did, the hem reaching midcalf. I wore heels that were black with gold and purple and green polka dots, a gold bow covering my toes. The only jewelry I wore were pearl earrings and a thin gold bracelet around each wrist.

I felt glamorous. Beautiful.

Confident.

With the number of compliments I’d collected tonight, it was hard not to be confident.

Except the one person whose compliment I’d been looking forward to the most wasn’t here.

“Working,” Daruka said. That’s right. I’d asked her a question.

“Working?” I repeated, gazing around at the supernatural beings of all shapes and sizes that filled the yard. This town wasn’t that big. “Aren’t all his clients here?”

Daruka sighed. “He keeps having these visions. And when they get particularly frustrating, he retreats to his office at the tattoo parlor and draws them to get them out of his head so he can function again. I suspect that’s what he’s doing right now.”

River’s tattoo parlor was across the street. Was he seriously holed up there, drawing, knowing the rest of the town was over here having a good time?

A very mild good time, but still…

I cleared my throat. Finished my wine. Smiled brightly. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to use the ladies’ room.”

I slipped into the house.

And then I slipped out the front door and hurried across the street.