To tail or not to tail, that was the question. Midnight Reynolds stood in front of the large oak tree where she always met her friends Sav and Lucy, and clutched at the long piece of fabric tied around her waist. It was the Friday night after Halloween — which had been Midnight's birthday, actually — and their school was having a dance, complete with costumes.

Definitely a tail, she finally decided. She tightened the fabric around her waist and smoothed down the furry mouse pants her mom had made, making sure her glasses were in the pocket. Thanks to a dry-eye condition that prevented her from wearing contact lenses, she needed glasses to see at a distance. Unfortunately, when the plain wire frames were combined with her straight, dark hair, sludge-green eyes, and snub nose, they made her look like a goblin. But Midnight carried them for extreme emergencies.

The school was dark, apart from the gym, which was glowing with lights. The doors hadn't opened up yet, and despite the cool night, several groups of boys were running around in short sleeves, screaming and yelling. The girls huddled together in clumps, pretending to ignore them. It reminded Midnight of a nature documentary.

As she waited, a familiar buzzing hummed in her ear. Midnight flinched. She'd first started hearing the noise just after they moved to Berry and had thought it was a power tool. The next time it had happened, she'd assumed it was her sister Taylor's phone ringing with a new (and really annoying) ringtone. But after the rest of her family didn't blink an eye, Midnight realized that whatever it was, no one else could hear it. Which was weird and creepy. She'd been ignoring it ever since.

There was still no sign of Sav and Lucy. She glanced at the time on her phone. What if Sav hadn't forgiven her?

The whole argument had started over Logan Johnson, a boy that Midnight didn't even like. Well, not like that. But Sav did like him like that. She had been furious when Logan had called Midnight to ask for help with their science quiz.

The result was that Sav and Lucy had ignored Midnight for two days. Thankfully, just before second period, Lucy texted to say that Midnight could go to the dance with them and that they'd decided to dress up like mice. Hence the costume.

What if they'd sent her the text just to trick her?

Her stomach churned. It wouldn't be the first time she'd been humiliated. At her old school in Texas, Midnight had been teased mercilessly for her strange name and lack of money. Even thinking about the sneers and the teasing laughter caused a lump to form in her throat. But last year, her mom had inherited the house in Berry from her aunt Glenda, and they'd moved to West Virginia for a fresh start.

Fresh nightmare was more like it. Not only had her mom started dating Phil — a mechanic with a bizarre hobby of dressing up like a Viking, complete with chain mail and strange leather boots — but that was when the weird noises had started. The ones she refused to think about.

"Hey, what are you doing out here?" someone said, and Midnight jumped before turning to see Tabitha Wilson. As usual, Tabitha was all in black and wore her default smirk. They weren't exactly friends, but yesterday Miss Henderson had paired them up for a local history project.

Midnight frowned. "Waiting for friends. Anyway, why are you here? I didn't think a school dance would be your thing."

"Tell me about it. My mom's worried that I don't have enough school spirit. So it was either this or joining a sports team." Tabitha shuddered before pulling out her phone and bringing up a game. "But don't worry. I have no intention of dancing. I'm just going to sit by myself and level up on Zombie Cheerleaders. So, are we still on for tomorrow to start the project? I could come to your house if you like."

"Actually, could we go to yours instead?" Midnight said out of habit. Her mom ran a vegetarian lifestyle vlog called Vegelicious and Saturday was filming day. That meant anyone who happened to wander into the kitchen found themselves somehow involved. "Or the library, we could just meet there."

"The public library on a Saturday?" Tabitha shuddered, sending her black hair out in all directions. "No thanks. Far too many kids and oldies. But you could always come to my place."

"That would be great."

"Cool. I'll text you the address and time," Tabitha said before walking toward the dance.

There was still no sign of her friends, and Midnight chewed her lip as she studied her phone. Should she text them, or would that make it worse?

She hit the screen, but before she could bring up Sav's number, a flash of bright white light flickered up from the side of the school like static electricity. She stiffened. It was coming from the side of the school that was dark and closed for the night. Midnight rubbed her eyes, but the building was about forty feet away and her lousy focus didn't improve. There were still a few huddles of parents talking among themselves, but no one else seemed to have noticed it.

There was another flash, this time accompanied by a buzzing sound more intense than she'd ever heard. It was as if a swarm of bees had been let loose right in her ear. Goose bumps traveled along her skin and she rubbed her arms, suddenly pleased to be wearing the extra layer of fake fur. Her efforts to ignore it didn't work, and the noise increased.

Another flicker of bright light shot up into the air, and still no one acknowledged it. What if it was a fire, and she was the only one who saw it start? Midnight took a deep breath and cautiously walked toward the building. The nearby trees groaned and creaked in the wind, which did nothing to calm her erratic heartbeat.

"Hello?" she called out as she neared the school. Her vision was still too blurry to make anything out, but she thought she saw someone moving in front of her. A thin wail pierced the air, followed by a scuttling noise, as if something went racing toward the administration wing. There was no sign of a fire, but the bright lights were still flickering along the side of the building like a faulty light bulb. The buzzing noise increased, and adrenaline flared through her body. Just as she was about to call out again, the buzzing came to a sudden stop.

Apart from the dull hum of music from the dance, there was silence. Whoever had been there was gone. She was just about to turn and leave when she spotted a gold locket and chain lying at her feet. Midnight picked up the necklace and looked around for its owner. The place was still deserted, so she slipped it into her pocket and made her way back past the building and over to the oak tree.

Sav and Lucy were waiting for her.

Midnight's stomach flipped. She'd come to Berry expecting to fly under the radar at best and be bullied at worst. She'd never had friends like them before — popular friends. But on her second day at school, she'd been seated with Sav and Lucy in science. Since they'd both been too busy playing on their phones to do the osmosis project, Midnight finished it on her own. She didn't mind. She'd seen popular girls in action before — it was better for her just to do the project and not have them mess it up. When her color-coded spreadsheet of results had ended up at the top of the class, Sav and Lucy stopped ignoring her. They laughed at her jokes and decided that they were going to adopt her. For the first time in...