Chapter 162

The evening air was crisp but not uncomfortable. Leesa, Cali and Rave walked three abreast down the sidewalk with Rave in the middle, heading for Fraternity Row. Streetlights fashioned to look like hundred-year-old gas lamps poured golden light onto the sidewalk and onto the tiny piles of snow along the edge of the street that were all that remained of the big snowstorm.

Leesa and Rave held hands while they walked, and since Cali knew about Rave’s volkaane nature, he let out enough of his heat to keep her warm as well.

“This is so cool,” Cali said. “It’s like walking with one of those portable quartz heaters beside me.”

“Only this heater is touchable,” Leesa said, rubbing up against Rave’s side.

They heard the festivities before they even turned the corner onto Fraternity Row. Thumping dance music seemed almost to vibrate the sidewalk, and the tumult of voices and laughter was nearly as loud. No one wo