Turned by Blood

by Holly Hook

  Chapter Four

  The next day, Mom left the house to go deal with the apartment. I wasn't required to go. I guessed that she was fine with me staying at a home with adult supervision. Alyssa's grandmother, her mother's mother, was Normal and had once been an ATC supporter. That was a point in her favor, and Xavier was still here.

  Xavier ate more of the brownies. To make things safer, I dropped a few crumbs on my sweater for Mom to see whenever she got back.

  “I'm never eating food again,” I said, plopping down at the kitchen table while Xavier ate.

  Alyssa sat opposite me. Her grandmother remained in the living room, watching television.

  “You handled it well,” she said. “When I tried the cake, I didn't hold it down for over thirty seconds.”

  I stared at the patterns in the wood table. “Mom will kick me out if I don't keep up the charade.”

  “We don't know,” Xavier said, chewing. He stood at the counter, away from us, as if he could sense how much power he radiated. Today, he wore no sunglasses, leaving his violet eyes out for everyone to see. They almost sparkled with War Magic. I had the sense that if I told Xavier that, he'd freak out.

  And we kept the curtains shut because it was a party sunny day in the Cumberland area. Usually, it was cloudy or rained, which helped Alyssa and her father live here, but even then, the daylight was a drag. Full sunlight caused a nasty migraine within seconds, and then seizures, according to Alyssa, and that was an experience I wanted to avoid. Being out during a cloudy day or even inside would just make us weaker, but at least we'd be able to function. Alyssa had given me plenty of warning: either way, prepare to feel yucky a lot. She and her father dealt with that all the time.

  “Are you coming back to school?” I asked Alyssa. It was better than thinking about the events of last night, both here and away.

  “I don't know,” Alyssa said. “The school has me down under the name Roslyn, but after what happened, I'm sure they know who I am. I might not get back to the same school. Another one, maybe. Dad's working on it.”

  “School,” Xavier said with a snort.

  Most Mages were home-schooled in the Underground or went to hidden academies. Alyssa's dad had been talking about pulling her out and finishing her last two years at home.

  “But I want to,” Alyssa said. “I want to go back with you.”

  Alyssa's father knew about my condition, which was no big deal. He had the same problem. “I want you to come back, too, but only if it's safe,” I said. I couldn't imagine going to soccer practice without Alyssa. Sure, she hadn't been able to take part in practice on sunny days, but she'd kicked killer goals for us on the cloudy ones. Coach Lancey tolerated her “migraines” because of that. But I also knew Coach Lancey had gotten questioned about Alyssa by the authorities, and wouldn't let her back on the team unless she was desperate.

  “You know, I miss school,” Alyssa said. “I never thought I would say that. School is normal.”

  “I'm going back on Monday,” I said. “Don't risk coming back for me.”

  “I'm sorry,” Xavier said.

  “Then I'm going back, too,” Alyssa said. “Just remember, my name is Roslyn there.”

  “Don't risk that for me,” I said. I knew she felt a responsibility for biting me.

  “I'm going,” Alyssa said. “We need to stick together. Bathory still has her minions searching for us, and if Thoreau knew about our classes, then she does, too.”

  I thought of how the mayor had placed Alyssa and I in the same classes. His words still swirled through my head, making me feel like a pawn. “Maybe we can change classes?” I asked.

  "I'll pick the two of you up after school every day," Xavier said. "If that's how you're going to be, I'll make sure no one ambushes you after classes."

  “Stop,” I said. “We don't know what she's planning. It could be something big, and she might want Alyssa for it. She's the one with all the rare genes.” My friend turned out to have inherited some rare genes from some ancient, powerful Abnormals, which was why the mayor wanted her for his world-ending rite. Bathory might want something similar.

  “Exactly,” Alyssa said. “That's why I'm going back to school with you.”

  “But the teachers might tell the ATC if they know who you are,” I said.

  “We'll deal with that when the time comes,” she said.

  “And weapons aren't allowed,” I said.

  “We've saved the world, and now we're discussing classes,” Xavier said.

  “Yes,” I said. “This wouldn't be much of a problem if it wasn't for last night.” Even though the old vampires were the biggest threat, my thoughts turned to my mom, relieved that I still seemed Normal.

  And my stomach was growling all over again. Alyssa faced me when she heard it.

  “You're hungry,” she said.

  “I don't understand,” I said. “You told me I'd only need, um, nourishment every couple of days.”

  “That's how it is for me,” Alyssa said. “Well, when I'm not fighting and getting hurt all the time. Then I need more. Maybe it's because this is your first week? You also did a lot of running last night. Plus, you threw up.”

  “I don't know,” I said. I tensed and my stomach growled again. Throwing up last night hadn't helped. I wished my mom would understand how much worry she was causing me. If she didn't hate most Abnormals, this would be a lot easier. “What are we going to do? School's not going to work so well when I'm hungry.” I'd sit there, surrounded by Normals.

  I remembered the crazed look in Alyssa's eyes right before she bit me in George's living room.

  Her hunger.

  Her lack of control.

  I thought of the call home the school would make if I did that in class.

  Soccer would be awesome and I'd spend more time off the bench, but if I lost control in public, that would end it all.

  “We can ask Trish,” Alyssa said. “If we dress up enough, we'll be able to get through the sun for a few minutes and use the sewers to travel to the Underground. Xavier knows all the ways down there.”

  “Aren't they still fixing it?” I asked. Trish was a doctor down there, and she had a supply of blood bags on hand. She had been a Normal doctor in the late eighteen hundreds, one of the first females, until Russell Fox, the same guy who bit Alyssa a century later, sank his teeth into her neck. That ended her career.

  “They are, but it's moving along,” Xavier said. “The Mages are putting more wards up to keep the ATC out. They've been working overtime creating fake entrances to fool Normals. That kind of magic isn't easy to pull off.”

  I'd been wondering how they kept the ATC from invading the underground city again. Now I would find out.

  I had time, now that Mom was out dealing with the moving company. She had never taken me out with her if she didn't need to. Mom had spent all her time parenting when I was younger, and she always ranted that she needed a break. It was understandable. My father was the biggest loser and responsible for that.

  I wished she didn't say I'd never amount to anything all the time. It got old.

  Alyssa and I headed downstairs, and she got out the black Halloween robe George had let her borrow. My poor second cousin was still dealing with his house fire and with the insurance company. He hadn't even had time to ask how I was adjusting.

  She handed me the robe, and I put it on, feeling a like a freak. This wouldn't draw any stares at all. But it was better than full sun exposure, so I put the hood as far down over my face as I could.

  “What's your excuse?” I asked. “Cosplay?”

  “Cosplay,” Alyssa said.

  I'd been in the Underground before, when my mother and I had to hide after escaping the mayor, but I hadn't explored it much. Xavier lent Alyssa his coat and the three of us set out when a cloud moved over the sun, but it wasn't enough to block out a headache from starting between my temples the moment I stepped outside. I squinted, but the ache remained, and it was one of those headaches that threat
ened to explode the moment the sun came out all the way.

  We walked under trees as much as we could, but it didn't do much to keep the ache away. Alyssa kept Xavier's leather hat low over her face, but she was squinting, too. I stared at the sidewalk, feeling exposed. The robe was thin and cheap, meant as a decoration.

  Would I have to go to school like this, at least on the way there and back? I knew I'd have to sit far from windows, but that was easier than the trip to and from the place. I didn't want to imagine what the kids would say. Now I understood Alyssa's need for Migraine Blankets when I took her home from school—and why she always had me drive her.

  And I still hadn't had the chance to file my teeth.

  Xavier led the way for us. We were both useless out here, but at least Alyssa had brought her sword. We had a weapon, a sharpened one that wasn't a cheap store imitation. She had it hidden underneath her leather jacket.

  I wondered if I could ask Alyssa about martial arts training. Her father had enrolled her in it so she'd have a means to vent her aggression, and I was feeling why. I wanted to fight, and it would get me in trouble if I didn't deal with it soon.

  Xavier led us to a sewer hole, and right when he asked for Alyssa's help in pulling it up, he lifted it himself. Xavier stared at the metal lid in his hands in wonder. His strength had increased.

  “What did the mayor do?” he asked. “I was never this strong.”

  Alyssa hesitated. “I don't know,” she said.

  “My magic is stronger,” Xavier said. “Something happened. He pumped Mars's power into me, or something.”

  “That sounds like it,” Alyssa said. She nodded at me to climb down into the sewer.

  I hated keeping secrets. Thoreau had told Alyssa that Xavier had become a god, a full immortal. It seemed the demon had told us all different things. Why couldn't Alyssa bring herself to tell him?

  But I'd keep my promise. I scrambled down the ladder as the cloud moved away from the sun, making a full headache burst to life. I seethed with the pain and scrambled into the dark, landing six feet below. A narrow tunnel stretched out, and I'd have to duck, but as soon as I fled the light, the headache faded.

  Alyssa climbed down next, and Xavier followed, slipping the sewer cover back over with ease.

  “I don't get it,” he said. “War Mages are human. We have normal strength.”

  “Maybe it's my influence on you,” Alyssa said. “You heal faster. And now that our bond is stronger that might have something to do with it.”

  “I can't think of any other War Mages who got increased strength from their partners.” He slipped his hand into Alyssa's.

  “Well, some unusual things happened that could have affected you,” she said.

  We didn't like to talk about the period right before the mayor's rite much. It was too traumatic for Alyssa. But Xavier seemed satisfied and nodded at me and Alyssa to lead the way. He still must not be able to see in the dark.

  But I could. When in full darkness, everything looked like a fifties TV show, just without any static. I could see the tunnel of the sewer, just without any color. To Xavier, it must be almost pitch black.

  So we led the way. Alyssa carried Xavier at some points, allowing the two of us to run at full speed. No one was traveling through the sewer. Sometimes, other Abnormals used it to move under the city. Under this suburb, the tunnel was small and claustrophobic, but it got larger the farther we traveled and the closer to Cumberland we got. After walking for two hours, we found a catwalk above a flowing river of runoff mixed with some occasional trash. I could smell rats' last meals, and the scent of a drunk guy wafted out of another tunnel. A whole new world had opened up.

  The light got better here, and there were even sodium lights on the wall. My color vision returned. It was duller than the night vision, but I could still see more details than before, and I could also see much farther down the tunnel than I should.

  "We're definitely under Cumberland by now," Xavier said, jumping down from Alyssa's arms. He led us to a panel in the wall that didn't look unusual down here. It looked as if some workers had come down and patched up a hole in the wall, and I would have passed the plywood without a thought. There were lots of pieces down here, nailed to walls. “This,” he explained, “is a door.”

  “Looks like plywood,” I said.

  “It's glamoured,” he explained. “It's a door.” He placed his hand on the edge and pulled.

  I cringed, waiting for him to break the plywood by mistake, but on the other side of a blink, a wooden door swung open and revealed a staircase that led into darkness.

  “Whoa,” Alyssa said. “That's good magic, but what if a Normal pulls on it by mistake?”

  “They might,” Xavier said. “The Mages are trying to make it so that only the Underground people can open these doors. That's a hard spell, but they're working on it. This is what we have right now. There's no doubt the ATC will be back as soon as they regroup.”

  “The Mages should look at that library in Turkey,” Alyssa said. “Now that the mayor's gone, those books belong here.”

  “I suggested that to my aunt,” Xavier said, “as much as I hated the idea. But my parents will bring as many books back as they can.”

  “I like your parents,” Alyssa said.

  The three of us descended the steps, and Xavier closed the door again. As soon as it clicked, it turned back into a piece of plywood. “I will also suggest they use something that blends in better,” he said.

  “Then not everyone will find it,” Alyssa said. “Some Normals come down here, too. What about Thorne?” He was her martial arts instructor.

  “He'll just have to deal with it,” Xavier said. “The ATC will try coming back.”

  I was glad to venture back into the Underground even if the mayor had blown its cover. A new collection of scents wafted up. It was a cool place full of underground mansions, gardens, markets and more, and you could meet almost every type of Abnormal down there, except most types of demons. That was a relief as I'd discovered that they smelled like raw sewage and were not capable of being nice.

  And I smelled none of that.

  Vegetation and cooking food wafted up, which was much better. The staircase went down forever. The tunnels down here had started during Prohibition according to Xavier and had gotten used for cover ever since. There were plenty of bars and taverns thanks to that, but people had expanded things over the years.

  “You can take off your sunglasses,” Alyssa said.

  I did. No one would judge me down here.

  I had the liberty to be myself around strangers, but not at home.

  The stairs took us down to an underground mall, a wide stone hallway with a brick floor and actual push wagons full of merchandise. Lanterns hung from the walls and flickered since electricity didn't run down here. Being the Underground, most of the shops sold things like Mages' robes, herbs, cuts of meat, and even potions. The smells were driving me crazy, but after a few minutes of walking, I found I could tune a lot of it out. The sensory overload was getting more bearable than before. A large man that carried a doggy smell nodded at me and continued on his way. It wasn't crowded down here. It felt like the mall on the surface when it was open for walkers, and the shops were still an hour from lifting their gates.

  I eyed a shopkeeper who was short, with brownish skin like tree bark.

  “Keep going,” Xavier said. “Fae enjoy trying to trick you.”

  “Your last battle partner was one,” Alyssa reminded him. “So you'd know.”

  “Don't bring her up. Lisa was nothing compared to you.”

  “Come on, guys,” I said. My stomach played a concert again. “We need to get to Trish and see if she can give me some, um, stuff.”

  “She's right,” Alyssa said.

  “Don't bite fae,” Xavier warned me. “They'll want something from you in return. Knowing them, they'll consider it a contract. Even thanking them is dangerous.”

  “I will not bite anybody,” I said
.

  Alyssa shot me a serious look. “I managed not to do it for years,” she said. “But someday, you might have to. Just a warning.”

  “I'm still not going to bite anybody,” I said. I remembered the story of how Alyssa had bitten a classmate in the second grade. Her father had to flee with her to another town before the authorities could catch them. Her mother freaked out and left.

  While I had all these cool new abilities, I didn't think I could deal with my mother kicking me out. Sure, I could come to the Underground, but she was all I had. Keeping this a secret was a must. Perhaps if I let her figure it out over time, the shock wouldn't cause her to do anything major. She didn't hate Alyssa now.

  I had finished sitting out for everything. While the world was in danger, I was the one who looked up maps and directions. The only thing I'd done was let Alyssa bite me so she wouldn't bite Xavier and help the mayor with his plan. And that hadn't even done any good.

  But Mom's words kept coming back.

  We left the underground mall behind and entered the living area, which held one-room apartments and skull candles enchanted with colored flames. With my new vision, the colors popped more and made the corridors look almost beautiful. Instead of heading towards the underground garden, we made a left and walked towards the poorest section of the Underground, where some people lived in literal holes in the wall.

  Xavier hung out here a lot, instead of at his subterranean mansion.

  A Seer Mage he got along with lived down this way, and Trish had her office in this section. It was as if he wanted to get away from his identity. With a family like his, I couldn't blame him.

  But when we got to Trish's makeshift office, no one was there.

  Xavier peeked inside first. “Trish? It's your favorite guy.”

  Silence. I sniffed the air, but detected nothing.

  “Maybe she went for a coffee break?” I asked.

  “Trish doesn't drink coffee,” Xavier said. “If she'd gone for a blood break, she'd only have to go to her own refrigerator.”

  I peeked into Trish's office. It was a long brick room, with a metal door that led to the fridge on the other end. Metal tools sat on a vanity with flickering candles, and more candles sat in the corners of the room, making everything flicker. A metal table for patients stood in the middle of the room, and I glimpsed a faint blue chalk circle around it. Magical rites had taken place here. Wasn't where this where Alyssa had gotten Bound to Xavier in an emergency rite?