by Кирстен Уайт
David jumped back and I screamed, yanking my hand away in terror. What had I done? I really was like Vivian, a murderer. I watched, stunned, for the golden handprint to show up and Arianna to crumple to the ground. And a part of me, a small, terrible part, waited to know what it would feel like.
Her convulsions shifted into giggles. “Oh, I got you bad!” She was laughing so hard now she doubled over.
I leaned against the counter and gasped for breath. Trying not to cry, I shoved her shoulder, almost knocking her over. “You stupid brat! I can’t believe you did that!”
David sighed. “That was in very poor taste.”
At the table, Stacey had her head buried in Luke’s chest. She was bawling, and Luke looked like he wanted to rip Arianna’s throat out.
“Oh, lighten up,” she said, still laughing. “That was awesome and you know it. You should have seen the look on your face. You really thought you were killing me.”
“Yeah, well, now I kind of want to.” I glared at her. I couldn’t get that dumb dream out of my head.
I had actually thought of Fire Girl as Vivian again.
“Hey, good morning.” Lend walked into the kitchen, stopping as he took in everyone’s faces. “What did I miss?”
“Arianna’s a freaking comedic genius,” I muttered, sitting back down to finish my cereal.
“Evie was showing us how this thing kills, and Arianna decided to make it a little more dramatic,”
David added drily.
“So great,” Arianna said, finally getting her laughter under control.
“Were you talking about the poem?” Lend asked. “What have you figured out?”
David shook his head. “No, you’re officially banned from listening to us. Or thinking about this. Or even thinking about thinking about this, understand?”
“But I—”
“No. I mean it. You and Evie both. This is not your problem anymore.”
Lend scowled as he got some cereal and sat next to me. Honestly, I had been under so much pressure for so long that it was a relief to turn it over to the adults. I didn’t want to think about faeries or crazy burning girls anymore. I, for one, would be following David’s rules. It was about time I got to be sixteen.
I pushed the image of Lish’s lifeless body out of my mind with a wave of guilt. This wasn’t my fight. I’d done my part already.
“Are you ready?” Lend asked.
“Oh yeah.” I was so ready. Distractions, please. “Are there are a lot of paranormals at the school, too? Vamps?”
Arianna snorted. “Why on earth would a vampire go to high school?”
“Well, then I don’t have to deal with you today, so already high school’s super.”
“You’d better get going,” Lend’s dad said, looking at the clock.
I followed Lend out to the car, practically skipping.
We pulled up to a sprawling brick building and parked in a crowded lot. I jumped out of the car, waiting impatiently while Lend gathered his backpack and books.
“We’ll go to the office first to check you in.” We entered through glass double doors, and a couple of perky office ladies greeted us. Lend gave them a winning smile. “I’ve got my absence excuse slip and I’m checking in my guest. I think my dad called?”
“Oh, yes,” said one of the ladies, a plump woman with short, curly red hair. “Been sick, sweetheart?”
“Yup. Pretty bad.” Lend handed her a paper and she looked over it, then entered something into a computer. She handed me a visitor pass, which I rather reluctantly clipped to the bottom of my shirt.
Lame.
“Okay, you’re all set.”
“Thanks.” I got butterflies in my stomach as we turned and walked through the door into the main hallway.
It was amazing. Seriously, it was incredible. The school was kind of run-down and dingy, but the kids! Teenagers, everywhere! Deliciously ordinary, completely oblivious teenagers! I had never been around so many at one time. Lend and I cut into the traffic flow and walked down the hall, and
I realized that none of them noticed us or cared. They jostled each other, shouted hellos, insulted each other in slang I’d never heard but vowed to try out. And I was there in the middle of it all.
I was normal. It was heaven.
We turned down a side hall and Lend stopped, holding his hands up dramatically. “I give you—my locker.”
It was a sickly teal, paint chipping off the corners to reveal a previous tan coat. I reached out and put my hand on the cold metal.
“So, is it everything you imagined?” he asked.
“Everything I imagined and more,” I whispered, then busted up laughing. “Seriously, this whole place—it’s incredible! I can’t believe you get to do this every day!”
“Funny, because most people here, myself included, really wish that we didn’t have to.”
“That’s because you have no idea how precious normal is. Now.” I put my hands on my hips and looked around. “According to Easton Heights, a fistfight over a girl should be breaking out at some point today, followed by a tear-streaked catfight in the girl’s bathroom. Should I keep my eyes open? And, more important, do I join the fight, or just watch?”
Lend laughed. “Umm, yeah, probably not going to happen. We’ll go to my classes, eat lunch, go to more class, and you’ll realize that high school is mind-numbingly boring.”
“Not a chance,” I said, grinning. “It’s already awesome.”
At the end of one of my best days ever, we sat in the car waiting for the line out of the parking lot to move. “So, you like the whole high school thing?” Lend asked.
“Let’s see.” I frowned thoughtfully. “History is boring—already knew that. Some classes are a joke —nice surprise. Even normal people are strange—figured that one out already. No vicious creatures
I needed to subdue with a Taser—always a plus. Yup, high school’s pretty cool in my book.” And it was. I even got to go to art class. The teacher made me model in front of the whole class for life drawing, which was almost scarier than facing that room full of vamps. At least I knew what the vamps were thinking.
We pulled out of the parking lot and I saw a sign on the corner advising students to buy their prom packages. “You guys haven’t had your prom yet?”
“Oh. No, I guess not.” Lend fidgeted in his seat and was quiet.
Oh, crap—he probably thought I was hinting that I wanted him to ask me, and now he felt awkward because he didn’t want to. We made it halfway home in perfect silence, our awesome day ruined.
Brilliant move, Evie.
“So,” he said, finally speaking up. “Do you—I mean, it’s kind of lame, but do you want to go to the prom? With me?”
“Seriously?”
He shrugged, not taking his eyes off the road. “You don’t have to, I just thought maybe you’d—”
“Yes! I’d love to! Absolutely! I mean, it’d be kind of fun, right?” I could have melted ice, my smile was so bright. Lend’s face broke into a smile, too, which made me realize how nervous he had looked before. No wonder he’d been so quiet!
“Cool. It’ll be fun.”
The afternoon passed quickly. Every time I thought about the prom, a sort of giddy sense of unreality descended on me. Surely this couldn’t be my life. It was too amazing. I was going to the prommy prom—with Lend.
GIRLS, CRYING, WOLVES
D inner was a little uncomfortable. I hadn’t been to an actual family dinner in years. Sometimes in the Center Raquel or Charlotte ate with me; when they didn’t I took my food into Central Processing, but it wasn’t like Lish could exactly sit down at a table with me.
No crying at the dinner table. No thinking about Lish.
Stacey and Luke sat on the opposite end of the table, and every time I glanced up, Stacey was darting looks at me that hovered between terrified and furious. I could barely even make eye contact with either one of them, not now that I knew what would have happened if they had been
caught by
IPCA.
David was on the phone in the other room all through dinner, but when we were nearly done eating he came in, and sat down heavily in his chair, a relieved and weary smile on his face. He turned toward me.
“We did it.”
“Did what?” I asked.
“I didn’t want to say anything until everyone was safe, but your Canada tip was enough. I have an old friend who’s a CPM, Canadian Paranormal Monitor. They always maintained a degree of separation from IPCA because they were uncomfortable with an international organization having rights to their citizens. He’d been tracking IPCA activity, and with your info he found all the werewolves.”
I sat back in my chair. “All of them? And they got the trackers off?”
David nodded happily. Stacey’s eyes had gone wide; I couldn’t read her expression.
“Where are they going to go?” They couldn’t go back to their old lives—IPCA had records on all of them. They’d be retagged in no time.
“Some of them are going to be folded in as CPMs, hidden right under IPCA’s nose. Another busload just arrived in town so we can get them new identities and then help them settle somewhere.”
“Here?” Stacey whispered. “What about—”
The doorbell rang. Stacey turned toward the entry, her face as white as a sheet.
Lend, puzzled, got up to answer the door. After a few seconds he came back in. With Charlotte.
“Charlotte!” I said, shocked. Stacey stood up and burst into tears, throwing her arms around Charlotte’s neck.
“I’m so sorry!” Stacey sobbed, burying her face in Charlotte’s shoulder. “I never should have said those things—never should have—I’m sorry.”
Tears spilled down my former tutor’s face, too, and she pulled Stacey in closer and stroked her hair.
“It’s okay. Really, it’s okay. I’m sorry, too.”
That’s when it clicked, why Stacey looked so familiar. This, then, was the family member Charlotte had attacked and felt so guilty about she’d tried to kill herself.
David and Arianna stood; Lend and I followed them out to give the sisters some privacy. Guilt twisted, sharp and gnawing in my stomach. I knew none of it was my fault. I hadn’t turned Charlotte into a monster, hadn’t made her bite her sister. I hadn’t personally separated them when they needed each other the most. But then again, I’d helped IPCA every step of the way.
“So, any other news?” Arianna asked, lighting a cigarette as we gathered on the porch.
“You know I don’t like you smoking those things,” David said, frowning.
“Yeah, ’cause they might kill me?” She grinned bitterly, but put it out.
David sighed. “The news isn’t good. IPCA lost another center.”
“Which one?” I asked, fear tightening my throat.
“Bucharest.”
Bucharest, so mostly vampires. I was instantly relieved, and then felt even guiltier. Would I have been relieved if Arianna were one of the victims?
“At least Bucharest is far away,” she muttered.
“The attacks are getting worse. I’m going to send as many of the paranormals away as I can. It’s not safe anymore, having such a high concentration here. We don’t know how she’s finding these places; we can’t take any risks.”
“What about everyone who stays?” Lend asked.
“We’ll make do. It seems like she’s got some sort of target on IPCA, so hopefully we’ll stay under the radar. In the meantime, my contacts are going to smuggle out as many tagged paranormals as they can and filter them through us.”
“What’s IPCA doing?” I asked. Surely they were doing something more to protect themselves and the paranormals.
“Near as I can tell, running around like a chicken with its head cut off,” David said with a sigh.
“They’re trying to work in some emergency plans, get things moving, but they’ve always been the bully, never the victim. They don’t know how to handle it.”
“What can we do?” Lend asked.
“You can go inside and do your homework.”
Lend looked ready to protest, but David silenced him with a raised hand. “None of this is your problem. Inside, homework, now.”
I followed Lend, sitting by him on the couch as he glowered at his calculus book. I knew he was frustrated, but I was with David on this one. If IPCA couldn’t do anything, who could? The best we could do was protect paranormals and hide.
Hearing the murmurs from the kitchen made me nervous. I didn’t know what to say to Charlotte, what I could possibly do to make up for what had been done to her. What I had been a part of.
After about an hour she came out with Stacey and Luke, along with a couple of suitcases. Stacey gave me a tight smile as she walked out, but Charlotte stopped. I stood awkwardly, staring at the ground.
“Charlotte, I didn’t know about—I’m so sorry.”
She put her hand on my shoulder and I looked up. Her warm blue eyes sparkled over her yellow wolf ones. “Please don’t apologize. We’re both free now. Enjoy it.” She leaned in and pecked me on the cheek, then left, giving me one last smile. For once, it had no trace of sadness at all.
HEY, STUPID
I was relieved later when Lend finally shut his books; I’d had too much time to sit there, stewing over lost friends, werewolves, and Fire Girl’s escalating attacks. I was tired of feeling guilty and scared.
“Want to watch a movie or something?”
I enthusiastically agreed, and we scanned through the channels, debating the merits of various movies they had on demand. Settling on a romantic comedy (yeah, I totally won the debate), I snuggled into the couch while Lend made popcorn. When he came back, he sat down so we were touching.
Just after the opening credits, he took my hand and wove his fingers through mine. I knew from the triumphant, happy flips my stomach was doing that, this time, we were holding hands for real. And it was the best thing ever.
Have I mentioned how amazing Lend’s skin was? Unbelievably soft and smooth. And his hand was so warm, it felt wonderful. Not weird, creeping-up-my-arm warmth like Reth, just nice, very-normal warm. Tingly and happy-all-over warm. Over-the-moon, I’m-holding-hands-with-a-super-cuteguy-who’s-taking-me-to-the-prom warm.
He stroked the top of my thumb with his. “Is this okay?” he whispered. I loved that he actually sounded nervous.
I snuggled into his side more, squeezing his hand and laying my head on his shoulder. “Yeah.” I smiled so big I thought my face would break. “It’s okay.” He let out a relieved breath and rested his head on the top of mine.
When the movie was almost over (best movie ever—no idea what it was, though, didn’t really care)
Lend’s dad came into the room. I quickly lifted up my head, but Lend didn’t move. After a second of taking in the scene, David smiled. “I’m headed to bed. Don’t stay up too late, it’s a school night.”
“Okay, Dad, good night.”
“Good night,” I added. That had gone well. I put my head back on Lend’s shoulder, never wanting the movie to end.
I guess Lend felt the same way, because when the credits rolled he said, “Want to watch another one?”
“Yeah!” Did I ever.
He picked another movie, then pulled a throw blanket from the side of the couch and put it over our legs. The last few weeks had been so strange, so scary, that this little piece of wonderful normal was the best thing that had ever happened to me.
Halfway into the movie my eyes drifted shut. When I opened them the light in the room was different. I couldn’t put my finger on it until I realized it was brighter, warmer—and not coming from the
TV. I lifted my head. Vivian was sitting in the armchair, watching the movie. Her golden sphere of flames floated tantalizingly behind her.
“What are you doing?” I hissed. I looked over at Lend; he was staring at the TV, oblivious. Then I glared at Vivian again. “You shouldn’t be here!”
She r
olled her eyes, slouching down and propping her feet on the coffee table. “Relax, I’m not.”
I frowned. “Oh. I’m asleep.”
“Duh?”
“This is so stupid. You aren’t real.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I’m not? Ouch. Here I thought we were finally connecting.”
“You’re just my brain trying to make sense of everything that happened.”
“Wow. Okay.” She smiled, a mischievous glint in her pale eyes. “How about I prove it to you? You still have that phone thingie from IPCA?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t like where this was going.
“Find it, take a look at your messages.”
Nerves gnawed at my stomach. This was ridiculous—it was a dream. “If you were real, I’d be totally scared right now.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re crazy and you run around killing people?”
“I don’t kill people.”
“You killed Lish and Jacques and all those vamps!”
“Yeah, last time I checked—not people.”
“Whatever. And can you move your stupid glowy thing? It hurts my eyes.” Truth was, I just wanted to look at it. If Lend’s hand hadn’t been firmly anchoring me to the couch, I would have gone over to it already.
She laughed. “You’re so weird. Didn’t you already get more?”
“No! I don’t want any.” My eyes lingering on the brilliant mass probably gave away the lie.
“Well, you’re brighter than you were before. I thought you figured it out.”
I looked down. My shirt was gone, and I was sitting there in my bra. Sure enough, my heart was even brighter. “That’s weird,” I said, both about the missing shirt and the brighter flames. I looked at Lend, panicked about my near nudity, but he was still staring at the TV. I turned back to Vivian.
“I didn’t do anything. And I know Reth hasn’t been around.”
Vivian shrugged. She kept her eyes on the movie. “You can’t keep going on your own forever, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you’re already on borrowed time. When they made you, they only gave you a little bit.”
“Wait—made me?” Reth had said the same thing. “You mean our parents? Did you know them?”