“No, to Camazotz, it’s not.”
“Bet Cypress loves them.” How ironic that my biggest hater has sons born in human form. I instantly feel sympathy for the young twins.
Decker snorts. “That’s one way of putting it.”
Sylvana wraps her arms around the boys’ shoulders and leans in close to whisper to each of them. The whisper continues until she pulls something from the folds of her skirt, but we’re too far away to make out what it is. The boys take one look at whatever she’s holding and then stare straight at me. Sylvana meets my eye and sneers. Her lip actually curls up to bare her teeth.
What the—
“Did you see that?” My arms break out in gooseflesh.
“Yep, but doesn’t half the colony look at you like that?”
Decker has a point. “I don’t know. That seemed extra nasty. She’s up to something.”
“She’s always up to something, but stay out of her way. Do not mess with her, Connie.” Decker’s voice has a solemn tone that adds to my nerves. “I gotta fly. See you around.”
Before I can say goodbye, Decker’s flying up into the setting sun above Rocks and his little gang. When I look back at Sylvana, she’s pointing at me and whispering to the boys. I watch as they leave her side and slowly walk around the group Rocks is presiding over to stop a few feet from the wagon steps.
“Hi there.” I smile.
The twins are identical except for their scars. The angry red lines indicate they were probably attacked at the end of last year by the owls. The boys notice me looking.
“I’m Elm,” the one on the right says. He has three parallel scars that run from his chin, down his neck and into his shirt. Talon marks I’d bet.
“I’m Oak,” his twin adds. Both boys have shoulder-length black hair and fine-boned faces. They’d be picked on at school by the bigger brutes that roam the halls if they were educated alongside aeronaughts. Oak has two parallel scars that run from his elbow to his wrist.
“That must have hurt,” I say, pointing.
They nod in unison as only twins can. “It did, but we were lucky,” Oak replies.
“I’m sorry.” The boys shrug together making me smile. “I go to school with twins just like you.”
Their eyes widen at the concept. “Really?” they say together. I bet they’ve never met any other twins and believe the BS that they’re doomed, or cursed, or evil—whatever the colony infers.
I describe the pranks the twins at school pull on the teachers every other day. The boys edge a little closer, and their eyes keep flicking to my hair. The golden blonde is such a contrast to the sea of raven-haired kids. “Want to touch it?” That earns me two ear-splitting grins.
Jumping down from the wagon, I flick my ponytail over my shoulder and kneel down. The boys are more timid than mice, but eventually get within range.
“What were you talking to Sylvana about?” I ask in my best casual voice.
“We want to get—” Oak’s hand flies over Elm’s mouth, and he vigorously shakes his head.
“We just need to practice,” Oak says to me, slowly removing his hand from his brother’s mouth. Elm won’t meet my eye.
I dig around in my backpack and pull out my Snoopy PEZ dispenser. My hope is to distract them into telling me more about what that creepy witch is up to, but it fails. Oak is tight-lipped and seems to catch on to what I’m doing. I give them the dispenser when they leave and hope that gesture doesn’t come back to bite me later.
Rocks looks over his shoulder and mouths the word sorry. I point to my watch and wave him over.
“Don’t worry about it. They need you, but I’ve got to get moving. The folks’ll be worried, and I’ve got school tomorrow. What days will you visit?”
“The market’s opening tomorrow, so I doubt I’ll be able to get away. Once things settle down again, we’ll pick up our old routine?”
“Okay. See you on Saturday then. I’ll bring all the info I can for Strickland.” I want to kiss him so badly, but we have a massive audience scrutinizing our conversation.
“Drive safely,” he says, with a wink. His eyes flick to my burning ears. “You want me to walk you to your car?”
“Nah, stay here and sort this out. Your eReader is on your bed. Enjoy it.”
Night has fallen and I pick up my pace heading to Dad’s van. I don’t feel quite so vulnerable around the Camazotz any longer, but at the same time, I never like to push my luck. When I round the end of the van to get to the driver’s door, Rocks’ old harem is waiting in ambush.
I sigh—so not in the mood to deal with these girls.
“Here she is,” Zabreena announces. “Have fun with our boy?”
“Leave me alone.” You little guano! “I know, as his cousin, anything you say to me is BS.” I try to get past them, but they won’t budge.
Zabreena points to surrounding members of the harem. “He owes them all blood bonds. No lie.” The face she pulls reminds me of playing card games with Mary Lou. She gets this smug I’ve-beaten-you look alerting us to her awesome hand. The only problem is I have no idea what “blood bond” means—but it can’t be good.
I look to Rebekkah, little Violet, and finally Phoenix. When our eyes meet, she looks away and shifts back a step.
“We should thank you. Talk about a gift, giving us Rockland to feed.” Rebekkah’s smile turns my spine to ice. She flicks the tangle of long, black, satin ribbons over her shoulder and juts out her chin.
Stay calm. They’re trying to ignite my jealousy. I chant to myself to trust Rocks as my brain tries to interpret what she’s talking about.
“Feeding him was magnificent, wasn’t it, girls? Being that close … Sharing blood … Something you will never understand.”
Oh, God. My stomach heaves at the thought. Why did I never wonder who fed Rocks while his wing healed? Real vampire bats do feed each other. I recall what I learned researching bats when I was trying to save Rocks.
They’re quite complex little blood-suckers as it turns out. Since their diet is liquid, it means they need to feed regularly. If they miss only a couple of feeds, it can be deadly, and I saw how quickly Rocks turned a weird grey color after he broke his wing. To solve this problem, the bats willingly feed their friends. Any hungry bat can go to any fed bat for a quick snack. The impressive part is that the bats remember who fed them in their time of need and who refused.
If a bat who refused to feed them asks for a free meal down the track, the other bat will remember and turn them away. They evolved this way to prevent lazy bats from not going out and even attempting to hunt and simply relying on others to keep them nourished instead. How freaking clever is Mother Nature? Except now I’m thinking about my boyfriend being fed, Mother Nature sucks. For some reason, I just assumed it would be the Land wing, but obviously not. Fudge. Their laughter confirms my face has betrayed my thoughts.
“He fed from you?” I don’t want to ask, but I need confirmation—not more innuendos that these girls are experts at delivering.
All of them, except Zabreena, smile and nod.
Oh, crap!
“Let me share my favorite part of being a female Camazotz with you—you know, girl to girl.” Rebekkah places a hand on her slender hip. A blind man could see the diva vibe she’s sending my way. “I can feed any male bat I want with my life sustaining blood. And, you know what that means?”
I don’t answer because I know she can’t wait to enlighten me.
“It means he owes me. And, when we call in a blood favor, they get answered.”
My lungs open again, allowing oxygen back in. Phew! So Rocks has to feed these little biatches at some point in the future. For a moment there, I was getting worried. I have to remember that without them feeding him, he wouldn’t be alive. As much as it pains me to admit it, they saved him way more than I did.
Zabreena adds. “You don’t get it, do you?”
“So he fed from them. They saved him. Thanks, and one night when they don’t feel like
going out, they can ask him for a feed.” I shrug like it isn’t a big deal, but the way she smiles again makes the hair on my neck stand on end. I don’t want to imagine Rocks feeding any of these girls, but if that’s what he has to do, then I’ll try to be mature about it.
She laughs and raises one eyebrow at me. “I can almost understand why your sweetness attracts him. No, naught, those favors aren’t only returned in blood if you know what I mean.”
Where’s my inhaler? What the fudge is she talking about?
“I’ll make this real simple for the simple-minded, little naught—” Rebekkah says.
“Don’t call me naught! I’m not nothing.”
“Oh, yes you are. How much time has Rockland spent with you since he’s healed?”
I turn away. Not that much. If it weren’t for me doing the driving this weekend, I wouldn’t have seen him at all. He’s only visited me twice at home in the last two weeks.
“I know where he’s been, and it hasn’t been with you, so that means you’ve got nothing. You are nothing to him. His time as a bat—unable to flip—was good for him. It made him see what matters. Blood matters. He’s back where he belongs in the colony surrounded with love.”
That gets my attention. “Ah-huh, you can’t have everything. Last year when you paid me a visit, I distinctly remember you laughing in my face about bats falling in love, so you either love him or just want to … you know … with him.” I can’t bring myself to say it because then my brain thinks it, and I’ve already thought too many times about Rocks getting busy with these girls, and that’s an image I do not need in my head. “So cut the bullshit.”
“Okay, I’ll cut the bullshit and tell you the facts,” Rebekkah cuts in. “A blood bond means you are owed a life. He can feed me, or he can give me a life—a pup. A life for a life. That cutting the bullshit enough for you?”
Little Violet steps in. “And since you’ve got him hooked on that aeronaught food of yours, he’s not going to be able to feed any of us without blood, so that doesn’t leave us much choice really.” Violet says with a wicked gleam in her eye.
“That’s enough,” Phoenix mutters.
Zabreena turns on her and I’m glad for once not to be on the receiving end of the hatred in her eyes. “Do not tell me you feel sorry for her? You be careful. You need us. That weak little wing of yours isn’t good for much.”
My heart skips a beat and my knees buckle as the implications set in. I grab the side of the van for support. No. No. No. This cannot be happening. Oh my God. They can each ask him to mate with them, and he can’t say no? My eyes land on Phoenix.
“This is pathetic to watch. She knows all she needs to. Let’s go,” Rebekkah says before flipping. Violet and Zabreena copy, and one of them flies so close, their claws tangle in my hair and yank it painfully.
“Ouch!” I should scream, but I bite my tongue, rubbing the side of my head. “Is this all … true?”
The stars around Phoenix’s eyes are pretty, but her features are filled with a deep sadness. She nods at me. “It’s true. He owes a dozen blood bonds.”
“What?” It feels like my chest has been ripped open, and my heart has been pulled from it.
“Some of the smaller wings, well, it’s the only way they would get attention from someone like Rockland. Having a Land pup raises their standing. Everything is about power and votes. He wasn’t really in a position to say no.”
FUDGE ME upside down and inside out.
“Will you ask him to mate” —I swallow— “when you call in your bond?”
She looks at me without saying anything for what feels like an eternity. “No, I won’t.”
“Why?”
“I know what they said, and they will. Trust me. But … I care for Rockland a great deal. He’s kind to our wing. We’re small and need the protection of a bigger, powerful wing. He gives that to my brother and me. But, because I care for him, I would never ask him to do something that would upset him. The others know calling in the blood bond as a mating will hurt him because of you, and it makes it all the sweeter to them. That’s not me.”
“Why are you being nice?” She was part of the posse that came visiting the Bun Lovin’ Barn both times.
“Pegasus has wanted to try aeronaught food since forever. You know it’s forbidden. He told me you introduced him to it. Tasting it made his night—probably his whole year.”
My phone ringing makes both of us jump. The parking lot doesn’t have any electric lighting so when I pull it from my pocket it lights up the whole area. Mom wants to know why I’m not home yet. Before I can get Mom off the line, Phoenix vanishes. Our conversation is clearly finished.
I want to storm back to his wagon and confront him, but I’m exhausted and confused. My folks are expecting me, and the drive will give me time to think. I need to think about what this means, and whether I can stand by and let it happen.
They saved his life, but at what price to us?
12. Dragons
“You look like crap,” Brandy says, sliding her lunch tray onto the table. “Like the worst case of Monday-itus I’ve ever seen.”
I take a deep breath. After my encounter at the colony, sleep was so not going to happen. Rocks and those girls—fudge!
“Couldn’t sleep.” I shrug.
“Tell me all about ‘camping.’ I want the juicy details, girl.” I hear Tiff’s overexcited voice before I see her. She practically sits on top of me and throws an arm around my shoulder. “Oh my God, you look like those girls on MTV after their first night of Spring Break.” Her eyes change from concerned to wicked. “Does that mean you and Rocks?” Her eyebrows dance and her elbow finds the soft flesh of my side.
The sound of my head hitting the table followed by a groan is the only answer she’s going to get.
“What did I miss about Rocks?” Mary Lou chimes in, joining us. “I ship you two SO hard.”
“Con went camping with him and his family on Saturday night, and I want all the deets.”
What on earth am I going to tell them? I need help. This bat-blood-bond business is doing my head in.
When I finally raise my head, all eyes are on me. “We kissed, but—” The squealing and subsequent rapid fire questions drowns out my words. I stay silent until they settle down, and the other students turn back to their lunches.
“There are other girls … that … hang around. I can’t even deal right now.”
Fudge me. My stomach rolls the small amount of food I’ve put into it up and down like an angry ocean wave. The thought of telling my best friends this stuff stinks of betrayal. Talk about complicated. I wasn’t going to mention any Camazotz secret, but it’s all interrelated. It wouldn’t make sense without it. “I need to talk to him this weekend, so until then, can you guys just drop it?”
Tiff’s big, blue eyes turn sad, and her arm returns around my shoulders. “You okay?”
“I will be. I need to tell him it’s me and only me, or …” I shrug. A second wave rolls through my gut at the thought, but deep down I know it’s the right thing. I cannot and will not stand back and have my boyfriend do that with other girls—no matter what the reason. I’m not a Camazotz. I can accept Rocks is, and I have no problem with his supernatural alter ego, except when that part of him makes me feel bad about myself. That isn’t right.
Before the bell rings, I tell Tiff I’ll meet her in English and head toward the exit. Sitting still is the worst. My brain has lodged itself into overdrive and won’t shut off; it makes it impossible to sit still and not do something—anything. I need to walk before I have to sit in class again, going over and over what Phoenix told me.
“Hey, Connie!” A voice echoes across the cafeteria. Turning around, I scan the sea of faces and finally spy him. Parker is standing near the emergency exit doors behind a folding table. Two of his wrestling buddies are beside him. “Come here!”
The table is covered in papers, and Parker lifts a clipboard as I approach. We’ve avoided each other since t
he dance—even in English class—but I guess I can’t avoid him forever.
“Hey.”
“Hi Connie, how you been?”
“Oka—”
“Wanna sign my petition to kill those bats?”
My stomach hits my lungs as though I’ve jumped off the edge of a thousand-foot cliff. “What?”
“I’m gonna get those rabid—”
The papers covering the table—now I’m really looking at them—show the faces of those little kids I saw on the news. And photos of bats—lots and lots of bats.
I grip Parker’s t-shirt and yank him half way over the table so our noses almost touch. “What the hell are you doing?” I can hardly breathe.
Parker’s eyes go wide for an instant, but then he gets this weird look. Ugh! Don’t even go there! Our proximity has given him a bird’s eye view down my top. I let go of him as though I’ve just touched an open flame and step back, crossing my arms. Parker blinks twice before meeting my glare.
“I’m doing what the county needs to do,” he says, holding up the petition. “The attack yesterday made me want to do something.”
“Yesterday?” I miss the evening news for two nights, and they report on another attack. I rub my scar, but stop when he notices.
He scavenges amongst the printouts and shows me a picture of three teenage girls crying, and one of them has a cut above her eye. I want to be sick because she looks like Horror Movie girl’s body double. That’s what Mom and Dad would have seen when they opened the door to me that night—rivulets of blood dripping down my face. Poor girl. Fudge! My hands clench and unclench. My heartbeat starts a double-time rhythm, which almost hurts. I feel for those poor girls, I really do, but under no circumstances can the county go to war against the Camazotz.
“They’re a danger!”
“They are not!” Stay calm.
“They tried to rip my eyes out.”
“Parker, there wasn’t a scratch on you. I was there. I was the one you left behind when you ran away screaming. There was no danger.” I mean I know I wasn’t in any danger, and those bats weren’t going to lay a claw on me, but Parker doesn’t know that. Maybe if I make him feel bad, he might end this madness. Big wrestling hero he turned out to be.
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