“No!” Collette shouted, grabbing my left shoulder.
Mom’s talons seized my right arm, leaving a string of scratches, and Kegan zoomed through me and held out her arms to stop me. She forgot to go substantial again.
I thrust my left arm through her and twisted the lock on the doorknob. Collette yanked me back, but the doorknob turned and the door opened a crack.
Suddenly no one was pulling on me.
Loretta Vampireclanbaobhansith stood there, her hand on the doorknob from the other side. She looked like nothing more than a forgettable middle-aged woman, slightly overweight, with a few strands of hair poking out of a bun at the back of her neck.
“It seems your family overreacted when you told them I’d be picking you up,” she said mildly.
I tugged my shoulder away from Collette and extracted my arm from Mom’s talons. Owwww. The tips of her talons were scraping along my arm as I pulled away, leaving thin white lines across my brown skin. Translucent in front of me, Kegan had her arms outstretched and a desperate look on her face.
They probably hadn’t overreacted, not really. They just didn’t understand that I had to do this. I had to do whatever I could to make sure nobody else’s turning stones got ruined.
To make sure nobody else’s clan got destroyed.
“They’re still moving, just very slowly,” Loretta noted. “We should get going. I’d rather not waste more time than I have to. It’s not exactly easy to gather more without people noticing.”
“Can’t you just suck from animals, like jiangshis do?” I asked, stepping through Kegan to walk outside. It was a little creepy stepping through a glowing-eyed banshee.
Loretta Vampireclanbaobhansith shook her head. “Only time from people or humans will work to sustain me. Baobhan siths are closer to draculas than jiangshis.”
That would explain why they were hated, I thought as I followed her to her car. People can give up blood without having it hurt them. But nobody wants to lose time.
I swallowed as I buckled my seat belt. I was in the car with a murderer. She had killed at least one person that I knew of, and there might have been more.
“So where are we going?” I gabbled to distract myself.
“Turning humans,” she said, turning the key in the ignition.
“You’re turning kids?” I gasped. “Why would you do that? They don’t need a second turning when they haven’t been turned!”
“I didn’t say we were turning the unturned,” she said coldly. “I said we were turning humans. Figure it out.”
The car backed down the driveway as I thought about it.
Humans . . . the only other kind is the ones whose turnings failed. The ones who will never be people . . .
“Rodrigo can turn those humans?” I gasped.
Loretta smiled. “He certainly can.”
I swallowed, and swallowed again. Just when I’d been so sure everything about Rodrigo was wrong . . .
He can turn humans into people. He can give them hope of being more than they are.
Maybe Rodrigo really did think he was doing a public service. Maybe that really was all he was after.
Alex Basajaunclanmothman, I reminded myself.
But that had been Loretta. Was it possible that Rodrigo and the tainted turning stone were not the problem? Was it possible that the only monster was her?
I felt less sure of myself than ever.
Chapter 15: Born of the Water
Following traffic rules, because apparently being able to manipulate time didn’t mean Loretta Vampireclanbaobhansith could make the cars around her go any faster, we drove sluggishly through rush hour towards the edge of town.
Once we reached a spot with no other cars on the road, though, the scenery around us began to blur.
“Are you sure this is safe?” I asked nervously as we zoomed past a seemingly-frozen car in the other lane. “What if we run into something?”
“We’re only going fifty-five miles per hour,” Loretta said, keeping her eyes glued to the road. “It’s just that five minutes are passing in here for every minute out there. It’s true that nothing could dodge, but I also don’t have to worry about any cars or animals appearing right in front of me suddenly.”
I was glad baobhan siths couldn’t fly. At least she could be limited by traffic right now. If she could fly, it’d be like teleporting. Of course, that begged a really disturbing question.
“How did you get to my house so fast?” I blurted out. “Were you, like, spying on me or something?”
She didn’t glance over, which was probably a good thing. She might be comfortable driving like this, but I wanted her eyes on the road. “I was in the area. Who was the specter, by the way?”
“Uh . . .” Panic seized in my chest. That’s right, she saw me walk through Kegan!
“Family friend,” I said quickly. “Dropped by to visit. Uhhh, what were you doing in the area?” I added, desperate to change the subject.
She frowned. “Just . . . on my way to our destination,” she said evasively. “Have I met that family friend before?”
Not good! I thought frantically. If she figures out that was Kegan, she’ll know Kegan’s not a vampire, and they’ll be super suspicious! Wait, but . . . she wasn’t there the night Kegan said she was a vampire. So maybe we’re okay?
“I don’t think you’ve ever been introduced,” I said truthfully.
My mind was racing as I tried to figure out how bad it was that Loretta had seen Kegan insubstantial. True, she’d just seen Kegan from the back, but Kegan’s long, bleached hair was really memorable. For all I knew, Rodrigo had described her to Loretta and said she was a dracula.
If Loretta figured out Kegan was the friend I’d brought to Rarity Clan, it wouldn’t take long to guess that Kegan might’ve snuck off while no one was looking, gone through a few locked doors, seen the tainted turning stone, and been the one to warn the police. Which would be like painting gigantic bullseyes on our backs, or maybe neon signs saying, “Time vampire! Suck here!”
I had to distract her. What would work, though?
Oh, duh. I’d be nosy. Grown-ups either loved that or hated that, but they always had strong opinions about it.
“So why didn’t you have Rodrigo turn you?” I demanded.
Loretta Vampireclanbaobhansith looked startled. “What?”
“Why didn’t you have Rodrigo turn you?” I repeated. “I mean, you said your species is so persecuted that you’ve been hiding your whole life, and you grew up in a jiangshi family, and you have no clan. Why didn’t you have him turn you into a jiangshi for real?”
Loretta looked very annoyed. “That doesn’t mean I automatically wanted to be turned.”
“Then why do you work for Rodrigo, if you don’t believe in what he does?” I asked.
A muscle in her cheek twitched. “I do believe that people should have a choice in what they are.”
Clearly she hated my being nosy. That was okay, since it was working fine to distract her.
“But you could have chosen to be normal,” I said.
“Normal is highly overrated,” she muttered. “It’s boring, dull, and pointless. Why should I conform to what everyone else is doing?”
Because if you don’t, you’ll get laughed at? I thought.
Then I thought about Kegan. She didn’t mind when she got laughed at, but there was one thing that she would mind, and that was . . .
“Because you seem to think you have to hide what you are.”
“I do,” Loretta said tightly. “My species is actively hated.”
“But you could be a rare species that isn’t,” I said helpfully. “You could be a vampire pumpkin or watermelon, for instance —”
That did it.
“A pumpkin?” she spat. “A pumpkin? Why would anybody want to be a pumpkin?”
“Or a watermelon,” I said.
“It makes no difference!” she exploded. “It’s a stupid species! Nobody wants to be a stupid specie
s! Even most of the common species are stupid, and no person would have ever chosen them if they’d understood that in the first place!”
That seemed a little harsh.
“My mom would ground you for saying that,” I said. “She once grounded my sister for insulting wereticks and werelice.”
“Smart child,” Loretta muttered. “Those are good examples of species that are only perpetuated by tradition. Because children are convinced it’s worth it to devote their lives to something so completely worthless.”
Wow. She was nuts.
“Okay,” I said slowly, “I get being upset that you never got to be a jiangshi, but . . .”
“Jiangshis are one of the worthless species!” she exploded. “Name one useful thing they can do that no other species can!”
“Heal people?” I said.
“Draculas do it better,” she snapped.
“Well, yeah, but not in the same way —”
She pursed her lips and said nothing.
I was distracted by the blur outside the window. We were now on a bumpy road that felt like dirt, and the blur off to the left was shiny. Near the reservoir, maybe?
“What’s all the way out here?” I asked.
“The most pathetic humans of all,” Loretta said.
A lump rose in my throat. I suddenly knew what she meant.
A waterfront orphanage.
It was obvious in retrospect. Where else would you find so many humans who were so unhappy they’d failed to turn?
There were shabby neighborhoods where humans gathered, sure, but there would be unturned children there too, and even unturned adults who had, bizarrely, chosen to wear the last name Noclanhuman on purpose.
Those neighborhoods wouldn’t be the right places for Rodrigo. There’d be some humans there who’d be offended by his offer, and others who’d call the police. They might not have clans, but they still had communities.
But mermaid children who had failed to turn as newborns . . . they were different. They had either been abandoned, or they’d grown up knowing they would always be divided from their families and communities.
It wasn’t nearly as tragic as it had been hundreds of years ago. These days, all the kids had scuba gear and everyone had videoconferencing. Still, when we’d visited one of those places years ago . . .
“How can they bear to live without their parents?” I’d wailed to Mom on the way home. “It’s not fair!”
“It’s not fair,” Mom had agreed softly. “It’s not fair that they weren’t given the choice before they were turned. It’s not fair that mermaids can’t breathe on land and their children can’t breathe in water. It’s not fair that one-tenth of all mermaid children wind up that way. But sometimes you just take the life you’re given.”
Last semester, we’d been forced to read an autobiography by one of those failed mermaids in English class, and the author had been really fond of the word melancholy. That, and longing. And heartsick.
Also water, and swimming, and sorrow, and loss, and breath, and . . . that had overall been a really annoying book.
We arrived at the front door of a friendly-looking building, and were welcomed by a smiling, motherly woman. She brought us to the visitors’ room, which had the same faint scent of mildew I remembered from the other orphanage I’d visited with Mom.
There was a huge square hole in the middle of the room, with water lapping just a few inches beneath the top.
I carefully crept around the hole and sat down on a couch that turned out to be damp. Ugh.
“I can’t possibly thank you enough,” the orphanage woman bubbled to Rodrigo, who was sitting on a chair by the entrance to the room. “When Jonah Loreleiclandziwozoana told me what you could do, I didn’t believe it at first. But the references all spoke glowingly about it. I can’t believe you travel around the country doing this for mermaid children!”
He what? I thought numbly.
“Mermaid children, as well as anyone else who’s unhappy with their species,” Rodrigo said, smiling. “Of course, you understand that records will have to be altered. We don’t want any of these children winding up in a cage under suspicion of taint.”
“No, no, of course not,” the woman said, nodding fervently. “Don’t worry, I only contacted the parents who I knew could be trusted to be discreet. We’ve all heard rumors, and . . . and some of them had told me privately that if such an opportunity ever came . . . so I knew which ones would be safe. They’ll all be moving out of the city as soon as possible and taking their children with them. I feel sorry for the other children, not having this opportunity, but . . .”
“But it’s the only way that we can do this until the law changes,” Rodrigo said sadly, nodding.
“Do you think it’s possible that it might?” the woman asked wistfully.
“Things are in motion,” Rodrigo assured her. “It’s very possible that I may later be able to come back here openly.”
The woman reached over and squeezed his hand tightly. “I suppose we’d better hurry. I’ll go get the children. They haven’t been warned yet, lest they tell the other children, so it will take a few minutes.”
“Take all the time you need,” Rodrigo said, squeezing her hand back.
The woman hurried out of the room, surprisingly light on her feet despite being a few dozen pounds too heavy. She moved like a dryad, but she’d left wet footprints behind. Maybe she was a naiad?
“Did you check her?” Rodrigo asked Loretta, who was still standing near the doorway.
Loretta winced. “Not yet. I’m sorry. I completely forgot. There was a bit of a ruckus at her house.”
“Better do it now, then.” Rodrigo nodded at me.
“Check me for what?” I asked cautiously.
“Oh, listening devices, hidden cameras, what have you,” he said. “The police have a recording of our last Rarity Clan meeting, so it’s a sensible precaution. You understand.”
I gulped. That told me two things, both of them bad.
First, Rodrigo had a contact inside the police.
Second, I should never have brought that wire with me.
Loretta stepped around the hole and stood by the damp sofa I was sitting on. “Off with your shirt,” she said briskly.
“Are you kidding?” I shrieked in my best offended-teenage-girl voice. “Not in front of him!”
Rodrigo looked amused and turned away.
“Now,” Loretta said, her voice like iron, holding out her hand.
Perhaps annoying her on the way here hadn’t been a good idea. I hoped she didn’t understand how weres worked.
I yanked my arms through my sleeves and left the shirt dangling in front of me. Once my back was exposed, I summoned my wings. They rustled as they sprouted out behind me. My arms and the top of my chest were coated in fuzzy down.
“What was that for?” Loretta demanded.
I pulled the shirt off and shoved it at her. “If you’re going to make me take my clothes off, I’m going to be covered in feathers,” I said huffily.
“Fair enough,” she said, looking amused.
She checked me all over, which was excruciatingly embarrassing, and found nothing. Then she made me strip off my jeans. By this point, I was starting to feel cold as well as humiliated. At least Rodrigo had the decency to keep on looking away.
“Can I put my clothes back on now?” I glared as she finished.
“Almost,” Loretta said, checking through the pockets of my jeans. “All right,” she said, removing my phone, then handing them over.
I snatched them, gave her my best mortally-offended glare, and reclothed myself. Just to be safe, I stayed in my half-form, even though my wings felt smushed against the back of the couch.
I hoped it wouldn’t occur to either of them that weres could make things disappear inside them when they shifted. Like, say, clothing. Or the wire that I’d shoved in my bra. It was now safely hidden, but if it occurred to them, they’d probably search me all over again and ma
ke me stay human while doing it.
A few minutes later, the woman returned with eight children crowded all around her. One was a teenage boy who probably would’ve been cute if he hadn’t been fourteen or fifteen. One was a brown-skinned two-year-old girl who was sucking her thumb.
She looked like Annette as a baby.
I had to do something. I had to say something.
“H-hey,” I spoke up. “This is safe, right? I mean, you can prove it’s safe before you do anything, right?”
“Of course I can,” Rodrigo said, smiling at the children. “I’ll show all of you with the first one. Who’d like to go first?”
A boy who looked about eight trotted forward, his face glowing with excitement.
My stomach was in knots. What if some of them wound up tainted, like the wereechidna had? I felt sick.
Rodrigo reached under his chair and pulled out a bright green backpack. He unzipped it and removed the pink turning stone. Its tainted glow filled the room with soft light.
Awed murmurs came from the children. There was none of the fear that there had been at Rarity Clan, only wonder.
“I’ve heard about those,” the teenage boy said reverently.
Hair stood on the back of my neck. Did they even know how dangerous that thing was? Hadn’t anyone warned them about the dangers of taint?
The eight-year-old boy grabbed for the stone, and Rodrigo jerked it away. “Don’t touch the stone unless I’m holding it!” he snapped. “That’s very important. Do you understand?”
The boy’s eyes widened, and he bobbed his head quickly.
Rodrigo’s voice softened. “What subspecies do you want to be?”
“My parents are tuna,” the boy blurted out. “Can I be a tuna mermaid, too?”
“Yes, you can,” Rodrigo said. “Now, let me warn you: you’re not going to be able to breathe for a moment. It’ll be scary, but you can be brave. Okay?”
The boy nodded, wide-eyed.
“Place your hands on the stone,” Rodrigo said.
The boy’s hands darted forward. They went on the stone next to Rodrigo’s.
Trials of a Teenage Werevulture (Trilogy of a Teenage Werevulture Book 1) Page 13