The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help being flattered.

  "So, are you ready to be Hailey's bestie?"

  "That's going to be a tough pill to swallow. I want to do her bodily harm. Can't we just stay best friends?"

  "I'd love that! But you two had nearly a year apart to calm down, and since then, you guys have had some secret bond that nobody else can get through. I guess because you guys both missed Tanner. That's all that ever made any sense to me anyway. Think of it like this: it's much more pleasant to be friends with her than enemies. Even if you can't remember being friends, you still have to admit that."

  I sighed. "If I was able to get through my graduation a year and a half early, I suppose I can do that too."

  "Don't say stuff like that too loud," she hissed. "You don't want people knowing that you're going through this again."

  "Why not?"

  "You hate those doctors. You said that they really wanted to get you into the hospital so they could study you. I don't want to say more right now. Please just trust me. Act as normal as you can. Hailey, Emma and I can help fill you in on what you can't remember. Hopefully, you'll be able to remember soon, though."

  The bus stopped and everyone began shouting.

  I looked out the window. We were parked in front of what looked like an enormous hotel. "What is this place?"

  Amanda looked like she would burst. "They built this hotel almost a year ago. It's so awesome. I've wanted to go ever since it opened! They have an amusement park inside and the most amazing dance hall ever! I can't wait!"

  She dragged me through the mob of students trying to pile out of the little door of the bus. She ran to Hailey and Emma, and I listened to the three of them go on excitedly about the hotel.

  One of the teachers stood on the hood of one of the busses with a loudspeaker and gave directions for the party. Over half of the kids weren't even listening. I wanted to know what was going on, so I tuned out the excited chatter and yelling to find out where we could find dinner, there would be dancing all night, and the amusement and water parks would be open late for us. Oh, and that rooms would be available, but they doubted that we would get any sleep. Once they said we could go, everyone went even crazier and made a beeline for the hotel doors.

  "I'm starving," I said. "Let's eat first."

  "I like the way you think!" Emma said with a smile.

  "Don't eat too much," Hailey said. "You know how hard you worked to get skinny, girl."

  "Whatever. This is our senior party. It's a day to pig out! Right, Lex?"

  I smiled, trying desperately to get used to this new circle of friends. Maybe this was just a bad dream and I'd wake up at the castle soon. I knew it was no dream, but one could hope.

  "Look at this!" Amanda breathed.

  Hailey and Emma exclaimed in agreement. The hotel was elegant, but I wasn't impressed after spending time in the sprawling Fyrsturae castle, so filled with things that the world thought had been lost centuries ago. I pretended to be in awe right along with them, however, because I didn't want to draw unnecessary attention to myself. My goal was to blend in and not have anyone suspect my lack of memories. Later, I would figure out if the memories were real or created by a powerful vampire. I certainly knew ones who could create widespread false memories.

  We found the dining hall, sat down at a table and started looking at the menu. When the waiter came, I ordered duck with red currants sauce, which had become a favorite while I was traveling with my vampire parents.

  "When did you ever start eating that type of food?" Hailey asked, surprised.

  So much for blending in. "It was something I enjoyed when I was abroad."

  "You always hold out on us," Emma whined.

  I shrugged my shoulders, wanting the attention to move elsewhere. "What should we do after we eat?"

  "Let's go dancing," Amanda said, and sighed. "I can't wait to see the dance hall. It's supposed to be awesome."

  "Don't they change the theme every week?" Emma asked.

  "Every month," Hailey corrected, rolling her eyes at Emma, but smiling at me.

  I awkwardly smiled back. This was going to take some getting used to. I kept waiting for people to jump out with cameras, laughing at me for falling for all of this.

  Hailey leaned in close to me and whispered loud enough only for our table to hear, "Are you and Mr. Foley going to go public here? You're not a student anymore. This is exactly what you've been waiting for!"

  My eyes widened. Had we planned something like that? "We'll just see what happens." I couldn't believe that Mr. Foley and I had supposedly hooked up. Not only was he a teacher, but he was a respected leader of the werewolves. I was the strongest and most powerful vampire to be born in the last thousand years! The last summer that I could remember, no guys had had any interest in me whatsoever. Since then, I'd been in love with a top football player and a vampire prince, plus the first vampire in existence expected me to marry him. And now I was supposedly dating a werewolf leader.

  "You okay, Alexis?" Hailey asked. "You don't look so good."

  I blinked a few times. "Yeah, I'm great. Just taking everything in. What a day!"

  "Oh, I know, right?" exclaimed Emma. "Can you believe that we finally graduated? Now we're having our senior party here! I hope you guys come out tonight. You two are so cute together. I can't stand it!"

  "She's cute with anyone," Hailey said. "I'm glad that you're with him because now when a hot guy comes to town, the rest of us have a chance."

  "No joke," Emma agreed.

  "Don't forget about Amanda and Mark," I said. "They're totally adorable."

  "They really are," Hailey said.

  I started to notice their heartbeats and I wanted to kick myself for ignoring my note to get some blood in the morning. I was about to tune out the heartbeats when I noticed something. I could only hear two at the table. Emma was sitting next to me and I heard hers distinctively. Hailey and Amanda were sitting across from us and only one of them had a heartbeat. Had I changed one of them or had Tanner possibly changed Hailey while he was still in school?

  THREE

  I felt better after eating dinner. The blood craving was easier to ignore with some food in my stomach. I couldn't believe that either Hailey or Amanda might have been turned. Was that why Hailey and I had become such good friends? I was getting tired of having more questions than answers.

  We decided to go dancing, so we got a room key and found our room. We all squeezed into the bathroom and touched up our hair and makeup. The others changed clothes, but I was happy with the dress I was wearing—that my mom and I had picked out together. The day truly couldn't have been any weirder.

  As we arrived at the dance hall, Hailey nudged me. I looked at her and she winked, tilting her head to the left. I looked in that direction and saw Mr. Foley talking to a group of kids.

  "Go say hi!" she squealed. "I want to see you two smooch in front of everyone."

  My eyes widened. "I think I'll let him lead the way."

  She rolled her eyes. "You've been so old fashioned ever since you dated Cliff. It's like he sold you on pilgrim-style dating."

  I laughed. "Well, there is something to be said about having boundaries and a little propriety."

  "You can say all you want about it, but I don't want anything to do with it," she said.

  I tried to listen for her heartbeat, but between the crowded room and loud music I couldn't tell one from another. I really wanted to know if she or Amanda had been turned, or if I'd misread how many hearts had been beating at our table.

  "Come on, you two!" Amanda said. She and Emma grabbed our arms and pulled us, laughing, onto the dance floor. The four of us danced together like best friends having the time of our lives. Since Hailey and Emma were being so friendly, it was easy enough to pretend that we were friends. Amanda was right. It was a lot better to be friends than enemies.

  At one point, Mr. Foley and I made eye contact. I felt that there was something there that I was missing out on. He
winked at me and for some reason I felt drawn to him. I really didn't want that. If two guys made for a love triangle, I figured that I must have had a love pentagon going. I was definitely in a class of my own. It must've had something to do with being the Sonnast.

  The memory of Cliff's father telling him that I would fall in love with another before we married flashed into my mind. I started laughing at how much the prophet was either holding back from them or how little of the prophecy the prophet had been aware of.

  "What's so funny?" Hailey asked.

  "I just can't believe how crazy today is," I said in complete honesty.

  "Make it crazier. Kiss Mr. Foley and call him by his first name!" she whispered.

  I nearly stopped dancing. I didn't even know Mr. Foley's first name. "Tell me how I should say it," I told her, hoping she'd tell me his name.

  She giggled. "You should call him by his real name. Tobias. Don't say Toby, because that's the name that everyone knows. You're the only one who knows about Tobias. And us, of course."

  Emma joined us. "I've always wanted to know, when you two are making out, do you call him Tobias or Toby? Which one is it?"

  "Yeah, seriously," Amanda said. "You always just call him Mr. Foley, even to us."

  Hailey giggled again. "Or do you just call him Mr. Foley?"

  Emma and Amanda burst into laughter.

  "I can just see that!" Emma exclaimed. "Oh, Mr. Foley, kiss me again!"

  "That's awesome!" Amanda said, with tears rolling down her eyes.

  I glared at them, but ended up laughing too at the thought of it.

  Emma elbowed me.

  "Ow!" I said, rubbing my arm. Maybe she was the vampire. She certainly had the strength.

  "He's headed our way!" she squealed.

  Mr. Foley walked our way, keeping his eyes on me. The reality of my relationship with my werewolf teacher hit me right then. I had no feelings for him whatsoever, regardless of how hot he was. I only wanted Cliff, wherever he might be.

  He stopped when he got to us and smiled at me. He looked at my friends. "I hope that you ladies don't mind if I borrow Alexis for a dance."

  Hailey winked at him. "We don't mind, Tobias."

  My three friends started giggling.

  Mr. Foley looked at me. "You told them?"

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  "You're so beautiful. I have no choice but to forgive you." He held his hand out and I took it, trying to act natural.

  I looked at my friends as he led me to the middle of the dance floor. They were winking at me and giving me thumbs up.

  He pulled me close and we started dancing. "You look exquisite in that dress. I tried to let you dance with your friends longer, but I couldn't wait."

  "You look very handsome. I like that tie."

  He smiled. "Of course you do. You got it for me."

  I recovered quickly. "That's why I like it!" I didn't know Mr. Foley all that well, so pretending to be his girlfriend was going to be the most difficult part of the facade. I had been his TA for a short time and he had helped me get the werewolf cure for Tanner's bite, but that was as far as it went.

  A romantic song came on and he pulled me even closer. He whispered in my ear, "I had them play our song."

  We had a song? I smiled sweetly.

  He led the way as we slow danced. I could see my friends watching me, whispering to each other, but they weren't the only ones. Every eye on the dance floor was on us. When the music picked up speed, Mr. Foley spun me out away from him and then spun me back, pulling me even closer than before. He dipped me backwards, then pulled me back upright and kissed me on my lips.

  I heard whistling, cheering and clapping. He pulled away from our embrace and bowed, taking me with him since we were holding hands. We stood up, some people continued with whistles, while others called out to us.

  "Looks like the cat's out of the bag now," he said with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. "It's a good thing that you graduated or I could get into a lot of trouble. It was clever of you to find that legal loophole for me."

  "You know me." I faked the best smile I could manage.

  "You're not so talkative today. Is everything okay? Should I have double-checked before letting the world know about our love for each other? I didn't want to upset you."

  "No, no. It's not that, Mr. Fo…I mean, Toby."

  He smiled. "I like it when you call me Toby around others. I hated that you had to call me Mr. Foley. Now you're free from that."

  I nodded.

  He gently pulled some hair from behind my ear. "Are you sure that you're okay? You don't seem like yourself."

  "It's been an emotional day. It really isn't you." How could it be him? I missed Cliff so much that I wanted to cry. I wanted my old life back, and being in Mr. Foley's arms made me miss my life even more. What was I doing with my werewolf teacher, anyway? Why had I decided to get involved with him?

  "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. "We can go someplace a little quieter."

  Amanda ran up to us. "You had your dance, now we get to have her back! You guys can have more PDA's later." She grabbed my arm and dragged me away.

  "Thank you," I whispered.

  "I know that you don't remember anything and I could see that you're stressed out."

  "Was it that obvious? He could tell something was wrong too."

  "I don't think anyone else noticed. Really. I was watching carefully because I know about your amnesia. Let's just go have some fun, okay? Forget about everything else and enjoy your graduation party! It only happens once."

  "That was some kiss!" Emma squealed when we got to them.

  "I couldn't believe that dance. You two could've been on Dirty Dancing," Hailey gushed. "It was the perfect coming out."

  "Wanna watch it?" Emma asked. "I got it on my phone!"

  "You recorded us dancing?" I asked, horrified.

  She smiled. "You're welcome. I knew it was going to be good!"

  We all watched the video and I was in just as much disbelief watching it as when it happened. I couldn't let myself get depressed about the sudden turn of events. I could feel the depression fighting its way in. I needed to make it my mission to find out what was going on and where all the other vampires were. There was no time for another hibernation.

  The three of us started dancing again and I was able to let myself forget about everything else and have fun. I still wasn't sure if I trusted Emma and Hailey, but I could either enjoy myself or be miserable. Enjoying myself seemed like a much better option.

  "Let's check out the other stuff," Emma said. "This dance hall is awesome, but I want to see everything else!"

  "Great idea," Amanda said. "Should we check out the rides or the water park first?"

  "I think we should go check out the rides first. That way we don't have to change our clothes too many times," Hailey said. "Don't you think so, Alexis?"

  "Uh, sure. That makes a lot of sense," I said, trying to hide my surprise at her asking my opinion.

  We left the dance hall together and followed the signs to the amusement park. It obviously wasn't Disneyland, but for being inside of a hotel, even I was impressed. We showed them our school ID's and we were given tacky plastic bracelets so that we could ride all of the rides.

  "Which one first?" Emma asked.

  "The roller coaster!" Hailey said, grabbing my arm and running to the ride. The four of us climbed into one car, laughing and shrieking before we were even buckled in. I couldn't believe how much fun I was having with Hailey and Emma there. I was even happier knowing that if someone had caused my memory lapse, I was sticking it to them by having fun. No more climbing into bed, sobbing and feeling sorry for myself. Those days were over.

  After we'd ridden everything at least twice, we decided it was time to splash around. We went back to our room and put on our swimsuits. I saw that I'd packed a glittery, turquoise bikini and not the famed hot pink one. This one matched the dress that I'd been wearing.

  "Loo
k at your toes!" Amanda said to me. "You should've worn open toed shoes. Those are gorgeous!"

  Hailey smiled. "We got pedi's last night. Look at mine!" She wiggled her toes.

  Emma's face flashed jealousy. "Why didn't you take Amanda and me too?"

  "Because we were already together, Emma," Hailey said, eyes narrowing. "We don't have to do every single thing as a group, you know."

  "Yours are gorgeous too!" Amanda said to Hailey, always one to smooth things over. "Where did you guys go?"

  "We went to the new place by the mall," Hailey said. "The lines were huge and we would have had to wait again to get our fingers done. So we did those ourselves. The guy who did my pedi was really hot, wasn't he, Lex?"

  I winked, as if I knew. "Smokin'."

  "You went to the place where hot guys give the mani's and pedi's?" Emma whined. "I can't believe you went without us!"

  "Get over it," Hailey said. "We can go later. Let's check out the water slides!"

  I slipped on a pair of flip flops that matched my suit and grabbed a towel. "I'm ready."

  We didn't get more than twenty feet down the hall before the whistling and catcalls started.

  "Maybe we should put our dresses on over our suits," I whispered.

  Hailey laughed. "No way. We're going to walk by the dance hall on our way to the water park and then the party will follow us."

  I could tell who led the group. "That sounds like a great idea."

  "Of course it is," she said. "Okay, girls. When we walk by the dance hall, slow it down and give everyone a chance to see us. Ten minutes later everyone will be in their suits, joining us. Including Tobias." She winked at me.

  We slowed our pace down to a near crawl as we approached the dance hall. We heard the music long before we reached the doors. Hailey was right. As soon as we walked by the doors at the pace of a slow parade, nearly half of the people inside stopped what they were doing and watched us.

  "See you all at the water park!" Hailey called, winking.

  We were given a second tacky bracelet for the water park. "I can't wait to get these ugly things off."

  "I'm going to save mine and put them in my high school memory box," Amanda said.