by Cheree Alsop
“The bats,” Lisette said.
“Adrielle, scare the bats,” Everett called.
Adrielle looked too terrified to move.
Everett picked up a branch and threw it as hard as he could. It struck the nest of green bats. Adrielle shrieked when they rose into the air and swarmed past her.
They circled Vanguard in a whirlwind that hid him from view.
“Help!” Vanguard yelled in a strangled voice.
Everett ran toward him. Just before he reached the warlock, the bats lifted away and rose into the air as though they were one creature. They circled within the trees once, their squeaking sounds filling the forest, then they were gone, vanishing through the branches with a speed that left Everett breathless.
The Gray Widowmakers had been eaten down to the last bug. Everett was relieved to see Vanguard shaken but apparently unbitten.
“Vanguard, are you alright?” Adrielle asked, dropping to her knees next to the warlock.
“I-I think so,” Vanguard replied. He pushed to his knees and looked at Everett. “That was a close one. Thank you.”
“Lisette was the one who said it,” Everett told them. He held out a hand to Vanguard.
The warlock rose to his feet and gave Everett a wary look. “It’s time someone asked. Who’s Lisette?”
“Everett, usually when someone talks to themselves, they don’t give their self another name,” Adrielle pointed out. “And if they do, it’s probably not a girl’s name.”
Everett rolled his eyes. “I’m not crazy, and I’m not talking to myself.” He looked around. “Lisette, please?”
At her silence, he blew out a breath. “Seriously? Just because you’re a ghost doesn’t mean you can just disappear whenever you want.” He knew that was exactly what it meant, but frustration made him say it anyway.
“A ghost?” Adrielle repeated. “What ghost?”
Everett looked around, hoping she would appear. “Lisette, from the Monster Asylum.”
“Everett, there’s no ghost at the Asylum,” Vanguard said.
Everett smiled, convinced they were giving him a hard time. “Sure there are. There’s the poltergeist Lisette, and you can’t tell me somebody isn’t operating that elevator. It definitely has a mind of its own and a wicked sense of humor if I—”
“Everett!” Adrielle cut him off. “Did you just say Lisette, the ghost you’ve been talking to, is the poltergeist from the Monster Asylum?”
Everett nodded, confused by her panicked tone.
“You mean from floor thirty-one, the floor we’re never supposed to go to?” she pressed.
“Nobody told me we weren’t supposed to go there,” Everett replied. “And the elevator stopped—”
Vanguard held up a hand, halting his explanation. “Are you telling me that the poltergeist followed us here?” He looked more terrified than he had been staring down the pile of Gray Widowmakers.
Everett didn’t know what to say. Both of them were staring at him as if he was crazy. He was getting tired of being looked at that way. “Yes,” he answered shortly.
“We’re doomed,” Vanguard moaned, throwing up his hands. He walked away muttering to himself, “Dr. Transton said take the vampire, he’s reliable, so we do and the vampire brings the poltergeist responsible for levelling an entire building.”
“Wait,” Everett said in shock. “She’s that poltergeist?” At Adrielle’s amazed look, he lifted his shoulders. “You guys said a poltergeist was responsible for it, not Lisette.”
“She’s the only poltergeist we know about,” Adrielle replied in exasperation. “And up to this point, nobody knew her name, or even that she’s a girl.” She gave Everett a steeling look. “We can’t do this with a poltergeist following us around.”
“What do you want me to do?” he asked, flustered.
“Ask her to leave,” Adrielle said. “Maybe she’ll listen to you.” She looked around as if she feared Lisette would appear at any moment and destroy them all. When the ghost failed yet again to show herself, the werewolf stormed off after Vanguard.
“You guys are ridiculous,” Everett called after them.
“You’re the one talking to a murderous ghost,” Vanguard replied through the trees. His voice lowered and Everett heard him say to Adrielle, “That boy seriously needs some new friends.”
Everett kicked the closest tree. To his surprise, the tree actually yelped in pain. Everett set a hand on its mossy surface. “I’m sorry,” he apologized. He stomped off in the opposite direction from Adrielle and Vanguard.
He pushed through overhanging branches and ducked under thorny vines, careful not to injure any other trees. “This is crazy,” he muttered. “I’m in a jungle with a magician and a werewolf, and they’re mad at me for being friends with a ghost? The whole world doesn’t make sense anymore!”
Angry tears burned his eyes. He blinked quickly, forcing them not to fall. “It’s not like I’ve left everything I know behind to go to some vampire community where I’m not even sure I’ll be welcome in order to save a city that’s done its best to destroy anyone remotely like me,” he said aloud.
He ducked under another low-sweeping vine and paused. A clearing spread out in front of him. The canopy high above shielded most of it from the rising sun, and the multi-hued light from the leaves traveled down in colored beams that looked as though he could touch them.
Everett stretched out a hand. A purple beam fell across his palm. He stared at the way the light played on his skin. After a minute, mist started to rise from his palm and the familiar burning sensation traveled up his arm. Everett pulled his hand back and rubbed it against his shirt.
“Great,” he said. “The sun’s up. Things keep getting better.”
Life crashed over Everett all at once. His frustrations at being the only vampire he knew, the thirst for blood that began in his stomach and traveled up his throat until it was hard not to think about how much he needed it, and the fact that he was stuck in a jungle with two people who thought he was crazy and another one who apparently was insane.
The thirst was getting stronger. Everett thought of the blood he had drank the night before. For some reason, it hadn’t been enough. Usually he could go another day on the amount Celeste had given him, but they had walked all night and into the morning, burning far more than he usually did.
Vanguard and Adrielle were in the jungle. Everett clenched his teeth, forcing his mind away from the direction of his thoughts. He hated that even the suggestion made his mouth water. He had never taken blood from a person before, and wasn’t about to start, yet his feet willed him to walk toward them. Just the chance to listen to the sound of their heartbeats pulled at him, drawing him closer. He took a step, then another.
Everett caught himself. “What kind of monster am I?” he growled. He gritted his teeth and turned away from the direction of his friends. Determination filled his steps as he walked into the clearing.
“Everett, what are you doing?” Alarm filled Lisette’s voice. She appeared in a few steps away. The orange and yellow beams that fell on her shoulders faded her outline, making her merely a brush of color amid the rainbow-filled clearing.
“I’m a danger to them,” Everett said. His hands clenched into fists with the effort it took to keep walking. The beams fell on his shoulders and head. Green and red filled his vision as the burning sensation ran up his arms.
“You can’t do this,” Lisette protested. “You’ll die!”
Everett shook his head. “I just need the pain to chase away the thirst,” he replied, his voice tight. “I can’t be a danger to them. They need to be safe.” He gasped when the burning intensified, blocking out all thoughts and feelings other than the sensation of fire covering his body. It felt as if the leaves altering the colors actually strengthened the sunlight. It was too much. He had to get back to shade.
“Everett!” Lisette called.
His feet felt heavy when he turned to face the shortest distance back to the shadows
. The trees beckoned to him, promising a safety he knew they didn’t hold. The vines appeared to twist and tangle as he watched, blurring in his eyesight. It looked so much further than he remembered walking.
“Come on, Everett,” Lisette said, her voice right next to his ear. “Take a step.”
Everett willed his body to obey. He lifted one foot and put it in front of him.
“Good,” Lisette said. “Now another.”
The pain clouded everything. Everett could smell the scent of his body burning. It was worse than anything he had ever experienced. The amazing beauty of the colorful clearing felt like a predator, drawing him in and devouring him with teeth of flames.
“Good,” Lisette coaxed, her voice thick with emotion.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Everett noted that the ghost was crying. He wondered why.
“Take another step,” she continued. “One more.”
“Always one more,” Everett replied, using precious strength to speak instead of walk.
“Don’t you dare give up on me, Everett,” she demanded.
He took another step forward. The shadows were only a few feet away. He was almost there.
“That’s it; just a few more steps. Come on,” Lisette coaxed.
Everett lifted his foot, but his toe snagged on a rock hidden beneath the grass of the clearing. He plunged forward, falling into the warm embrace of the sunlit meadow.
“No!” Lisette said.
He felt her above him. It was a strange sensation. Tingles ran through his skin beyond the burning pain. He had never felt her quite so clearly before. He wished through the fuzziness of his thoughts that Adrielle and Vanguard could see her. They would understand why he wasn’t afraid.
The burning increased until he could barely breathe. He buried his face in the grass, wishing it was cool and shady. He wondered what it would feel like to die by sunlight. He wasn’t ready to die. He thought of his mom and dad and how hard they worked to take care of the family. Celeste would be heartbroken and Isabella would probably never speak to anyone ever again. He wouldn’t know if Hadley found anything he thought tasted better than dog food.
“No,” Everett growled.
Strength flared in his stomach. He channeled all that he had, forcing it together in one hot, roiling mass.
“That’s it,” Lisette said with hope in her voice.
Everett forced himself to his knees. The shadows were so close. He reached out a hand, then stared.
“Everett,” Lisette gasped.
He turned his hand over. He saw through where his palm should have been. He waved his arm back and forth, seeing the clearing beyond it. Amid his shock, he realized the burning sensation had vanished. He raised his other hand and stared at it. His gaze ran up his arm to his chest. Everything, even his clothes, were gone.
“I-I can barely see you,” Lisette said, her voice tight.
Everett rose to his feet. There was a faint outline around his body, the slightest mismatch where the image of what was behind him varied just a bit from what was in front.
“This is crazy,” he said.
“Are you okay?” Lisette asked.
“I think so,” Everett answered, though his reply held a hint of question. He walked toward the shadows. Glancing back, he saw the impressions his footsteps made.
When he reached the shadows, a chill ran over his skin. The transparency disappeared and his body looked normal again.
“Is it possible?” Everett mused. He stuck his hand back out in the purple light. Mist rose from his skin again.
“Everett, no,” Lisette pleaded.
He sucked in a breath at the pain. It intensified so that it felt like the skin was burning from his bones. Tears pricked his eyes. He blinked quickly, but refused to pull his hand back.
It was nearly unbearable. If he wasn’t staring at his hand, he would have thought it was covered in blue flames so intense every nerve ending was blistering and melting, yet it looked normal and untouched except for the mist. It took every ounce of willpower to keep his hand there.
“Annie,” he began, his words thick. “Bran.”
“What are you talking about?” Lisette asked, staring at him, her gray eyes filled with worry.
Everett concentrated on maintaining his control. “Celeste, Donavan.” He gasped and said in a tight voice, “Finch, Gabe, Hadley.” The pain faded along with the mist. As he watched, his pale skin became translucent. In the next moment, the pain faded completely and the purple beam dropped through his hand to the floor of the meadow as if he wasn’t there. “Izzy,” he finished. He flexed his hand, watching the way the purple beam changed slightly around the outline of his hand, but still fell through it as though it was a slight hindrance instead of a block for the light.
“What on earth, Rett. I’ve never seen anything like that,” Lisette breathed.
Everett glanced at her. “You’re a ghost,” he pointed out. Relief ran through him so sharply he felt like laughing until his sides hurt, but too many people in the jungle already thought he was crazy. He didn’t need to make it three, or four for that matter.
“I am a ghost,” Lisette replied. “We’re supposed to be transparent. You’re not.”
“No, I’m a vampire. I’m supposed to burst into flames and die a horrible death in the sunlight.” Everett smiled. “I’m glad that didn’t happen.”
Lisette smiled in returned. “Me, too,” she said. She reached up and wiped her eyes.
Everett’s heart gave a little backflip when he remembered that she had been crying for him. “Lisette, I...”
She shook her head and turned away. “Don’t.”
“You shouldn’t cry for me,” he said.
She looked back at him. The depth of emotion in her eyes made his breath catch. It felt like instead of looking at her, he was seeing her soul, her sadness, her hopelessness. She felt as lost as he did.
“Everett, you deserve someone to cry for you,” she said quietly.
He was about to tell her that she was wrong when a howl cut through the air.
“Everett?” Vanguard’s voice followed.
The howl sounded again, drawing closer.
Lisette gave him a watery smile. “Your friends are coming.” She began to fade away.
“Don’t go,” he said.
Lisette looked past him at the trees. “You heard what they said about me. Sometimes we become shaped by the things people want to believe about us. It’s better this way.”
She vanished completely, leaving Everett with a feeling of loss. He withdrew his hand from the sunlight and watched it turn back to normal. The icy sensation rushed up his arm, and the flesh became solid again.
Chapter Twenty-four
A slender wolf with white and gold fur burst through the bushes. Everett looked around for a branch or rock he could use to defend himself.
“Stay back,” he warned.
Vanguard appeared behind the wolf. “You found him!” he said as if not at all concerned that there was a wolf in front of him. He waved whatever he held. When he walked closer, Everett saw that it was the red shirt and black pants Adrielle had been wearing.
He looked back at the wolf. “Adrielle?” he asked in amazement.
She snorted as if amused by his shocked tone.
“Who else would it be?” Vanguard asked. “Your not-so-friendly poltergeist?”
Everett rolled his eyes. “Enough jokes. She’s my friend and she’s going to stay.”
“Thanks,” Lisette whispered from somewhere behind him.
“Fine,” Vanguard said in a singsong voice. “But you’re the one playing with fire.”
The term reminded Everett of what had happened in the clearing. He opened his mouth to tell them, but Vanguard had tossed Adrielle’s clothes behind a bush.
“Hurry, babe. I wouldn’t want the creatures in this jungle to see you bare like a bear.” Vanguard grinned at Everett. “Get it? Bare like a bear? You know, because they don’t have clothes?”
His attention focused on a bush with yellow flowers. “I saw a bear at the observatory in Nubium. My uncle said it broke into one of the Grazeries and killed a bunch of cows. They shot it and stuffed it.” He grimaced. “It was all bumpy and strange, not like the picture on the wall.”
Everett kept his attention away from the bushes Adrielle was changing behind. “How did you find me?”
“Adrielle’s nose,” Vanguard replied. “She can track down anything.”
The pride in the magician’s voice made Everett grimace. He turned away. “We’d better get going.”
“Not until we see what your mom packed for us,” Vanguard replied. He shrugged the backpack off his shoulders and set it on the ground.
“Sounds good to me,” Adrielle said. “I’m getting hungry.” She stepped out from behind the bushes in her clothes.
“This must be for your, fangs,” Vanguard said. He tossed something at Everett.
Everett caught the container and let out a relieved breath. His mother had packed a serving of his “vitamins” for the trip. He took off the lid and swallowed the life-sustaining fluid.
“He doesn’t need a sandwich,” Vanguard was saying. “He’s a blood-sucker, remember?”
“Come on, Van,” Adrielle replied. “Share. You already have a sandwich and Everett’s mom is the one who made the food, remember?”
“Fine,” Vanguard muttered. He threw one of the small packages.
Everett caught it and opened one of his mom’s amazing meat and cheese sandwiches. He ate it and watched Adrielle in an effort to avoid Vanguard’s loathsome stare.
Everett noticed for the first time the way Adrielle’s golden eyes matched those of the wolf. She tipped her head when she looked at him; the affect was very canine.
“What?” she asked self-consciously, looking at him from behind lowered eyelashes.
Everett forced a smile to hide the way she affected him. “Are you sure you don’t have rabies?”
She slapped his shoulder and laughed. “Come on. Let’s get going. You’re going to burn up out here if we don’t find those vampires soon.”
Everett smiled in return but didn’t comment about burning. He was still coming to terms with what had happened. The part of him that was jealous about the way her hand rested so casually at Vanguard’s elbow while they walked said he should keep it to himself.