Urban Mythic: Thirteen Novels of Adventure and Romance, featuring Norse and Greek Gods, Demons and Djinn, Angels, Fairies, Vampires, and Werewolves in the Modern World

by C. Gockel

  “You will still be weak,” Jeno said.

  “Please.”

  Hector climbed to his feet, his mood drastically altered. “We should go.”

  “Goodnight,” she said to Jeno.

  “Goodnight,” the vampire replied.

  She and Hector pushed off and flew across the breezy sky. Gertie glanced back more than once at the lone vampire perched on the rock. She couldn’t be sure, even with her powerful vision, but he appeared to be weeping.

  20

  The Fall Festival

  Nikita bolted into the room and dropped her backpack on her bed. “Feeling any better?”

  Gertie opened her eyes. She’d slept on and off most of the day, with her e-reader within easy reach beneath her pillow for her waking moments. She hadn’t eaten a thing, even though Mamá had brought her broth twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Gertie’s stomach had been churning all day.

  On top of her physical pain was the psychological: her mind was haunted by the memory of Alexander forcing her on the sand and sinking his teeth into her neck. As mean as people could sometimes be, no one had ever treated her like that. It had made her feel broken inside.

  “I have some exciting news.” Nikita sat on her bed. “I think it will cheer you up.”

  “Oh?” Gertie didn’t bother to sit up. Her head felt like a train was running through it.

  “Dimos wants to take you to the fall dance!”

  Gertie frowned. “Seriously?”

  “Oh-em-gee, Gertie! He’s a hottie. How can you not be excited?”

  “Are vampires allowed to go?”

  Nikita’s mouth fell open, and she sat there, glaring at Gertie.

  “What?”

  “How can you even ask that?” Nikita admonished.

  “You don’t know Jeno.” Gertie closed her eyes. She was so weak. “He’s different.”

  Nikita said nothing.

  “Ask Hector,” Gertie added.

  “You think I should?” Nikita’s voice perked up.

  Gertie opened her eyes and realized Nikita had misunderstood. She thought Gertie had meant for her to ask Hector to the dance.

  “Do you want to?” Gertie asked.

  “Well, I don’t think he’ll ask me. He treats me like a sister.” Nikita stood up and crossed the room, where she gazed at her own reflection in the full length mirror on the back of the door. “I need to show him another side of me.” She smiled wickedly.

  Gertie grinned—and would have laughed if she had had the strength.

  “Do you have to be a student at the school to attend the dance?” Gertie asked.

  “You’re serious about asking Jeno?”

  Gertie nodded.

  Just then, both girls turned their heads at the sound of sobs in the bathroom across the hall. Nikita glanced with alarm at Gertie and then left the room. Gertie used the little bit of strength she had to climb from her bed and follow.

  “Mamá?” Nikita asked, opening the bathroom door.

  Gertie watched from the hallway as Mamá put her arms around Nikita.

  “What’s wrong?” Nikita asked.

  “Let us go to your room,” Mamá said. Then she noticed Gertie. “Oh, Gertoula, are you feeling better?”

  “What’s the matter, Mamá?” Gertie asked. “Did something happen?”

  “Come with me, girls.”

  They followed Mamá into their bedroom, where she closed the door. Each girl sat on her bed. Mamá sat beside Nikita.

  “Something must have happened today to Phoebe at school,” Mamá said. “Did she seem different on the car ride home?” she asked Nikita.

  Nikita shrugged. “She was quiet, as usual.”

  Mamá wiped her tears. “She had been making such good progress, you know, with the sign language her friend was teaching her. I was learning it from her, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it has been these past few weeks to feel as though we are speaking again.”

  “Then why are you crying?” Gertie asked.

  “Phoebe refuses to use her hands today,” Mamá said through tears. “I don’t know why. She won’t even look at me. I wish I knew what was going on inside that troubled head of hers.”

  An idea came to Gertie. If she had vampire powers, she could read Phoebe’s mind. At that moment, she decided she would find a way to take Jeno to the dance, and she would ask him to bite her while everyone was still awake. Then she could help the Angelis family solve the mystery around Phoebe’s silence.

  A few days later, Gertie went to school, even though she still felt like she’d been hit by a car, and was surprised when, during first period, Hector leaned over and whispered, “Any chance you’d go with me to the fall dance?”

  She really hadn’t thought he’d ask, knowing her feelings about Nikita and her wish to maintain harmony in the Angelis household.

  “You already know the answer to that,” she whispered back.

  “It’s not fair,” he objected.

  No, it wasn’t. Gertie agreed. But life was anything but fair.

  “Nikita wants to ask you,” she said. “You should go with her.”

  “I want to go with you.”

  “I’m taking Jeno,” she said.

  Hector’s brows shot up. “You can’t bring him here, to the school.”

  “Why not? You know he’s different from the other vampires.”

  Hector glanced around, as if making sure no one had overheard. Then he returned to the assignment on his desk, so she returned to hers.

  Gertie was surprised again later that day when Nikita told her that Hector had said yes to her invitation to go with her to the dance. They were alone in their room after school. Gertie had never seen Nikita more excited.

  “You’re so lucky you have a date,” Gertie said.

  “You shouldn’t have said no to Dimos.”

  “Help me get Jeno to come.” Gertie gave Nikita the best puppy eyes she could manage. “Please? And keep it a secret from Mamá and Babá.”

  “I don’t know.” Nikita sat on her bed, a little deflated.

  Gertie sat beside her. “Just think how much fun it would be to go dress shopping together.” Gertie actually hated dress shopping, but she was feeling desperate.

  “Mamá and Babá can’t afford that. I’ll just wear something of Mamá’s.”

  “No, please. Let me take you shopping. I have a credit card, remember? No one needs to know. We’ll say you borrowed one of my dresses. They’ll believe us. You’ve borrowed all my other clothes already.”

  “You have such an amazing wardrobe.”

  “You can have anything of mine you want. Plus, I’ll buy you a dress for the dance.”

  The corners of Nikita’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Seriously? You would do that for me?”

  “Of course.” Gertie’s heart rate increased as she realized Nikita was about to break. “We’ll help each other. Okay?”

  Nikita nodded. “Okay.”

  That night, Gertie lay in bed, hoping once again that Jeno would come for her. How else could she ask him to the dance? She missed his beautiful, sad face and the way she felt when he kissed her. She knew he stayed away because he didn’t think she was falling in love with him like he was with her, but she was determined to show him otherwise. He was the most amazing person she had ever met, and she was dying to be with him again.

  She reached out to him with her mind, hoping he was listening to her thoughts. Please, Jeno. Please believe me. I want to be with you.

  A week later, Gertie and Nikita convinced Hector to drive them to the mall. Jeno had not come for Gertie, so she wasn’t even sure if he would agree to go with her to the dance, but Nikita had been so excited since Gertie had told her about shopping for dresses that Gertie had decided to think optimistically. Klaus went along, too, so he and Hector could hang out while the girls did their shopping.

  Although Gertie had always dreaded shopping with her mother—mainly because their tastes were different and because he
r mother never seemed to consider Gertie’s opinion—she enjoyed trying on dresses with Nikita. Maybe it was her friend’s excitement that made it fun for Gertie. She’d gone to a few of the malls in New York with friends from school, but there was something different about Nikita. The other girls always seemed to have hidden agendas that Gertie could never figure out, and their loyalties changed from week to week. Nikita was one of the most genuine people Gertie had ever met. She realized she’d never had such a good friend before.

  “Definitely!” Gertie said of the clingy, purple dress Nikita wore as she stepped out of the fitting room stall. “That’s the one. Don’t you think?”

  “I really do!” Nikita said. “I’ve never worn anything so beautiful.”

  “You look amazing in it,” Gertie said.

  “Are you sure you can buy this for me?”

  “I’m positive. But you have to help me find something now, too.”

  Gertie’s grandmother had always told her that Gertie looked best in cool colors—like blue, pink, and purple—so when Nikita insisted that Gertie try on a deep red dress with a tight bodice and flowing, shimmery skirt, Gertie held it up to her skin, uncertain.

  “Your blond hair and blue eyes pop against that red,” Nikita said. “This is the one. I’m sure of it.”

  So Gertie put it on. She was absolutely surprised by her reflection. Who knew she looked good in red?

  “Told you!” Nikita said as Gertie stepped from her stall. “You look breathtaking.”

  In her bare feet, she left the fitting room area to get a better look at herself in the larger mirror just outside. As she was checking herself out, Hector and Klaus came around the corner. Klaus whistled. Nikita dashed back into the fitting room, not wanting to be seen in the purple dress by Hector before the night of the dance, but it was too late for Gertie.

  “Is that the one you’re getting?” Klaus asked. “Please say yes.”

  “You like it?” Gertie asked.

  Klaus blushed and said, “What’s not to like. Don’t you agree, Hector?”

  Gertie found it difficult to meet Hector’s eyes. The longing in them was too much.

  He cleared his throat and said, “Yeah. It’s nice.”

  That night, Jeno finally came for her. As soon as she met him on the sidewalk in front of the Angelis apartment, she threw her arms around his neck.

  “Thank God you came,” she said. “What took you so long?”

  “I wanted to make sure you were well rested.” He swept her hair from her eyes. “You shouldn’t miss so much sleep while you’re still recovering.”

  “Can we go somewhere to talk?” she asked.

  “My island?” His smile faded as soon as he’d read her mind. “He did it to you there?” Jeno closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. “Well, at least you’ll never have to worry about Alexander again.”

  Gertie shuddered. “Why do you say that?”

  “I told you what I’d do to him.”

  “You…” Gertie’s mouth fell open and she was speechless. Had Jeno really killed Alexander?

  “It’s the law,” Jeno said. “I reported him to Hector.”

  “Hector killed him?” Gertie folded her arms across her body, hugging herself.

  “We both did.” Jeno shrugged. “I needed his help and he was happy to oblige.”

  “The two of you really killed him?” The finality of death was too hard to accept.

  “Alexander had a reputation. I should have reported him before.” Jeno put his hands on her shoulders and moved his face nearer to hers. “Then you would have been spared. I’m so sorry he did that to you.”

  Gertie lifted her mouth to his, and he accepted her kiss. She closed her eyes as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, helping her to forget.

  “Let’s fly to the Parthenon,” she whispered. “I have something I want to ask you.”

  The Angelis apartment was a flurry of excitement three weeks later on the night of the dance. Nikita and Klaus had performed at the festival with Hector and the rest of the choir earlier that day, and Gertie had sat with Mamá and Babá and Phoebe. For the first time, she had felt like a part of a real family.

  The choir had sounded amazing. The band and orchestra had also performed, as had the dancers and the theater club. The other school organizations, including the photography club, had raised money at booths, which had lined the sidewalks in front of the high school and around the fountain. Gertie had sold nachos for one hour with Hector. He hadn’t given her a hard time about not going with him to the dance and had actually been in a brilliant mood. They had laughed together, like when she had first arrived to Athens. It was a relief to her, though it also filled her with another feeling she didn’t quite understand. Maybe she just wasn’t the kind of person who could ever be one hundred percent happy with anything.

  Mamá and Babá went on and on about how nice Nikita, Gertie, and Klaus looked in their fancy clothes as they were about to leave for the dance.

  “We are so lucky that you brought such beautiful dresses with you,” Mamá said as she fawned over the girls. “And Klaus looks so handsome in Babá’s suit. You all look so beautiful, don’t they, Babá?” She kissed each of their cheeks.

  Babá took lots of pictures and tried to convince Phoebe to come and get in the photos, too, but Phoebe had withdrawn herself. The youngest Angelis rarely came out of Mamá and Babá’s room anymore. Gertie was anxious to learn what was going on inside that little girl’s head.

  Klaus drove the three of them in Babá’s car across the city to Hector’s house. Nikita wasn’t ready to let her parents know that she had asked Hector to be her date. They had decided not to even mention dates so that Gertie wouldn’t have to explain hers, either.

  Jeno was waiting for her at Hector’s house. As the two boys stepped from Hector’s front porch and walked across the yard to meet them, Gertie nearly lost her breath. They both wore nicely cut suits and ties and black dress shoes. Their crisp white shirts gleamed against the dark black blazers. Their skin also glowed. One boy was pale and blond and shining in the moonlight, and the other was dark with twinkling black eyes and thick, curly hair.

  As the two girls stepped from the car, Klaus asked Gertie, “Are you sure about this?”

  He hadn’t been told about Jeno. The girls had been worried he would spill the beans.

  “Yes,” Gertie said.

  Klaus backed from the driveway, waving goodbye, and then went to pick up his date, leaving the other four alone in the moonlight.

  They were silent and awkward as they climbed into Hector’s car—Nikita in the front and Gertie in the back with Jeno. Gertie focused on keeping her thoughts trained on Jeno even though she noticed Hector glance at her more than once in his rearview mirror.

  “You look beautiful,” Jeno whispered beside her.

  “So do you,” she said.

  He smiled. “That isn’t the first time you’ve told me that. It’s nice to hear.”

  “You know I speak the truth.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Thank you so much for this night. I can’t remember the last time I attended an event among mortals. Wait, yes I can. It was thirty years ago, I believe.”

  “That’s so sad.”

  “Yes. And this is a happy occasion, so let’s not talk anymore about sad things.”

  Nikita made small talk with Hector up front, as Jeno and Gertie continued to whisper their private conversation.

  “I see your thoughts about dancing,” he said.

  “I suck at it. I hope you don’t expect…”

  “I do, actually. I love to dance and haven’t in ages. You must dance with me, Gertie.”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Leave it to me. I will lead you. You will see.”

  She hoped she wouldn’t disappoint him.

  “Never,” he said.

  When they followed Hector and Nikita into the high school gymnasium, Gertie was delighted by how the building had transformed. The dimm
ed lights, disco ball, colorful strings of lights along the walls and tables, and bronze steampunk props gave a mystical quality to the atmosphere. A big banner over the stage read: “Dance Through the Ages,” and beneath it was a live band. Currently, they were playing a big band sound, jazzy and spastic.

  “I like this music,” Jeno said.

  Unlike Gertie, who worried about others detecting Jeno for what he was, Jeno took her hand and led her with confidence smack dab in the middle of the dance floor where no one else, not even the chaperones, were dancing.

  “Give in to me with your mind,” he whispered. “I can lead you.”

  She gazed into his eyes and allowed him to control her as they moved flawlessly around the center of the room dancing what she soon recognized was the Charleston. She was no longer aware of the other students and faculty watching from the sidelines. Everyone fell away, and it was just the two of them laughing and dancing to the music from the band on stage.

  When that song ended and a new one began, Jeno said, “Oh, this is from Fred Astair. Let’s keep going.”

  Gertie couldn’t believe how easily she moved as Jeno told her mind and body what to do. He swung her around and around, making her dizzy with laughter, but when that song was over and another began, he said once again, “We have to dance to this one.”

  “Seriously?”

  “It’s by Glenn Miller. Come on!” His smile was contagious.

  Before she knew it, they had danced to Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Bee Jees, Jefferson Starship, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Mariah Carey. Other students eventually joined them on the dance floor, but Gertie had barely noticed them.

  “I need some water,” she said when Celine Dione’s My Heart Will Go On rang from the stage.

  They found Hector and Nikita standing beside Klaus and Joy by the refreshments. Jeno found a cold bottle of water and opened it for Gertie.

  “Nice moves,” Nikita said.

  Both Hector and Klaus had stiffened and had exchanged glances. Gertie wished she could read their minds. “Thank you,” she said. “Jeno deserves all the credit, though.”