SAVED: Book #1 of the Shadow Vampires

by Allegra Skye

  “Amy Lee’s the smartest girl in the class,” Ben chimed in.

  Nora laughed. “But Keira’s here too, now. We got a whole bunch of smart ones.”

  Amy Lee smiled wanly and extended her hand to Keira. “One more year to college,” she said. “Can’t wait.”

  Keira got it. “Me too.”

  “Let’s all have lunch later,” Nora said.

  They all walked out into the hall. The flow of kids moved smoothly, out of one class, into the next, like a river, Keira thought, that had no beginning or end. She was trying her best to swim in, not get tossed to the shore and land on the rocks, or take a spin and drown. The popular kids walked down the center of the hallways, talking loudly, arm in arm, taking up most of the room. The other kids walked on the edges, heads down, talking in muted tones. Just keep moving, Keira told herself. This is for one year only. Before you know it, it will be done.

  “I’ll see you at lunch,” Nora said, as she slipped into her next class.

  Ben went to the same class as Nora. Before he walked in, he stopped and looked squarely at Keira. “Really nice to meet you,” he said.

  Keira just felt badly for him, and didn’t know what to say. “Have a good class,” she finally managed as she walked away, down the hall.

  *

  The cafeteria was a huge room, painted pale yellow with giant windows that let in tons of light. You could see the sky and the trees in the yard, turning orange and gold in the autumn.

  The little alcove in the back of the cafeteria was darker. It had a couple of small tables, but almost no one sat there. Food was served along the edges of the room; hot food served on one side and sandwiches and salads on the other. The rest of the room was filled with long tables and benches for the kids to sit at. Usually the same group sat together.

  It was that way in Keira’s old school, too. Keira knew she could go over and sit down at the table Amanda ate at, but she didn’t want to. Prissy Gane, Stacey Allen, and Tom all sat together. They all seemed so happy sitting together, along with several other guys and girls. Keira knew she wasn’t really welcome.

  Instead, she sat with Nora and Amy Lee, and then Ben joined them, too. A guy that Nora knew in another class, Harvey, came and sat down, too. He was heavier, like Nora, and quiet. Harvey lived around the corner from Nora and played the bassoon in the school orchestra. Even though he didn’t say much, Keira could see he was very attached to Nora.

  “Everyone’s talking about the Autumn Harvest Dance,” Nora said, as they started eating. “It’s not that far away.”

  This was the first Keira had heard about it. She felt a flurry of excitement among everyone at the table.

  “I’m going with Harvey,” Nora announced, happily as Harvey beamed.

  “Cool,” Ben said.

  They started talking about the decorations, the planning committee, and who was in charge of The Autumn Harvest Magazine the school put out.

  “Jesse Gray is the editor this year,” Nora said.

  “Wow,” said Ben. “That’s hot.”

  Keira didn’t even know who Jesse Gray was and couldn’t care less. The dance didn’t really mean a thing to her. It seemed to be such a big deal to others though, especially who went with who.

  She ate the sandwich she had brought from home, while everyone talked. She didn’t much like the cafeteria food, and had always been a picky eater, though Amanda ate most everything. Keira liked freshly squeezed juices and couldn’t stand the smell of meat. She usually had cheese sandwiches with tomatoes. As she ate her lunch, she grew quieter. All the chatter at the table was making her tired and she needed her energy for the volleyball try out later today. For a strange second, she felt much older than everyone, as if she belonged somewhere else, at a different kind of school, where other things mattered—she wasn’t sure what.

  Soon the bell rang, and the cafeteria started to empty out. Keira said goodbye to her new friends and instead of leaving with them, just sat at the table alone. It felt good to be sitting by herself, to have a chance to gather her thoughts. What was so off putting about this place, she wondered? Why couldn’t she feel at ease? She had never felt like such a stranger before.

  As she finally got ready to leave for the next class, Keira stood and turned towards the little alcove in the back of the cafeteria.

  Suddenly she was stopped cold. She couldn’t move.

  It was him.

  He was sitting there absolutely alone, tall, silent, almost without moving. With his shock of very blonde hair, and straight back, at first she thought he was a statue of some kind. She couldn’t believe it was really him. He really existed. He hadn’t been a figment of her imagination. And he was here. In the cafeteria. With her.

  He suddenly pressed his hands down on the table and got up, facing her direction. Keira was riveted. She couldn’t pull her attention away. He was completely different from anyone here. Who was he?

  She stood there for what seemed like forever, facing him. For a second he looked over at her, their eyes locked and her heart started pounding. But it was so quick, she couldn’t be sure if it really happened. Then, like quicksilver, he turned and left.

  It had all happened so fast, she once again began to wonder if he’d really been there in the first place. Was she imagining it again?

  But her body told her something had happened. Keira could barely catch her breath. She felt as though a beautiful bird had swooped into the room and then flown out again. For a crazy moment she wanted to run over to the alcove and see where he’d gone.

  But she just stood where she was. Even if she wanted to, she was unable to move.

  CHAPTER 6

  Keira was unable to concentrate for the rest of the day. She went through all of her afternoon classes in a daze, barely hearing a word the teachers had said. Who was this boy? Was he a student? What classes was he in? Who were his friends? What was his name? Even though he was alone, he didn’t seem lonely. Why not?

  And most of all, why did he look so different than everybody else? Where was he from?

  She knew she’d better stop thinking about him and pay attention to her studies. She had a tendency to daydream, and couldn’t let herself give into it. She had to get good grades this year, get into the college she wanted and be able to leave home. But it was so hard. There was something about him that just made her unable to think of anything else.

  The final bell of the day rang, and Keira finally had something else to occupy her thoughts: the volleyball tryouts. She hurried down the still unfamiliar hallways, turning left and right, trying to find the gym, and thought of what the tryouts might be like. The more she thought about it, the more a nervous feeling began to center in her stomach. Maybe Amanda was right. Maybe she shouldn’t tryout.

  When Keira got to the locker room, it was already filled with girls. They were all busy chatting with each other, laughing, changing. Most of them barely seemed to notice her.

  To her relief, Keira spotted Amanda. She was putting her stuff into a locker, and Keira wasted no time in hurrying over to her and claiming the locker next to hers.

  Amanda was already dressed in shorts and a tee shirt, ready to go into the gym. Prissy, Stacey, and a few other girls from their clique were there, too. They all wore similar outfits, and seemed happy and confident.

  “You trying out too Keira Weirda ?” Prissy asked with disdain when she saw her.

  The other girls laughed. It was a stupid nickname Prissy’d come up with.

  “Weirda, Weirda,” Prissy continued mocking.

  Keira decided not to answer.

  “Aren’t you too short for this?” Stacey asked, looking her over.

  Keira was a little shorter than the others, but not much. She hoped Amanda would come to her aid, but she didn’t. In fact, Amanda seemed annoyed to even see her there.

  Too bad, thought Keira, as she pulled up her shorts and tucked in her shirt. She started to get angry, angrier than she had ever felt before.

  “How about
it Keira Weirda?” Prissy kept taunting.

  The words of the girls blended together in a little whirl in Keira’s head. Even though she hadn’t been popular at Grayson High, she’d never been the butt of something like this, of girls who enjoyed being mean so much.

  Keira turned her back on all of them, as she walked out onto the gym floor.

  As she got there, the coach, a middle aged man, Angie, blew the whistle. Most of the girls had been on the team last year, but it was a custom at Bertram High to try out again every year, fresh. Angie looked Keira over quickly. There was room for two new girls on the team. Keira thought he wouldn’t have much choice. How could he turn her away?

  Amanda ran gracefully out onto the gym floor along with her friends, and Angie looked them over, too. Then he assigned teams and positions. Keira was put on the opposite team of Amanda. She would be the fourth to serve on her side of the net. Standing here now, she began to feel funny. What had she been thinking? Was she going to just give the girls more to make fun of?

  Prissy was the first one up to serve. The ball spun up and over the net, back and forth, time and again. Keira jumped up for it as it came her way, but missed it twice. Someone else on her side got it.

  “Keira, you need to set it up!” the coach yelled the next time it came flying towards her.

  She tried, but she just missed the ball. The other side scored, and the girls cheered in excitement, while the girls on Keira’s side glared at her in disgust.

  But Keira was determined not to quit. She remembered an old teacher she’d had at who told her that life was just about trying again and again, no matter how things turned out. Just keep at it, he’d said, and things will turn around. Keira had believed him.

  Amanda seemed to be doing just fine. She served, blocked and passed as though it were second nature to her. It was. She’d been doing it for ages.

  “Keira, you’re up!” the coach yelled, as one of her teammates placed the ball in her hand. “Your serve!”

  Keira looked down at the ball in trepidation. She had only served a few times, and had never been any good at it.

  The entire court was focused on her. She slowly threw the ball up in the air, reached back, and slammed it with her fist.

  It went low and hard, right into the net.

  The girls on both sides of the court snickered.

  “Second serve!” the coach yelled.

  Keira was handed the ball again. She tried to really focus.

  Come on, Keira, she told herself.You can do this.

  Keira threw the ball up with one hand and hit it with her fist with the other, and it went flying, way over the net, and way over the entire court. It didn’t even land anywhere near where it needed to be.

  The other girls made a loud, howling noise, laughing in her face, mocking her.

  “Okay,” the coach blew his whistle again. “Enough.”

  All the girls turned and headed back towards the locker room.

  “Results will be posted up in the gym. Check back tomorrow.”

  Keira felt sweaty and hot. She was also a little dizzy. She put her head down near her locker and breathed hard.

  She didn’t look up, but could feel the eyes of the other girls as they filed by her.

  “Nice going, Keira Weirda!” came a voice. It was Prissy’s.

  This was followed by a chorus of giggles and snorts from all the other girls.

  “Here,” came a soft voice.

  Keira was extremely surprised and relieved to look up and see Amanda standing over her, handing her some water.

  “It will cool you down.”

  Keira was so touched by the gesture. Maybe her sister loved her after all.

  She was thirstier than she realized and gulped it down fast.

  More and more girls were crowding into the locker room and she wanted to get out. She didn’t need to hear any more comments right now.

  While the girls congratulated each other, Keira dressed as fast as she could and hurried from the locker room. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Amanda looking at her, with a look of sympathy. But Keira didn’t want her sympathy right now. She just wanted to be alone.

  Keira new she hadn’t made the team. It was obvious. Once again, she felt like a failure. She had been so stupid to try out. What had she been thinking? But, then she thought about it again, as she started walking out of the gym. Who cares that she didn’t make the team. She really didn’t need to waste her time practicing volley ball. It never meant much to her. And, after all, it was senior year. There were a lot more important things to take care of.

  .Keira didn’t want to ruin Amanda’s high and walk home with her and bring her down. Plus, she was sure that Amanda would rather be with her friends, anyway. So she decided to walk home alone.

  It was much cooler outside now in the late afternoon. The sun cast a soft light over everything, and Keira briefly wondered how long it would be until it started to get dark earlier. Keira liked walking alone. She headed down the manicured streets, surrounded on both sides by huge oak trees, looking as though they’d been there forever. The homes were large and picture-perfect. They seemed so solid, like secure havens where nothing would ever go wrong. But were they? Keira could feel that they weren’t. That nothing in this town was what it seemed.

  There wasn’t a person in sight, and somehow, on this day, Keira found that comforting. She imagined for a brief moment that the world had ended, that she lived in a ghost town, and that she was the last one alive. She found the thought oddly comforting.

  As Keira continued walking, right down the center of the empty street, she suddenly noticed something that caught her eye. She blinked hard for a few moments, thinking she was imagining it. But then as she looked again, she saw that she was not.

  There, right in front of her, on the sidewalk, were several shadows, shadows in the shape of a tall human being. As she watched, they came up, right next to the shadow that she was casting in the late afternoon light. The three shadows walked right next to her shadow, getting larger and longer as they approached.

  Her heart stopped. She hadn’t noticed anyone anywhere near her on the street. Where did these shadows come from? It seemed as if there were people here who had crept up and were standing behind her. . She knew she should turn around and look, but she was frozen with fear. Anyone who would creep up right behind her on such an empty street, could mean no good.

  Finally, Keira got up her courage and wheeled around in one quick motion, ready to confront them.

  But to her shock, there was no one there. Just her, still standing in the middle of the empty street.

  Keira wheeled back in the other direction and looked again, and saw the shadows, still there, as clear as day. There was no mistaking it: there were 3 shadows of human beings on the street, right beside her. Yet when she turned and looked, there was simply no one else around. It was as if these shadows were alive all by themselves.

  As she watched them, they got closer and closer to her shadow. As they did, she felt an inexplicable coldness in her body, a tingling on her arms, and felt herself becoming short of breath. It was scary and creepy.. It felt like evil, and she felt the energy begin to drain from her body.

  She thought immediately of the other night, of looking out her bedroom window, of seeing those eyes, that creature, in the tree. . And now she felt with certainty that she hadn’t been imagining it. Any of it. The creature and the shadows had to be connected.

  Keira was terrified. Not knowing what else to do, she suddenly took off, running as fast as she could.

  As she did, she looked down, and saw the shadows running beside her.

  She ran faster and faster, turning the corner, and slowly, eventually, the shadows began to trail her, to get further away.

  She increased her speed even more, crying, and turned yet another corner, and prayed, for the first time, for the safety of home.

  *

  Keira arrived home, running up her walkway and slamming the door
behind her, with great relief. She still was breathing hard from the ordeal.

  Her dad, standing in the foyer, looked at her, wide-eyed.

  “What is it?” he asked. He must have seen her expression, must have noticed her hard breathing, her slamming the door.

  She paused. She didn’t know what to tell him. If she told him the truth, he’d think she was crazy.

  Was she? She seemed to make it home OK. Had she been imagining the whole thing?

  Deep down, she knew she wasn’t.

  But at the same time, she also knew that it was something that he could never understand, never relate to. And she didn’t feel like being criticized, or made to feel like she was crazy.

  “Nothing,” she said curtly, and hurried past him, into the hall, before he could ask any more questions.

  Keira checked her watch and realized she was late. It was past seven, and she braced herself as she entered the dining room, figuring that everyone would be seated and her mom would be pissed and ready to attack.

  But to her surprise, that wasn’t the case at all. No one was seated at the table, and instead, as Keira headed into the living room, she saw Amanda pacing back and forth, all dressed up, trying on different accessories, as her mom watched. Her mom looked concerned.

  “I told you, I’ll be back before midnight,” Amanda snapped at her mom. Keira must have walked in in the middle of their conversation. Keira was surprised: she had never heard Amanda be that short with her Mom before, and had never seen her mom look at her with worry.

  “Oh no you won’t, young lady,” her Dad said, stepping into the room. “You’ll be back way before then.”

  “What’s going on?” Keira asked.

  “I’m going to a party,” Amanda stated, as she checked herself in the mirror with a new pair of earrings.

  “Can I come?” Keira asked.

  Amanda looked at her for a second, then looked back in the mirror.

  “I’m sorry,” Amanda said. “If it were up to me, sure. But it’s not my house. They just invited me.”

  “Whose party?” Keira asked.

  “Prissy and a few other girls,” Amanda answered.