by Gayla Twist
Friday morning, I woke up disgusted with myself. Poor baby no longer got to flirt with a vampire. It was a suicidal thing to do in the first place. I hated sitting by the phone waiting for some guy to call who was never going to call. And this was a million times worse. Prying myself out of bed, I found an empty box in the offseason closet. In it I put Jessie’s tux jacket, handkerchief, pocket watch, and pendant. I wasn’t going to sit around moping for the rest of my life. I had to purge myself of the vampire’s mementos and hope that it helped.
As I stood over the box with a roll of packing tape in one hand, I had a moment of weakness and snatched the Pools of Light pendant out of the pile. I would, after all, need something to get me through the nights. I intended to be strong, but I wasn’t that strong.
I was standing outside the post office when they unlocked the doors to the public. It meant being late for school, but I knew if I waited until the end of the day, or even lunch, I would have lost my resolve.
“You a fan of the castle?” the postal clerk asked as I handed over the package.
I had been totally in my own head and wasn’t quite sure I heard him correctly. “Sorry?”
“I see here you’re sending something to the Vanderlind Castle, and I was wondering if you were a fan.”
He looked like he was just asking a question to be friendly. I didn’t see any hidden agenda behind it. “The Vanderlind Castle has fans?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Oh, yeah.” He nodded with conviction. “It all goes through here, so we see plenty of it. Stuff from all over. Cards mostly. Sometimes packages. Girls will send their photos,” he said with a confidential wink. “A lot of them are pretty good.”
I wasn’t going to ask him how he happened to see the photos that I assumed were in sealed envelopes. “Why would people send mail to the castle?” I wondered aloud.
“You tell me,” he said, poking at the box I’d placed in front of him.
“That’s not a present,” I assured the clerk.
“Sure it’s not.” He gave me a smug look.
I rolled my eyes.
As soon as I got to my car, I regretted sending the package. I’d anticipated I would, but it was for the best. There was nothing left for me to do but ride out my emotions. Some guys you get over in a few days; some take a couple of weeks, or even a few months; but with Jessie, it felt different. I looked at my potential period of feeling like garbage in terms of years. I wondered if I would feel better before I graduated from high school.
Speaking of high school, I was late. Very late. Mrs. Stokes in homeroom made some mention of an after school detention, but I guess I looked at her with such misery that she mumbled, “Well, let’s just finish taking attendance.”
During lunch, Blossom said to me, “Aurora, it can’t be your time of the woman all the time. Nobody’s that fertile. What the hell is wrong with you?”
I could have made something up about my dad, I guess, but I just wasn’t thinking fast enough. “I don’t know,” was all I could manage.
“Well, you just need to get over it,” she informed me. “I mean, after the bake-a-thon, I thought everything was cool again, but I guess I was wrong. I’m sorry I was an idiot at the castle, okay? And I really appreciate you looking out for me, but you need to just get over it already.”
I gave her a flat look. “Do you really think everything in my life revolves around you?” I snarled. “I haven’t been thinking about what a dumbass you were at the castle at all. Okay? I just happen to be dealing with my own shit that has nothing to do with you.” I got up from the lunch table where we were both sitting and stormed out of the room.
I was fuming. Did Blossom really think everything I did and thought was all about her? How self-absorbed can she get?
I felt hot, angry tears welling in my eyes as I hurried for the closest bathroom. Mr. Cooper, the math teacher, saw me in the hall and tried to stop me with, “Can I see your pass?” but by then I was in full flood, and he just let me rush by him. I assumed he didn’t feel like dealing with me being emotional.
I managed to pull myself together by the time my lunch period was over so I could stumble to my next class. By the end of the day, I was exhausted from simply containing my feelings. Obviously, I was losing my mind. No one is sane who believes in vampires and suspects herself of being reincarnated. I decided the best thing I could do was go home, eat ice cream, and watch the most mindless thing I could find on TV.
“Hey,” Blossom said, edging up to me as I stood at my locker. “I feel like a jerk if I’ve been being selfish or anything.”
“That’s okay,” I told her. “I’m sorry if you thought I was angry at you.”
“You’re not?”
“No.”
“Good. ‘Cause, you know, you’re my best friend, and I don’t like it when you’re pissed at me.”
“I’m not,” I assured her. “Can we just drop it?” I closed my locker.
“Okay.” She paused. “But if you ever want to talk about anything, you know I’m always here for you, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
We started heading out of the school together. “There’s a party at the Tib tomorrow night. Want to go?”
The Tib was a little spit of land on the shore of the Tiburon River that was shielded from the nearest road by a small patch of woods. Kids parked their cars in the strip mall across the street then snuck through the trees to the spit to hang out. Sometimes there was a keg. We all liked to believe the cops didn’t know about it, but they probably did.
I guess Blossom could tell by the expression on my face that I was about to say no because she added, “Come on. If you’re not mad at me then you really have to stop being such a drip.”
“Are you going with Jimmy?” I asked.
She thought about it. “Why don’t I go there with you, but he’ll give me a ride home?”
That actually worked really well for me because it meant I could leave when I wanted and wouldn’t have to wait for her. “Okay,” I agreed. “I thought you were going to get rid of Mr. Stevens.”
“I probably will,” she shrugged. “Maybe in a couple of weeks.”
That was Blossom speak for, I’m looking around to see if there’s anyone else I want to date.
Chapter 18
The Tib was the Tib. There was nothing super interesting about it beyond that it was on the river. I picked up Blossom the next evening, as agreed, but she and Jimmy appeared to be in some kind of fight. She didn’t come right out and tell me this, but when we arrived and I pointed him out in a cluster of boys, Blossom said, “He thinks he’s so much cooler than he actually is.”
“Hey, Aurora,” I heard a male voice say quite close to me.
I turned around to see Fred Lighton standing next to me. He was a jock, but he didn’t usually use that as an excuse for a personality. “Hey, Fred.” Blossom faded into the distance, under the assumption that it was a good opportunity for me to flirt. Previous to meeting Jessie, I probably would have been a bit more excited that Fred had come up to me, but post Jessie, I was just being social.
“You’re looking good this evening,” he said, taking in my outfit.
“Uh... Thanks,” I glanced down, surprised by the compliment. I hadn’t put much thought into what I was wearing, just grabbed some jeans and an old sweater. “It’s been getting colder lately.” I knew it was never brilliant to talk about the weather, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“I guess it’s going to be the gloaming soon,” he observed, squinting up at the forming moon.
“Oh, yeah.” I had forgotten about the gloaming. There was a strange weather anomaly in Tiburon that locals called the gloaming. Probably because it usually started around dusk. But in early fall, right around the full moon, there was a way that the wind whistled through the trees that made it sound like a person wailing. Or more like a movie ghost from some black and white horror flick wailing. It usually only happened for one or two nights,
but it used to spook the crap out of me as a kid. As I got older, I would just do what everybody else in town did and block it out with music or by turning up the television. Meteorologists and paranormal investigators liked to show up every couple of years to try to figure it out, but no one had come up with a satisfactory explanation beyond the wind.
“Want to do a whippet?” Fred smiled. “We’ve got a ton of them. Tom’s brother set us up.”
I had tried whippets once, like an idiot. Mostly out of curiosity and a bit of peer pressure. After I’d inhaled, the world started spinning really fast and I felt like I could read the minds of everyone in the room, and I did not like what most of them were thinking. “No thanks,” I told him. “They make me throw up.”
“Yeah, I don’t like them either,” he told me in a confidential voice.
“Then why do you do them?”
“I don’t,” he said with a shrug. “I just act like I do and none of my friends seem to notice.”
“Then why offer me one?” I wanted to know.
Fred gave another easygoing shrug. “Seemed like the cordial thing to do. Want a beer?” He held up a six pack on one of those plastic rings. Two cans were already missing.
I’m not a big drinker, even when I’m in a super-great mood, but standing around with a can in my hand would make me blend in a little better as someone having a good time. I had considered picking an empty can up off the ground and just pretending I was drinking from it, but this was even better. “Sure,” I said. “Thanks.”
Fred jerked a can free and handed it to me. I used the corner of my sweater to clean the rim then cracked it open. “Cheers,” he said, lifting his can.
We toasted, and then I took a sip, the bubbles burning the back of my throat. I noticed that Blossom had drifted over to talk to Jimmy. It was probably in my best interest to try to make my conversation with Fred last, or it was going to be a long evening of standing by myself. I searched my brain for something to say that didn’t involve vampires, the castle, crazy aunts, or Jessie. Those were the topics that cluttered my mind, but they were not exactly things that compelled a jock to keep talking to you. “Um... What sport do you play again?” I asked, figuring it was a safe bet.
He kind of laughed a little like he was surprised I didn’t know already. “Football. I play football,” he told me.
“Oh...” I tried to think of a follow-up question that would make sense. Finally, I just gave up and said, “I’d ask you what position you play, but besides the quarterback, I really don’t know of any.”
“You don’t know about football?” Fred sounded genuinely astounded, like it was a requirement to get into high school.
“No,” I replied. I wanted to point out that I was a girl and that lots of girls didn’t really care about most sports, but that would have probably come off as sounding harsh, so I just said, “Not really.”
Fred took that as an invitation to enlighten me. “Okay,” he began, “first off, football is the greatest game on earth.”
The nice thing about having a sports enthusiast explain a sport to you is that you don’t really have to pay attention. You can just make eye contact and nod periodically. Fred was so absorbed with explaining the game that I don't think he noticed that I wasn’t paying the least bit of attention. I just sipped my beer and every once in a while glanced in Blossom’s direction. She and Jimmy were having an intense conversation, but it didn’t appear to be a fight or anything.
“You got that so far?” Fred asked, interrupting my reverie.
“I think so,” I said, going for another swig of beer, then being surprised to find that the can was empty.
“Here.” Fred cracked open another can and handed it to me before he continued with his lecture. I hoped he wasn’t going to try to quiz me later because I would have failed.
To be honest, it wasn’t the worst way to spend an evening. Fred was very animated, and even though I didn’t care at all about the sport, it was kind of fun watching him talk. He was tall and good looking. Not as good looking as Jessie, of course, but I wasn’t going to think about the vampire if I could help it. I took another large swig of beer. I was a lightweight when it came to alcohol, so I was already feeling a little buzzed. It took the edge off my pain, if only temporarily.
Every once in a while, one of Fred’s friends would bust in on our conversation to high five him or whatever else guys do when they want to give a buddy a hard time but not distract him too much from his quarry. “We should get out of here,” Fred said, after the third or fourth guy had hassled him a little. “Want to go for a walk?”
I guess I had been gazing too intently at the football player and he mistook it for non-sports related interest. I knew “a walk” was code for making out in the woods. I wondered if that was something I wanted to do. I mean, I wasn’t exactly crushing on Fred, but he was attractive and maybe mashing my lips against his would help me forget the vampire at least for a few minutes. “Okay,” I agreed. “Let me just find Blossom first.”
“She’s fine,” he said, grabbing my hand. “She’s probably with Jimmy somewhere.”
I didn’t doubt that he was right, but I still wanted to tell her what I was doing. Fred seemed like a good guy, but it was not super smart to wander off into the woods without someone who cared about your safety knowing where you went.
After a moment of hunting through the groups of teenagers, I spotted Jimmy with a couple of his friends. “Hey, Jimmy.” I walked up to him, Fred still clutching my hand. His was warm and sweaty and didn’t send shivers down my spine, but maybe that was a good thing. “You seen Blossom around?”
“That chick is so not worth the hassle,” he said, mostly for his friends’ benefit. I assumed he was annoyed with her because he hadn’t made any headway with Blossom as far as her no-hanky-panky-until-I-know-you-better rule.
“Okay.” I didn’t argue with him. “But do you know where she is?”
He shrugged, playing it cool. “Not my problem.”
I felt annoyance kindle in my belly. They must have broken up because he had to know I was going to tell Blossom that he was acting like a tool. “Where was she when you last saw her?” I pressed, trying to keep my temper under control when what I really wanted to do was give him a good smack on the back of the head.
He waved a hand vaguely in the air to our surroundings. “Here.”
“Come on.” Fred tugged at my hand impatiently. “I’m sure she’s fine.”
But I wasn’t so sure. Jimmy’s cavalier attitude left me believing that maybe Blossom was upset. “No.” I freed my hand from Fred’s grasp. “I need to find her first.”
“Okay, fine,” he said. He turned to Jimmy. “Hey, man. Where’s Blossom?” They were both on the football team; he probably figured he had more pull.
“She took off. She could be anywhere,” was the blithe reply.
Fred looked at me. He could tell that his hopes of a little fun in the woods were over, but instead of being all huffy about it like a lot of guys would be, he said, “Do you want me to help you find her?”
“Would you?” I instantly liked Fred about a hundred times more than I had a minute earlier.
“Hey, Aurora.” A girl named Liz walked up to me. We were in the same English class. “Some guy gave me this to give to you.” She handed me an envelope.
“Who?” I asked, eagerly taking it, instantly thinking of Jessie.
“I don’t know. Just some guy,” she said. “Super hot, though.”
“A young guy?” I asked, tearing at the paper. “Like, our age?”
“No.” She shook her head then cocked it to one side, swaying a little. I could tell she was kind of drunk, but she didn’t think she was. “Maybe in his thirties. Blond hair, kind of a sexy accent.”
“Viktor?” I choked, seriously mangling the envelope in my need to open it quickly.
Aurora,
Meet me under the public pier. Come alone or she’s as good as dead.
Viktor
/> “Oh, my God.” I started to tremble.
“What is it?” Fred squeezed my elbow to help steady me.
“It’s Blossom,” I told him. “She’s...” but I never got to complete my sentence because just then a couple guys came charging through the Tib.
“Cops!” the first one yelled.
“It’s a bust!” his buddy shouted as they hotfooted it out of there.
Everyone stood completely still for half a second, processing the new information. Then the dam broke, and teenagers started running in every direction. Some ran into the woods toward the road, but that was more than likely the direction the police would use to reach the Tib. Other’s charged toward the river, probably hoping to skirt along the shore.
“Come on!” Fred grabbed my hand and started running.
“No.” I fought him to free my arm. “I have to find Blossom. She’s at the pier.”
“She’ll meet you at your car,” he insisted.
“No, you don’t understand...” I tried to explain.
“Aurora, if I get busted, I’m benched. I’ll lose my scholarship,” Fred told me, his eyes pleading, desperate to flee but not ready to just abandon me.
“Go,” I told him. I had a plan, and it didn’t really matter if Fred was with me or not. What I really needed to do was find the cops.
Chapter 19
Screw going to the pier alone to meet some vampire who had kidnapped my best friend. I wasn’t an idiot. The best I could have done with that scenario was trade my life for Blossom’s. Not that I wouldn’t do it if that was the only option, but I preferred it if we both lived.
“Where are the cops?” I asked two girls as they scurried past.
“They’re over there somewhere, I think.” One waved in a general direction that ran parallel to the road rather than toward it. That didn’t make sense to me, but I started running where she had indicated anyway.
It wasn’t easy to plunge through the woods in the dark. The moon wasn’t quite full, but at least it provided some light. Branches tore at my hair and scratched my face. I was grateful that I had decided to wear my new tennies rather than something more stylish. At least I had some traction.
