“But that does not mean they couldn’t come back,” Rave said. “Just to be safe, I’ll go over to Higganum later and see if I can detect any magical energy.”
“Can you do that?” Leesa asked excitedly. “Detect that kind of energy?”
“I’m not sure. I can sense when vampires are nearby—maybe I’ll feel something similar if there are zombies around.”
“That would be awesome.”
“It’s a long shot. If there was any kind of magic associated with the bodies from the cemetery, it may have dissipated by now. But I will see what I can find.”
“Thanks. Have I mentioned that I love you?”
Rave smiled. “Not nearly enough.”
Leesa kissed his cheek. “Well, I do. But I’d better be getting back to the dorm.” She hated to say that, because she didn’t know when she would see him next. “Finals are next week—I need to do some studying.”
Rave stood up. “I’ll walk you back, then.”
Leesa snuggled against him as they headed back toward her dorm. She had no way of knowing Rave had come to class tonight because there was something he wanted to talk to her about, but after he’d seen how bothered she was about her dream, he had decided it could wait. He didn’t want to add to her stress, especially with her finals around the corner.
Edwina watched from the blackness between two buildings almost a hundred yards from where Leesa sat with her volkaane friend. The guy was more than just a friend—that was obvious from the way they interacted. They held hands, they snuggled close, and they exchanged brief kisses. There had been no long, passionate kisses, of course—such a kiss would burn the girl to ashes in seconds. Edwina shivered momentarily at the thought of the volkaane’s fire burning her own life breath from her. She wondered what kind of relationship the human girl and the volkaane expected to have, when his very kiss would kill her. Her lips curved into a sinister smile as she recalled some of her own relationships with humans over the years. She was pretty sure most of them would have preferred her to have killed them right away.
She wished she could have gotten closer, to hear what Leesa and the volkaane were saying, but she was taking no chances he might sense her presence, especially if he was as powerful as Stefan claimed.
She was fortunate Stefan had warned her about him. She had guessed Leesa would be taking that silly Vampire Science class—her brother Bradley had loved it—and Edwina’s first thought had been to go inside the classroom and watch Leesa from somewhere in the room. Had she done that, the volkaane would have sensed her for sure.
Instead, she had found a spot suitably far from the door and settled in to wait. Her patience was rewarded when the two of them left the building together and made their way to the center of the courtyard. She was surprised to see the girl walked with a noticeable limp and wondered if she had injured herself.
When they finally got up and began walking away, Edwina followed silently behind, taking care to maintain her distance. She watched the volkaane give the girl a lingering kiss on the forehead in front of one of the dormitories. He remained outside the door for several moments after she went inside, his eyes roaming the darkness. Edwina was glad she had remained so far back.
A smile curved her lips as she disappeared into the darkness. She now knew where Leesa lived.
13. SEEING THINGS
Near midnight on Friday night, Leesa sat at her desk, pouring over her biology book. Avril Lavigne’s “Goodbye Lullaby” CD was playing softly in the background for the third or fourth time. Leesa had been too consumed with her studying to bother changing it, but this time the raucous sounds of “What the Hell” pulled her attention away from the book. The parts about needing time to play and needing to be a bit crazy sure sounded like a good idea to her right now.
There were a million things she would rather be doing than studying tonight, but finals started on Monday, so it was time to buckle down. She would rather be doing something with Rave, of course, or hanging out with Cali, Stacie and Caitlin playing Guitar Hero, or even bowling on Caitlin’s Wii. Or watching a movie, or reading a good book, or…. Her mouth stretched open into a big yawn. Sleeping wouldn’t be a bad choice, either.
A week had passed since her graveyard dream, and she was still having trouble getting a full night’s sleep. She had not experienced any other weird dreams that she could remember, but she woke up a couple of times almost every night and wasn’t always able to fall right back to sleep. She had hoped her talk with Rave yesterday might help, but last night had been as restless as the others. Oh, well, she thought, sleep wasn’t going to be much of a priority for the next week anyhow.
At least she had drawn a pretty good exam schedule. Biology would be her second toughest test, and she’d be getting it out of the way first thing Monday morning. The rest of her exams were spread out one per day, which was nice. Cali had two finals on Tuesday and Caitlin had two on Wednesday, but Leesa had gotten lucky and avoided any doubles. The other nice thing about her schedule was physics would be her final final, on Thursday. She giggled at the phrase, “final final.” It wasn’t really all that funny—she was definitely getting punch drunk. But it was great to have her toughest test last. She could pull an all-nighter for it if need be and then crash after the exam, knowing her studying was over.
That was a week away, though, so she turned her attention back to biology. She planned on doing another hour or so of work tonight, then to spend most of Saturday on physics, with some reviewing of English and psychology, and then return to biology on Sunday.
She yawned again. If she was this tired already, she thought, when her studying had barely begun, what was she going to be like next week? She would be a basket case for sure. She reached for the open can of Red Bull—a college kid’s best friend during exams—that sat on the corner of her desk. Another boost of energy was definitely in order. Her hand was a couple of inches from the can when her tired eyes popped open and a gasp escaped her throat. Had she just seen what she thought she had seen? She couldn’t have.
She stared at the Red Bull, now grasped firmly in her right hand. She could swear the can had just slid the final few inches across the desk into her hand. But that was impossible, right? She must be even more tired than she thought. Her mind was playing tricks on her. It had to be. She had probably just zoned out for an instant, and didn’t see her hand cover those last couple inches. Yeah, that was the ticket. She had just zoned out.
What other explanation could there be? Even Rave couldn’t move quickly enough to be invisible, and he wouldn’t play that kind of trick on her even if he could. Maybe it was the work of a ghost, she thought, though she didn’t really believe in ghosts. Of course, she hadn’t believed in vampires either, until a few months ago. And now she was entertaining the idea that the dead could climb out of their graves, so why not ghosts, too? What the heck—the more the merrier. Ghosts, goblins, witches…lions and tigers and bears, oh my! She shook her head at her silliness as the famous refrain from the “Wizard of Oz” echoed in her head. Even if ghosts did exist, why would one push a can of Red Bull into her hand? She doubted any ghost would be interested enough in her studying to help her out by moving the energy drink for her.
Maybe it had been an earthquake that moved it, or a sudden shift of the earth’s axis or magnetic field. She found herself looking around the room to see if anything else had moved, and then chastised herself for her foolishness. No, her mind was simply playing tricks on her. She was overly tired, and that was it.
She gulped down an extra couple swallows of Red Bull and got back to work.
14. DOMINIC’S FRUSTRATION
Dominic was frustrated. He sat hunched forward on a diamond-shaped cement block in front of the Pacific Beach branch of the San Diego Library. There were plenty of people around, some browsing though used books at an outdoor book sale, others who were obviously homeless and taking advantage of the public facilities offered by the library. One guy in a brightly colored tie dye T-shirt was bangi
ng on a pair of bongo drums with surprisingly good rhythm. His tangled black dreadlocks bounced on his shoulders as he bobbed his head to the driving beat.
Dominic had been in San Diego for two weeks now, but with precious little to show for it. The city was beautiful, but he had scarcely noticed the palm trees, blue skies and all the brightly colored flowers that had no business blooming in December. Likewise, he paid little attention to the pleasantly warm days and the nights that could barely be described as cool. Back in his home country it would be cold and dreary right now, and the only colors would be dismal shades of brown and gray.
He had spent his first couple of days here riding the city’s three trolley lines, getting off the train at every stop and trying to sense Leesa’s vibration. When he failed, he hopped back onto the next trolley that came along and repeated the process all over again at the next stop. The trolley provided excellent coverage of central San Diego and the southern coastal strip of the county, but his search produced no results. Next, he risked a small bit of his anonymity by spending a week crisscrossing the rest of the county in a series of taxis, stopping every mile or two and getting out of the car to try to sense Leesa. He changed taxis every few hours to prevent any of the drivers from wondering in more than an idle fashion what their strange passenger was doing.
His was certain his painstakingly thorough search had taken him within a mile or two of every residential section in the sprawling San Diego area, with no luck. Either Leesa was not in San Diego, or he was completely unable to sense her. He wasn’t sure which he hoped was true.
Next, he had visited several public libraries to use their computer systems. Distrustful of the cyber grid and unsure who might be monitoring entries and searches, he seldom used computers and so was not very skilled with the machines. He was loath to enter Leesa’s name or phone number lest it somehow attract attention in the system, but it was a risk he felt he had to take. He tried to minimize the danger by changing computers and libraries frequently. After lots of searching, he had finally located a few people search sites that seemed promising, but none of them would provide any detailed information without first receiving payment via a credit card. That, of course, left him out.
So now he had to make a decision. He had come outside to think about his choices. He could ask someone in the library to help him. Maybe one of the young people who seemed so skilled and comfortable with computers would know a way to locate Leesa without a fee, or, failing that, perhaps he could entice the person to use their own credit card in exchange for a cash payment. But such a request would be at least a bit unusual and was likely to provoke some curiosity. His other choice would be to hire a professional investigator—which was how he had learned Leesa’s phone number in the first place—and rely on professional discretion. Dominic wasn’t comfortable with either choice, but he had hit another in a long series of dead ends and had to do something. Speed was beginning to become increasingly more important than caution.
15. STUDYING
Finals were way worse than midterms, Leesa quickly discovered. Not only was there twice as much material to study and remember, but the exams counted as a much bigger portion of the final grade, making the pressure that much greater. Everyone in the dorm was feeling it—everyone but Stacie, that was. Stacie was a brainiac who never studied past eleven o’clock and still got nothing but A’s. She was always smiling and energetic, when glassy stares and dragging gaits had become the norm.
If Leesa had the time, she was sure she could make some decent money simply by recycling the piles of energy drink cans that kept the big trash bin outside the dorm overflowing. She could make a few bucks just from the cans she and Cali were going through.
But, alas, there was little time for anything but studying, eating and sleeping—and little enough for the latter two. She couldn’t believe she would have to go through this hell seven more times before she graduated. She sure hoped it got easier with experience.
She did most of her studying in her room, but went to the library for an hour or two every day, just for a break in the routine. The library was also a great place to be reminded that lots of kids were even more stressed out about finals than she was. Some looked like they hadn’t slept—or showered—in days.
Leesa took a couple of short walk breaks every day to clear her head and stretch her muscles. Sometimes she dragged Cali, Stacie or Caitlin along, other times she went alone. She seldom went far, usually just wandering about the area near the dorm. The weather remained cold, but luckily it was clear. She wasn’t sure how she would handle it if it snowed or sleeted. Her walk breaks were pretty much the only thing keeping her sane.
She was fairly sure she had done well on her first three finals, but the dreaded physics exam was looming tomorrow. It promised to be the toughest by far, so she wasn’t planning on getting much sleep tonight, if any. Complex equations and theorems flitted around inside her head like bees buzzing around a hive. She just hoped she would be able to tame the little pests when she sat down to take the test.
She wasn’t the only one feeling the stress. Girls wandered the halls of the dorm like lost souls, wearing no makeup, their eyes swollen and bloodshot. If zombies truly did exist, Leesa thought, they could hide out pretty well in any dorm on campus during finals week. She was scared to look in a mirror, afraid she would see something very similar staring back at her.
Yellow light leaked under doors and soft music filtered through the walls at all hours of the night as many kids pull all-nighters. Leesa had been up until the early hours twice already this week—but tonight was going to make those nights seem like nothing. It was nearly two o’clock now, and she was still at her desk, pouring over her physics textbook. With plenty more still to go.
Three empty cans of Red Bull filled the straw wastebasket beside her bed, with another half-full can waiting on the corner of her desk. She wasn’t in love with the taste of the drink, but she had been downing a couple of cans every night all week and was beginning to worry she might be getting addicted to the stuff. Still, there was nothing like an energy drink for staying awake, except maybe for some of the illicit drugs she was sure some of the other girls in the dorm were using. Leesa would never allow herself to go that route, no matter how tired she got. Red Bull was more than enough for her. If she couldn’t stay awake drinking Red Bull, then she had no business being awake in the first place.
Her head was beginning to feel heavy and the numbers on the pages were starting to blur, so she reached for her Red Bull. Pink’s “Greatest Hits…So Far” CD was playing softly in the background, and the singer was crooning something about not wanting to be a four o’clock in the morning girl. Leesa was pretty sure four o’clock would find her right where she was now, still studying and probably reaching for another can of Red Bull.
As she had already done several times this week, she paused her hand a few inches from the can and waited to see if might magically slide over into her hand. Once again, the can just sat there, mocking her. And once again, Leesa felt foolish. She was thankful nobody was watching.
Just for the heck of it, she closed her eyes and concentrated hard, trying to picture the Red Bull sliding across the desk into her grip. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes. Had the can moved a fraction? She couldn’t be sure. She looked closer, but there was no way to tell. It was probably just wishful thinking, some instinctive rebellion by her brain against the complex laws of physics that had been tormenting her all night. She was wasting valuable studying time, she knew, but this was more fun. Besides, she didn’t think a little break now and then would hurt. In fact, it was probably good for her.
She picked up her pencil and drew a light arc on the desk along the bottom of the can, marking its position. She squeezed her eyes shut again and tried to picture the can sliding into her hand, waiting at least fifteen to twenty seconds this time. When she opened her eyes, the can was right where it started, behind the pencil mark. Oh, well, she thought, so much for that.
&nbs
p; She grabbed the can and chugged the liquid down, resisting the temptation to hold her nose while she drank. When she had emptied the can, she tossed it into the wastebasket. It landed with a clang atop its comrades and stayed right where it landed. What was she expecting, she thought? That it was going to jump out of the basket and start dancing on the floor?
She shook her head. Break time was over. Back to the fun and games of physics.
16. SAD NEWS
Leesa closed her Blue Book and exhaled deeply, stretching her arms out in front of her and enjoying what felt like her first real breath in almost two hours. A glance at the sweeping second hand on the old-fashioned clock on the classroom wall showed she had a whole thirty seconds left before time was up. She had barely made it, but finished was finished—and boy, did she feel finished.
The exam had been a beast, but she thought she had done okay. A couple of science geeks had turned in their booklets early, but most of her classmates were still frantically scribbling, trying to solve one last problem. Leesa was confident she had gotten at least a C, and maybe even a B. Definitely good enough for physics, for sure. All her studying had paid off. She’d been up until six that morning, grabbed two hours of sleep, and then snuck in some last minute cramming before the exam. Now she just wanted to go home and crash.
She grabbed her parka from the back of her chair and walked her booklet up to the front. She dropped it on top of the three or four already there just as the professor, a preppy blond guy in his late thirties, called an end to the exam. He nodded at her and favored her with a small smile—her reward, she guessed, for finishing thirty seconds early. Leesa smiled back before turning and heading for the door. She felt like skipping. No more physics! Ever!
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