HE’S STARING AT ME with ethereal eyes, eyes that are too green to be green. He’s going to kill me. He’s a vampire, something dark, something not human. Why does he look like he’s in pain? He’s paralyzed. Something about me… He can’t kill me.
I jolt awake, breathing heavily. At first, I’m confused, but I remember what’s going on when Didi stirs next to me.
“C’mere,” she says sleepily.
She reaches out to me and guides me to lie back down on the bed beside her. Last night she told me to sleep in her bed with her. I didn’t complain. I’m glad she told me to. I’m sure I’ve had fewer nightmares than I would have otherwise.
She’s still half asleep, even though the sun is shining in through the window. We’d be running late for school if the Halloween party hadn’t kicked off our school’s fall break. I guess the mayor planned it that way so everyone can go trick-or-treating on the actual night of Halloween. Or at least, I think that was his original plan.
Halloween party.
Evil.
Dead parents.
I shudder and Didi pulls me closer to her. She places a hand in my hair and gingerly massages my scalp. I let the comforting gesture wash over me as I search the pockets of the pajamas Didi loaned me for my black diamond. Feeling the heart-shaped crystal reassures me. As long as it’s with me, I won’t black out again like I did when I tried to connect with my parents’ souls. I can’t even remember what happened after I threw my crystal into the living room. Everything just went… dark. Except, I remember setting my house on fire.
“I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight last night,” Didi whispers.
I say, “It wouldn’t have changed anything.”
Didi sits up and checks the time. “Let’s get some breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Humor me.”
We don’t bother changing out of our pajamas, and I let Didi drag me into the kitchen. Connor and Rynne are gathered around the coffee maker. Connor invited Rynne to stay the night, too. The twins’ parents said, “The more the merrier.” The whole thing just turned into a slumber party. Minus the party.
“Coffee?” Rynne asks as he holds out a steaming mug.
I accept the mug, but all I do is let it warm my hands. Rynne keeps his eyes trained on me. I’m too fatigued to meet his worried gaze. I concentrate on his hair instead. It’s messy from sleep. I’ve never seen that before. Rynne is always put together without a thing out of place. When I’m still aware of his eyes on me, I bring my gaze back to my hands and the warm mug. The TV is blaring in the living room, saying something about last night and the Halloween party. Connor turns it off before I can hear anything else. Then Susie comes into the kitchen.
“I see everyone’s awake,” she announces. I’m not sure where the twins got their vibrant hair from because Susie has blond hair and Carl has brown hair. “I’ll get breakfast going in a few minutes. Tasia, can I talk to you?”
If I just say yes, it’ll be over quicker. “Sure,” I say.
Susie wraps a firm arm around me and leads me into the living room, where we sit down on the Johnsons’ ridiculously plush sofa. I feel like I’m being eaten alive as I slowly sink into its cushions. I wouldn’t mind it though, disappearing into depths unknown.
“The police questioned Wyatt,” she informs. “He said a strange man threatened him to do whatever it took to send you home last night. Apparently, this man said no one would get hurt if Wyatt did that.”
“What did this man look like?” I ask.
“Lanky, on the skinny end, sickly pale skin, with blood-red eyes and brown hair. Have you ever seen anyone like that?”
“No.”
“Tasia, I don’t know what happened last night, but keep your black diamond close.”
I frown and search Susie’s hazel eyes for some sort of explanation. What does she know about gemstones and crystals?
Susie says, “Fiona called earlier. I told her you were sleeping and that you’d call her back.”
“I’ll do that now, then,” I say.
I leave Susie sitting on the couch as I hustle back into the kitchen. I pick up the landline phone and dial Fiona’s number. My parents made me memorize her number when I was in kindergarten, and I’ve never forgotten it. I turn my back to my friends seated at the table and stare at the cream-painted wall in front of me as I listen to the phone ring.
“Hello?”
“Fiona,” I say, breathless. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath.
“Tasia. I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too,” I whisper in an attempt to hide the emotion in my voice.
“I’ll be there to get you in about two hours, around ten.”
“Okay.”
“I wish it was under better circumstances, but it will be good to see you.”
“It’ll be good to see you, too.”
“Stay strong for me.”
I sigh, and then I hang up the phone.
Susie’s standing over the stove now, frying eggs and bacon while flipping over pancakes. She serves each of us a huge plate when she’s finished. I try to eat some just to show I’m grateful, but I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t hungry.
I stay mostly quiet through breakfast, so does Rynne. At least Didi and Connor manage to laugh and make conversation like nothing’s wrong. I appreciate them for it, even if I don’t have the energy to join in.
When it’s close to ten, my friends gather whatever meager worldly possessions I have left while I get changed. By the time we’re finished, Fiona arrives. I run into her arms and get a big hug from her. I don’t let go even when I know I’ve overstayed my welcome. Fiona doesn’t touch people if she can help it, but she lets me do this. She even hugs me back.
When I tear myself away from her, I look her over and see that she hasn’t changed much. Standing next to her, I’m reminded of how beautiful and dark her skin is. I used to think she couldn’t get sunburns like me, but she assured me that she could still definitely get sunburned. I never believed her until she actually did one day, the day she forgot to wear sunscreen when we went swimming. She’s still shaving her hair and wearing her favorite leather jacket. My parents always used to tell her she looks like a punk, but she always said her hair is too much of a pain when it’s any longer than a couple inches. My parents would come back and say they weren’t talking about her hair. They were always talking about her ratty jacket.
Fiona takes a moment to talk to Susie about something, while I exchange goodbyes with my friends, giving each one a hug, and then I get into Fiona’s blue 1969 Camaro. Fiona’s never been one for worldly possessions, but she told me once, when I was young, that if something treats you well, you better take care of it. That pretty much sums up her feelings for this car. That and it has sentimental value. It belonged to her deceased boyfriend.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” Fiona says. “I thought it’d be easier on you to get some sleep.”
I nod because I don’t feel like saying anything.
“Here.” Fiona hands me her phone. “I heard you’re phoneless, and I kept my old phone when I upgraded. We’ll get you something better in the future, but for now, that one will work. I have it all set up for you. It has your old number and all of your contacts.”
“Thanks.”
Fiona starts the car and drives away. I stare out the window and wave to my friends as they wave to me. As we get farther away and my friends’ faces disappear, I start to wonder if our goodbyes are final. Then I start to wonder if I should have said goodbye to Jazmin and Gina, or just the whole town in general. Will I ever see any of them again?
“Do you think I’ll come back here one day?” I ask.
“Sure,” Fiona replies, “if you want to.”
I don’t know if I want to.
“We’re here,” Fiona announces.
I glance at the apartment complex in front of us. I haven’t been here in years. I almost forgot how big Philadelphia is. Since we entered the city, anxiety’s been bubbling in my stomach, waiting for something to push me over the edge.
Fiona gets out of the car and starts walking. She looks back when I don’t follow. She walks back and opens my door. “Don’t want to come in?” she asks.
“My parents were killed by a vampire,” I say quietly.
“That’s what the police told me you said.”
“I know how it sounds. It sounds crazy. But you believe me, don’t you? You know good and bad energy exists. You know how to fight off negative energy. You know how to cleanse a house and how to absorb energy using salt.”
“I do.”
“And vampires?”
She hesitates. “Tasia, I don’t think—”
“Don’t do that to me, Fiona,” I plead. “Don’t lie to me. It was so real. He was so real. And I did something to him. I…”
She places a hand on my shoulder. “Yes, vampires are real.”
“Then why doesn’t the rest of the world know about them?”
“Why doesn’t the rest of the world know about energy or how to treat it as we do? It’s ignorance mostly.”
“I did this,” I cry as tears prick my eyes.
“No, you didn’t. This isn’t your fault.”
“But the vampire—”
“This wasn’t your fault,” she repeats. “Whatever happened, whatever you think you did to him, it was him toying with you. It could have happened to anyone. But you don’t have to dwell on it. You can put it all behind you.”
“How am I supposed to do that when I can’t get his face out of my head?”
Fiona hugs me fiercely. “Let’s go inside.”
I follow her up three flights of apartment stairs until she comes to a door decorated with a ring of garlic. Just like home. She unlocks the door and ushers me inside. The lights are all on and someone’s sitting on the sofa, watching TV.
“What are you doing here?” Fiona mutters.
She takes her shoes off and leaves them by the door, and I follow suit.
The woman sitting on the couch smiles, and leaps off. She turns off the TV and comes dangerously close to Fiona’s shrine housing various god and goddess statues. I flinch as the action dredges up my memory of breaking one as a kid.
“Fiona!” the woman exclaims. “Welcome home. This must be Tasia.”
I appraise her while she does the same to me. She’s wearing an oversized sweater and patterned leggings. She has her long black hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her skin has a golden tone to it, and her lips are painted a bright red. Her cat eyes are heavily outlined in black eyeliner, accentuating the shape.
“I’m Divya,” she says while offering her hand. She has a slight Indian accent.
I take her hand and we shake.
“Let’s take things easy for a few days, okay?” Fiona says, ignoring this Divya person altogether. “We’ll figure out what to do about you changing schools and all of that later.”
“And the vampire? All the weird stuff that happened to me?”
She frowns.
“I’m not just going to forget about him,” I say. And then I fall silent and think to myself: I’m not going to forget the way he made me feel… or how I didn’t feel at all. I can’t forget the strange urges that overcame me. I won’t forget how I stared into his eyes, searching for something.
Divya folds her arms and looks between us. She seems like she wants to add something to our conversation, but she doesn’t.
“Seriously, Tasia. What do you want me to say?” Fiona asks.
“I don’t know. Tell me the truth. Is Reverie going to be okay? Was that really just a random attack? What about Arsen? Don’t you want him to pay for what he did? And what about the woman he was with, and that other guy Wyatt claimed he saw? You heard about all of that, right? The police aren’t going to be able to do anything about this. They can’t do anything with Arsen’s name, and none of those strangers at Reverie were human. I’m sure of it. The police don’t know anything about the supernatural. I mean, I guess Jazmin might be able to convince them of something, but even her influence only gets her so far!”
Fiona brings her hands to her temples. “We’re not going to talk about this right now. Tasia, you need rest. Forget about all of this. You have your whole life ahead of you. Leave whatever happened in Reverie to the police. We have other things to worry about, like which school to transfer you to.”
I grab my backpack and try to keep my hands from trembling. “Fine.”
“The spare room is all cleared out for you.”
I duck away from the adults and shut myself inside of the room. It’s clean, empty, white, with a made bed in the center. I plop onto the bed and bury my face in a pillow. She can dodge my questions for now, but I’m not going to quit asking. I need to know what’s going on. Fiona doesn’t understand.
I want Arsen to die.