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“I went to the crash site while you were gone this morning.” Ophelia’s feelings coiled in her stomach, but Adrian was one conflict she refused to avoid.
He slammed a palm on the steering wheel. “How am I supposed to protect you if you won’t stay put?”
“You’re not the only one who can protect me. I can do the job myself. And so can Brandon. He went with me. And, like I said, the mirror slammed Jean-Pierre right into the tree. The Elder was so impressed with my research, he let us go.”
Adrian ran his fingers through his hair. “An elder and a warrior already here, great. Now, they’ve got your number. We have to get you out right now before this whole valley turns into a war zone. Let’s go.” He got out and reached back for her.
“Can I keep the journal?”
“Sure, now, let’s go.” Adrian pulled her out and slammed the door.
Ophelia followed him back through the thicket. “I need to test the poppies on Martin.”
He led the way out from under the trees, dragging her by the elbow. “The Newbloods are poised to attack and all you can think about is sticking your nose into a microscope. Now, keep your voice down.”
“You’re the one who’s yelling.” Ophelia whispered as he hoisted her up and over the snow berm. “Think about it. You’ve been searching for your sister for four years and you still think Newbloods are vampires.”
“They are vampires, Ophelia.” Adrian took her by the elbow and hurried her along the road, back toward her house.
“No. They’re not.” Ophelia opened Perdy’s journal in her hands. “Look at this.”
He didn’t stop but looked over her shoulder as they continued on. “A diagram of the human genome. So?”
“Oh, good grief. I can’t believe you want to major in biology and you don’t understand what this means.” Ophelia yanked her arm out of his grasp and shoved the book into his face. “Look at it. You’ve seen a regular human genome diagram before, haven’t you?”
Adrian studied the diagram. “This one’s a little crowded.”
Ophelia thumped the page with her forefinger. “This is the genome of the Newblood who kidnapped Perdy.”
“It...it is?” His face turned positively green.
“Your sister was very good with languages.” She ran her finger under the markings below it. “This is Korean writing. You can tell by all the loops. I know enough Korean to know this means something like ‘ex-boyfriend.’”
“Ex-boyfriend?”
“Oldbloods procreate by means of a genetic pathogen. I asked. But, this guy...” She tapped the page. “It’s almost like this guy had...” her head hurt from the learning curve “...had three parents.”
“Three parents? How is that possible?” Adrian shoved the journal back at her and resumed walking, arm around her back to hurry her along.
Ophelia closed the book and tucked it under her arm. “I can’t even imagine. A regular human receives one set of chromosomes from each of his two parents, but this guy received a third set of chromosomes. We need to show this to my mom.” The tool shed came into sight. “Brandon?”
Raven flew down under a tree and grew from small and black into Brandon, tall and very blond. “I am here.”
“I need your help.” Ophelia broke out of Adrian’s grasp and turned aside to her father’s greenhouse. “How do you react to poppies?”
“I do not know.”
“Ophelia.” Adrian’s voice edged with a groan. “We need him standing guard.”
“This’ll only take a minute.” She opened the greenhouse door and went in. Finding the dead, dried out Arctic Poppies still in their plastic containers, she carried them out and lifted them to Brandon’s face. “Smell these.”
He leaned forward and sniffed. “I smell nothing.”
Ophelia studied the poppies. “Maybe they need to be processed somehow first.”
Adrian latched back on to her elbow and led her to the back porch. “You can play ‘mad scientist’ later, Buttercup. We need to get you out of here first.”
Bianca came into the kitchen just as they walked in. “Oh, there you are. Do you have any idea—”
“Make lunch, Bianca.” Adrian ordered. “Ophelia, go pack backpacks for you, Mom, and your sister. Be sure to use backpacks in case we need to run.” He looked up at Brandon. “Why are you still tagging along? Go, stand guard.”
“Okay.” Even so, Brandon was slow going to the door.
“Geez, you’re bossy.” Bianca did not leap to his command.
“It’s okay,” said Ophelia. “He’s just in ‘commando mode.’”
Adrian kissed her cheek. “And you’re in ‘mad scientist mode.’ Now, will you please go?”
Ophelia folded her arms and grumped.
“What the heck is going on here?” Bianca threw up her hands and propped them on her hips.
“We don’t have time for this.” Adrian groaned. “Brandon, pick up the refrigerator.”
“Okay.” Brandon walked over to the frig.
“With one hand.”
Brandon knelt and slid a hand under the frig. He stood, easily lifting it up over his head until it touched the ceiling.
“Oh, my God!”
Ophelia caught her sister stumbling back.
Adrian patted Bianca’s shoulder. “Each of the Brynners is at least as strong as he is, probably more. There are three of them and they want to eat your sister. Now, make lunch, please.”
“Okay.” Bianca whispered because her voice was too gone to speak aloud.
“Set down the frig, Brandon, and go keep watch.”
“Okay.” Brandon set it down and went back out.
Bianca pointed a shaky finger after him. “Wha...what is he?”
“Vampire,” said Adrian.
Ophelia opened the frig and dug out a container of garlic. “Brandon is not a vampire. Oldbloods are socially more evolved than Martin’s species, yes, and they may have originated the vampire myth, but they’re just another humanoid species trying to make their way on planet Earth.” She picked a garlic press out of the utensil drawer while pushing the frig door closed with her foot. “Medieval humans created the bulk of vampire mythology to explain the decomposition of corpses because they lacked the scientific means to uncover the truth. Humanity has now achieved that science.” And she walked out. “I’m going to pack now.”
“I can’t believe you!” Bianca’s yell followed her through the living room and up the stairs. “You’re about to be served up as an entrée and all you can do is techno-babble.”
“Actually, I’m not an entrée, or even a dessert. I’m a syringe full of Methamphetamine.”
Ophelia entered her room smashing the garlic in the press and shutting the door behind her, poppies tucked under her arm. She went to the window and lifted it up. “Hey, Brandon.” She whispered as loud as she could. “Come here.”
Raven cocked his head at her, turned on the branch and morphed into Brandon. “You needn’t speak in a loud whisper. I can hear your thoughts, remember?”
Ophelia gestured. “Right. Sorry. Come here really quick and smell this.”
Brandon climbed over. If you truly love Adrian, why do you not want him to know of this?
Because it would take too long to explain right now. Ophelia held up the garlic.
Brandon jerked back, snapped a tree branch, and fell to the ground, groaning.
“Whoa, not bad.” Ophelia examined the smashed garlic.
Her bedroom door swung open and Adrian was suddenly there. “What’s going on?” He reached the window as Brandon pulled himself up.
Ophelia pointed at their loveable powerhouse with one thumb. “Garlic, smashed.” She leaned out the window. “Sorry, Brandon. You okay?”
“Yes.” He brushed himself off.
“So, did you recoil in disgust or were you pushed or something? What’d it feel like?”
“I jerked back automatically, as though from fire.”
“Okay, thanks. You can go back to standing guard.” Ophelia let Adrian pull her out of the window.
“Stand guard somewhere else and out of sight. The Brynners probably heard that a mile away.” Adrian shut the window. “Will you stop it? Just pack your damn bag.”
“Too bad this won’t work on you.” Ophelia carried the garlic to her desk and stuffed it into a plastic baggie. “Last night, you kissed me like your life depended on it, but I’ve hardly gotten a peck on the cheek today.”
“I’m sorry.” He dropped his butt on the bed. “We’re in a terrible hurry here. We need to get you out of town, far away, and now.”
She picked up the framed picture of them she’d cropped out of the computer club photograph. “All this time, these past four months, we could’ve been going out, having fun.”
“My fault. I came here to find my sister.” Adrian propped his elbows on his knees and laced his fingers together. “I knew if I stayed close to you, I’d figure out who the Newbloods were and maybe pick up a trail on Perdy.” He pushed out a breath. “I thought if I, you know, got too close I’d lose my objectivity and whatever chance I had to find Perdy. So, I tried to keep my distance.”
Ophelia threw a hand up at her wall, covered with his framed drawings. “If you didn’t fall in love with me, why all that?”
“Because I did.” His gaze sunk to his clasped hands. “I fell in love with you the first time I saw you and you loved birds so much, like me. It was all over for me. When you liked my drawings, whenever your face lit up, I was the happiest guy on the planet. Afterwards I felt like shh...crap because I couldn’t...touch you.” His eyes flickered up. “But it was worse whenever you said my name. I lived to hear you say my name. Remember that time you slipped on the ice right before Thanksgiving and I caught you?”
“Yes.” Ophelia could feel his arms go up around her from behind in memory. “I was so disappointed you were gay.”
Adrian stared at a chair leg. “I didn’t want to let go and I kinda kicked in a locker afterwards. I fixed it before anyone found out though. That’s when I knew I was stuck.”
“You don’t need to let go. I’m right here.” Ophelia sank onto the bed beside him.
“Yeah, but when this is over and you’re safe, I have to...” Adrian reached for her hand. “When this is over and you’re safe, I need to keep...”
“Trying to rescue Perdy. I know. I understand. And it’s okay.”
“Would it be all right, if...” he looked to the side and then up into her eyes “...if I come find you again?”
“Yes. Please, do.” Ophelia ran her fingers through his hair over the top of his head. “I want you to rescue Perdy more than anything, I want to help if I can. When I think of what she must be going through, I want to puke.”
“I’ll come visit. A lot. We’ll go to the Prom. You know, I’ve been a junior three times now, under three different identities, and I’ve never been to the Prom.”
“I’ve been to the Prom twice so far.” She scrunched up her nose. “And I didn’t want to go either time.” She brought his hand to her lips and kissed his fingers. “But I do want to go with you, and I’ll wear purple. Adrian.” This time, she kissed him, and held his chin, driving him back until he laughed through it.
“Better?”
“Much.” Ophelia softly slapped his cheek. “Kissing is very serious business.”
“If we weren’t in such a hurry...” Adrian ran his gaze down her bare arm “...I’d give your mother a reason to worry about letting you have a boy in your room with the door closed.” His lips twisted in a droll little smile.
“You’ve been a bad influence on me, that’s for sure, school-skipping, snotty-girl-egg-pelting. Maybe I’ll get a griffin tattoo on my butt.”
Adrian’s lips moved into a wistful smile and his beautiful blue eyes misted over. “I think you and Perdy are gonna be best friends.”
“I think so too.” Ophelia moved in for another kiss.
“You never let me start the kissing anymore.”
“Complain, complain, complain, oh, shut-up.” She touched his mouth just barely.
“Mom’s home!” Bianca yelled through the vent.
Ophelia groaned and rested her head on Adrian’s shoulder.
He rubbed her back and held her close. “Our time will come.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” Adrian kissed her ear. “Come on up, Buttercup.” He stood and offered his hand. “We have a ghost story your mom’s not gonna believe.”
“Dinnertime,” said Mom. “Bianca, what is wrong with you? Where’s the garlic?”
“Mom! Martin Brynner’s a bloodsucking dead guy and he wants to eat Ophelia.”