not green and bubbling like the rest of the class’s. “How can Ciaran possibly find this stuff exciting?” Michael complained. “I can’t even make this stupid potion bubble!”
His lab partner agreed, but Fritz’s approach to handling a difficult school lesson was to ignore it entirely and talk about personal matters instead. “I’ve made a decision,” Fritz declared. “The first book should be the introduction of The Double P, sort of like Penry’s resurrection.” Looking a bit like a superhero himself in a gold laboratory smock and plastic goggles, Fritz had to prod Michael for a response. “Nebraska! Isn’t that a great idea?”
“Yes, terrific. Penry would love it,” Michael said, his eyes glaring at him from behind his own superhero- inspired goggles. “But right now we have to get this liquid to do something or else Professor Chow is never going to pass us.”
“Who cares about him?!” Fritz huffed. “I’ll just get Ciaran to do it for me later; the chump loves to show off his science skills.” Clearing his throat, Fritz decided it was time to segue into the most important subject of all. “Have you, um, noticed anything wrong with Phaedra?” he asked. “I get the feeling that she’s been avoiding me.”
Probably because she’s never been more confused in all her life, which, now that I think about it, has probably lasted for a really, really, really long time. And since Michael was pretty certain that efemeras were as immortal as vampires, he knew that was quite a statement. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
Fritz grabbed the bleaker out of Michael’s hands so he wouldn’t be distracted by unimportant lab work. “Don’t give me that. You two are like kith and kin you’re so close. Everybody knows it. So what gives?”
“I don’t really have that much experience, you know, with girls.”
“Nebraska, cut it out,” Fritz demanded. “You might be gay, but you’re a guy and we have to be loyal to one another. Does Phaedra want to break up with me?”
So many thoughts swirled inside Michael’s head, he felt the way their lab experiment should look. The fact that Fritz was straight and he wasn’t didn’t make any difference to Fritz. He still considered Michael a friend. What a refreshing difference from what he was used to. On top of that, he had found out that not only were Fritz and Phaedra getting to know each other, they were officially dating. Phaedra never mentioned that to him. He would have to remember to yell at her for keeping such a big secret from him the next time he saw her, right after he gave her a congratulatory hug, of course. First, however, he had to deal with the object of Phaedra’s affection. “I didn’t even know you guys were dating.”
“Oh,” Fritz said, suddenly aware that he may have exposed a secret. “Well, we were trying to keep it quiet until we were sure about each other and, you know, we only had one date, which I guess was more like studying at St. Joshua’s, but I thought it was a date, absolutely.”
“Sounds like you’re very sure about her,” Michael said, smiling.
“First time for everything, I guess,” Fritz replied. “I’m just not so sure she feels the same way about me anymore.”
Michael knew that Phaedra really had no idea how she felt, but he didn’t want to alarm Fritz any more than he already was. It was cute to see him so nervous about a girl, yet another unexpected side to his friend revealed. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but I will talk to her.”
“Thanks, mate.”
As if on cue, the yellow liquid finally started to change color, to a not-so-flattering shade of green, like the face of a seasick sailor during a rough storm. Regardless of how unsightly it looked, their experiment seemed to be working and the boys stared at the test tube in amazement. Soon their amazement turned to cheers of joy as the ugly green liquid started to bubble over.
“I should alert the new headmaster,” Professor Chow pronounced. “Today is a national holiday, the first time you two ever made an experiment work.”
Triumphant, Fritz and Michael high-fived each other. He felt kind of silly, but more than that, Michael felt proud. What an incredible feeling to know that nothing is insurmountable. And what an incredible feeling to know that he had someone to share his achievements with.
Before he went home and told Ronan about his day, he wanted to do something special for him. No matter how many little arguments they might have, Michael still felt Ronan was the most wonderful person he’d ever met and he wanted to make sure that he knew just how special he was. Luckily, he knew the perfect way to get his point across.
He smelled the bouquet of white roses and it was like breathing in summer. It was so fragrant and sweet that he thought the icicles that had formed on the window ledges and the roof of St. Joshua’s would melt away. Even though the existence of the roses was a miracle, unexplained and mysterious, they were still taken for granted by many of the students. The roses had grown outside the library for as long as anyone could remember; they had just become a normal part of the terrain regardless of how odd it was to see them flourishing in the winter. Not as odd as seeing Edwige strolling across campus, however.
“Michael, darling,” she called out as she approached him. “How lovely to see you.”
“Mrs. Glynn . . . I mean, Edwige, hi.” Michael was so startled to see Ronan’s mother on school grounds that he almost called her by her full name, which was something she hated. As Ronan once explained, Edwige liked to think she’s still a woman and not, shudder at the thought, someone’s mum. Whatever she was, Michael thought she was intimidating. “What a surprise! What, um, are you doing here?”
“I was doing some business nearby and thought I’d visit Ronan, but he isn’t home,” she explained. “Or he’s hiding from me. Would you happen to know which it is?”
Michael blinked. He wasn’t used to being examined so openly. Well, that wasn’t entirely true; sometimes Ronan couldn’t peel his eyes away from him, but that was different. That was welcome; this was his mother. And it didn’t help that she had the same piercing blue eyes as her son. It was nice to see a connection, but it made him uncomfortable. Michael then wondered if Saoirse had the same blue eyes. He was about to ask Edwige about her, but she interrupted him.
“I asked you a question, dear.”
“Oh, sorry. He’s probably at the gym,” he offered. “You know how he loves the water.”
Laughing heartily. “Don’t we all.” As abruptly as it began, her laughing stopped. “What are those?”
“These? Just some roses I picked for Ronan.” Saying it out loud made him feel a little embarrassed. Or was it just the way Edwige was staring at the roses?
“They’re beautiful,” Edwige said in a strained whisper. She really didn’t think very much of the roses, they were flowers, nothing more, but she remembered where she had seen them before, in a vase in Vaughan’s apartment, and for some reason that memory was disturbing. “Where did you get them?”
“Over by St. Joshua’s,” Michael said. “You must know about them.”
Cute, but presumptuous. “Perhaps I must, but as it turns out, I don’t.”
“Oh. Well, um, legend has it that they have some magical properties. They can erase the past and create a more appealing future,” Michael explained. “Probably just folklore, but I do think it’s sweet. And so does Ronan.”
So that was it. Vaughan had used common voodoo to trick her, to conceal his vampire blood from her senses. Juvenile, yet effective. She was impressed by his actions, infuriated that she was duped, but grateful, after all, that she had not lost her intuition. She had known there was something peculiar about the man, and now she knew with more certainty than ever that he would have to pay for his duplicity. Even while imagining how she would make Vaughan suffer for making her doubt herself, for making a fool of her, she was still able to compliment his son. “It’s a beautifully romantic gesture,” she said honestly. “I’m very happy that my son has found a wonderful and worthwhile partner.”
“Thank you,” Michael replied, his cheeks reddening.
“I think you must know from what Ronan has told you or from what you’ve already ascertained that I am not the motherly type,” Edwige confessed. “However, I would very much like to be your friend.”
What an unexpected proposition. He missed his own mother very much. More specifically, he missed the mother that he knew Grace had desperately wanted to become, the woman that she was for brief moments during her lifetime, but that she was never able to maintain. He missed being able to share his joys and doubts and the boring moments of his life with her, he wished he had the chance to tell her that he had found someone special, someone who loved him dearly. He knew Edwige could never take his mother’s place—no woman could—but it would be nice to have an older, sophisticated, female friend to confide in, someone who knew about the world
