blood, but it will take time.” Gathering his books, Ciaran stood up. “Vampires weren’t created in a day, you know.”
“What about the human child?”
Keep walking, Ciaran. Don’t let this prat think you know what he’s talking about. “Pardon?”
Stepping in front of Ciaran, Amir blocked the exit, his wiry body so rigid he looked like he’d grown another foot. “I’m talking about your sister! The bitch hiding underneath the table.”
“I am not . . .”
“Saoirse!” Ciaran was having difficulty controlling Amir; he couldn’t handle two wild cards at once. Trying to block Saoirse from Amir’s line of vision, Ciaran forced himself to laugh. “Absobloodylootely, mate. Saoirse’s human just like me.”
“She may be human, but she’s nothing like you!”
Shrugging his shoulders, Ciaran took a step closer toward Amir. “I’m not sure what you’ve heard, but you know how these stories get twisted, one part truth, twelve parts fiction.”
“Bugger off, Ciaran!” Amir screamed. “We all know the stories are true, no matter how hard your kind try to keep it a secret!”
Before the last word spat out of Amir’s mouth, he disappeared. Ciaran whirled around and was terrified to see that he didn’t go too far, he was on the other side of the room, holding Saoirse by the back of the neck, lifting her two feet off the ground. “Tell me why this one’s so special!” Amir cried.
“Let go of me!” Saoirse shrieked.
Ciaran had never seen his sister so frightened, he had never worked harder to remain unruffled. “Amir, mate, what’s it matter?” he asked. “She’s different, that’s all.”
Shaking Saoirse like a rag doll, Amir bellowed, “It matters because we want to know!”
“Ciaran, help me!” Saoirse shouted, her feet treading air. His patience gone, replaced with an uncomfortable combination of fear and frustration, Ciaran yelled back, “We all want to know, but none of us can figure it out!”
“Ciaran,” Saoirse said, her voice now choked as Amir pressed harder on her neck, “make him put me down.”
Outside, there was an explosion of firecrackers, the carnival was under way. That’s where he should be, Ciaran thought, with his friends, enjoying himself, not in here trying to reason with a madman, trying to save his sister’s life, not watching Amir’s face distort and lengthen, his fangs descend, pure white, as thin as the rest of his body. “C’mon, mate, just put her down!”
Amir grinned devilishly. “Make me.”
Without thinking, Ciaran tossed his books at Amir and sprang forward, lunging not at Amir, but Saoirse, hoping he could wrestle her away and give her a chance to run free. No such luck. Amir’s reflexes were too quick and he was able to jump out of the way, Saoirse’s flailing body securely tucked under his arm, and make it to the doorway with enough time to watch Ciaran fall to the floor and crash into the base of the lab table. Scrambling to his knees, Ciaran turned around just in time to see Saoirse reaching her arms out to him. “Help me!”
“We’ll be where the sun is blackest,” Amir said. “Ronan’ll know where that is.”
Ciaran understood the cryptic remark, but before he could respond, Amir and Saoirse disappeared from his view. Running to St. Sebastian’s, he couldn’t stop blaming himself. He knew he was no match for Amir physically, but he should have been able to outsmart him, make him realize nothing could be gained by kidnapping his sister. No one understood why she was so different, and people had been trying to figure it out since she was born. An act of unprovoked violence wasn’t going to bring forth an answer; it was only going to elicit more violence.
“Ronan!” Ciaran shouted into his cell phone, his feet smashing into the grass as he ran. “Call me, it’s urgent.”
Once inside St. Sebastian’s, Ciaran had to close his eyes. There was way too much going on around him. The carnival was in full swing, music thumping, lights flashing, kids screaming. There was a loud crash, then a splash, and Fritz yelling, “Blakeley down!” Where was Ronan in this swirl of activity? Ciaran couldn’t find him, but he found the next best thing. “Michael!”
“Hey you,” Michael said, holding a cloud of pink cotton candy on a stick. “Here, have this. I only grabbed it ’cause I like the smell.”
“No, thanks,” Ciaran said, waving his hand. “Have you seen Ronan?”
Shaking his head, Michael replied, “No, I was going to ask you the same thing.”
Dammit! Why is my brother never around when I need him? “Any idea where he is?”
“He said he would meet me here, but I can’t find him,” Michael said, looking into the crowd. Then he leaned in closer to Ciaran. “He’s probably trying to send me a telepathic message right now, but you know, I just can’t get the hang of that.” When Ciaran didn’t laugh or make a snippy comment, Michael realized he was definitely not wearing a happy carnival face and out of all of them, he was the one most looking forward to the day’s outing. “What’s going on?”
“We have a problem.” Ciaran hesitated. He knew Ronan wouldn’t want Michael to be involved, but he didn’t have a choice, he couldn’t waste any more time trying to find him. The second after Ciaran explained that Amir was waiting at Inishtrahull Island, the northernmost part of Ireland, where the sun would be the blackest during the eclipse, and with Saoirse as his hostage, Michael started to run out of the gym.
“Where are you going?” Ciaran asked.
Ciaran really could be so dimwitted at times. “To help Saoirse, where do you think?”
Michael really could be so ignorant at times. “Stop! There are things about her you don’t understand.”
Tossing the cotton candy into Ciaran’s hands, Michael informed his friend that there were no more secrets between him and Ronan and raced off into the crowd. If only that were true. There was much more that Ciaran wanted to tell Michael, much more that he himself didn’t understand, not that it was his place. Ronan should be the one to inform Michael of the riddles that confounded their family, but where the hell was he? For that matter, where was David or Nakano or even that French guy Nakano was going out with? As far as Ciaran could tell, there wasn’t one vampire inside of St. Sebastian’s and, at Double A, the odds of that happening were pretty slim. What an idiot I’ve been. Ronan was right after all.
Scouring the gym for an inhuman face, Ciaran found none. He ran up to the windows and peered outside. The looming shadows from the half-covered sun made it difficult to see, yet he only saw mortals. I’m sure there are a lot more that I don’t know about, there’s got to be. Even though that was true, it didn’t make Ciaran feel any better. He had been duped into believing the carnival was nothing more than a school function when clearly it was another one of David’s tactics. Ciaran had the distinct impression that he had fallen right into his trap, and Michael had no idea that he was headed in the same direction.
Just as he was about to enter The Forest so he could sprint unseen to the other side of campus before heading to Inishtrahull Island, Michael saw Phaedra enter the maze. A second later he was standing by her side. “I need you.”
Startled, Phaedra jumped. “What do you mean?”
Talking quickly, Michael tried to explain the situation as succinctly as possible. “Everything I said the other night about not needing you—erase it, delete it, I need your help.”
Phaedra was silent. She knew this would happen, she knew the moment she admitted to herself what she truly wanted, how she honestly wanted to spend the rest of her future, no matter if she had a day left or an eternity, something would happen to force her to change her plans. Something like this. “I thought you said Ronan had your back?”
“I can’t find him,” Michael explained. “I have to save Saoirse. It could be dangerous and I need your protection!”
It should all be so simple and yet Phaedra couldn’t decide. Somewhere close by was Fritz and he was the one she wanted to be with. She didn’t want to transform into fog, she didn’t want to let go of the lovely feelings that were becoming so strong, so much a part of who she was, she didn’t want to . . . she could hardly say the words to herself: She didn’t want to be an efemera any longer. She wanted to be human. “I . . . I don’t know if I can.”
Michael was stunned. He shouldn’t have been, but he was. After all, he was the one who had told Phaedra to embrace her mortality as he embraced eternal life, but things had changed. He wasn’t sure if he had the
