“That is brill, Fritz,” Ronan shouted, truly impressed.
“Except that you’re a zombie and you bring with you a tribe of Nebraskan zombies who try to kill all of us students,” Fritz explained. “Well, I won’t say anymore ’cause I don’t want to spoil the plot.”
Now that Michael had gotten over the shock of seeing himself depicted as a comic book character he was downright thrilled to be the focal point of the issue. Saoirse, however, wasn’t convinced it was as great an idea as everyone else was. “Didn’t you already have an issue about zombies?”
“Yes!” Fritz admitted. “But it sold out in a bloody hour! Everybody loves zombies, Seersh.”
Jumping onto her knees, Saoirse bounced up and down on the bed. “I forgot to tell you all that I have a new nickname,” she announced. “Henceforth and jolly-o, please address me as Seersh.”
Michael smiled. He really enjoyed being in this girl’s presence. She could be frustrating, annoying at times, but she never failed to make him laugh. He glanced over at Ronan, and he could see that he felt the same way. “Will do, Seersh,” Michael confirmed. “Should I open your gift next?”
“No,” she replied. “I’ve decided that I want to go last.”
“Because it’s a lady’s prerogative to change her mind?” Ronan asked.
Smiling devilishly, she answered, “You should know, Lady Ronan.”
Again the kids cracked up, and even though Ronan found the joke funny there was no way he was going to allow his sister to stick him with such a nickname. “You call me that again, Seersh,” Ronan informed her, “and you’ll be back at Ecoles des
“All right, ladies, enough, it’s time for my gift,” Ciaran announced, then added a bit more seriously, “I hope you like it, Michael.”
Taking the package from Ciaran, Michael immediately noticed it was much heavier than Fritz’s gift. “Thanks, Ciaran, I’m sure I will.”
In spite of his certainty he once again found himself trying to hide his disappointment as he stared at Ciaran’s gift. “Um, thanks,” Michael mumbled. “I guess I can always use some more notebooks.”
Ciaran wasn’t upset by Michael’s reaction; in fact, he had anticipated Michael wouldn’t be excited at first. “No, open them up.”
Michael opened up the notebook on top of the pile to find that it was already written in. He flipped through the pages and found that the handwriting continued on every page. The whole book was filled with scribbling, numbers, and diagrams. “Oh they’re
Obviously Michael wasn’t getting the true nature of Ciaran’s gift, so Ciaran had to explain.
“They’re my notebooks from advanced geometry and chemistry last year.” Although Ciaran was going to be a junior like the other boys, he had been taking additional accelerated science and math classes for the past two years, so he was a year ahead of them in certain subjects. “I thought you could benefit from my, um, expertise,” Ciaran said, somewhat sheepishly.
Despite his initial skepticism, it turned out to be another great gift. “This is absolutely incredible, Ciaran!” Michael shouted. “You know how I hate chem labs.”
Equally surprised and impressed by his brother’s generosity, Ronan couldn’t find the words to respond. Saoirse didn’t have that problem. “Isn’t that called cheating?” she asked.
Before Ciaran could rationalize the ethics of his gift, Fritz jumped to his friend’s defense. “It’s what mates do for each other, Seersh,” Fritz explained. “And I’ve been teaching Ciaran how to be a right proper mate.”
“Well, you’ve done good, Fritz,” Ronan declared, finally finding his voice.
“So based on these first two gifts,” Michael started, “I guess this means that I have bad hair and I’m stupid.”
“Quite,” Ciaran replied dryly.
The boys jabbered on for a few more minutes, the conversation flowing from how thoughtful Michael thought the gifts were to how Fritz’s sense of humor was rubbing off on Ciaran to how Ronan might want to take a peek at those notebooks as well since he disliked chemistry almost as much as Michael did. The chattering continued until Saoirse couldn’t take it any longer.
“Oh put a bung in it boys, will ya!” she cried. “It’s time for me to give Michael my gift.”
Effectively silenced, the boys willingly gave the spotlight over to Saoirse, knowing full well that it was useless trying to prevent the handoff once she had decided she was entitled to it. “I really hope you like it,” she said, suddenly shy.
“If it’s half as beautiful as this wrapping paper, I know I will,” Michael said, taking the gift from her anxious hands. Even if the gift hadn’t been wrapped so artistically, he still would have made a big deal out of it; he had become aware since her arrival that Ronan’s sister had a little bit of a crush on him. “It’s really gorgeous, Saoirse, I mean Seersh,” Michael said. “Did you do it yourself?”
Self-conscious from Michael’s praise, Saoirse hoped the boys didn’t notice that her cheeks were growing a darker shade of pink. “Well, yeah, I did,” she admitted. “I thought you’d, um, like the colors.”
Fritz didn’t understand the appropriateness of the wrapping paper’s design, but to the other four the symbolism was obvious—it was an abstract depiction of the ocean. The paper’s design was a series of horizontal lines in deepening shades of blue from pale to navy. Saoirse had wrapped the package with a delicate white lace ribbon and topped it off with a huge, red bow. Fritz thought he understood the significance of the colors and although he was wrong, his assumption actually made sense.
“What’s all the fuss about?” Fritz asked. “It’s the colors of the American flag.”
Not wanting to divulge the real meaning behind the gift wrap, Michael spoke for the group when he said, “Oh my God, Fritz, it is!”
“What else could it be?” he asked rhetorically. “Now will you open the damn thing so we can see what she bought for ya!”
Michael pulled the bow off first and playfully stuck it on Ronan’s head; he good-naturedly left it there. This time when Michael saw his gift he wasn’t disappointed. “They’re perfect, Seersh!” Leaning over, he gave his unofficial sister-in-law a hug that made her blush a bit more and then held up his gifts so the others could see. In one hand, a book of British slang, in the other, a framed picture of Saoirse and him taken under the brass apple tree sculpture the last time they had gone into Eden. It had only just started and already it was turning out to be a perfect birthday.
Grabbing the photo, Fritz compared it to his comic book. “I think I made you look more lifelike.”
Yanking the picture back, Michael laughed. “Fritz, this is a photo; yours is a drawing.”
“I know,” Fritz replied, undeterred. “And I still think mine looks better.”
“And I still can’t believe a camera can capture your reflection.”
Well, it had been a perfect birthday. Saoirse didn’t immediately fathom the impact of her comment until she looked around the room. Fritz looked downright perplexed, Ciaran’s jaw had dropped as if someone had just told him his lab had burnt to the ground, and Michael’s and Ronan’s eyes bulged so wide it looked like they might escape their sockets. Once she realized her gaffe, she opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t think of a thing to say that wouldn’t compound the situation. Michael felt the same way, so when he spoke he did it without sound.
Inevitably, Fritz asked the question they all knew he would. “What the bloody hell is she talking about?”
Knowing that no one wanted to respond, Ronan, as the oldest, took it upon himself to take control of the situation. “Should we tell him?”
Three heads snapped in Ronan’s direction, Michael, Ciaran, and Saoirse, but each remained silent and each had the same thought: Ronan couldn’t possibly be suggesting that they let Fritz in on the fact that two out of the five people in the room were inhuman and one was the offspring of two vampires.
