“We pay a lot of tuition to have you go to Wolcroft,” said Mom. “The least they could do is let us know our daughter is going to school with a vampire.”
“Well done, Abigail,” said Mr. Christopher. “I hope that the two of you are still not considering letting Abigail’s talents in the field go to waste?”
Mom and Dad communicated by eyebrow semaphore and kept their opinions close to the vest. But they had taken me seriously, and I had proven to them that I could be a rational hunter. That felt good.
We had some cookies and talked about the feasibility of a lost race of fish people. My parents were acting more like themselves.
CHAPTER NINE
Creatures of the Night
Shut Up
Before the bell rang on Thursday, I dodged the eyes of a couple of teachers that were scanning for me like Martian death machines from War of the Worlds, and I ducked into the girls restroom. Actually, I followed Coral in there. Coral was in front of the mirrors holding court. The older girls weren’t exactly kowtowing, but they were being much nicer to her than they would usually be. Underclasswomen didn’t exist until they were about sixteen.
Even though we have a uniform, there is no taboo at Wolcroft about makeup. Being geeky girls, we keep it light. Jo has this golden eyeshadow that makes her look like she’s trying out for a role in a mummy movie, which I kind of like, but I don’t wear much make up myself. I’m a sportiva, so my makeup is a little fruity gloss courtesy of Burt’s Bees, and a light eye shadow courtesy of Marty sometimes.
Coral was not a typical Wolcroft girl. She had a satchel of makeup, which she dumped out of her purse. She spilled the fixings for an entire face out by one sink. “Bev,” I asked, as I stared at the mirror holding my gloss, “can I borrow your compact?”
Snarky giggles echoed around the bathroom. The barbed edge of that laugh was meant to cut me. Bev reached into her schoolbag. The compact was old, inlaid with shiny mother of pearl on the top. I’d seen it before. The compact her grandmother had given her, the one she mentioned in science class. “This, Abby?”
“If it’s okay?” I sounded as humiliated as I could, an easy role under the circumstances.
Coral raised an eyebrow, and Bev converted to the Hulk in her designated role as mind-controlled bully. She covered the floor between us in two wide strides, pulled my lip gloss out of my fingers, and rubbed it all over my cheek.
Not what I’d expected, but I could work with it. I grabbed the compact, and moved to the right angle to see Coral.
Coral did not reflect in the silver mirror. Bingo. I moved it around until I got a glance of the powder puff waving in the air by itself. A mad smile of vindication curled my mouth up at the corners. A good vampire hunter must always trust their gut. This is also sound advice for when you are taking a multiple-choice test.
“Son of a gun,” I said.
Coral condescended to notice me. “Abigail Rath. I’m amazed you came to school today.” The girls giggled at me. Mean girls sucked.
“You’re nothing but an ordinary old vampire, right? Here I thought you might be something special.”
Choruses and snickers of how crazy I was echoed off the walls. I hadn’t forgotten about Bev. She grabbed for the compact and I stepped back. Coral’s bag was reflected in the mirror, but no Coral, and Bev could see that.
“Come on girls.” Coral zipped up her makeup bag. “Time for class. Bev, catch up after you’ve taken care of our little problem.”
Bev and I both watched in the mirror as Coral’s bag floated through the door with no one holding it. I handed Bev back her compact. “Thank you.” The paper towel machine thumped as I rolled out enough towels to actually work with. I wet them and started to squeegee Burt’s Bees off my face. The bathroom was empty except for us, because the bell would ring at any moment.
“Abby?” Bev studied the silver backed compact. “She didn’t—she wasn’t—”
“It’s a silver mirror, Bev. Vampires don’t reflect in a silver mirror.”
Bev shook her head. “Vampires aren’t real!”
I fought for another paper towel, dampened it, and handed it to Bev. Placing a hand on her arm, I let her lean against the counter. “Here. You’ve had a shock.”
“There are no vampires.” Then, Bev turned red. “I…did I hurt you?”
“Oh no,” I lied. She’d hurt me plenty. I never knew Bev had the bullying tendency before. Vampires can’t make you something you aren’t, but they can bring out the unattractive in you. “I didn’t know if shocking you would do it or not. Mostly, I needed to use your mirror. Breaking you out of mind control is an added bonus.”
“Mind control?”
“Yeah.” I threw the towel in the wastebasket. “It’s one of the big vampire tricks. Captivating their victims. You probably won’t find Coral so awesome now.”
“We’ve got to tell someone!”
“Who you gonna tell? Mrs. Cheever? That’ll go over well.”
“What are we going to do? Coral’s a monster!”
“I like the sound of we,” I said. “We’d better get to class. If revealing her true nature worked for you, maybe it would work for other people. Lucky for Wolcroft, I know a lot about vampires.”
“Oookay.”
“You could just stay out of it, watch my back, and let me do my job.”
“Your job?”
“Never mind.” I went out the door.
“Abby, I’m sorry about hitting you. All of it.” Bev followed me into the hall.
The bell rang. “Shoot. Science.”
We raced down the hall, and Mrs. Lester let us
