All my friends, supernatural or not, were heroes.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It's Not Me, It's You
When Mom rewgained consciousness, she and Dad talked and decided she was out of the profession. If my narrative were a work of fiction, there’d be some sort of training montage, and my mother would come back to kick monster booty. In reality, she was facing about a year of therapy for her damaged leg, and she’d lost some sight in her left eye. The good news was that there wasn’t serious brain damage from the fall. We were lucky.
Life was going to change around our house some, but we’d manage, because my family is super awesome. Mom could still be a librarian, and if you ask anyone, they are tougher than monster hunters.
Both Ned and Mr. Christopher made full recoveries. Ned was like me, not as bad as he looked, the vampire equivalent of cuts and bruises. Mr. Christopher’s condition was more like Mom’s. Being a good guy in the vampire world can be dangerous, because not everyone is a good guy, and Mr. Christopher needed a little extra protection until all of the rowan worked its way out of his system. That’s why he suddenly acquired two children. Ned and Coral were moving in. I thought Mr. Christopher was going to need a bigger house, but they were making it work so far.
On the last day of school, Coral and I sat outside of Ms. Cheever’s study. We both looked around at the shelves of erudite books in the room. I hadn’t noticed before Coral was not a slouchy tie wearer because I’d been too busy either envying or hating her.
“So, William?” Our one loose end, William, had avoided both the monster hunting community and the legal community. It bothered me he was out there in the world.
“No sign of him,” she said. “Jerk.”
I nodded. “Totally.” Anyone who enjoyed hurting and killing other people might not be a candidate for coexist, but I wasn’t sure we could do anything about it now that he’d disappeared.
The door cracked open and we were invited in. Mrs. Cheever sat behind the big desk, super intimidating. Mom was in one of the wingback chairs. She had on a stylish pirate patch (no white patches for my mom) and her fashionable cane was propped against one arm. Dad stood behind her, his hands resting on her chair’s back. Two not-so-fancy chairs were out for us. Coral took one and crossed her hands in her lap, looking perfect. I didn’t know if she could get a job as a supermodel. I wondered what the effect of so much flash photography might be on a vampire.
Ms. Cheever started in. “My understanding is you two have been having some trouble this year?”
“Oh, we’re all straightened out now,” I said.
“Yeah,” said Coral. “We’re BFFs.”
Mom coughed. “Really?”
“I understand that there are some special circumstances regarding your quarrel?”
I looked at Dad. “Did you tell her?”
Ms. Cheever nodded. “I understand, Coral, that you’re a vampire, and you mind-controlled the staff and student body.”
“I did,” said Coral, “but I was under duress from my master vampire.”
“Who is no longer in the picture?”
“Yes, ma’am. That’s right. And I can assure you that even though I’m a vampire, my new guardian, Mr. Lee Christopher, will make sure that sort of thing would never happen again. I mean, not that I’d be tempted.”
“Given the circumstances,” said Ms. Cheever, “you’ll understand if I ask you to leave our school.”
“Oh!” I stood up. “Really, really uncool.”
The authority figures in the room gave me the eye and I sat down. I adjusted my tie. “Ms. Cheever, Coral was no more misbehaved than me. Kicking her out because she’s a vampire is like bigotry.”
“I’m not expelling Coral because she’s a vampire,” said Ms. Cheever. “You are aware that this school has an honor code?”
Coral cast her eyes down. “Yes ma’am.”
“Abby, you are also not invited back. I understand that you tried to burn Coral up, endangering her life?”
“No! Well, yes, a bit. I was trying to discredit her at the time.”
“You willfully harmed a fellow student.”
I stood up again. “I was trying to save the school.”
“And I don’t hold a grudge,” said Coral.
“Thanks, Coral. I’ll admit it was a pretty crummy thing to do.”
Coral waved it away. “You were desperate. Besides, I don’t think you would have killed me.”
“No,” I said. “No. And I’m sorry. If I had it to do again, I’d do it a lot differently.”
Mom cleared her throat. “While we agree with Ms. Cheever you both have committed serious offenses against the honor code at Wolcroft, we are more concerned with your safety. Wolcroft may not be the kind of place I want my daughter going to school.”
Ms. Cheever’s brow darkened. “Wolcroft is one of the best institutions in this state, Mrs. Rath.”
“Yes,” said Dad. “However, one vampire came to school and mind-controlled everyone and no one noticed but my daughter. If one vampire can come to this school, how many others could? No offense, Coral.”
“None taken.”
What did this mean? Was I done with school? “Well,” I stuttered, “where can I go? You can’t keep me at home.”
“Of course not,” said Mom. “You need the socialization of school, and you need more advanced science than either your father or I could teach you.”
“I am, after all, a humble actor,” said Dad. “Just because I’ve had an education doesn’t mean I can give one. Unless you want to be an actor?”
“Um…no,” I said. “Too dangerous.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to be a monster hunter either, but one thing I
