“Public school,” said Mom. “Strangely enough, probably less dangerous. Probably more monsters in the system, but also more of them on our side, and we know where most of them are.”
Who knew?
We left Ms. Cheever’s office under the cloud of expulsion, but we still had final exams to finish. In one office interview, I had lost Bev, Jo, Mrs. Lester, and field hockey. Advantage? Vince would be cool with it, me and Coral at public school with him.
How would Marty handle this?
“And that’s it,” I said to Vince. “Expelled. A stain upon the honor of Wolcroft.” We sat at Big Mel’s, watching Coral skate by, guiding Marty. Marty’s lessons were starting to pay off. She had only fallen once so far tonight.
“Great. My best friend has a record,” said Vince.
“I’m curious. How many monsters do you know in public school?”
“What?”
“Just something my parents said, is all. Coral and I are figuring out how to break it to Marty.”
“Can I get you guys something?”
I looked behind the counter. The girl working behind the snack bar had gone off duty, and she’d been replaced by some polo-shirt guy. Then my universe wrung itself out. Polo-shirt guy was Ned. No army jacket. Slacks. Orange hair mostly sheered off, pierced barbell out of his brow. “Like woah,” I said.
Ned crossed his arms. “A guy can’t change his look?”
“What she said,” said Vince.
Ned ditched the sulk and smiled like he was happy to see me. “Vince. Abby.”
“You are looking very much more alive. It suits you.”
“Undead makeover,” said Vince. “Are you using the sunscreen trick?”
“Oh yeah. Can’t go outside now because I’m working, but it’s kind of awesome, being out during the day. I can spend a whole ten minutes out there now.”
“That’s it,” I said. “Sun equals sunny disposition.”
“You,” said Ned. “You tell Coral ‘Dad’ wants her home.”
Vince skated away.
“I’ll take M&M’s,” I said. “If they’re on you.”
Ned pulled one off the wire tab. “They are.”
“Thanks, Ned,” I said.
Ned shrugged. “No big deal.” Ned grabbed his order pad and headed over to a table. He didn’t understand. I was thanking him for looking out for all of us, but Ned was kind of dense. Or not. It was okay. We understood each other.
Vince wheeled back in. “Couldn’t find her. She must be gone already.”
I popped M&M’s into my mouth and offered the bag to Vince who cupped his hands. I’d never known Vince to turn down M&M’s. “Gotta find Marty,” I said. “Gotta get this over with.”
“It’s not like you’re gonna disappear,” said Vince. “It’s my turn to have you at my school for a while.”
I scanned the skate floor for Marty. “Let’s roll,” I said. “She’s over there.”
We skated across the floor. Marty was skating with a guy. I wondered if her crush on Vince was done. Then I recognized Austin Von Trapp and he recognized me. William looked worse for wear. His hair was greasy and scruffy, and his clothes were grubby. He gave me that dazzling smile, but now it looked like arrogance on wheels.
Vince puffed up and raced forward. “Leave her alone, William. Get out now, and I won’t call Ned.”
“You won’t call anyone, Cooper.”
“It’s over, William,” I said, stoppering to a halt. “If you go now, we’ll let you leave.”
“You’re not letting me do anything, Abby. I may not have bitten you enough to change you into one of us, but I do know that I can exert some influence over you.”
“Screw that.” I turned, meaning to skate toward Ned, but I found myself facing William again. I narrowed my eyes. We were going to have to do something about this. No one had really given too much attention to my bite after we discovered I wasn’t, you know, changed.
Vince pulled back and hit William on the jaw. William’s legs buckled underneath him. “I don’t hate you nearly as much as I did when you mind-controlled me,” said Vince. “But I still hate you enough.”
A bubble of space developed around William and Vince. William snarled, which was unbecoming to his cute boy persona, and jumped on top of Vince. Vince deflected the pummeling fists.
“You kids,” the loud speaker boomed. “Stop that!” Big Mel was on the job.
Marty stood by like a robot. I waved my hand in front of her face. She didn’t even blink. I looked over her arms. She’d been bitten, I didn’t know how many times. Jerk.
William pulled away from Vince, and he morphed into the little Nosferatu Ned and I had tried to track at the mall. Kids yelled and ran, skateland pandemonium. Mel charged forward, silver bat in hand. William grabbed Marty under the arms, lifted her up, and the two of them flew outside.
I hated abandoning Vince to Mel and confusion, but following William was paramount. Outside, there was no sign. Mel and Vince stepped out. For the first time in my life, I was scared of the silver bat, the way Mel held it like a caveman’s club.
“Ned’s beside himself,” Vince said.
“Hey, it’s daylight,” said Mel. “No point getting him-self killed.”
I guess as far as Mel was concerned, we’d joined the club. “I’m going back in, get everyone settled down.”
The sun wasn’t low enough yet for Ned to spring into action. Then he and Coral could do some serious searching for William. But William had been proving really good at not being found.
My cell phone rang. “Yeah.”
Of course it was William, even though my ID said it was Marty. “I want you at Pacific Park,” said William. “Meet me in Santa Monica.”
“Hey, Vince,” I said, “up for a little
