My ally would be a messy Japanese artist who had died for me once a long time ago. But this time I would not let him die. This time I would tell him the truth straight off so he did not have to
seek it out behind my back.
I needed Tony on my side.
That night, an hour after curfew, I tucked the ruby-hilted dagger into my belt and snuck out the window in the laundry room at the end of the corridor. I walked the length of
Turner Building to Quartz, the boys’ dorm. My intention was first to honour Vicken out on the beach with a simple ritual and then knock on Tony’s window. When I turned the corner to
head down to the beach, Tony was standing there with a telescope pointed at the sky.
Just as I took a step, a security guard approached him. I pressed my back against the brick wall of the building to stay in the shadows. The guard looked through Tony’s telescope and
patted him on the shoulder before leaving.
I checked the perimeter again. When there was no sign of the guard, I stepped out and on to the green. I made sure to step loudly so as not to startle Tony.
‘Oh, hey there, rule-breaker,’ he said. ‘You just missed Lenny the night guard. I bet he would have loved to see you. You actually would have given him something to
do.’
‘It’s after curfew for you too,’ I replied. I pointed at the sky; I didn’t need the telescope. ‘That’s Ursa Major,’ I said.
He dug in his pocket. ‘I know that already. I’m studying the stars. I have special approval.’
He held out a curfew extension form stating that Tony Sasaki could be out until midnight.
He adjusted the telescope again. ‘You saw my celestial themes. I can’t get the whites right.’
‘They looked good to me.’
He peered into the telescope’s viewfinder. ‘Usually the closer I am to the bay, the brighter the stars,’ he said. ‘The ocean reflects them, gives the white a salty kind
of glow. Damn lampposts and emergency call boxes drown out the light. Hey! Want to walk to town beach?’ he suggested. ‘I need a road buddy. The bay isn’t doing the night sky
justice tonight.’
I raised my eyebrows at his nerve. ‘I don’t think your pass will work there.’ He laughed loudly, throwing his head back. Man, I had missed that.
‘You’re funny,’ he said.
‘I try,’ I replied, but I was the opposite of funny.
Security cameras had been installed on campus since Justin’s disappearance from Wickham. Tony pointed them out to me.
Town beach was an absolute no for me anyway. It was way too open. Anyone could attack me there. If I wanted to have a private conversation with Tony, it would have to be right here on campus
where there were people.
‘Be a rebel,’ Tony said, sensing my hesitation. ‘If I get this right it will kill Claudia in studio. I’d give anything to see her stupid face when Professor Joseph says
I’m
a visionary. She thinks Claudia’s self-portraits are visionary. I’m the one with the talent, Lenah.
Me
.’
His enthusiasm was contagious and I was desperate for him to like me as he had once before.
‘You want to crush poor Claudia Hawthorne?’ I asked.
He dropped his chin to his chest. ‘She’s just so freakin’ good.’
I could speak to Tony on Main Street, and if we went in the direction of town, the restaurants and pub might still be open. Cars drove by often enough. Tony could run back on to campus, or away
from me – whatever worked for him, depending on his reaction to the truth. You know, when I told him that I was once a Vampire Queen and killed thousands.
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Take me off campus and get me expelled.’
‘Perfect, Len!’
I gasped, but tried not to seem too excited. Tony had called me by my nickname. I loved it and hoped he would use it all the time as he once had.
The quickest way off campus was to walk parallel to the greenhouse and creep through a short stretch of woods to Main Street. I followed behind Tony though I hesitated at the end of Turner and
checked the shadows for anyone lurking.
‘What?’ Tony said. ‘Oh . . .’ He nodded. ‘I see what’s happening here.’ He kept nodding like he held all the secrets in the universe and I was the
dumbest human alive. ‘Is this your first time sneaking off campus?’
‘Um . . .’
Not the most brilliant of answers, I admit. I stalled and continued searching the woods, not for Justin but for someone who might want to impale me with an arrow. Maybe the mystery archer
figured I’d never be so foolish as to leave campus. But with Tony in the moonlight smiling at me, there was no way I could say no to him.
‘So is it?’ he asked again. ‘Is it your first time going AWOL? Did you go to a boarding school before this? Claudia said she heard a rumour you went to a
British—’
‘This is my first boarding school,’ I said stopping him before he used more acronyms and expressions I didn’t understand. ‘Don’t need to get kicked out my first
week.’
‘Oh, you won’t. We get caught all the time. It’s part of the unofficial Wickham initiation.’
We snuck over the path, kept our backs to the greenhouse and hesitated at the end of the building. The Main Street lamps filtered a pearly glow through the full branches of the Wickham woods. We
were close to the stone wall that surrounded campus. I touched the dagger tucked in my belt.
A smile lingered on Tony’s mouth as he tiptoed towards the stone wall ahead. I fell behind to cover him, spinning to check if anyone was tailing us, though the woods truly seemed empty and
the wind was light. I wished for my vampire sight, which allowed me to see in infinitesimal detail. The edge of the constellation Pegasus peeked through the breaks in the leaves above. Pegasus
always showed me the safest way whether I was a vampire or a human.
I climbed over the six-foot wall and dropped on to Main Street next to Tony. We were pretty close to Lovers Bay Cemetery, which was halfway down Main Street. I inhaled the salty ocean air.
‘Congrats! You’re officially a Wickham student. I’d drink a beer with you on the town beach, but all I brought is my pencil.’
‘I hate beer. And actually,’ I said, tucking my hair behind my ears, ‘I came out tonight to talk to you.’
We were about a hundred and fifty feet from the Wickham gates. If we needed to, we could probably make it back to campus without having to climb the wall a second time.
‘Will you chill? If I had thought you would be this nervous, I wouldn’t have taken you off campus. Note to self: Lenah Beaudonte is a crappy road buddy.’
I checked the length of the stone wall for anyone else that might be lurking about.
‘Are you OK?’
‘I need to tell you something.’
‘You need to talk to me?’ Tony said. ‘In the middle of the night? Oh . . .’ He shuffled his feet on the sidewalk. ‘Because I’m with . . . kind of, I mean
it’s not official or anything, but I’m with Tracy.’
‘No, you dimwit, I don’t want to date you.’
‘Why the hell not?’
‘Come on, road buddy,’ I said, and led him away from the beach and back towards the Wickham gates. He stopped me by touching my shoulder.
‘Beach is the other way,’ he said.
Damn it. Being close to Wickham was more important than going near that beach. I was just going to have to get straight to the point. Tony believed in the supernatural. He told me so when we
first met. But that was a lifetime ago.
‘So . . . are you ever gonna talk or are you just gonna look like you’re working out a calculus problem?’
I threw him my ‘Tony, you’re an idiot’ look, but he didn’t recognize it. I hadn’t been able to give him that look in
so
long.
‘All right. Here goes. This might seem weird,’ I said, ‘but do you ever feel that perhaps there’s more to the world? Like ghosts or werewolves?’ I started with the
simplest question I could muster.
Tony leaned a hand against the stone wall. ‘Is this because I’m studying the stars? Because I don’t really believe in astrology.’
An unnaturally cool wind rustled the branches above us, shaking some of the leaves to the ground.
As usual, Tony’s hat was on backwards. He must have seen how serious I was because he frowned and said, ‘What do you mean? Ghosts or werewolves? Be specific.’
‘Well, both actually. Perhaps there are, um . . .’ I fished for something viable, a gateway to the conversation I really wanted to have. ‘Ghosts, shape-shifters,
vampires
, you know, things like that. Supernatural creatures.’
‘Yeah, I guess. I haven’t really thought about it.’
‘But you think it’s possible.’
‘Sure,’ he said, frowning again. ‘Is this really what you wanted to talk about?’
The wind whipped again, icier this time. Oh no. A sudden chill or drop in temperature was usually a sign that very powerful magic was being performed close by. We were in the middle of Lovers
Bay Main Street. Down the opposite end, away from the shops and cafe, the beach met a small parking lot.
The wind blew again and a branch snapped. I pulled Tony towards me just in time; the bough fell directly where he had been standing. Wide trees lined each side of Main Street and their great
branches made a tunnel of leaves. We would have to stay in the centre of the road. I glanced back at the Lovers Bay pub and the small figures standing outside. I could barely make out their
silhouettes.
We were alone.
‘What the hell?’ Tony said, looking up at the tree in disbelief. ‘Good reflexes, Lenah.’
Something moved down near the beach. I squinted. Was it . . . fog? I gasped. I hated being right.
‘What?’ Tony asked.
Liquorice-coloured clouds unfurled over the ground. The clouds slithered with purpose. As they moved, the light from one street lamp was extinguished.
And then another.
Each light clicked off as the cloud crawled over the ground towards Tony and me.
I grabbed the front of Tony’s shirt. ‘Climb over the stone wall,’ I said. ‘Go. Now.’
‘What?’
‘I said, go!’ Tony didn’t budge.
‘What is that?’ he asked, squinting down the dark street. My hand was still gripping his shirt.
‘Run,’ I pulled Tony hard. ‘Run!’ I cried.
The clouds swirled over and over like a wave rolling backwards. It was protecting something, shielding an object at its centre.
That strange black cloud grew even bigger until in seconds it was the size of a modern car. It was ushering someone forward, someone who hovered deep within those midnight fibres of cloud.
‘Yeah . . .’ Tony said. He finally registered just how serious this had become. ‘Yeah, let’s run.’
He grabbed my hand and we ran. We needed to get to people. To crowds.
We only made it a few feet before we had to stop short.
Two male vampires jumped over the stone wall and on to Main Street. They immediately corralled us, blocking our way. Still hand in hand, Tony and I attempted to run around them, but these
vampires were quick, trained.
We spun and found ourselves facing the black cloud directly behind us. It rotated in one spot over and over. An icy gust blew my hair around my face, and Tony’s hat flew off his head. He
didn’t try to run or chase it. The smoky clouds dissipated like a low-lying fog.
The charcoal-tinted tendrils of the clouds unfurled and evaporated away. Justin stepped out from the centre of the darkness. He spread his fingers wide and held them taut. His hard eyes locked
on mine. The last of the black clouds lowered him to the ground and faded away.
‘Justin?’ Tony said, disbelief in his voice.
I just stood there, blinking stupidly. Justin’s porcelain skin was unnaturally smooth and waxy. He cocked his head and even that movement was cat-like, manipulative. ‘You’re
still beautiful,’ he purred, his voice trying to lure me in. ‘Just as I hoped. The medieval world hasn’t ruined your looks completely.’
His features were so symmetrical that it was eerie. His good looks that had intoxicated me as a human seemed surreal now.
‘Justin, what happened? Where have you been?’ Tony took a step forward. Justin’s head whipped towards him with a robotic snap, his lips parted and his fangs sliding down.
‘What
are
you?’ Tony asked. The two vampire henchmen grabbed his arms. ‘Hey, stop it!’ Tony struggled but the vampires were too strong. They forced him to the
ground in a headlock.
I had to do something.
Anything.
I whipped out the dagger even though I didn’t have the advantage.
‘Give me a break,’ Justin said.
At a casual wave of his hand, my dagger flew into the air and clattered on the street. I lifted my chin; he wouldn’t scare me away just yet.
‘Tony Sasaki,’ Justin said, but he was looking at me. ‘Pathetic that you would find him again. We all know what happened the last time, Lenah.’
I wouldn’t let that happen. Not this time. I would die before they hurt Tony, or worse, transformed him into a vampire.
Justin took a step closer to me and I backed away. Fire’s necklace seemed to warm at the base of my throat, reminding me of my secret power. I would throw it the second Tony’s life
was at risk.
‘Let me go!’ Tony cried. One of Justin’s vampires had his boot on Tony’s back.
Justin leaned into me, and the hundreds of times he had wrapped his arms around my body were replaced with a tight clutch as his cold fingers gripped my wrist.
‘Don’t hurt him; he hasn’t done anything,’ I said. I tried to rip my arm away again, but Justin’s fingers were like a vice.
Tony cried out in pain.
‘Tell those thugs not to hurt him!’ I yelled.
Justin yanked me towards him. I appraised his face and shook my head a little in disbelief. His fangs had retracted, but he did not seem human to me. Justin’s eyes had been green, but as a
vampire the colour seemed artificial. His skin, that had once been smooth, was frozen and buffed away. The little scar on his chin was gone too. He had got it when his brother threw a fork at him
when he was eight. The human history had been polished out when the vampire took over. The freckles were gone. Even the three holes at the tops of his ears were sealed.
‘Why are you looking at me like that? Aren’t you happy to see me?’ he asked, and I pulled back from his new features.