Alex Van Helsing Voice of the Undead - By Jason Henderson Page 0,39
to fill us in?”
“I know, that’s really . . . terrible, but I mean, right now I need to follow up on something.” What was he going to say? He looked at his father, and a million things raced through his mind. Your father knows. The greatest enemy knows. Your mother is proud of you. Was any of that true? Now it felt like a dream. But at this moment, right this instant, there were two students who had just been lost to the Scholomance, and he had no idea how much his father actually knew, no idea what his mother knew, and no time. “There’s a rehearsal I’m supposed to be in,” he said, remembering that he had agreed to take Sid’s place for the ball.
“We brought you some clothes, some new glasses, some school supplies. That nice Mr. Sangster had someone take them to your dormitory,” Mom said. “But we have to make some decisions. Your sister was very worried about you.”
“What did—” Alex tried to look down the chessboard and choose his words like moves. What did she tell you wouldn’t do. “I mean, I want to— Where are you staying? We could have breakfast.”
Alex touched her sleeve. Instantly he felt the warmth of her, the safety of her presence. His mother and father had raised him to look after himself and his sisters. It was a house, he had thought, of adventure and honesty. But that was before he had learned of all the secrets his father harbored. And so far his father hadn’t really said a word.
“I gotta hurry,” Alex said, walking toward the door. “I’ll bet there’s some kind of reception for you guys; there has to be.”
“We have to decide, Alex,” Mom said.
“I don’t know what that means, but I’m sure we can decide over breakfast.” He reached for the door and pulled it open.
There was a whisper, words he didn’t understand, and the door was pulled from his hands and slammed shut. A crackle of energy shot through the room, fizzing his hair as the lights flickered. Alex froze as every window slapped closed at once. He slowly turned as the wind from the closing windows lifted the coverlets and sent papers shuffling.
His parents stood side by side. His mom’s long hair was floating slightly off her coat.
His father was the one who spoke this time.
“We have to decide if you’re going to stay with the Polidorium.”
Chapter 15
Alex stared in shock. “Holy—what the heck was that?” He looked at the windows and the papers still settling around the room. “Oh my God, who are you?”
The being that surely did look like his mother rolled her eyes, adjusting her wrap. “Alex, settle down, I’m your mother.”
“Oh, no!” Alex exclaimed. “No, no, Mom, I’ve known you my whole life and you’ve never slammed a door with your mind, and we slam a lot of doors.”
“I didn’t slam it with my mind,” she said simply, taking a seat.
“I just watched you; one minute I’m leaving and the next minute you’re going all Carrie with the doors and the windows.”
Dad scoffed lightly, smiling some. “She did it with a spell.”
“A spell?” This was too much. Alex ran his fingers through his hair again, pacing. “Since when, I mean—I mean, we don’t do these things. These things don’t happen! When did you start using spells?”
“When I was about your age, actually,” she said.
In the back of his mind, a snippet of a conversation played, something Director Carreras had said: We allknow about Amanda.
What does that mean?
It means that if not for your mother, your father would probably still be with the Polidorium, Sangster had said. But Carreras had meant more than that, hadn’t he?
“Back up, back up, back up,” Alex said.
“Do you want to sit?” his mother said, indicating a chair.
“No.” He frowned.
His father spun the empty chair around and sat down, resting his arms on the seat back.
Alex turned to his dad. “I mean, what—what was all that growing up about this doesn’t happen. ‘Oh, that thing you just saw in a movie, no, that doesn’t happen. Van Helsing name? Coincidence.’”
“I’m sorry, Alex. It seemed like the right way to go about it all.”
“Dad! Mom! I don’t know if you know, but there are vampires out here. Actual vampires with, you know, fangs. There’s this one with punky hair and crazy eyes and I can’t seem to lose her. These people want my hide. There’re no spells, though, that’s an all-new little surprise!”