Not yet. He says he`s not a good housekeeper.
Hmmm, I thought. He could be covering up the fact he sleeps in a coffin.
Is he a carnivore?
I just remembered-- She got up and returned with her hobo-style purse and fished inside it. You`d asked if I had a picture of Devon, she said, pulling out a digital camera. She fiddled with a few buttons on the back. I took this today, she said, and showed me the picture display. It was a picture of Devon, handsomely grinning, outside the blown-glass figurine booth. I would have taken more, but he hates to have his picture taken.
I was surprised. I`d been so totally caught up in proving that Devon was a vampire, I`d stopped leaving room for any other conclusion.
Here you are in the background, she said, pointing. I appeared to be talking to myself. Funny, Alexander got cut off. He was standing right next to you.
Aunt Libby blew out all the candles, gave me a good-night squeeze, and headed off for bed.
Now that it was confirmed Devon was a normal mortal, I`d be able to sleep soundly, knowing the worst fate my aunt could suffer was a broken heart.
Chapter 11 The Crop Circle
The following day Aunt Libby insisted I keep my evening date with Alexander, not only because he is so handsome, as she put it, but because she was overdue for a yoga workout. While my aunt was going to stretch her body and mind, I was going to spend the evening glued to Alexander. But I still had ages before sunset and I could either hang out in Aunt Libby`s apartment or go to Hipsterville`s library. I chose neither and opted for a little adventure.
A few miles across town lay a mysterious crop circle that needed to be investigated. Phoenix would be confronting Jagger there at sunset and I might get a hint of their conversation and be back in time for Alexander`s and my date.
At the very least, I was intrigued by the crop circles and had to know who or what was making them. Were they really signals for vampires? Why did Jagger have all the hoax material stashed in his apartment? I wondered what the circle looked like up close.
According to the directions I got online, the same number seven bus that had previously taken me to the manor house made its way even farther through town and stopped a mile away from Mr. Sears`s farm.
The RBI--Raven Bureau of Investigation--was back in business and on the hunt. Just in case of dangerous situations before me, I geared up with garlic powder, mace, and a flashlight borrowed from underneath Aunt Libby`s sink.
Dullsville had its share of graffiti, vandals, and trespassers but nothing as exciting as an all-out alien invasion. Besides, if aliens traveled a million light-years to earth, I`m sure they`d be bummed to find they`d arrived in the boring town of Dullsville, U.S.A. Hipsterville, on the other hand, might make a great pit stop on the way to New York or Paris.
But if my presumption was right and the boy on TV had seen hovering bats, the guy at the Dungeon bar was speaking fact, and Jagger`s mess was actually clues, the crop circles had the markings of a vampire.
Perhaps the farmer was selling tickets to his nine-acre backyard. I half expected the number seven to be transformed into a tour bus. But there was nothing unusual about the number seven or its riders, and when the bus lurched at the stop, I was the only one who disembarked.
The directions I had were pointing me to a single dirt road that separated luscious trees on one side from acres of wheat on the other. I was in the middle of nowhere and the sun was already beginning to set over the farmhouse. When I explored the Mansion or the manor house, there were at least other houses within the sound of a scream.
I was as exhilarated as I was terrified as I hurried along the lonely dirt road.
This was a prime spot for an alien or vampire sighting. There was nothing around for miles.
All at once, I felt someone or something behind me. I held on to the flashlight with one hand and the mace with the other, the garlic powder inches away in my purse. I was confident I could talk myself out of a situation if I was confronted by the farmer or one of his neighbors, but I could see the latter was a remote possibility.
Maybe I was imagining things. After all, I`d grown up watching Children of the Corn and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Farmer Sears seemed jovial on TV, though. Either way, I still was primed for a unique encounter and hummed to myself softly to keep calm.
A dog barked in the distance, and I saw a small girl run out from the farmhouse and bring the animal inside.
There was only a fence that surrounded the house and another one that ran alongside the wheat field. Perhaps that`s why it was so easy for some kids to pull a midnight prank.
I decided to stay clear of the farmhouse so Farmer Sears wouldn`t come out a-shootin`. A few minutes later, I was far enough away to climb over the fence and bury myself in the rows of wheat. The surroundings were actually quite beautiful. There were no city or town lights, and the stars were so visible and vibrant I wasn`t sure they were real.
I was heading through the stalks when I saw what I thought to be crows flying over a scarecrow posted a few yards ahead. As I approached the raggedy stuffed man, I realized that the flying creatures were bats. I crept closer until they vanished.
It was then that I noticed that a few more yards ahead of me, in the middle of the wheat field, a circle as large as my house was mashed into the ground.
The circle was even more thrilling than when I`d seen it on TV. It was hard to make out its gigantic circumference, but it must have been the size of a spaceship. I couldn`t imagine Jagger actually doing this alone. For a moment I wondered if in fact it was made by something other than vampires or human life.
I was actually surprised when I remembered the farmer`s curious reaction on TV. I would have been furious. Whoever or whatever had destroyed a lot of his wheat.