thinks vampires are cool because they all grew up reading those stupid books where some girl goes swooning over a boy vampire because he’s so deep and dreamy and he lived through centuries waiting for her. Gag. I guess that’s why that crap is banned now. No one wants their daughters getting the idea that all this could ever be hot. But guess what? They don’t have body fluids. They only have blood. You do the math. And then come back when you’re done throwing up. No one dates vampires.
Anyway, I’m not dumb. It’s hard to be dumb when half your friends only come out at night. I get it. Pretty soon they’ll outnumber us.
And then, pretty soon after that, it’ll be all of us.
Noah and I went to the park most nights. Nobody gave us any shit there—no kids play in parks anymore, anyway. It’s just empty. And it was so hot that summer, I couldn’t stand being inside. Even at night, I could hardly breathe.
One time Noah brought Emmy along. I wasn’t freaked or anything. I knew they weren’t dating anymore. Gossip knows no species, you know? I guess it must be pretty lonely to hang out with a human girl all the time and explain your business to her. They sat in the tire swing together and kind of draped their arms and legs all over each other. They didn’t make out or anything, they just sat there, touching.
“Do… you guys need some time alone?” I asked. Okay, I was a little freaked.
“It’s just something we do, Scout,” sighed Emmy. “Share ambient heat. It’s cold.”
“Are you kidding? It’s like ninety degrees.” “Not for us,” Emmy said patiently.
“It’s not just that, you know,” added Noah. “Ever seen pictures of wolf pups? How they all pile together? Well, you know, some days, a bunch of us just sleep that way. It’s… comforting.”
I plunked down on one of those plastic dragons that bounce back and forth on a big spring. I bounced it a couple of times. I didn’t know what to say.
“So what are you guys gonna do in the fall?”
They just looked at each other, kind of sheepish.
Noah moved his leg over Emmy’s. It was just about the least sexual thing I’ve ever seen. “We were thinking we might go to Canada. Lots of us are going. There’s jobs up there. On, like, fishing boats and stuff. In Hudson Bay. The nights… are really long. It’s safer. There’s whole towns that are just ours. Communities. And, well. You probably heard, about Aidan?”
Aidan’s the kid from group who thinks he’s Van Helsing. Emmy sniffed a little and sucked on her cigarette.
“Well, you know, he was kind of seeing Bethany?”
“What? Bethany turned like a year ago! Why would he even touch her?”
They shrugged, identically.
“So they were messing around in back of his truck and all of the sudden he just fucking killed her,” Noah whispered, like he didn’t really believe it. “She trusted him. I mean god, he let her feed off him! That’s like… I don’t know how to explain it so you’ll understand, Scout. That’s serious shit with us. It’s way more intimate than screwing. It’s a pact. A promise.”
Emmy and I glanced at each other, but we didn’t say anything. Some things you don’t want to say.
Noah’s voice cracked. “And he put a piece of his dad’s fence through her heart. And they’re not even going to arrest him, Scout. He got a fine. Disposal of Hazardous Materials Without Supervision.”
“It seems like a good time to clear out,” said Emmy softly. Her eyes flashed a little in the dark, like a cat’s.
“You could come with us,” Noah said, trying to sound nonchalant. “I bet you’ve never even seen snow.”
Well, you know what he meant by that.
“I have a scholarship. I’m gonna be a teacher. Teach little kids to do math and stuff.”
Noah sighed. “Scout, why?”
“Because I have to do something.”
Whenever people have more than five seconds to talk about this, they always come around to the same thing.
Why did it happen? Where did it start?
You know that TV show you used to like? And somewhere around the third season something so awesome and fucked up happened and you just had to know the answer to the mystery, who killed sorority girl whoever or how that guy could come back from the dead? You stayed up all night online looking for clues and spoilers, and still, you had to wait all summer to find out? And you were