Vampire High Sophomore Year - By Douglas Rees Page 0,42

about Ileana and Justin. I guess it had worked. Right now, I couldn’t think about anything except how tired I was.

Even the jenti were wiped.

“Gregor, is this enough?” Constantin panted.

“Yes,” Gregor said. Then to Turk he said, “What next, gadje?”

“We need heat and light,” I said wearily. “And I don’t know yet how we’re going to get them.”

We all looked toward the sound of a car coming closer. It had an old-fashioned engine that made almost as much noise as Turk’s VW, but sounded infinitely classier. A low, elegant car that looked a little like a canoe with headlights pulled up in front.

Only one person in town had a 1923 Hispano-Suiza, and she got out and strode over to us with a swing of her long hair that every boy at Vlad knew. But what was a science teacher doing here?

“So, it is true.” Ms. Vukovitch smiled. “There are still pioneers in New Sodom. How’s it going with the homestead?”

“We’re getting there,” I said.

“I tell you why I came,” Ms. Vukovitch said. “I hear from somewhere that this old place has the original power plant. Is that so?”

“It sure looks original,” I said.

“I have some students. They need a senior project. I hear you’re doing this, and I think, ‘Vukovitch, maybe restoring an old power plant is hard enough to qualify.’ Can I see it?”

“Wait a minute,” Turk said. “You do know you’re in Crossfield, right?”

Ms. Vukovitch waved her hand and waltzed back to her car. She pulled out a couple of flashlights and handed them to us.

We all went down to the basement and spent the next half hour listening to Ms. Vukovitch practically singing about how great the power plant was.

“My God, what turbines. Built to last a hundred years. And practically mint condition. Old, but also very good. Of course, the wiring needs to be brought up to code. But any idiot can do that. In fact, I have just the idiots. We get this system working again, modernize lighting, throw in redesign of heating plant to make a green building out of it—worth an A or two, maybe. What do you think? When can we start?”

“Who’s going to pay for it?” Turk asked.

“The richest school in the state,” Ms. Vukovitch said. “I’ve got a huge budget for senior projects.”

“What’s your budget for Dumpsters like?” Turk asked.

“What?” Ms. Vukovitch sounded confused.

“Never mind,” Turk said. “You can start as soon as you want.”

“Tomorrow, then,” Ms. Vukovitch said. “Me and a few of the boys will come out and see what we need to get started.”

The sun was setting when we came back out. Ms. Vukovitch’s Hispano-Suiza bounded away toward the river. The jenti spread their wings and flapped them slowly, flying away from town, except for Ilie, who stationed himself on the roof.

Turk and I got into her car.

“Do you believe that story Vukovitch gave us about the school paying for everything? I sure as hell don’t,” Turk said.

“Why not?” I said. “Vlad has plenty of money.”

“Maybe. But why did she just show up, two seconds after school was over for the day? How did she know anybody was going to be here? Why is she offering us help at all? This is Crossfield, damn it. The Great Unmentionable.”

“Yeah,” I said. If I hadn’t been so tired and sad, I might have thought of that myself.

“I feel like I’m part of somebody else’s game,” Turk said. “But what game, and what are the rules? And what’s the prize?”

I looked back over my shoulder at our mill and its necklace of Dumpsters. It looked a little like Stonehenge, or what I thought Stonehenge might look like if it had been made of large trash containers.

It was a mystery, all right. But maybe it meant somebody was on our side.

18

Tuesday, when I saw Ileana at Vlad, I handed back the books she’d loaned me.

“Thanks,” I said. “I really liked them.”

“You are welcome. I am glad,” she said, and took them and went on down the hall.

I could hear the Rustle starting around me.

Cody Elliot and our princess are fighting.

What is it about? The cousin?

No. This is something else. But the cousin is part of it.

And Justin Warrener?

He is part of it.

Okay, I was imagining the words. But it was real.

Rustle, Rustle, Rustle.

I didn’t see Justin. He was absent, which was strange because he was never absent. But it was just as well. Parting from Ileana was hard enough.

I hurt like I had never hurt before. And the day sped by