Finding Midnight (13 page)

“Yeah. I guess,” he said, seeming a little
embarrassed. She wasn’t sure why he seemed suddenly withdrawn. She
turned the box several times in her hands.

“I think my journey to the secret is going
to be long and arduous.” She chuckled and set the tiny box on the
table. She could tell she made him uncomfortable. Without realizing
she was doing so, her hand suddenly went to the object at her neck
she’d made into a necklace. She’d been doing this a lot since she
started wearing it. It seemed to bring her comfort—or maybe it had
turned into a nervous habit.

As she did this, she heard a voice from
behind. “Secret? Did someone say secret? What secret?” She turned
to question who spoke only to see Sully trotting in the door with
his slobber-covered tennis ball. She didn’t know what to think. She
turned again to look at Jackson, but he hadn’t turned toward the
door until she looked for a response from him. She was confused.
Had he not heard the voice?

“Did you hear that?” she asked him.

“Hear Sully? Yeah, I heard him come in.
Whatcha got, boy?” he said, trying to befriend the hound making his
way across the room to Summer.

“No. I mean…did you hear someone say
something?”

“Say something? No. Why? What did you
hear?”

“The voice asked about the secret. You
didn’t hear that?”

Sully looked at her, cocking his head to one
side.

“No,” Jackson said, sounding worried.

“I must be hearing things,” she said
half-jokingly when she reached out to Sully and rubbed his ear with
one hand and attempted to take the item out of his mouth with the
other. “Or maybe Sully’s talking to me.” She laughed.

He tilted his head and Jackson joined in her
uncertain laughter.

“Movie time,” came Tori’s voice from
outside.

“Guess that’s our cue. Can you grab the
drinks on the counter? I’ve got the popcorn,” Summer asked Jackson
as she tossed the ball towards the door and picked up the popcorn
bowl.

“You got it,” Jackson said, taking the six
pack of soda with him as they made their way to the cemetery for
the second feature—
The Wolf Man
.

Chapter 12

Though not as comical as
Young
Frankenstein
,
The Wolf Man
was a classic she and Tori
had come to love and would watch over and over. There were many
scenes Tori and Summer recited along with the actors, amusing the
boys.

“
Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by
night,

may become a wolf when the
wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”

The girls had put as much feeling and drama
into the words as the actors put forth and the boys applauded and
hooted when they’d finished.

Out of the corner of her eye, Summer saw Ms.
Midnight watching them from her perch at the window. She was quite
certain she even saw a smile from the usually frowning face. That
made Summer smile too.

When the movie was over, Jackson and Nick
helped take down the screen and move everything inside the cottage.
Then they retreated to the couch. Tori and Nick lounged on the
floor, Tori using Nick as a pillow while Nick propped himself up
with one elbow and a pillow.

“Did Tori tell you what Jackson and I are
planning on doing?” Nick said to Summer who was looking again at
her puzzle box.

“No. What?” She set the box down and gave a
quick side glance and smile at Jackson who sat next to her on the
tiny couch.

“Oh, we don’t have to get into that, do we?”
Jackson said, embarrassed.

“Sure, we do. It’s a fabulous idea,” Nick
said, waving away Jackson’s attempt to quiet him.

“What idea?” Summer was intrigued.

“We’re starting our own business,” Nick said
proudly. “I can’t take credit; it was all Jackson’s idea.”

“It wasn’t an idea and we are not going into
business,” Jackson said, shaking his head.

“What do you call it, if it isn’t an awesome
idea?” Nick asked.

“It was a joke, dweeb. Just a thought that
came out of my mouth, not something I ever planned on doing,”
Jackson explained.

“What is it?” Summer’s curiosity was aching
for them to reveal whatever it was they were talking about.

“Whatever, man. I still think it’s a great
idea,” Nick said. “Summer, what is the most perfect job you could
think of for two vampires?” Nick asked.

Summer saw Jackson squirm at the word
‘vampire.’ He was definitely not as comfortable as his friend at
talking about their affection for blood. Summer had already sent
Jackson retreating when they had talked about his knowledge of the
puzzle box. She wasn’t dying to cause him any more discomfort.
Again, her hand went to her necklace as she thought on Nick’s
question.

“Umm. I don’t know, something that gives you
access to blood, I suppose,” she said, hoping it wasn’t going to be
a veterinarian, since Tori told her that vampires get most of their
blood from animals. She felt her stomach churn.

Nick must have sensed this and said, “Right.
Something that gives us access to blood without hurting a soul or
an animal.”

Summer smiled, relieved, and reached down to
pet the hellhound when he sneezed.

“And where could we get that kind of access
to blood under those circumstances?” he asked.

“Um,” Summer said, thinking hard, but
nothing was coming to her. Tori smiled at her from across the room.
“I don’t know,” Summer finally said.

“A mobile blood donor tech. Duh,” Nick said
and Jackson bent forward, his forehead in his palm, elbow on his
knee. He looked absolutely mortified.

“Huh!” Summer said. “That really would be
something, wouldn’t it?” The more she thought about it, the more
she thought it was quite brilliant. “But you’d probably have to be,
at the very least, a registered nurse to do something like
that.”

“Actually, we both have PhDs. When you have
as much time as we’ve had, you have to find things to do with your
time. Now, school was certainly not my first choice, but Jackson
here insisted. Let’s just say we have a few degrees,” Nick said.
Jackson added his other palm to his forehead and raked both hands
through his golden hair.

“Interesting,” Summer said. “So you would
just steal a bag here and there for yourselves and deposit the rest
in the local blood bank?”

“Yeah! Pretty much! It wouldn’t be a lot,
maybe a bag a week each,”

“So little?” Summer asked.

“Yeah. We don’t need much, really,” Nick
said.

“But wouldn’t it be hard to be around all
that blood, all the time? It would be like an alcoholic working in
a bar, wouldn’t it?” she prodded.

“You’d be surprised. I mean, don’t get me
wrong. There are vampires who have a serious control problem, but
Jackson here made sure I learned to control it. Now, even starved,
I can handle myself around gorgeous, yummy women without being a
danger,” Nick said, kissing Tori and then nibbling on her ear.

Summer wasn’t sure how she felt about this
display OR his use of ‘yummy’ referring to her best friend in the
world. Jackson seemed to want to crawl under the table and become
invisible.

“So I have Jackson to thank for your hunger
control,” Summer said with concern.

“Well, he taught me to control the hunger,
yes, but I had a little to do with it,” Nick said in his
defense.

She rubbed her necklace frantically as she
looked to Jackson, “How exactly do you teach a vampire to control
his thirst?” Summer asked. “Who taught you?”

“That’s really something I’d rather not go
into,” he said.

“I think you are worrying Summer, Nick. And
from the looks of it, I think you’re killing Jackson. He looks as
white as a ghost,” Tori stated.

Nick suddenly noticed Jackson’s appearance,
and agreed with a laugh. “Sorry, man,” he said to Jackson. “No
worries, Summer. You have nothing to fear from Jackson and me—now
another vamp, well, I couldn’t say, but neither of us are into all
that gore. And Jackson here, he wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“And Tori?” Summer asked Nick point blank.
“Would you ever hurt Tori?”

“Not if my very life depended on it. I
haven’t killed a person or thing since I met Jackson. There’s no
need. Besides, I never liked it. Always felt horrific afterwards.
Now I feel good about myself and with Tori, well, she’s the best
thing that’s ever happened to me,” Nick said as he tenderly kissed
Tori on her temple.

A wave of relief flooded through Summer. She
saw how much Nick cared about Tori. Though his honesty had unnerved
Summer, his love for Tori was apparent and that eased her mind.
Jackson on the other hand looked like he was going to vomit. He had
green undertones that did not go well with his already pale skin
and mossy green eyes.

*****

As Summer relaxed, her hand dropped away
from her necklace and Tori said, “Remember, if you ever find
another one of those, you have to give it to me.”

“I know,” Summer said.

“What’s that?” Nick asked.

“I told you about the cool crystal rock
thing Summer found and made into a necklace,” Tori explained.

“Oh, yeah! I think I do recall you saying
something about that. Didn’t you break a couple drill bits trying
to make a hole in it?” Nick asked Summer.

“I did and I felt absolutely horrible when I
found out how much they cost,” Summer confessed.

Though Jackson’s color didn’t look much
better, his eyes were as wide and round as tennis balls. Summer
couldn’t tell if he was scared or shocked; either way, he came
closer. Summer felt the warmth of his breath on her cheek.

“May I?” he said, reaching out to her.

“Uh, sure,” she said, not knowing what to
make of his expression.

His hand picked up the object lying on her
chest. She reached behind her and released the leather cord. The
cord slipped from her neck and draped over Jackson’s hand. Like
with the puzzle box, his expression changed to amazement.

“What?” Summer asked him. Tori and Nick came
closer too as Jackson’s expression aroused their curiosity.

“Do you know what this is?” Jackson said
with a smile so huge, it almost scared everyone in the room. Summer
surmised by Nick’s step back that he, too, had never seen such
excitement in his friend’s face.

“Hey, man, you’re freaking me out,” Nick
said to Jackson as Tori clung to his arm.

Jackson looked into Summer’s eyes and it
seemed to Summer they sparkled like twinkle lights. His cheeks even
had a healthy pink glow. He repeated his question as if no one but
he and Summer were in the room or maybe even the universe, “Do you
know what this is?”

She shook her head and mustered up the
courage for a meek, “No.”

He smiled and put his hand on her shoulders.
“This, my sweet Summer, is a dragon scale,” he said, holding it up
to the light bulb.

Summer didn’t know how to react or what to
say. Had she heard him correctly? A dragon scale?

But before she could say it out loud, Tori
jumped to their side and sat on the coffee table to be closer to
them, saying, “A dragon scale? You mean like a scale?” she paused.
“From a dragon.” She paused again. “A real honest to God
dragon?”

With each of her questions her voice went up
an octave. Jackson nodded with the strangest smile on his face.

Summer furrowed her brow in confusion. “A
dragon?” For a moment her eyes met Tori’s and she thought of the
night when Daniel saved her from the shadow of a dragon passing by
her bedroom window.

“Yes,” Jackson confirmed. “And not just a
‘real dragon,’ but a live dragon. This came from a live
dragon.”

“Okay, man. Now you’re just messing with us.
There’s no such thing as dragons,” Nick said, so very sure of
himself, but watching his best friend nodding and smiling that
bizarre, scary smile had his confidence pouring out of him with
great speed. “No. You’re just joking, right?”

“I’m not joking. I’m telling you the truth.
This is a dragon scale from a live dragon and it’s right here in my
hand,” Jackson said. For a moment, Summer thought his eyes were
welling and that he might cry.

“How can you know that it is from a live
dragon?” Tori asked.

“Look.” He brought the scale up to the light
again. “See how clear it is? You can actually see the light bulb
through it.”

“So?” Nick said.

“I was told that scales become more and more
opaque after they fall off and age. I’ve never seen one you could
see through. No one for thousands of years has seen one you could
see through,” Jackson stated.

“Then how can you be sure it’s a scale at
all? Maybe it’s just a mineral or crystal,” Summer said.

“It’s documented in ancient texts all over
the world and look at the color. Isn’t it amazing? It’s just like
the documents claim. It’s just as wondrous and beautiful as they
said they were.”

Summer was puzzled. How did Jackson know
what ancient texts said or didn’t say? Just how old was this
vampire? How did he know so much about so many things?

“I thought dragons died out eons ago, but
this. This proves they didn’t. Where did you say you found this?”
Jackson asked.

“Out back by the fence,” Summer said.

“Where? Show me,” Jackson said
excitedly.

“Okay…” Summer said as they followed her to
the fence where Sully had stood on his back legs barking at the
phantom cat in the window. She felt like a mother duck with three
ducklings and a hellhound following her every move.

“Whoo…Whoo…Whoo are you?” said a voice from
the woods. Summer stopped suddenly and all three of her followers
ran into one another like some big pile up on a freeway.

“Did you hear that?” she said to Tori as the
boys examined the area where the supposed scale had been found.