Stolen Night (8 page)

He turned towards Justin. ‘Nice shot, mate.’

Ms Tate, our science teacher, ran out of Hopper Building. Her eyes were wild and she pointed at Justin. She had obviously seen what happened.

‘You!’ she cried. Justin shook out his hand; his fingers must have been hurting. ‘Come with me,’ she said.

‘And you,’ she said to Vicken, ‘go to the infirmary.’ She pointed at a junior, Andrea, and ordered her to go with Vicken.

Justin stepped dangerously close to Vicken and me. He could easily have thrown another punch. I’d never seen him so calm . . . or so angry.

‘That . . .’ Justin said so quietly that only Vicken and I could hear. ‘That,’ he repeated, ‘was for Tony.’ He turned to follow Ms Tate but kept his eyes
locked on Vicken.

My gut clenched and I waited for Vicken to react. A muscle in his jaw quivered but that was it. Ms Tate pointed again, this time towards Hopper. ‘Justin!’ she yelled.
‘Go!’

Justin’s eyes drifted over to me. They were cold and distant now, so angry, so disappointed in me. He broke our gaze when he turned around and followed Ms Tate. I watched him go with an
ache in my heart. This was different from how I ached for Rhode. I wanted my old Justin back. The one smiling at me, teasing me, the one helping me to understand the human world.

Andrea stood at Vicken’s side, ready to cross the meadow with him to the infirmary. She glanced back at Tracy and Claudia, as if to ask, ‘Who is this guy?’

Vicken leaned towards Andrea. Tell me honestly, is it more purple? Or red?’ he asked her. ‘Actually, do you have a mirror, love?’

Claudia and Tracy walked directly towards me. They wore gorgeous sundresses; Claudia’s was a canary yellow. I wished for a split second I could shine like them – like they always
did. But when Claudia got closer I realized how truly sad she was. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

‘Wow,’ Claudia said. ‘A fight over you already.’ She smiled and it warmed the grief that had settled on her face.

‘That wasn’t over me,’ I replied.

‘Sure it was,’ said Tracy seriously. ‘Who was that?’ she asked, with a nod in Vicken’s direction.

‘My . . . cousin,’ I stuttered. ‘Vicken.’

‘Cute,’ said Claudia, and it was a relief to see a glimpse of her old self.

‘We should go in,’ Tracy said. ‘It’s time for morning assembly.’

As I followed them, I glanced around, searching for Rhode on the virtually empty campus. It was pointless, I knew. He wasn’t coming. He was taking our promise to the Aeris seriously
– and I knew I should be doing the same.

Inside the hall in Hopper, a general murmur echoed through the auditorium. Students congregated together, chatting about their summers. I stepped into the doorway, then stopped. So many people.
A hundred – maybe more. What I had learned with regard to human behaviour would be tested at that moment. I stepped into the spacious auditorium and a hush rolled over the crowd. The younger
students didn’t know any better, so they just stared. My classmates who had seen the events of the previous year stopped their conversations and turned towards me.

Tracy and Claudia had made it to the third row, their regular spot, although now Kate’s seat was empty.

My hands curled nervously into fists.
Why did Justin have to pummel my only ally?

Rhode
. . . I said to myself, but it came out as a groan.

I passed by some silent juniors that I recognized from the year before. My confidence, it seemed, had disappeared along with my fangs.

I hated the human desire to gossip. Once I was past them, they started up again.

That’s Lenah. She dumped Justin Enos. Idiot, right?

Those were Kate Pierson’s best friends.

Lenah was Tony Sasaki’s best friend.

Yeah, she is the stupidest person alive to dump Justin.

‘Sit with us,’ Claudia called, and moved her backpack off the extra chair. I tucked my hair behind my ear and headed gratefully towards the two girls I hoped would still be my
friends. These girls that had been on the earth a piddling sixteen years. But they had been kind to me when I needed them and were still being kind. I sat down and listened to Claudia talk about
her summer at sailing camp.

‘What about you, Lenah?’ Tracy asked. ‘Did you go home to England?’

I was about to explain I had spent my summer at school when Ms Williams, the over-controlling headmistress of Wickham, tapped the microphone.

‘. . . the second you even think about signing out. You must be in twos at least,’ Ms Williams dictated. ‘Off campus? Twos, or lose the privilege.’

I always admired your greatness
, Odette had hissed.

And your evil . . .

‘Security is more important than ever. We have lost a good third of our student enrolment because of the accidental deaths of both Tony Sasaki and Kate Pierson,’ she said with a
frown. ‘So it is our responsibility to reassure the Wickham Boarding School community that we remain vigilant and committed to your safety.’

Tracy looked down and wiped her eyes but I kept staring forward, pretending not to notice. Claudia reached for Tracy’s hand.

‘Kate Pierson,’ Ms Williams continued, ‘died off campus. So, while we’ll miss her, please do not misconstrue the facts. These incidents are not specifically related, nor
are they directed specifically at students. We will, however, maintain our new safety precautions.’

Mortals will lie about anything to protect themselves.

I sighed, tuning out her voice. I turned my onyx ring round and round so the silver band rubbed over my skin
.
Without Rhode, Vicken and I had no chance of fighting more than one vampire
or maybe two. We needed Rhode. His years of experience could really help us now. And as much as I thought I knew about him there was clearly so much I
didn’t
know. So much he could do.
So much he had kept from me.

No
, I thought and threw my hair back over my shoulders.
Don’t go down that road – the pity road, where you dwell on Rhode. He’s gone. He’s gone, and all you can
do is get on with your life.

But he
was
alive.
Where was he?

Once assembly broke for the day, the chatter immediately started up again. Most people were discussing the new sign-out policy and pointing at the security guards that stood at the auditorium
entrance.

‘I’m so glad you’re back,’ Claudia cried, grabbing me into an embrace. I inhaled fresh soap and a spicy perfume. I couldn’t help looking over Claudia’s
shoulder at Tracy, who watched us with the remnant of a tear in her eye. Claudia pulled away and her eyes too were wet. ‘Especially with the whole Kate thing, you know? Now promise us –
you’re not going anywhere, right? No running off like last year?’

‘No,’ I said to Claudia, who had now taken both of my hands into hers. ‘I’m staying.’ Her hands were warm and tight around mine. If I’d still been a vampire,
we would have been in perfect proximity for me to snap her forward and bite her neck.

I glanced at her wrists. To
investigate
her veins. It was so shocking that I would still feel the urge to do this, a silent horror overtook me. Immediately I pulled my hands from hers.
Must get away from her
, I thought.

It seemed that old habits die hard. Wasn’t that the expression?

The feeling passed and I bent forward to grab my backpack. I was mortal. Not a vampire. Not like Odette. I started after Tracy and Claudia to the front door of the auditorium.

Turn around
, a voice in my mind whispered
.
Perhaps it was intuition, or the vampire queen deep inside me.
Turn around, Lenah. Look behind you
.

Slowly I turned, and I froze. Standing at the top of the stairwell at the back of the auditorium was . . . Rhode.

A deep gash, scabbed and blackened ran horizontally across the top of his head. Running down the top of his beautiful lips was another scab, so dark in colour I wasn’t entirely sure
whether there was fresh blood oozing out of it. His right eye and right cheek were puckered and swollen.

My jaw dropped.

‘Come on, Lenah,’ Claudia called from the auditorium door.

But I couldn’t look away. A couple of seconds passed, then Rhode did the honours for me, walking down the back stairwell and out of sight.

‘Rhode!’ I called, running for the back door.

‘Lenah!’ Claudia called after me, but I ignored her and sprinted out into the quad after Rhode.

‘Rhode!’ This time I screamed it. He spun around; sunglasses hid his eyes. I could see my horrified expression reflected in the shiny glass.

That close to him, I was able to
really
see the damage. A purple bruise ran over the thick ridge of his nose. The black tinge on his skin made him look ill. Beneath the ridge of his
forehead was a deep cut, which probably needed stitches but it was much too late for that. The skin had scabbed and puckered and would most likely scar. His lips, his beautiful lips, were split
down the middle and brown with scabs.

I lifted a hand to touch his forehead, but he backed away from me. Pain ripped down the middle of my chest and I lowered my hand. In the reflection in Rhode’s sunglasses, I could see my
downturned mouth and the squint of my eyes from the sun.

‘What happened to you?’ I asked.

‘Nothing,’ he replied. ‘I told the headmistress I was in a car accident.’

His right eye was so purple I couldn’t help but lift my fingers to touch the mutilated skin. He stepped back again.

‘What happened isn’t really any of your concern,’ he said. ‘I have to go to class.’

He walked past me towards the science building where, if I was lucky, we were headed to the same room.

A line of students snaked out of the classroom and down the hall. Geology was a popular course for the senior year – there were three sections full of seniors and a few
select juniors. I rose up on my toes to try to see Rhode at the front of the line, but all I could make out was the short crop of his black hair. My heart fluttered as I remembered how his hair
used to fall past his shoulders like black silk. Oh, how I had loved his top hat and the angle of his fangs. Back then, fangs were a part of our physical being. The thought of the sharp point of
Odette’s fangs made me press my fingertips to my neck as though to protect it.

‘Ah, good, Lenah,’ Ms Tate said.

I dropped my hand.
Oh
. Apparently I had made it to the science-room doorway.

Rhode sat in the front row, chin down, writing something in a notebook. Ms Tate looked over her roster, pointed a pen at Rhode and said, ‘Rhode Lewin, you stay there. You’ll sit with
. . . Justin Enos.’ Ms Tate was planning the seating charts for the year. ‘He’ll be able to get you up to speed.’ She was mostly talking to herself.

Very, very bad idea.

Ms Tate handed Rhode a sheet of paper. ‘I heard about your car accident. How are you feeling?’

‘Better, thanks.’ He placed his pen down and with trembling fingers picked up the sheet. His hands, both of them, were wrapped in thick gauze: one around the wrist and one over the
knuckles. I froze when he looked up. Beneath those purple and black bruises were the blue eyes I’d known and loved for half a millennium. My stomach knotted and I took a shallow breath. We
did not break our stare and his gaze lingering on mine was enough to make my head spin. Much to my confusion he sighed, closed his eyes and broke the spell.

‘Lenah,’ Ms Tate said, ‘you’re in your old seat. We have a junior who placed for this class and once she comes you’ll sit together.’ I nodded and tried to
keep my eyes away from Rhode as I walked towards my desk.

I loathed that empty chair next to mine. Tony’s. I was about to sit down when Ms Tate spoke again. ‘Oh. Hmm.’

Justin and two other students had walked into the class. Ms Tate looked down at her list. ‘On second thoughts, Justin, you sit with Lenah. And, Margot – actually, we’ll put the
two newbies together; you sit with Rhode here. Caroline . . .’ Ms Tate continued to the other new girl who had just walked in. ‘You sit at the back with . . .’

I stopped listening to the jumble of names. Avoiding my eyes, Justin sat down, and when he placed his books on the table I noticed his knuckles were wrapped in white gauze. He gripped his
textbook and his knee bounced up and down, trembling from either excitement, rage or possibly too much caffeine.

I swallowed, unnerved by his silence. I twisted the onyx ring again, round and round, and finally, as I opened my mouth to talk to him, Ms Tate called the class to order.

‘Let’s get to today’s plan. We’ll review some basics.’

Justin stared forward purposefully. The aching in my gut surprised me. Why wouldn’t he talk to me or even look at me? For a moment I expected the familiar touch, his warm hand on my knee
or my lower back.

‘OK, today we’ll be analysing the pH levels of local water samples from Lovers Bay. I know it’s very elementary, but I think we need to revisit some basic skills before we go
forward in our experimentation process.’

I looked over at Justin again and he pressed his lips together.

‘What?’ he said coldly, and blinked a couple of times, keeping his gaze forward. It took me a moment to realize he was speaking to me.

‘Oh. Nothing,’ I replied, and looked back down at my notebook. ‘I just . . .’

‘What?’ he said again, this time with a slow turn of his head. The green of his eyes was hard, cold. ‘Want to humiliate me some more?’

‘Humiliate you?’ I whispered, and glanced at Ms Tate, who was writing on the board.

‘Your boyfriend is up there. You should be sitting with him,’ Justin hissed.

‘I just want to—’

‘If you talk to me again, Lenah, about anything other than this assignment, I’m leaving the room.’

‘Hand me the litmus paper.’ Justin’s tone was icy. Silently I handed it over.

‘Seven,’ he said. ‘What’s yours say?’

I checked the colouration of the paper and then recorded our results. As soon as we finished, he scooped up the papers, dropped our classwork on Ms Tate’s desk and swiftly left. At the
front of the class Rhode gathered up his pens and notebook. His jaw was clenched and he winced as he placed his bag on his shoulder. I followed him out of the room.