“Calm now?” Gavin set me aside and crouched beside his friend. Gently he smoothed the blood-soaked hair from her brow. “Veronica, honey. You okay?”
I backed out of the room, too ashamed to look anyone in the eye. In fact, I kept my gaze downcast until I reached my room. I shut and locked my door and tripped my way to the vanity. I closed my eyes. My chin wobbled, tears cascading down my cheeks.
I remembered what a sad little girl I’d once been, trapped inside my home, peering out my bedroom window while other kids played in their yards. Social Services had come once. They’d questioned my parents, questioned me, maybe even considered taking Emma and me away from the only home we’d ever known. Maybe we would have been separated from each other. Maybe not. I hadn’t wanted to risk it, so I’d done something totally against my nature. I’d lied. I’d told them we were private people, that was all, and we enjoyed our family time and wouldn’t sacrifice it. I’d laughed at their concerns of abuse.
In junior high, my friends had called me Nolice. No, I can’t go out with you. No, I can’t stay the night. No, you can’t stay the night with me. One day, invitations had just stopped coming.
I’d wanted normal, give-and-take relationships more than anything. Now I had them, but I might have to walk away from them.
I was a menace. Dangerous.
Look. See who you’re becoming.
Slowly I pried my eyelids apart. The mirror—and my reflection—came into view. Revulsion made me shudder. My eyes were red. The girl peering back at me wasn’t me. Not anymore. Not in any way. She couldn’t possibly be me. The smudges had spread, grown darker, and a black spiderweb of veins stretched over her forehead.
That. Quickly.
Her cheekbones were gaunt, her hair tangled.
Tick. She reached toward me with a smudge-stained hand, and I reared backward. Trembling, I waited for her next move, part of me expecting her to mist through the glass. But she merely pressed her palm against the surface, and I calmed enough to ease back into my seat.
Tock. “It is nice to finally have the strength to speak,” she said.
Tick.
Oh. Good. Glory. I could hear her voice. My voice. But I wasn’t speaking. “I know you’re a zombie.”
Tock. She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “You say zombie, I say better half.”
Tick. What was that? A clock? Yes, I realized. That was exactly what the strange tick-tock represented. A clock, and time was running out.
I steeled myself to ignore it.
“What do you want from me?” I demanded.
“What do you think?” she said with a grin. “I want everything.”
Everything. My body? My life? “I won’t let you win.” I have a to-do list, and failure isn’t on it. Shaking, I reached out and pressed my fingers against the coolness of the glass.
She laughed. “You won’t be able to stop me. I grow stronger every day.”
“That means strength is measurable. So, if you can grow stronger, you can be made to grow weaker.”
That wiped away her amusement. “Look how easily you gave in to my desires. Soon biting will be second nature.”
“No.” Never.
“Once your human spirit has been destroyed, I’ll have control of your body. I’ll be the first of my kind.”
Breath crystallized in my lungs. “You can’t—”
A knock sounded at the door, and a sweet, trembling voice said, “Ali. Is someone in there with you?”
Kat.
“No,” I shouted a little too loudly.
A pause. “Will you let me in, then? Please. I need to know you’re okay, and we need to talk about what just happened. I’ve never seen you act like that, not even when you were beating up those boys, and it scared me.”
“I’m okay, and I’m sorry I scared you. But we’ll talk about it later. I just... I need to be alone right now.”
I heard her sigh even through the obstruction. “You’re upset, and I want to comfort you—it’s my specialty. Just don’t hurt me, okay?”
I think she meant the words as a joke. I hoped she did. “I would never hurt you,” I said, tears beading in my eyes.
“Ali, I know that, but you have to—”