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I slipped through the wing’s shadows and along the side of the center stage, stopping at its front edge, or apron, to set down the sound system. Immediately several people gasped and whispered my name, and all conversation in the auditorium died.
I froze and looked up to find forty-plus dancers equally frozen in midstretch, their eyes blinking fast as they openly stared at me.
That’s when I realized I was on stage, both literally and figuratively.
And though the theater was silent, their thoughts were anything but.
Oh. My. God. She actually had the nerve to come back?
Miss Savannah’s back! Oh, thank God. If I had to listen to Mrs. Daniels rip the soph managers apart one more time...
Oh, boy. Miss Savannah’s back. I wonder if Tristan’s back, too. If he is, just wait till Miss Bethany sees him. That’ll be a show!
I forced my suddenly stiff legs to carry me down the short flight of stairs off the side of the stage and into the audience area, then around to the front edge of the stage so I could finish setting up the sound system. This also gave me a reason to keep my back to everyone and hide my face so they wouldn’t see me react to the thoughts that kept washing over me in wave after wave. After five blissful months of having to listen to only Dad’s and Tristan’s thoughts, I’d forgotten just how loud a bunch of humans thinking fast and furiously could be. I’d have to reschool my face not to show anything.
And still their thoughts kept coming.
Miss Savannah’s back! Just in time, too, ’cuz I was totally considering quitting this team. Bad enough having to fetch crap constantly, much less get yelled at every single day. Just because I haven’t had as much practice working the music like Miss Savannah has doesn’t mean I deserve to be made to feel like crap about it...
Wow. Look at her...you can’t even tell she was ever pregnant. I wonder who’s watching the baby? Or maybe she gave it up for adoption? Maybe Tristan found out it was Ron Abernathy’s and made her give it up?
Whoa. Gone away for five months to secretly have Ron’s baby? That was the rumor behind my disappearance? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I pressed a shaky hand to my forehead as it started to pound. Normally I would have dreaded listening to the sniping thoughts of the Clann. But right now, I would have given anything to have a descendant’s mind to listen to and drown out the humans’ thoughts instead. At least the descendants all knew the real reason behind our absence. Unfortunately no descendant had made the dance team in the past couple of years. Maybe they preferred being on the cheer team. Or maybe they were just avoiding me.
I took a deep breath. Focus, Sav. Just think about what you’re here to do. The gossip will die down eventually.
“Miss Savannah!”
I turned around just in time to be wrapped in a tight hug.
Mrs. Daniels leaned back, gripping my shoulders, her face lit up. “Oh, thank G—” She glanced sideways at a nearby sophomore manager. “I mean, I’m so happy you’re back! You are back for good now, aren’t you?” Her eyes turned a little panicky.
“Um, yes, ma’am.” I blinked fast, trying to assimilate the fact that my usually frosty dance team director had just hugged me.
She let out the longest sigh. “That is the best news I’ve had all year. Welcome back, dear!”
We can finally get our practices back on track! Mrs. Daniels thought to herself as she turned and headed back up the aisle to take a seat toward the center back of the audience. Too bad Savannah wasn’t here for the first part of show season; maybe then we could have held the show when we were supposed to, instead of having to delay it because of these inept newbie managers. I swear, this has been the longest year of my life!
I had to turn back to the stereo to hide a smile. At least someone on this team was happy I was back.
“Hey, Miss Savannah!” A voice behind me made me turn around yet again to find the entire team lining up to welcome me back with hugs as they followed their director’s lead. They still weren’t sure why I had missed five months of school. But if their director was okay with my return, then they would be, too.
I noticed Bethany Brookes, however, wasn’t so eager to join the welcome wagon. She stopped to fiddle with her shoe, then took her time removing her warm-ups from over her dance outfit. By the time she managed to actually get in line, Mrs. Daniels was calling everyone to get ready for the start of practice. Bethany’s shoulders seemed to sag a bit with relief as she took a seat with the dancers who weren’t climbing the stage steps in preparation for the first number.
Bethany and I had always had a lot of awkward tension between us, though we both did our best to be polite to each other in spite of it. She was actually a really nice girl. It wasn’t her fault that Mrs. Daniels had started to call out my number, then corrected herself and called out Bethany’s instead, at Charmers tryouts our freshman year. Or that Bethany used to have a terrible crush on Tristan while he and I were secretly dating last year. Or that he accidentally and very stupidly led her on for months after the vamp council and Clann made me break up with him.
And now she probably knew, or was about to find out, that he and I were very publicly together again.
I just hoped she wouldn’t hold it against me for too long. Otherwise getting through Charmers practices was going to be extremely awkward.
By the end of first period, I was all too eager to escape to chemistry class, where Ron also surprised me with a huge hug as soon as I walked up to our lab table.
“It’s about time!” he said with a grin as we settled onto our wobbly metal stools. “So? How’s the...uh...new situation working out?”
“Well, we’re both here today,” I answered cautiously, trying and failing to ignore the fresh wave of whispers involving both my and Tristan’s names that broke out behind us.
Ugh. First the Charmers. Then everyone on campus that I’d been forced to walk past on my way here. And now this. Was it going to be like this all day long? I honestly didn’t know how much more of the JHS rumor mill I could take.
“Oh, yeah, she totally slept with both of them, so it’s anybody’s guess who the baby daddy really is,” someone whispered.
That was it.
I twisted around to glare at my classmates, stopping just short of baring my fangs at them. The whispering stopped.
Hmm. Maybe being the only female vamp on campus did have some perks after all.
“And our golden boy?” Ron asked. “How’s the...er, transition going?”
I faced forward again and shrugged one shoulder. “I haven’t heard any screams or explosions yet, so I guess he’s doing all right so far.”
Ron laughed as he reached for a glass beaker to begin the day’s lab experiment. Then he glanced at me and realized I was serious. “Jeez. You two must have had a fun five months away.”
“Oh, yeah, and then some.” I scowled at the lab table’s black enamel surface, scarred by countless knicks and bored students’ carvings. “Let’s just say it’s been a learning process for both of us.”
Ron grunted. “I guess it’s safe to assume you two won’t be eating with us in the cafeteria then?”
I looked at him in surprise. “Why wouldn’t we?”
“Uh, because of all the humans and descendants that’ll be packed in there?”
“He thinks he can handle it. He’s even looking forward to it now that we don’t have to sneak around anymore.”
Ron snickered. “Yeah? And is he also looking forward to getting grilled by all of your friends? Who, I should mention, all blame Tristan for your five-month absence from their lives.”
Oh. I hadn’t thought of that. I’d stayed in contact with my friends by way of the occasional text message. But life in that cabin in Arkansas had been pretty boring, and since Anne was the only one of my human friends who knew the truth about vampires and the Clann, I hadn’t been able to say much to Carrie or Michelle.
So now, not only would Tristan be dealing with smelling and hearing all those humans and their stinky human food and the hateful descendants around us—plus feeling the Clann kids’ constant scrutiny of his every little twitch and blink—but he would also be trying to earn my friends’ approval as my boyfriend.
Not to mention we’d be sort of rubbing our relationship into poor Bethany Brookes’s face.
What the heck was I thinking when I agreed to our eating together in the cafeteria?
Groaning, I propped my elbows on the table and buried my face in my hands. “This is going to be a disaster, isn’t it?”
“Probably. But it’ll sure be entertaining.”
I stared down at the sheet of instructions, the letters blurring together into a meaningless jumble. Somehow I had to find a way to talk Tristan out of our going to the cafeteria today. Maybe I could convince him to delay tackling that challenge till later in the week when we both knew he could handle being around so many humans and descendants. Facing it all on his first day back, however, was practically suicidal.
The problem was finding a way to bring up this suggestion in a way that wouldn’t further bruise his ego and make him think I had no faith in him.
I rubbed my pounding temples and tried to figure out the best arguments to use on him. Deep down inside, I had a hunch nothing I said was going to come out right. Especially since he could read every thought in my head whether I verbalized it or not.
Why wasn’t there some kind of training manual for sires of teenaged vamps, like How to Train Your Teen Fledgling?
I glanced at the clock on the wall, which suddenly seemed to have sped up. All morning long, the seconds had eked by while I worried about Tristan losing control in class.
Now I wanted nothing more than for time to slow down again.
CHAPTER 5
TRISTAN
I was waiting for her at the door of her chemistry class before the bell rang. She didn’t see me at first, her head bent as she slowly gathered her things, those too-kissable lips of hers turned down into a frown as she trudged across the room toward me.
Then she looked up. Our eyes met, and she smiled.
And just like that, getting through the long, boring, tense morning was worth it.
Ron Abernathy shot me a sympathetic grin as he exited the room. “Good luck at lunch,” he muttered, not sticking around long enough for me to figure out what that was supposed to mean.
It didn’t matter. All that mattered was Savannah and finally getting to be a real couple with her. No more secrets. No more lies or sneaking around.
God, he’s gorgeous, she thought, forgetting yet again that I could hear her.
I swallowed down a laugh. She knew just what to think to make a guy feel like he could take on the whole world if needed.
“Hi,” she murmured as she drew close to me. “How was your morning?”
“Fine. Ready for lunch?” It was an effort not to rub my hands together in pure anticipation. And it definitely wasn’t the food I was looking forward to.
“Mmm.” She stepped out of the room and off to the side a little, making way for others in the hall to pass us by. “You know, I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe it’s not such a good idea. We don’t have to go to the cafeteria. We could go to the library and hang out instead. Ron’s mom is the librarian. She wouldn’t mind—”
“And miss out on all the fun? No way!” I held out a bent elbow. It took her a few seconds to realize I wanted her to hold my arm.
She slipped a free hand between my elbow and my body, her fingers coming to rest in the bend of my arm as if made to nestle there. I squeezed my arm tight against my body so her hand wouldn’t slip away, and we headed into the packed main hall.
I stumbled to a halt as a flood of strange sensations poured over me. Savannah grabbed my arm with both her hands.
What is it? she thought, her eyes darting side to side as she searched my face. What’s wrong? Talk to me. Is it the bloodlust? We should get out of here.
No, it’s not that, I thought, struggling to breathe as the sensations kept changing, throwing me continually off balance. I tried to find a way to describe what I was feeling. It’s...something else. Like falling into one of those bouncy castles for kids, but this one’s filled with giant cotton balls and knives and fire ants and stuff that’s hitting me from all sides.
Try to breathe through it, she thought, rubbing my upper arm. You’re just picking up their emotions. It’ll take you a little while to learn how to match up their emotions with their thoughts so you can label them and recognize what you’re sensing. If it starts to get too overwhelming, remember the key is to stay calm. The stronger your own emotions, the less you’ll be able to control your abilities. And if all else fails, try to focus on a nearby descendant instead.
A descendant? I couldn’t help but scowl at her for a second. Then I went back to searching the hallway, my instincts screaming at me to stay alert though I didn’t understand why. Why would I want to sense anything from them?
Because it’s like tuning in to a different radio station. It makes the humans go quiet. Clann thoughts might be nastier, but at least they’re quieter since there are fewer descendants than humans.
Huh. Okay, if it shut off the thousand and one voices inside my head...
I nodded and tried to follow her instructions, focusing on the few descendants who passed by till the hall began to clear as the students rushed off to the cafeteria or their next class.
She was right. Listening to the descendants’ thoughts was like tuning in to a much quieter radio station. Too bad it was one playing the “I hate Tristan and Savannah” soundtrack 24/7.
When the hall was half-empty, I found it easier to start moving again.
“We can wait here till they’re all gone,” she murmured, ignoring the curious glances shot our way. “I’m here. Just breathe.”
“I’m okay. It was just...a surprise, is all.” I took a deep breath, squeezed her hand at my elbow and started walking again. I could breathe easier again, too. “So this is what you had to deal with every day?”
She nodded. “I promise it gets easier.”
We headed down the now mostly empty hall toward the main building’s rear exit, her thoughts filling with a glow from the simple pleasure of our getting to walk together like this on campus around others for the first time ever. But it was hard for me to join in with a steady dose of guilt growing inside my chest.
I really owed her an apology.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “You know, for using this ESP thing against you all those times.” It had been bad enough for me to have to deal with hearing and feeling all those thoughts and feelings from everyone else with Savannah there to guide me through it for the first time. I couldn’t even imagine how frightening it must have been for her to go through it alone with no one there to hold her hand, reassure her that she wasn’t going insane, tell her how to turn down the volume on it by listening to the descendants instead.
And I’d made it worse by teasing and tormenting her with my thoughts every chance I’d gotten, in a dumb campaign to make her jealous.
“You’re forgiven.” She said it so simply, as if it were no big deal.
Did she have any idea how much I loved her?
Sometimes I do, she thought, ducking her head to hide a knowing smile.
We walked in silence out of the building, along the cement catwalk with its metal awning roof, then down the cement steps to the sidewalk that wrapped around the cylinder-shaped brick cafeteria. At the doors, she tugged me to a stop.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.
I didn’t even have to consider my answer. I nodded. “I want to rub their faces in it so hard they can’t see straight for a week.”
“But why? We don’t have to prove anything to them or anyone else in there.”
“Yes, we do.”
She frowned. “Why? Why does it matter what they think?”
“It doesn’t.”
“Then why push it? And why do we have to do this today? We could always come back later in the week.”
“I told you, I’ve dreamed about this moment for a really long time. And I’m not going to let them or what they think keep us from finally having this.”
She sighed. “It’s our first day back. It feels like we’re pushing it too hard. Like if we get greedy, something’s going to break. Isn’t it hard enough to be in your classes without facing this many of them all at once?” She hesitated. “And then there’s the small matter of my friends.”
I searched her face. “Worried I won’t pass judgment as your boyfriend?”
