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  “Oh, okay.” I wondered how Viktor was.

  “I bet you’re hungry,” she said, standing. “I’m going to make you some nice chicken noodle soup.”

  “Mom,” I called. She turned, smiling. She was so pretty. Not like me. I was below average.

  “Yes, sweetheart?”

  “Thanks Mom.” I smiled. “You’re the best.”

  “You’re the best.” She grinned and for a moment, I was transported back to my childhood before she went all crazy. Maybe, just maybe, Ken was having a good effect on her. I was hopeful for the first time in a long time.

  “I’ll be back soon,” she promised and left the room.

  Covering my face with my arms, I closed my eyes. Funny, I didn’t feel like I had the flu. I rolled on my side. “Ow,” I groaned and sat up. Throwing back the comforter, I lifted out my legs. They were all beat up and so were my feet but they weren’t cut. Turning over my palms, I checked them too. There were scrapes but not cuts.

  “Huh?”

  Nothing made sense.

  twenty eight

  For the next few days, I enjoyed my mom acting like a mom and playing hooky from school, feigning sickness for a lot longer than necessary.

  Ken was great too. He brought me magazines, ginger ale, and even a little teddy bear that looked just like the one in Glinda’s hospital room, except mine didn’t have a bandaged arm. I named him E, short for Egor. One of his eyes looked half closed and he had a tuft of fur sticking off his back. He was a strange looking teddy but I loved that Ken thought of me. Last night he even made his specialty: Sloppy Joe’s with a secret sauce with homemade fries and we ate in front of the television watching the Wheel. Ken was surprisingly good too.

  It was like we were a family.

  It was awesome.

  Now, I had to go back to school and I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay home in the little haven that was created from me being sick and block out the rest of the world but I knew I couldn’t –which just sucked.

  There was a part of me that did wonder how Viktor was doing, and about Vincent, and if they even missed me or noticed that I was gone.

  Ken kept me posted on Glinda’s condition. She hadn’t woken up yet but she hadn’t gotten any worse so they were hopeful still. That was something I supposed.

  I made my bed and propped E against my pillows. “See you E. Keep your good eye on the place.”

  Grabbing my bag, I headed downstairs. My aches were mostly gone but if I landed wrong, my feet, they still had some sore spots, which I still didn’t get. The door was open and the sun streamed in through the glass onto the foyer. I walked to the kitchen and Mom was bustling around, cooking breakfast. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and bacon greeted me. “Wow Mom, that smells awesome.”

  She turned. “Thanks honey,” she said, smiling handing me out a cup of coffee.

  “What’s all this for?”

  “Ken say’s you should have a hearty breakfast to keep up your strength.”

  Wow. I was liking Ken more and more. “Where is he?”

  “Oh, he had to leave on “Police Business”,” she said making air quotes.

  “That’s too bad.”

  “Well, it’s all right. He does have to work.” She sighed. “It sure was nice having him around for the last few days.”

  “You’ll see him tonight, right?”

  “Sure,” she said and pulled her robe tighter. “I guess.” She looked worried suddenly.

  “Of course you will,” I assured her and took a drink of coffee.

  She took a deep breath. “Yes, of course I will,” she repeated. Walking up to me, she grabbed my mug of coffee and set it down. She pulled me into a hug. “I love you.”

  Tears formed in my eyes. She never said that anymore. “I love you too, Mom.” I hugged her back. She smoothed her hand down my hair. “You smell just like candy.” She laughed.

  “I do?”

  “Yeah,” she said and hugged me tighter.

  “Oh, it’s the mouthwash,” I mumbled into her shoulder. “It’s cinnamon.”

  “It reminds me of those Fireballs you used to buy from old man Gibson’s store when you were little.”

  “Oh, right. I’d forgotten about that. I used to get Lemon Drops and Now or Laters, too, remember?”

  “Yes. You’d fill up a paper bag with just a dollar.” She smiled wistfully. “Oh well…” She ran her hands down my arms and stepped away. “You better get or you’ll be late.”

  “Okay.” I didn’t want to leave. I was afraid my mom would disappear and Crazy would return to take her place. I set my cup in the sink and grabbed a piece of bacon. “Thanks Mom.” I lifted the bacon up in the air, smiling.

  “You’re welcome, sweetheart.” She smiled. “See you later.”

  “Kay.” Feeling better than I had in a long time, I grabbed the keys and my coat. Glancing back into kitchen I looked at Mom, she was singing. “It’s going to be all right,” I told myself. Taking a breath, I opened the door and walked into the bright sunlight.

  It was nice driving to school for a change. Gone was the dreary landscape that normally greeted me on the way. Now that the sun was shining, I drove slower than usual and even rolled down the window. Passing the Timber Museum, I looked over into the lot. The red convertible I’d seen was now gone and Bella’s Truck was one of the only vehicles in front of the visitor’s center.

  Ken still hadn’t said too much about what was going on there the other day, only that the police were looking into it and he would fill me in on the rest when he could. That was fine by me. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know.

  When I pulled into school, I expected everyone to be outside enjoying the sun but there was only a few kids out. Weird. When it rained the kids danced and hollered but now that the sun was shining no one was out to enjoy it.

  I settled back and waited for the first bell to ring, kind of hoping Vincent would magically appear again, but as the time crept closer to the first bell I didn’t think I would see him.

  A boy with shaggy hair, wearing glasses, ran past the front of my car and jumped, just missing a bright yellow Frisbee. I’d seen him in one of my classes but couldn’t remember which one. He grabbed the Frisbee off the ground and turned to look at me. He smiled, and waved.

  I waved back.

  He jogged over to my window. “Hey,” he said a little breathlessly. “Nice day, huh?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it is,” I agreed.

  “So, you’re the new girl…Amber?” He was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt that read: “Tribbles are Trouble.” He shoved his hand through his hair making it stick up even more than it already was.

  “Yep, that’s me.”

  “I’m Jason, we’re in English together,” he said, and flipped the Frisbee in his hands.

  “Oh, right.” Now that he mentioned it, I vaguely remembered seeing him sitting behind Viola.

  “I haven’t seen you for a few days, I was wondering what happened to you.”

  “Oh, I was sick.”

  “Dang, that sucks.” He crouched down and put his hand on my door so he was eye level with me. “I thought you were gone.” His eyes widened.

  “Gone?” I asked, frowning.

  “Yeah, didn’t you hear?” He swiped his hair away from his face.

  “Hear what?”

  “Girls are dropping like flies around here.”

  “What?” My stomach swooped but not in a good way.

  “You haven’t heard?”

  “Nah…” I shook my head.

  “Yeah, it’s like out there.” He eyed me closely.

  “What’s out there?”

  “The police have been pretty closed mouth about everything but my dad works at the Timber Museum so he was there when they found the car.”

  “Oh, the red convertible?” I asked.

  He did a double take and gave me an odd look. “So you do know.”

  “Not really.” I pulled my bag over on my lap. “I was driving past t
he other day and saw a lot of cops parked out in front. The entrance was blocked.”

  “Yeah, that’s when they found them.”

  “Who did they find?”

  “These girls from out of town but they weren’t in the car.” He lowered his voice. “They found them in the woods around Port Angeles. At first they didn’t know that was their car but I guess they figured it out.”

  “Figured what out?”

  “Where all the blood came from,” he said.

  “What happened to them?” I almost didn’t want to hear but I asked anyway.

  He looked over his shoulder and then turned back, lowering his voice almost to a whisper, “They were pretty messed up.”

  “Messed up?” I swallowed hard.

  “Yeah, it was like one of those massacre movies where the people get all chopped up.”

  My stomach lurched. “You’re kidding right?”

  “Nah…” He shook his head. “I wish.”

  “Wh—what happened to them?”

  “No one is saying but they think there is some Vampy stuff going on.”

  “Vampy…like real Vampires?” I asked for clarification.

  “Yeah, like real Vampires.”

  “Vampire’s aren’t real,” I said adamantly.

  “Yeah well, tell that to the girls.”

  I didn’t’ have anything to say to that.

  “Wow,” He leaned back and looked at me. “You’re pretty gullible aren’t you?”

  . “No,” I snapped.

  He laughed. “I had you going didn’t I?” He seemed quite pleased with himself. “You should see your face.”

  “Thanks.” I was sure I was as white as a sheet.

  “Aw, sorry,” he exhaled. “I was just trying to break the ice with you.”

  “There are other ways, you know,” I deadpanned.

  “Yeah, you’re right. Kirk told me not to mess with you.”

  “Who’s Kirk?”

  “My cohort in crime,” he said and lifted his hand, motioning toward the trees. “We’re normal,” he said, like being normal was abnormal.

  A boy with golden blonde hair stepped out onto the sidewalk, sunlight glinted off his hair.

  “So you were lying about all of that stuff?”

  “I was serious about some of it.” He motioned for his friend to come over.

  His friend trotted over to the car window. William Shatner’s face abruptly came into my line of vision.

  “Amber, this is Captain Kirk.”

  “Dude you’re such a….” He shoved Jason out of the way and leaned in my car. “What’s up?” He lifted his chin. “I’m Kirk.”

  “Hey,” I said.

  Jason shoved back beside him.

  “Tell her what they found in the car,” Jason said, his face alight.

  “Dude, no. I told you I didn’t want to talk about that anymore. My Fruity Pebbles aren’t sitting well in my stomach.” He rubbed his belly, lifting his shirt slightly, revealing his flat stomach. The tops of his smiley-faced boxers peeked over the top of his jeans that were slung low on his hips.

  “Come on man,” Jason exhaled. “Amber here thinks I’m lying.”

  Kirk leaned forward. There was something red on his bottom lip.

  “Um, you have something on your face, right here,” I said pointing to my lip.

  “Oh, dang,” He lifted his finger and wiped it off then he looked at it and stuck it in his mouth, sucking whatever it was off. “Hmm, that’s good…” He pulled out his finger and looked at me, his eyes darkened. “Yeah…” His lips twitched. “There was some blood, that’s all.” He leaned down and looked at his reflection in my side mirror.

  “That’s all.” Jason gapped at him and pushed his glasses back up on his face. “Tell her about the body parts too.”

  “Eww, dude.” Kirk made face. “Why’d you tell her that?”

  “She should know,” Jason said. “That’s why.”

  Kirk shook his head. “I don’t know, I mean they found something in the woods but they still don’t know what or who it was.” He glared at Jason.

  “Hey, I’m serious about the blood in the car and they did find the bodies in the woods but I can’t say if they were chopped up though.” Jason gave me a sheepish smile. “I was improvising.”

  I swallowed hard. “What do they think happened?”

  “They were probably hiking and got chomped on by a mountain lion or bear. I swear,” he sighed. “What the heck are people thinking? They come here and are like …oh woods, cool, let’s go hiking and don’t even stop to think of where we live.”

  “What’s wrong with hiking in the woods?”

  “Come on,” Kirk scoffed, “not you too.” He shook his head in exasperation. “The woods are filled with wild animals here and since it’s getting colder food is not as plentiful as before and they’re hungry. People just don’t think about that stuff.”

  “Oh.” I thought of Viktor and the bears we saw and couldn’t help but wonder if he was also that naïve about the woods and animals that lived in them when he was attacked.

  The bell rang out in the distance.

  “I gotta jet,” said Kirk, cutting Jason a look while he was walking backwards. “See you Amber and remember, stay outta the woods.” He winked at me, turned and jogged off toward school.

  Jason hung back and waited for me to get out of the car. “I’ll walk with you.”

  “Kay.” I shut my door and locked it. Lifting the strap on my bag, I pulled it on my shoulder. “So have you heard of anything else going on?” I asked just to see if he would say something about Glinda.

  He tossed his Frisbee in the air. “Um, there was that chick from English too.”

  “Did you hear what happened to her?” I sidestepped a puddle that covered part of the sidewalk.

  “Nah, not really, I Just heard she was in the hospital via Ms. Campbell.” He tossed the Frisbee again, higher this time.

  “Oh.” I switched tactics. “So, have you heard anything else?”

  “Yeah, I always hear stuff,” he said, and jumped in the air and caught his Frisbee. “What do you want to know?” He shoved his glasses back.

  “I don’t know.” And I didn’t… not really. I was just picking his brain.

  “Huh? Let me think.” He stopped at the door.

  Reaching forward, I grabbed the door and held it open for him to go through. A girl holding a stack of boxes rushed out.

  “Hey Casey,” he called. “Where’s the fire?”

  She turned her head toward him and gave him a nasty look. “Reject,” she mumbled and walked away.

  “She’s such a kidder,” he laughed and pushed his hair from his eyes. His face was really red.

  “Is she a friend of yours?” I asked.

  “Sure, of course she is,” he covered, and walked through the door.

  “Some friend,” I said, and let go of the door, once he was through.

  “Yeah, well, she’s got a lot on her mind,” he said. “She probably didn’t realize it was me.”

  “Hmm, okay.”

  “So what were you asking?” He shifted awkwardly. “Oh right…” He moved over to my other side when the door opened to one of the classes and a few kids walked out. “I don’t know if this has anything to do with the other stuff but I haven’t seen the girl that works at Thriftway for a few days and she’s always there.”

  “Really, what’s her name?” I asked and turned the corner.

  “I can’t recall her name, but I’m sure Kirk knows. He always tries to ask her out but she always says she’s seeing one of the Roth’s.”

  I stumbled and fell into a locker.

  “Whoa… are you all right?” He reached out.

  “Um, yeah,” I lied. “I just tripped.” My heart knocked against my ribs. Was he talking about Viktor or Vincent? Was it Sandy? I felt sick.

  “When I see Kirk, I’ll ask him.” He stepped backward into a guy with a blue hair.

  “Watch it, dork,”
he snapped.

  “Sorry, Curtis,” Jason mumbled. “He must be in a hurry too,” he muttered, looking at me red faced again.

  I felt so bad for him. I reached out and touched his arm. “Thanks a lot Jason.”

  “No problemo,” he said. “Anything for you…” His eyes widened. “I mean…ah…” he trailed off looking down the hall.

  I looked over my shoulder but didn’t see anyone. Stopping at the end of the hall, I stood in front of the faded blue door to my class. “This is me.”

  “Right, well…” He swiped his eyes and adjusted his glasses. “I’ll see you in English,” he said, turning quickly.

  “Okay.” I put my hand on the door, wanting to say something to make him feel better but I didn’t know what.

  “Hey, Amber,” he called. “Want to have lunch with me and Kirk today?”

  “Um…” I opened the door.

  “I mean you don’t have to, it was just…”

  “Sure, I’d love to.”

  “Cool!” he grinned and pointed at me. “I’ll see you…at lunch.”

  “Kay. See you.” I walked into class wishing I stayed home in bed.

  twenty nine

  The lunchroom was unusually empty when I walked in. Scanning the room, I noticed a few kids from my other classes but thankfully, the room was void of Sparklers for change. I spotted Jason with Kirk all the way over at the far end of the cafeteria huddled together in deep debate over something. Taking a breath, I made my way over to them while looking for Viktor or Vincent but as usual they were nowhere in sight.

  “Hey,” I said, stopping at the long table.

  “Amber!” Jason beamed, pulling himself upright. “See Kirk,” he hit his arm, “I told you she would be here.”

  Kirk turned and his eyes slid down my body slowly and then he lifted them back to my face. He didn’t seem happy to see me like Jason. Suddenly I wanted to walk right back out of the cafeteria.

  “Um, am I interrupting something?” I asked, feeling uneasy.

  “No, were just strategizing,” Jason piped in and snatched up a piece of paper.

  “Oh, really,” I said, climbing over the bench to sit down. “What are you strategizing about?” I pulled out my lunch and a bottle of water.