Too afraid to move, she pulled her cover up over her head and curled into a ball, trying to block out the sounds.
*
She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she realized it was dawn. The banging of the bats had stopped; everything was quiet. Sunshine had just begun to seep in through the window.
She got out of bed, still wearing the clothes she’d changed into last night after the hospital. This time when she looked in the mirror her normal reflection was staring back at her. Maybe she’d imagined the whole thing. After all, she had hit her head pretty hard.
She went to her dresser by the window to change into something clean. When she got there she noticed that the view out of her window was not the one she was expecting at all. Instead of her usual tidy neighborhood and view of the ocean, she was looking at a cityscape. It was as though she were standing on the top floor of a New York City apartment.
For some reason the unexpected sight didn’t terrify her at all; if anything it felt more right, more fitting for her than her usual California view. This was the sight she was hoping to see one day when she’d made it to an East Coast college and gotten as far away from her family as possible.
She paced back from the window, filled with curiosity. When she turned around to face her room, she found herself somewhere else entirely. She was in some kind of loft-style apartment, with exposed red brick walls and old wooden floorboards, scuffed from overuse. Large windows reached from floor to ceiling, bathing the vast room in pale daylight. There was a battered, dark red leather couch in the middle of the room, like some kind of relic from an ancient mansion.
“Hello?” Kate called out.
She tiptoed toward a large mirror that stood in the corner, its frame made of gilded gold. She was no longer wearing her hoodie or black jeans; instead, she was in a long black dress. It had been tapered at the waist to create an hourglass figure. She was wearing white lace gloves that went up to the elbow. Her lips were blood red. It was a very Nicole-esque outfit, the sort of thing Kate would have loved to wear but didn’t have the confidence to.
Something moved in the reflection of the mirror. She jumped and spun around, coming face to face with Elijah. His dark hair was swept up off his forehead, showing off his pale green-gray eyes.
“You made it,” he said, circling an arm around her waist.
It felt like the most natural thing in the world.
“Where are we?” Kate said, falling into his embrace.
Elijah began to twirl her around, keeping her in his arms, pirouetting on the spot. She let her head rest against his chest. Their spinning became faster. The room was whirling round and round so quickly the colors began to merge and blur. The gold frame, the red couch, the gray sky began mixing up together. It was like she was on a ride at a fairground. All at once, she wanted to get off.
Suddenly the spinning stopped and they were sinking, sinking through the floorboards. Kate’s stomach flipped as an unpleasant falling sensation overcame her. They were plummeting so fast, the wind roared in her ears. She clutched Elijah and screamed. But he leaned in close, and the last thing she saw as she screamed was him sinking his fangs into her neck.
Kate woke screaming, drenched in sweat. Her heart was racing.
She recalled the dream, trying to piece it all together. Had everything that had happened been some crazy dream, too? Maybe she’d imagined the whole of her seventeenth birthday and when she went down to breakfast today she’d find cards and presents waiting for her.
Please God, she thought, let it all have been a bad dream.
Kate grabbed her phone and saw the stream of worried messages from her friends. She scrolled up to find a handful of selfies they’d taken during the day of her birthday. She leapt out of bed and went to check her reflection in the mirror. Sure enough, that same gray, murky blob was staring back at her.
She staggered back, shaking her head.
It was real. It was all real.
The bats flying at her window, the loss of her reflection. What did it all mean?
Her stomach growled. It was so loud she clutched it as though trying to quiet it down. The sensation of hunger was overwhelming.
She threw on a purple T-shirt and baggy jeans and rushed out into the hall.
“Finally,” Madison said, peering out of the bathroom door where she was halfway through applying her makeup. “If I’m going to have to give you a ride every day you’d better make sure you don’t make me late.”
Her voice rattled through Kate’s skull, making her head ache. She clutched it and rushed down the stairs.
In the kitchen, the sun was glaringly bright. Kate shielded her eyes.
Her dad was hunched over a plate of fried eggs on toast, staring into the yolk like it was a black hole sucking him toward his doom. Her mom was standing in the corner brewing a fresh pot of coffee. The noise of the machine was too loud, making Kate wince.
Max was at the table munching on some cereal. He looked up and beamed. Kate didn’t return his smile. She could hear each of his crunching bites like it was happening right in her head.
Kate rushed to the fridge and pulled it open, searching for something to quench her ravishing hunger.
“There are yogurts at the back,” her mom called, her voice grating on Kate more than it ever had before.
“I don’t want yogurt,” Kate said.
The thought of consuming yogurt made Kate feel sick. She needed something else. Something different.
She heard her mom’s sigh as though it were as loud as the whistle of a steam train. “Don’t start going all anorexic on me,” she moaned. “That’s the last thing I need right now. If I say you eat yogurt for breakfast, you eat yogurt for breakfast. Those are the rules.”
Just then, Kate’s eyes fell to a packet of minced beef that was defrosting in the bottom tray. She sniffed hard, filling her nostrils with the scent of uncooked meat. The pinkness of it made her salivate.
What was happening to her?
She slammed the fridge shut, her heart pounding.
“Kate!” her mom shouted. “I told you to eat your goddamn yogurt!”
Her voice was like a knife in Kate’s mind. She couldn’t stand the sound of it anymore. She swirled on the spot and stormed over to her mom.
“I’m not eating your stupid, disgusting yogurt!” she cried right in her mom’s face.
Everyone froze. Max’s spoon clattered into his bowl, the tinkling sound ringing loudly in Kate’s ears.
Her mom stood there dumbstruck. Kate had never stood up for herself before. It was like the older woman had no idea what to do.
“Robert,” she said, appealing to Kate’s dad. “Are you going to let her speak to me like that?”
Kate wasn’t about to stick around to find out. She raced into the hallway and out the front door.
“Hey!” she heard Max’s voice from behind. “Where are you going?”
But she didn’t look back.
*
Kate took a circuitous route to school, winding through the back streets and away from the main roads. She didn’t want Madison to drive past and pick her up, or her dad to catch up to her and discipline her for talking back.
The whole way there her stomach groaned. She was starving.
Every noise was too loud and the sun was far too bright. She had to constantly shield her eyes.
Whenever she passed a tree with nesting birds, they all began to squawk loudly. Images flashed in Kate’s mind of her climbing the trees and biting their heads off. The violent thoughts terrified her.
She’d read about people having brain injuries and waking up speaking only French, or being able to play every single one of Mozart’s compositions on piano. Maybe something like that had happened to her; the blow to her head had made her super sensitive to sound. But even as she mulled it over in her mind, she knew it didn’t explain everything. The super-quick healing, the terrified animals, the blinding bright sunshine, the loss of reflection… she knew
what it was adding up to mean but she just couldn’t bring herself to believe it. She needed to see Elijah, to see if he could help her make sense of what was happening to her.
She was expecting to be late for school but when she got there, the bell hadn’t even rung.
“Kate!” she heard her friends cry.
She tensed. She couldn’t help it but she just didn’t want to see any of them. She didn’t have time.
They rushed up and pulled her into a bear hug.
“I missed out on all the drama,” Nicole said. The tips of her hair were blood red today. “Dinah and Amy filled me in. Dude, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Kate mumbled, shaking herself free from their embrace.
“Are you sure?” Dinah said. “You look kinda freaked.”
“You’d be freaked too if you’d been hit by an RV,” Kate snapped.
Dinah held her hands up in a truce position.
Amy looked concerned. “You didn’t answer my texts,” she said. “I only found out you were getting discharged from Max after calling your home phone.”
“I had a lot going on,” Kate replied tersely. She was barely looking at her friends. Her eyes were darting all around, roving, searching for Elijah.
The girls sensed that Kate needed some space.
“I’d better get to class,” Nicole said.
“I’ll walk with you,” Dinah replied.
They backed away.
“See you at lunch, right?” Amy said to Kate as she began following the others.
But Kate didn’t answer. She was too busy trying to sift through the onslaught of sensations that were rushing at her. She felt like she could hear every single person in the parking lot, their conversations, their footsteps, their laughter. It made her wince. The sun was too bright to focus on anything. And it was so hot she felt like her skin was burning.
Somewhere overhead, a crow started cawing loudly. The noise was so painful, Kate put her hands over her ears. The crow was joined by another and another, until soon a whole load of them were swooping over her head.
People started shouting, startled by the sudden appearance of the flock. They all watched, open-mouthed, as Kate covered her head with her hands. The flock were flying at her, swooping around her so quickly her clothes and hair started billowing around. They seemed to be targeting her, darting down from the sky directly at her, before swooping back off.
Then they were gone, soaring into the sky, their cries and flapping wings growing quieter. Black feathers fluttered around Kate. Everyone was staring at her.
She saw Madison’s car pull into the parking lot. That was the last straw. She rushed inside, not wanting to run into her.
It was darker and cooler in the corridor and she felt a sense of relief. At least she couldn’t be attacked by birds in here. But there was still a constant buzz of chatter penetrating her mind.
As she began to walk along the corridor, she realized that everyone’s conversations were becoming hushed. They were looking at her and whispering behind their hands. They knew about what had happened yesterday. Somehow the rumor had spread about the accident. They all knew she was a freak.
She felt as though she were moving in slow motion and could see every glare and every frown, could hear every whispered taunt, every giggle, every put-down.
“I heard she tried to kill herself because her mom didn’t get her a car for her birthday.”
“I heard she pretended to be in a car wreck just to take attention away from her sister’s cheerleading competition.”
Rage built up in her. None of them knew anything about her. They were judging her based on rumors and hearsay. Her anger was almost overwhelming. She had to get away from them.
She started running, desperate to get away from them all. The sound of her own breath amplified in her ears. She could hear her heartbeat increasing, and each one of her footsteps clicking across the tiled floors.
She burst into the bathroom, shoving her way past a group of girls doing their makeup in the mirror.
“Ew, excuse me,” one of the girls said, waving her mascara wand indignantly.
Kate ignored her and went into one of the stalls, locking the door tight. Her stomach was groaning even more than before. She was so hungry it was painful. But that wasn’t the only unpleasant sensation she was feeling. Her skin was prickling all over. It felt irritated, like she was getting a sunburn. She was filled with a panicky sensation, like she was on the verge of a panic attack.
She took some time to calm her breath. Once everyone was in class the halls would be quiet. Then she’d be able to start searching for Elijah.
She listened out for the bell then waited until she heard the girls leave the bathroom. Once everything was quiet, she drew the bolt across and went out of the cubicle.
Without the girls crowding round the mirror she got a clear view of her strange, murky cloudlike reflection.
“What are you?” she cried at the blob. “What are you?”
She slammed her fist into the mirror. It shattered immediately, sending shards cascading all around her.
Kate saw blood pool on her hand. She’d cut herself on the mirror. The blood looked beautiful. It made her salivate.
She tore her gaze from it, her heart thudding wildly.
I must find Elijah, she thought.
She went out into the hallway. It was empty. Everyone was in class. She began pacing down the corridor.
“Hey,” someone shouted.
She flinched. A hall monitor was coming toward her.
“Where’s your pass?” the girl demanded.
“I don’t have one,” Kate said. “I’m just late. I forgot what class I was in this morning.”
“Then why don’t I escort you?” the girl said. “Make sure you don’t accidentally forget again.”
Kate had no choice. With a frustrated sigh she walked alongside the girl as she led the way to her history class.
When she walked in, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up.
“I thought she was dead,” someone whispered at the back of the room.
No one else seemed to have heard it. But Kate had.
“Miss Roswell,” her teacher said, straightening up. “So good of you to join us.”
His sarcasm further irked Kate. She was already feeling murderously irritated; the last thing she needed was sarcastic teachers and whispering students.
“Please take a seat.”
The hall monitor looked pleased with herself for having deposited Kate into her class. Kate flashed her a glare then went and took her seat, avoiding everyone’s stares as she went.
The only seat left was by the window. She could see the shard of light streaming across the table top. When she sat, the seat was hot, heated up by the rays. She felt herself begin to sweat. That same sense of panic she’d felt in the bathroom set in. She felt like the sun was searing her skin.
She leapt up. “Can I go to the bathroom?”
The teacher turned around and frowned and the rest of the class immediately dissolved into whispers.
“You’ve only just gotten here,” the teacher said.
“I’m ill,” Kate replied, realizing as she said it that it must be true. Why else was she feeling so feverish? “Please. I think I might be sick.”
“You are looking a bit pale,” the teacher replied, taking in the sight of the sweat on her brow.
He wrote her a note and let her leave class.
Kate clutched the note as she staggered through the hallways, thrusting it angrily at each hall monitor she passed. Her mind was swirling. She could hardly keep herself upright.
She looked in the window of every classroom door, trying to find Elijah, desperate. But it was useless. There were too many classrooms. He could be anywhere.
She had to be a bit smarter about tracking him down. She decided then that the best thing to do would be to find out his address. That way, after school, she could go to his house and demand answers from him for a
ll the questions that were bouncing around in her mind.
She headed in the direction of the reception area of the school. She knew she wouldn’t be able to just waltz up and ask for Elijah’s address. They’d never give it to her. She’d have to create a distraction.
She’d seen enough high school movies to know there was one failsafe way of getting everyone out of the way. Pulling the fire alarm.
Once she’d have been too much of a goody-two-shoes to even contemplate it. Now, she found herself yanking down the bright red handle before she’d even had time to second-guess herself.
The shrill noise rang out. She cowered, her overly sensitive hearing completely overwhelmed by the sound.
She watched as the staff members in the reception area raced out, along with her principal, who was saying, “This isn’t a scheduled drill,” as he put on his yellow high-visibility fire warden jacket.
Once they were all gone, Kate rushed into the office. Luckily the receptionist had left her computer logged in. She sat down and pulled up the database that was minimized along the taskbar.
She typed in Elijah’s full name, and she froze.
She couldn’t believe it.
It was an address inside a state park.
Heart pounding, she scribbled down the address and ran from the room, determined, at any cost, to find him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kate had snuck out around the back of the school, knowing most of the kids would have congregated in the parking lot due to the fire alarm, and somewhere in the distance she heard the sound of fire engines approaching. She felt bad to have caused such a scene, but she’d felt like she had no choice.
Elijah lived on Mountain Drive, near Rocky Nook Park. She knew it well because the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History was nearby and she’d loved going there as a kid. It was a good hour’s walk away. Kate decided not to take State Street, the direct route there, instead choosing to take the longer route along Foothills Road. It would practically double her journey time but she knew Elijah wouldn’t be home from school for a few hours anyway, and it felt safer to avoid the main road.