She looks at me as if she would rather I fill in the blank for myself.
“I told Tiffany I was sick over break, but she has no idea how bad it is.I said that I would tell you in my own time because I knew this would be hardest on you.”
“We’ll find better doctors,” I say, starting a to-do list in my head. “My parents will help. We’ll search for drug trials. We’ll travel anywhere to meet with specialists, and we won’t stop until we get the answer we want. What does your dad say?”
“I don’t have a dad,” she says, and I know better than to press that button.
“Look, let’s go home early. We’ll talk to my parents and figure this out.”
“And abandon our classmates to be picked off by vampires? We can’t go!”
When she saysvampires,I flash to when I walked in on her with William in his room, and something else clicks into place. Something I don’t want to see.
“Sal… why did you want William to bite you?”
She doesn’t answer.
“What did you really ask him to do?”
She swallows. “I asked him to turn me.”
Something twists inside me, and I snap, “That’s not a solution! It’s a last resort—!”
“There you go again, deciding what’s best for everybody according toyou.” Salma tries springing to her feet, but she has to pull herself up using the wall for support.
I stand up, too. “You realize you’d have to pretend to be dead and go into hiding forever?”
“I’m dying!”
The sentence screeches out of her, and I’m robbed of breath.
“And you’re fucking letting it happen.”
CHAPTER 49william
William leaps up to his window and slips back inside the manor.
It is nighttime, and classes are over by now. Fabiana is on guard while he checks on Lorena. Nate and Cisco got past him before, and he wants to make sure no vampires somehow snuck past his patrol this time.
Centuries have passed, and he still finds himself in the same predicament: Wedged between worlds. He has no idea what he is going to say or do when he faces Lenny and the others. He wishes he could grab Lorena and run, but he cannot rip her from her life like that. Nor can he leave their friends and classmates unprotected.
As he inhales deeply for a whiff of anything ancient, he also casts out with his hearing for any mention ofvampires.
“Sir, I’m telling you it’s true.”
Catching Trevor’s voice in his net, William moves toward the administrative wing.
“Please don’t hang up.” William can hear the boy’s heart nearly as clearly as his words. “This is for real. I think I found avampire!”
The voice on the other end is loud enough that William can easily hear it. “You really think you can keep fucking with me without consequences?”the man asks. “Your mother and I are tired of your juvenile pranks.”
“But Dad—sir—I’m serious—”
“No,Iwas serious when I told you it was a dumb idea to change schools when you were a promising college recruit. But you were obsessed with going to that ridiculous boarding school that doesn’t even have a football team! And you want to know why your mother and I said yes? Because we’re tired. Tired of cleaning up after your messes and putting up with your cries for attention and having to explain to others why—with all the privilege you grew up with—you’re still so goddamn miserable.”
A long silence spreads, and after a moment, Trevor asks, “Hello? Are you there?”
“He is not.”
