I still can’t believe I challenged him to kill me last night. That was reckless and stupid and I’m lucky to be alive. I could see in his eyes that he was going to do it because he looked almost resigned—as if he’s always known this is how things would end.
If not for that video, I would probably be dead by now.
I can’t keep deluding myself that the vampire and I are allies, when I’m his prisoner. He’s proven repeatedly that his self-serving nature is the only thing that can save my life.
“Good morning, Jane.”
I look up at William, and even though I despise him, I feel my lips twitch. “Rochester,” I say.
While my roommates walk ahead to our table, I lower my voice and ask, “What do you do with the food you eat?”
“Throw it back up later.”
I wish I hadn’t asked right before breakfast.
Once the meal is over and the dining hall clears out, only the six of us remain. Club meetings are taking place in here all day, the times staggered so students can check out everything they want. Apparently, Trevor chose a boring enough name because no one else shows up.
“Where my history buffs at?” Ms. Floreville walks over to us with a gummy grin, and I have to lower my gaze from secondhand embarrassment.
William pulls out a chair from another table and brings it closer, holding it out for our teacher.
“Oh, thank you,” she says, her cheeks growing pink as he slides it under her. “Chivalry, quite the historical touch!” She chuckles at her own joke.
As she pans her gaze across us, she says, “I have to admit, I was excited when Director Minaro asked if I would be willing to be your faculty adviser. What time periods are you most interested in exploring?”
“Actually,” says Tiffany with a flash of her charming smile, “we were just saying how curious we are about the history ofthisplace. What do you know about this manor and the family who owned it?”
“Oh, the Huntingtons were fascinating people,” says our teacher, her eyes lighting up in a way that makes me worry we’ve all just signed on for a double dose of history class. “They settled this land before it was the United States. They became spectacularly wealthy once they got here, but it’s unclear where their riches came from. There’s no record of any of them ever working, but they were noted philanthropists and patrons of the arts. They were also collectors of rare objects, most notably early peculiar inventions.”
“What can you tell us about this house, specifically?” asks Tiffany with the casual ease of a seasoned interviewer.
“Actually, there is a bit of juicy gossip—”
All of us, even William, lean perceptibly forward in our chairs to listen,and Ms. Floreville looks taken aback, like she’s never had students hanging on her every word.
“Wow, you really are interested in this,” she says. “Mr. Torres bet Mrs. Chang that I was being punked.”
“Well, you can tell Mr. Torres he was wrong,” says Zach.
“And that no one sayspunkedanymore,” adds Salma.
Ms. Floreville’s gummy grin returns, and I wonder if we should tell her no one saysjuicy gossip,either.
“According to official records,” says our teacher, “this manor is a Victorian construction that dates back to 1852. But there’s evidence that it goes back even earlier than that.”
“How much earlier?” asks William.
“Hard to tell. What I know is that it was a smaller structure then, and the Victorian manor was built around it.”
“What kind of smaller structure?” presses William, with none of Tiffany’s finesse and way too much intensity.
“I-I think it was also a home, but a smaller one,” answers our teacher, frowning, probably because she’s uncomfortable with the authority in William’s voice.
“Did the Huntingtons own it then, or did they only buy it in 1852?” Even my friends hear the entitlement in William’s voice because Salma shifts uncomfortably in her seat and Trevor scowls at the vampire.
“Ms. Floreville,” I hear myself say, the words coming to me as I speak them. “I was wondering, well, how can we besureit existed before 1852? You said something aboutevidence?”
“Great question,” she says, and there’s a tangible easing in her tone as she looks away from William. Tiffany glares at me like I’m stepping on her territory.
