Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (15 page)

“You’re just mad because she creamed you at swim regionals,” Amy mocked.

“Whatever! It still would’ve been cool,” Becca huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh, and nice touch, Linda, whispering in Cat’s ear like that. You really freaked her out,” Amy said with a menacing grin.

“All part of the plan, right? Besides, it’s not like I had a choice,” Linda remarked. A buzzing sound erupted from Linda’s pocket. Pulling out her cell, “It’s my mom!”

“Hey, that’s not fair! Why does Linda get to keep her phone?” Becca whined.

“She’s not supposed to have it,” Amy said, glaring at Linda. “Anyway, you can’t answer it!  That would be against Andrei’s rules. He said we have to forget our pasts. We’re vampires now, bloodthirsty killers. There’s no room for mortals in our lives.” Grabbing the phone from Linda’s hand, it buzzed again and Amy saw Cat Colvin’s name on the screen. She looked up at Linda with fire in her eyes. “Why is Cat calling you? How does she have your-” as the answer dawned on Amy, she grinned devilishly. “You were friends with her, weren’t you? Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“Well, I was still going through the transition. How did you expect me to remember such an insignificant detail like that?” Linda hoped her true emotion didn’t show as she lied. Amy looked at Linda suspiciously as Becca snatched the phone from her hand.

“Ooh, we could have some real fun with Cat now.” Becca smirked looking at the phone. “Let’s send our little friend a text, shall we?”

Across town, Cat’s phone beeped on her desk indicating a message. She sprang from her bed, threw her copy of
Red Twilight
on to her nightstand, and grabbed her phone. Plopping back on her bed Cat stared at her cell, her eyes full of concern. The text was from Linda and it read:

Guess who?

What’s happening? First Linda disappears. Then I see her at the parade, and now a cryptic text from her cell?
After she set her phone down, Cat curled up on her bed while clutching her pillow against her chest, and went into deep thought.

A light scratching noise at Cat’s window startled her. It was Jewels. Opening her bay window, the feline sauntered in, and then laid down on Cat’s bed, swaying her tail back and forth in utter contentment. Cat cuddled next to her, absently stroking her fur as she stared at her cell, trying to make sense of everything.

Linda snuck away while Amy and Becca were feeding. As she trudged along through the tunnels toward her house, sadness enveloped her. She had traveled to her home this way several times before without anyone knowing. Part of her wanted to just turn around and walk away, but she couldn’t, she had to say goodbye to her old life one last time.
Why me? Why did Andrei choose me? I had a life, a family…friends. I don’t want to live like this! I’m a freak of nature! This isn’t fair!
Linda thought crossly.

Finding the manhole leading up to her street in Madison, Linda climbed out. The glistening of the moon in a nearby puddle drew her attention to it. Standing over the pool of water, she stared into it deeply. Seeing no reflection, she stomped into it, splashing the water. As she saw a glimmer of herself through the ripples in the puddle, Linda backed away from it and turned around, coming face to face with her house. The windows were dark with a lack of activity. No lights were on except the faint flicker of the TV in her mom’s bedroom. Silently entering the house, she made her way to her room. Her mom hadn’t changed a thing. Everything was still as Linda had left it. Looking to the vanity mirror, she saw all the pictures of her and her friends lining it. One in particular caught her eye. It was of her, Cat, and Julie in their Madison Prep uniforms, all hugging each other and laughing.
Happy times
, she thought, and then placed the picture back on the mirror.

Heading to the next room had her looking in on her brother, Max. He was quietly snoring with Buck, their family Boston terrier, sleeping at his feet. Blowing him a kiss, she made her way to her mom’s bedroom and peeked in. As usual her mom had fallen asleep watching TV. Linda saw evidence of the tears that had stained her face, and it made Linda’s sadness worsen knowing they were for her.

“Stay tuned for breaking news from Astoria’s Founder’s Day disaster! Full story coming up in two minutes!” Jillian Brown, Astoria news’s top reporter, stated through the television. Linda felt a sense of guilt, even though she had nothing to do with the fireworks. She wished she would’ve had the strength to stop them, but instead she had stood helplessly by as the carnage unfolded before her.

Quietly lying down beside her mom, Linda stared at her face. She wished she could turn back time when her only worries were what to wear to a school dance, and whether she had studied hard enough for tests. Seeing Cat earlier that night had made the pain that much worse, knowing that her life might be in danger from the very people she was now associated with. Andrei terrified her, the other two completely trusted him, but Linda had this sneaking suspicion they were all just pawns in his plan. Combing back her mother’s hair, Linda kissed her forehead. Tears began welling up in her eyes as she whispered, “Goodbye, I love you.” Her mom suddenly sat up and began looking around.

“Linda?” Casey asked the empty room. Looking to the left she noticed the window open and the curtains gently blowing in the night breeze. Linda hovered just below the window and breathed a sigh of relief, glad her mom hadn’t seen her. Making her way back to the tunnels, Linda turned around once more to look at the place she had spent her whole life. She couldn’t fight back the tears any longer. As they began to stream down her face, she descended into the tunnels, not looking back, finally saying farewell to her past life.

“Where have you been?” Amy’s voice called out from the dark as Linda reached a small chamber within the tunnels.

“Just went for a walk, that’s all,” Linda replied trying to hide her face, not wanting Amy to see her tears.

“A little walk, huh?” Becca interjected.

“Yeah, a walk.”

“What’s that in your hand?” Amy asked. Linda clutched the charm bracelet her mom had made for her. She had grabbed it from atop her dresser, and forgot she was still holding it.

“Nothing,” Linda replied, putting the bracelet into her coat pocket.

“Nothing? It looks like something to me. We know where you’ve been. And if you want Becca and me to keep your secret from Andrei, you’ll do exactly what we tell you from now on. Am I understood?” Amy asked with an evil grin. Linda nodded her head. “Oh, and I’ll let you keep your silly little charm bracelet, I’m feeling quite generous tonight.”

How did she know I had that with me?
Linda thought. She shuttered. She didn’t know who scared her more, Amy or Andrei. But one thing she did know was that Amy never made idle threats.

The next day the doorbell rang at the Brewer residence. Casey sighed, sitting at her usual place at the kitchen table. The tabletop was littered with newspaper articles about her daughter Linda’s disappearance. As the doorbell rang again, an exhausted Casey realized that her son, Max, was not going to answer it and went to do it herself. Standing on the porch, Cat smiled as Casey opened the door. “Oh Cat, what a nice surprise! How have you been?” Casey asked, giving Cat a lengthy hug.

“Hi, Mrs. Brewer. How are you holding up?” Cat asked, reciprocating the hug. Cat had felt bad about not visiting after Linda’s disappearance. She wanted to, but found it too hard to deal with. Even now she was overcome with emotion after seeing Linda’s mom’s face.

“Well, I have my good days and my bad days,” she replied with a wan smile. “Oh, what am I doing? Come in, come in.” Scanning the walls of the foyer hallway, Cat saw pictures of Linda and Max, revealing memories of a cheerful past. A feeling of sadness came over her as she watched Mrs. Brewer straighten one of the pictures of Linda hanging on the wall.

“They have no leads,” Casey muttered unexpectedly, catching Cat off guard.

“They’re still looking, they’ll find her. I know it,” Cat replied.

“I know she’s still alive…that’s why I haven’t disconnected her cell phone line yet. I had the police try and track her through the phone. But every time they did, there wasn’t a signal on her end,” Casey responded. “Everyone thinks I’m going crazy with depression or something…but I’ve seen her.” Cat felt conflicted. She wanted to tell Mrs. Brewer that she’d seen Linda too, and that she had also received a text message from her, but knew she couldn’t. Cat didn’t want to cause more problems for Linda’s family, and wanted to wait until she found out what was really going on before she said anything.