Forgotten (10 page)

“In a minute, but first I want to know what you don’t want to remember,” Suzanne said, concerned.

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“Emily, I could smell your fear a mile away. I thought you were being attacked or something.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s … it’s too painful.”

“Emily, you have always been there for me. Why don’t you let me return the favor for once?”

Emily sighed and sat down on the moist ground. When Suzanne had lowered herself to the ground too, she started, “I’ve never told anyone this apart from Marcus. You’ve got to promise me that you won’t breathe a word of it to anyone else.”

“Of course I won’t tell anyone.”

Emily wet her lips nervously. “Has Marcus ever mentioned where I used to live before I came to England?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Emily paused and picked a flower off a nearby grave. “I’m French.”

“You can’t be! You don’t have any accent,” Suzanne said, shocked.

“It’s true. I used to live near Lyon.”

“But you have a perfect English accent!”

“Marcus taught me English when I came to England in 1713. By the time you and I met, I was fluent in English and my French accent had all but disappeared. I only revert back if I am really angry or stressed.”

“So why did you leave France?”

“I had to.”

“What kind of answer is that?”

“It’s difficult for me to explain!”

“Emily, do you want my help or not?” Suzanne asked, her voice soft but firm.

“Yes,” Emily replied, sighing.

Standing, Emily brushed the dirt from her dress. “Suzanne, do you know how I became a vampire?”

“I asked Marcus once but he didn’t tell me.”

“I got attacked when I was going to church with Elizabeth and my mother.”

“Who’s Elizabeth?”

“Elizabeth is –
was
– my little sister.” Tears rolled softly down Emily’s face.

Suzanne’s face softened. “If it’s too upsetting, I’ll understand …”

“No, I need to tell someone what happened.”

Suzanne sat silently and waited until Emily was ready to speak again.

“Around two hundred and fifty years ago, my mother and my sister were murdered when we were on our way to church. I was bitten, but somehow I managed to crawl to the church steps, where I collapsed. When I came to I found out two things: firstly, that I was a vampire. Secondly, that both my mother and sister were dead. My father tried to keep me safe but in the end I was run out of town and I came to England, where Marcus found me in London feeding on rats.”

Emily stopped. She looked to the lightening sky; dawn was approaching.

Suzanne followed Emily’s gaze and sighed at the view before her. Ever since she was a small girl, Suzanne had loved three things: thunderstorms, sunsets and sunrises. She had enjoyed watching the changing skies with Katrina, but ever since that night when Jonathan had bitten her and changed her into a werewolf, the sun had looked and felt different to her.

Giving herself a mental shake, she looked back at Emily.

“You like the sunrise as well?” Emily asked quietly.

“Yes, I used to watch them with Katrina.”

Emily nodded sympathetically. After a few minutes of silence she said, “Let’s head back. Whatever Katrina did or didn’t do, we won’t find out if Marcus heads to America without us!”

*

“Suzanne?”

Suzanne looked away from the window and saw Emily standing in their bedroom doorway.

“You okay?” Emily continued.

“Just reminiscing,” Suzanne replied sadly.

“What about?”

“This and that.”

“Oh, you were thinking of Katrina.”

“Have you been out?” Suzanne asked, changing the subject.

“Yes, just got back and came straight up here.”

Emily sat down on her bed and started to take off her knee-length boots, then looked at Suzanne.

“What?” Suzanne asked, noticing that Emily was looking at her. “Is there anything wrong?”

“No, I was wondering what this new school will be like.”

“Well, it can’t be any worse than any of the private tutors we have had, or the boring old schools in England.”

“True, but how are we going to cope? We haven’t been in school in years!”

Suzanne shrugged. “What I want to know is why is Marcus so adamant that we go to school anyway?”

“I guess because he wants us to blend in.”

“But I’m going to be a junior.”

“And what’s so wrong with being a junior? I’m going to be one too.”

“Well, it’s okay for you! You like stuff like that,” Suzanne said, getting up off the window-seat and walking over to her bed.

“Like what?” Emily inquired as she lay on top of her covers and stared up at the ceiling.

“Like studying, cheerleading, pep-rallies. Do you want me to go on?”

“No, I get it.” Emily turned her head toward Suzanne. “But when have I ever said I like cheerleading?”

“Never, it’s just that you look like the type!”

Dumbfounded, Emily’s jaw dropped. Then, recovering herself, she asked, “The type?”

“Yes, as in athletic! Vampires can be so touchy. Sometimes you suck, Emily,” Suzanne said, smiling at her own joke.

Suddenly Emily bolted upright on her bed and turned her head toward the bedroom door.

“What’s wrong, Em?” Suzanne asked, instantly wary.

“Um, nothing. Just Jonathan passing our door,” Emily replied, relaxing back down on her bed.

“You seem a little jumpy.”

“I just don’t want to deal with wolf-boy right now.”

“Wolf-boy? Did I hear that correctly?” Suzanne smiled. “I see that I am finally having a bad influence on you!”

Emily smiled to herself. Ever since she had met Jonathan she had teased him over his dislike for blood and gore. She often wondered how Jonathan would have coped being a vampire instead of a werewolf, but she had come to realize that Jonathan only had a weak stomach when he was in human form; when he was in his wolf form, it didn’t affect him. His primal need to hunt took over then – that or bloodlust. Whatever it was, Emily knew one thing: when Jonathan was in wolf form, he was dangerous. If she ever had to fight him, he as a wolf and she in vampire mode, it would be a dead heat: her only advantage would be her ability to read Jonathan’s mind.

“I’m just been truthful!” Emily gave Suzanne an impish smile.

Suzanne rolled her eyes and sat on Emily’s bed. “I never thought I would see it. You actually picking up one of my bad habits. Anyway, I am going out for a quick bite.”

“I’ve being teasing him for centuries. It’s no worse than what you’ve said to him – and at least I haven’t tried to shoot him!”

“I had a good reason for that; he had just turned me into a werewolf and I was upset,” Suzanne said, getting up and walking over to her side of the bedroom to retrieve her sneakers.

“Don’t be out too long. We’ve got that cheerleading thing tomorrow,” Emily reminded Suzanne.

Suzanne grimaced, but spied Emily from the corner of her eye and gave her a smile. “I’ll remember.”

Katrina stood on the steps of Sycamore Heights High and stared up at the school plaque that hung above the main entrance. Etched into the stone were the words.

Scientia Est In Sanguinem
.

“It’s Latin,” a voice commented from behind Katrina.

Katrina turned and came face to face with two girls her age, dressed in the school’s cheerleading uniforms.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce myself! I’m Ashley, and this is Skye,” said the girl, sticking out her hand for Katrina to shake.

Breaking off the handshake, Katrina asked, “Do you know what it means?”

“Something about knowledge and blood, but no one really knows, not even the Latin teachers,” Skye answered as she smiled warmly at Katrina.

“Anyway, we’d better be going or we’ll be late for try-outs,” Ashley said to Skye, pulling her up the school steps. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Yeah, same here,” Skye agreed. “Nice meeting you.”

The two girls hurried up the rest of the steps and disappeared through the glass doors of the school’s main entrance, leaving Katrina alone again.

Katrina sighed.
It’s now or never!

“Katrina!” another voice called, followed swiftly by two blasts of a car horn.

Katrina turned and saw Jessica trying to park Billy’s blue Jeep Grand Cherokee, before heading to meet her.

“I’m glad I caught you before you went in,” Jessica said, getting out of the jeep and adjusting the skirt to her cheerleading uniform.

“Why? Did I forget something?” Katrina asked.

“Only to say goodbye to everyone before you left this morning. Mom said you were out of the house before Dad left for work.”

“Sorry about that. I just wanted to walk.”

“Was it because of the nightmare you had last night?”

“Partly.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Maybe later.” Looking over to the jeep, Katrina frowned. “Where’s Billy?”

“He’s getting my car from the auto shop because one of the attendants there keeps hitting on me.”

Katrina rolled her eyes, then, linking arms with Jessica, both girls hurried up the school steps and through the glass doors.

Once inside, Katrina’s jaw dropped in shock. The walls were lined with locker after silver locker, only separated by the occasional classroom door or entrance to a flight of stairs.

Was it like this in June when I did my entry exam?
Katrina thought, confused.

“Do you want me to give you a quick tour?” Jessica asked.

Katrina nodded. With a little laugh she added, “And maybe draw me a map. Because I know I’m going to get lost in this place.”

“You’ll be fine, Katrina.”

“That’s easy for you to say – you’ve been here for three years.”

Jessica laughed and pulled Katrina after her down the corridor toward the gymnasium, passing the school’s auditorium, cafeteria, and library along the way.

Katrina stood in the gymnasium’s doorway and watched about a dozen girls, some in cheerleading uniforms of the school’s dark maroon and forest green colors, doing vaults and other gymnastics. Others sat in normal clothes on the bleachers, chatting amongst themselves. Katrina began to inch backwards into the corridor and felt herself bump into someone.

Please don’t let that be a teacher
, Katrina thought.

“I’m sorry,” Katrina apologized, turning to see who she had bumped into.

“It’s okay,” the guy mumbled, before picking up his books that had fallen on the floor and quickly walking down the corridor, disappearing into a nearby classroom.

“I see you met Stephen,” Jessica said over Katrina’s shoulder.

Katrina jumped at the sound of Jessica’s voice in her ear.

Jessica giggled, “You’re a bit of scaredy-cat today. Next you’ll be jumping at your own shadow.”

“Sorry,” Katrina said absently. Something about the whole school gave her the creeps and made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

“Well,” Jessica suggested, “let’s get going.”

*

Suzanne yawned and opened her eyes slowly.

Something – or some
one
– had awoken her from a blissfully happy dream. Suzanne lay still for a few moments to locate the noise. It came from the en-suite bathroom that she and Emily shared.

Suzanne dragged herself out of bed, headed toward the bathroom, and leaned on the doorjamb. Emily was by the sink, brushing her teeth and singing to herself.

“What are you doing in here? Strangling the neighborhood cat?” Suzanne asked.

Emily looked up and smiled. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

“No, it was the cat.”

“Oh, okay,” Emily said. She resumed brushing her teeth, and then paused. “What cat? We don’t own a cat!”

Suzanne smirked and went back into the bedroom; Emily followed her a few moments later, her toothbrush still in her hand.

“You didn’t attack a cat when you went out last night, did you?” Emily asked, looking horrified.

“No, I didn’t attack any cute little kitties!” Suzanne snapped, looking equally as horrified that Emily could suggest such a thing. If there was one thing Suzanne was adamant about, it was that none of them should harm anything that couldn’t really fight back, which in Suzanne’s eyes included children and household pets.

“There’s no need to bite my head off,” Emily said defensively.

Suzanne mumbled something then got back into bed and pulled her cover over her head.

“Suzanne!”

“What?”

“Have you forgotten where we’re going this morning?”

“No,” Suzanne lied, uncovering her head and turned to lay on her side so she was facing Emily, “but you can refresh my memory.”