Hourglass
Page 5
“Yeah.” We kissed—a simple kiss, but the first one we’d shared in any privacy in far too long. In that moment, our exhaustion and worry didn’t hold us back; we were together again, alone again, remembering everything we’d given up to be together—and reveling in it. His arms wrapped tightly around me as he leaned me backward. The whole world felt off balance except him. If I held on to him, I’d never go wrong.
Lucas is mine, I thought. Mine. Nobody can take this away from me.
By the time we reached New York, it was nighttime. When we first saw the Manhattan skyline in the distance, we all whooped and cheered. It looked pretty spectacular. To me, New York was almost more like a mythological place than a real one—it was where all the movies and TV shows happened, and the street names we were supposed to look for as we drove had a magical ring to them: 42nd Street. Broadway.
Then it occurred to me that Manhattan is an island, and I shivered at the thought of having to cross a river again. But instead we drove in through a tunnel, which was fine. For some reason, going beneath the water made a difference. I wished I’d asked my parents why.
We came out of the tunnel practically right in Times Square, which glittered and shone so much that I was dazzled. The others laughed at me, but I could tell they were kind of caught up in the excitement, too.
But it turned out that after a few dozen blocks, Broadway wasn’t so ritzy any longer. The bright lights dimmed, and we drove past apartment building after apartment building, stacks of them looming up around us like walls. The stores changed from posh cosmetics boutiques or family restaurants to 99-cent stores and fast-food joints.
Finally, the caravan turned into a parking garage, one that posted its incredibly expensive prices outside. The attendant waved us through, so we didn’t have to pay. The garage was definitely dirty and out of the way, so its rates were far too high—and sure enough, no other cars seemed to be parked inside.
I glanced at Lucas, who said, “Welcome to New York’s HQ.”
Everyone climbed out of the vans and trucks sort of sluggishly; we hadn’t stopped to stretch our legs on the trip, just a couple of very brief gasoline-and-bathroom breaks after lunch. We were herded into an enormous industrial elevator, which sank downward. The elevator’s walls were dull, scratched steel, and the light overhead flickered fitfully.
Feeling nervous, I took Lucas’s hand. He squeezed my fingers between his. “This part is going to be okay,” he said. “I promise.”
It’s not forever, I reminded myself. This is just until Lucas and I have a chance to make some plans. Soon we’ll be off on our own, and everything will be all right again.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a cavern, and I gasped. The high, curved ceiling was illuminated by strings of those plastic-encased lights construction guys use at worksites. Voices echoed throughout the arched space. I blinked as I made out the silhouettes of people farther away from us. They all seemed to be in a sort of trench that ran throughout the cave—
My eyes adjusted to the gloom, and I realized that this wasn’t a cavern. We were in a subway tunnel.
This tunnel had to have been abandoned for a long time. Flooring of planks or slabs of concrete sat over where the tracks must have been, and I could see a few small footbridges that connected the two platforms on either side of the tunnel. A cracked tile sign on one wall read, in old-fashioned type, Sherman Ave.
At first I was so amazed by our new hideout that I didn’t notice how quiet the rest of the group had become. All of them were standing still, saying nothing. I wasn’t the only one unsure of my welcome, apparently.
A trim Asian woman, a few years older than Kate, walked up to us with two brawny guys—I wanted to call them guards—on either side. Her salt-and-pepper hair was pulled tightly back into a long braid, and every muscle in her arms and legs was cut. “Kate,” she said. “Eduardo. You guys made it, I see.”
“Some greeting,” Eduardo said. “Is everybody else too busy to say hello?”
“Everyone’s too busy to hear your excuse for that ridiculous raid on Evernight,” she snapped. I realized that the people milling about in the distance were deliberately ignoring us.
Eduardo’s eyes blazed. “We had word that the human students were in immediate danger.”
“You had one vampire’s word against two centuries of experience that says the Evernight vampires don’t kill while they’re there. And you used that as an excuse to lead an attack that could’ve cost the lives of as many kids as vampires. The only reason it didn’t is because you got lucky.”
Kate looked like she wanted to defend her husband, but she said only, “For those who haven’t met her, this is Eliza Pang. She runs this cell, and she’s welcomed us for a short stay.”
We’re here on charity, I realized. I didn’t much care—this wasn’t something I’d chosen, or anything I was going to have to deal with for long—but I knew Lucas would hate that. Sure enough, he had clenched his jaw and was staring stonily at the concrete beneath his feet. I wondered if he hated it more for his or his mother’s sake. We’d have to talk about it later.
No sooner had I thought that than Eliza said, “Eduardo said you had two new recruits. Who are they?”
Raquel stepped forward right away. “Raquel Vargas. I’m from Boston. Anything you guys can teach me, I want to learn.”
“Good.” Eliza didn’t smile, exactly—already I found it hard to imagine her ever smiling—but she seemed pleased. “Who else?”
I didn’t want to step forward, but there wasn’t really any way around it. “Bianca Olivier. I’m from Arrowwood, Massachusetts. I—um—” What was I supposed to say? “Thanks for having us.”
“You’re the one Kate told us about,” Eliza said. “The one who was raised by vampires.”
Great. “That’s me.”
“I bet we can learn a lot from you.” Eliza clapped her hands together. “Okay, the rest of you guys, we’ve set up bunks at the far end of the track. They’ll do for now. Newbies, follow me.”
Follow her where? I shot Lucas a worried glance, but he obviously didn’t know any more about it than I did. When Eliza stalked off, Raquel went with her, and I didn’t have much choice but to go along.
“Are we starting our training already?” Raquel said, as the three of us walked farther along the subway platform.
“Eager, aren’t you?” From the sound of her voice, Eliza apparently didn’t think Raquel would be so eager once she saw what was in store. “Nah, you’ve had a big day. You can start in the morning.”
We got to the end of the platform, and Eliza led us into what had obviously been a service corridor. It smelled of mud and rust, and I could hear water dripping in the distance. A small yellow sign informed me this place could serve as a nuclear fallout shelter. Good to know.
I asked, “So where are we going? Why aren’t we with the others?”
“We have some permanent cabins set up in here. They’re not luxurious, but they beat the hell out of the bunks the rest of your cell is taking. You’ll be living with us, twenty-four/seven.”
“Why do we get those?” I nearly stumbled over the broken, uneven cement beneath us, but Raquel caught my elbow.
“Why aren’t those for Kate and Eduardo?” I wondered if it was because Eduardo was in the doghouse and their shoddy housing was punishment. It was unfair to punish Lucas, Dana, and the others for Eduardo’s mistake.
Instead, Eliza said, “You guys are new to the routine. You don’t know the life, and we don’t know you. Living in close quarters is a good way to make sure you learn all about us, and we learn all about you.”
Finding opportunities to drink blood would be even harder in this environment. If I didn’t drink blood often enough, I’d react more strongly to sunlight, to running water, to churches—and every reaction had the potential to mark me as a vampire.
How was I supposed to keep my secret?
Chapter Four
THAT NIGHT AFTER LIGHTS OUT, RAQUEL WHISPERED, “The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?”
I knew what she meant. A week ago, she and I had been roommates at Evernight Academy. Now everything else in our life had been transformed, but we were still sleeping in beds that were side by side. And I guess this counted as a bed.
We’d been given a room like no other I had ever seen. Apparently, when the engineers had abandoned this subway tunnel, they’d also abandoned a few old train cars. The Black Cross cell had refitted those to serve as cabins. Our bunks sat on top of what had once been the seats, and steel poles ran from the floor to the ceiling, like we were at stripper boot camp or something. Raquel and I had about a third of a car to ourselves, with a makeshift metal wall to give us privacy on one end and the back of the car on the other.
“I miss having your collages on the walls,” I said. The windows on the sides of the car had been whitewashed, but they were blank and cold. “And my telescope. And our books and our clothes—”
“That’s just stuff.” Raquel propped herself up on one elbow. Her short dark hair stuck out in all directions, and if I’d been feeling any less forlorn, I might’ve teased her about it. “What matters is that we’re finally doing something important. Vampires have screwed up both our lives, and ghosts—I’m not even going there. Now we can strike back. That’s worth the sacrifice.”
I knew I didn’t dare trust Raquel with the truth, but I wanted her to understand a little of what I was really feeling. In a small voice, I said, “My parents took good care of me.”
Raquel said nothing. I’d caught her off guard, and I could tell she didn’t know what to think.
“And Balthazar—he was kind to me. To both of us.” I thought that might help convince her.
Instead, she sat up straight, energized by anger so immediate that it shocked me. “Listen, Bianca. I won’t pretend to understand what you’ve been through. I thought I’d had it rough, but finding out the people you thought were your parents were really vampires—that’s the worst.”
I had to let her go on believing that, so I remained silent.
She continued, “They kind of brainwashed you, okay? You’re going to keep making excuses for them for a long time. But the fact is, they screwed you over. Balthazar played their mind games right along with the rest of them. So wake up. Get your head straight. We aren’t kids anymore. We discovered that there’s a war on, and our place is here with the soldiers.”
Raquel was so absolute. So sure. I could only nod mutely.
“Okay,” she said. When she burrowed under her blanket, I figured our conversation was over for the night. It’s not like there was anything else I could share with her anyway. Then, very softly, she added, “I’ll make us a collage sometime soon.”
I smiled and hugged my pillow. “Something pretty. This place could use some pretty.”
“I was thinking more fearsome and wicked,” she said. “We’ll see.”
During the next couple of weeks, every day seemed to be exactly like the one before it and the next to come.
Lights came on at some crazy early hour of the morning. I didn’t know what time it was exactly, because we didn’t have clocks or cell phones. But I could tell from the way my whole body protested that it was too early for me.
Everybody got ready superfast. Basically, I hardly had time to do more than rinse myself off in the showers. And these were communal showers, too—like my worst gym class nightmare—but everybody was so businesslike and quick that I didn’t have much chance to feel self-conscious. Then we changed into our workout clothes and headed to their makeshift exercise area.
Lucas is mine, I thought. Mine. Nobody can take this away from me.
By the time we reached New York, it was nighttime. When we first saw the Manhattan skyline in the distance, we all whooped and cheered. It looked pretty spectacular. To me, New York was almost more like a mythological place than a real one—it was where all the movies and TV shows happened, and the street names we were supposed to look for as we drove had a magical ring to them: 42nd Street. Broadway.
Then it occurred to me that Manhattan is an island, and I shivered at the thought of having to cross a river again. But instead we drove in through a tunnel, which was fine. For some reason, going beneath the water made a difference. I wished I’d asked my parents why.
We came out of the tunnel practically right in Times Square, which glittered and shone so much that I was dazzled. The others laughed at me, but I could tell they were kind of caught up in the excitement, too.
But it turned out that after a few dozen blocks, Broadway wasn’t so ritzy any longer. The bright lights dimmed, and we drove past apartment building after apartment building, stacks of them looming up around us like walls. The stores changed from posh cosmetics boutiques or family restaurants to 99-cent stores and fast-food joints.
Finally, the caravan turned into a parking garage, one that posted its incredibly expensive prices outside. The attendant waved us through, so we didn’t have to pay. The garage was definitely dirty and out of the way, so its rates were far too high—and sure enough, no other cars seemed to be parked inside.
I glanced at Lucas, who said, “Welcome to New York’s HQ.”
Everyone climbed out of the vans and trucks sort of sluggishly; we hadn’t stopped to stretch our legs on the trip, just a couple of very brief gasoline-and-bathroom breaks after lunch. We were herded into an enormous industrial elevator, which sank downward. The elevator’s walls were dull, scratched steel, and the light overhead flickered fitfully.
Feeling nervous, I took Lucas’s hand. He squeezed my fingers between his. “This part is going to be okay,” he said. “I promise.”
It’s not forever, I reminded myself. This is just until Lucas and I have a chance to make some plans. Soon we’ll be off on our own, and everything will be all right again.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a cavern, and I gasped. The high, curved ceiling was illuminated by strings of those plastic-encased lights construction guys use at worksites. Voices echoed throughout the arched space. I blinked as I made out the silhouettes of people farther away from us. They all seemed to be in a sort of trench that ran throughout the cave—
My eyes adjusted to the gloom, and I realized that this wasn’t a cavern. We were in a subway tunnel.
This tunnel had to have been abandoned for a long time. Flooring of planks or slabs of concrete sat over where the tracks must have been, and I could see a few small footbridges that connected the two platforms on either side of the tunnel. A cracked tile sign on one wall read, in old-fashioned type, Sherman Ave.
At first I was so amazed by our new hideout that I didn’t notice how quiet the rest of the group had become. All of them were standing still, saying nothing. I wasn’t the only one unsure of my welcome, apparently.
A trim Asian woman, a few years older than Kate, walked up to us with two brawny guys—I wanted to call them guards—on either side. Her salt-and-pepper hair was pulled tightly back into a long braid, and every muscle in her arms and legs was cut. “Kate,” she said. “Eduardo. You guys made it, I see.”
“Some greeting,” Eduardo said. “Is everybody else too busy to say hello?”
“Everyone’s too busy to hear your excuse for that ridiculous raid on Evernight,” she snapped. I realized that the people milling about in the distance were deliberately ignoring us.
Eduardo’s eyes blazed. “We had word that the human students were in immediate danger.”
“You had one vampire’s word against two centuries of experience that says the Evernight vampires don’t kill while they’re there. And you used that as an excuse to lead an attack that could’ve cost the lives of as many kids as vampires. The only reason it didn’t is because you got lucky.”
Kate looked like she wanted to defend her husband, but she said only, “For those who haven’t met her, this is Eliza Pang. She runs this cell, and she’s welcomed us for a short stay.”
We’re here on charity, I realized. I didn’t much care—this wasn’t something I’d chosen, or anything I was going to have to deal with for long—but I knew Lucas would hate that. Sure enough, he had clenched his jaw and was staring stonily at the concrete beneath his feet. I wondered if he hated it more for his or his mother’s sake. We’d have to talk about it later.
No sooner had I thought that than Eliza said, “Eduardo said you had two new recruits. Who are they?”
Raquel stepped forward right away. “Raquel Vargas. I’m from Boston. Anything you guys can teach me, I want to learn.”
“Good.” Eliza didn’t smile, exactly—already I found it hard to imagine her ever smiling—but she seemed pleased. “Who else?”
I didn’t want to step forward, but there wasn’t really any way around it. “Bianca Olivier. I’m from Arrowwood, Massachusetts. I—um—” What was I supposed to say? “Thanks for having us.”
“You’re the one Kate told us about,” Eliza said. “The one who was raised by vampires.”
Great. “That’s me.”
“I bet we can learn a lot from you.” Eliza clapped her hands together. “Okay, the rest of you guys, we’ve set up bunks at the far end of the track. They’ll do for now. Newbies, follow me.”
Follow her where? I shot Lucas a worried glance, but he obviously didn’t know any more about it than I did. When Eliza stalked off, Raquel went with her, and I didn’t have much choice but to go along.
“Are we starting our training already?” Raquel said, as the three of us walked farther along the subway platform.
“Eager, aren’t you?” From the sound of her voice, Eliza apparently didn’t think Raquel would be so eager once she saw what was in store. “Nah, you’ve had a big day. You can start in the morning.”
We got to the end of the platform, and Eliza led us into what had obviously been a service corridor. It smelled of mud and rust, and I could hear water dripping in the distance. A small yellow sign informed me this place could serve as a nuclear fallout shelter. Good to know.
I asked, “So where are we going? Why aren’t we with the others?”
“We have some permanent cabins set up in here. They’re not luxurious, but they beat the hell out of the bunks the rest of your cell is taking. You’ll be living with us, twenty-four/seven.”
“Why do we get those?” I nearly stumbled over the broken, uneven cement beneath us, but Raquel caught my elbow.
“Why aren’t those for Kate and Eduardo?” I wondered if it was because Eduardo was in the doghouse and their shoddy housing was punishment. It was unfair to punish Lucas, Dana, and the others for Eduardo’s mistake.
Instead, Eliza said, “You guys are new to the routine. You don’t know the life, and we don’t know you. Living in close quarters is a good way to make sure you learn all about us, and we learn all about you.”
Finding opportunities to drink blood would be even harder in this environment. If I didn’t drink blood often enough, I’d react more strongly to sunlight, to running water, to churches—and every reaction had the potential to mark me as a vampire.
How was I supposed to keep my secret?
Chapter Four
THAT NIGHT AFTER LIGHTS OUT, RAQUEL WHISPERED, “The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?”
I knew what she meant. A week ago, she and I had been roommates at Evernight Academy. Now everything else in our life had been transformed, but we were still sleeping in beds that were side by side. And I guess this counted as a bed.
We’d been given a room like no other I had ever seen. Apparently, when the engineers had abandoned this subway tunnel, they’d also abandoned a few old train cars. The Black Cross cell had refitted those to serve as cabins. Our bunks sat on top of what had once been the seats, and steel poles ran from the floor to the ceiling, like we were at stripper boot camp or something. Raquel and I had about a third of a car to ourselves, with a makeshift metal wall to give us privacy on one end and the back of the car on the other.
“I miss having your collages on the walls,” I said. The windows on the sides of the car had been whitewashed, but they were blank and cold. “And my telescope. And our books and our clothes—”
“That’s just stuff.” Raquel propped herself up on one elbow. Her short dark hair stuck out in all directions, and if I’d been feeling any less forlorn, I might’ve teased her about it. “What matters is that we’re finally doing something important. Vampires have screwed up both our lives, and ghosts—I’m not even going there. Now we can strike back. That’s worth the sacrifice.”
I knew I didn’t dare trust Raquel with the truth, but I wanted her to understand a little of what I was really feeling. In a small voice, I said, “My parents took good care of me.”
Raquel said nothing. I’d caught her off guard, and I could tell she didn’t know what to think.
“And Balthazar—he was kind to me. To both of us.” I thought that might help convince her.
Instead, she sat up straight, energized by anger so immediate that it shocked me. “Listen, Bianca. I won’t pretend to understand what you’ve been through. I thought I’d had it rough, but finding out the people you thought were your parents were really vampires—that’s the worst.”
I had to let her go on believing that, so I remained silent.
She continued, “They kind of brainwashed you, okay? You’re going to keep making excuses for them for a long time. But the fact is, they screwed you over. Balthazar played their mind games right along with the rest of them. So wake up. Get your head straight. We aren’t kids anymore. We discovered that there’s a war on, and our place is here with the soldiers.”
Raquel was so absolute. So sure. I could only nod mutely.
“Okay,” she said. When she burrowed under her blanket, I figured our conversation was over for the night. It’s not like there was anything else I could share with her anyway. Then, very softly, she added, “I’ll make us a collage sometime soon.”
I smiled and hugged my pillow. “Something pretty. This place could use some pretty.”
“I was thinking more fearsome and wicked,” she said. “We’ll see.”
During the next couple of weeks, every day seemed to be exactly like the one before it and the next to come.
Lights came on at some crazy early hour of the morning. I didn’t know what time it was exactly, because we didn’t have clocks or cell phones. But I could tell from the way my whole body protested that it was too early for me.
Everybody got ready superfast. Basically, I hardly had time to do more than rinse myself off in the showers. And these were communal showers, too—like my worst gym class nightmare—but everybody was so businesslike and quick that I didn’t have much chance to feel self-conscious. Then we changed into our workout clothes and headed to their makeshift exercise area.
