Page 14

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

It was a beautiful morning in the graveyard.

Gentle sun on Theo’s suit-clad back, cool autumn breeze ruffling his artfully tousled hair. He’d forgotten to brush it before he left. His mom’d had to fix it in the car.

“Sorry,” he kept saying as she brushed.

She just shook her head, eyes on his curls. Her own curls were perfect as always. She’d stayed up late undoing and redoing her curlers. Theo had heard her cursing when he’d snuck home after Kade’s house.

And here they were. Burial first, then the wake. Theo and his mom stood at the mouth of the grave, the coffin held in place by a pulley, waiting to be lowered.

There was a joke in this somewhere about dead boys and coffins, Theo thought as he stared at the polished wood. He just couldn’t think of it. If Kade were here?—

He squeezed his nails into his palms. If Kade were here, he would be standing awkwardly at the back of the crowd while everybody came up to him and his mom and told him how sorry they were. Maybe Kade would mutter things under his breath, knowing Theo would hear it. He would try to make Theo laugh, and everybody would stare at Theo giggling at his own father’s funeral. Theo could imagine Aaron’s parents trading a concerned look, Felicity and Aaron glancing at each other automatically before remembering they didn’t do that anymore.

But Kade wasn’t here. So that didn’t matter. Theo wondered if he was too hungover to move or if he was just silencing his alarm. Maybe he really had choked on his own vomit in his sleep, but Theo doubted it. He would feel it if Kade died. He was certain. Just like he was certain that he would be really, really mad about this later. He could already feel it now, the rage bubbling just under the surface of the suffocating numbness. He was going to give Kade the lighter, finally. He’d been putting it off too long. And Kade couldn’t be bothered to show up.

Carol nudged him, bringing him back to the moment. “Have you eaten?”

Theo thought about it. Then he remembered he didn’t eat human food. How out of it did he have to be to forget that?

“I’ll eat at the wake,” he told her.

She nodded. “The catering company is very good.”

“Good,” he echoed. “That’s good. ”

The funeral director came up behind them. “Well, folks, it’s nine. How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” said Theo and Carol as one. Theo was gratified to see his mother look just as disgusted at the question as him. Why did everyone keep asking that?

“Okeydokey,” said the funeral director, whose name Theo had immediately forgotten the second he told it. He had a bad combover and an ill-fitting suit, which enraged Theo for reasons he didn’t understand.

“Well,” said the funeral director, adjusting his crappy tie. “We’re ready whenever you want to start.”

“Just a few more minutes,” Theo said.

They both looked at him. Theo pretended not to notice, looking toward the street for Sundance’s car. Maybe he should’ve told her to get him here. But then she’d want to come, too, and she might look at him all pityingly. She’d been on the verge of it so many times.

Theo turned. The crowd behind him had grown. All his parents’ lawyer friends were here, along with a bunch of teachers and what looked like a third of the population of Lock High, most of them pale and hungover.

Aaron’s family clumped together, dressed in their finest suits. Aaron’s mom had a hand on her son’s shoulder. He was stiff and silent under her touch, staring down at his injured hand. He wore gloves, but Theo could see the tell-tale white of a bandage peeking over his wrist .

Felicity stood several feet away from them in a modest dress and giant sunglasses,

sweating through her makeup and wincing as her mom leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Felicity nodded, looking annoyed, and Beverly set off toward the parking lot.

Theo swallowed. He needed to stop this numbness. He needed to get mad. Anger was productive. Be vicious —the Fairgood motto. It was time to deliver. He just needed something to jolt him out of it.

He turned back to the coffin.

“I want to see him,” he said.

The funeral director stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“I have to see him,” Theo said.

The funeral director looked between Theo and Carol, twisting his sweaty hands together.

“It might be a good idea to stick with the memory of him,” he said. Then, when Theo didn’t look deterred: “Just…he’s…well. He’s quite torn up, buddy.”

Theo wanted to shove him. Wanted to punch every adult who had called him a nickname in the past few days, like that would make everything better. Like they knew what he was feeling .

There we go , he thought as the anger started pushing past the numbness. That’s what I need.

He turned to his mom. “I’m sorry. I’m…I need to. Just for a second. Don’t look.”

She stared at him, her lips parted. She wasn’t wearing lipstick. In all her preparation this morning— pulling the curlers out, doing her lashes, moisturizer, foundation, concealer—somehow she’d forgotten. Theo had thought there was something off, but he hadn’t been able to figure out what until now.

“Just for a second,” he repeated, and stepped forward. The coffin was closed, but it was easy enough to find the latches and pop them open. The lid followed—just a crack, since Theo could already hear the murmurs starting up from the crowd behind them.

His dad’s hands sat folded on his chest. Even though it was a closed-casket funeral, they’d still put him in a suit. The fingers which had been hanging off by a thread had been stitched back on. His face was still the brutalized pink mess that Theo remembered: exposed teeth, empty eye sockets, the skin even stiffer and paler than last time. Theo stared at the remaining tufts of blond hair on his dad’s ravaged skull and felt it: rage, blinding and pure.

Be vicious, he imagined his dad saying.

He slammed the lid shut and stormed into the crowd. His mom said something behind him, but Theo didn’t hear it over the thrum of heartbeats getting faster. He approached Felicity, who was still watching her mom jog toward the parking lot.

“Hey,” Theo barked.

Felicity turned and gave him a strained smile.

“Hey,” she said, her voice so syrupy and sympathetic Theo could choke on it. She stunk of mint and flowers and burned hair .

He grabbed her arm and hauled her away, out of earshot of the others.

“Uhhh,” Aaron said behind them. “You guys all good?”

“I’ll get to you,” Theo called over his shoulder. He turned to Felicity, whose smile had gotten wide and panicked when he grabbed her. “You want me to tell you what’s going on? You first.”

Felicity blinked rapidly behind her sunglasses. From shock, sure. But also because the sun was hitting her right in the eyes, and sunglasses only did so much when you had a hangover as violent as hers.

“Could you move an inch to the left?” she asked Theo as he dragged her. “You’re big, you can block the light.”

Theo whirled to face her. “I said cut the shit . People are dying.”

Felicity stared, lips pressed together. Then she twisted to look at the parking lot, where her mom was rummaging in the car.

“We need to do this fast,” she said. “She’ll freak if she thinks I’m talking to you about whatever the hell is going on. So what is it? Is it a doomsday cult? Are we culting? Mom keeps having whisper fights with the Fletchers and they all freak when I try to listen in, and she’s been upping my training.”

“Training,” Theo repeated. Finally, it clicked. “Wait. The gymnastics—it’s not actually gymnastics, is it? Not all of it. It’s hunting training. ”

A desperate grin bloomed over her face. She grabbed his elbows, squeezing hard.

“I knew it. We’re hunting vampires, aren’t we? That’s what she’s training me for. That shit about the founders of Lock, it’s true. Right?”

Theo stared at her, the death grip she had on his elbows, her eyes bright and wild. She didn’t look like she was baiting him into saying something incriminating. She looked like a deeply stressed teenager who had been keeping secrets for a long time and wanted an explanation.

Felicity smacked his arms excitedly. “ God . Shit, it’s so good finally talking to you about this. I don’t care if she takes away my college fund, this is worth it.”

“You really don’t know?”

“No,” she hissed. She shot another furtive look over her shoulder at the parking lot, where her mom was still going through the backseat. “Thank god she left her water in the car. Quick, keep talking.”

Theo opened his mouth. Closed it. The Fletchers were watching them, Aaron trying to talk to his parents while they pretended not to stare daggers in Theo’s direction.

“Vampires are real,” Theo said. He hesitated. Looked into her blue eyes, his first ever friend in the world, first kiss when they were in middle school, first foray into sex when they were tipsy and bored a few months before she and Aaron started dating. The first person who ever kept a secret for him in first grade after he broke a vase in his parents’ house. They still made him clean it up, pricking his tiny fingers on the shards—but only after Felicity insisted with deep sincerity that it wasn’t Theo, it was a giant bird that immediately vanished out the open window.

Theo sucked in a breath. “I’m a vampire.”

“Oh shit.” Felicity’s smile dimmed. She looked past him, toward the coffin. “Did your dad?—?”

“ I didn’t kill my dad ,” Theo snapped.

Felicity scoffed. “No shit, I mean did some other vampire do it? How many vampires are there? Something’s gearing up, right? Something bad?”

“The vampire who sired me did it. He wants me to open up a hole in the ground and free his murderous vampire wife.”

Felicity stared at him, eyes tracking. “Holy shit. Holy shit . That’s what we’re trying to stop? This is insane . Cheech was in on it, right? That’s why Mom made me steal shit from his house?”

“Your mom made you?”

In the parking lot, a car door slammed. Theo looked over and saw Beverly Sloan straighten, then stop dead when she saw who her daughter was talking to.

“Yes,” Felicity said. “She said it was stealth training, which I totally failed. She said it was important, but surprise surprise, she didn’t tell me why, because she never tells me why we do anything . She didn’t even let me look inside the box I stole! And oh my god ?—”

“Talk faster,” Theo urged. Beverly Sloan was striding across the grass toward them, her dark eyes steely. A few paces ahead, the Fletchers were sending a confused Aaron in their direction.

Felicity glanced round and cursed. “Shit. Okay, they were all telling me to tell them everything about you, what you’ve been doing, what you’re saying, and then Mom was like, don’t tell the Fletchers anything! Only me! We don’t trust them anymore!”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I think she said they’re too extreme? I didn’t hear. They get really angry when I try to eavesdrop, and they speak so quietly. Last thing I heard was about your dad. He found something out. They said he was going to tell them who it was.”

Theo swallowed hard. Beverly Sloan was getting closer, Aaron ducking out of the way just in time to avoid her charge.

“Said he needed to ‘make sure,’” Felicity continued. “Something about small jar—I think. Or tar? Small car? I was behind the door, I couldn’t hear much?—”

Theo shushed her. Felicity fell silent as her mom charged up and grabbed Felicity’s newly muscled arm. There was the woman Theo had been expecting last night, intense and intimidating, dark eyes drilling straight into his.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” said Beverly Sloan with a tight smile. “Felicity, can I talk to you?”

“I would love to talk to you, Mom,” Felicity said icily. “ We really should talk more. I love it when you tell me things.”

Aaron cleared his throat behind them. “Everything…okay?”

He flexed his injured hand warily, the leather glove creaking. Theo had never asked if he was okay, he suddenly realized. Hadn’t even texted. This was the first time they’d seen each other since the bite.

“We’re okay,” Theo replied. “Are you okay?”

Aaron slipped his bandaged hand into his pocket. There was a strange smell emanating from it: wet mulch. Decaying tree trunks. A fruit going bad.

Rot, Theo realized. It smelled like rot.

“I’m fine,” Aaron replied, guarded. He shifted on the spot, like he wasn’t entirely sure he was welcome. Theo wondered what it was like, every single person in your life suddenly acting weird and no one telling you why. Peeling off to whisper in corners and then insist everything was fine, you were imagining things. Why weren’t these hunter parents telling their kids what was going on?

Felicity sighed. “Look,” she started, and Theo was consumed by a momentary panic that she would dump everything on Aaron right now, as her mom’s hand tightened around her wrist and everyone was waiting for his dad to be lowered into the ground.

“Your dad loved you,” Felicity continued.

Theo felt his face tighten back to that neutral receiver of well-wishes, which was not as polite as he wanted it to be.

“Maybe he wasn’t good,” Felicity said. “But he did love you. A lot.”

“Felicity,” Beverly said sharply.

“Liss,” Aaron said, voice low. “ Now ?”

Theo blinked. This wasn’t where he thought the conversation would go. Behind him, he could hear the funeral director whispering with his mom about schedules.

“He was good,” Theo said faintly. “What are you talking about?”

Felicity ripped her arm out of her mom’s grip. She glared, then turned to Theo.

“Theo,” she said. “Come on . The way your parents push you. Keeping you awake all night if you get a bad grade. Making you sit in that ice bath until you needed to go to the hospital? And they argued about taking you to the hospital. Your lips were blue .”

“ Felicity ,” Beverly repeated, appalled. She stared at Theo in shock. That was good. It meant Felicity had kept her promise. She hadn’t told.

“That’s not—” Theo shook his head, stomach churning. “That was ages ago. And I deserved it.”

He looked back at his mom, standing over his dad’s grave. Russel stood next to her, fiddling with the collar of his cheap suit, telling her how sorry he was. Carol nodded along blankly, patting her curls like she was worried they had unfurled since she took them out that morning.

The funeral director was walking over to them, toying with his badly fitting suit. He waved timidly when he saw Theo looking and tapped his watch.

Theo thought very hard about biting him.

“Liss,” Aaron whispered. “Come on. It’s his funeral .”

“I know ,” Felicity snapped, whirling on him. “I just wanted—oh, shit.”

Her mouth dropped open. Her gaze was trained over Aaron’s shoulder, eyebrows raised high over her sunglasses. Her mouth twitched into a small, awful smile that only occurred when something bad was about to happen, and she was going to find a way to laugh at it or die trying.

Theo turned.

Sundance’s battered Honda Civic sped down the road toward the cemetery. The car backfired, making everybody turn to see who was making all the commotion right next to a graveyard.

Theo watched, chest filling with a confusing mix of relief and panic. Kade had made it. Late and with a dramatic entrance, but still.

Panic quickly swallowed the relief as Theo realized the car wasn’t slowing down. Nor was it on a straight trajectory for the parking lot entrance. It was careening toward the trees that lined the lot. What was Sundance doing ?

Theo squinted. It wasn’t Sundance in the driver’s seat. It was Kade, alone, breaking the rules of his learner license. He was slumped over the steering wheel, sliding sideways, causing the car to veer dangerously to the left.

Theo ran as fast as he dared. He barely made it two steps.

The car slammed into a tree, shuddering to a violent stop. Gasps rang through the crowd. Somebody shrieked.

“Holy SHIT,” Felicity said. A terrified laugh escaped her throat, high and razor-sharp. “Who the hell is that?”

Theo knew he should fake ignorance. Keep up the fiction. There were so many people here, and his mom had looked at him with such shock and disappointment when he’d walked into the house with Kade. Fairgoods don’t make friends with trash like that , she’d told him later that night. Don’t see him again. Okay?

Carol had her hands over her mouth, Russel clutching her shoulder. She looked around wildly, gaze settling on Theo. She took a step toward him.

Theo hesitated.

Then he turned and ran for Kade.