The doorbell rang as I was still trying to squeeze on my final outfit.
“They’re here!” Becky said excitedly.
It wasn’t like she never saw Matt. She saw him every day at school and on many evenings. But every time he arrived, she was just as thrilled as the time before. And I couldn’t blame her. My heart pounded out of my chest every chance I got to see Alexander.
“Girls,” my mom called from downstairs. “Your dates are here!”
I laced myself into my lavender monster boots, and Becky helped zip me into my black minidress and fix my barrettes. Since I’d gotten behind the time, I would have been a mess without her smoothing touches.
We descended the staircase like debutantes. Alexander and Matt were awaiting us, with huge smiles and in handsome club attire.
“Can I take a picture?” my mom asked.
“Mom!” I said, totally embarrassed. It wasn’t enough that my boyfriend was a vampire and wouldn’t even show up in the photo, but my mom making a fuss was more unbearable.
“Your dad is still at work,” my mom said. “He’d hate to miss this moment.”
“Oh yes, please, use my phone,” Becky said. “I’ll send you the pics.”
I didn’t even try to get out of it. Becky and Matt squeezed next to Alexander and me. We smiled as if Alexander were going to show up after all.
“Say cheese,” my mom said.
Alexander squinted when the flash went off.
“Are you okay?” my mom asked.
“Just something in my eye. It was great seeing you, Mrs. Madison,” Alexander said, giving my mom a polite kiss on the cheek. “Now our car awaits.”
We gave quick hugs and good-byes to my mom as we walked out the front door and to the driveway, where Jameson was waiting with a limo.
“You are kidding me!” I screamed.
“Only the best for the best,” Alexander said.
Becky and I continued to scream and giggle as we got in the back of the limo and headed to the Crypt like celebrities on their way to an awards show.
I arrived with my boyfriend and friends at the Crypt. I was excited to finally have the party celebrating Alexander’s and my birthdays that Jagger had talked so much about. I wasn’t sure what he had in store for us, but I knew it would be something special. The club was open to all its usual customers, but our party was going to be somewhere else in the club. I wasn’t supposed to know the location, but I’d learned from Phoenix that we were finally going to see the Covenant after all.
We all milled about on the main floor until Jagger said it was time for the party. Becky approached me and seemed gravely concerned.
“What’s up?” I asked. “It’s party time.”
“Nothing. . it’s just something that I’ve been weirded out by for a while.”
“Did I do something?”
“No — it’s not you. It’s—”
“Tell me.”
“I want to show you this,” Becky said. She led me into an alcove away from dancing clubsters. She held out her phone. “Remember the picture I took at the soccer field again of Sebastian? He didn’t show up in any of the pictures. He’s clearly missing.”
“That’s all?” I asked. “Yes, that’s weird. But maybe there is something wrong with your phone.”
“I got to thinking. Maybe the rumor wasn’t just a rumor.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“All the signs. For so long now. I can’t believe you — of all people — haven’t noticed.”
“What are you saying?” I asked my best friend.
“These are the pictures of the workers I took before Jagger told me not to take pictures.” She showed me her phone again. There were no workers in view.
“Maybe they were out of the frame,” I said.
“Everyone? All the pictures I took of you are perfect.”
“Maybe it’s time to buy a new cell phone. I think we have to get back—”
“And then this one.” She took out a camera from her purse. “I used my camera this time. I took it tonight. It is of Jagger, Luna, and Sebastian.”
“You weren’t supposed to take pictures. . ”
She held out the camera, shaking in her hand.
There wasn’t anyone in the picture.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Maybe it’s the lighting?” I tried.
Becky’s face was determined. “It’s not the cell phone. It’s not the camera. It’s them!”
“Becky, you aren’t making sense—”
“That’s why Sebastian bit Luna at Alexander’s party. That’s why I’ve only seen them during the night and why they don’t go to school. They can’t. They are—”
“I have to get back—” She reached into her purse again. “Then it won’t matter if I throw these cloves of garlic on the dance floor.”
I imagined it then. One by one, Alexander, Jagger, Luna, Sebastian, Onyx, and Scarlet breathing in the garlic fumes and gasping for breath. All laboring to get fresh air. Finally each one, falling to the floor. .
I reached for her purse. “No — you can’t! You have to take that out of here! They won’t be able to breathe!”
Becky was stunned by my reaction. Her face turned ghostly white. She pulled out an empty hand.
She could barely breathe herself. “Raven, I don’t have any garlic. . ”
I covered my mouth in horror.
“So it’s true,” she said faintly.
My best friend knew — about Jagger, Luna, Sebastian, Onyx, and Scarlet. And if I couldn’t prove her wrong — or worse, lie to her — then it would be only moments before she realized the truth about Alexander, too.
My head swirled with excuses. The camera doesn’t work, it’s the lighting. . but when I opened my mouth, no words came out. Instead I nodded, as if I’d been waiting for her to tell me those words forever. In fact, I must have been. She was my best friend and I’d kept the biggest secret from her — something I’d never done. And now she’d found out on her own, and I couldn’t keep the secret any longer.
Her lower lip quivered and she wobbled in place.
“Becky?” I put my hand on her shoulder.
Becky began to succumb to her dizziness. Her knees buckled and she started to fall.
I quickly grabbed her with both hands, trying to keep her standing.
“What’s wrong with her?” a clubster asked.
“She feels faint,” I said. “Let’s give her some air.”
I held her up and guided her over to the bar, then helped her sit down.
“We need some water,” I said.
I hugged my best friend. “It’s okay, Becky. You’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”
The bartender put a glass of water on the bar.
“I’m not thirsty,” she said, pushing it away.
“Drink it,” I said, handing it to her.
Becky gulped it down.
For a moment we girls sat in silence, processing what had just happened. Becky had just learned my boyfriend’s true identity and now I had to deal with my best friend holding this secret knowledge.
“I’m scared, Raven. I’m really scared.”
Tears began streaming down her face. Her house of Hello Kitty cards was falling down in front of me. I was left breathless.
“And this picture, too,” she said, scrolling her phone. “It’s the one your mom took tonight with me and you and Matt and Alexander. Only Alexander isn’t in the picture.”
I couldn’t speak nor look at the picture my friend was holding out, shaking in her fingers.
“So, does that mean — Alexander, too?”
I didn’t answer.
“It’s funny, really. I’ve never seen him in the daylight. Not once. And those pictures from the Snow Ball, he didn’t turn out, and now tonight. . ”
I nodded.
I knew she was frightened. For her, for me, for us. For the town. Even for Alexander.