Shattered(Book 1 of the Dream Realms Trilogy)

By Sophia Sharp

Copyright © 2011 by Sophia Sharp

Cover and art copyright © 2011 by Sophia Sharp

Amazon Kindle Edition

This entire book is a work of fiction. Names, places,characters, and incidents are all either products of theauthor’s imagination or used fictitiously. Anyresemblance to actual events, locales, persons –living, dead, undead, or vampire – are entirelycoincidental. All right reserved.

June 2011

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Chapter One~An Ordinary Life~

Laura Cubus lived an ordinary life, in a veryordinary school.

She went to a public high school in Vancouver,Washington, located the outskirts of nearby Portland. She had been in one place her whole life, and couldn’timagine what it would be like having to move aroundwhile growing up. She knew every nook and cranny ofthe town she lived in, and wouldn’t have preferred itany other way.

She felt stable at her school. She felt normal. Nothing particularly exciting ever happened whereshe lived, and if that sometimes made things dull, sobe it. There was nothing to complain about – butnothing to write home about either.

In fact, sometimes she found herself feeling bad forthose people she’d read about in stories or see inmovies – the kind who always founds themselves onthe move, in a new environment, a new place, andalways struggling to fit in.

Laura fit in at her school. She had a good group offriends who she had grown up with and loved with allher heart. At home, she had a happily married motherand father, a well-behaved younger sister, and one

large, rather bulky dog.She never felt herself to be one of those people

destined for greatness; and by all indications that lifehad given her, neither did anyone else. While shewouldn’t consider herself beautiful by any stretch, shehad been called pretty often enough in her 17 years ofexistence. She was pretty, but not spectacular. Moreor less like every other girl going to school with her.

If it all seemed a little bit ordinary, so what? Shehad fun with her friends, did well in school, and – asshe knew all too well – everybody around here livedthe same way.

In fact, she considered her life to be nearly perfect. Sure, it was a cookie-cutter kind of perfect, but it washers. Now, if she could only get Brady Shell to look ather twice…

That was her biggest problem, and by far the mostpressing. That Brady Shell didn’t seem to know sheexisted.

Brady – of course – was the typical all-Americanhigh school heartbreaker. A star on her school’slackluster football team, Brady had golden flowinglocks that Laura had fallen in love with the first timeshe saw them. Eyes as radiant as emeralds gracedhis face, and he had an easy smile whenever he wastalking to someone he liked. The problem was, he

was never talking to her.Laura has been completely and hopelessly

infatuated with him ever since entering high school. Back then, he was the shy kid sitting at the back of theclass, the one who got picked on for being too small,for having hair too long. Back then, she had been hisonly friend. They sat together that year in Englishclass, and Laura’s heart would start pounding everytime he came near. And she was sure he feltsomething for her, back then. But, in their youthfulinnocence, neither had the courage to do anythingabout it.

That all faded the following year, when Brady cameback to school tall, fit, and muscular. He had hit anunexpected growth spurt, and suddenly the same boywho was being picked on before transformed into themost popular guy in school. His athletic abilitiesdeveloped just as much, and the same guys who werepicking on him before became his best friends andteammates. And he became the jewel of every girl’seye.

Laura thought she had some advantage, at first, forhaving known him before the summer transformation. But she learned it afforded her little in the way ofstanding out. Now, three years later, she was just onein a legion of adoring Brady Shell fans.

Which was why, at the start of spring semester inher junior year, she resolved to win back Brady’sattention.

But, on only the second day of the term, anunexpected turn of events forced her to postpone herplans.

A buzz had built among her classmates, as wordspread that a new student would be transferring totheir school next week.

It certainly wasn’t anything she expected. Her classhadn’t had a newcomer since the eighth grade, whenpreppy Joanne Stark enrolled for a few weeks beforeher parents pulled her out to place her in a privateschool. She had left as quickly as she came, yetpeople still remembered her brief stay. Which was tosay, a new student was a novelty that certainly goteveryone’s attention.

What fascinated Laura more, however, was the wayher school first announced the new student’supcoming arrival. A very formal, terse letter was senthome, informing parents that a new transfer would becoming. And, noted in fine print at the bottom of thepage, a single sentence said that this transfer studenthad been expelled from a previous school on accountof “physical misbehavior.” What that meant, the letterdidn’t say, but rumors started flying around like arrows

from a crossbow as soon as the letter was printed.“I heard he got into a fight with a teacher.”“I heard he put some guy in a coma, who’s now on

life-support in the hospital.”“I heard he…”Laura looked to her friends, all seated with her at

the wide cafeteria table, and had to roll her eyes. Shewas certain there was a simpler, less excitingexplanation for the student’s arrival.

“We don’t even know it’s a ‘he,’” she reminded thegroup.

“Well, what else would ‘he’ be?” Laura’s friendStacy laughed. Stacy had long, bleach-blonde hair,and a year-round tan that Laura thought belongedmore in California than rainy Washington. “A girl? Idon’t think a girl would get herself in trouble like that!”

“You never know,” Laura replied evenly. “For all weknow, she might be the biggest, meanest girl to walkthe face of the earth.”

“Here? Nuh-uh.” Molly sat beside Laura, andfrowned as she spoke. “Maybe somewhere ghettolike New York, but here, on the west coast, the girlsare all the same. All like us. Pretty, petite—”

“—and delicate,” Laura finished the sentence,smiling. Everybody laughed. All the girls poked fun atMolly for looking too much like a porcelain doll, and

acting the part as well. Molly took it all in stride,laughing along with all of them. It felt like the lovingribbing you might give a little sister.

“Anyway,” Laura continued, “I don’t think it’s goingto end up even half as bad as the stuff we’ve beenhearing.”

“But why would they send home a letter,” Kelly,sitting beside Laura, spoke for the first time, “if itwasn’t something bad?” The way she emphasizedthat last word made you feel like ‘something bad’ wasthe end of the world.

“Who knows?” Laura replied. “But I think it’ssomething much simpler. Like… what if the districtrequired them to send the letter?”

“To alert the parents?” Kelly asked.“Not to alert them by spooking them,” Laura said,

“but to let them know that the new student had been insome kind of trouble before. I think the district, or theschool, are just watching their backs in case anythinghappens here.”

“In case this new kid starts a fight?” Molly asked.“…or mauls someone in the hallway,” Stacy

mused. “Or attacks an innocent, fragile girl.” Shewinked at Molly as she said that, which caused her tojump in her seat. That caused everybody to laughagain.

“Well, I know one thing,” Laura said once they’vesettled down, “we’ll all find out how much truth there isto these rumors in less than a week.”

Chapter Two~An Unexpected Encounter~

The following Monday, Laura walked sleepily intoher early morning Math class. She covered her mouthwith one hand to prevent too big a yawn fromescaping. She had walked to school by herself thismorning, and while her house wasn’t too far away –maybe ten or eleven blocks – the morning mist sorepresentative of west coast weather had made herfeel damp and clammy. Which was odd, becauseusually she felt refreshed walking through the pristine,early morning mountain fog. She blamed it on thesun, which had decided not to come out today,making the start of a new week all the more miserableunder cover of gray cloud.

She was also frustrated with herself by a lack ofprogress on the Brady front. Try as she did, shenever managed to have that serendipitous encounterwith him the previous week. They didn’t have anyclasses together, so her only hope had been runninginto him sometime before or after school, or betweenclasses, in a neutral environment like the library orcafeteria or hallway. Or anything, really. She’d evenplanned out what she was going to say:

‘Hey you,’ she’d call out to him with a smile. He’d

smile back, melting her heart, and walk over to greether for the first time in years.

‘Hey,’ he’d say shyly, looking down at his feet.‘I haven’t seen you in ages, you know,’ she’d tell

him. ‘You know, it’s too bad we drifted apart the waywe did. I always cherished our friendship, and—”

“Miss Cubus?” the voice was harsh,uncompromising. “If you’d take your seat, please,class can begin?”

Laura came to with a start, and realized that shestood right in the doorway, blocking the entrance tothe classroom from all the late arrivals behind her. Her teacher, Mrs. Millburn, examined her harshly,frowning hard enough to make the white bun on top ofher head start to quiver. Laura blushed, ducking herhead, and hurried to take her seat in the middle of theroom.

She sat down, placing her bag underneath thedesk, and pulled out a binder with all her math notes. Mrs. Millburn didn’t take kindly to students whoweren’t paying attention in class, and after the blunderjust now, Laura didn’t want to draw any more of herwrath.

Almost everybody around her was already seatedand looking to Mrs. Millburn at the head of the class.

Laura pulled her jacket tighter around her, and

looked to the front of the class, pen in hand,mimicking like she was paying attention. Mrs.Millburn started talking about last week’s lessons, andthe plan for the day, and other such things that Lauracouldn’t force herself to become interested in.

Instead, in her mind, she was chastising herself forthe ridiculous interaction she just daydreamed about. ‘Hey you’ was the best she could come up with? After an entire week in which she could have thoughtof something better? She shook her head roughly. She wasn’t going to win Brady over like that. In fact,she wasn’t going to win anybody over like that.

She wished she could know what he thought of her. If he thought anything of her. Brady had the attentionof nearly every girl in the school. What were the oddsthat he was going to pick her? Especially when theirpaths seemed almost destined to never cross.

Her thoughts were rudely interrupted whensomething large and heavy slammed into hershoulder. She looked up, and saw that it was abackpack, carried precariously by someone shedidn’t recognize. Then her heart froze. The new kid!

“Sorry,” he muttered half-heartedly, beforecontinuing to walk down the aisle. He didn’t even lookat her when he apologized! Laura twisted back in herseat to look at him. He was taller than average,

maybe 6-foot-3 or 6-foot-4, and skinny. He wore themost inconspicuous clothing she thought possible:dark jeans, a hooded black sweatshirt, and plain butwell-worn Chuck Taylors. His hood was down, andshe saw that he had long, straight black hair. Shecouldn’t tell from where she sat, but she guessed itwas cut in the vintage Justin Bieber style, or maybe atouch longer. Not long enough to be considered emo,though.

He was making his way towards the very back,where a single empty desk awaited him. Laura kepther eyes on him. She was curious what he lookedlike – what his face looked like. He kept walking,slowly, his head tilted down.

Something about the way his shoulders slumpedtold her he wasn’t particularly thrilled to be here. Shecould sympathize with that: he was the most novelthing this school had seen in years, and she doubtedhe would feel anything less than an oddity among herpeers until that initial interest wore off.

“Daydreaming again, Miss Cubus?”Laura spun around, and found Mrs. Millburn

standing right in front of her desk, staring daggers ather. For a second, Laura felt like Mrs. Millburn couldsee right through to her soul, see the very essence ofher being. And her stomach clutched up in response.

“Or perhaps Mr. Sutherby over there has caughtyour attention?” She paused, just long enough for thesnickers in the classroom to be heard. Laura couldfeel her cheeks grow hot. “Well, since you seem tohave taken such a personal interest in him, perhaps Ishould task you with getting him caught up in thisclass, hmm?” Oh God, no. “Yes, that sounds like agood idea to me. You can be the person responsiblefor his academic development in this course. Mathematics is a strong point of yours, is it not?” Both she and Mrs. Millburn knew it was not, and Laurafelt her cheeks grow warmer and warmer by thesecond. “Of course it is, since you so very clearlyhave little enough regard for the course to payattention to my lecture, which obviously means youcan cruise through the material without anyproblems.” Laura cursed herself for failing to payattention earlier. “So I’ll tell you what,” Mrs. Millburncontinued, “you and Mr. Sutherby can come inafterschool today, to this very classroom, in order tobegin your new assignment together. You’ll come inevery day after school this week, and you’ll be gettinghim caught up.”

“But Mrs. Millburn,” Laura began, desperately tryingto protest, to say that she didn’t do anything to warrantthe punishment. She was cut off as Mrs. Millburn

loudly smacked a ruler on her desk, causing her andnearly everyone around her to jump.

“Every day this week,” Mrs. Millburn said precisely,emphasizing each word. “I will see you, and Mr.Sutherby, in this classroom at exactly 3:15PM everyday this week.” Satisfied, Mrs. Millburn turnedaround, head held high. Laura slumped in her seat. What a horrible way to start the week.

Just then Mrs. Millburn turned around, a kind smileon her face. “Oh, I just thought of something,” shesaid sweetly, “that will ensure your compliance. Thelowest mark between the two of you in my class atsemester’s end will be the mark that goes on bothyour report cards.” Mrs. Millburn nodded happily toherself, and returned to her position at the front of theclassroom.

Laura groaned. By the time class ended 90minutes later, she could still hear the giggles from herclassmates in her head.

Chapter Three~Punishment~

Laura dragged her feet as she made her way to themath classroom after school. Thankfully, she hadn’thad any classes throughout the rest of the day with“Mr. Sutherby” – she didn’t know his first name – sothere wasn’t any awkwardness between them. Notyet, anyway.

She wasn’t looking forward to the arrangement thather math teacher had set up for her, and thought thatthe punishment she received what completely out ofproportion with anything she may have done. All shedid was look back at him for a second! Mrs. Millburnwas known for a harsh demeanor, though, and Laurawas caught experiencing it firsthand. She hadn’tbumped into Brady today, either, which only worsenedher mood.

And then she had to endure her friends’ ominousprojections of what being forced to spend time withthe new student was going to be like. They hadpicked up all sorts of new, swirling rumors about him,and now that some of them had put a face to him, itonly made them exaggerate the tales even more.

“Have you seen him?” Molly asked Laura at lunch,

before shaking her head quickly. “Of course youhave. You had class with him this morning, after all. He’s scary, isn’t he? Looks like an axe murderer tome. Like those creepy guys you see in the movies. And he’s quiet, too. Secretive, maybe. Like he’shiding something.” She laughed uneasily. “I’m sureyou’ll be fine, though.”

“I heard he started a massive fire at his oldschool,” Kelly added, “that nearly killed half thestudents. And he jammed the doors so that theycouldn’t get out. Luckily, the sprinkler system kickedin to stop it. He looks like the type to do somethinglike that, doesn’t he? That’s just crazy.”

Before Laura could interrupt, her friend Stacyjumped in, adding all the bits and pieces that shehad heard. And on and on it went, despite Laurarepeatedly trying to assure her friends that it wouldn’tbe that bad, that he couldn’t have possibly done allthose things, and that people were just excited by anew student in school so couldn’t help but spreadthose rumors.

In the end, Laura just gave up, and did her best to

ignore the more disturbing pieces of gossip thatcame her way during the day. But despite being

absolutely certain there was little truth in the rumors,she still found herself feeling apprehensive as theclock ticked closer and closer to 3:15 PM. Whichwas exactly the time her cell phone showed, now.

Laura sighed and pushed open the door to theclassroom. It was empty, except for Mrs. Millburnseated at her desk.

“You’re early, Miss Cubus,” Mrs. Millburn saidwithout looking up. “Take your seat, please, and waitquietly for Mr. Sutherby to arrive.”

“Yes, Mrs. Millburn,” Laura sighed, and walked overto a seat at the far back of the classroom. If she wasgoing to be spending time with this new kid, shewanted to at least be able to talk to him without Mrs.Millburn overhearing every word.

Laura didn’t have to wait long before he burstthrough the door, hair frazzled as if he’d beenrunning. Laura looked, and saw his face for the firsttime.

If her friend Stacy could be considered too-tanned,he was the polar opposite. His skin was pure white,and reflected the light strongly. It wasn’t a sickly white,though; rather, it reminded her of the strong, cleanwhite she could imagine on a horse or unicorn. Hiseyes were sharp and dark, and set deeply into astrong, lean face. If Laura hadn’t known that he was

her age, she would have guessed him to be in hisearly twenties. And he looked more a man than aboy.

His face looked strong – proud. At least, that’s thefirst impression she got. Although at this particularmoment in time, it looked like all his strength andpride had drained away, and he felt every bit theyoung boy of sixteen or seventeen that he was in anunfamiliar school.

“You’re late,” Mrs. Millburn said sharply, and hedropped his head, looking right at the floor. Hemumbled something, but Laura couldn’t make it out.

“What? Speak up, boy! There’s no shame in beingloud enough to be heard.”

“I said, I’m sorry,” he repeated, louder this time. “Igot lost in the hallways on my way here.”

“Yes, yes, that’s perfectly understandable,” Mrs.Millburn said waving him away with one hand. “Theonly one you’re harming by being late is your friendover there, sitting at the back. Every minute you’relate is an extra minute she’ll have to stay.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again.“Bah! Don’t apologize to me, boy. It’s her you

should be saying sorry to. But that’s neither here northere. Miss Cubus?”

“Yes, Mrs. Millburn?” Laura said.

“For your first day at Mr. Sutherby’s personal tutor, Iwant you to go over all the chapters we’ve completedso far this year. Take note of anything he may havenot seen before, and make sure he learns it well.”

“Yes, Mrs. Millburn.”“Hmph. Good, then. Well, Mr. Sutherby? You’re

not going to learn anything standing up here. Go sayhi to the nice girl at the back, and get started.” Lauraknew that Mrs. Millburn knew how awkward this wholething was going to be for her, and figured it was just away of punishing even further. “Go on, she won’t bite. Although I’m not sure how good her attention spanis.” And with that, Mrs. Millburn turned her attentionback to her desk.

Laura switched her gaze to “Mr. Sutherby,” who stillstood at the front of the room, looking at his feet. Abag – the same one that hit her this morning – hungslumped over his shoulder. Finally, she saw himshake his head, and start to make his way over toher. He walked slowly, and every step he took lookedlike it was one step closer to agony.

In spite of herself, Laura began to feel a littlenervous, too. Her heart started beating faster, andshe could feel her palms start to clam up. He surewas taking his time coming over. Was he always likethis? Was there something wrong with her that he

didn’t like? Was he just shy? Questions racedthrough her mind as the distance between him andher closed ever-so-slowly.

Finally he came up to her desk, pulled out a nearbychair, and collapsed heavily into it. He still hadn’tmade eye contact with her.

“So…” she began unsteadily after a moment’ssilence, not sure of what to say, “…are you, uhm, anygood at math?”

He shrugged his shoulders in reply.“Do you… know what we’re doing in class?”He shrugged again, eyes glued to the floor. Laura

swallowed. She felt like she was talking to a wall. She didn’t know what else to say. The silencestretched, growing awkward.

“Thanks for dragging me into this,” he finallymumbled. Laura could barely make out the words,but when they registered, she was taken aback.

“What?” she demanded.“I said, thanks for dragging me into this,” he shot

back, and rose his eyes to meet hers. His eyes werefiery, ablaze with untold emotion. For the first time inher life, Laura felt truly scared. It looked like theypulsed – angrily or not, she couldn’t say – and wieldedsupernatural power. She felt cold, lost, and alone. Isolated from everyone else in this world, stuck forever

in his unnatural gaze, helpless to ever escape.Then he blinked, and all that died, and her fear

disappeared. His eyes were normal again, and he aslooking at her askance.

“Why are you looking at me that way?” he asked.“What way?” she answered. “And what’s wrong

with your eyes?”“My eyes?” He looked perplexed. “There’s nothing

wrong with my eyes.”“But just now, when you looked at me, they were…”“—they were what?” he asked.“They were… raging.”“Raging?” He laughed. “I’ve never heard that one

before.”“Ah! So you do know what I’m talking about.”“No, I’ve got no idea.”“But you said ‘that one,’ like you’ve heard things

before?” she answered slowly.“Did I?” he mused, and smiled at her. “No, I

promise you, I’ve got no idea.”“Then why’d you say it?”“Say what?”“That you’ve never heard that one before.”A wide smile slowly spread across his face, and

she suddenly understood. He was teasing her!“Very funny,” she said drily. He spread his arms in

response. “So, Mr. Funny-man, it looks like we’reboth stuck here for what remains of this week, andpotentially this whole semester. So I think we’d betterstart this relationship by exchanging names.”

“Logan,” he said simply.“Logan?” He nodded. “That’s funny, you strike me

more as a ‘Jonathan’ or ‘Steve.’ I’ve never met a‘Logan’ before. My name’s Laura.”

“Nice to meet you, then,” he said. “I’ve never met a‘Laura’ before, either.”

“So it’s something new for the both of us.”“Looks like it is.”“Ahem!” An angry voice at the front of the room

interrupted, causing both of them to look up. Mrs.Millburn stood behind her desk, frowning. “You twolovebirds are here for a reason, and that reason is tolearn math, is it not? Laura, why do I not see yourtextbook, or a single worksheet, on your desk?”

“Sorry, Mrs. Millburn,” Laura said, thinking quickly. “I was just… asking Logan how much math he’s donein the past.”

“Well, you’d better start to show him what we’vedone in the past. Unless you want me to extend yourstay here?”

“No, Mrs. Millburn. I will, Mrs. Millburn.” Laurahated being so subservient, but it wasn’t like she had

much choice. She reached down in her bag to pullout her math textbook, and put it on the table.

“She’s a bit of a hag, isn’t she?” Logan asked,eyeing the desk where Mrs. Millburn stood warily. “What’s the history with you two? Did she always hateyou, or did that just start today?”

Laura sighed. She didn’t feel like explaining all ofthat to Logan right now. “Never mind that. We needto at least start looking through this math book, or elseshe’s going to yell at us again.”

“Yea, alright.” He looked down again, and for asecond Laura found herself admiring Logan. Therewas something about him, something… different. Something mysterious, maybe. The way he walkedaround, shoulders slumped, was a stark contrast tothe way he had just teasingly interacted with her. Hewas probably just shy, coming to an entirely newplace, and found it easy – for whatever reason – toopen up to her.

And now that she’d talked to him, she thought iteven less likely that he could possibly have beenresponsible for any of the horrible things that werebeing said about him. He seemed like the shyest,most peaceful kid ever.

In any case, Laura didn’t think she’d be dreadingcoming here afterschool anymore. She thought

Logan might develop into somewhat of a friend.

Chapter Four~Brady Shell~

The rest of the week passed without incident. Laura still hadn’t managed to find Brady anywhere,and began doubting whether she’d be able to dogood on her start-of-semester resolution. She wasstill determined, however.

But thankfully, her afterschool detention sessionswith Logan were turning out not quite as bad as she’dimagined. She learned that Logan actually knewmore math than she did, and ended up teaching hersome of the things she didn’t yet understand. He wassharp, and afterschool, in the relative privacy of thenear-empty classroom, he was engaging, lively, andinteresting.

Which was why she didn’t understand the way heacted during school. Every math class she had thatweek, he’d arrive after her, and shoot her a shy smileas he passed. Otherwise, though, he didn’tacknowledge her presence in any way. Or anybodyelse’s, really. He kept his head down, and alwayswore the same, dull clothing. It was like he wished hecould shrink his long limbs so they would stop takingup so much space.

Laura found herself starting to wonder what

happened to cause him to transfer here. What reallyhappened. She didn’t put any stock into the rumorsshe heard. At the same time, she had been unable toforce herself to ask him about it herself. It felt like shewould be invading his personal life if she pried likethat, and she didn’t feel comfortable doing that yet.

One time during math class, Laura snuck a peekback at Logan. As expected, he sat with his headdown. But just at that moment, an image flashed inher head of a powerful lion – a king – who’d beendisgraced. It felt like all the power was still there,just…restrained. Like it was forcibly being thrustdown. Just as quickly as it came, the imagedisappeared. And she found Logan looking back ather, meeting her gaze strongly.

She spun around quickly. He had seen herlooking. She hoped he didn’t get the wrongimpression. She also hoped Mrs. Millburn wouldn’tnotice.

Thankfully, their teacher was busy writing on theboard. Relieved, Laura returned to her notes. Butshe could feel Logan’s gaze on her back.

Logan was also always the first to leave at the bell,brushing by people to get to the door. Laura knew hehad heard the rumors swirling about him by now, andhoped they weren’t getting to him. She couldn’t

imagine the instability his life held. But she knewthings would get better for him, if only he startedspeaking up more.

Which is what she decided to tell him at their nextdetention session together on Friday. Today’ssession – Thursday’s – was cancelled by Mrs.Millburn on account of her grandson’s birthday.

So, it was on a rainy Thursday afternoon, in thebreak before the last class of the day, when Laurafound herself in a hallway struggling with themechanism on her locker. The second bell hadalready rung, marking anybody coming to class late,so the hallway around her was completely empty. Butno matter how many times she tried the combination,her locker wouldn’t open. She banged her fist againstthe cold metal in frustration, producing a clang that ranall the way down the hall.

“Do you need a hand?” a strong voice asked her. Itseemed familiar, in some way…

Laura looked towards it, and felt her heart freeze inher chest. Brady Shell was standing beside her, withthat easy smile gracing his face. Brady Shell! And helooked handsome as ever.

She couldn’t believe it. All this year, she hadn’tseen him pass by her locker once, and now, withalmost everybody else already in class, he was

standing here, beside her, offering to help. Whatwere the odds?

“Uh… yea,” she muttered, stumbling over thewords. “I think the lock is busted.” Idiot! That was thebest you could come up with?

“Oh, well that’s OK,” he said, turning his attention toher locker. She stepped aside, letting him examineit. Which was when she felt a strong hand grab herass.

“Hey!” She whipped around, and came face toface with some guy she’d never seen before. He wasgrinning widely. He was wide, too, and built like afootball player. “You can’t do that!”

“Oh really?” he asked, still smiling. “Can’t dowhat? This?” And he reached around with one handto grab her again. She shoved his hand away, andstepped back, trying to get some space, but feltherself bump into another body. She looked behindher. Brady was standing there, grinning as widely asthe other guy.

“Didn’t we know each other, before?” he mused ather. Out of the corner of her eye, Laura saw anothertwo guys approaching them. “I think we did. You’re…Laura, right? From back in ninth grade? My, but howmuch you’ve grown since then…”

“And developed very nicely,” the wide-guy added

brusquely. “Yes, she has, hasn’t she?” Brady said. He

grabbed her by the waist, and started moving hishand up her back.

“Get off me!” she exclaimed, pushing him away. But those other two guys she saw approaching hadalready surrounded her, blocking any escape routeshe had.

She looked in terror from one guy to the next. Allthree looked like big, mean football players. And thenthere was Brady, who didn’t look like he matchedthem at all, yet he was smiling as wickedly as the rest.

“Ooh, she’s a feisty little vixen, isn’t she?” one of thetwo new guys crooned. Somebody pushed her – hard– and she went flying right into the guy. He caught hereasily and spun her around, then wrapped his armsaround her body, hugging her close to him. “Why, Ididn’t know you liked me already,” he said crudely,and all four of the guys laughed. She struggled, tryingto escape, but his grip was too strong. She lookeddesperately to Brady, but he was laughing just asmuch.

“What should we do with her, Brad?” the guyholding her asked. She tried to swing her head intohis, to do something that would cause him to let up onhis iron grip, but she was too short. Wait. Brad?

Was that what these guys called him, now? The guyfinally let go, and she stumbled into the middle of theclearing. All around her, hungry eyes stared at herbody.

“I think she’s a good girl,” Brady said ominously,stepping closer to her, “so I think she’ll cooperate withanything we say. Won’t you, Laura?”

Laura shrunk back. All four guys stepped evencloser. She was trapped, with no way out. She feltanother hand slap her ass, and a roar of laughtererupted from the group. She was scared, now. Shecould scream, but she doubted anybody would hear,here in the most abandoned corner of the school.

Brady took another step towards her, and she wasabout to make a fist right when her arms weregrabbed and held. She struggled, trying to get out ofthe grip, but it was no use. There were four of them,and only one of her. Oh God, what were they going todo? How could this be happening to her, right here inthe school? And Brady, of all people, seemed to betheir ring-leader. She felt her whole world start tocollapse on itself.

“Stop.”A loud voice broke cut through the laughter, causing

all four of the guys to look up. Laura looked up, too. And found Logan standing a few meters away, feet

spread in an aggressive stance, looking right at them.“What did you say?” Brady said ominously, turning

to face him.“I told you to stop,” Logan replied simply. “Or what?” Brady rounded on Logan.“Or I will make you.”“Oh really?” Brady’s tone was incredulous. “Boys,

this guy here thinks he’s going to stop us.” That caused another roar of laughter to come from

the three guys still around Laura. “We’re probably scaring his little girlfriend,” Brady

continued derisively. The words stung, despiteeverything what was happening, because they camefrom Brady’s mouth.

“Hey, isn’t it that new kid?” the guy holding Lauraoffered. “Yea, Brad, I think it is.”

“And you’re new?” Brady asked, walking right up toLogan. “Well, new kid, I think you better get on yourway. We wouldn’t want to see you getting hurt.” Thenhe shoved Logan right in the chest, knocking himback. He staggered back, but made no move tocounter. Laura’s arms were still twisted behind her,and they hurt.

Brady turned around, back to face Laura and hiscrew, satisfied that he’d dealt successfully with thenuisance. But then Logan spoke again:

“Last chance, Brad. Tell your friends to back off.”Brady spun around furiously. “Nobody ever call me

Brad,” he spat, “except for my teammates!” And hethrew a punch right for Logan’s head.

Everything happened at once. Logan stepped aside easily, avoiding Brady’s fist,

and Brady lost his balance and staggered forward. Logan swept a foot out, tripping him, and allowedBrady’s momentum to carry him to the floor.

At the same time, one of the guys standing behindLaura charged at Logan. Just as he was about toslam his shoulder into Logan’s side, Logan raised aknee hard, and the guy’s chest rebounded against it. The guy gasped, having the wind knocked out of him,and fell back to the floor.

Brady had already gotten up, and was in the middleof swinging a sucker punch to the back of Logan’shead. Laura screamed, but Logan twisted around justin time to block the blow with his forearm. Bradylooked stunned for a moment, but that expressionquickly turned to pain as Logan clubbed him in themidsection with a fist. Brady fell down, clutching at hisstomach.

Growling, the guy holding Laura let her go, and ranat Logan. So did his friend. Laura collapsed to thefloor. When she looked up half a second later, the

wide-guy who held her before had his hands at hisface, trying desperately to stop the blood flowing froma vicious gnash on his nose. And his friend was alsowrithing on the floor in pain.

Logan stood there, amongst the four bodies,completely unscathed. And looking worriedly over ather.

Just then, the second guy – the one who had gottena knee in the chest – decided that he hadn’t hadenough yet. He got up, and ran at Logan frombehind.

“Watch out!” Laura screamed, but Logan justgracefully – majestically – extended his left leg back ina roundhouse kick. Logan’s foot struck the guy in thechest, and he collapsed heavily to the floor.

Logan looked back at Laura. Seeing that she wasstill there, he walked over to Brady, who lay face-downagainst the floor. Gruffly, Logan kicked him over tohis back, and dropped to one knee to pin both ofBrady’s shoulders to the ground. From where Laurawas, she thought Brady was in enormous pain.

“Listen to me, Brad,” Logan began, “I don’t wantyou doing that to her, or any other girl, ever again. Doyou understand?”

Brady whimpered desperately and nodded hishead in agreement.

“In fact, Brad,” Logan continued, “I don’t even wantto so much as hear of you being in this part of theschool again. Do I make myself clear?”

Brady kept nodding, over and over. Laura thoughtshe could see tears running down his face. Somehow, holding him like that, Logan was hurtinghim. Really hurting him. She had to end it.

“Stop it!” she yelled. She tried getting up, to pullLogan off, but her knees were weak, and didn’t wantto support her.

As soon as the words left her mouth, Logan lookedto her. And removed his hands from Brady’sshoulders. Brady exhaled in relief, and weakly rolledto one side to cradle himself with his hands.

Logan rose, and stepped quickly over the bodies towalk up to Laura. Before she knew it, he had hishands gently under her arms, helping her up.

“Are you OK?” he asked, frowning with worry.“Yes,” Laura answered. “But… why did you do

that?”“Do what?” Logan asked quizzically.“Do that,” Laura emphasized, pointing to the four

guys still mostly on the floor. “Why did you do that tothem? Why did you interfere?”

“They had no right to treat you that way.”“But I didn’t ask you to do that!” This felt wrong,

somehow, arguing like this with her rescuer, but shecouldn’t control her emotions. And right now, theywere demanding an outburst. “Oh my God, nowBrady’s going to hate me. They’re all going to hateme. All going to blame me!”

“You cannot be complicit in things like this,Laura…”

“Oh, like you would know?” she spat.“I know more than you might think,” he said.“Oh, give me a break. You haven’t lifted your head

once in school! I don’t think you’ve even spoken toanyone other than me! You had no right to interfere,no right to do that at all!”

“And without me, Laura, what would you havedone?”

“I don’t know,” she said. She felt herself gettingclose to tears, and had to bite off the end of everyword. “But I know I still would have had a chance withBrady! Oh, who knows what he’s going to think of menow. He’s probably going to hate my guts! Why didyou have to do that?” Her eyes began to water, andshe clenched a fist, swinging it right at Logan’sstomach. He made no move to get out of the way.

Her blow connected, and it felt like she had hit aconcrete wall. The reverberation ran all the way upher arm, hurting both her elbow, her shoulder, and her

knuckles.“Very well,” Logan said quietly. He turned and

walked away, leaving Laura to slump against herlocker. Tears began to stream down her face.

Chapter Five~Shock and Murder~

Laura had run home as soon as her legs werestrong enough to carry her. Run from the scene thatlay before her. Run from the memories there.

She lay face down on her bed, the door to herbedroom locked. Away from her parents, away fromher sister, away from her dog, away from everybody.

She hadn’t told any of her friends what happened. She hadn’t told anybody what happened, for thatmatter. She had dozens of missed calls from herfriends so far, wondering why she didn’t show up inlast class, wondering why she wasn’t there to walkhome with them afterschool, wondering a hundreddifferent things. She ignored them all. She was in nomood to talk to anyone.

It felt like in that one afternoon, everything hadcollapsed around her. She dreaded what school thenext day would bring. An encounter with Logan, infirst period math, for starters.

Her world was collapsing around her, Logan was atthe heart of it all. If Logan hadn’t shown up in the hall,maybe things wouldn’t have gone that way withBrady. If Logan hadn’t come to school in the firstplace, maybe she would have bumped into Brady

sometime after school, instead of having to enduredetention in math. If Logan hadn’t been there to beatall those guys senseless, warning them to stay awayfrom her, maybe she’d still had a chance with Brady.

The rational part of her brain told she couldn’tblame Logan entirely. It told her that Brady was anasshole, and that she shouldn’t feel heartbroken overhim. But she did. Years of utter infatuation over himweren’t swept aside just like that. She found herselfbeing overwhelmed completely by her emotions, andit wasn’t a feeling she was familiar with.

How was it that Brady had become such a jerk? Hewas so nice before, so quiet and well-meaning andpolite. She couldn’t believe what he tried to do toher. Could it have been his friends, the three guys hewas with, pressuring him into doing something likethat? And was she a special target, or would theyhave done the same to any girl they found that day? Or, for that matter, had they grouped up on lone girlslike that before?

Laura wouldn’t believe it. Not out of Brady. Hewasn’t like that. She knew that.

Or… she thought she did, were it not for a smallvoice telling her that yes, he was like that. Sherefused to listen. She had held out for him for so long,lusted after him for so long, that she couldn’t just flip a

switch and forget about it all.She buried her head further in her pillow and

sobbed. Brady was like that, and he had tried to dothings to her. Along with three of his friends. Anythingher imagination had conjured up before about what hewas like was coming face to face with reality. Andreality was winning.

Stubbornly, she pushed herself up from bed. Reality was winning, and she couldn’t just hide fromit. And reality was that Logan, of all people, hadrescued her from her assailants. And that one of herassailants was Brady.

She nearly broke down again after that lastthought. Instead, she shut her eyes tight, and willedthe pain to go away. After a moment, it did subside,and Laura could open her eyes.

The reality of things was that Logan had saved her,and if he hadn’t been there she couldn’t say whatmight have happened. But it would have been much,much worse.

Logan had saved her, and she repaid him bypunching him in the gut. Idiot! Complete and utteridiot! Logan had risked his wellbeing, had riskedhimself, just to help a girl he saw was in distress. Hehad faced four guys much bigger than him withoutblinking, all for her. How could she have been so

blind, exploding at him like she had?She stood up. It was because she let her emotions

take hold of her in that moment. It happened so rarelyto her that she didn’t know how to react. But now sheknew. If she ever felt even the tiniest shred of emotiontrying to come to life within her, she would push itdown as harshly as she could. Push it down and keepit there, locking it away forever. She never wanted tobe vulnerable enough to do something stupid again.

And she knew she had to thank Logan. It wasgoing to be hard, but she had to do it. She wasdetermined to, now. It was too bad she didn’t havehis phone number, so she could text or even call andapologize.

The apology could wait until tomorrow, at least. She though it would be an awkward, uncomfortablytense moment for her. And after the way she reactedto his rescue, she doubted very much he would wantto listen.

She heard scratching at the door, and opened it tolet her dog in. The great thing jumped up to her, andshe caught him in her arms, letting him lick the trails ofher tears away.

--

Laura woke up late the next morning, and had torush to school. She arrived fifteen minutes latedespite her best efforts.

She got a stern look from Mrs. Millburn when sheopened the door to interrupt lecture. But her eyesinstantly darted to Logan’s spot at the back. It wasempty.

A strange mix of relief and disappointment floodedover her as she walked to her seat. Logan wasn’tthere. Meaning that she couldn’t talk to him. Whichmeant that the apology would continue to loom overher until she saw him.

She watched the door the entire class, hoping hewould come through it, hoping he was late just as shewas. But he never came. And when the bell rang todismiss class, Mrs. Millburn called Laura up to herdesk.

“Yes?” Laura asked over the sounds of shufflingstudents and brass conversation behind her.

“I just wanted to inform you that your arrival todaywas unacceptable, Miss Cubus.”

“Yes, I know. I’m sorry. I overslept accidentally thismorning. It won’t happen again.”

“Hmm. You better see to it that it won’t. I alsowanted to let you know that your presence afterschooltoday will be unnecessary.”

“What? How come?”“As I’m sure you noticed, Mr. Sutherby didn’t come

in today. I was informed by the office that somebodycalled in an absence for him for today. So, seeing ashe won’t be here, I see no point for you to come in byyourself.”

“Oh.”“Of course, come Monday, I expect to see both of

you here precisely at 3:15 PM. You will have theopportunity to make up today’s session then.”

“Ok.” Laura turned to the door. “Thank you, Mrs.Millburn.”

Laura shouldered her way to her next class throughthe thick throng of students in the halls. After anagonizing 90-minute science lecture on the anatomyof the bacteria cell, it was finally time for lunch, whereshe would see all her friends.

She found them in the cafeteria, sitting around theirusual table. She made her way over to them, andStacy was the first to notice her, and jumped out ofher seat to grab Laura in a big hug.

“Laura!” she exclaimed, “where have you been? We were all so worried!”

“Worried? Why?” She hadn’t told anybody whathappened yesterday, and she doubted Brady or anyof those guys did. And since Logan was absent, he

couldn’t have mentioned anything either. “Haven’t you heard?”“Heard what?”“Somebody was murdered near us last night!”“What?” Laura was shocked at the news. And

somewhat relieved that it hadn’t had anything to dowith her.

“Yea, it was all over the news and TV this morning.”“This morning?” Laura said as she sat down. “You

know I don’t watch TV in the mornings.”“Duh, which is why I was calling you all last night!”

Stacy’s dad was a news anchor, which gave her aninside scoop to anything that happened in townbefore anyone else. “We couldn’t figure out why youwere missing yesterday, and none of my calls wentthrough, so when daddy told me what happened, I gotscared, because, you know… you never know whatmight happen.”

“Wait, so what happened exactly?”“Some guy was murdered here yesterday,” Molly

offered.“Like here, here?” Laura asked.“Here, here,” Molly continued. “It happened outside

a bar nearby.”“Well, what was so special about it?”“Nothing really, not at first, but then the police found

out that the guy who got killed was a hitman fromPortland.”

“A hitman?” Laura was getting interested. Thiswas completely unlike anything their town was usedto.

“Yea, that’s what the police say.”“Well, what was a hitman doing here, anyway? And

if he was the one who got killed, he had it coming,no?’

“No, you don’t get it!” Molly jumped in. “Don’t get what? Can someone just tell me the full

story?” She looked to her friends. “Stacy?”“Ok, so it goes like this,” Stacy began. “A fight

broke out at a bar last night. Which is unusual byitself, since not many of those happen here. It wasBlack Bear Pub, just a few blocks away from themovie theater.

“Apparently, this hitman was involved in the fight. The two guys took it outside, but nobody paid it anymind. Nobody wanted to interfere, from what I heard. Anyway, that’s not the important bit.”

“Well, what is?”“When they found the guy later, the hitman, lying out

in the back, he had all his blood drained out of him.”“Wait, what?” Laura was, for the first time this

whole conversation, completely taken aback.

“That’s why the news is so big,” Kelly explained.“The guy had two gaping holes in his neck,” Stacy

continued, “right beside each other. The cops saythey looked like bite marks.”

“Bite marks?” Laura laughed nervously. “What, likea vampire or something?”

“I know, right? It sounds like something out of oneof those books,” Stacy said, “but it’s true. The policesay the guy got knocked out in the fight, and they’renot blaming the other combatant for the death, butthey’re trying to find and question him anyway.”

“Wait, so the other guy got away?”“For now, but that’s not the real important bit.”“And then what is…?”“The police issued an animal warning.”“An animal warning?”“Yes. They say the guy got knocked out in the fight,

and when he was unconscious outside on the ground,some animal killed him.”

“An animal sucked his blood?”“Yes, that’s what they say.”“But what kind of an animal could do that?”“They don’t know,” Tracy admitted. “My dad told

me they called in specialists from Portland, agentsfrom the CIA and FBI, different scientists, zoologists,and those morgue guys to try to figure it out.”

“So then if it’s all taken care of,” Laura said,thinking, “and there’s no like… hitman, or serial killeron the loose, why were you so worried?”

“Well, they placed that warning out for the animal. They don’t know how dangerous it might be. Theytold everyone to keep off the streets, especially if theywere by themselves. And it happened so close to us,you just never know…”

“Know what?”“Know what might have happened! You walked

alone here this morning, and from school yesterday,right?”

“Oh my God, that’s right,” Laura said, finallyunderstanding the gravity of the danger in her mind.

“That’s why we were worried something might havehappened to you. You didn’t come to last classyesterday, after all, and after I started getting theupdates from my dad, I just didn’t know…”

“Wow. Well, thankfully nothing happened.”“That’s right. Thankfully not.”

Chapter Six~An Unexpected Offer~

Afterschool that day, Laura walked home togetherwith Stacy. News about the animal warning hadspread through the entire school, and an assemblywas called that day to alert the students to it. There,the principal emphasized that the threat was likelyvery small in nature, but advised them all to takeprecautions necessary to make sure nothinguntoward happened.

From there, for the second time in less than aweek, the school was abuzz with something new. Itwas like everybody had forgotten all about Logan’sarrival, and now shifted their attention to the bizarreanimal warning. Again, all sorts of rumors startedgoing around, from the completely implausible (thatsomebody had been bitten by a wolf and transformedinto a werewolf, and the hitman was the latest victim),to the more sane (that a bear had become rabid andkilled the guy). But mostly, everyone was justuncertain. Uncertain about what to expect, anduncertain about the scope of danger facing them.

When Laura got home, her mother raced over toembrace her in a giant hug, proclaiming that her sourmood from yesterday had been forgiven and that she

was just glad that Laura was safe. It seemed likenews of the death had rattled the entire town ofVancouver to its core, especially here in the suburbanarea – since it happened in such close proximity.

Stacy stayed the night, and the girls spent timegossiping and watching movies together with Laura’slittle sister. Laura debated telling Stacy about whathappened Thursday afternoon in school, but ultimatelydecided not to – at least not before talking to Loganabout it. And Stacy, sensing Laura’s decision,thankfully didn’t press the subject.

Sunday evening, just as Laura was about to go tobed, her mom informed her that since there havebeen no new developments in finding the rogueanimal, she was going to drive her to school in themornings from now on. Laura had no problem withthat, and didn’t protest.

On the drive to school on Monday, Laura foundherself wondering if she’d see Logan that day. Sheneeded to talk to him. And the sooner it happened,the better it was for the both of them.

Since her mother had to get to work in the morningas well, Laura arrived at school well before her usualtime. As she walked by her locker, hearing the echoof her steps bouncing around the empty hallway, sheshivered involuntarily and hurried on. Memories from

what happened there last week flashed in her mind,but she shoved them down harshly. She didn’t want tostir up any repressed emotions. And the further awayshe was from this spot, the better.

She entered her first period math class, and foundthat she was the first to arrive. Mrs. Millburn lookedup from her desk to frown at Laura, but otherwisedidn’t comment. Laura sat in her seat, and waited forthe rest of class to fill up.

Half an hour later, the last students were rushingthrough the door. And still, there was no sign ofLogan. Laura hoped that she wasn’t responsible forhis absence, after what she said that day. Or, worseyet, that the animal had gotten to him. Although afterthe display against Brady and his friends, Lauradoubted he had trouble taking care of himself. Which,again, was what made everything about him so weird– the type of calm confidence he had displayed facingthe bullies went at odds with the other way he actedotherwise.

The second bell rang, announcing the start ofclass. Mrs. Millburn came to the front of the room, andgreeted everyone with an effusive “Good-morning.” Laura sighed. It looked like Logan wasn’t here today,either.

Just then, the door at the front of the room opened,

and a tall man Laura didn’t recognize stepped in. Hishead was held high, and a sleek black trench coat saton his shoulders, opened to the chest to show avibrant red shirt underneath. His straight, dark hairwas combed back and up, and… wait. Laura rubbedat her eyes, thinking they were deceiving her. Wasthat Logan?

“Sir, I don’t know what would possess you tointerrupt, but as you can see, I’m in the middle ofteaching my class,” Mrs. Millburn began. Then hereyes widened, when she realized what Laura hadrealized herself. It was Logan. “Ah – ahem. Mr.Sutherby? If you would, ah, take your seat, we cancontinue.” That was it. No reprimanding him forbeing late, no demand for an apology or excuse. Mrs.Millburn never acted that way.

Logan nodded to her, and walked towards hisseat. Strutted towards his seat was more like it. Hewalked with shoulders swinging grandly, and madestrong eye contact with everybody on his way. Well,then. Laura had certainly not been expecting this.

As he passed her, their eyes locked, andwhispered in a stage-whisper – a loud whisper –“We’ll talk after class.” Everybody around her heard,but nobody dared comment. Laura just noddedquickly. Satisfied, Logan walked on.

And it wasn’t just his manner of dress or hishairstyle that was different, Laura realized. His milky-smooth skin had also become more vibrant. It wasstill white, but shone with a renewed vigor. Lauraallowed herself to peek back at him as he sat down.

His body language was completely different. Heleaned back comfortably in his chair, shoulders andarms spread wide. He wasn’t afraid to take up spaceanymore. And with his hair style up like that, it lookedalmost a crown. A black, thorny crown belonging to aking. Most of all, though, Laura thought that Loganlooked proud.

She twisted back to look at the front of the class. Mrs. Millburn was talking, something abouttrigonometric functions and probability equations. Laura tried to focus, but her entire mind was racingwith questions about Logan. What had prompted himto make such a drastic difference? Was all of lastweek just an act? Why did he look so much morevibrant all of sudden? It was like he underwent aweekend transformation, and came out of it acompletely different person.

More importantly, though, she was trying to figureout what she would say to him. And what he wouldsay to her. He told her quite clearly that they’d talkafter class. Did he want to clear the air regarding

what happened on Thursday? Laura couldn’t imagineit being anything else.

Suddenly she became uncomfortably conscious ofthe fact that he was sitting behind her. Meaning hecould very easily be watching whatever she did. Notthat she was doing much, sitting there pretending topay attention to the teacher, but the possibility of hiseyes being on her made her rigid. She felt awkward.

Slowly, the clock ticked away anxious-riddenminutes leading her closer and closer to the end ofclass. Would Logan want to talk with her right away? Or would he wait until their detention session with herafterschool? She wasn’t sure. She knew she wantedto talk to him as soon as possible, before – but nowshe wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t even sure who shewould be talking to – would this new, more confidentversion of Logan act differently with her than before?

Finally, the bell announcing the end of class rang,stopping Mrs. Millburn mid-sentence. She lookedmildly annoyed, but didn’t protest when her studentsstarted getting up. Laura sat still in her seat. If Loganwanted to speak with her right now, she didn’t want torush out prematurely.

“Laura.”She looked up, and saw Logan standing beside

her. For a split-second she thought she could see a

golden-red halo surrounding the pupils of his eyes, butit went away as soon as she shifted in her seat. Probably just a strange reflection of the light.

“Hi, Logan,” she said.“We need to talk,” he said seriously. “Would you

come with me?” And without waiting for an answer hestarted walking away, leaving Laura to scramble toget her belongings into her bag before rushing afterhim.

She caught up outside the classroom, where hestood with one shoulder leaning against a locker. Onseeing her, he nodded to one side and proceeded towalk in that direction. Laura had to push her waythrough the mass of bodies in the hallway to keep up. Not losing sight of him was easy, though. He stoodnearly a head taller than everyone else.

She trailed after him, wondering where he wastaking her. She knew the hallways of the school likethe back of her hand, but couldn’t figure out wherethey were going. Plus, the longer they walked, theless time they had before they had to go to their nextclass.

Eventually he stopped, pulled open a door, andducked inside. Laura paused before following. Shehad never noticed that particular door before. Bodiescontinued to mill around her, and she was jerked to

and fro by the crowds. Well, there was no use inwaiting. She twisted the doorknob, and walkedinside.

It was a small room with a single row of lights. Astack of chairs stood in one corner coated in dust, butotherwise it was empty. Logan leaned casuallyagainst the far wall, and smiled as he saw her.

“What is this room?” Laura asked suspiciously. “I’ve never been here before.”

“Just as well. I stumbled upon it last week, when Iwas searching for a particular classroom. I thoughtwe’d have some privacy here.”

“I mean, I guess…” Laura began, “…but we don’tactually have much time. I have to get to next classsoon, and so do you, I think.”

“Yes, I know,” he replied. “But I didn’t want to talk toyou where anybody else could hear.”

“Why not?”He paused for a second, studying her intently. Then

he sighed audibly. “I wanted to apologize.”“Apologize?” Laura was taken aback. She was

ready to apologize to him!“Yes. For what I did last week. I realized, in the last

few days, that what I did was… wrong.” Laura couldsee that he was struggling to say the words. “But itwas wrong not because of what I did, but because I

did it without asking.”“Asking who? Me?”“Yes. I shouldn’t have acted without your

permission.”“Well, to be honest… I doubt I would have objected.

I just wish you weren’t so violent. With them.”“I know. But I also know this: he’s not good for you.”“Who, Brady?”“Yes.”“You know, I kind of figured that one out myself, this

weekend.” Laura laughed nervously. “And I alsowanted to apologize to you. For the way I actedafter. I had no right to punch you, or say all thosethings. But… I was emotional. I couldn’t help it. So…I’m sorry.”

With the apology complete, Laura turned to leave. Stiffly. Her cheeks grew hot as she said that, and shedidn’t want him to see her blushing.

“Wait,” Logan said, stopping her right before sheopened the door. “You told me you wanted to knowwhat Brady thinks of you.”

“I did, yes,” Laura admitted, looking down at herfeet. “But I was just caught up in the moment. It’sirrelevant, now, anyway.”

“Well, if you want, I could show you.”“What?” Laura turned back slowly, and looked at

Logan. He looked very serious. “What do youmean?”

“I mean what I said. If you want, I could show youwhat Brady thinks of you.”

“How?” Laura asked suspiciously. “Is this somekind of trick?”

“No, no trick,” he assured her. Then he held out hishand towards her, palm up. “Take my hand.”

“Uh…” Was he trying to hit on her in some strange,unorthodox way? Suddenly the confinement of theroom became all too apparent, and the feeling ofbeing trapped that she experienced with those fourguys around her returned.

“There’s no trick, I promise.” His voice wassincere, and it seemed… trustworthy. If he wanted todo anything to her, he would have already made hismove. Laura met his gaze, and saw only the purestassurance in his eyes. She could trust him.

Slowly, tentatively, she reached out to place herhand on his. Her fingertips grazed his palm, and theirskin touched.

A flood of thoughts, not her own, erupted into hermind. It was commotion. Mayhem. A thousanddifferent voices cried out disjointedly, each clamoringfor her attention. It felt like her head would explode. Images completely foreign to her flashed through her

mind, but none was there long enough for her to makeit out. There was not enough room for all of them. The thoughts trampled through her head, until shethought she would lose herself in the uproar. Her ownvoice cried out to her, but was just as quickly lost inthe turmoil. She was disoriented. Where was she? Who was she? The link. She saw her hand, touchinganother. Who’s was that? She couldn’t tell. Hersense of self-awareness was fading. Her conceptiono f herself was fading. She didn’t know how muchlonger…

Abruptly, all that was gone. Her own thoughtsrebounded harshly to her, and she staggered back. She looked up. Logan was standing there, smiling ather knowingly.

“What… what was that?” she managed.“A trick.”“Is it… normal?” She was short of breath, and felt

like she had run a hundred miles.“Normal enough for me, anyway.”“All those voices I heard… what were they?”“Thoughts.”“What?”“They were thoughts, and you could hear them.”“Who’s thoughts?”“Everybody’s in the school. And some people

outside the school, near us.” The way he said it madeit sound like he was explaining the most natural thingin the world, like spring weather.

“Wait,” Laura said, staring wide-eyed at Logan,“are you telling me that I just heard the thoughts of allthe students in the school?”

“And some of the teachers, and some other peopleclose by.”

“That’s… astounding. Is it dangerous?”Logan shook his head. “If it was, I wouldn’t have

shown it to you.”“Was that some sort of link that was made, when

our hands touched?”Logan smiled. “You’re quick. Yes, you could say

that a link was created. It’s more of a bond, really, butit’s… hard to explain.”

“And what about you? Can you hear them, too?”Again, Logan shook his head. “No. I can’t make

any of them out. All I can do is transfer them toanother person.”

Laura stared. She had just heard the thoughts ofpeople around her. And Logan was explaining it toher patiently and calmly, as if he was completely usedto it. “How long have you had this? How long couldyou… transfer… these thoughts to other people?”

“Forever,” he said simply.

“What are you, like some kind of mutant? Likethose X-Men?” The closest thing Laura could think ofthat would match this was Professor Charles Xavier’smindreading abilities in the X-Men, but that was just amovie!

Unexpectedly, Logan began to laugh. “No way,” heanswered. “Definitely not.”

“Then… how do you do it?”“I don’t know. I just can.”“Have you ever used it before, then?”“Like how?”“For some kind of an… advantage?”He laughed again. “Some advantage,” he said

sarcastically. “All the voices converge as one, andyou can’t separate them at all.”

“Then, what’s the point? Why’d you show me?”“Well, to tell the truth, there is one way you can

separate them.”“And what’s that?”“If you have a strong emotional bond to somebody,

and they share it with you, their thoughts… stand out. Call out is more like it, actually.”

“A strong emotional bond? Like… love?”“Or hate. The person… calls to you. Their thoughts

become more distinctive. But in that case, it worksboth ways.”

“What do you mean?”“They feel the emotion more intensely if you do it.”“You mean, if you listen to their thoughts?”“Yes.”“That’s… that’s a miracle,” Laura marveled.“Not so,” Logan answered.“What? Why not? It’s absolutely a miracle.”“No, not really. They start to feel the emotion more

intensely. So somebody who hates you starts todetest you, wanting you dead. And somebody youlove becomes obsessive, following your every move. It’s quite the opposite of a miracle, really.”

“Woah. I didn’t think of it that way.”“And if the emotion fades some time later – if you

stop feeling it yourself – the bond from this stillremains.”

“They continue to hate you?”“Yes. But in the new, stronger way.”“Wow,” Laura whispered.“Did anyone call out to you like that, when we

touched?”Laura thought back. She knew what Logan was

asking. He wanted to know if Brady’s thoughtsbeckoned her.

“No,” she finally admitted.“Well, I think that answers your original question,

then.”“Yes… I think it does.”“So you see, I meant what I said.” He flashed a

triumphant grin. “That I could show you what Bradythought of you.”

“Apparently, not much,” she mumbled. “But it’s notlike I expected anything more after what happened,anyway. Thank you, Logan, for sharing this with me.”

“Of course. But you mustn’t tell anyone about it.”“Who would believe me anyway?”“That’s right,” he chuckled. “No one would.” He

paused for a second. “And, Laura… I hope you won’thate me.”

“Hate you?” She was taken aback again. “Whywould I hate you?”

“Because of what I showed you.” Suddenly, helooked every bit the shy boy she had met last week,and nothing like the proud young man who wasstanding before her.

“You shared with me a precious gift,” she told himquietly, “and I could never hate you for that.”

“Thank you.” He looked relieved. Then he smiledat her, returning to an image of confidence. “We’dbetter get going, then, to our next class. I’ll see youafterschool?”

Laura smiled back. “I’ll see you there.”

Chapter Seven~Questions~

When Laura got to her math class afterschool,Logan was already there, waiting for her. He smiledfrom their usual spot in the back as she walked in. She’d had all day to think about what he showed herearlier. And the more she thought about it, the moreamazed she became.

She racked her brain all day, trying to put sometype of logical explanation to what it was. But shecouldn’t think of anything. It was illogical, it wassupernatural, it was paranormal, it was… magical. Itwas nothing short of a miracle.

She wondered how many people knew about hisgift. She didn’t think many did. And he must have feltreally bad for what transpired on Thursday, for actingwithout asking her, to show his ability to her. She feltprivileged to have been shown it at all.

But above all, she was curious. Curious to knowmore. So despite herself, she rushed to the back ofthe room as soon as she saw him there, eager to askhim a million questions and more.

“Hey,” he said as she sat down.“Hey,” she replied. Then, looking up to see that

Mrs. Millburn wasn’t paying them much attention, burst

out with, “What you showed me today was amazing!”“I thought you might like it,” he said slyly.“Oh, absolutely! But… can I ask you something?”“Sure, go ahead.”“The mind thing… can you do it whenever you

want? I mean, does it happen whenever someonetouches you?”

“Yes and no,” he laughed. “I have to consciouslydecide to let people experience that before theymake contact. So like, if someone brushes my handaccidentally,” he reached over to slid a finger overLaura’s hand, “nothing happens. But if I want them toexperience it, like I did with you earlier today, then Ihave to decide to let them in, so to speak, at themoment contact happens.”

“Wow. And did you always know you had thatability?”

“The truth is, I didn’t always have it. It developedwhen I was very young, but I wasn’t born with it, I don’tthink. Then again, maybe I just can’t remember backfar enough. Everything from my childhood is a bitdark, and somewhat blurry. There are not a lot ofgood memories from there.

“But you were right. Before I learned to control it, ithappened every time somebody touched me, nomatter how briefly. Most people just pulled away,

thinking they experienced something like an electricshock…”

“What about you? What’s it like, for you, when ithappens? Like today, when I held your hand, what didyou feel?”

“Nothing,” he replied simply. “That’s why it took meso long to understand what people experienced whenthey made contact with me. My earliest memory of itwas when I couldn’t figure out why adults werebecoming frightened of me. Of course, it wasbecause whenever they touched my skin, theyexperienced that… flood… of thoughts, barragingthrough their heads. I can’t imagine what it’s like,personally. But I’ve been told, and pieced enoughthings together.”

“So you’ve shown other people before, then?” Alittle bit of disappointment blossomed in Laura’sstomach as she said that, and she didn’t really knowwhy.

“Not many,” he shook his head. “There was oneperson, though, who I shared it all with, a long timeago. And they helped me learn to control it, taught mewhat it really was.”

“Wow. Who was that person?”“I… can’t tell you. Something happened to them

that I still… can’t… make myself talk about.” He

sighed, and his eyes looked sad. “I’m sorry. I know Imust be giving you more questions than answers. And I can imagine how overwhelming it must be foryou.”

“No, not at all,” Laura said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”“No, don’t worry about that. You didn’t pry at all. It’s

my own demon I have to battle.” Suddenly his eyes litup again, this time with concern. “You mustn’t worry,though. What happened to her had nothing to do withmy ability. There’s no danger to you.”

Laura caught something in what he said that stuckout immediately. He said her. Meaning the personwho helped him develop the ability had been female. She didn’t think he meant give away a detail like that.

She decided to change the subject. “You knowwhat I think?” she said. “I think your gift is an angelicpower.”

To her surprise, he burst out laughing. A rich,booming laugh that caused Mrs. Millburn to look up. On seeing that, he quieted down, but inadvertentchuckles still escaped his lips.

“Hardly,” he said to her finally. “That’s the furthestthing from the truth.”

“No, I’m sure it is,” Laura persisted. “That’s the onlyexplanation I could come up with.”

“No, it definitely is not that. It’s a curse, if anything.”

“How can you say that?”“Say what? That it’s a curse?”“Yes.”“There are still parts of it you don’t know, Laura.”“Like what?”“I… can’t say.”“So you do know more than me!”“About what?”“About your ability!”“Yes, a bit more,” he admitted. “But it’s nothing you

should worry over.”“You showed me so much already,” she said, “it’s

not fair for you to not tell me more!”“Laura, I wish I could, but I can’t.”“Why not?” She knew she was pressing the subject,

but didn’t care. She had to know more.“Some things aren’t meant to be shared,” he said.

Then, he added quietly, as if to himself, “Some thingsare a burden you must bear on your own.”

“What was that?” Laura asked.“Nothing.” He shook his head. For a second, he

looked to be fighting two conflicting thoughts in hismind. Then he sighed. “Laura, I can’t tell youeverything, but if you want… I can show you some ofit.”

“Show me? You mean something other than the

mind thing?”“Yes. In a way.”“…ok. When?”“Today?”“Like, right now?”“No, not right now,” he laughed, “but after we’re

done with this class.”“Oh.” Laura thought for a second. “My mom’s

picking me up after. Because of the animal warning.”“Animal warning?”“Yea, haven’t you heard?”“No…?”She was surprised. It had been all over the news

for the past few days. “Everyone’s talking about it. It’s been pretty much the only thing on the community’smind.”

“Well, if you haven’t noticed,” he said drily, “I’msomewhat new here.”

“Oh.” Laura blushed. “That’s right. Well, there wasthis murder last week, sometime Thursday evening, ina nearby pub. A fight got out of hand between twopeople, and they took it outside. Apparently, one ofthem got knocked out, and the other left. But thatwasn’t the lethal blow. When the police found the guywho was knocked out a few hours later, he had twoinexplicable, large, like… teeth marks… on his neck.

And his body had been drained completely of blood. They’re not sure what did it, but they think some typeof animal was responsible. So they issued a warningfor nobody to walk anywhere alone until they figure itall out.”

“So that’s what they’re calling it,” he said quietly,half to himself. Laura was sure she wasn’t meant tohear. Then he looked up at her. “I have a car,” hesaid, “I can drive you after school.”

“Really?”“Yes.”“Well, ok. I’ll text my mom then.” She pulled her

phone out of her pocket and switched it on. While shewas typing, she spoke up again. “So what you wantto show me… is it similar to the mind thing?”

“You’ll see,” he said mysteriously.“Ok,” she laughed. She had no idea what it would

be.

Chapter Eight~At the Lake~

When the clock hit 4:15 PM, Laura and Logan weredismissed from their afterschool detention. She’dalready texted her mom, saying she was going outwith a friend, and that she’d have a ride home.

Logan lead her outside, where a few cars dottedthe parking lot. He made his way over to one in thecorner. It was a gray old Volvo, and had a few dentsalong its outer body. The tires looked worn, and a bitof rust edged out from underneath the vehicle.

“That’s your car?” Laura asked incredulously.“She’s old, but she’s trustworthy,” Logan said. He

patted the car’s roof affectionately. “She’s been withme for a long time.”

“Did you buy it yourself?”“I saved up for it, yea. I know it might not look it, but

the car’s safe, trust me. I do the maintenance.”That didn’t offer much reassurance to Laura.“Come on,” Logan urged as he unlocked the car, “it

won’t bite.”A light drizzle started to fall, and Laura shrugged.

As long as the car worked, it would get them wherethey needed to go. She came around the front andclimbed in.

As she closed the door and pulled her seatbelt on,Logan inserted the key and started the engine. Toher surprise, it started smoothly, purring as all thegears started to move. “See,” he smiled at her, “I toldyou it’s well maintained.”

“I was expecting it to barely turn on,” Laura laughed.“Ah, come on, it doesn’t look that bad,” Logan

laughed back. “No, I guess not,” Laura admitted. The start of a

familiar song started playing from the speakers, andLaura listened for a second to catch it. Then she gotit. “Bob Marley?”

“It’s a classic, yea.” He flashed her a grin. “A CDof his greatest hits.” He leaned forward to turn up thesong.

She laughed. “Nice.”Logan nodded, and switched the gear to drive. As

the car started moving from its parking spot, Lauraspoke up, “Where are we going?”

“There’s a lake around here, isn’t there?” Loganasked, pulling out into the street. “Lake Vancouver?”

“Yea, there is.”“We need to go there.”“How come?”“For what I want to show you, we need to be

somewhere calm… somewhere serene. I’m sure

there’s a lookout point at the lake, right?”Laura thought for a moment before remembering.

“Yea, I think there is.”“Good. Do you know the way?”“Yea, I think so.”They drove off, and Laura started giving Logan

directions to the lake. She didn’t quite know wherethe lookout point was, but thought they’d be able tofind it if they started driving along the shore.

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” Laura asked aftera while as Logan took a left turn off the main road.

“Sure.”“It’s kind of personal, and I don’t mean to pry, but

I’ve been wondering this ever since last week.”“Yes?”“Um, when you took on the four guys in the school.

You were like, amazing. Fast and agile, and youknew exactly what you were doing.”

“Thanks for noticing,” he chuckled.“Well, I wanted to know, how’d you learn to fight like

that?”Logan spared a look over his shoulder at her.

“That’s your question?”“Well, yes,” Laura said. To her surprise, Logan

burst out laughing. “What’s so funny?” shedemanded, feeling her cheeks start to grow red.

“It’s just the way you framed that,” Logan saidamidst laughter. “Building up the question like that. Saying it was something personal. I was expectingsomething much worse.”

“No, I…” Laura stumbled abashedly. It felt like hewas laughing at her, and she began to feel awkward. “I just wanted to be polite!”

“Well, after what I showed you this morning, I don’tthink you need to worry about prying,” Logan saidlightheartedly. Then he smiled over at her. “Ahh,come on, I’m not making fun of you. I’ll answer yourquestion, don’t worry. How’d I learn to fight like that? Well, you don’t know this, but I alluded to it, earlier. When I said things from my childhood were dark andfoggy. The truth is, I don’t have much of a family. Idon’t have a family at all, actually.

“I grew up in an orphanage, and moved around awhole lot. Doing that as a kid, especially without areal family to back you up, you learn to stick up foryourself. I guess I just learned to do it on the streets.”

“Wow,” Laura said. “I’m so sorry. About yourfamily. It must be tough not knowing who they are.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” Logan shrugged it off. “It’s not like I haven’t gotten used to it by now,anyway.”

“I guess,” Laura said. “But I can’t imagine what

that’s like.”“Nor should you,” Logan answered.They drove a bit further in silence, and then Laura

spoke up again.“Your ability,” she said, “you said you developed it

when you were a kid. Have you ever met anybodyelse with it?”

“No.” Just then, Laura recognized the area they were in.

“Ah, ok, we’re very close,” she said. “Take a right atthe next side-road, and I think there’s a little lookout atthe end of the dirt road.”

“K.”Laura looked out her window at the evergreens

around her as they drove down the small road. Shealways found them beautiful. Clean, and pristine.

Sure enough, after a minute or so, the road upahead ended in a small dirt lot right on the shore ofthe lake. They drove up to it, and Laura saw theywere the only ones there. Logan parked the car, andlooked over to her.

“Do you dream, Laura,” he asked suddenly.“Do I dream? Of course I do. Everybody does.”“No, no.” He shook his head. “I don’t mean dreams

like dreams and hopes. I mean the journey that yougo on when you’re asleep.”

“Of course I do.”“And do you ever believe in your dreams? Do you

ever feel like they have something to reveal to you,perhaps a truth about the world?”

“Hmm… maybe. When I was younger. Not much,anymore, really.”

“Well,” he said coyly, “how would you like toexperience that feeling again?”

“What, dreaming?”“No, not just dreaming. Knowing your dreams.

Knowing they signify more.”“How?” Laura asked suspiciously.“I can take you there.”“What do you mean?”“It’s another… ability… I have. It’s what I wanted to

show you.”“Umm, ok.” She couldn’t back off now.“Ok.” He looked ahead, at the lake, and when he

moved his lips, the words were barelydistinguishable. “Look outside, Laura. Look at thecalm of the lake. Feel at the serenity of the water.” He rolled down his window a bit. “Breathe in the air,feel the freshness, the vibrancy of it all. Actually,” helooked to her, “this would work better outside.” Andhe stepped out of the car. Laura didn’t have anychoice but to follow.

Logan jumped up onto the hood of the Volvo, andmotioned for Laura to do the same. She climbed on,sitting beside him, hands wrapped around her knees.

“Breathe the air in, Laura. Take in the silence, thenature. Hear the sounds of the lapping water, therustle of wind through the trees. Embrace it all,Laura.”

“Ok…” she said uncertainly.“Now, I want you to focus on this very moment. The

very spot you’re in right now. Feel the cool metal ofthe car beneath you, the breeze tugging at yourclothes. Inhale the pristine smells of the trees allaround you, the rhythmic lapping of the lake.

“Ok,” Laura said. She listened to what he said, andmade her mind focus on only what he pointed out.

“Now, I want you to give me your hand. But beforeyou do, know that this is going to be different from lasttime.”

“Different, how?”“I will show you what I know.”“Ok.” She reached over to take his hand, not

knowing what to expect. When their fingerstouched… there was nothing. No barrage ofunwanted thoughts flooding into her mind. For somereason, she started to feel drowsy. Her eyes beganto droop shut. Her focus was wavering, and she had

a hard time keeping her head up. She held his hand,though, and noticed it was icy cold, stealing herwarmth.

“This… will go the other way,” he told her gently. “You’re going to want to take a nap.”

“I will?” Laura said drowsily.“Yes, you will.” He tightened his grip on her hand.

“Do not be afraid, Laura. Relax your mind, and letgo.”

“...o…k…” she drawled the words. She felt hereyes close, and just before she fell asleep, sheslumped heavily into Logan.

Chapter Nine~Into the Dream~

Laura opened her eyes. She was in exactly thesame spot she remembered, sitting on top of thehood of the car. Nothing had changed. She lookedup, realizing that Logan was holding her, lookingdown at her. His face looked a little… different. Itwas clearer than before. Or maybe everything elsewas a bit fuzzy.

“Ah, there you are,” he said. “You took a while.”“What do you mean?”He smiled. “Welcome to my world.” And he leapt

up off the car. But instead of landing on the ground,as Laura would have expected, he just floatedhorizontally in the air. He twisted back, hands behindhis head, as if reclining on a couch. Laura gaped.

“How are you doing that?” she asked. “Is thisanother trick?”

“No, no trick,” he promised. “You’re now in thedream world.”

“The dream world? What do you mean? Am Iasleep?”

“That’s right. In fact, we’re both asleep, and you’reholding my hand.”

Laura looked around her. Nothing looked different.

She put a hand down to feel the metal of the car. Itwas cool to the touch, as before. And the small,lapping waves at the shoreline continued just asbefore. She spun around to look behind her. Thesame dirt road she remembered driving down wasthere, as were all the evergreens, swaying gently inthe light wind.

“How is it possible?” she asked. “I can see you justlike I would in real life. Except, you know, for the factthat you’re floating in the air!”

Logan laughed lightly, and touched down on theground. He offered a hand to help her step down,which she took gingerly. And took her first step insidethe dream world.

The ground felt solid enough underneath her. Butjust then, as she took another step, reality blurred. Itwas only for an instant, but in that instant she felt likeshe lost all her coordination, all sense of where shewas. She stumbled, and Logan caught her beforeshe fell.

“Careful there,” he said. “On your first journey here,your body needs to get used to it.”

“What do you mean?” Laura asked again. “I don’tunderstand what this is. Get used to what? You needto explain everything!”

“Everything?” Logan mused.

“Everything. And don’t you dare leave anythingout! You brought me here, after all!”

Logan laughed. “In time, Laura, you’ll know morethan you’d ever hoped. Explaining everything couldtake a very long time, though. Let’s just start with thebasics?”

“Ok,” she said reluctantly. “Ok, so the basics are,” he said, just as he leapt in

the air again to hover a few feet off the ground, “that Ican do this, and you cannot. Not yet, anyway.”

“How come?”“Reality is mutable, here. But you have to learn to

control it.” He touched back to the ground. “Forexample, take floating, what I just did. How do youthink I did it?”

“Um, I don’t know. You just jumped, and… stayed inthe air.”

“I jumped.” He smiled. “That couldn’t be furtherfrom the truth. What I did, in truth, is push everythingelse down. I pushed reality down, a few feet awayfrom me. You went along, with it.

“Now, from your perspective, it looked like I jumpedup and floated in the air. But for me, I actually stayedperfectly still, in the same dimensional plane. It waseverything else that moved.”

“Woah,” Laura breathed. “Can I learn to do that?”

“Yes, eventually. If your mind is strong enough. Butnot yet. Like I said, reality is mutable here, whichmeans we can control the things around us. Let’s trysomething simple. Like… your hair.”

“My hair?”“Yes. What color is it?”“Um, I don’t know. It’s dark. A deep shade of

brown, maybe?”“And mine?”“Yours is sleek black.”“Ok, I want you to watch me very carefully. Are you

looking?”“Yes.”“Ok… and now?”Laura’s jaw dropped. On his words, Logan’s hair

changed to the lightest shade of blonde she couldimagine. There was no transition. One second it wasblack, and the next, bleach-blonde. Everything elseabout it stayed the same, though.

He laughed, and his hair changed back. “You wantto give it a try?” he asked.

“Me?”“Yes, I think you’re strong enough to do that.”“Um, ok. How do I do it?”“Well, the first thing you’ll discover is that you can’t

do it to me. You can’t change anything about me,

actually.”“Why not?”“Your mind has power over this world. As does my

mind. But we aren’t actually a part of this world. We’re more like… reflections. What you see beforeyou, the person you’re talking to – and who I see whenI look at you – is just a reflection of your real self. Sosince I’m not actually a part of this world, you can’tchange things about me. Just like I can’t changethings about you.

“However. You do have power over your reflection. It’s kind of like… adjusting the filter that a light goesthrough. If you put a blue screen over a beam of light,the light turns blue. You can put a yellow sheet overthat, and the light turns green. But the light itself isn’tchanging. If that makes sense.”

Laura nodded.“In truth, I think I could change something about you,

but it would only be changed to me. You wouldn’tnotice any difference. It’d be like me putting sometype of special glasses on.

“But you can change things about yourself. If youdo it, your reflection onto this world becomeswhatever you project. So you can be anything, here.” Suddenly, he was a head taller than before. Lauragasped. And in an instant he was even taller, rising

high above her until his knees were of level with herhead. She looked up, speechless. He was as tall asthe biggest evergreen, now, and looked down uponher with eyes as big as the sun. Then, just as quickly,he was back to his regular size. He smiled at her. “That, for example, was much like the hair thing. It justtook more control. I don’t think you’d be able to do it,yet. But I think you have enough control to be able tochange the color of your hair, though.”

“Ok,” Laura said. “I’ll try. What do I do?”“It all begins in your head,” Logan said, tapping his

forehead with a finger. “First, you have to believe thatreality can be changed here. You have to believe thatyou have full control.”

“Ok, I can do that…”“But it’s not enough me telling you. You have to

experience it for yourself…” Abruptly, a huge explosion came from the car,

knocking Laura backwards with its force. She fell,and when she hit the ground, she saw that enormousflames engulfed the ground around her. She tried toscream, but couldn’t get her lungs enough air. Shescrambled back. The heat from the sudden flamesmade the air thick, and she could feel the warmthagainst her skin. She spun her head wildly from sideto side, to find some way to safety. But all around her,

the flames only doubled in strength. She wastrapped, and couldn’t get out.

The flames roared higher, getting closer to her. Trapping her. The air was too hot to breathe. Heatblasted from the inferno, and she flung a hand in frontof her face to face to reduce the blare, but it was nouse. The flames were getting closer. She needed toget out. But how? The fire roared, nearly engulfingher. She could already smell the bitter scent of hersinged hair. Wait. Hair. Her hair.

Suddenly, she remembered what Logan had doneto his. He had changed it. Meaning she couldchange hers. More than that, she could changereality. Desperate, not knowing what else to do, shesqueezed her eyes shut and imagined the ground asit had been. She focused on the clean, cool air sheremembered breathing before. On the breezemoving gently through the trees. On the sound oflapping water from the lake.

The lake! It was still there – it must be! Frantically,she imagined a great invisible bucket scooping upwater from the lake beside her, and throwing it overthe fire.

She gasped as a heavy sheet of icy cold waterslammed hard against her. Her eyes popped open inshock, and she coughed loudly, choking on the bit of

water she had breathed in when she gasped. But theheat of the fire was gone. As the coughing fit dieddown, and she looked around her, she saw that theground was absolutely drenched. Puddles of waterwere everywhere, and she sat in the middle of thebiggest one.

Laughter came from behind her, and she spunaround. Logan was there, picking his way along drypatches of ground. And he didn’t have a drop ofwater on him.

Suddenly everything had come together. He haddone this to her – he had caused the explosion! Anger raged through her, and she started to rise,ready to pummel him to oblivion with her fists, when abetter idea struck.

Doing as she had before, she imagined a giantbucket dipping into the lake to pick up huge amount ofwater. Twice as much as before. As she did that,she allowed the water to be touched by a hint of frost,making it as cold as possible while remaining justshort of freezing. Then she threw all that right on topof Logan.

He gasped as the water fell on his head, thenslipped and fell as the stream engulfed his entirebody. Laura placed an invisible border of air aroundher so that the water from the lake wouldn’t get to her.

Only when the pouring stopped, with Logan lyinghelplessly on the ground, drenched just as much asshe was, did she let the border of air dissipate. Andshe walked over to him.

As she came closer, she saw that he wasshivering. He had gotten up to his hands and knees,with his head down, and his body shook with shiversof cold. Suddenly she grew alarmed. Had she hurthim? Did she make the water too cold? Did shepour too much?

Then his head swung up, and he looked at her. Mirth filled his eyes, and an enormous grin sat on hisface. He wasn’t shivering at all. He was laughing! Probably laughing at her. Her anger returned, and justas she was about to think of something else to do,Logan was at her side.

There was no movement that she saw. Onemoment he was on the ground, wet and laughing, andthe next he was beside her, dry as a duck and holdingher arm. It was taking all of her dignity not to claw hiseyes out for what he’d done.

“Before you do anything else,” he said quickly,“realize that I know a lot more than you, and I couldcounter before you even knew it.” Then he took hishand away and frowned. “And you’re still wet.”

Abashedly, Laura had realized that she was. Could

she change that, too? She imagined herself in thesame clothes, dry as they had been. Nothinghappened. She closed her eyes, and tried again. When she opened them, her clothes were as wet asever.

Logan smiled. “Remember what I said. You arejust a reflection, but everything else is part of thisworld. You and everything that came with you –clothes included – are reflections. Instead of thinkingof dry clothes, think of taking the water out of yourclothing.”

Laura growled, and tried again. This time, likeLogan suggested, she imagined the water beingpulled out of her clothing. She saw the cross-weavesof the fabric in her mind’s eye, and thought of tiny littledroplets coming out of the cloth and evaporating intothe air. As she did that, she realized that she wascompletely dry.

Logan laughed. Laura looked at him strangely for amoment, but then she began to laugh, too. Hislaughter was contagious. And, anyway, doing all thisfelt wonderful!

For the first time in her life, she was in full control ofnearly everything around her. Any angry thoughts shehad before quickly cleared away, and she laughedwith pure joy. This truly was an amazing world Logan

was showing her. An astounding world! One that justbrimmed with endless possibilities. She felt euphoric,and let her laughter sweep her away. She spunaround happily, and Logan laughed even more.

Finally, with the laughter starting to subside, Loganlooked at her somewhat seriously.

“You did a fantastic job back there,” he said.“Thanks,” she said. “At first, I couldn’t believe that

you were responsible for the explosion!”“Yes, but I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you.

But you handled it by yourself like a pro. Your mind isa lot stronger than I would have thought.”

“What do you mean?” Laura asked, curious.“For most people, the first time they come here,

they panic so much in those flames that they seize up,and rip themselves out of this world. It’s just like whenyou wake up in the middle of a nightmare. Your mindcan’t handle the pressure, and wants to escape. You,however, fought it all off very well. And especially thatwater touch at the end. That was something.”

“Wait, what did you just say?”“Hmm? About what?”“About ‘most people.’ Are there others you’ve

taken here?”“…yes,” Logan answered slowly. “Never mind that.

I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“No, but you did,” Laura pressed on. “Who elsehave you brought here before?”

“Not many, personally,” Logan answered. “But I’veseen people come here. Sometimes, people stumbleupon this place in their own dreams. Everybody hasaccess to it, you see, but most people don’t realize it. In fact, I don’t think any people really realize it. Everytime you dream in your bed, you have a chance –however small it may be – of drifting into this place. That’s when you have your most memorable dreams,and the ones you’re sure mean something. Becausethis place stands out so much in your mind comparedto your regular dreams.

“I’m not exactly sure about how it all works, but fromwhat I’ve pieced together… I think that right here, rightwhere we are right now, exists as a… parallel plane. To our regular lives. Maybe to our regular dreams,even. And like I said, everybody has the ability toenter this… plane.”

“Like a parallel universe?” Laura asked.“Sort of. But it’s more like… two sheets of paper,

held parallel to one another. If one sheet of paper hassomething drawn on it, and you shine a light through itonto the other sheet, the shadow of the drawing fallsonto the second piece of paper. I know it’s confusing– it doesn’t even make much sense to me – but I think

that’s sort of how this place works.”“So our real world is the piece of paper with the

drawing,” Laura said slowly, “… and this world is thesecond sheet, with the shadow falling onto it?”

“Yea, exactly. That’s the best way I can explain it. Iknow it’s not very elegant, but it’s been useful to me. A bit hard to grasp though, right?”

“No, no, I think I got it. I have another question,though.”

“Ask away.”“How did we get here? How did you bring me

here?”“Ah.” Logan smiled. “That. That has to do with

what I showed you at school.”“With your mind-reading ability?”“Hah. I wouldn’t call it quite that, but yes, it has to

do with my ability. When we touched hands in the realworld, a sort of… wrinkle… occurred. It happenedright before all the thoughts come flooding into yourhead. That wrinkle, I think, has to do with realityshifting slightly right before the thoughts come. But Ilearned that if I timed it right – if I let you experiencethat flood of thoughts just as you’re falling asleep – inthat last split-second, your mind, and mine as well,shifts into this realm. And you come here. The worldof dreams.”

“That’s amazing,” Laura breathed.“Yes, it’s very interesting, isn’t it? Oh, one more

thing. Time flows differently here. Sometimes muchfaster than in the real world, sometimes – muchslower. Usually, though, it’s much faster. Soeverything we’ve experienced so far – from mejumping off the car all the way to this conversation –has occurred in the span of only a few seconds in thereal world.”

“Wait, so in the real world,” Laura emphasized forclarification, “we’re both asleep? On top of your car?”

“That’s right. And as soon as we go back, we wakeup.”

“How do we go back?”“I’ll show you. Not just yet, though. What I was just

saying, about time flowing differently, that’s moreimportant. Now, do you remember when you tookyour first step, and you stumbled towards me?”

“Yes, I do.”“What’d you feel, when it happened?”“What did I feel?”“Yea, like what was that like for you?”“Um… I felt dizzy, I think. Like I lost my sense of

gravity. Kind of like I couldn’t say which way was upand which was down.”

“Did objects kind of… streak together for you?”

“Oh that’s right! Yea, my vision blurred a bit and allthe colors merged.”

“Ok, well, I call that a glitch. And what it is, I think, isyour body protesting you entering this realm. It’snothing to worry about. Unless it happens in rapidsuccession, and doesn’t stop.”

“Does that happen often?”“No,” Logan admitted. “But when it does, you have

to watch out for it. Like I said, sometimes time flowsfaster here than in the real world, but – sometimes –much slower. It’s rare when it flows slower, but you becareful then.”

“How come?”“Because if it flows slower here, you might get

caught sleeping for a very long time in the real world. Days, weeks, or even months can pass in seconds. Years, maybe, I think, if you don’t get out fast enough.”

Laura gasped. “Years?”“Yes. And nothing will wake you. Your only clue to

that happening is if those glitches occur, over andover, right when you get in.

“If that happens, you need to get out as fast as youcan. You never know – every second you stay herelonger might be another few hours you’re asleep for –or more – in the real world.”

“Has that… ever happened to you?”

“Once, when I was much younger. I came here, andwave after wave of those glitches attacked me. Ididn’t know what was going on. I didn’t think too muchof it, though, once they stopped, and stayed formaybe half an hour. When I got up in the real world,nearly ten days had passed.”

“You were out for ten days?” Laura marveled.“Yea,” Logan grinned. “I found myself in the hospital

when I woke up, and I had no idea what was goingon. The doctors thought I had fallen into a coma in mysleep. I gave the nurse quite a scare when I shot tolife in the middle of the night.” He laughed. “That’sthe only danger for you here. Getting caught whentime flows slowly.”

“But you said that doesn’t happen very often?”“No, it doesn’t. Usually it’s flowing a lot faster, like

right now. It all comes in waves, I think. Maybe thebest way to think of it is… the scale of time oscillatingback and forth. Like a pendulum.” He made a signwith his hands designating one. “When it swings tothe very right—” he brought a finger to the right, “—time here is much slower than in real life. And as itfalls back and swings to the left—” he motioned withhis finger to the left “—time here gets faster andfaster, until it peaks as it hits the very left. And then itgoes back. On and on again, back and forth, in a

cycle.“Now, one thing I’ve realized is that it’s not a

perfectly even pendulum. Most of the swing is spentin the zone where time is faster here. Only a smallsliver—” again, he motioned with his finger “—of thependulum’s swing is spent in the zone when time isslower here.”

“I think I get it,” Laura said. Then she smiled. “Youexplain it very well.”

“Nah,” he said, waving the compliment away. “Youjust pick it up very quickly.”

“Maybe. So, what else does this place do? …Nowthat I’ve gotten the entire airplane safety lecture,” sheadded with a wink.

“Oh, I can show you,” Logan replied, with amischievous twinkle in his eye.

Chapter Ten~A Watcher~

Laura felt exhilarated. She’d spent the last fewhours exploring this world together with Logan. Reality really was mutable here, and she couldn’tbelieve the things they could do.

What stood out most to her was that you could goanywhere. Really anywhere. You had to know yourspot to get to it, though, which meant you have to havebeen there in real life. Unfortunately for Laura, shehadn’t been much further than the border of the townwhere she grew up. Fortunately, Logan had.

“Ready?” he asked after explaining how travelingwould work. She nodded, and took his hand. Instantly, everything around her started streaking inone direction. Landscapes raced by, towns andcities and mountains and highways and rivers andfields, all flashing by her in the blink of an eye. It didn’tfeel like she was moving – there was no wind in herface, no resistance from the air like when you put yourhand out the window of a speeding car. Buteverything around her changed, rushing by.

She couldn’t do it by herself, yet, which was whyshe needed to take Logan’s hand. It was the only wayhe could bring her along where he went. Finally they

stopped, and Laura found herself atop a lush greenhill, where wild flowers and grasses grew as far as theeye could see. The sun shone brightly above them,radiating heat onto Laura’s body.

She laughed and twirled around, spreading herhands to feel the flora brush against them. Loganlaughed too, and sped down the hill, taunting Laura tofollow. She ran after him, right through the tall grassand colorful flowers. Her toe caught and she tripped,but the soft dirt cushioned her fall, and she didn’t evenbother to get up as she rolled down the hill laughingand giggling.

At the bottom, Logan was waiting. She landed rightat his feet, and another fit of giggles overtook her. Hepulled her up, laughing alongside her.

“This is wonderful!” she exclaimed for what musthave been the tenth time thus far. “Everything aboutthis place! The feeling of freedom, the absolutecontrol, the endless possibilities… it’s wonderful!”

“Glad you like it,” Logan smiled.“Although I’ve been wondering,” Laura added, “is it

possible to bring things into this world?”“Like what?”“Objects, maybe?”“You have to know it very well. Like…” he thought

for a moment, and Laura jumped as his Volvo fell

down behind her. “Your car?” she said, raising an eyebrow. He spread his hands defensively and smiled. “I’ve

been working on it for a very long time. You try.”“On what?” Laura asked.“Something simple, at first. A purse maybe. It’s

just like anything else here, you have to picture it downto its finest details.”

“Hmm. Ok.” Laura thought for a second, and thena heavy book appeared in her hands.

“A book?” This time, Logan rose an eyebrow.“No, not just any book,” she said, and threw it to

him. He caught it, and flipped it over in his hands. “Our math book,” he chuckled.

“That’s how all this started, after all.”“That’s right,” Logan said.Just then, Laura felt a shiver run down her spine.

She turned back, wondering what caused it. Logancaught her movement.

“What is it?” he asked.“I thought I felt something,” she said slowly, then

shook her head. “Never mind. It’s gone now.”“Are you sure?”“I think so, yes.”“Ok,” Logan said. Then he extended his hand to

her. “Want to see something really cool?”

“Of course,” Laura replied, and took it.Again, landscapes raced by, streaking alongside

Laura. And then they stopped, and Laura foundherself standing with Logan before a beautiful lake. Itwas hidden deep in the crest of a mountain, the farside cradled by cliffs of ragged stone. The water wascrystal clear, casting perfect reflections of the sun’srays, and the shore contained only the smoothestblue-gray pebbles.

“I found this place once after walking for an entireday through the dream world,” Logan explained. “Icome here sometimes to think.”

“I can see why,” Laura said. The air here felt evenfresher than at the lake they began at. A bird sang inthe distance, and the rustle of trees came from behindthem. The only thing that foiled the illusion was theslight edge of fuzziness that lay upon all the items ofthis world.

Logan let go of her hand, and strolled up to thelake. He bent down to dangle his fingers in the water,then, picking out a round stone, got up and skipped itacross the lake.

“Can you skip rocks, Laura?” he asked.“Uh… no, not really,” she admitted.“Come on over, then. I’ll teach you.” He smiled at

her. “It’s easy, really.”

Laura walked to him, but as she got closer, thatfeeling of being watched returned. She glanced back,but, on seeing nothing, continued on. Logan tossedher a stone, and she stumbled catching it.

“Come on now, that’s the easy part,” he teased. Laura grinned at him devilishly, and chucked the rockas hard as she could into the lake. It fell lifelessly intothe water without a single skip.

“Well, you sure have the strength for it,” Loganlaughed, and threw another rock himself. His skippedfive times before sinking. Then he came over to help.

For the next twenty minutes, Logan tried teachingLaura how to duplicate his feat – without muchsuccess. Still, they was having fun, and they bothlaughed at her attempts while playfully poking fun atone another. By the end of it, Laura’s arm wasabsolutely exhausted, and her shoulder kind of hurt,so she collapsed, defeated but laughing, onto theground.

Right when she fell, that feeling of unseen eyesreturned, stronger than ever before. This time, shewas sure somebody was there. Just as Logan threwone last stone across the water, she looked back –and froze as she saw a man, dressed in all black,peek out from a faraway tree. Their eyes met for aninstant, and then the man disappeared.

Suddenly Logan was at her side. “What’s wrong?”he asked.

“I just saw somebody.”“What do you mean?” His tone was grave, and his

face serious.“At that tree, over there,” she pointed. “He

disappeared right when I saw him.”He relaxed visibly. “Sometimes people drift in

here, coming to places they know,” he explained. “They only stay a moment, and then return to theirregular dreams.”

“This man was looking right at me, though. I felt hisgaze.”

“What?” His eyes became laser sharp, and hefocused on her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I felt it before, too, but I didn’t think anything ofit.”

“This man,” Logan said, “what did he look like?”“I didn’t get a very good look at him,” Laura

admitted. “And he was far away. But he had a blackcoat on, and a black hat. Everything about him wasblack. Except his skin, it was pale white, much like…yours.” Laura gulped the words.

“What?” Logan demanded. “Are you sure?”“Yes.”“Shit.” Logan got up, looking over his shoulder,

looking all around. “Take my hand,” he said to herurgently.

“Why?”“We need to leave. Now.”Laura reached up to grasp his hand. On contact, a

blast of cold jolted through her bones, and everythingaround her turned dark. She felt herself fading away,felt her body begin to disintegrate as the world aroundher started to crumble. The only thing she was sure ofwas Logan’s hand, gripping her own tightly. Then shefelt heat, the flare of molten-hot rock churning down ariver of lava, and she started to fall. Direction becamemeaningless, and she fell for infinity, for eons, in nodirection and in them all, with no sense of time orspace to guide her. She fell through layers of heatand layers of cold, and the frost from all the world’sglacier’s froze her body as the heat of a thousandsuns coursed through her veins. She fell… and wasripped back into her body, on top of Logan’s grayVolvo in front of the lake.

Her eyes popped open. A light rain had begun tofall while they were asleep, and her clothing wasslightly damp. She felt Logan’s hard body at her side,and looked up. He was blinking, coming to as shehad. He looked down, and his eyes met hersmomentarily. Then he pushed her aside and leapt off

the car. He started to pace back and forth in front ofher, and he looked troubled.

“Logan, what’s wrong?” Laura worriedly. “Whathappened back there?”

Logan looked at her, but didn’t answer. He keptpacing back and forth in front of her.

“Logan, tell me what’s going on!” Laurademanded.

“I’m not supposed to bring you there,” he said, halfto himself. Then he spoke louder, “Get in the car.”

Precipitating his own words, he had unlocked thedoor and climbed in before Laura even had a chanceto get off the hood. She opened the door and satinside, and looked at Logan. He looked worried,uncertain, troubled, and conflicted all in one. Withoutspeaking, he started the engine, and backed the carup in reverse.

“Where are we going?” Laura asked.“I need to get you home.”“Why? Logan, what’s going on?”“I need time to think,” he answered. He turned the

car around, and sped down the dirt road, away fromthe lake.

“Does it have to do with that man I saw?” Lauraasked.

“Maybe,” he said quietly. “I’m not sure.”

“Logan, look at me!” Laura practically screamedthe words. His behavior had her on edge, and shewasn’t getting any answers. He hit the brakes hard,causing her to fly forward and hit the dashboard. Shegrunted on impact. “Why did you do that?” shedemanded angrily.

“You told me to look at you.” Logan turned his headto stare right at her.

“I didn’t mean it literally,” Laura said under herbreath, but returned his stare. “Logan, you have to tellme. Is this… any of this… dangerous?”

“I’m not sure.” He sighed. “I can’t say.”“Well, what can you say?” she said furiously. “You

brought me into this, and if there’s any danger, I needto know!”

“What can I say?” he repeated. “Not much. Notmuch that would make sense to you. But… thismight. There are others… like me. My kind. They’redream walkers. Where we just went, Laura, that wasyour dream. To access it, I needed your touch. Tobring you into it. Everybody has their own dreams. Most occur in the safety of their own imagination, butfrom time to time, people access the same place wewent to. That place is the same for everyone, and yeteveryone has their own version of it. I…” he paused,struggling, “… I know I’m not making much sense.

Think of… of a movie DVD. If you have a movie on adisk, and I have another disk of the same movie, thetwo disks exist as separate objects. But if you putthem into a player, they’ll both output the same thing. They’ll play the same movie. But one of the disks ismine, and the other is yours. It’s the same thing withthe dream world. A person can’t access anotherperson’s dream world like we just did… notconsciously, anyway, and not at all most of the time.

“But there are some… that can transcend thatlimitation. They don’t need the touch. I wouldn’t thinkthey’d notice, if we went into your dreams. But theyjump from people’s to people’s dreams like a frogjumps from lily to lily over a pond. In between thedreams… an abyss exists. We touched it brieflywhen we left. But that’s the only time we reach thatabyss. To go to it consciously, to jump from dream todream…” he shivered. “To go to it consciouslymeans you might lose yourself forever. But the dreamwalkers can do that.”

“Wait,” Laura said, “are you telling me thatsomebody else was in my dream?”

“Maybe. I can’t be sure. But I need time to think. Idon’t know what attracted his attention. I was surethat our trip was going to be inconspicuous. I wassure, dammit!” Then he started the car again, and

continued driving forward. But something he saidstuck out in Laura’s mind.

“What did you mean,” she asked, “when you said‘your kind’?”

“Others like me,” he replied absently. Then helooked at her. “Where do you live? I need to get youhome.”

She told him the address. Before she knew it, theywere on the right road, heading towards her house. The drive was spent in silence; every time Lauralooked over at Logan, he appeared to be even moreconcentrated on the road ahead. Soon enough, hepulled up in front of her house. She got out of the car,and told him thank you for the drive. As he drove off,she realized something: she didn’t give him anydirections to her home.

Chapter Eleven~A Visit~

The next day at school, Laura sat idly beside herfriend Kelly. They were in second period scienceclass, and the teacher was doing attendance. Asnames were being called out, followed by answers of“Yes” or “Here” by the students, Kelly was telling Lauraabout a new boy she had met. But Laura was onlylistening with half a mind. Mostly, she was thinkingabout what happened yesterday. About everythingthat happened yesterday.

From learning about the dream world, toexperiencing its wonders with Logan, to that strangelyquiet drive home – all the events swirled in her head. Mostly, though, her thoughts kept wandering back towhat happened at the very end. After she saw thatmysterious man, and Logan pulled them out of thedream world so very quickly. There was definitelysomething there… something he wasn’t telling her.

“Miss Cubus?”Laura looked up, and saw that her teacher was

looking right at her. Everyone else in the class wasstaring at her, too. Suddenly she realized that theteacher had said her name three or four times withoutit registering, and blushed.

“Yes?” she asked meekly.“I’ve been told by the secretary that you’ve been

requested in the principal’s office.”“Really?” Laura was confused. She’d never been

in trouble before. What could this be about? “Do youknow why?”

Her teacher frowned. “They don’t tell me why, MissCubus, and I don’t concern myself with it either way. Get going, now, so you can be back before you missall of today’s lecture.”

“Yes, Mrs. Donnelley.” Laura looked at Kelly beforeshe left, who shrugged at her, and then walked out theclassroom into the hall.

As she walked towards the office, questionspopped into her head. What was this about? Could itbe something to do with the detention she’d receivedin math? No, that had already been dealt with. Maybe it was something to do with what happenedwith Brady? She hoped not. She knew Loganwouldn’t say anything, but could one of those guyshave told on him? She might be in trouble, then.

Deciding not to take any chances, Laura decidedshe would peek through the glass panel doors of theoffice before walking in. If any of the guys fromBrady’s group were there, she would turn away andgo straight back to class. She didn’t want to deal with

them, now.As she got closer to the office doors, she pressed

herself against a wall and looked around the corner. She immediately recognized Principal Cole leaningagainst the counter, talking to two men. Theirattention was diverted off to the side, so their headswere turned. But Laura could have recognized one ofthem from anywhere. It was the man from the dream.

Laura’s vision blurred, and she became dizzy. Shepulled back so she wouldn’t be seen, and leanedheavily against the wall. The same man from thedream. She was certain of it; he wore the same darkclothes, had the same milky pale skin.

She became acutely aware of her heart poundingloudly in her chest. Her breaths had become short;ragged. And adrenaline pumped through her veins. Her entire body was signaling danger, danger to her.

She didn’t know what to do. Slowly, panic startedto set in. What was that man doing here? How did heget here? She started to walk away. Slowly, at first,but then her pace quickened, until she broke out in arun. She had to find Logan. He would know what todo.

But she didn’t know where he was. She knew he’dbe in class – she just didn’t know which one. She ranthrough the halls. How many classrooms were there?

Dozens, at least. But she knew the teachers, knewwhat subjects were being taught in which rooms forstudents in her grade. But she didn’t know Logan’sschedule.

Picking at random, she flung the doors open to oneclassroom, interrupting the teacher mid-sentence. Everybody stared at her. She quickly scanned thefaces, and, on not seeing Logan, ran back out.

She burst into another class. Logan wasn’t thereeither. The teacher yelled, and followed her into thehallway as she backed out. Laura ran on, leaving thecries of obscenity behind. Another classroom. Quickly, she opened the doors and scanned thefaces. Logan wasn’t there.

Desperate, she ran to another class. Still, Loganwas not there. Dammit, but he was taking the samesubjects as her! All the students in her grade were,everybody was taught by the same teachers, so hehad to be in one of these classrooms.

She ran into another room. No Logan. Anotherroom. Still, no Logan. The man’s presence in theoffice was weighing heavily on her. She was gettingmore and more scared. She ran, as fast as her legscould carry her, into a room at the far end of the hall. She was already panting, and her hair was adisheveled mess. She had to catch her breath before

looking up. When she did – she saw that everybodywas gaping at her.

“Laura?”It was Logan’s voice. Logan’s voice, from the

back. She rushed over to him, not caring whatanyone saw or said. He stood from his desk, and shejumped up to embrace him in a tight hug.

“Laura, what’s wrong?” He sounded concerned.“I saw him,” she said quickly, the words rushing out.“Saw who?”“They called for me in the office. Two men. One…”

She gulped. “…one was the man I saw yesterday.”

Chapter Twelve~On the Run~

If it were possible, Laura would have said Loganturned even paler than usual. Suddenly, the confidentyoung man she knew looked very frightened.

“Are you sure?” he asked her.“Yes!” she practically screamed. “Would I come

here like this, in the middle of class, if I wasn’t?” Everybody was still looking. The teacher startedmaking her way over. “Miss,” the teacher began, butLaura ignored it. She had eyes only for Logan.

“You’re right,” he nodded. “We have to go.” And,taking her hand, he led her into the hall.

“Logan, wait,” she said outside the classroom. “Where are we going?”

“We have to get away,” he answered, continuingdown the hall. His hand gripping hers gave herstrength, made her feel stronger. Less scared.

“I don’t understand.”“I’ll tell you. Later. But right now, we need to get out

of the school.” The hall forked into two, and he lookeddown both ways, seeming uncharacteristically unsureof himself. Finally, settling on a direction, he led herthat way.

They came up to an exit door, and he opened it for

her. Before she stepped through, though, he stoppedher.

“Your bag,” he said, “where is it?”“I left it in my other class.”“There’s no time to get it, now,” he mumbled to

himself. “Do you have anything important in there?”“Notebooks, school notes, that type of thing.”“What about your cell phone?”“It’s in my pocket.”Logan nodded. “Good.” And he ran out the school

with her trailing. Outside, Laura realized where hewas headed: towards the parking lot, where hepresumably had his car.

Sure enough, Laura picked it out, standing in thatsame far corner as before. Logan was at a dead-run,now, and Laura struggled to keep up. He got to thecar way before her, and was already in the driver’sseat with the engine on when Laura opened the door.

As soon as Laura clicked on her seatbelt, hegunned the engine, and sped out of the lot. Whenthey were on the road, he started checking his backmirror every few seconds. Obsessively. There wasan obvious tension he was feeling, and the silencethat stretched between them didn’t help.

“What do you keep looking for?” Laura askedsuddenly.

“If they’re coming,” he replied distractedly.“The men from the office?” Laura asked. Logan

nodded quickly in reply. “But how would they evenknow that we left?”

“Trust me. They know.”There was such conviction in his words, that Laura

started looking over her shoulder, too. Everythingseemed fine at first – there weren’t many cars on theroad this close to the school at this hour – and nobodyappeared to be coming after them. Just as Laurastarted to relax slightly, a black car appeared farbehind them. Laura squinted her eyes. It appearedto be getting larger, getting closer to them, veryquickly.

“Logan, the black car,” Laura said.“I see it.” His face was the picture of concentration.

Laura looked back again. And was shocked to seethe black car almost right behind them. The windowswere tinted, so she couldn’t see inside, but she couldmake out the model. They were being chased by ablack Cadillac.

“Hold on,” Logan muttered, and hit the accelerator. Hard.

Laura cried out at the sudden acceleration, andflew back against her seat. Logan was doing fifty,sixty, seventy miles on the small road. Parked cars

flashed by the sides, and Logan swerved left and rightto pass other vehicles on the road. Laura gripped thebottom of her seat so tightly she thought she’d neverbe able to let go.

Laura knew this stretch of road, knew that it wouldnarrow into one lane each way quickly. And she sawa car not far in front of them. There was no way topass it in this section. Looking back, Laura saw thatthe Cadillac was still on their tail.

Suddenly Logan switched into the oncoming lane. A yellow school bus came hurtling towards them. Itsounded its horn, loudly, urgently. Laura could see asmall gap on her right, where the car that had been infront of them slowed down. The bus kept coming, thehorn got louder as it came closer, and Laurascreamed as they were about to hit it.

At the last moment, Logan veered back into theright lane, just in front of that car. The bus passed by,the reverberations from its passing shaking theVolvo. Laura’s breath caught. She stared at Logan inamazement, but he didn’t look the least bit anxious. At least, not anxious about driving. All he did waskeep checking the mirror, continuing to monitor theprogression of the black car.

Laura saw an intersection far ahead of them. Witha stale green light. She gripped her seat tighter as

Logan sped up. He was going to try to make it. Asthey raced closer, Laura watched in horror as the lightturned amber. They were too far to make it. ButLogan didn’t let up, didn’t slow down. If anything, hewent even faster.

The light turned red, and time slowed for Laura. She watched, paralyzed, as the cars lined up at thelight started inching forward, ever so slowly, in theperpendicular direction. And Logan kept going. Theother cars started accelerating too, moving further intothe intersection. Laura felt their car going faster. Thegap between them and the intersection closed. Carswere coming from left and right. And Logan wasn’tslowing down. He was going to go through.

Laura shut her eyes and prayed for nothing tohappen. Just at that moment, the loud blare of angryhorns from all directions sounded. She felt thevibrations of cars passing in front and behind them,heard the swerving of tires, and was sure she wasgoing to die.

Suddenly, all was quiet. The sound of horns wascoming from behind them. She opened her eyes. They were driving on the other side of the crossing. They had made it!

An ear-shattering crash sounded from behind her. She spun around, looking out the back window of the

Volvo. And, back in the distance of the intersection,she saw the black Cadillac smashed against the sideof an orange truck.

She looked to Logan, who let up on theaccelerator. Slightly. He stared straight ahead, now. And he was tense. His jaw was tense, his posturewas tense; everything about him was tense.

“Logan, we made it,” she said, “they got hit.”“Not for long,” he answered. But then she saw him

relax. Just a little.“Logan, you have to tell me what’s going on. Who

were those people?”“I didn’t want to bring you into this,” he answered.“You have to tell me!”“It wasn’t meant to be like this.”“Logan, you have to tell me!”“I’m sorry, Maria.” He said that in the barest

whisper, so quiet that Laura thought she misheard thewords.

“What? Logan, what is going on, tell me!” Laurafelt herself on the verge of tears. She was scared,emotionally drained. Terrified, really. And uncertain. “Who are you?”

He looked at her. His eyes were red, too. “I’msorry, Laura. You deserve to know the truth. And youwill. I’m going to tell you everything.”

Chapter Thirteen~Revelations~

They sped down the freeway, away from the citywhere Laura had grown up. Where she met all herfriends, where she had her first crush. Where she gother first kiss. Where her family still was – her motherand father, her younger sister, her big loving dog. They sped away, and Laura looked sadly out thewindow. She wasn’t sure if she was ever going to beback.

When Logan said he was going to tell hereverything, he meant it. Laura still wasn’t sure how totake what she had just learned.

“Where do you want me to start?” he asked her.“Start with who you are,” she replied. “Tell me who

you are. I barely know a thing about you.”He sighed, and looked forward at the road. When

he spoke, he didn’t look at her once. “I’m not likeyou, Laura,” he began. “Not entirely. I’m not…human.”

“What?” she exclaimed. “What do you mean?”“I’m something else,” he said sadly.“Are there others like you?”

“Yes, there are.”“Those men chasing us… are they like you?”“Yes.”“Tell me.”He sighed again. “If I do, you’ll want to run from

me. You’ll want to run and hide forever. But youcan’t, now. I wish I could let you go, Laura. I wish I letyou go before. But if you go now, they’ll find you. Nomatter who you’re with, no matter where you go, theywill find you. And I can’t let them do that.”

“Logan.” She reached over to take his hand inhers. She held it tight. “You can tell me.”

He paused for a long moment, and took a deepbreath. “There’s folklore about me. About… thingslike me. Legends and stories that are told to scarechildren into behaving. Tales about things that gobump in the night.”

“Would I know them?”“I’m sure you would.” He tried to pull his hand

away, but she wouldn’t let him. His skin was ice coldsilk.

“Tell me. I’m not afraid.” She felt afraid, now. She was afraid she would

never see her family again. Afraid she would never

come home again. Afraid of what her parents mightthink when they found out she ran away.

“The dream world I showed you,” he said, “isrestricted to those of my kind. We’re the only oneswho have direct access to it, who can go there at will. Humans… they can only drift in and out withoutrealizing it.

“But I discovered that I had the ability to drawhumans in. To explore their dreams, together withthem. Like I did with you.

“When I learned I could do it, I thought I wasunique. I thought I was one of a kind. But it turnedout that every one of my kind could do it. Everyonecould draw humans in like that. Except… it’sprohibited. By ancient creed, we’re forbidden fromdoing that.”

“When I brought you in, I thought we were safe. Ihaven’t had contact with any of… my elders… for avery long time. I had hoped most had thought medead, or dying. Or had long forgotten about me. Istill don’t know how we drew their attention.

“It shouldn’t have even worked that way. Weentered your dream. They couldn’t have beenwatching. They know the rules, too. They abide by

them better than I do. For them, the creed standsabove all else. Above their own lives. They weren’tallowed to be there, either. But they were – or atleast, one of them was – and they saw us.

“And for that, I’m sorry, Laura. I’m sorry fordragging you into all this. I’m sorry for mycarelessness. I know I should have never done it,should never have shown you what I did. Believeme, I fought the urge as much as I could.

“But there was something about you… somethingthat tugged at me and begged me to show you. Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe I wanted tobelieve that you needed to see that world. Maybe Ineeded to believe it. But it was my own shortcoming,my deficiency that put us in this situation. And forthat, I’m truly sorry.”

She looked over at him. She pulled her hand away

when he told her the truth, and hadn’t moved it backsince. He looked hurt when she did that. But hedrove on, looking straight ahead.

“And what is ‘your kind,’ exactly, Logan?” sheasked.

“My kind.” He laughed softly. “Those who are like

me, of course. Those who the stories are writtenabout, and legends are twisted from. We are aseparate race, Laura, removed from humanity longago. Each of us is given… abilities… that transcendthat what a regular human can do. But it goes bothways. We have weaknesses unique to us. Some ofthem, I’m sure, you can even laugh at.”

“I won’t laugh,” she promised him. “Just tell me thetruth.”

“That’s what I said I’d do, isn’t it?” He sighedagain. She could see he was struggling to form thewords. “I’ll start with the physical. We’re usually tallerthan your kind. By a head or more, at least. I’dactually be considered fairly short.” He laughed, butit was an oddly forced laugh.

“Our skin is also much lighter. ‘Elven skin,’ somecall it, but that gives it unnecessary embellishment.”

“It shines, though,” she said gently. “Sometimes,I’ve seen yours absolutely radiate in the light.”

“That’s when you should have stayed away. We’remost dangerous, then.”

“Tell me,” she pressed. “Tell me why you saythat.”

“We’re stronger than humans. More agile, too. Our bones are nearly unbreakable, but they’re

unbelievably light. It gives us a certain… grace. Our balance is better because of it. I’m what, nearlya foot taller than you? And yet I can guarantee that Iweigh less than you do.

“Our vision is also better. When I look at yourface, I can see every imperfection that makes you sounique. Every flaw that makes you so beautiful.”

“You… find me beautiful?” she stumbled, amazed.“Of course I do, Laura. Of course I do.”Her heart fluttered. Maybe she was developing feelings for him. It was

the only thing that would explain her sitting here. If shewere sane, if she had any shred of common sense,she would be clawing at the door, desperate toescape. She would be calling the police, telling themshe’d been abducted, and have fifteen cruiserschasing them down the highway already. But insteadshe just sat there in silence.

“We’re here,” Logan announced. It was the firsttime he spoke since she pulled her hand away, nearlyan hour ago.

She looked across at him. He still looked straightahead, and despite having parked the car, kept hishands on the wheel. His shoulder slumped, and helooked tired. Maybe as tired as she felt. But she

knew it wasn’t a physical weariness that touched him. It was an emotional one.

She studied his face. His skin looked so smooth,so delicate. So white. His dark eyes made a perfectcontrast, as did his pitch-black hair, which was styledup so exorbitantly. She realized for the first time thathe had near-perfect cheekbones, not too high and nottoo low, and that his nose and jaw were both strongand handsome. He was handsome. But he was alsosomething else.

“You’re a vampire,” she whispered.He cringed. “I hate that name. Hate that title. And

it’s not who I am. It might be a small part of what Imust do to survive, but… it’s not me.”

A vampire. He had told her that’s what humanfolklore would call him. A bloodsucker, a monster, apredator, a killer. And he was sitting right beside her,close enough for her to reach out and touch.

“You feed on human blood.” She should beterrified, saying that. She should be terrified, sittingso close to him. She should be terrified, exceptthat… she wasn’t. All she felt was a cool, dark calm.

“Yes,” he admitted. “Every time, I try to fight it, but…I can’t. Morals and ethics mean nothing when you’restarving. We battle depression between feedings. The longer we go without blood, the less confident we

get. The less graceful we get, the less powerful weget. We become shells of our former selves, and webecome obsessive about finding food. My onlysolace is how infrequently I need to feed.”

“How often do you do it?” she asked.“Twice a year, only.”“And…” she gulped, “…when was the last time you

fed?”Despite himself, he smiled. “Less than a week

ago.”All of a sudden, all of it clicked into place for Laura.

All of a sudden, everything made sense. His arrivalhere. The unusual murder. The animal warning. Andhis transformation after.

“You’re the animal,” she breathed. And for the firsttime in his presence, she felt a shiver run down herspine.

He nodded. “I am, aren’t I? And you’re the only onewho knows. Usually I don’t leave my prey like that, forpeople to find after, but I was careless.”

“The hitman,” Laura continued. “You’re the one whokilled him!”

“Yes. You see, I try to balance things out inchoosing my targets. The man had a body list at leasttwenty long on him. A contract killer, he would havestruck soon had I not acted. And then some time

again, thereafter. It’s a small solace I can take inthinking I might have prevent some deaths.”

Laura understood. She understood what hemeant. She identified with him.

“Logan,” she asked suddenly. A question hadoccurred to her, one that she wanted to know theanswer to. “Are your kind born that way, or can theybe transformed?”

“Both,” he answered.“And you, then?”“I was born a human.”Everything clicked again. She understood his

struggle, understood his morals. Understood why hetried to fight something that came so naturally. Shehad one last question, though.

“How old are you?”In reply, Logan smiled sadly, and turned his head.

For the first time in what seemed like eons, their eyesmet. “Do you want to know my age, or how long ago Iwas born?”

“What’s the difference?”“We stop aging once we’re transformed.”“Tell me both.”“My human age,” he said, “is eighteen years old.”“And how long ago were you born?”“I was brought into this planet four hundred and

twenty-nine years ago.”Too much blood rushed to Laura’s head, and she

passed out.

Chapter Fourteen~Confrontations~

“Laura? Laura, wake up.”Laura opened her eyes. Logan was standing over

her. She was lying down, on a hard surface. Somewhere damp. She blinked. She was inside,and the interior reminded her of a wooden cabin.

She pushed herself up, and looked around. Shewas in a small room, a single window letting in theoutside light. The walls and ceiling were both madeof wooden planks, but they were heavy with age. Theroom was completely barren. Mildew grew thick onthe walls, and the floor she was lying on was dirty. Heavy dust filled the air, causing her to cough.

“Where are we?” she managed eventually.“An old grain mill,” Logan said. Laura noticed a

closed door in one of the walls. “Nobody comes hereanymore, and I thought it’d be a good place toregroup.”

Laura stood up, eyeing Logan warily. “How comeyou didn’t tell me we were coming here?”

“You passed out before I had the chance. I carriedyou here from the car.”

“You carried me? How far away are we?”“An hour from the road. Nobody should bother us

here for some time. We should have tonight, at least,before we need to move on.”

Suddenly Laura’s ears caught the heavy clunking ofmachinery coming from the adjacent room. She wentto the door and cautiously edged it open. And felt asif she’d stepped into the past. In a vast, largely emptyroom, huge spinning pulleys and belts workedoverhead while metal poles positioned horizontallyrotated quickly. Gears and levers dotted the floor ofthe room, providing control over the machinery. Muchof the metal was red with rust, but it still moved,clanging and groaning along.

“It’s still running,” she marveled.“It never stopped,” Logan shrugged. “The river runs

year-round, and as long as it spins the waterwheel,the mechanisms in here keep going.”

“The river?”“Yes. You can hear it from here, can’t you?”Laura strained her ears. And realized she could

make out the sound of rushing water nearby. Loganwalked to another door, right by a window, andmotioned her over. When she came, he pushed itopen, revealing the outdoors.

Beautiful vegetation surrounded them. They stoodat the bottom of a narrow gorge, with a rocky slope toone side and thick forested trees on the other. Under

her feet, right beneath the building, a river roared withlife. The sun shone through the leaves of the forest,making shadows on the ground. It felt like they werehundreds of miles from civilization.

“So,” Logan said once Laura turned back inside.“So,” Laura echoed.“We need to get rid of your belongings.”“Why?”“The men tracking us. They’re like me, and once

they have your scent, they can track you forever. Getting rid of your belongings might make it harder forthem to do it.”

“Is that how they knew we left the school?”“Yes, I think. The man you saw – he knew your

scent from the dream. Thankfully, amidst all the otherstudents, you were harder to pick out. Otherwise hewould have come for you right in the classroom.”

Laura shivered. She didn’t want to imagine whatwould have happened then.

“We have to change you out of your clothes as soonas possible. It might help us get a lead on them. Butyou have to understand Laura, they’re like hounds. No matter where we go, they’ll only be a single stepbehind. If we ever stop, if we ever rest for more thanis absolutely necessary, they’ll get to us.”

“Let’s go to the police,” she said suddenly. “They

can help us.”Logan laughed bitterly. “The police? They can’t do

anything.”“Why?”“The men after us are my kind, Laura. There’s

nothing that will stop them. If we go to the police,they’ll just tear right through them before getting to us. The best thing we can do is run, and never look back.”

“And then what?” Laura demanded. “Do youexpect to just run forever?”

“You haven’t seen what they can do,” he saidquietly. “You have no idea what they’re capable of. Ifwe run, we have a chance to get away. If we’re smart,we might be able to lose them before they can reachus. But it won’t be easy.”

“You can fight them!” she blurted out. “I saw youfight four guys at once like it was nothing!”

He laughed again, cruelly this time. “Laura, youhave no idea what they’re capable of. I fought whenthere was little at stake, against four children. Thetwo men behind us – they’re bounty hunters. They’remy kind. And when they fight, they fight to kill.”

Laura had to get her head straight. She had tothink. That momentary lapse in thinking when shesaid Logan could fight… that wouldn’t do. They wereboth in danger, and the least she could do was

understand what she was facing.“You mentioned weaknesses earlier. Of your race.

Maybe we can use that to our advantage. What areyou bad at, compared to humans?”

Logan sighed. “Not much that is helpful in thiscase. Our vision in the sun is the main thing. Thingsbecome hazy in direct sunlight. Glare, when the lightreflects off glass, nearly blinds us on any day. Andthese woods might give us a slight advantage, aswell. The air is dense here, and your scent is harderto pick out. It might make it—” Logan cut off with astrangling sound, and in an instant was at the door. “They’re coming,” he hissed back to her.

“What? Already? You said we have until nightfall!”“I was wrong.” He shut the door quickly and rushed

to the opposing wall. “You need to hide.” He pulledback a board to reveal a small cubby in the wall. “Quickly!”

Laura ran over. “Get in,” he told her, “and don’tmake a sound.” Laura nodded. Her pulse wasracing, and she felt that kick of adrenaline again. Amixture of fear and dread came over her as shepushed herself into the wall. There wasn’t muchspace, and splinters and rough pieces of woodpierced her skin and got caught onto her clothing. She wedged herself further in, and Logan replaced

the board.Light scattered in from cracks along the wall, and

Laura pressed an eye to one of them to peer out. She could see the entire space between her and theentrance door. Logan stood with his back to her,facing the door. In a predatory stance. Anxiousminutes passed. Only Laura’s ragged breaths brokethe silence, and they sounded loud as hammers to herears.

Slowly, the door started to move. Logan tensed. The door creaked open all the way, and a tall figurestepped into the entrance. Laura’s breath caught. Itwas the same man from the dream, the same one shesaw at the school.

“Where’s your friend?” the man asked Logancrudely. He spoke with a harsh accent.

If it were possible, Logan tensed even more. Theman took a step forward. He had the same long coaton from before, the same dark hat. He and Loganwere approximately the same height. Leisurely, hestarted to take off his coat. Logan still hadn’t moved.

The man dropped his coat in a pile at the side, andLaura saw that he was much thicker than Logan. Bigger, more developed. Stronger.

“Don’t try to hide her. I can smell her stench fromhere. I know she’s been here.”

“You will not have her.” Logan’s voice had a steelyedge to it. The man laughed derisively in reply.

“Oh? Is that so? Or what, you’re going to stopme?” He laughed again. “You are but a youngling,only a child, and you have broken the ancient creed bybringing her into our world. You will answer for yourcrime harshly, as will she.”

“You will not have her,” Logan repeated.The man waved dismissively, and took a step

towards Logan. “You cannot stop me,” he said. “AndI don’t intend to take just her. You’ll be coming along,as well.”

“No,” Logan growled.“Oh, yes, I will take you both.” The man was only a

pace away from Logan, now. “You cannot imaginewhat they will do to you. You will be bound in chains,locked away forever to never again see the dark ofnight, feel the cool rays of the moon. You will growweak and feeble, forever barred from taking blood. You will not be fed, and you will never feed again.

“Your body will be the first to go. Your muscles willwither away to nothingness, and your bones willcrumble. You will become a mere shadow of whatyou once were. A shadow of what you could havebecome.

“But they will keep your mind sharp. Make no

mistake, you will know you are suffering. An antidotewill be administered, and it will stave off the madnessthat accompanies your feeding deprivation. You willlanguish forever in misery, forever conscious of yourmistake. That will be your sentence. Until the end oftime.” The man took one last step, until he was nose-to-nose with Logan. And he spoke just loudly enoughfor Laura to hear.

“But that pales in comparison to what they will do toher.” Logan snarled. “Yes, her. Your precioushuman.” He spat the word. Then he raised hisvoice. “I know you are here, my darling. Listen well towhat I have to say.” Then he spoke to Logan again. “She will suffer for your sin. A human mind and bodyis much weaker than that of our kind, that of theVassiz, and for that reason… she will be converted. And sentenced to suffer eternally alongside you.

“You know of the savage bloodlust that overtakes anew member of the Vassiz, do you not? Oh, but Ithink you do. You were once one of them, were younot? You were born a human.” Again, he spat theword. “A despicable thing. A despicable creature torisk to much for, wouldn’t you say?”

Logan didn’t say a word, and the man continued. “Iwill give you once chance. One chance now, torepent. Give her up freely, and your punishment for

your treason will be less severe. You will be onlybound for one century, and then be returned yourfreedom.” He put a hand on Logan’s shoulder. “Youknow you cannot win. Is eternity in hell worth it, forher?”

Suddenly Laura caught movement at the door. Theother hunter. “No!” she screamed. It was a trap.

Everything happened at once.On Laura’s cry, both newcomers looked in her

direction. Logan curled back from the man’s handand smashed an elbow into his face. The thick man –no, the thick vampire – stumbled back. Then helaughed cruelly, and flung himself at Logan. They bothwent down hard.

The other vampire, the first one’s accomplice,walked towards her from the door. He ignored Loganand his friend completely. He looked right at her, andwalked closer ever so slowly, taking his sweet time. She was trapped, and she knew it. She had to getout. She edged towards the exit, and she could seethrough the cracks the vampire watching her hadstopped. He had a crude smile on his face, and hiseyes followed her movement. He just stood there,waiting. He knew where she was, and where shewould go.

She heard a shout. Logan’s shout. It was a cry of

pain. She couldn’t see him; couldn’t see whathappened. She flung herself at the board andcrashed through to the other side. And she sawLogan lying lifelessly on the floor.

“No!” she screamed, and scrambled to get to him,to help him up, to do anything. But the vampire whohad been watching her moved impossibly quick. Hegrabbed her roughly by the arm, and pulled her close.

“No, girlie,” he breathed on her face, “you’re notgoing anywhere but with us.”

“Let go of me!” Laura cried, and struggled againsthis grip. But his fingers around her arm didn’t budge. “Logan! Logan!” She saw him on the floor, strugglingto get up. And as soon as he was on his knees, hecollapsed back down as a boot came down hard onhis spine.

“Stop!” she shrieked. Desperately, she tried to getaway, struggling against the grip on her arm. Shesquirmed and screamed, but the vampire’s hand wasan iron chain. Suddenly, she found herself beinglifted, and the vampire was carrying her, over hisback, out into the forest.

“Logan!” she screamed. Tears streamed down herface. She frantically wanted to help, to run back inand help him to his feet. But she couldn’t doanything. She was absolutely helpless. She hit the

vampire’s back as hard as she could with her fists,but it was like hitting a rock. It didn’t even faze him.

Abruptly, she was flying through the air. She hit theground with a grunt and looked around wildly. . Shehad been thrown off! The vampire who carried herwas standing over her, smiling sweetly.

“Don’t fall behind,” he told her. “I don’t intend tocarry you the entire way, but if you run, I will catch you. And this time, I will hurt you. So don’t tempt me.” Andas if that were all the instructions she needed, heturned away, and started making his way deeper intothe woods.

Laura looked back at the mill. She contemplatedrunning back, trying to help Logan. The vampirecontinued walking away, further from her. She couldmake a run for it… but then she remembered how fasthe had been after she crashed out of the cubby. Sheremembered how strong his grip was. He would beon her in seconds. And this time, he would not be sogentle.

A strangled cry came from her throat, and she toreher eyes away from the mill. And followed her captor.

Chapter Fifteen~An Unknown Strength~

Laura followed the man in front of her for whatseemed like hours. The vampire in front of her. Shestill wasn’t used to thinking about him like that.

She looked up to the sky, and surprised herselfwhen she realized the sun was in almost the sameposition as it was when she was dumped on theground and told to follow. She thought they had beenwalking for hours, but it must only barely been one, ifthat.

She rubbed her arm where the vampire hadgrabbed her. A bruise was already developing, andthe spot was tender to the touch. Her feet hurt fromtraversing the uneven forest ground. She had beenforced to climb over logs, over fallen trees, pushthrough thick bushes – all while following the vampire. He had no trouble with any of it, obviously, and slowedhis pace so she could keep up.

“Where are you taking me?” she tried for what musthave been the thousandth time. But, as usual, therewas no reply. It was an uneasy feeling, being sohelpless and so trapped. She was a prisoner with nochains.

Suddenly a blur of motion caught her eye. And the

next thing she knew, the vampire in front of her wasdown on the ground. Somebody was standing overhim, looking away. Logan?

She rushed over. It was him! With a cry of joy, shejumped up to embrace him. But he didn’treciprocate. He just stood there, arms at his sides. He was breathing heavily.

“Logan?” She looked at his face. He wasunnaturally calm. “Logan, what happened? How didyou get here?”

“I took his blood,” he said simply. “Took who’s blood?” Laura was too overjoyed to

think straight. “What are you talking about?”“The vampire I fought in the mill. He looked away,

and I jumped him. And I sunk my teeth deep into hisflesh. He cried out, Laura. A cry I would have neverthought a Vassiz could make. It was a sound of pureagony, of anguish and torture. It was my only chance,and I… I took it.

“It is prohibited, Laura. Cannibalism. It goesagainst all the rules of our race. It goes against ourvery being. None have done it for thousands ofyears. Maybe never. But I did… and it gave mestrength, Laura. Strength like I have never imagined. My senses increased tenfold, my agility even more. Arage overtook me, and I felt an animal, more so than

ever before. Taking a vampire’s blood…” heshuddered, “…it is nothing like taking human blood. Human blood is but a pale impression of it.”

Laura gaped. She had not known it was evenpossible for a vampire to feed on another’s blood. “Isit… safe?” she asked. “Safe for you?”

“I don’t know. I have heard legends, but those arerooting in myth as much as truth. I have never heardof anyone doing it once our race became organized. Idon’t think any of my kind have even thought of doingit. It is a heinous crime.”

Laura abruptly realized that Logan had not movedonce since she hugged him. Instead, he was staringat the body at his feet. Laura looked up at his eyes,and saw they were ablaze with intensity. An intensitythat he struggled to contain.

She moved back, and it seemed to break him outof his trance. For the first time, he met her gaze, anda small smile spread across his face. “A heinouscrime, but it keeps you safe. That’s all that matters.”

“Did you… kill him?” she asked, looking at hercaptor.

“No. The Vassiz are surprisingly hard to kill. Backthere, in the mill, might be the first casualty of our racein generations. I could kill this one, though, if I fed. But if I did that, I don’t know if I could contain myself

with you.”Laura gulped nervously. And Logan laughed.

“Don’t worry,” he said, brushing away a strand of hairthat had fallen in her face. “I wouldn’t do anything torisk you.”

She gulped nervously again. But this time, it was adifferent type of nervousness. She felt a littlelightheaded, and cleared her throat. “What was thatword you used? I heard them use it, too. TheVassiz?”

“It is what we call our kind. To humans, we might beknown as vampires. But to us, we are all a part of theancient Vassiz race.”

The Vassiz. Somehow, it was easier to think ofLogan as a Vassiz than as a vampire. “So whathappens now?”

“We run. We get as far away as we can. We can’tmake contact with anybody. Hopefully, we canescape the others.”

“Others?”“More are coming. I think the first two were only

scouts. Once they realize what I’ve done, they’ll putthe entire militia after us.”

“The militia? How many are there?”“Vassiz live in separate packs all over the world.

We don’t communicate with one another much,

outside the pack. But… I know there are five packsnear us, on the west coast. Some are hidden, out inthe wilderness, and others live right with humans inthe city. I fear we’ll soon have all five packs after us.”

“How many… members… is that?” “Maybe twenty-five, thirty vampires total. Once the

elders hear of the scouts’ failure, they’ll recruit themall.”

Thirty vampires. All coming after her. For the firsttime, Laura felt truly terrified. She had seen what onlytwo can do. “But you said vampires don’tcommunicate outside their pack. How are they goingto be recruited?”

“We communicate through the dream realm,” hesaid, “in times of great need.”

“You said they can track us by my scent. How arewe ever going to get away?”

“Our only chance is to run as far as we can, as fastas we can. That’s our only escape. We can’t facethem.” Then he looked down at the body and nudgedit with his foot. “Anyway, this guy is going to be out fora while, so we’ll be able to get a bit of a lead. But wecan’t take my car.”

“Why not?”“It has your scent. We have to go by foot.” He

paused, thinking. “Do you have your cell phone still?”

“Yes, it’s right here in my pocket,” Laura replied,pulling it out.

“Give it to me. I don’t know how well these packsare integrated within human society, but I don’t doubtthat one of them will have the connections to track ourlocation by that.”

Laura dropped the phone in his hand. Giving itaway, she felt it symbolic of starting her new life. Logan reached back, as if he were about to throw thephone far into the distance, but then he stoppedhimself.

“Actually, I have a better idea,” he told her. He putthe phone into his own pocket, and knelt down to hoistthe unconscious vampire on his back. “Wait here. I’llbe back.” And before Laura could blink, he wasgone, an indistinctive blur racing away through thewoods.

--

Laura was sitting on a stump when Logan finallyemerged from the woods. He carried a small bundlein his hands, and held it carefully.

“Where did you go?” she asked him when he cameclose enough.

“Back to the mill. I remembered something hidden

there, long ago.” He nodded to the bundle. “I alsobrought our friend there and tied him up. He’ll be ableto get out, eventually, but it gives us even more of ahead start.”

“That’s good,” she said. “What’s in the parcel?”“It’s for you,” he answered, and lowered it into her

arms. She took hold. It wasn’t heavy, and felt soft inher hands. Like fabric, or cloth.

“What is it?” she asked.“Open it and you’ll see.”Slowly, she unwrapped the string that held it

together. And pulled aside the brown paper flaps. Inside, she found a carefully folded piece of darkfabric. She held it up, and let it fall to reveal itsshape. It was a beautiful black dress, delicatelydecorated with silk lace at the neck- and hem-line. The bodice had an elaborate pattern of flowers andshapes sewn into it that curved around the back.

“It’s beautiful,” Laura breathed. “But why did yougive it to me?”

“It’s your size, I think. You should put it on. It’ll helpus significantly with the tracking if we leave your oldclothes behind. It might be uncomfortable to run in,sure, but…” he shrugged uncertainly, “…but I think it’llhelp us get away.”

“You really want me to wear this?” Laura had never

seen a dress that looked as exquisite as this one,much less worn one.

Logan nodded.“Ok,” she said. “But only because it’ll help us get

away.”“Of course,” Logan smiled.

Chapter Sixteen~History Revealed~

Later that night, Laura sat in front of a smallcookfire. Night had fallen, and all the sounds from theforest around her seemed amplified in the dark. Thankfully, Logan was with her.

He was diligently watching over a small hare thatroasted over the fire. He had found and caught if forher, and was now preparing her meal. Laura watchedas he meticulously rotated the branch the rabbit wasspeared on, watched as he kept it a perfect distanceaway from the fire to let the meat cook. She wasabsolutely ravenous, and aside from a few berriesshe found on the trip, hadn’t eaten all day.

“It’s ready,” Logan finally said, handing the branchto her. Laura took it, and was surprised at the weightof the animal. It was much heavier than it looked.

She took a bite – and was surprised again at therich flavor the rabbit contained. Logan had cooked itperfectly, and all the juices flowed into her mouthdeliciously. She was careful not to get any on thedress she was wearing, though.

“Hungry, huh?” Logan laughed. “I’ve forgotten whatit’s like to eat a regular meal like that.”

“But apparently not how to cook,” Laura replied.

“Where did you learn to do that?”“I’ve been alive for a long time, remember?”“Right.” Laura took another bite, and chewed it

thoughtfully. “Can I ask you a question?”“Now would be the best time.”“Is it true what that other vampire said? About the

punishment you’d face if they caught you?”“I… I believe so,” Logan replied.“It seems a little harsh, doesn’t it? When you think

about it compared to the severity of the crime, Imean. From what little of it all I understand, it’s allbecause you took me into the dream world, isn’t it?”

Logan sighed. “It’s not that simple, Laura. What Idid was prohibited by a doctrine sacred to our race. It’s a doctrine that has kept us alive and safe for allthese years. It’s what keeps order in what we do, inwho we are. It keeps us safe.

“Now, to be honest, I didn’t think anybody wouldnotice if I showed that world to you. If we entered thedream world together. It was your dream, after all,and you have just as much a right to be there asanybody else. More, in fact. But typically humans onlyenter fleetingly, and not in full as we did.

“Usually, vampires stay away from human dreams,from human realms. The only time they would do so isin the hunt.”

“The hunt?”“Yes. The dream world isn’t quite as wonderful as I

made it seem. When it was discovered by vampires,they started taking full advantage. They would jumpinto humans’ dreams, haunt their dreams. It was usedby hunters, to find and stalk their prey.”

“Wait, it was discovered? So you mean you didn’talways know you had the ability to enter that world?”

“No,” Logan admitted. “the first of our kind didn’thave the ability. It was only the first converts, the firstvampires who were born human, who discovered it. A purebred vampire – one who is born a vampire, notconverted – lacks the ability to dream. The ones whowere converted, they knew of dreams from theirprevious lives. And with their new abilities, theylearned to enter that world.”

“What abilities do you mean? Is it like the mindthing you showed me? Can every vampire do that?”

“No. I’m the only one I know of. Although, thatdoesn’t necessarily mean there aren’t others. Yousee, aside from the physical benefits of our race –speed, strength, vision, all that – each Vassiz hasanother, more mysterious ability. Most keep theirssecret, and don’t share with others. Not even withothers in their own pack. We’re a selfish bunch, yousee,” he laughed.

“But you shared with me,” she marveled.“Yes, I did. But understand that I’m not like most

others. When a human is newly converted… as I was,all those years ago… they want nothing to do withother humans. Except to take their blood. Mostconverts go into hiding, and the packs seek them out. Slowly, as converts acclimatize their new… talents…they can withstand human contact better.”

“What do you mean, ‘withstand’? Is theresomething wrong with humans, for vampires? For theVassiz, I mean?”

“Well, first of all, you stink,” Logan laughed. “Newconverts are repulsed by humans as a species. Taking their blood, feeding on them, killing them – itbecomes an obsession. The drive to do so canoverwhelm a convert without the proper guidance. And too much blood too quickly can kill a vampire, ifhe’s not careful.

“Now, the purebreds, they don’t have that problemwith humans. They have the same drive to feed, thesame need for blood, but they aren’t repulsed byhumans, either. That’s why they can be found livingright beside humans in society.”

“But you were living amongst humans, right? Before you came to my school?”

“Yes,” he laughed. “My conversion did not go as

smoothly as it could have. I am told I fought it,resisted the poison until I nearly died. Because ofthat, I think I retained a better… affinity for humans. Abetter regard for them.

“It helps that I have little love for my own kind. Mostare a selfish, hating breed. There are some who arenot like that, though…” his eyes became sad, “…though most of them were killed a long time ago. ‘Purification,’ the elders called it. To get rid of theweakest of our race.

“I was around when it happened, and only nearlyavoided getting caught in it myself. It was a ridiculousundertaking. It spread as a wild cult idea, at first, thenotion of purification. But then the elders started tolisten, and they were seduced by the poisonouswhispers of their followers. The peace that existedbetween the vampires was broken, and warringfactions broke out.

“There was one I knew. One I cared deeply about. And she was caught on the wrong side of it all.” Hisjaw clenched.

“Who was she?” Laura asked. “What happened toher?”

Logan sighed. “Her name was Maria. She was thelove of my life.” Laura felt an inexplicable stab ofjealousy as he said that. “She was one of the first to

take pity on humans, and dreamed of coexistencewith them in the future. A world where vampires didnot have to hide their true selves. And where humansdid not have to fear us.

“She was the first to be targeted in the purification. She was set up as an example of the weakest of ourrace. But nothing could be further from the truth…” He trailed off, staring into the distance.

“…was this very long ago?” Laura asked.“Almost two centuries.” Logan sighed. “But that’s

neither here nor there.”“Do you… still love her?” A small voice in the back

of Laura’s head told her she was a fool for askingsuch a question, for bringing up ghosts of the past. But she had a burning desire to know.

“I… ahh. She was a part of my life, but you mustunderstand it was a very long time ago. Thememories I still hold… they have paled and dulled asthe years have gone by. The truth is, I do not think Ican still remember her face.” He shook his headgruffly. “This is a poor subject to draw our attentionto. I shouldn’t have brought it up. We have morepressing matters to attend to now.” He picked up atwig and started poking at the fire haphazardly. “Thevampires that are after us… that is of importance. I’ve told you nearly all I know about our species.

Laura, you have to understand the danger we face. The ones coming after us, they’re perfect killingmachines. And if they ever catch us, they will notshow mercy.”

“Your eyes,” Laura said suddenly, rememberingshe felt when they first met. “You haven’t mentionedyour eyes.”

“Oh?” Logan raised an eyebrow. “And what wouldI have said?”

“When I first met you,” Laura explained, “and youfirst looked on me… I felt an enormous stab of fear. Itwas gone as soon as I blinked, but it was there. Why?”

“Ah. Well, yes, that might have happened. Oureyes can strike fear, irrational and completely primalfear, into humans. It’s always different, how peoplereact. And the effect gets stronger the further awaywe are from a feeding. Usually, we can control it,decide when to let it work, but sometimes that controlfalters… the further we’ve been from a feeding.”

“The longer you go without blood?”“That’s right. When the hunger strikes, it’s difficult

to control yourself. That’s why I was so… withdrawn…that first week you met me. If I had been engaged,with all those humans at the school, well… let’s justsay that murder would have struck slightly closer to

home for many of you.”“So you were controlling yourself? Restricting your

desire?”“Yes. I had to find a… target… for my feeding.

Somebody I would have no moral qualms overtaking. Well, maybe that’s not quite right. There are alwaysmorals that fight in conflict deep within me, every timeI take a life, but – I try to push them down by feedingonly on those who deserve to die.” He barked alaugh. “But who am I to make such decisions? Thetruth is, what I am repulses me in those moments. Butit’s the only way to survive.”

Laura felt a yawn coming, and tried to stifle it, but itescaped anyway. She didn’t want to be disrespectful,and what Logan was telling her was fascinating. “Youneed to sleep, don’t you?” Logan said.

“Yes,” she admitted. “What about you?”“I’ll stay guard and watch.” Logan put out the fire by

kicking some dirt over it. “I wish I had something youcould sleep on, but…” he spread his hands, “…lookslike the ground will have to do for tonight.”

“That’s alright,” Laura answered. She thought it ashame to soil the dress by sleeping on the ground, butit wasn’t like there were any other options. Logan satdown, facing the direction they had come from, awayfrom her, and Laura tried to find a comfortable

position on the dirt. It was hard. Roots and rockspoked at her, and there was no comfort on the rigidearth. She lay awake for what seemed like hours. When she finally found sleep, it was of a restless sort,and dark nightmares haunted her dreams.

Chapter Seventeen~The Marble Twins~

For three days they trekked through the wilderness,going east and north. Headed towards the Canadianborder, where Logan said there would be lesspeople. With less people came less of an opportunityto be noticed.

Laura hadn’t seen any signs of their pursuers, butLogan assured her they were coming. He madehaste, pushing the pace as often as he could toincrease the separation between them… andwhoever was coming after them.

Laura’s dress fit snugly, and Logan complimentedher on it once or twice. More importantly, though, hesaid it was doing its job – by leaving her old clothesbehind, Laura had less of a scent by which they couldbe tracked. Laura wondered how much of anadvantage it actually gave them. Logan assured her itwas significant.

She also wondered sometimes how Loganmanaged to procure the garment, but whenever sheasked, he went curiously mum. No amount ofprodding or urging would change his stance, andLaura decided to drop the subject eventually.

On the morning of the fourth day, while making their

way through dense shrub and heavy bush, Lauranoticed a strange gleam from among the branchesoverhead. She stopped, and squinted her eyes. There was nothing here she could think of that the suncould reflect off like that.

“What is it?” Logan asked, once he noticed shestopped following him.

“Look up there,” she replied, pointing to her left. “Do you see anything?”

Logan looked, and shook his head. “Just leavesand branches. Why?”

“I thought I saw light reflecting from there.” Shemoved her head to the side. “There it is again!”

“Really?” Logan picked his way back to her. Shepointed in the direction of the glare. He looked thatway. “You’re right,” he nodded. “I can’t see it as wellas you, but that reflection’s definitely there.”

“Should we go see what it is?”“We need to continue on, but…” he shrugged. “A

few minutes won’t kill us.”He started towards the source of light, and Laura

followed. The reflection disappeared as they walkedtowards it, blocked by the trees, so after a while,Laura couldn’t be sure if they were headed the rightway or not.

Unexpectedly, they stumbled into a clearing.

Laura’s jaw dropped. Hidden deep in the seclusionof the woods stood a polished white tower. It lookedlike a marking of sorts, or perhaps a monument. Anarrow base converged into a point high in the sky,doubling the height of any nearby trees. Laurathought if she wrapped her arms around the structure,her fingers could nearly meet on the other side.

“What is it?” Laura asked.“I… don’t know,” Logan answered. Cautiously, he

walked up to it. By the overgrowth in the clearing,Laura guessed they were the first ones to come uponit in generations. She followed Logan.

As they got closer, Laura started to make outsymbols inscribed in the marble. They looked likehieroglyphics, and twirled all the way up to the top. Logan was studying them intently.

“Do you know what they are?” she asked.“They’re hard for me to see, but… I think they’re

here to ward against intruders.”“A warning?” Laura asked.“Maybe. I think this tower may have a twin around

here somewhere.” He looked around. “You can seebetter in the light – see if you can spot anotherreflection.”

Laura looked around them. The clearing in whichthey stood appeared to be isolated from the growth of

trees and vegetation around them. Then her eyescaught something: a twinkle, from not too far away. Had she not been consciously looking for it, shethought she would have missed it.

“Over there,” she told him pointing in its direction. “Isaw a glimmer there.”

“Ok.” Logan started walking in the direction shepointed. Instead of going with him, Laura walkedcloser to the tower. Its vibrant shine called out to her,its pure white surface begging for her touch. Shereached out to put a hand on it…

And she knew danger. Terrible images of deathflashed in her mind. Danger! Humans being carvedlike pigs on a sacrificial stone, children hanging bytheir necks in chains with blood streaming out of theireyes. Danger! Women being skinned alive, theirtortuous screams unaffecting their hooded captors. Danger! Danger!

Laura ripped her hand away from the stone, and theimages died. She looked around wildly, searching forLogan. She was alone. “Logan?” she cried out. Noanswer. “Logan, where are you!?”

She ran in the direction she thought he went. “Logan? Logan!” She tripped on a root, and startedto fall forward, right on her face – when a pair ofstrong hands caught her.

“There you are,” Logan said as he helped her up. “What’s going on?”

“Logan, the tower,” she began breathlessly, “Itouched it, and there were images, images of death,and suffering, all the bodies, nobody was safe!” Shecollapsed sobbing into him, and he held her tight.

“There, there,” he said soothingly, “nobody’s goingto hurt you. Not when you’re with me.” Laura felt thesincerity in his words, and gripped him even tighter. For better or for worse, he was all she had.

“Now, you said you saw images?” She noddedvigorously. “And they came when you touched thetower?” Again, more nodding. “I want to see formyself.”

He held her close as he walked towards the tower. She stopped a good ten yards short, not wanting tocome any closer. Logan, however, marched right upto it. He reached out to place a hand on it…

And nothing happened. He looked back to herquizzically. He took his hand off, and placed it onagain. He tried a few more times, but then shook hishead and came back to her.

“Are you sure, Laura? Perhaps the travel is gettingto you.”

“I’m sure.”“I felt nothing.”

“I felt… danger. A warning. For me to stay away. Far away from this place.”

“That’s interesting,” Logan mused.“Interesting? It’s terrifying! Have you ever heard of

anything like it before?”“My own gift,” he said absentmindedly. “I have a

suspicion…” he trailed off. Then he grabbed her handand led her away.

“The other tower,” he explained. “I got sight of itwhen I heard your cries, and rushed back. But I havea feeling… well, you’ll see.” He led her through thedense forest, around thick trees and right throughheavy shrubs. Finally, another clearing appearedahead of them.

This one was smaller; much more compact. But anear-identical tower stood right in the middle. Exceptthat this one was pure black. Again, the stonegleamed in a marvelous luster.

“I don’t want to come any closer,” Laura said. Logan looked at her, and nodded. “I understand.”

Leaving her at the clearing’s edge, he marched up tothe tower. And bent his head close, examining itssurface. “There are markings here, too,” he told her. “Just as I suspected. And I think I can understandthem.”

“You can? How?”

“Come closer and I’ll show you.” She hesitated. “You needn’t worry; I don’t think this tower will haveany effect on you.”

Cautiously, she inched her way closer. Just closeenough so she could make out the inscriptions. Shesaw foreign letters and shapes, completely differentfrom the ones that adorned the white tower. Theyspiraled up in much the same way, but in an oppositedirection.

Logan ran a finger along one line. “These,” he said,“are ancient vampire symbols.”

“They are?”“Yes. It is a language that has been long forgotten

in favor of the human tongue, but I’ve picked up bitsand pieces of it over the years. Not many of my kindeven know it exists, now. But I think I can make outenough…” he paused, studying the letters. His fingerran up, following the twisting text, and he walkedaround the tower slowly, reading. “This predates theelders,” he said to himself with awe.

“The elders? You’ve mentioned them before, butyou never explained to me who they are.”

“Ah. Well, just as it sounds. They’re the mostancient of vampires, and they watch over our race. We answer to their demands, and they administerjustice over matters of… importance. They provide

their wisdom, and ensure the unity of the Vassiz. They are highly revered. Almost as much as thevampire creed.” He smiled at Laura knowingly. “Which I broke.”

“How long have the elders had control?”“Since our history started being recorded. Perhaps

longer. There is not a single vampire alive who cansay they lived in a time when the elders did not rule. But this…” he looked to the tower “… this, I have notheard mention of before.”

“You said the markings predate the elders?”“Yes. I believe so. If they do – if these towers do –

it is a monumental discovery. There is no consensusas to how the elders came to power in the first place. But there are whispers, uttered in only the darkest ofcrevices, and under penalty of death, that their ascentto power was not peaceful. In fact, some say it wasmuch the opposite. They say our race paid a greatprice for the overseers.” He turned his head back tothe tower, and continued reading. “I think… I think thiswas a place where great rituals once took place. AndI think there’s more to it than just these towers.”

“What do you mean?”“If we look, I think we can find it. A sanctuary,

maybe. A part of the writings, they say… ‘Comehither, Thou who seek Respite, and Fear Not for your

Mind.’ I think… that this was a safe-place for theVassiz, once.”

“A safe place from what?” Laura could not imaginea single vampire – a Vassiz – needing to hide fromanything.

“Maybe if we find it, we’ll find out.” He set off, butLaura caught his arm.

“Logan, wait. I don’t think this is a good idea. WhatI felt, what I saw, when I touched that tower…” sheshuddered.

“You’re with me, remember?” he said reassuringly. “I won’t let anything happen to you. Besides, I suspectthat part of the power of the sanctuary is to keephumans away.”

Chapter Eighteen~Into the Ruins~

Laura and Logan had been searching in the areaaround the towers for the better part of two hourswhen Laura hit her foot on a stone. They weresurrounded by dense forest on all sides, limiting theirviewing distance severely, which made it significantlymore difficult to look for anything. Annoyed, andfrustrated with their lack of progress, she kicked at thestone – and was surprised when it didn’t budge. Shebent down to pick it up, brushing away the earth andgrim that covered it. And surprised herself by findingnearly washed-out markings on it.

“Logan? Logan, I think I found something!” Logan came over and peered over her. “What is

it?”“Markings. I can’t make them out, but they look a lot

like the ones on the tower.”“Hmm.” Logan bent down beside Laura to look at it

himself. Then he nodded satisfactory. “You’re right. Nicely done.”

“What do you think it is?”“I don’t know. But what I can tell you is that it’s not

just some stone stuck in the ground. I think it’s a partof a much larger structure… like a buried statue.” He

looked around. “And I bet there’d be another oneclose by.”

Laura watched as Logan examined the groundcarefully, making his way forward on hands and kneesto make sure he didn’t miss anything. Suddenly helooked up. “Found it.”

“Can you tell what the markings mean?”Logan looked at the stone piece sticking out of the

ground, and shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. It’s inthe same script as was on the first tower.”

“So what now?”“I think we’re getting closer to the sanctuary.”“Are we really going to go there?” Laura had been

over this with him a hundred times in the last fewhours, and he always seemed to get the upper hand. “If it’s designed to keep humans away, how do youknow there won’t be any… traps set, for me?”

Logan shook his head. “I told you, I’d notice themlong before they can be sprung. And if it’s any kind ofphysical mechanism, it’d be long since eroded bytime.”

“What about what I felt when I touched that tower?”Logan waved it away. “I wouldn’t worry about it.

That precise feeling was likely the last defenseagainst human intrusion, anyway. It’s nothingphysical, and nothing that can harm you.” He paused

to smile at her. “But if you feel it again, let me know,and we’ll leave this place.”

“But not before?”“Not before.”Laura sighed. There really was no arguing with a

vampire.“Come on,” Logan said, pushing his way through

the ferny undergrowth, “I have a feeling we’re on theright path.”

Laura followed him for maybe a hundred yardsbefore they reached another clearing. This one,however, extended far to the left and right of them. The forest’s growth seemed to just stop abruptly. Onthe other side, about twenty grass-covered feet away,a large rock cliff stood covered with ivy. Lots ofshrubbery and vines grew outward from there, but theydid not reach the edge of the forest.

Laura started to walk forward, but found Logan’sarm pressed against her chest. “Wait,” he said, holding her back. “I can smell something.”

“What is it? Is it dangerous?”“No, I don’t think so, but…” he trailed off, and

walked to the other side, to the vertical slope. Conspicuously sniffing the air, he moved off to the left,coming closer to ivy-covered rock. Then he bent tothe side, and ripped away a large bunch of fern with

his hands. He stepped aside, smiling at Laura. Behind him, in the gap in vegetation he just created,was a small opening, complete with a rotting woodendoor.

“How did you find that?” Laura asked, walking up tohim. She couldn’t have picked out the spot from anyother along the face of the slope.

“The air smelled different. Stale. It was comingfrom there.” He pointed at the opening.

“Do you think this is the place we were looking for?”“It could be.” He thought for a minute. “I’m going to

go check it out. You wait here. There’s no lightinside, but I can see in the dark.”

He made to move the door out of his way, but therotting wood collapsed as soon as he touched it. Shrugging, Logan bent down and went into the cave. Leaving Laura to wait by herself.

Laura sat down by the opening and waited. Andwaited, and waited. The sun started going down, andLaura was getting impatient. But she waited, andwaited some more. Half an hour passed, and thenanother. What was taking Logan so long?

Soon, Laura’s thoughts turned dark. Logan wastaking too long. What if something happened to him? What if he didn’t return? What if there was a trap inthere, and—

Her thoughts were interrupted when Logansuddenly emerged. He had a triumphant smile on hisface. “Come with me,” he said, extending Laura ahand. “You’re going to love it.”

Laura took Logan’s hand and followed him into thetunnel. It was dark inside, and the air smelled damp. Stuffy, even.

As they walked, her eyes kept trying to adjust to thedarkness. But once she was a good hundred feetfrom the entrance, everything was pitch black. Heronly guide was Logan’s grip on her hand, and thesound of his footsteps against the stone.

Her eyes may have been tied shut for as much asshe could see. But, she kept walking. Laura thoughtthe tunnel sloped down, but perhaps that was only herimagination. More than once, she stumbled over arock, but Logan caught her gently every time.

They had walked for what must have been at leasttwo hours, when Laura’s eyes slowly started to seepast the dark. Dark shapes started revealingthemselves around her, rocks and chipped boulderson all sides. She thought it was the better of herimagination getting to her, when suddenly a pale lightappeared far in the distance, at the very end of thetunnel.

“Do you see that?” she asked Logan.

“Of course. That’s where we’re going.”As they got closer, Laura realized it was the exit of

the tunnel. And when they walked right up to it,Laura’s jaw dropped.

Below her lay an epic cavern. The tunnel exitedonto a ledge above it, which connected to a set ofcrudely carved stairs that led down. There, anenormous opening at least the size of a football fieldhad been carved in the rock. Cracks in the ceilingprovided enough light to see nearly everything. Lauranoticed the gurgle of flowing water, and looked down. Directly under the ledge ran a small river – more of acreek, really – that fed into a clear pool off to the side. And right beside the pool lay beautiful crystallizedboulders.

“What is this place?” Laura asked, her voiceechoing across the chamber.

“This,” Logan replied grandly, “is the sanctuary. Come. I’ll lead you down.”

Laura took his hand and he walked her down thesteps, which curled around the outside wall of theenclave. Looking around, Laura realized the stepsdid not only lead down, but also up on the other side –to another ledge above the one they were descendingfrom.

“Hold on,” Logan said when they got to the bottom,

“I think I see something.” He let her go, and walkedover to a side wall. He did something with his hands,and suddenly a small flame appeared in front of him. It flared to life, growing much larger. Laura saw that itcame from a the top of a thick wooden club.

“A torch,” Logan laughed. “And it still has tar on it!” The flickering fire cast shadows that danced acrosshis face and the surrounding rocks. He picked it upfrom the wall, and carried it over to her.

“Are there more?” Laura asked. Logan lookedaround before nodding happily. “Yes, there are. Allalong the walls! I’ll be right back.”

Laura felt a gush of wind as Logan moved awayfrom her with impossible speed. It was the first timeshe’d actually seen him make use of his enhancedphysical abilities. She followed the trail of light fromhis torch as he ran all the way around the vastchamber, stopping only momentarily to light the othertorches along the wall. When he got back to her, onlya few seconds later, all the torches were emitting light,providing her eyes and the chamber with much-needed luminance.

“There,” he said in a satisfied manner, “that shouldbe much better for you, no?”

“It is, thank you. How fast you moved… that wasamazing.”

He laughed. “Sometimes I forget you’re onlyhuman.”

Laura stuck her tongue out at him in reply.“I saw something that might be interesting,” he said,

ignoring her taunt completely. “Come, I’ll show you.”Again, Laura followed him as he led her across

uneven ground to the center of the chamber. Fromthere, a small pathway was carved in the rock that randirectly underneath the entrance ledge above. Theytook it, and as they came closer, Laura saw that thefar wall had been polished smooth, and shone with aslight green luster. The river ran along the wall,making it impossible to reach. But they could getclose enough for Laura to realize that there weresymbols carved into the stone.

“It’s a mixture of the two scripts on the towersoutside,” Logan told her. “The vampire one, and theother one, written interchangeably. Whoever madethis was fluid in both tongues.”

“Do you know what it says?”“I think they’re directions.” He paused to study the

lettering. “This cave extends much deeper, I believe. It says… that there are tunnels. Crisscrossing far intothe depths of the earth. There’s a warning… awarning to ‘take the Proper path’. But… I don’t think itsays what that is.”

“What else?”“Oh! It says here there’s another level.” He looked

up above. “Yes, I think I see it.”“What’s up there?”“We won’t know unless we check, will we?” He set

off back towards the stairs.“Logan, wait.” He paused, turning to look at Laura.

“You’re not planning on taking the tunnels deeper in,are you?”

“I don’t know yet,” he said thoughtfully. “If we keepgoing through the forest, we’ll be more vulnerable forattack. But if these tunnels can lead us through themountains… well, if we get that far, we’d almost bescot free.”

“What if we get lost?” she asked worriedly. “Atleast outside we know where we’re going.”

“Let’s just check the upper level out first, and thendecide. At any rate, this is as safe a place as any tospend the night, even if we don’t take the tunnelstomorrow.”

“Fine.” Laura didn’t want to pout, but she just didn’tfeel comfortable here beneath the earth. And theprospect of going deeper in, without knowing howlong the journey might take, didn’t sit well with hereither.

She followed Logan up the chipped rock stairs.

Past the ledge where they entered, and higher up. The light from the bottom pit sent large shadowsflickering against the walls.

They reached the highest level. It was anotherledge, jutting out from the side of the rock, and built tooverlook the entrance. Rocks that looked an awful lotlike tombstones sat in neat horizontal rows.

Logan took a step forward, and stopped. “Wait.” He paused, holding Laura back. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”Logan shifted his weight in response, and Laura

thought she heard a tiny echo of crumbling stone. She wouldn’t have picked it out if she wasn’t activelysearching for it.

“The structure’s weak here,” Logan said. He bentdown to one knee to examine the ground. “There arecracks in the stone. I don’t think it’s very stable.”

“Should we go back?”“Not yet. You stay back. I want to see what these

stones are.”“Be careful,” Laura urged.“Don’t worry.” Even in the dim light, Laura saw him

flash his teeth in a grin. “I’m very agile, remember?”“Of course,” she said drily. Like he needed to

remind her.Laura watched as Logan picked his way across.

He went from stone to stone in the first row, analyzingeach one carefully. The last one stood at the very endof the ledge, almost like a baluster. Logan placed ahand on it to support himself as he leaned closer, andit shifted uncomfortably. Logan jerked back, hissing.

“What is it?” Laura asked.“I nearly fell.” He barked a laugh. “You distracted

me.”“Me?” Laura was incredulous. “I didn’t even do

anything!”“I felt your eye on me,” he said.“I’ll be sure not to do that anymore,” Laura

answered laconically. Suddenly the ground groaned,and Laura flinched as the sound of rubble crashingdown reached her ears. The last tombstone was stillthere, but it now leaned over the edge precariously.

“Looks like we disturbed some of the rock beneathus,” Logan said as he gingerly picked his way back toher. “There’s nothing up here to see. We should getback down to where we at least know the ground isstable”

Laura sighed in relief. The whole situation had heron edge.

She turned around, and started walking down, whensuddenly Logan was on her, pressing her against thewall.

“What are you doing?” she tried to say, but itjumbled as Logan placed his hand over her mouth.

“Sshh!” he hissed to her. “Someone’s coming.” Hereleased his grip on her mouth.

“What?” Laura whispered urgently. “Who?”“I don’t know. Stay here, and don’t move.” And just

like that, he was gone, a blur streaking down thestairs.

Chapter Nineteen~A Fighting Chance~

Laura’s breath caught as her ears picked up on thenoise. She could hear footsteps coming, too. Carefully, she inched closer to the edge of the stairs. She could see Logan, standing in front of the entrancebelow, with his shoulders stiff.

The footsteps were coming from the same tunnelLogan and Laura had come from. They echoed loudlyacross the chamber, amplified by the hollow space ofthe cave. Whoever was coming wasn’t afraid ofalerting them to their presence.

“Well, well, well,” a voice boomed through the air. Laura instantly recognized its source: it was the voiceof the vampire who had held her captive before. “Look who we have here.”

Laura moved back from the ledge. Her heart waspounding fast with fear. How had he tracked them soquickly? Logan had said they were days ahead ofany pursuers!

“You shouldn’t be here.” Logan’s voice was grave. A wild laugh answered from below.

“I shouldn’t be here? You dare tell me what to do? You are an outcast, forever damned for havingcommitted treason against the Vassiz. You have

forsaken your race, broken the ancient doctrine thatbinds us to who we are. You have spat on everythingyou have been gifted. And for what? A human?”

“Leave now,” Logan warned. “You saw what I did toyour friend.”

“Oh, I don’t think I will be going anywhere. Vladimirwas a fool, and he paid the price for his ineptitude. He took you lightly. I won’t be making the samemistake. When I deliver you and your human to theelders, all their glory shall come upon me. I will beexalted as the one who delivered the rogue to them,and take my place amongst the most revered of allour kind.”

Laura couldn’t see anything. She couldn’t take theunknowing, the uncertainty of what was happeningbelow her. Summoning all her courage, she droppedto her belly and crawled to the edge. Peeking over,she saw that Logan still hadn’t moved. And she sawthe other vampire’s shape right at the entrance.

“They sent out a call, you know,” the vampirecontinued. “The first such in hundreds of years. All ofthe Vassiz know what you have done, and they haveunited against you. The packs smell blood on thewater. They’re coming for you. But once I’m done,they will be too late.”

Laura could tell a fight was about to break out.

One Logan might lose. And she couldn’t do anythingabout it. She hated feeling so helpless. Being sohelpless.

“So, traitor, tell me, where is your human? Herscent is weak, but I know she is here.”

Logan growled. “You will not have her.”Wait. The tombstone! The one Logan had nearly

dropped! She looked down, did a quick calculation inher head. The vampire… he was standing right belowit! If she could just reach it, maybe push it forward…

“Oh?” The vampire laughed cruelly. “We havebeen through this before, have we not?”

“I have spared your life once,” Logan said. “Thistime, I might not be so kind.”

“No. This time, you won’t have the opportunity. Once I defeat you, I will make you watch as I have myway with your human bitch. I will make you watch herscream, make you watch her squirm under my touch,and you will be helpless to interfere. Yes, I think I’llquite enjoy doing that. I haven’t taken a young girl likeher in quite some time. The elders have asked forboth of you, alive. They made no mention to thecondition of your health.”

Laura crawled on hands and knees towards the lasttombstone. She felt the earth shift underneath herwith every motion she made, and prayed that nothing

would collapse to alert the vampire to her presence.“So be it,” Logan said. “If that is your choice, I am

prepared to face you. Although I do not look forwardto having the blood of two vampires on my hands.”

The other vampire laughed again. “You are weak,Logan. Your conscience is what holds you back fromyour true potential. A pity, what I will have to do toyou…”

Laura’s dress caught on a rock, and she pulled itforward. Her breath caught at the sound of threadripping.

“…you would have risen high in the ranks of theancient blood…”

He hadn’t heard her. She was at the tombstone,now. It stood, balanced by a hair. She pushed it withboth hands. It didn’t budge.

“…the elders would have taken you for one of theirown…”

She was running out of time, and she knew it. Howmuch longer would the vampire stand beneath her?

“One of their own?” Logan sounded shocked.She backed up, and threw her weight against the

stone. And felt it shift ever so slightly under hershoulder. Again, she backed up and thrust herselfagainst the rock.

A loud crack sounded, and she felt the earth give

way. She scrambled back.“What was—” the vampire began, but cut off with an

ear-piercing scream. The stone broke off, and fell. Almost instantly an

enormous crash sounded, and the scream broke off.Suddenly the earth below her began to move. The

ledge was caving in, falling down. She had brokenthe entire structure!

She flung herself backwards as the stonecrumpled. Large cracks and fissures jerked their wayunevenly towards her. One by one, large pieces ofstone started to fall, creating a deafening roar as theyhit the ground below.

Laura leapt to the side, to the safety of the stairs. She grabbed desperately at a the steps ground, andpulled herself up just in time. The ledge behind herhad fully collapsed.

An eerie silence descended on the cave after thelast stone had fallen. Laura was breathing hard. Thedrop must have been fifty, sixty feet, and if she hadfallen… well, she didn’t want to think about that.

But she was safe, finally. She sat down against thewall. And before she knew it, Logan was at her side.

“You killed him,” he exclaimed in wonder. “Nobodyhas killed a vampire, certainly no human, since…since the start of our recorded history! There’s never

been a human responsible for a vampire death!”“And now I’m just like you,” Laura said. “We’ve both

got vampire blood on our hands.”“So we do,” Logan laughed. He bent down to offer

a hand, and she took it, rising up.“Now what do we go?” Laura asked.“After the elders discover this death, they’re going

to double their efforts to catch us. Quadruple them. Ifear we’ll have all the clans in North America comingafter us.”

“We can escape.” Laura’s voice took a newfoundconfidence. For the first time since discovering thetrue identity of her pursuers, she did not feel helpless. In fact, she felt better than that. She felt strong. “Iknow we can.”

“Glad to have you confidence,” Logan told her. “Butit looks like what you did left us with little option ofwhat to do next.”

“What do you mean?”“The entrance,” Logan explained. “Everything

collapsed right in front of it. Even with my strength, Idon’t think I’ll be able to move the rocks.”

“Do you mean…”“Yes. We have to enter the tunnels.”

Chapter Twenty~An Ancient Riddle~

After a bit of searching, Logan found the entranceleading deeper into the cavern. Before setting off, hepainstakingly studied the glyphs on that smooth wallagain, trying to glean some hint of the right direction. There was none. He read to Laura what he could,and it amounted to a very fleeting mention of “theProper path.”

The entrance deeper was tight, creating aclaustrophobic feel with the two of them walking side-by-side. But Laura wouldn’t be separated from Loganif her life depended on it. He was her only chance ofsurvival.

A mixture of satisfaction tinged with doubt floodedher at that thought. Here she was, in the depths of theearth, accompanied by a creature of near god-likepower. Not only that, but he was sacrificing all that hewas, all that he could become, just for her. For someinexplicable, unfathomable, and incomprehensiblereason, he seemed to care for her. He had forsakenhis race, his own kind… for her.

She couldn’t understand what led Logan to showher the dream world in the first place, especially if heknew the risks it would entail beforehand. And he

claimed he did. Knowing that he had taken on thatrisk for her – despite how it all had turned out – gaveLaura a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. Shestumbled a bit, but caught herself. She wasn’t gettingwoozy, was she?

No, she wouldn’t let herself be a slave to heremotions again. She had to focus on her currentsituation. On surviving her current situation.

She carried a lit torch, which broke the darkness fora few yards in front of her. Logan was carrying more,as a backup supply in case hers died before they gotout. If and when they got out, she thought somewhatgloomily.

She had no idea how long this tunnel was, andneither did Logan. So far, it had been cut straight intothe rock, with no division or splits. But she would betanything that that wouldn’t last long. For all she knew,it could take ages for them to find their way out.

Abruptly, a thought occurred to her. “Hey,” sheasked Logan, “what about the dream world?”

“What about it?” Logan replied.“I was just thinking… if you take us into the dream

world, like you did before, we’ll be right in this tunnel,won’t we?”

“That’s right.”“So, you said time flows differently there. We can

explore the tunnels and find the right way out beforecoming back to our bodies.” She was critically awarewhat the danger of getting lost down here, with nosource of food or water, meant for her. “If we catchthe dream at the right wave, we can be back inminutes. We’ll know the right path, and there’ll be nodanger of us taking a wrong turn and getting lost downhere forever.” She was also critically aware of thehunger pains that were starting to attack herstomach.

“No,” Logan said intently, “we cannot do that. Theelders are monitoring our dreams – mine inparticular. If we enter the dream world, they’ll knowright were where are, and how to get here. They’rewatching for our entrance to that world.

“And that’s not the worst of it. The elders havegreat power, great control, over the world of dreams. If we leave the physical realm, they can turn the entiredream into a never ending nightmare. They willtorture us, inflicting pain so severe that it cannot bematched in reality. We will be trapped forever, with nohope of ever returning to our bodies. That is asentence much worse than death.”

“But isn’t it possible to enter the world withoutarousing their attention? It must be!”

“I thought so when I went there with you.” He shook

his head. “No, we cannot do it. It’s too much of arisk.”

“I’m not like you, you know,” Laura suddenlysnapped. “I can’t just go without food forever.” Herhunger was getting the better of her.

“I know. I’ll find a way out. I’ll find the Proper path.” His voice was determined, steely. Half to himself, headded with a whisper, “I know I will.”

Laura prayed he would.

--

They had been walking for what must have been afew hours when the slope of the tunnel started goingdown. The air was becoming damp, stale and heavywith age. Laura did not think anybody had been herefor generations.

Slowly, the sides of the rock came closer together,until Laura couldn’t walk side-by-side with Logananymore. She took the lead in front of him, and he lether go without protest.

A pang of guilt struck her for the way she snappedat him before. They had walked in near-silence sincethen, and she debated apologizing, but thought thebetter of it each time. In the dark, damp air of thecave, she wasn’t in the most tolerant of moods.

Suddenly something caught her arms and legs,preventing her from moving. She tried to jerk themfree, but they wouldn’t budge. She was trapped! Shecried out, and struggled mightily against whateverwas holding her. But the more she moved, the morerestrained she felt. What the hell?

“Stop moving,” Logan laughed behind her. “You’rein a giant cobweb.”

“A cobweb?” Laura hated spiders, hated anythingto do with them, and the thought of being entrencheddeep in their disgusting sticky thread was petrifying. She tried to pull back, to jerk herself free with moreforce than before, but ended up only feeling moretrapped. She could feel the gluey substance on herarms, on her face, in her hair.

“I said, don’t move,” Logan chuckled. “I’ll help youout.”

Laura felt a jerk above her, heard a tearing noise,and dropped to the ground unceremoniously. Shestared daggers at Logan.

“Why didn’t you tell me it was coming?” shedemanded. “You must have seen it, with youreyesight!”

“You were in front,” Logan shrugged, “I figured youwould have a handle on things.”

“A handle on things?!” Laura was furious. She

ripped the threading from her arms, from the front ofher dress, and out of her hair. And she threw it all atLogan. Deftly, he caught it, and tossed it back at her. It landed right in her arms. Emitting a high-pitchedscreech, she shoved it away and scrambled back. And he laughed.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me!...” she began, butsuddenly realized the humor in the situation. Eitherthat, or Logan’s laugh was so overpowering it hadaffected her. She started to chuckle too, and soonbroke out into a full laugh.

“So you’re not mad at me?” Logan asked.“Mad? Why would I be made?”“You haven’t said a word for the past hour.”Laura stared in amazement. Was he really so

sensitive as to how she regarded him? Here was aparagon of an man, with superhuman abilities andotherworldly powers, and he was worried if she wasmad at him? None of it made any sense.

“No, I’m not mad,” she told him gently.“Good,” Logan said. “In that case, you wouldn’t

mind if I take the lead? We can avoid any other nastycobweb incidents then.”

“I think I’d like that a lot more,” Laura replied kindly.They kept going, marching on in the darkness.

Laura noticed the floor started to curl up a bit,

hopefully signaling that they were done with thedescent into the earth. The light from her torch hadgrown weaker, but she didn’t want to replace it until itwas fully extinguished.

In the distance, Laura started to make out awidening of the tunnel. As they got closer, sherealized that there was a fork in the path. The twoholes carved into the rock were completely identical –neither gave any indication of where it led.

“Which way now?” Laura asked.“Hold on,” Logan replied. He walked a few paces

into the first split, turned around, and walked the samedistance into the other one. After a moment’s pause,he nodded. “This one,” he told her.

“How do you know?”“The air is fresher here.”Laura breathed in deeply, and coughed. The air

was not fresh no matter what he said.

They continued on for a long time, coming acrossno other divisions in their path. Abruptly, the tunnelcurved left sharply. When they walked across thecorner, Laura saw the tunnel split into two again. Butthick steel bars barred one way.

Laura walked up to them, and shone her torchinside. Shadows swallowed up the light in the

distance.“What do you think is past here?” she asked.“A prison,” Logan replied with unexpected

conviction. Laura shivered. “For who?”“I don’t know.”Just as Laura was about to turn back, she noticed

her light reflect off a small white surface. She lookeddown – and stumbled back when she realized it waspart of a human skull. And scattered on the floor laybroken bones that had been snapped at unnaturalangles. Laura had a flashback to what she’d seenwhen she touched that tower – the screaming faces,the hanging bodies. Had it been done here?

She was breathing heavily, and her eyes weredarting from side to side. Every lingering shadowaround her could hide anything– anything at all. Suddenly she wasn’t so sure they were all alone downhere after all.

Logan caught her by the shoulders, and turned heraround to face him. “Don’t worry,” he told hersoothingly, as if reading her thoughts, “the remainsyou saw are ancient.”

That calmed her down a little. She didn’t know if itwas the sound of his voice, or the feel of his stronghands on her that did it, but he made her feel slightly

less frightened. More at ease. She gripped him in an iron hug, and he wrapped

his arms around her too. “Logan, I’m scared,” shemumbled into him. She had been fighting her fearbefore, fighting against the unease and uncertaintythat emerged from being in this unfamiliar, completelyforeign situation. But saying the words out loud madeher admit it even to herself. “What if we never getout?”

“Laura.” He pulled back so he could look in hereyes. “I promise you, I will get you out. We will survivethis, and we’ll emerge stronger. That, I swear.”

She sighed. Hearing the assurance in his voice,it… summoned the courage within her. “I know youwill,” she said softly. And this time, she truly believedit.

They ventured further into the cavern, comingacross more divisions in the path. Each time, Loganwould come into each entrance, sniff the air carefully,and then decide which way to go.

The ground had tilted down again. Which meantthat they were straying deeper and deeper into theearth. Laura hoped it would slope up soon.

They walked a long way in silence. Laura wasalone with her thoughts. For better or for worse, she

had to embrace the situation she was in. Everythingabout it was unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and it allstarted from that journey into the dream. It seemed tohave happened ages ago. And the incident withBrady, in the halls of her school, where Logan firstdefended her… that seemed to be an entire lifetimeago.

She missed her family, her friends, her dog. Shemissed home. But she also recognized the harshreality of it all. She would never be able to go home,never be able to see anyone she knew again.

Logan was walking a few steps ahead of her, andLaura watched him. He had been her only constantsince leaving only a few days ago. She realized nowthat she was with him to the bitter end.

He walked on, and she watched. She admired hisposture, his gait, and the way his skin was soperfectly smooth and beautifully white. His hair, hismanner of being, the way he talked. And his laugh. She hadn’t noticed it before, but she now realized thathis laugh was absolutely amazing. She loved the wayhe laughed – she knew it would fill up a room. Shehoped bitterly that they would live long enough for herto hear it again.

Suddenly the tunnel opened up into a small cavern. The rock above her head became much further away,

making the enclave feel spacious. They walked rightinto the middle of it, and Laura waved her torcharound. To her amazement, she saw two otherancient torches, still enact, bolted against the walls. She lit them, providing light that covered the wholespace.

She heard the sound of dripping water, and turnedtowards it eagerly. A small stream, barely the width ofher forearm, flowed across the floor. She jumped toit, kneeling on her hands and knees to drink the sweetliquid.

“Wait!” Logan hissed at her, but she swallowed itgreedily. She hadn’t had anything to drink sinceentering these tunnels, and was parched. Suddenlyshe felt Logan’s hands on her shoulders, and wasbeing pulled away.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.“You don’t know if it’s safe to drink,” he said sternly.

Laura realized he was right. “Let me try it, first.” Shenodded.

He dabbed a finger in the stream, and brought it upto his mouth. After a few seconds, he nodded at her. “It’s fine.”

With only a little more composure, Laura dove backdown to gulp up the water. When she was done, shelooked over at Logan, who had taken a seat beside

her.“It’s getting late,” he said, “and we’ve had a long

day. I think we should spend the night.”“What, here?”“Why not? Better than sleeping in one of those

cramped tunnels.” Laura could see the logic there,and realized that she was getting tired.

She agreed, and they set up camp in the enclave. Which consisted of little more than arranging some ofthe rocks in the ground to make room for a spot to liedown. The earth was cold, and Laura shivered.

“Here,” Logan said, taking off his shirt to give to heras a blanket. “It might keep you warm.”

Laura huddled into it, and watched Logan as he satback. He had a perfectly shaped chest and chiseledabs, and the muscles in his arms were lean and hard. And there were three wide scars, almost like clawmarks, stretched across his torso They looked old,faded.

“How did you get those?” Laura asked. “An accumulation over the years,” he replied simply,

looking down at himself. “Memories of another time. They never healed quite fully.”

“Did it hurt?”“I’ll tell you another time. You better get to sleep for

now.”

Laura wondered what would be strong enough toget close enough to a vampire to harm him like that. She wanted to ask more, but could tell he didn’t wantto say anything on the subject. Her heart went out tohim. She wished she were there when it happened,so she could nurse him back to health, tell him thateverything would be alright.

He sat back, staring into the distance. Laurarealized she hadn’t seen him sleep once over the pastnumber of days. She asked him about it.

“Normally,” he disclosed, “after a regular feeding,the urge to sleep goes away. You stay up for maybea day or two, sometimes more. It feels a bit likeyou’re stimmed out, but… more serene. It’s hard toexplain unless you experience it.”

“But it’s been longer than that,” Laura said. Andyawned unintentionally.

“I know. Ever since I tasted vampire blood… I’vefelt different. Not even stimmed out, just… calm. Haven’t felt the need to sleep, yet. I feel like I’vewoken up from a very long nap.”

“Ok.” Laura yawned again. The day had gotten toher.

She turned to her side, and quickly fell into a deepsleep.

--

“Wake up,” Logan whispered, shaking her awake.Laura looked up. The light from all but one torch

had been extinguished, creating a cover of darkness. She could see Logan kneeling beside her. He lookedalert. “What’s wrong?”

“I feel… a presence.”Laura sat up groggily. “What do you mean, a—”Suddenly something flew at her. A large shadow.

She screamed, but before the sound was out of herthroat, Logan pounced in the way. Next thing sheknew, Logan was on the floor, tussling with someoneelse. A man. Unclothed except for a raggedloincloth. He looked ancient, but he was strong. Hehad Logan under him, and clawed at his face, butLogan threw him off just in time. Before the man hada chance to recover, Logan was on him, pinning hisarms and legs to the ground. They struggled for a bit,but Logan had him caught.

“Who are you?” Logan demanded.“I should ask the same of you,” a raspy voice

answered. The man did not fight Logan’s gripanymore. “Enough of this struggle. I see you’vebrought a treat.” His eyes focused unnervingly onLaura. Her eyes widened. He was a vampire.

If it was possible, Logan strengthened his grip. “She is not a treat,” he said harshly.

“What?” The man – vampire – seemed genuinelyshocked. “You… protect this human?”

“Yes.”He sneered in response. “So be it. Let go of me, I

won’t harm her.” Logan didn’t move. “Do you takeme for a liar? I live and die by my word. If she isyours, I will not touch her.” After a moment’s pause,Logan relented. Slightly.

“Who are you,” Logan asked again.“I will answer your questions, friend, if you first

answer mine. What brings you here, to disturb me inmy place of peace?”

Logan paused, and then spoke. “I am Logan, andmy companion is Laura. We came to thesedungeons seeking respite, but now search for a wayout.”

“A way out?” The vampire snorted. “My child, youhave been going the wrong way if you are searchingfor a way out.”

“What do you mean,” Logan asked slowly.“The way out lies at the black and white towers. For

those who enter, it is the only way.”“The towers outside this place…” Logan said to

himself. Then he rounded on the man. “You lie.

There is fresh air along the paths the way we aregoing.”

The man laughed bitterly. “You don’t know whereyou are, do you? Of course not. You are much tooyoung.” Then his tone shifted considerably. “Get offme. I mean as I say, I will not harm her.” Cautiously,Logan backed off. And placed himself between theancient vampire and Laura.

The man rose to his feet, and regarded Loganopenly. He did not spare another look for Laura. “What I say is the truth. You will find no entrance tothis place other than by which you came. And you arenot deceived – it is in fact fresh air you smell along thepaths. But it comes from a gap in the ceiling highabove. You will find no exit there.”

“The way back is blocked,” Logan said defiantly.“Oh? Then you are doomed to roam these tunnels

for eternity.”“Who are you?” Logan asked again.“Ah. Yes. You may call me Rafael.” He nodded to

himself. “It has been a long time since I have heardanyone use that name. You are welcome to use it,brother. I have not seen another of our kind for sometime.”

“How long have you been down here?” Loganasked. Laura thought it might have been centuries

upon centuries.Rafael spread his hands grandly. “I am a recluse,

and have been so my whole life. But in this place? Perhaps since I was as old as you.”

Laura gawked. She didn’t know it was possible forvampires to age, but this Rafael looked absolutelyancient. And if he claimed to have been here sincehe was Logan’s age, and Logan had been alive forover four hundred years… her head spun. It was alength of time that was unfathomable.

“I see you, little human.” He moved his head to lookaround Logan at Laura. “You are the one who hasbeen in my dreams.”

Rafael took a step forward, and Logan snarled.“Stay back,” he warned.

Rafael spread his arms again. “You intrude on myspace, demand answers to questions you should notask, and now you threaten me again? I have told you,I am of no danger to your human. But I know of otherswho may be.”

“Who?” Laura blurted out. “Ah, so the child speaks,” Rafael chuckled. He

addressed Logan again. “I suspected it was youwhen I first saw you outside, examining the towers. But hearing her voice confirms it.” Laura frowned. She didn’t like being ignored.

“You saw us outside?” Logan sounded stupefied. “I would have felt your presence had you been there.”

Rafael smiled. “You have things to learn, still, youngbrother. Not everything is quite as it appears.”

“What do you mean?”“I mean what I say, quite simply. Had I so desired, I

could have snatched the girl from you before you hada chance to blink. That is what those who callthemselves the elders would have wanted, anyway.

“As for your question, Laura—” he emphasized hername as if believing it to be false “—those of dangerto you are the ones who chase you. But you alreadyknow this. What you may not know is the scope of thethreat. Our elders have placed quite a high reward onyour capture. And yours too,” he addressed Logan,“kin-slayer.”

“What did you call me?”Rafael shrugged. “Do you not have the blood of

vampires on your hands? Or, perhaps moreaccurately, the blood of a vampire running throughyour veins? We are all a family, bound by a bonddeeper than that of siblings. And you have killed two,have you not?”

“If you know all this,” Logan said harshly, “why haveyou not acted? What I have done is an abominationof our creed. No vampire alive would look upon me

without planning my death.”“No vampire you know of, perhaps,” Rafael replied,

“but I doubt you knew of me before today.” He tookanother step forward, and this time Logan didn’tprotest. “Ah. I am free to walk in my own home? Yes.” He started pacing in a circle, around bothLogan and Laura. “The Vassiz have not killed oneanother for hundreds of years, Logan. Not since therise of the elders has there been bloodshed amongstour kind. You change this, I know it. I believe yourfriend Laura knows it too. But why has thishappened? Why have you broken the peace?

“Is it for the girl? As much as I would believe inhappy endings, that is much too simple explanationfor what has happened. And what has happened toyou in the past week alone might rattle our kind rightto the essence of our very core. But… I am simply animpartial observer. The politics of the elder councilsdo not intrigue me. I much prefer my quiet. Perhapsthat answers your question. I do not look to getinvolved in the happenings of the upper world. Killingyou, abducting your friend… it would draw too muchattention to myself. That is why I pose no threat toyou.”

“How can I trust you?” Logan asked.Rafael laughed again. “Oh, but you already do.

From the moment you released your grip, you haveceded your trust in me.” And before Logan couldeven react, Rafael was at Laura’s side, holding afistful of her hair and tracing a fingernail along herneck. Before Laura could form a scream, Loganroared, and charged at him, but Rafael movedimpossibly fast, coming to the spot where Logan wasbefore. He laughed.

“You see? You do not know a tenth of the poweryour body possesses. I have lived long years, andhave learned many secrets. But I am of my word; I didher no harm.”

Logan looked down at Laura with worry plain on hisface. She met his eyes and nodded. “He didn’t hurtme.” She shivered as she remembered his touch,though.

“You will not do that again,” Logan growled.Rafael laughed again. “Or what? You’ll catch me

with your quick foot speed? Hah! You move so slowit’s like you’re running in quicksand.” He was tauntingLogan; taunting both of them. “You have no choicebut to trust me. You are in my domain.”

Logan looked at Laura. And sighed dejectedly. “What he says is true. I do not like to admit it, but…he is truthfully faster than me.”

“Boy, I am not only faster, but stronger, and more

intelligent, too. I have seen more in my years in thiscave than you have your whole life. But hear this: ifyou and your girl behave yourselves, I may be willingto help you.”

“Help us?” Laura spoke this time. “Help us how?”“…you let her speak freely,” Rafael said to himself,

“it is not like the old days…” Then he turned hisattention back to them. “If you listen well, heed what Isay, you may yet get out of this cavern alive. But youhave to put your absolute faith in me.”

“Why would we do that?” Logan spat. “You havedone nothing but taunt us with your riddles and mixedwords. What benefit is it to you, if we survive or not?”

“Son, you have much to learn yet. Seek the truthbehind my words, and you will understand everything. What I say… it is of no consequence.” He waved ahand dismissively. “But what I mean – that isimportant.”

“And what do you mean, Rafael? Why seek us outand engage in conversation if you could haveskewered us both like pigs?”

“Perhaps I grow lonely,” Rafael said, “or, morelikely, perhaps I do not appreciate my dreams beinginterrupted by these so-called elders.” He scoffed. “They are generations younger than me.”

This time, it was Logan’s turn to gawk. “They are

younger than you? But the elders are supposed to bethe oldest of all the Vassiz. That is how they ascendto the council.”

Rafael laughed again. “Do not be foolish, boy. Your pride blinds you to the truth. All your life, youhave lived in fear of the elders, obeying theircommands and abiding by their laws. Is this nottrue?” Logan gritted his teeth, but nodded. Reluctantly. “You were told it is how things havealways been, and that without the elders there is onlychaos and disorder. How our race would not survivewithout their guidance. Were you not?” Again, Logannodded. And his jaw clenched a little bit more. “Notmany have dared to defy them, but you have. And thisgirl… Laura… she will have a part to play yet. No, Ibelieve your story is far from finished. In fact, I thinkit’s just begun.”

“What you’re saying… about the elders… it isblasphemy.”

“Do you think I am afraid of the elders? Or theirlittle puppets? There are few things that scare me,boy, and the elders are not one of them.” Rafael’stone shifted, and it became denser. More ominous. “But for now, you should be afraid. For the eldershave visited my dreams, and the dreams of everyother living vampire. Whole packs are coming after

you, boy, and your darling friend. Packs of vampiresenraged by the desecration of your crimes. They willbe here soon.”

“Here?” Logan thundered. “You told them we werehere! You lied to us!”

“No, I did not lie, nor did I give them anyinformation. But I am guessing the untimely death ofone of your pursuers tipped them off. Listen. Theyare coming.”

A silence came upon the enclosure. Laura strainedher ears. She could hear nothing. She waited,holding her breath. Everything was silent. And thenshe heard… a distant thud. And then… another one. It was a rhythmic vibration. Low, and nearlyinaudible. The thudding quickened, coming from thedirection they had come from. Yes. She wasn’timagining things. She could hear it.

“They have broken in!” Logan exclaimed. “Throughthe blocked entrance!”

“Yes. They’re coming after you.” Rafael smiled. “Your only chance lies with me.”

Chapter Twenty-One~The Pursuit~

They ran. Hard. Laura gripped Logan’s chest with all her strength.

She was on his back, clinging for dear life. Loganwas following Rafael, who was urging them on. Vampires were fast, Laura knew, but Rafael was evenfaster.

They stormed down into pure darkness. Lauracouldn’t see past the black, but still her eyes wereopen wide, still straining to see. Her hair blewbackwards as Logan ran on, and she struggled tocatch breath against the wind in her face.

She could hear the vibrations behind them. Theywere getting louder. Whatever was making them wasgetting closer.

“Quickly, quickly!” Rafael yelled. Logan doubled hisspeed.

They sped through long corridors, down twistingtunnels, and into long paths. Laura gasped, trying togulp down the air that streamed by her, but it was verydifficult.

Suddenly the path they were on widened, andunfolded into an open space. The moon’s raysstreamed in from a hollow in the distant ceiling,

allowing Laura to see her surroundings. They ran ona single path that jutted out from the rock. A long,dark abyss lay on either side of them. One wrongmove, one misstep, and they’d be hurtling down. ButLogan was steadfast, and kept on undeterred at thesame speed as before.

Ahead of them, Laura realized with alarm, was alarge gap in the path. A place where the ancient rockhad long since fallen away. She watched, stunned, asRafael raced towards it and leapt into the air. Herose, higher than she would have ever thoughtpossible, and landed deftly on the other side.

“Faster!” he yelled from the other side. “Go faster!”For a second, Logan faltered, but quickly regained

his step. Laura realized with horror that they wouldhave to jump the gap as well.

Logan ran towards it, and sprang into the air. For asplit second, Laura felt weightless – a feather risingon a cool wind. And then they started to go down. They were falling, down towards the other end. Butthey were coming short.

Laura screamed, and buried her head againstLogan’s back while locking her fingers tighter. Theyslammed the edge hard, and the impact broke hergrip. She lost her hold, and was knocked off Logan. She was falling.

Desperately, she grabbed at something, anything. Anything that might save her. Her hand caught cloth,and she jerked to a stop, nearly dislocating hershoulder from the impact.

For half a second, she just dangled there, amazedthat she caught on. Then she looked up, and realizedshe had hold of Logan’s leg. His foot, moreprecisely. Her heart was beating out of her chest. She didn’t dare look down.

Summoning all her strength, she reached up withher other hand, securing it around his calf. But herarms were exhausted, and she nearly lost the holdagain. She felt Logan move, and looked up to seehim also hanging halfway off the cliff’s edge. He wasstruggling to get up.

Suddenly Rafael appeared above them. “Hold on,”he told her, and grabbed Logan’s arm to pull him up. Logan grunted as his bare torso scraped over thehard rock. Laura held on for dear life. Then Rafael’shand came over the edge, gripping her forearm, andpulled her up.

She collapsed onto the icy rock floor. She wasbreathing hard. Her head spun from the adrenalineshe felt. She peeked up, back the way they came –and saw her pursuers for the first time.

They were still in the distance, just now entering the

open cavern, but they were gaining fast. A horde ofvampires at least fifty deep moved in unison towardsher like a giant wave. The moonlight reflected sharplyoff their skin; they were a pale army in the night.

“Come on!” Rafael roared, and Laura felt herselfbeing picked up. Logan was carrying her. Theyheaded to the end of the path, where a wide openingled deeper into darkness. As soon as they werethrough, Rafael activated a mechanism, and a giantboulder slammed down behind them, locking them in. There was no light for Laura to see.

Logan could see, though. “What is this?” hedemanded angrily. “You have brought us to a deadend! There is no exit!” Laura felt his body quiver withrage.

There came no reply. Laura heard shuffling, andthen the agonizing sound of rock scraping againstrock.

“Help me,” Rafael said gruffly. Logan put Lauradown. She felt him move away from her, towardsRafael’s voice. She couldn’t see what they weredoing, but the scarping grew louder, momentarily. Then Laura felt a gust of wind across her face.

“A way out,” Rafael said. As the words left hismouth, a thunderous crash sounded against theboulder. The vampires were already on the other side

– and they were trying to break down the entrance! Another crash, and Laura saw thin beams of lightstream in around the edges. They were destroyingthe border!

“They’re here,” Rafael said stiffly. “You go. I willstay, to buy you time.”

“They will overwhelm you!” Logan exclaimed.“Boy, I have more tricks up my sleeve than you may

believe.” Another thunderous crash, and the wholecave they were in trembled. “Go now! You will find anenormous maze. There is only one way out. Take thecrossings left, left, right. Every time. Miss but oneand your path will lead deeper into the ground, andthere will be no escape. Hurry!” Another crash,another massive vibration. “They will break in soon. The barricade won’t keep for long. GO!”

Laura felt herself being picked up again, then feltthe wind against her skin. They had left Rafaelbehind. The last sound Laura heard was thatagonizing scrape of rock against rock.

They ran. Logan ran for his life; for both their lives. They ran down curving pathways with hard angles. Left, left, right. They ran ahead, far ahead. Left, left,right. The sounds behind them lessened. Theirpursuers were being left behind. Left, left, right.

Logan ran for everything he had, and Laura clung ontohis back with a grip she would never release. Left,left, right. She couldn’t see anything in the dark, butshe trusted Logan. Left, left, right. She could feel hisheart beating against her chest. Left, left, right. Onand on they ran, until the sounds in the distancebecame an inaudible hum, and then disappearedaltogether. Only then did Logan slow pace.

“I think,” he said finally, “that we got away.” A floodof relief greater than anything Laura had experiencedbefore came over her.

“We’re safe?”“I think so.” He set her down and took her hand.

“Come, we should be out of this labyrinth soon.”Laura followed him – and gripped his hand tightly.

She couldn’t help but smile. She hoped he wouldn’tnotice.

Logan led her straight down the path, then turnedleft. They walked further, and took another left turn. Further still, for a stretch of time that seemed to lasthours, and finally took a right – and Laura walked rightinto Logan’s back.

“No…” he stammered. “No, no, no, no!”“What is it?” Laura asked cautiously. She couldn’t

see anything in the dark. Logan started breathing heavily, like a cornered

animal. With no word, he picked her up again and randown the path, until Laura saw a dim, distant lightsource far away. As they got closer, Laura realizethey had come to an enclosure.

A single ray of light streamed into the middle of thecircular room. A round rock slab stood at the center,and the light shone onto it. There were symbolscarved on it, the same as the ones outside, in bothscripts, and they gleamed in a brilliant turquoiseagainst the light. Laura looked around her. The wallswere smooth glass rock, the same as the wallunderneath the entrance to this entire dungeon hadbeen. And the light shone from a long, narrowchamber that was cut into the rock above them.

Laura looked around again, growing alarmed. Thewalls were smooth; there were no cuts or partitions inthem. The only way out of this chamber was… theway they had come.

“A dead end,” Logan said slowly.“What? No!” It couldn’t be. Not after everything

they’d gone through. Not after everything they’ddone. Everything he’d done. For her.

“I must… have missed a turn,” he said. And heslammed his fist against the wall, hard enough thatLaura winced. “Dammit!” he roared in anger.

“We… we can go back,” Laura said. “We can

retrace our steps.”“No.” Logan shook his head sadly. “You might not

hear them coming, but I do. If we go back, there isonly death.”

Chapter Twenty-Two~The End of Hope~

Silence fell upon the room. For Laura, it was ashocked silence. To have come so far, to have doneso much… it didn’t seem fair that it had all been fornothing.

And now they were only minutes away from theimminent confrontation. A confrontation that wouldleave both of them dead.

“Laura.” Logan’s voice was heavy. She lookedacross the room to him. At least in her final momentsshe could see his face, so beautiful against themoonlight. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“No,” she told him, but he interrupted.“I’m sorry for taking you away from your life. I’m

sorry for everything. You… you did not ask for this. Ihave forced it upon you. I have taken so much away.” Laura thought she saw his eyes glisten. Were thosetears?

“Logan, no…” she began, but again he broke in.“You deserve so much better.” He stepped towards

her. “I should have never spoken to you.” He steppedcloser, until he was right in front of her, and lookeddown sadly. “I should have never shown you thedream world. You would have lived the full life you

deserve.” He took her head gently between herhands, and placed a kiss on her forehead. Sheshivered at the touch of his lips.

He turned away and walked to the entrance. Hestood there, staring out into the darkness. Hisshoulders were tense, and Laura could see everysculpted muscle of his back.

“When they come…” he swallowed, “… when theycome, I want you to stay back. As far back as youcan. Hide against the stone slab. And whatever youdo – don’t watch.”

His words tugged at her heart, and tears swelled inher eyes. He was bracing himself for the upcomingfight. To try to save her. She knew it was a losingproposition. They would kill him, tear right throughhim to get to her. There was no escaping this time.

She hated feeling helpless. Hated feeling like theyhad come so far, done so much, and achieved almostnothing. She was alone with Logan, deep underneaththe earth, and he was readying himself for one lastdesperate fight to save her. He would lose. And…she couldn’t let that happen.

A thought had tickled her mind ever since she firstlearned what Logan was. A thought she hadsuppressed, and kept hidden. A thought thatfrightened her. But now, in the darkest of hours, there

was no other choice but to face it head on.“Logan,” she said with unspoken conviction.

“They’re tracking us by my scent, right?”“Yes,” he said curtly. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t know where to go in the

labyrinth, would they?”“That’s right.” “And you… you have no scent?” The words came

slowly, but she was determined.“Yes…?”“So…” she swallowed, summoning all her courage.

“So bite me.”“What?” Logan spun around, outrage clear on his

face.“Bite me. You said you were once human, you

were converted. Bite me, and make me one of you!”“No,” he shook his head, “it’s against all the rules. It

would go against everything.”“So?” Laura wasn’t about to be pushed away, now.

“You’re an outcast anyway! If you do it, we can getaway.”

“I can’t do that to you.” Logan walked up to her.“Why not?” she demanded harshly. The stubborn

man wouldn’t listen!“It’s a life of suffering, of immortality. You watch

loved ones age and wither away. There is no peace.”

Laura closed her eyes. The words that escapedher mouth were barely a whisper. “There is peace,with you.”

She opened her eyes, and for a long moment,regarded Logan in silence.

Then, in a voice just as quiet as hers had been,Logan spoke. “Are you certain?”

Laura felt conviction stronger than anything elseflare up within her. She took his hands in hers. “Yes.”

~

And so upon that night, under cover of moonlight,Laura Cubus became the first known human tobecome willingly converted. She screamed as thefangs sank in, thrashed when the taint of vampireblood mixed in with hers. But her will was strong,and she survived the poison, rising from her sleep tobecome one of the Vassiz.

Her coming heralded a time of change and ofunrest. For the seeds of doubt that had beenplanted in the elders’ minds had now blossomed andbore fruit.

In one single act, Laura Cubus had destroyed along standing equilibrium; shattered the very bondsthat bound its strength for millennia.

that bound its strength for millennia.

End of Book 1 of the Dream

Realms Trilogy.

Table of ContentsChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter EighteenChapter NineteenChapter TwentyChapter Twenty-OneChapter Twenty-Two

Table of ContentsChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter EighteenChapter NineteenChapter TwentyChapter Twenty-OneChapter Twenty-Two

Table of ContentsChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter EighteenChapter NineteenChapter TwentyChapter Twenty-OneChapter Twenty-Two