“Not permitted… you’re not… I mean, do you drink blood, too?”
“No. I eat strange things that Mrs. Fennel makes for us. I think there’s something in it that you wouldn’t eat or like, but I don’t feed on people.”
“I’m in a nightmare,” he said. “Soon I’ll wake up.”
“I wish that were true.”
“You have a piece of luggage with you,” he said, nodding at my bag. “Where were you going?”
“My first home,” I said.
“Where’s that?”
“It’s an orphanage in Oregon. I want to locate my mother.”
“Your mother?” He thought a moment, looked into his rearview mirror, and jerked his head back as he asked, “That isn’t your real father, is it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Ava told me he was her real father. I used to think, to hope, she was saying that only to make me jealous and it wasn’t true for her, either, but she often looks like him, maybe more so now than ever.”
“Jealous? Jealous of what?”
“We all want Daddy’s love, Buddy. We all compete for it.”
“Do you know your real mother’s name?”
“No, but I have what might be her picture,” I said, and took it out to show him.
“Well, we should just go to the police now, okay?”
“No,” I said. “That would be stupid.”
“Why?”
“They won’t believe you, and Daddy will charm them to death. You’ll look like a fool.”
“But you’ll testify now, won’t you?”
“No, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because as hard as I try, I can’t stop loving him,” I said.
21
Escape
“Do you think he’ll come after us?” Buddy asked. “I mean, is he still interested in me?”
“No. Daddy doesn’t go out to feed. His daughters have always brought what he needs to him.”
“Daughters? How many daughters does he have?”
“I don’t know, Buddy. I know only my older sisters, Brianna and Ava, and my younger sister, Marla.”
“And they’re all supposed to do this?”
“Yes.”