Wicked Hungry

“She mentioned the pills,” Jonathan says. “And some boy who isn’t what he seems.”

“Zach, definitely,” I say.

“Or Gary,” Enrique says.

“It sounded like she was scared,” I say. “What do we do now?”

“It’s time for a little more studying,” Enrique says. “And then we’ll run, if we can get past those zombies.”

I take out the grimoire, Jonathan takes out a book of his own, and then Enrique surprises me by pulling out his own tiny book. “This is from my great grandmother. But it’s all in Spanish and Latin.”

So we spend the next half hour looking through the books, looking for anything about gateways. Every once in a while we take turns taking a peek outside at the shamblers. There are at least two or three more there. Big guys. They look like offensive linemen from our football team.

And there’s a new message.

“LANSFELD, IT’S TIME FOR A DETOX.”

Why are they writing this here? Or are they writing messages all over town?

In the books we find something about a hill and faeries that live under it. And that the hill itself can be a gateway for creatures from the rest of Faerie to enter. There is also a lot of information about werewolves in my book, and just a tiny reference to other types of shapeshifters. There are several pages about zombies. They are either drugged, or simple humans who take medicine meant for the fair folk. Like Eternal Cleanse, I figure. The zombies shamble along until they see something they need or like, at which point they can move fast. That’s if they aren’t under control of some wizard or faery.

Faeries. The Fey. The Fair Folk. Apparently there are those who are wild and those of the court. And the two courts, the Seelie and Unseelie, balance each other out. Unless the balance gets upset, and then there’s war. Could someone be trying to start a war? That sounds ugly.

I turn the pages, looking for anything else of use. Then I stop cold at a paragraph about vampires: “Lightning fast, incredibly strong, and cold to the touch, with sharp canines. They tend to mate for life, and mark their mates. Normally the enemies of all shapeshifters, they sometimes make allegiances with werewolves. They cannot stand zombies or the evil Fey.”

Karen.

“Dude, you look all upset,” Jonathan says. “What did you find?”

“Vampires,” I say. “Morgaine is a vampire. And so is Karen.”

“Karen Maloney, a vampire?” Jonathan asks, incredulous.

“It all makes sense now,” I say. “How could I have been so stupid? She moved faster than I could see. She hissed at me, and she—”

“Dude,” says Jonathan. “Why didn’t you, like, mention this a little earlier?”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I wanted to tell you about it, but I forgot.”

“You forgot?” Enrique asks. “Your friend is a vampire, and you forget this?”

“Yeah,” I say. “Actually, no, that’s not really true.”

“What’s not true?” Jonathan asks.

“She told me not to tell anyone,” I say.

“She told you she was a vampire?” Enrique asks.

I shake my head. “No,” I say. “It’s complicated.”

“You should have talked to us,” Enrique says.

&n

bsp; “I wanted to, but she made me swear,” I say.

“Yeah, but Stanley, we’re your friends,” Jonathan says. “You’ve got to talk to your friends.”