Chapter 14. Lorena
lorena
The vampire gave me an out, and I didn’t take it.
William could’ve found a different Familiar and left my friends and me alone. I could have pushed him further from our lives, for all our safety. But when I got the chance, I couldn’t let go.
I want to say I did it to protect others, but that wouldn’t be the truth. I wasn’t afraid of him endangering someone else—I already have him on a murder leash with my video. The truth is, I was scared of being replaced.
As twisted as that sounds, for the first time in my life, someone has chosen me instead of Ma or Salma.
My best friend might be right: I’m not sure this place is good for me.
I toss and turn in bed, but I don’t fall asleep. This is some new kind of torture—if I pass out in class again, I’m fucked.
“Let me do your makeup,” Salma says as soon as she sees me in the morning, and the bags under my eyes feel heavier than ever.
“Oh, yes!” says Tiffany, clapping her hands together. “You should really let us give you a makeover.”
“I didn’t say makeover.” Salma’s eyes widen with fake innocence. “Just let me add a thin layer of concealer, and a dab of eye shadow and liner, and just a smear of lipstick—”
“That’s it,” I say, putting an end to her list. “Nothing more.”
When she’s finished, I can’t deny the effect of her work. I’ve gone from all-nighter messy to almost picture-day pretty.
I’m more nervous than usual when we enter the dining hall, and the tension in my chest tightens when I spot our table. All three guys are already there.
Salma pushes me toward the chair nearest to William, and I barely glance at him as I set my bag down and go fill up my plate. When I return, the vampire watches me as I sit down, not bothering to conceal his scrutiny of my new look.
“We have an announcement!” says Director Minaro, and everyone turns toward her, except for William. “Classes are canceled today because we are going on a surprise field trip.”
Gasps abound, and I trade stunned looks with Salma.
“Leave your books here. We are getting on a bus that will take us to visit the Harvard University campus!”
Excited chatter fills the hall, and one thing gets repeated above all: We’ll have service again!
Outside, a large private coach bus awaits, the fancy kind that Salma’s dad’s clients take when they tour.
Mr. Santos manages musicians and has always preferred being on the road with them to staying home with his family.
He took off for Europe just three weeks after Tía Elena’s funeral and hasn’t been home since.
That’s why Ma drove Salma and me to Huntington.
William stares at the bus in awe, and I realize he’s never seen anything like it before. “In your day, horse-drawn carriages were all the craze?”
“Have you noticed you speak in question-statements?” is his answer to me.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
“Sometimes it is hard to tell if you are telling or asking me something.”
The act of boarding the bus spares me from having to respond. I didn’t notice that about myself before, but of course now that he’s pointed it out, I’ll be noticing it forever.
I follow Trevor and Zach to one of the back rows. Trevor sits first, and Zach slides in next to him. I sit in the row in front of them, and William slides in next to me.
Salma and Tiffany pick the bench across the aisle, where they’ll have the best angle to watch us the whole trip to Cambridge. “This bus ride will take about three hours,” announces Director Minaro from the front, “so we are going to vote on a movie to watch.”
Unbelievably, Twilight wins.
William is glued to the screen the whole movie. I keep waiting for him to laugh, but he is utterly focused. It’s only when the film ends that he meets my eyes. “This is what vampires are to you?”
I shake my head. “Not to me.”
“I have service!” someone calls out, and I look across the aisle at Salma, who is already typing on her phone.
I dig into my bag for my cell phone. Two bars.
A text comes in from Salma: Omg he’s a Twi-hard!
Murmurs fill the air around us as everyone starts making phone calls, and I pull up my favorites list and call home.
“Lorena!” Ma says with unbridled joy, answering on the first ring. Guilt roils my stomach because I know I shouldn’t have waited four days to call them.
“Lore?” I hear Pa say in the background. “Put her on speaker!”
“This is the first time I’ve had reception,” I say, knowing it’s a lame excuse because the school has landlines. “Director Minaro surprised us this morning with a tour of the Harvard campus.”
“What!” says Ma. “That wasn’t on the list of approved field trips—”
“That’s so exciting for you,” says Pa, speaking over her. “I remember when you were ten, you used to talk about wanting to go there.”
“Are you staying overnight?” Ma interjects.
“No, we have to be back on the bus by five.”
“So, tell us, how is Huntington?” asks Pa.
“Everything is great,” I say, peering beside me at William, who’s the only person on this bus not checking his phone.
“What’s your room like?”
“It’s…” William meets my gaze, and I say, “magical.”
“What?” asks Ma, like she didn’t hear me right.
I clear my throat. “I mean it’s at the top of a tower, and one whole wall is a window, and we have this amazing view of the sky over the forest.”
“That does sound magical,” says Pa.
“How is Salma?” asks Ma, her voice softening.
“Much better than this summer,” I say in as low a voice as I can. “I think this was the right call.”
“For her, or for both of you?” asks Ma, and it seems to get quieter on the other end of the line.
They’re trying to understand my four-day silence, and I vow to myself to never go this long without calling. “I like it here,” I say, and before I can stop myself, I look at William again.
He’s watching the black screen like he’s still thinking about Twilight.
“Have there been any problems, anyone breaking the rules?” Ma’s pitch goes a bit higher, and I know why she’s asking me this.
“Not that I know of,” I say as casually as I can.
“Good,” she says, and I hear Pa whispering but can’t make out what he says. “I just want to make sure you’re being smart,” Ma speaks over him. “And not doing anything that you might regret later—”
“Mm-hmm,” I say, suddenly wanting off this call. “We’re here, so I gotta go. I promise I won’t wait this long to call again.”
“Oh, okay,” says Pa, sounding disappointed that we’re hanging up. “Te queremos mucho, Lore.”
“I love you, too.”
After hanging up, I check my inbox. Every email is some kind of advertisement, so I swipe to delete them all.
I don’t have any social media to pull up because Ma’s rules state no social media until after high school.
I opened a secret account a couple of years ago, but when that video of me went viral, reading the comments soured me on the whole thing. So I shut it down.
As Boston’s redbrick buildings fill our view, I gaze at the gold-crowned trees that will soon shed their leaves. William leans over me to stare out the window, his gaze entranced, like he’s never seen a view like this one.
His face is so close to mine that I stare at the smooth contours of his cheek until my fingers tingle with the urge to trace his jawline. I shake my head to shed the ridiculous impulse.
“I grew up not far from here,” he says softly.
The fact that he just volunteered information about himself cements that something’s changed in our dynamic now that I agreed to become his Familiar. Whether we like each other or not, we’re officially on the same team. Only I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
What does it say about me that I’m working with a vampire?
“Are you going to visit your house while the rest of us are on campus?” I ask, hoping for a breather from his prying eyes and ears.
He doesn’t answer.
“We will reach Harvard Yard in fifteen minutes!” announces Minaro. “We are handing out food now. There are gluten-free options for anyone who needs them.”
Teachers come down the aisle offering either falafel wraps or ham-and-cheese sandwiches, along with a bag of chips and a water bottle. While I eat, William stores his food in my bag.
“We are here,” says the director. “Please bring your trash to the front as you file out. Do not go anywhere. Form a line.”
She counts us as we get off, then we line up outside the bus and wait for her. “Come on,” she calls once she’s on the ground. “Follow me through the main gate.”
Salma loops her arm with Tiffany’s and pulls her ahead, giving William and me some privacy. Trevor and Zach follow the girls, and William and I end up at the very tail of the line. The vampire is casting his gaze around us, like he’s casing our environment for threats.
We aren’t here by coincidence.
The realization strikes me with such clarity that I feel foolish for not piecing it together sooner. “Why are we on the Harvard campus?” I ask him. “Did you have something to do with this?”
“Come with me,” he says, cutting a sharp right as soon as we’re through the gates.
I look between his receding figure and our classmates as they head down a paved path through Harvard Yard, and after a beat, I chase after the vampire.
“Was this field trip your idea?” I ask when I catch up to him. I keep glancing back to make sure no one from our group notices we’re missing.
“I may have encouraged Director Minaro to make it happen.”
“You mean you compelled her.” My heart echoes in my chest. “And for the record, that’s a statement, not a question.”
“Noted.”
I consider going back to our classmates, only when I turn around to find them, they’ve been swallowed by the crowds of college students and color-coded tourist groups.
“Where are we going?” I ask William. “And why—?”
“This is it.”
He stops only a few yards from the gate, in front of a four-story brick building with rows of checkered windows. “Massachusetts Hall,” he murmurs. “This is where I lived when I was turned.”
Goose bumps race down my arms. “What are we doing here?”
“I buried a secret in these walls more than two centuries ago.” His gaze finally drops from the building to meet mine. “If I can find it, we will know one thing for sure: All your history is made of lies.”