Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
“I guess I like testing you. I am your teacher, after all.”
She gives me a quick smile. “You don’t have to keep reminding me, Professor Aminoff,” she says before walking off.
Chapter 8
Dahlia
“Can I borrow this?” a guy from my history class asks, gesturing to one of my textbooks. We’re one of the few people in the library this late, sitting at the table near the front of the room where the most light is.
“Go ahead,” I say, handing it to him. We have our first exam the day after tomorrow and I need to do well on it. I can’t afford to use any memorization or focus spells since it will detract energy from my glamor, so it’s old-fashioned cramming for me.
It doesn’t help that I haven’t been sleeping much lately. I don’t know if it’s the glamor itself, the magic working overtime keeping me both wired and tired, or something else, but my dreams have been fitful. I can’t really remember them, but they feel so real, so vivid. Every time I try and grab hold of it and keep it still, the images float away. At night I pray that I don’t dream at all because it feels like my brain isn’t getting any rest, and I wake up more exhausted than ever.
I haven’t really felt right since two Fridays ago, when Valtu walked me home from this very library. When I was spooked by the thing in the water, and later when he kissed my hand goodnight and suddenly I was transported to another place.
I still can’t make sense of it. He did say that the area was haunted. Did a ghost’s wires get crossed with mine? I’ve heard of that happening, when you step into the leftover energy of another life. Could that be what I saw?
But why was Valtu there? Why was he dressed like a count of the 1800s? Is that what I wanted to see? Is that what he wanted me to see, like a shared memory?
Normally I’d pass it off as being overtired, being afraid of this whole portal business, worried about the job ahead, plus the stress of dealing with living a lie. Yet there was something about the experience that makes me think it was important. Trying to tell me something? Perhaps my subconscious? I don’t know.
And I really can’t spend a lot of time wondering about it either. I have an exam to study for and a vampire to charm and I’m only making headway on one of them.
The thing with Valtu is that I know I’m probably coming across as moody—and in general, I am—but I’m learning that the more I back off, the more he comes forward. It’s like a dance where we’re trying to avoid each other’s feet. The only problem is that something keeps stopping him from making a move or taking the next step. I can see he likes me. That I amuse him. That I confuse him. And maybe my glamor is actually compelling him, much the way that a vampire can. But for whatever reason, he manages to keep his distance. Maybe it’s too big of a risk for a teacher to go out with a student, but he is a vampire and I know they can do Jedi mind tricks with people. He could easily convince the faculty of any lie.
Which then makes me step forward, for him to step back, and we keep going round and round. Right now he’s in the library too, back in the artifact section, going through new donations. I wanted to go over to him when I first got here and see if he needed help but I made myself sit down at this table with a few other students and study instead.
I check my phone. Ten minutes to ten. Library should be closing soon. I’m just about get up and put a few books back on the shelf when suddenly the air inside the library turns ice cold and I feel a sickly prickle at the back of my neck.
Vampires.
The door to the library swings open and two very tall, very beautiful people step inside. They’re both dressed to the nines, a man in a slick navy suit and a woman in a simple black dress that she manages to wear like she’s on a runway. They’re long-limbed and skinny with sky-high cheekbones, full pouty lips, bright blue eyes, and honey-blonde hair against tanned skin.
The other students notice them too, looking up from their books with interest, probably because of the way they’re dressed and not because they are vampires.
Then I hear a female voice rasp inside my head.
You don’t see us.
The other students automatically look down at their books and laptops, reading and typing away.
The female vampire is compelling us, and if I want to keep up the ruse, I have to do the same and act like it affects me.