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Authors: Kevin Emerson
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the pictures of his house and his blurry form in them. What did it mean? Somethingâ¦He felt like it meant something, for sure.
Before he left, he stepped over to the sink. Emalie had left a green hair elastic on the ledge by the faucet. With barely a thought, Oliver slipped it in his pocket. Then he headed back into the night, toward school.
Chapter 6
Nowâ¦and Then
THAT SCHOOL NIGHT PASSED with Oliver barely noticing. He frustrated Seth by tuning out during their conversations, and he annoyed Theo, Brent, and Maggots by not even reacting when they harassed him. He also incurred a brief, wrathful lecture from Mr. VanWick, because he was openly staring out the window during the nightâs history lesson. Gazing at the line of small houses across the street from the school, the twinkling Christmas lights and warm windows, going dark one by one as the school night passed, he couldnât stop thinking about Emalie and Dean, and the photo.
âThis is important, Mr. Nocturne.â Mr. VanWick scowled, using the forces to slam Oliverâs textbook against his desk for effect. The other boys snickered. âAs a vampire, it is your duty to your society to be ready for the inevitable next time that human beings start killing one another. We must know the history that they keep themselves so ignorant of, so that we can act accordingly and enjoy the chaos.â
âSorry,â Oliver muttered.
âNow then,â Mr. VanWick continued, âtoday we continue our studies of the Aztec empire, a glorious period of human sacrifice unlike any other.â
Normally, Oliver enjoyed history, but, no sooner had Mr. Van Wick continued orating than Oliver was lost in his own thoughts again.
At the end of the night, Oliver found himself hanging back as the rest of the kids quickly fled school. Once everyone was gone, he wandered the halls in the darkness. The neon demons were fading. The only light left was the slanting orange of streetlights through classroom doors.
He wasnât sure what he was looking for until he found Emalie in a photo outside a first-floor classroom. There she was, middle row to the right in her seventh-grade class, barely noticeable, wearing a sweatshirt, her hair in a bandanna, while all the other students were dressed up. Dean towered up from the back row.
He found them both again, in a chorus photo, farther down the hall. Emalie was singing in the picture, but her smile wasnât as bright as those of the girls around her. It looked forced. Oliver wondered if, like a vampire, music inherently made Emalie sad. Choral music was usually quite sad beneath its bright shiny surface, which made it a favorite of vampires.
Oliver ran over the conversation in Emalieâs basement again, thinking about her request to go to the Underground, thinking about how he did want to see that photo. Distracted as he was, Oliver found himself eyeing a framed photo on the other side of the door. He now noticed that Emalie and Deanâs chorus photo had the word Now above it, and above this other photo were the words and Then .
The black-and-white picture showed a school chorus from long ago. The students were dressed much more formally: the boys with their hair slicked back, the girls with bows. And there, in the middle rowâ¦
Was a vampire. She would have been hard for a human to spot, but it was obvious to Oliver, despite the cheery bows in her hair and the smile on her face. A vampire in a human school chorus? Oliver remembered something from history class, about how vampires early in the last century had tried to live among the humans. They had called themselves Conformists. They had gone to great lengths, even using special creams to withstand sunlight, but in the end, it hadnât worked out. The Conformists were considered a shameful chapter in vampire history.
But waitâOliver was looking at a vampire in a photograph. If this girl could appear clearly in a photo, then why
Before he left, he stepped over to the sink. Emalie had left a green hair elastic on the ledge by the faucet. With barely a thought, Oliver slipped it in his pocket. Then he headed back into the night, toward school.
Chapter 6
Nowâ¦and Then
THAT SCHOOL NIGHT PASSED with Oliver barely noticing. He frustrated Seth by tuning out during their conversations, and he annoyed Theo, Brent, and Maggots by not even reacting when they harassed him. He also incurred a brief, wrathful lecture from Mr. VanWick, because he was openly staring out the window during the nightâs history lesson. Gazing at the line of small houses across the street from the school, the twinkling Christmas lights and warm windows, going dark one by one as the school night passed, he couldnât stop thinking about Emalie and Dean, and the photo.
âThis is important, Mr. Nocturne.â Mr. VanWick scowled, using the forces to slam Oliverâs textbook against his desk for effect. The other boys snickered. âAs a vampire, it is your duty to your society to be ready for the inevitable next time that human beings start killing one another. We must know the history that they keep themselves so ignorant of, so that we can act accordingly and enjoy the chaos.â
âSorry,â Oliver muttered.
âNow then,â Mr. VanWick continued, âtoday we continue our studies of the Aztec empire, a glorious period of human sacrifice unlike any other.â
Normally, Oliver enjoyed history, but, no sooner had Mr. Van Wick continued orating than Oliver was lost in his own thoughts again.
At the end of the night, Oliver found himself hanging back as the rest of the kids quickly fled school. Once everyone was gone, he wandered the halls in the darkness. The neon demons were fading. The only light left was the slanting orange of streetlights through classroom doors.
He wasnât sure what he was looking for until he found Emalie in a photo outside a first-floor classroom. There she was, middle row to the right in her seventh-grade class, barely noticeable, wearing a sweatshirt, her hair in a bandanna, while all the other students were dressed up. Dean towered up from the back row.
He found them both again, in a chorus photo, farther down the hall. Emalie was singing in the picture, but her smile wasnât as bright as those of the girls around her. It looked forced. Oliver wondered if, like a vampire, music inherently made Emalie sad. Choral music was usually quite sad beneath its bright shiny surface, which made it a favorite of vampires.
Oliver ran over the conversation in Emalieâs basement again, thinking about her request to go to the Underground, thinking about how he did want to see that photo. Distracted as he was, Oliver found himself eyeing a framed photo on the other side of the door. He now noticed that Emalie and Deanâs chorus photo had the word Now above it, and above this other photo were the words and Then .
The black-and-white picture showed a school chorus from long ago. The students were dressed much more formally: the boys with their hair slicked back, the girls with bows. And there, in the middle rowâ¦
Was a vampire. She would have been hard for a human to spot, but it was obvious to Oliver, despite the cheery bows in her hair and the smile on her face. A vampire in a human school chorus? Oliver remembered something from history class, about how vampires early in the last century had tried to live among the humans. They had called themselves Conformists. They had gone to great lengths, even using special creams to withstand sunlight, but in the end, it hadnât worked out. The Conformists were considered a shameful chapter in vampire history.
But waitâOliver was looking at a vampire in a photograph. If this girl could appear clearly in a photo, then why
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