Leesa sat hunched over her desk, slogging through her physics book, struggling to understand Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. Her room had grown dark while she was studying, but her desk lamp provided a small island of light. Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” was playing in the background. Leesa loved the young British singer’s voice, so powerful and full of raw emotion. It was hard to believe she wasn’t even twenty-five years old yet. Leesa let her mind drift for a moment, escaping into the lyrics. She particularly liked the part about a fire starting in her heart. That was definitely a good description of how Rave made her feel—in more ways than one.
As the song wound down, she turned back to her physics book. “Uncertainty” was a fitting word for her right now, she thought. Not only was she uncertain about this whole Heisenberg Principle, but she was uncertain about so many other things going on in her life as well. Just
The picture returned to the earlier helicopter shot. “That’s all we have for now,” the reporter said as the camera zoomed in on the graveyard. Leesa leaned closer to the television. A ragged circle of dark lumps was barely visible now. They had to be the unearthed bodies. From this distance, she couldn’t tell if they were covered by anything or not.She shuddered. Even though the view was still too far to see clearly, she was struck by how similar the circle of bodies looked to the one she had seen in her dream. She switched off the television.“Wow, that’s freakin’ crazy,” Cali said. “Do you think your vampire friends could have done it?” “I keep telling you, they’re not my friends.” Leesa stood up and took a few aimless steps around the room. “But no, I doubt vampires had anything to do with it. What would they want with dead bodies? They only like live ones, filled with lots of warm
Edwina prowled the dark caverns of the vampire lair. She had formulated the beginnings of a plan, and now she needed to find Stefan so she could start to put it into motion. She had seen him earlier, conversing with Ricard, but for what she wanted, she had to get Stefan alone. Only then could she pressure and persuade him to give her what she needed.She finally came upon him in one of the tunnels leading from the Council chamber. She pasted a sweet smile upon her face.“Stefan, I’ve been looking for you. I need to speak to you.”Stefan’s black eyes were wary. He had forced Edwina to give up her feeder, with no recompense for her, which was no small thing. He did not trust her friendly manner, not even a little. And he certainly did not trust her smile.“What is it, Edwina?” he asked, keeping his voice neutral.“I want to go outside.”Stefan folded his arms across his chest. “So? Why tell
Leesa stood behind the top row of the amphitheater style classroom, surveying the seats below. The room was about half full right now, and more kids were steadily filtering in through the doorway behind her. She wanted an aisle seat, as close to the front as possible. Aisle seats were always in demand, though, and the best one she saw was on the left aisle, only about one-third of the way down from the top. She limped quickly toward the left stairs before someone else nabbed the seat.She needed to be on the aisle so she could get down to the stage as swiftly as possible when class ended, to talk to Dr. Clerval about her strange dream. The professor was always surrounded by students wanting to talk to him after class, so it was best to get down there quickly. With their shared history, she knew he would make time for her in any case, but she didn’t want to have to wait while he answered questions from other kids.She settled into the seat she had eyed from the ba
“Wait a second.” He sat down for a moment, then got up and offered the spot to Leesa. “Sit here.” As soon as she sat, Leesa understood what Rave had done. The stone underneath her was as warm as if it had been baking in the summer sun all day. She smiled at him as he sat beside her. “Have I ever told you how useful you are to have around?”Rave grinned. “Yeah, you’ve mentioned it once or twice, I think.”“Well, it’s true, for sure.”Rave took her hand. “So, what’s on your mind, sweetheart?”Leesa hesitated. Now that she was about to talk about the dream with Rave and had made a bit of a big deal about it, she felt a little foolish. Still, she needed to learn whatever she could, and Rave was definitely her best link to the supernatural world.“It’s about a dream I had last week,” she said. “I dreamed some dead bodies dug themselves up ou
Near midnight on friday night, Leesa sat at her desk, pouring over her biology book. Avril Lavigne’s “Goodbye Lullaby” CD was playing softly in the background for the third or fourth time. Leesa had been too consumed with her studying to bother changing it, but this time the raucous sounds of “What the Hell” pulled her attention away from the book. The parts about needing time to play and needing to be a bit crazy sure sounded like a good idea to her right now.There were a million things she would rather be doing than studying tonight, but finals started on Monday, so it was time to buckle down. She would rather be doing something with Rave, of course, or hanging out with Cali, Stacie and Caitlin playing Guitar Hero, or even bowling on Caitlin’s Wii. Or watching a movie, or reading a good book, or…. Her mouth stretched open into a big yawn. Sleeping wouldn’t be a bad choice, either.A week had passed since her graveyard
Finals were way worse than midterms, Leesa quickly discovered. Not only was there twice as much material to study and remember, but the exams counted as a much bigger portion of the final grade, making the pressure that much greater. Everyone in the dorm was feeling it—everyone but Stacie, that was. Stacie was a brainiac who never studied past eleven o’clock and still got nothing but A’s. She was always smiling and energetic, when glassy stares and dragging gaits had become the norm.If Leesa had the time, she was sure she could make some decent money simply by recycling the piles of energy drink cans that kept the big trash bin outside the dorm overflowing. She could make a few bucks just from the cans she and Cali were going through.But, alas, there was little time for anything but studying, eating and sleeping—and little enough for the latter two. She couldn’t believe she would have to go through this hell seven more times before she g
Her mood grew brighter still when she saw Rave smiling up at her from the bottom of the stairs. He was wearing his purple and brown flannel shirt and black jeans. The noon sun made his dark copper hair almost shine. Seeing him there melted away some of her fatigue as she limped down the steps.“What a nice surprise,” she said.Rave kissed her on the forehead. A little more of her tiredness vanished.“How did you do?”“Good enough, I think.”“I bet you’re glad to be done, huh?”“Ha! ‘Glad’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. I’m beat. I only got about two hours sleep last night. But I think it was worth it.”“And yet somehow, you still look beautiful,” Rave said, smiling. “What’s your secret?” Leesa blushed. Her fingers reached for her hair, but she had clipped it up into a tight bun this morning, so there was nowhere for
Leesa and Rave walked arm in arm back to her dorm. For the most part, they walked in silence. Exhaustion had caught up with Leesa, and there was little more to say, anyhow. She knew Rave loved her, and she also knew he had to leave. She would miss him, of course, miss him terribly. But he would be back, and she hoped it would be sooner rather than later.She would have plenty to keep her busy over the holiday break. Her family was going to have a real Christmas for the first time in years—maybe even a white one, she hoped, if the weatherman cooperated. Also, she would be helping her mom and Bradley find an apartment. Her mom had decided she was well enough to take care of herself and Bradley, and felt they had imposed on Aunt Janet and Uncle Roger’s hospitality long enough. It was time to get their own place, and Leesa was more than happy to help.Rave usually said his goodbyes outside the dorm, but today he accompanied Leesa up to her room. The Red Bull Le