Nothing can ruin an otherwise lovely early-spring/late-winter day like a funeral. Don’t get me wrong, funerals stink any time of the year. I should know. I’ve been to a lot of them recently. But this one was even worse because it was so lovely outside. The flowers were budding, birds were singing, and the grass was green and freshly cut, giving off that pleasant scent that makes you think of baseball and bike rides. Not standing by, helplessly watching one of your best friends in the world cry her eyes out because they’re lowering her daddy six feet into the ground.
I sort of tuned out all of the wonderful things friends and family members had to say about Dave Burk. I knew him pretty much my whole life, and I totally agree. He was an amazing man. He was funny and let us get away with way more than my parents did. Not to mention he had a law practice that made great money and provided a mansion-esque home for his family. (Not that Lucy’s mom didn&rsquo
Elliott Sanderson, Brandon’s dad and one of my best friends, opened the back passenger-side door for me, and I thanked him quietly. Brandon went around, and Elliott hopped into the driver’s seat. My sister and Aaron had driven separately with my parents as passengers. We waited just a second for Jamie Joplin, our resident Healer, to finish talking to my sister and head over. It seemed a little odd that the rest of my family was in the other SUV together, but then, the guys in this vehicle were basically my family now.“Well, that was depressing,” Elliott muttered as he followed a long stream of cars out of the cemetery toward the Sullivan house. “Tell ya what, if I ever die again, just skip that, okay?”“You can’t die again,” I said, knowing he was trying to lighten the mood but also remembering how devastated I was sitting at his funeral not even a year ago. “Even if it were possible for you to die again, you
The usual chatty Lucy wasn’t talking now. When she walked into the house a few minutes after me, her expression was solemn. There was a lot more hugging. And when our friends from school, Milo and Wes, whom I hadn’t had a chance to see since I’d come back but was hoping to speak to, came in after Lucy and wrapped their arms around her, she started bawling again. Her boyfriend Jason is sort of aloof, and he just stood off to the side. Brandon went over to speak to him since they’d met a few months ago, and I took deep breaths, wishing my way back to our house.“She looks really said,” Emma said over my shoulder. “I wish I could make her feel better.”“Me, too,” I replied. I’d gotten to spend a little bit of time with Emma and Lucy the day before after we’d gotten in, but not enough. I’d missed them both so much since I’d moved to Kansas City. We’d done plenty of FaceTime and textin
“I’m ready to join LIGHTS,” Lucy said quietly. “It’s hard to describe, Emma. Even though technically I didn’t start the Transformation process the other night, something changed in me. Something I can’t quite describe.”“What about Jason?” I whispered.Lucy shrugged. “We’ve been dating for a while now, you know. But it’s not like I’m in love with him. He graduates in two months, and then he’s planning on going to Nebraska to play football. I doubt I’d see much of him anyway.”It sounded similar to when Jack and Cadence had broken up because he was going to Nebraska to play baseball, and she had chosen to go to University of Iowa instead. My mind naturally flickered over the guys in my training group, and there were a couple I thought Lucy might like, though the idea of her looking to date right now was absurd. I took another deep breath. “Well, is your mom
Lucy flew back to Kansas City with us. The second my mom started to nod her head—not a full-fledged “yes” but just that initial, “I’m thinking about saying yes but haven’t quite gotten there yet” approval—Lucy was thanking her. So she really didn’t have much of a choice.Luce said next to nothing the entire flight, which wasn’t that long, but I didn’t know if I should try to carry on a conversation or just let her absorb everything. Her whole life had changed in a matter of seconds. I do know the feeling. When this world was revealed to me initially, it was a little slower than that. But when I woke up in Philadelphia to discover I was a half-Vampire, half-Hunter Hybrid, it seemed like I’d taken a ride on a rollercoaster with no safety harness of any kind. I got it. And I didn’t want to overwhelm her. So we sat next to each other, and she stared out the window at the tiny towns and farmland, and I t
After a quick lunch of tuna salad sandwiches and chips, we headed across campus. Tara was actually in her apartment, and she said she’d call Dax over before we arrived. Brandon was in the gym but promised he’d come over later. I think he was trying to give me some time with Luce without being in the way, which I appreciated, even though he wouldn’t have been in the way, and I would rather have had him with me. At least he was always in my head.Tara flung the door open before I could even knock, a huge smile on her face. “Oh, my gosh! It’s so nice to meet you!” she exclaimed, zipping over to Lucy and wrapping her arms around her like they were old friends. Then, I heard her whisper quietly into Lucy’s ear, “I am so very sorry about your dad. He must’ve loved you very much to sacrifice himself for you. What an amazing person he must’ve been.”Lucy didn’t say anything in return, but I could tell imme
Tara might’ve been reading my mind to know I was thinking of Holland Hines. “What’s up with Holland?”“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I was just thinking I should get in her head a little later and see what she’s up to. Most of the time, she’s just blubbering on about Carter. It gets a little old.”“Can’t blame her,” Tara replied. She had a point. Holland had lost the creature she loved most for the second time in less than two years. “Why do you think no one’s gone back to Australia, mate?”Lucy giggled at Tara’s awful try at an accent, and I held back a laugh myself. “That is the million dollar question. I have no idea.”“We seem to be dragging our feet about everything.” I could hear frustration in Dax’s voice as well. “What the heck happened with that Vampire who jammed the IACs when Bonnie went crazy?”
My cheeks were burning. I was doing my best to try to seem relaxed and nonchalant, but listening to Alex tell Lucy about the time he and Aaron Burr had taken out an entire shipload of Vampires in Boston Harbor was exciting. I loved to listen to Alex retell history, and it was truly the fact that I was in the presence of an American historical icon that had my heart thumping so loudly in my chest—and nothing else. But the more I thought about seeming like I wasn’t hanging on his every word, the harder it became. Tara kept grinning at me, like a Cheshire cat, like she thought there was something else that had me so enthralled, and I told her to stop through my IAC a dozen times—but she didn’t. So I tried not to look at either one of them.Lucy was also caught up in his every word. Like me, she loves history class. You wouldn’t think that would be the case because sometimes she comes across like a wannabe valley girl, but she’s super smart. Sh
As the elevator drew nearer to the fourth floor, I realized I was holding my breath. I knew exactly what my mom was going to say already, and I would’ve just as soon skipped that conversation. But Lucy really wanted to go hang out, so I was hopeful my mom would be a little more lenient, at least for her.“You ready for this?” Brandon asked through my IAC, squeezing my hand as the others laughed and carried on a normal conversation like they weren’t approaching a guillotine.“Nope.”“Figured. Just see if she’ll at least let Lucy go.” I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, and he clarified. “She’s had a rough week. It would do her some good. I’ll miss you, of course, but it’s not like I can’t talk to you the whole time anyway.”I continued to stare at him for a moment until the elevator stopped, and I let out that breath I&rsqu