Flutter (30 page)

“What do you mean?” I sat up more. “Like when they
the hit land?”

“No, they were all dead before
that. Nobody was driving it, and they just crashed. The radio
transmissions coming from them weren’t right, and they sent boats
out to check up on them, but nobody knows what happened. Finally,
two days ago, they lost all contact with them, and then boom! It
drove right into the island,” Bobby nodded at the screen. “It’s the
creepiest, most bizarre thing I ever heard of, like in
Aliens
when they go to
rescue that deserted ship or whatever. But real.”

“What are you talking about? How did the crew all
die? Did they run out of food or oxygen or something?”

“They didn’t run out of oxygen. They’re on Earth. You
don’t run out of oxygen,” Bobby rolled his eyes at me. “But nobody
knows why they’re dead. Some of the crew is still unaccounted for,
but both the lifeboats are still attached, so they don’t know how
they could’ve gotten off.

“Officials are trying to keep it under wraps, but
rumor has it that they were all mutilated. Like really gory, horror
movie stuff. Throats ripped out and all that. Anderson was talking
to a guy that had been there, and he was just about puking talking
about it.”

“Holy hell. Really?” I leaned forward, staring more
intently at the TV. “No way. That kind of thing doesn’t happen in
real life. Do they think the crew had something to do with it?”

“Maybe, but they’re not counting on having any
survivors at this point,” Bobby said. “They had a crew of thirty,
but only twenty-four bodies.”

“That’s pretty messed up.” A chill ran down my spine,
and I shook my head. “It’s really creepy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Bobby agreed somberly.

“Where was the tanker coming from?”

“I don’t know,” Bobby shrugged. “I think like Europe
or Russia or something.”

“Okay, so be honest,” Milo said, walking into the
living room and breaking up our intense fascination with the
television. “How does my hair look?” He ran a hand through his dark
brown hair and did a little twirl, but it didn’t look that much
different than before. Mae had mostly just done a trim.

“Sexy, as always,” Bobby grinned at him. He set his
sketch pad aside, momentarily forgetting about his homework
assignment. Milo sat down on the floor next to him, and in between
kissing and flirting, they started talking about the tanker crash
on the television.

Personally, it creeped me out too much, so I decided
to go outside and play with Matilda. I had to bribe her with three
dog treats to get her to leave Jack’s side, and I was starting to
think maybe she loved him more than I did.

The stone patio out back was slick from a slushy snow
that was coming down. It was November, and this was the first snow
of the season, so I knew it wouldn’t last long. Matilda skidded
through it, but she didn’t seem to mind. Very little in life seemed
to upset her, other than Jack’s absence.

I couldn’t shake the news story. I glanced back
through the French doors at Mae and Jane talking and laughing, and
spending time with them might’ve been almost as creepy as hearing
more about the dead crew. I let the snow flakes melt in my hair and
tried to forget all about it.

- 29 –

Jack went back to sleeping in the den, but he woke me
up while it was still light to see if I wanted to go apartment
hunting with him. I knew that I should, but daylight was still hard
on me.

Besides, I didn’t really want to. The thought of
moving didn’t thrill me, but I pretended it did. I told him to take
lots of pictures for me and fell back to sleep.

I kept having dreams about the oil tanker crash in
Canada. An unseen monster slaughtered them, tearing them apart.
Everything was splattered with blood and viscera. It was
horrendous. I wanted to scream and throw up.

The crew members were crying and pleading for their
lives, but nobody listened. They could do nothing to save
themselves. After all the crew was dead, total silent blackness
enveloped the ship. That turned into an image: huge brown eyes,
ones just like Milo’s.

I woke up and wanted to scream, even though the last
thing I saw hadn’t been scary. It freaked me out, though, in the
worst way.

As I tried to catch my breath and
remind myself that everything was okay, I thought about how weird
it was that vampires had dreams.
The Lost
Boys
had not prepared me for this. In fact,
I was starting to think that whoever wrote it had never met a
vampire in his life.

Since I couldn’t shake the dream, I got up to enlist
some assistance. I considered Jane, but she needed her rest. Mae
was probably with her anyway, and, I didn’t feel like talking to
her. I went next door to Milo’s room, and I went in without
knocking. I made sure to listen in first, and Bobby wasn’t there,
so I knew it was okay to intrude.

“Hey, wake up,” I said, walking into his room.

It was a little messier than I expected it to be, but
that had to be all Bobby. The clothes strewn about appeared to be
his, and his art supplies clogged up the floor. Milo lay in bed at
a weird angle with his feet dangling off the side.

“Why?” Milo mumbled, his face buried in his
pillow.

“Cause.” I jumped on the bed next to him harder than
I needed to, making it bounce him up.

“Why are you even up? You’re
never
up before me.” He
rolled onto his back so he could face me. “What time is
it?”

“It’s six. It’s not that early,” I said. “Where’s
Bobby?”

“School. He has a night class,” Milo yawned. “Where’s
your better half?”

“He’s… out,” I answered vaguely. Milo didn’t even
notice I tried to be secretive, but I decided I couldn’t keep it
from him anyway. “Okay. If I tell you something, you promise not to
tell anyone?”

“No.” Milo wasn’t intrigued by the prospect of a
secret, and I hated him for it.

This happened all the time growing up. I wanted to
tell him a secret, but he never cared, so he never had to agree to
any provisions. His apathy was pretty tricky.

“No, you actually do wanna know this, but you can’t
tell anyone. Not yet. I’m just not ready for people to know,” I
said.

“I’m still telling Bobby,” he said, stifling a
yawn.

“Fine! Tell Bobby,” I sighed. “But come on. You have
to pretend to be excited about this.”

“Why?” Milo raised an eyebrow. “I can’t imagine what
you’d tell me that was exciting. My room is right next to yours,
and I know that you slept alone last night, so… it can’t be that
good.”

“Ugh!” I groaned. “Good. Now I’m glad that we’re
moving out. I’m sick of your attitude.”

“You’re what?” That got him. He sat up, propping
himself up with his arms, and looked at me. “What did you say?”

“Jack wants us to move out,” I lowered my voice so
Mae wouldn’t be able to overhear. “He’s out looking at apartments
right now.”

“When you say ‘us’ you mean….” He waited for me to
fill in the blank.

“Me and him, and you and Bobby, if you want to.” I
tilted my head. “Does Bobby actually live here? Or does he have a
residence somewhere else?”

“He technically lives in a dorm, but he hasn’t spent
the night there since we met.”

“Don’t you think you’re moving a bit fast?” I asked.
“You’re incredibly young to be living with a boyfriend.”

“Did you really say that to me with a straight face?”
Milo raised an eyebrow at me.

I thought about trying to make some kind of point
about how his situation was different than mine, but I just forgot
about it. If we were normal kids living a normal life and going to
high school and living with our mom, yeah, this would probably be
weird and wrong. But we’re not.

“Never mind. That wasn’t the point.”

“So you’re really moving out?” Milo asked.

“I don’t know. Jack really wants to, and he has a lot
of good points. This house is getting too small for all of us, as
crazy as that sounds, and neither of us should be living under the
same roof as Peter.”

“Yeah but… you want us to move with you?” Milo asked
carefully.

“Yeah. Jack’s looking for places in the area that
would be big enough for all of us.”

“But… what about you?” He looked at me seriously. “I
know that you’re still having problems getting your bloodlust under
control, and you don’t trust yourself enough to even sleep with
him. How is that gonna work living together? Without Ezra to fix
everything if something goes wrong?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I’ve thought of that too.
But I don’t know what else we can really do.”

“Not move out,” Milo suggested.

“I just don’t see how staying here could really
work.” I resigned myself to moving out even though I wasn’t sure
that’s what I really wanted. It just didn’t make sense to do
anything else.

Milo lay back in bed and didn’t say anything for a
bit. He was always better at coming up with logical solutions. My
actions were based more on my heart and temper, which is probably
how he managed more success as a vampire than I did.

It still shocked me that he had been the one that
nearly killed his boyfriend, and not me. That actually happened
because he had so much more control than me. Everyone gave him too
much credit. The fact that I had no impulse control is what
actually kept me from murdering Jack. Nobody trusted me to be alone
with him, so I never had the chance to bite him, not like Milo and
Bobby.

“No, I do not require your assistance,” Peter said
wearily from out in the hallway, and I heard his bedroom door close
a second later. “Jane, I suggest you just go back to the room and
rest.” I glanced over at Milo, and from his expression, I could
tell he was listening to them too.

“I don’t need any more rest. I’m bored,” Jane put on
her baby talk voice that vacillated between slutty and whiny. Peter
must’ve gone to his room to get something, and she followed him
out.

“Try reading one of my books,” Peter said. “Or, if
you cannot read, you can try one of Jack’s movies. Or perhaps you
can pester one of the six other people living in this house to
entertain you.”

“Come on, I bet you know plenty of ways to entertain
me.” Jane was out in the hall, so I couldn’t see her, but I had
enough experience with her to know that she was touching him in
some way. Running her fingers down his arm or putting her hand on
his chest.

“I can assure you that I am no good at entertaining
anyone.” Peter sounded uncomfortable, and Milo smirked.

“Well, maybe I can entertain you.” Her voice went
lower and sultrier.

“That’s why I got a book. I can entertain myself,”
Peter said, his words clipped.

“Don’t you get sick of entertaining yourself?”

“Jane, just go back to your room,” Peter sighed. If
she was touching him, he had just taken her hand away.

“Not unless you join me,” Jane said, oblivious to his
rebuff.

“No, I most certainly will not,” Peter snapped. “This
slutty little girl act may work for some people, but I can’t see
how. You are so filthy and dirty that I wouldn’t bite you if I was
starving to death. The only reason I am allowing you into my room
is because of how much you mean to Alice, although, for the life of
me I can’t see why. You are insipid and vain beyond what I had
understood humans were capable of, and it would serve you well to
steer clear of me.”

“Jeez,” Milo whispered.

Jane didn’t say anything, but I heard the door open,
and she had started crying before she shut behind her. When Peter
started walking away, I went into the hall to give him a piece of
my mind. I should’ve gone out and defended her earlier.

“Peter!” I said quietly, so Jane wouldn’t overhear.
Sighing, he turned to look at me. “Don’t you think that was a
little harsh?”

“Not really, no,” Peter said, but he wouldn’t meet my
gaze. I heard the shower in Jane’s bathroom, her attempt to cure
her crying, so I walked over to yell at him. “I didn’t mean for you
to overhear that.”

“I don’t know how that makes it okay.” I crossed my
arms on my chest and glared up at him. “Jane is annoying, but she’s
harmless. And she’s recovering. We’re supposed to be helping her
and encouraging her, not bringing her down.”

“I didn’t want to bring her down.” He rubbed his eye.
“But you didn’t see how she was around me. It was constant and more
than annoying.”

“God forbid someone have a crush on you, Peter.” I
rolled my eyes. “You were such a dick to me when I was into you,
too. You can’t handle anyone gawking at you for like five
seconds?”

“No, I can. I handle it all the time,” he said
defensively. “Everyone I meet is like that, and I manage.”

“Oh, what a rough life!” I scoffed. “You know, Jane
isn’t the only one that’s vain and egotistical.” It was Peter’s
turn to roll his eyes at me. “So you’re saying your curse in life
is that everyone finds you irresistible?”

“If I say yes, I sound like an ass, but it’s true.”
He rubbed his temple and shook his head. “I am sorry if I am not
doing well with tolerating her. She just won’t stop staring at me,
and… you won’t even look at me.”

“You’re punishing Jane because you’re mad at me?” I
raised my eyebrow at him. “That’s not even remotely fair.”

“Life isn’t fair, Alice!” Peter looked at me
intensely, his eyes glowing green. “If life were fair, you wouldn’t
be with Jack!”

“No! You don’t get to be mad at me for that!” I shook
my head. “You had your chance! I wanted you first, and you wouldn’t
have anything to do with me!”

“I
never
had a chance!” Peter shouted.
“You always wanted him! I saw you in the hot tub with
him!”

“What are you talking about?”