Isle of Night (28 page)

“You know I'm stronger than you are,” she said. “How many of those pretty little stars did they give you? Four? I saw you in class today. In your lame hands, they'll be about as deadly as Christmas ornaments.”

I bristled. She could diss my hair but not my weapon. “You know nothing about my shuriken, von Slutling.”

Her laugh trilled through the room. “Listen to you, freak. Shur-i-ken . . . sure-ya-can . . . sure-you-
can't
.”

Little did she know, her posturing only firmed my resolve. “Don't you have homework or something? You can burn down the dorm, sleep with every last Trainee, and spin-class your way to Watcher status for all I care, but it won't do any good if you fail out of German.”

I'd hit a nerve.

She curled her upper lip in a flat-eyed snarl. Flowing hair plus that signature blank viciousness, and von Slutling looked like a lunatic Playboy Bunny. “What do
you
know?”

A lot more than you,
I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. I talked big, but I honestly didn't want to get torched in my sleep.

She snagged her German workbook from her bag and swung her legs onto her bed, and we proceeded to ignore each other.

Reaching onto my desk, I snagged Sun Tzu's
Art of War
and was immersing myself in wisdom that seemed just-almost useful, when I heard it. A quiet
shlish
sound.

I glanced over, but Lilac was slumped, looking sound asleep over her grammar homework. My eyes went to the tiny fold of paper that someone had slid under the door.

Was it for me? I sat up straight, on alert. Or was it for Lilac? I wasn't sure which would be more of a coup.

I waited, but Lilac didn't move. Miraculously, she slept on, breathing evenly onto the pages of her workbook. I decided to make my move before a stiff neck woke her up, and I tiptoed out of bed.

Grabbing the paper, I shuffled back to my bed, ready at any moment for von Slutling's eyes to fly open in an accusing stare. But they didn't.

As it turned out, the note was for me. It was scrawled in furtive, barely legible script that looked like a boy's handwriting.

I stared. His words chilled me to my bones.

What did that mean? Was he dying? Was he going to be in a fight? Had there already been one? I had no idea what the situation could possibly be. The Trainees kept their business pretty top secret. We girls had no clue what happened behind their locked gates.

Yasuo needed me. But tonight? After curfew? All the way across campus, past those creepier-than-creepy standing stones, all the way to the gates of the boys' dorm? I dared not think how many rules
that
little scenario broke.

I glanced at the note, and four words popped out at me:
Please. I need you.

Ultimately, that was what convinced me. I had a friend and he needed me.
Me.
Nobody had ever needed me before.

Come midnight, I was going to break pretty much every rule available to me. I was venturing to the forbidden heart of Vampire central.

To the standing stones and the castle on the hill.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

I
lay in bed, waiting for time to pass. Apparently, this was to go down in the Drew Annals as the longest night ever.

I didn't know what was going on. Yasuo basically said they might not let him live. But
they
who? Vampires? Trainees? I didn't know what good
I
could do—I just knew he'd asked for my help, and I needed to be there for him.

I'd only been to the stones once, but Emma and I had seen the castle in the distance on the night of our epic walk. I thought I could retrace our steps. I considered getting her, or at least telling her where I was going, then immediately thought better of it. Yasuo was already in trouble, and if I got caught, I would be, too. Best to keep Emma way out of it.

And
what if
I got caught? Before, it'd just been an iPod and a photograph, and look at what'd happened. Then there was Mimi—all she'd done was talk back to a vampire, and Headmaster Fournier had turned her into a puddle of carnage. And now I was considering breaking pretty much every rule in the book.

They wouldn't look kindly on it. Leaving after curfew? Straying from the path, going near the boys' dorm, to the standing stones? I was toast if anyone caught me.

I was toast if
Lilac
caught me.

Her breathing was steady and deep, but was she really asleep? If I went, I'd be giving her the perfect opportunity to get rid of me once and for all.

But Yas needed me. Tonight. There'd been no doubt in his message.

I slid on my boots. The weather had gotten warmer, so I pulled on my lightweight fleece jacket instead of my parka. I needed to be able to fight or to run, if necessary.

The last thing I did was grab my shuriken, wadding up the whole bundle and shoving it into my jacket pocket. I really needed to figure out a better way to carry them, like a ninja-star holster or something.

The lights were out across campus, but the moon was bright and a great shaft of white light shot across the quad. It was empty, desolate. I wondered what monsters might be lying in wait.

What was I doing? What happened to Acari who broke the rules so flagrantly? I was certain they must suffer a fate worse than death.

But Yasuo was in trouble. He wanted my help. Out of all the people he could've asked, he'd chosen me. Shivering, I zipped my jacket to my throat and snuck from the dorm.

I stayed on the path all the way across the quad till I reached the science building. It was empty, and its blackened windows reminded me of the Draug's dark eye sockets. I had the eerie feeling the building watched me, that those windows might've blinked to life at any moment, glowing red, to witness my fall from grace.

This was it. The end of the road. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. I was entering the unknown, the forbidden.

But I thought of Yas. His life depended on this.

I stepped from the path. The first transgression in a night sure to be full of them.

Fear drove my feet forward, eating up the uneven terrain. I didn't slow my pace—if I was going to be mauled, I might as well present a moving target. Occasionally I spun, jogging backward to judge my direction in relation to the North Star. Emma had taught me well—I was on track, heading what I estimated to be due southwest.

I reached the standing stones sooner than I'd anticipated, a grim half-moon encircling one edge of a grassy courtyard. Girls had swarmed the area on that first day, but now, desolate in the shadows, I saw that the stones were even more massive than I'd thought. The castle on the hill loomed just beyond, and I didn't dare think what might be watching me from within its walls.

The yellow LED numbers on my standard-issue watch read 23:47. I was early. I needed to occupy myself until Yasuo came.

I bounced on the balls of my feet, pretending it was to keep away the cold, but really it distracted me from the fear that was twining its way up my spine, making me feel I might never be warm. I started to walk around, and before I realized, I found myself walking toward the stones. They called me. As though a superficial veil had been cast atop my conscious mind, urging,
What harm could it be to get a closer look?
It was a pull I felt deep in my belly.

And yet a tiny kernel of animal instinct nestled in the recesses of my brain was sounding an alarm, shrill and insistent.
You are prey. You must run
.

But I couldn't run. I had to help Yas.

My eyes were only on the center stone. It was where Headmaster Fournier had stood on that first day. The stone on which Mimi had met her death.

It drew me, and I walked to it. Placing my hand down, I braced myself for the shock of cold, but it was warm.

“Little Acari, so far from home.” Cool breath tickled over the skin of my cheek, a gentle breeze in the spring night. “Do you come looking for me?”

My skin shrank two sizes, my flesh rippling into goose bumps. I recognized the sultry voice, the accent. I knew whose face I'd see when I turned.

Oh, shit.
I was so dead.

I swallowed hard, somehow managed to find my voice. “Master Alcántara.”

The sight of him stole my breath. His thick, black hair gleamed. His mysterious, dark eyes glittered. He was beautiful, an apparition promising charm, enchantment, seduction. But more than that, he radiated
power
.

I'd expected anger, a confrontation, but some other emotion played on his face. He looked wicked, playful even, and it terrified me.

He tilted his head, contemplating me. “I felt your approach. The flame of a torch cutting through the endless black of night.”

Pure terror swept me. I'd broken the rules in the biggest way ever. He was one of the main vampires, and he'd busted me. What horrible punishment would I suffer?

I waited for him to lash out at me, but he just stared, consuming me with his eyes. Why was he being so casual? Was he toying with me before he struck?

He traced a finger down my cheek. My skin felt hot under his touch. “Did you sense me, as I sensed you? Did you seek me, as I did you?”

Breathing in and out was a struggle under that penetrating gaze. I was panting, worried I might hyperventilate. My reply was deliberate, my words slow and measured. “You sought me? The stones . . . they pulled me closer.”

His eyes lit. “You felt it, did you not?”

Did he not know for certain? I'd just assumed vampires knew
everything
. That if they summoned a human, they'd know without a doubt that human would come running. I gave him a wary nod. “Yes. I guess I felt . . . drawn.”

He grew more intense, if that were possible. I focused on not flinching away from him. On not getting sucked into the depths of those exotic, coal black eyes. Carefully, he brushed a strand of hair from my brow. “Like seeks like, Annelise.”

I concentrated on slowing my heartbeat, deepening my shallow breaths. I refused to faint. I might wake in some horrible dungeon. Panicked at the thought, I blurted, “Sounds like a personal ad.”

His laugh reverberated off the stones. “Truly, you amuse me.”

I smiled back cautiously. Why hadn't he killed me yet?

He cocked a brow, his grin once again mischievous. “
Like seeks like.
Perhaps it could be a law of quantum mechanics. What say you? Are you here merely because the universe dictated the actions of yet another mindless bit of particulate matter?” He stepped closer. “Or were you, Annelise the woman, drawn to
me
?”

My mind worked frantically. What the hell was he talking about? Physics? Was he a predator toying with his meal? Or were these the words of a man? “Are you asking as my teacher?”

He laughed. “Poor, befuddled child. How must it be for you? Is it a pleasure, for the first time in your life, to feel a true challenge?”

I didn't think it'd be a pleasure when he finally got around to slaughtering me. But playing along seemed to have the added benefit of keeping me alive, so I answered, “You keep me on my toes. I'll grant you that, Master Alcántara.”

“I knew you would enjoy the island.” He cupped my cheek and I froze. His skin wasn't clammy like I'd imagined it might be. Instead, the flesh of his hand was firm and cool.

I forced myself to remember he was a killer. A monster. Breaking our connection, I made myself blink.

He stepped back. He sat on the stone and gestured for me to join him. “Tell me,
cariño
. Have you given thought to how it is you find yourself on our isle? Think you that paltry
Tracer
found you?”

His comment brought me back to myself. I remained standing. “You mean Ronan? He's not exactly what I'd call paltry.”

Master Alcántara's face and voice sharpened. “Acari, I told you to sit.” The shift in his expression was sudden and terrifying.

“Yes, Master Alcántara,” I said, sounding like I'd been hypnotized. My mind watched as my body sat automatically.

“I caution you, Acari, not to get attached to your Tracer.”

I cleared my throat, fighting the sensation of helplessness. “I'm not attached to Tracer Ronan.”

“Do you truly believe
him
capable of finding
you
, out of all the girls in the world?”

“But that means . . .” That meant a vampire had found me. Chosen me.
This
vampire.