The Vampire's Photograph (14 page)

A face appeared above him.

“Hey!” Dean reached down and shook Oliver by the shoulder. “What happened?”

“I—” Oliver started.

“What did you do?” Dean said accusingly.

“What?” Oliver said, sitting up and blinking hard. As he did so, Dean turned and lunged to his knees beside Emalie, who was also lying flat out on the floor.

“Emalie,” Dean urged, shaking her shoulder. “Come on, hey, come on!”

Suddenly, Emalie shuddered. “Gah!” She sat right up. “What happened?”

“It was that amulet!” Dean said, pointing toward Oliver. “There was this flash of light and both of you collapsed. Then you were just lying there!”

Oliver looked down to find the amulet still around his neck, but the crystal was shattered, its shards spread across the floor.

“It wasn't for protection,” Emalie said.

Oliver looked at her. She'd been there with him, for sure. “No,” he agreed, feeling a deep ache inside.

“What are you talking about?” Dean asked, his head whipping back and forth between them.

“We saw something,” Emalie said carefully. She looked at Oliver to continue.

But Oliver wasn't quite sure what to say. What
had
they just seen?
You know
, he thought to himself, his anxiety flaring hotter than ever.
You know exactly what you saw
.

“The amulet was a portal of some kind,” Oliver said, holding the hollow casing in his hand. He'd heard and read about such things. The alchemy involved in uncoupling from this world's time continuum, then traveling to a different moment, was very advanced. “We saw the past,” Oliver continued. But it hadn't been just that. He had also
felt
the past…been connected to it. Who could engineer a portal that powerful? Well, Désirée for one.

“What did you see?” Dean asked urgently.

“We saw—” Emalie started, but she caught herself and again waited for Oliver.

Just say it
, he thought miserably. “It was my parents…My human parents.”

Emalie and Dean just looked at him. Oliver swallowed and pressed on. “We saw— They were killed by vampires, and—” Oliver couldn't believe what he was saying—“and I was
sired
. I was human, and—they turned me…”

“But isn't that how all vampires are made?” asked Dean.

Oliver shook his head, staring at the floor. “Not anymore. Not for a long time. We're all…
they're
all created from their parents. It's not even
possible
to sire a child. It's not supposed to be, anyway.”

“But it happened to you,” Dean finished.

“Not necessarily,” Oliver said. “I mean, the vision might have been a trick, a lie—”

“It was real,” Emalie said softly. “I could tell, I mean, I could feel that it really happened. You used to be human, Oliver. And your parents, they loved you, they…” Her eyes started to well up again.

Oliver was surprised by how much the vision had affected Emalie. Come to think of it, he was surprised that she had been part of it at all. But Désirée had said that Emalie had
sight
, so at least one thing Désirée said seemed to be true.

And he agreed with Emalie, about the vision, too. As much as he wanted to believe that it might have been a trick, a lie of some kind, he knew it had been real. In a way, for as confused as he now felt, he almost felt a little better. There
was
something wrong with him, and it wasn't anything he'd done. He
was
different than everyone around him. He'd been lied to all his life.

How many people knew? But who cared? His parents knew, that was enough. Not only did they know, they had stolen him from his rightful parents, his parents who had loved him, just like Emalie said.
But don't my vampire parents love me now?
Yes, they did—but not enough to tell him the truth about his origin. Not enough to help him understand why he felt different, or tell him why he needed special doctor's appointments.

Oliver sat on Emalie's floor, the thoughts swirling. He sensed Emalie standing up and turning to the sink, then sitting back down. When he looked over to her, she was holding up the photo. It was burned through, a gaping hole where the blur of Oliver had been.

“So,” Dean began, “I know I wasn't in the vision, and all that”—he sounded hurt—“but what's the problem? I mean, if you're a vampire, you're not supposed to care if you were sired or made or what, right?”

“But my parents have been lying to me,” Oliver said. He explained what his parents had told him, which was the same as what everyone in the vampire world believed about kids. He also told them about the doctor's visits.

Emalie seemed to be thinking hard. “Is there anything else?” she asked. “I mean, you said you heard the doctor say that you'd been chosen for something, right? And that you're being prepared for it?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Do you know anything else about what that could be?”

“No, but…there's a file,” Oliver said, thinking it through. “A file about my doctor's visits that my dad has. And he's supposed to show it to the people he works with.”

“It probably says something about what they're doing to you,” Dean added.

“We should get it,” Emalie said. “Do you know where it would be?”

“He'd probably keep it in the filing cabinet in the study,” Oliver guessed. He was about to say that he could look at it on his own, that once again, it would be far too dangerous to have Emalie and Dean involved. Yet he found that he wanted them to be there. Having Emalie see the portal vision had helped Oliver to believe that what he'd seen was true. He couldn't do this alone, and Emalie and Dean were a part of it all now.

“I'll get word to you of when we can meet up to check my dad's files,” Oliver said, then his voice fell. “Except I don't know what's going to happen when I get home tonight. If my parents know about the Underground, you might never even see me again.”

“Well,” Emalie said, “don't let on that you know anything, if you can. And we'll, um, we'll just hope we hear from you.”

The three of them sat silently for a moment. “I should go,” Oliver said, getting up and turning toward the door.

“Oliver.” Oliver turned back to find Emalie standing. “I'm really sorry about your parents.”

Oliver nodded. “Yeah.” Then he disappeared into the darkness, not making a sound as he left.

Chapter 12

The Secret File

AS OLIVER WOUND UP
the spiral staircase toward the kitchen, he could hear silverware and goblets clinking on the table. He walked slowly.

Either they knew, or they didn't.

He passed through the empty kitchen toward the dining room. Now he heard quiet conversation between Phlox and Sebastian.

“We received the invitation today. I think it will be nice,” Phlox was saying.

“What time?” Sebastian asked.

Oliver paused at the entrance to the dining room. He could see Sebastian's back. Phlox was to his left. Bane was slouched at the far end of the table. Across from Phlox was an empty chair for Oliver. He thought about turning around and taking off. How could he just sit down and pretend that this was his family?
It is my family
, he thought. But it hadn't always been.
Doesn't matter, it's the only family I have now
. This thought didn't make Oliver feel any better. Maybe he would just skip dinner—

“Hey, Ollie.” Phlox was looking up…and smiling. “We were wondering when you'd show up.” Sebastian turned with a half-smile. Bane didn't bother looking up. So far, everything was normal, which gave Oliver no choice but to sit down.

“What were you up to tonight?” Sebastian asked as Oliver pulled his chair up to the table.

“Nothing,” Oliver said, head down.

Bane snorted to himself.

“Charles,” Phlox warned.

Oliver glanced at him, his nerves sizzling. Bane kept his eyes on his plate.

Phlox passed a deep baking dish to Oliver. “So…” she began as Oliver scooped layer cake onto his plate. Oliver tried to keep his hand from shaking.

Here it comes
, he thought.

“Anything interesting to report from your Saturday?”

Oliver put down the dish and grabbed his fork. “Nah,” he said, and started eating. Inside though, he was just waiting.

But one bite, then another, and no one said anything. A minute passed and Oliver finally looked up—to find the rest of them just eating. Oliver wanted to scream,
Do you know or not?

Finally, Sebastian looked to Oliver, “So, any new dreams lately?” He smiled.

“Um—” The scene from the portal vision ran across his mind. “I think I had another one,” Oliver lied, “but I don't remember it.”

“Oh, Oliver,” Phlox began matter-of-factly, “we were just talking. Your father's Longest Night office party is next Friday. You're welcome to have friends over while we're out, if you want. Maybe you could invite Seth?”

“Maybe,” Oliver mumbled.

“He might be excited to get out,” continued Phlox. “Francyne and Edward just picked up their new baby. She's such a precious little thing,” Phlox said to herself, then added, “but I'm sure their house has been crazy with the new arrival.”

Oliver just shrugged. A real vampire child. That must have been nice.

“Or,” Phlox tried, “you could invite other friends, if you want.”

Oliver almost laughed out loud. Sure! Imagine that:
Actually, Mom, that sounds great! I've got two friends I'd like to have over. You don't mind that they're humans, do you?
Instead, he said, “Okay.”

“And then Saturday,” Phlox continued, “we're having David and Elanor and your cousins over for Longest Night dinner and gifts.”

“Okay,” Oliver said again.

There was another moment of silent eating…then another…and then dinner was over. Bane went out for the late night without a word. Phlox retreated to the kitchen, Sebastian to his study.

Oliver was left sitting there, finishing up and having a hard time believing his luck. Did they really not know what had happened? Well, they might still find out, so he wasn't out of this yet. But with every day that passed, the chances would get smaller that his parents would find out about the Underground. And if he could make it to Friday, then he might just be able to get the file.

Oliver's days seemed more sleepless than ever, yet he almost preferred lying awake, because when he did fall asleep, he was plagued by the vision of his human parents. Incredibly, Sunday passed without any discovery of what had happened in the Underground, which made Oliver breathe easier, but there was still Monday at school to contend with.

He dragged out getting ready, partially because he was so tired. As he and Bane walked up the rainy streets, Oliver kept lagging behind. His backpack felt extra heavy. When they neared the bridge underpass and its troll statue, Bane actually stopped and waited for Oliver to catch up.

Oliver glanced at him, waiting for a taunt. But then Bane said something completely different, “You wanna ditch tonight?”

“Huh?” Oliver tensed inside. It was that strange, brotherly version of Bane again, the one that made Oliver feel nervous, like he was waiting for the punch line.

But as Bane fell into slow step beside him, there didn't seem to be one. “Ty and Randall and I are going to head downtown, see what we can find,” Bane explained. “You could come with us.”

“I—”

“Come on, bro.” He actually slapped Oliver's back as he said this. “We'll work some of that
lamb
out of you.”

Oliver didn't know what to say. He couldn't believe that Bane was actually
inviting
him along, yet alarms were going off inside. Could he trust Bane?
Is he even my real brother?
If anything, Oliver wanted to spend as much time as he could this week
not
being around his family. “I…I shouldn't,” he said finally. “I have a test, I—”

“Bane-o!” A voice shouted from nearby. They had reached the troll. Ty's and Randall's eyes lit up the dark behind it.

“What's up?” Bane called. Then he put his hands on Oliver's shoulders. This was weird, too. And so was what he said next, “You sure?”

Oliver kind of wondered why Bane was giving him the choice. Usually, if Bane wanted Oliver to do something, he just forced him to do it. What was going on with him? And yet, Oliver's old thought about Bane returned.
He knows. He still might not know exactly what's going on, but he definitely knows there's something
. Oliver shrugged. “I…I should just go to school.”

“Bane! Let's go!” Ty shouted.

Bane looked directly at Oliver, and his gaze seemed almost apologetic. “All right,” he said, sighing. He actually seemed disappointed.

“Is the twerp coming, or what?” Randall called.

Bane gave Oliver a halfhearted shove down the street, then turned to his friends. “The lamb has to run off to school!” he called sarcastically, then disappeared into the shadows.

Oliver continued slowly toward school. The whole way, he thought about ditching on his own. Even as he trudged up the stairs toward class, he still considered turning and getting out of there. But that would only draw more suspicion, and then his teachers might call his parents. Still, his insides knotted as he stepped through the classroom door.
Here it comes
, he thought miserably. Surely, thanks to Theo, everybody knew, and he was going to get it….

There was most of the class, carousing on the walls or in groups sitting on desks. Suzyn saw him first, then her friends, and one by one everyone stopped talking and turned toward Oliver. The room became silent except for Oliver's footsteps across the tile floor. He glanced up, finding Theo, Brent, and Maggots on the wall. They watched him, Theo grinning maliciously. Oliver looked down and rushed to his desk. As he slid into his seat, conversation seeped back into the room.