“Mademoiselle Tosh.” Her voice was sharp. “What do you intend to do?”
“Stake myself so I can’t hurt anyone.”
“No no no. Absolument pas.”
“Are you saying you’ll do it? Because I don’t—”
“No! I would not harm you. Why do you think I would?”
“You said you would. You kind of whispered it after you had me do the mirror check the first time. Which is useless, by the way.”
“I did not say that.”
“You said I couldn’t be a vampire, because you couldn’t stand to kill another one. That’s why I need to know how to do the stake right. I don’t want you to be the one who doesit.”
She didn’t say anything for several seconds. “I am very sorry you heard me say that. But it did not mean I intended to kill you if you were a vampire. I did that once, and I will never do it again if there is a way to prevent it. Wait—if the mirror test is useless, how do you know you are a vampire?”
My knees were trembling, and my legs felt ready to give out. I sat down on the floor. “Well, the attack tonight is kind of a giveaway, but a couple of days ago, I touched your silver necklace, and it burned me.”
“That was courageous.”
I shrugged. “Not really. I just had to know.”
“Alors, in theory, it is possible to cure vampirism. I do not know anyone who has ever tried, though.”
“Now seems like a really good time to test the theory. What do I need to do?”
“There are three things. They are not easy. One must rub oneself with the vampire’s blood. One must eat the ashes of his heart. One must eat the earth from his grave.”
“So is that three different ways to cure it, or do you have to do all of them for it to work?”
“I do not know.”
“And you need a vampire to do them. Ugh. Why is this so hard?” A text came in, making my phone vibrate. “Hold on,” I told her, and swiped to the text screen.
Noor:Something bad has happened
Noor:I need help
Her conversation bubble pulsed for moment, then went dead. I was tapping a panicked “Where are you?” when she sent a pin.
“Madame Dupuy? I have to go,” I said. “Something’s happened to Noor.” I clicked off before she could reply and switched back to the text screen. “I’m coming,” I wrote as I ran to the stairs.
Chapter 21
Six Weeks Ago
I found Noor tucked behind a trash bin holding her backpack in front of her like a shield. She was so still in the shadows that I wouldn’t have seen her if I’d been relying on my eyes. Instead, I’d followed the sweet solvent smell of her paints for several blocks. I’d caught the first whiff in front of an unfinished mural. It was a shaky composition of lines and shapes too pictorial to be a tag and too unresolved to be a painting. The line stuttered out, however, as though she’d been interrupted.
“Noor?” I said softly. I didn’t want to startle her. “It’s me, Tosh.”
She peered at me, then got slowly to her feet. “I was thinking perhaps you would not come.” Her face was as pale as a cloud, and her dark clothing blended into the night so that I felt like I was talking to a ghost. She kept her head down as though she didn’t have the strength to raise it.
“I had to walk,” I explained.
She looked up, surprised. I could see her question forming: Why hadn’t I taken the night bus? Then her eyes widened as she took me in. “Tosh, you are covered in blood. Are you hurt? What happened?” Her hands fluttered toward me like she wanted to offer first aid but didn’t know where to start.
It was my turn to look down. “I’m fine,” I muttered. “But it’s been a bad night.” I stared at her shoes.
