“I’m on it.”
Isis drags me through to the events room andsettles me into my “usual” beanbag. Mina makes me a cup of tea using her liquid level indicator. Dora takes my teacup and an open package of Wagon Wheels and arranges both on the coffee table beside me.
“It’s not as good as that amazing hot chocolate you brought last week, but it’ll calm your nerves,” Dora says. “And please eat the last of the Wagon Wheels. We have to hide them before Celeste comes over and berates us for not waiting for her snacks.”
“It’s not that Celeste doesn’t make the most incredible baked goods,” Mina pipes up, holding out her arm towards the door so the raven can hop off and perch on the bust of some Roman dude that’s sat on a shelf above it. “But sometimes, a girl just wants cheap chocolate and chemically-flavoured marshmallow.”
I sip the tea. It’s herbal, some kind of rich, earthy flavour that I can’t place. I find myself sighing as I take another sip.You can relax now. You’re amongst friends.
“Dora makes that blend herself,” says Isis. “She’s a real tea witch. You can buy it in our shop.”
“I’m not a witch. Don’t say that I’m a witch,” Dora sounds panicked. “I just … know a bit about plants, is all. What’s wrong, Winnie? You’ve gone all pale.”
I grip the cup so hard my knuckles turn white. “What’s wrong is that Alaric’s a vampire.”
I expect them all to laugh, or gasp, or something other than what they do, which is to nod sagely.
“Oh, honey, we know,” Isis coos. “He’s a walking vampire cliché.”
“No, I mean he’s arealvampire. I cut my finger today and Alaric nearly attacked me. He had these horrible fangs, and he told me to run. And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Alaric doesn’t feel the cold. He’s always cool to the touch?—”
“—you’ve been touching him.” Mina grins. “Interesting.”
I decide to breeze on past the wholetouching himthing. “He keeps his nocturnal schedule. He went out in the sunlight once to save me and it almost killed him. He seems to move with super speed and he can hear things all the way across the castle. I’venever seen him eat. I wandered into what I thought was his bedroom but it contained a coffin and … oh, gods,” I cover my mouth. “The red wine Reginald pours for him every night must have been blood. I’ve been sitting across from him thinking we were having wine and nice conversation and all this time he’s been quaffing pints of O negative and thinking about sucking my neck.”
“Almost certainly.” Isis licks her lips.
“Isis!”
“What? That’s a sensible deduction to make.”
“You’re scaring her,” Dora scolds.
“I’d like to go back to the ‘touching him’,” Mina adds. “Whereexactlydid you touch him, and how many times?—”
“Mina!” Dora yells.
“Why aren’t you guys more freaked out by this?” My heart hammers against my chest. “I tell you that I’ve been living with a literal horror movie character and you’re cracking jokes.”
“We already knew,” Mina says.
“What?”
The three of them nod again.
“Youknew? You should have told me.”
“We did tell you!” Isis cries.
“Against our strict book club rules,” Dora mumbles.
“You didn’t believe us,” Isis says with a hint of a smile. “That’s hardlyourfault. It would save you lots of stress and heartache if you just agreed with everything we say.”
“But, how did you know?”
“Wetoldyou. We’ve had encounters with the supernatural before. If you finish my book series, you’ll learn that Nevermore Bookshop is no ordinary brick-and-mortar building, and that I’ve done battle with a vampire,” Mina says.
“Although he was a different type of vampire,” Isis points out quickly. “Less hot, more bitey.”
