Part 5 (1/2)

Simon had been extremely skeptical of my story, but to his credit, he had agreed to help me. But shortly after that, GM and I had been forced to flee to Russia. Despite what had happened to his brother, Simon knew very little about what had taken place in Russia, and the two of us had never spoken about Gleb again. I wondered if he'd believed anything I'd said then-or if he'd thought I'd gone temporarily insane.

Simon continued to look at me nervously. Eventually, he looked down and scuffed a shoe on the linoleum floor, producing a sharp sound that echoed noisily in the empty hall.

He took a deep breath and gave me a resolute look.

”People are saying that you were out with that guy again this weekend.”

”That guy?” I didn't want to be offended-Simon was my friend-but I couldn't help resenting the tone of his voice.

”You know-the one you were dancing with at Irina's Halloween party.”

”His name is William-I told you that.”

”Yeah-William. You were seen with him at the skating rink yesterday.”

”I was 'seen'?” I said. ”You make it sound like some kind of horrible secret.”

I winced a little on the inside as I said the words. My meetings with William had been a secret from GM. I hadn't kept them a secret from anyone else, though.

Simon ran a hand over his hair. ”Katie, please just listen. I didn't come here to offend you. I'm talking to you about this because I'm worried about you-I care about you. It's just that this guy William has been seen all over town, and n.o.body knows much about him. He's even been seen here at school a couple of times, and I'm pretty sure he isn't actually a student.”

Simon stopped and gave me a level stare. ”How much do you actually know about this guy?”

”I know enough,” I said.

I couldn't admit to Simon that I knew very little about William. William's stolen memories were partially to blame for my lack of knowledge, of course. But there was no reason why William couldn't tell me about his life since he'd moved to Elspeth's Grove. There was no reason, for example, why he couldn't tell me where he lived. But as he had done yesterday, William always claimed that he was keeping me in the dark for my own protection. I found his silence very frustrating.

”You know enough?” Simon was incredulous. ”Katie, this guy-”

”William,” I said firmly.

Simon sighed.

”William,” he said, speaking the name very deliberately, ”sounds like trouble.”

I bristled. ”William is not trouble. He's the best thing that ever happened to me.”

A look of pain came into Simon's eyes, and I regretted having spoken so quickly. I didn't regret the words themselves-I meant them very sincerely. But I could have spoken to Simon more carefully-it hadn't been that long since he had had his crush on me.

I looked at Simon closely then. He had seemed to accept that the two of us were better off as friends, but was it possible that he still saw me in a romantic light?

”I don't think that he's good for you, Katie,” Simon said. ”He's been filling your head with crazy stories-telling you that there's a dead guy after you. It's like he's got some kind of hold on you.”

I sighed inwardly. So Simon did remember what I'd told him back in October. There was a lot more I could tell him now. But I knew he wouldn't believe me, and none of it would make him like William any better.

Simon continued. ”That-William has also been seen wandering around in the Old Grove. And you do know a girl was attacked there last night, don't you?”

”No,” I said, startled. ”What happened?”

The Old Grove was south and east of my house-in the opposite direction of Hywel's Plaza. It was the place where our town's founder, Elspeth Quick, had supposedly hidden from pursuers who had wanted to burn her for witchcraft. It was a place that was reputed to be the site of hauntings and other supernatural activity.

”Some weird guy grabbed her, tore her neck up,” Simon said. ”Travis Ballenski told me. His dad's a cop. The police haven't released the girl's name yet, but Travis did tell me that she's going to be okay. She's still in the hospital right now. You know, you have to be really sick in the head to do something like that. They don't know who it was who attacked her, but, Katie, I wouldn't be surprised to find out it was this William guy.”

I suddenly felt chilled. I knew that William wasn't guilty. But what Simon described did sound like a vampire attack, and I had a pretty good idea who was behind it-either Anton or Innokenti-or possibly even both of them. I was glad the girl was okay, but I was alarmed by the attack-very alarmed. It meant that the vampires had not left-they were still hanging around town.

Simon continued. ”Katie, you should take a warning from this. Like I said, how much do you actually know about this William guy? He kind of seems like a drifter. And drifters aren't usually good news.”

”William is not a drifter,” I said angrily.

Simon ran a hand through his hair in frustration. ”I don't seem to be getting through to you. I don't know what I have to say to you to get you to be concerned about your own safety.”

”I'm perfectly safe with William,” I said.

Simon hung his head for a moment, and then looked up at me. ”What does your grandmother think of him?”

Simon knew GM well, and I knew he liked and respected her.

”GM has invited William over to dinner tonight,” I said.

Simon threw up his hands. ”Then I give up. Just promise me that you'll be very, very careful.”

”I will,” I said.

The warning bell rang, and Simon looked around.

”I guess we'd better get going,” he said.

Simon really didn't look too pleased about the idea-he looked as if he would prefer to stay with me and argue about William.

People began to file into the hallway, and we joined the crowd.

The two of us walked together in silence until we arrived at my cla.s.sroom.

”I'll see you at lunch, Katie,” Simon said, and he looked so worried that I felt very genuinely sorry for him.

I wished I could rea.s.sure him, but I had a feeling that nothing I could say would make him trust William.

I went in to homeroom.

I sat through the announcements, and then went on to first-period Social Studies. I tried to pay attention to the lecture, but I couldn't help thinking about the girl who had been attacked. I had a terrible feeling that she wouldn't be the only one. I was glad I'd asked William to come see me at school today.

I needed to tell him about the attack.

Eventually, the bell rang, and I moved on to second-period English. My friends Charisse and Branden were both in the cla.s.s, and I spotted them as I walked in. Charisse had dark brown skin and black hair was arranged today in a cl.u.s.ter of curls on top of her head. Branden was pale, tall, and long-limbed, and his brown hair was, as usual, falling in his eyes.

It was unusual for the two of them to have arrived in the cla.s.sroom ahead of me-they had a tendency to linger in the halls. Right now they were standing together and talking in low, serious tones. The two of them were dating and were really happy together-though they didn't look terribly happy at the moment.

I said hi as I walked past them-they looked like they didn't want to be disturbed at the moment-and Charisse reached out to grab my sleeve.

”We need to talk after cla.s.s,” she said.