Ok, part 3. Here we go(: This should be the last part for chapter one. I OWN ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THIS AN THE LAST 2 CHAPTERS!!!! I AM JUSS REWRITING THEM ON HERE BEACUSE NONE OF YOU HAVE READ IT! THIS AND LAST 2 CHAPTERS ARE THE REAL CHAPTER 1 WRITTEN BY CLAUDIA GRAY!!
"I'm supposed to be the one taking care of you." He kept studying me, as if he could somehow find the answer to our problems in the lines on my face. "Not the other way around."
"We can take care of each other."
Lucas embraced me tightly, and for a few seconds, i didn't have to pretend we were anywhere else.
"Lucas!" Eduardo's voice echoed against the concrete metal. We looked up to see him standing nearby, arms folded across his chest. Sweat made a dark V on the front of his T-shirt. Lucas and i drew away from each other. it wasn't that we we're ashamed of what we were doing, but nobody could kill a romantic mood faster than Eduardo. "I want you to walk the perimeter on the first shift tonight."
"I went two nights ago," Lucas protested . "It's not my turn yet."
This only made Eduardo's scowl blacker. "Since when do you start whining about 'turns,' like a kid on the playground who wants the swings?"
"Since you stopped even pretending to be fair. Back off, okay?"
"Or what? You'll run to mummy? Because Kate wants to see some proof to your dedication, Lucas. We all do."
He meant, because of me. Lucas had broken Black Cross rules many times so that we could be together - more then the others in this cell knew.
Lucas wasn't backing down. "I haven't had a full night's sleep since the fire. I'm not spending another night in the drainage ditch outside, waiting for nothing."
Eduardo's dark eyes narrowed. "At any second, we could have a vampire tribe on our trail-"
"And whose fault would that be? After your little stunt at Evernight Academy-"
"Stunt?"
"Time out!" Dana, freshly emerged from her shower smelling strongly of cheap soap, held her hands in a T between Lucas and Eduardo. Her long braids fell over her thin, damp towel looped around her neck. "Chill, okay? In case you lost count, Eduardo, it's actually my turn to take a shift tonight. I don't feel so tired anyway."
Eduardo never liked being vetoed, but he couldn't exactly refuse a willing volunteer. "Suit yourself, Dana."
"Why don't i bring Raquel out with me?" she suggested, smoothly steering the conversation away from Lucas. "My girl's chomping on a bit to do more."
"Raquel's too new. Forget it." Apparently Eduardo felt better having been able to put his foot down. He stalked off.
"Thanks," I said to Dana. "Are you sure you aren't too tired?"
She grinned. "What, do you think I'm going to be dragging butt tomorrow like Lucas did today? No way."
Lucas pretended to punch her arm, and she mock-sneered at him. They pretty much gave each other hell all the time without meaning a word of it. I thought that Dana might be Lucas' best friend. Certainly only a real friend would take perimeter-search shift, which involved - as Lucas put it - a whole lot of stooping, a whole lot of mud and almost no sleep.
Soon everyone around us was preparing for bed. The only privacy any of us had was the 'wall' between the men's half of the room and the women's, which was actually a bunch of old sheets hung over a clothesline. Lucas and I were both right up against the sheets, next to one another, separated only by a few inches and one thin cotton cloth. Sometimes I was reassured by the fact that he was so close: other times, the frustration made me want to scream.
It's not forever, i reminded myself as I changed into the borrowed T-shirt I slept in. The pajamas I'd escaped in had been ruined by soot in the fire: the only thing I wore that belonged to me was the obsidian pendant I'd gotten from my parents, which hung around my neck at all times, even when I was in the shower. The jet brooch Lucas had given me while first dating was tucked into the small bag they'd given me. I didn't think myself as especially materialistic, but losing nearly everything I'd ever owned at once had been a blow. So I treasured the few things I had left.
When Kate called Lights Out, somebody flipped the switch almost that instant. I burrowed under the thin, army-styled blanket over my folding cot. It wasn't soft, and it definately wasn't comfortable - cots suck - but i was so exhausted that any chance to rest was welcomed.
To my left, Raquel was already asleep. She rested better here than she ever had at Evernight.
To my right, invisible behind the slowly rippling white sheet, was Lucas.
I imagined the outline of his body behind that sheet, what he would look like in his cot. I fantasized about tiptoeing to his side and sliding in next to him. But we'd be seen. I sighed, giving up this idea.
This was the fourth night I'd done that. And, jus as I'd done the other four nights, once I stopped being frustrated about my inability to be with Lucas, I started worrying.
Mum and Dad have to be okay, I told myself. I remembered the blaze too well - the way the flames had leaped up around me, and the thickness of the smoke. It would have been easy to get lost, to get trapped. Fire was one of the only ways to truly a vampire. They have centuries of experience. They've been in worse trouble before. Remember what Mum told you about the Great Fire of London? If she made it through that, she could make it out of Evernight.
But Mum hadn't made it out of the Great Fire. She'd been terribly injured and near death; my father had "rescued" her by turning her into a vampire like himself.
I hadn't exactly been on great terms with my parents lately. That didn't mean I wanted them to be hurt. Just the thought of them weak and injured somewhere - or worse - made me sick to my stomach.
They weren't the only ones I was worried about. Had Vic been able to get out of the burning school? What about Balthazar? As a vampire, he might have been targeted by Black Cross - or by his psycotic, vengeful sister, Charity, who had prevented me, Lucas abd Raquel from escaping. Or what about poor Ranulf? He was a vampire, but one so gentle and unwordly that it was easy easy to imangine the hunters of Black Cross wiping him out.
I didn't know how any of them were. I might never know. When I chose to leave the grounds with Lucas, I'd known that was a risk I'd have to take. That didn't mean I liked it.
My stomach growled, hungry for blood.
Groaning, I turned over in my cot and prayed for sleep. That was the only way to silence the fears and hungers inside - at least for a few hours.
I reached out for the flower, but even as my fingertip touched the petal, it blackened and withered.
"Not for me," I whispered.
"No. Something better,"said the ghost.
How long had she been there? It seemed as thought she'd always been by my side. We stood together on the grounds of Evernight Academy as dark clouds roiled overhead. Gargoyles glared down at us from the imposing stone towers. The wind blew a few strands of dark-red har across my face. A few leaves, caught in the gale, blew through the aquamarine shadow of the ghost. She flinched.
"Where's Lucas?" Somehow he was supposed to be here, but I couldn't remember why.
"Inside."
"I can't go in there." It wasn't that I was afraid. For some reason, it seemed impossible for me to walk inside the school. The I realized why it was impossible. "This can't be real. Evernight Academy was burned in a fire. It doesn't exist now."
The cocked her head. "When you say 'now,' when do you mean?"
"Feet on the floor!"
The shout awakened us every morning. Even as I blinked my eyes, groggily trying to recall the dream that had already begun to slip away, Raquel bounded from her cot, strandely energized. "Come one, Bianca."
"It's just breakfast," I grumbled. Peanut butter on toast wasn't worth rushng for, in my opinion.
"No something's happening."
Bleary and confused, I stumbled to my feet to see that the Black Cross hunters around me were already on guard. My exhaustion told me that it couldn't possibly be morning yet. Why would they haul us out of bed in the middle of the night?
Oh, no.
Dana ran in and yelled, "Confirmed! Arm up, now!"
"The vampires," Raquel whispered. "They've come."
Ok, well thats the end of chapter one(: This was all written by Claudia Gray, Next chapter starts my own writing(: so start reviewing on tht chapter.