Page 44 of The Last Vampire
“I love you, too.”
After hanging up, I check my inbox. Every email is some kind of advertisement, so I swipe to delete them all. I don’t have any social media to pull up because Ma’s rules state no social media until after high school. I opened a secret account a couple of years ago, but when that video of me went viral, reading the comments soured me on the whole thing. So I shut it down.
As Boston’s redbrick buildings fill our view, I gaze at the gold-crowned trees that will soon shed their leaves. William leans over me to stare out the window, his gaze entranced, like he’s never seen a view like this one.
His face is so close to mine that I stare at the smooth contours of his cheek until my fingers tingle with the urge to trace his jawline. I shake my head to shed the ridiculous impulse.
“I grew up not far from here,” he says softly.
The fact that he just volunteered information about himself cements that something’s changed in our dynamic now that I agreed to become his Familiar. Whether we like each other or not, we’re officially on the same team. Only I’m not sure that’s a good thing.
What does it say about me that I’m working with a vampire?
“Are you going to visit your house while the rest of us are on campus?” I ask, hoping for a breather from his prying eyes and ears.
He doesn’t answer.
“We will reach Harvard Yard in fifteen minutes!” announces Minaro. “We are handing out food now. There are gluten-free options for anyone who needs them.”
Teachers come down the aisle offering either falafel wraps or ham-and-cheese sandwiches, along with a bag of chips and a water bottle. While I eat, William stores his food in my bag.
“We are here,” says the director. “Please bring your trash to the front as you file out.Do not go anywhere.Form a line.”
She counts us as we get off, then we line up outside the bus and wait for her. “Come on,” she calls once she’s on the ground. “Follow me through the main gate.”
Salma loops her arm with Tiffany’s and pulls her ahead, giving William and me some privacy. Trevor and Zach follow the girls, and William and I end up at the very tail of the line. The vampire is casting his gaze around us, like he’s casing our environment for threats.
We aren’t here by coincidence.
The realization strikes me with such clarity that I feel foolish for not piecing it together sooner. “Why are we on the Harvard campus?” I ask him. “Did you have something to do with this?”
“Come with me,” he says, cutting a sharp right as soon as we’re through the gates.
I look between his receding figure and our classmates as they head down a paved path through Harvard Yard, and after a beat, I chase after the vampire.
“Was this field trip your idea?” I ask when I catch up to him. I keep glancing back to make sure no one from our group notices we’re missing.
“I may have encouraged Director Minaro to make it happen.”
“You mean youcompelledher.” My heart echoes in my chest. “And for the record, that’s a statement, not a question.”
“Noted.”
I consider going back to our classmates, only when I turn around to find them, they’ve been swallowed by the crowds of college students and color-coded tourist groups.
“Where are we going?” I ask William. “And why—?”
“This is it.”
He stops only a few yards from the gate, in front of a four-story brick building with rows of checkered windows. “Massachusetts Hall,” he murmurs. “This is where I lived when I was turned.”
Goose bumps race down my arms. “What are we doing here?”
“I buried a secret in these walls more than two centuries ago.” His gaze finally drops from the building to meet mine. “If I can find it, we will know one thing for sure:All your history is made of lies.”
CHAPTER 15william
A man does not forget his own grave. Especially when he dug it himself.
