"You"re out of your mind if you think I"m going to take any of the credit for that," I said. "This all belongs to you. No one would ever have seen me again if you hadn"t shown up. You saved my life. You"re a hero. You"ll have to accept that."
Simon smiled and looked down at his hands again. As he did so, his smile faded. "Do you think Joshua is okay? I had to stop him, but I didn"t want to hurt him seriously. Burns can be dangerous, even fatal, and if he knows the police are after him, he may not-"
I interrupted him. "Joshua will be fine. Trust me. His wounds will heal quickly. He"s not a normal person."
Simon looked at me sharply. "He wasn"t normal, was he? I hit him, and he just stared at me. And his strength. He threw me around like a rag doll. It was like nothing could stop him. That"s why I did what I did after you said to use fire. I found a lighter and lighter fluid in the kitchen, and I just reacted."
He paused.
"How did you know fire would work on him?"
I took a deep breath. I wanted to tell Simon the truth, but I doubted he would believe it. I stared at the floor and tried to think of what to say.
"Katie?" Simon prompted.
"Did you happen to notice his teeth?" I asked.
"Yeah. They were super sharp."
I gave Simon a significant stare.
"And you said to use wood or fire against him," Simon said slowly. "Wood as in a wooden stake."
Simon ran a hand over his hair. "You think Joshua"s a vampire."
I made no reply, and Simon sighed heavily.
"You know, Katie, your imagination has really begun to run riot over the last few months."
I was glad now that I hadn"t said anything outright. Even allowing Simon to work things out for himself hadn"t convinced him. He couldn"t even trust the evidence of his own senses.
But Simon wasn"t finished. "Katie, there are people-weird people-but regular human beings nonetheless, who get their teeth filed down to give them a vampiric appearance. Sometimes there are perfectly normal explanations for things that seem out of the ordinary."
"Then what about his strength? How do you explain that away?" I asked. I couldn"t help pointing that out, though I doubted it would do any good. "You said yourself that he was unstoppable. And you were right-no normal measure would have stopped him. And how did he put three people into a trance? You saw them when they were carried out-that wasn"t normal."
"Katie, it"s possible to drug people. Don"t make this out to be more than it is."
"But you did notice he wasn"t normal-you just said that."
Simon shrugged. "Maybe that was drugs, too. I"ve heard people can do crazy things when they"re whacked out. I"ve heard sometimes bullets won"t stop them."
He gave me a serious look. "Please don"t mention vampires to the doctor. I don"t want you to get committed."
I sat back in my chair. Every time Simon seemed about ready to listen, he pulled back. I supposed I couldn"t really blame him. I had been forced by circ.u.mstances to accept a lot of unusual things. Simon simply hadn"t seen all that I had seen.
Not long after, Simon and I were both called to be examined, and we were swept into separate curtained-off compartments.
I had some cuts and bruises, but basically I was fine. I could hear Simon"s doctor talking to him and asking him questions. Simon had some burns that needed to be treated, and the doctor warned him to be alert for signs of concussion, but I was relieved to hear the doctor say that once he had spoken to Simon"s parents that Simon would be free to go.
GM and Mrs. Krstic showed up soon after that.
GM rushed into my compartment, sweeping back the curtain with energy. She sat down next to me on my creaking cot and gave me a hug.
"Oh, Solnyshko. You have not had much luck these past few months. Tell your grandmother what has happened."
I had a feeling the police had already filled her in on the facts, but it was something of a relief to tell her myself. The horror of the whole situation and the knowledge of just how close I had come to being Joshua"s victim overwhelmed me as I spoke. I felt tears running down my cheeks, and GM ran her hands over my hair.
"That"s all right, Solnyshko. You have every reason to be sad. I don"t know what this town is coming to."
I was careful, of course, not to mention anything about Joshua Martin"s true nature.
When I was finished with my story, and I was feeling calmer, GM patted me on the shoulder.
"They told me that your friends are upstairs, and that they are awake now. Would you like to go up and see them?"
"Yes, I would." I thought of Charisse, Mrs. Graebel, and Branden lying strangely motionless on the floor. It would be a relief to see for myself that they were okay.
Simon and Mrs. Krstic were still talking with Simon"s doctor, so GM and I decided not to disturb them and to just go ahead on our visit upstairs without them. We left the emergency room and went into the main body of the hospital.
The whole place was highly polished and smelled strongly of antiseptic.
As we waited at a bank of elevators, GM turned to look at me. To my discomfort, she continued to stare.
"GM, please," I said, after some time had pa.s.sed, and the elevators had stubbornly refused to put in an appearance. "You"re making me nervous."
"You know, Simon Krstic is a remarkable boy," GM said. "And he has certainly proved today that he cares about you. Perhaps he even loves you."
"I know," I said.
"And yet that is not enough for you to love him in return," GM said ruefully. "I"m sure you think I"m being a busybody. But I know something of these matters."
"I suppose you"re thinking of William and my father again," I said. "But William"s not a bad influence. He really isn"t. Like I said, he wants me to stay away from danger-not go out and look for it."
GM gave me an odd little smile. "Actually, I was thinking of my own life. I loved your grandfather very much. But sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision. It is easy to fall for the man who is exciting and mysterious. Sometimes it is just as easy to overlook the man who is quiet and dependable. His love is no less strong just because it is not showy."
There was a chime, and an elevator finally opened up for us. We stepped inside, and I looked at GM in surprise.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
She shook her head. "It doesn"t matter any longer. I have to keep reminding myself of that."
GM refused to say anything further, and when our elevator came to a stop, she led me on through the hospital"s highly polished halls.
We stopped by Branden"s room first, but he was already surrounded by a crowd that consisted of his divorced parents, both of their spouses, and an a.s.sortment of siblings and half-siblings. We decided not to interrupt, and we moved on.
In the room next door, we found Charisse and Mrs. Graebel, who were separated by a curtain as Simon and I had been down in the emergency room.
GM stopped to talk to Mrs. Graebel, and she waved me over to Charisse.
"Go and talk with your friend. I"m sure the two of you would rather not have me hovering over you."
I walked over to Charisse"s side of the room. GM pulled the curtain out further so that we were shielded completely. I had a feeling that GM was actually more interested in talking to Mrs. Graebel herself, rather than in giving Charisse and me privacy.
They probably wanted to discuss how better to protect us. Unfortunately, that was likely to mean decreased freedom for both of us.
I sat down in a chair next to Charisse"s bed, and she gave me a wan smile.
"Hey, Katie."
"How are you feeling?" I asked.
Charisse shifted a little and yawned. "Honestly, I"m fine. I"m just really, really tired. I don"t seem to be able to shake off this sluggish feeling."
"When did you wake up?"
"I was here in the hospital when I woke up. I don"t know when it was exactly."
"What happened back at the house? How did Joshua put you guys out?"
Charisse frowned. "I don"t know. I don"t remember being put out. The last twenty-four hours are kind of a blur. The last thing I remember clearly is dropping you off yesterday and then driving home. Then it"s all a blank. I only know Joshua was involved in the whole thing because the police told me."
She made an effort to focus on me. "The police told me you and Simon came to check on me, and then there was a fire. Are you guys okay?"
"Simon and I are fine. It looks like I should have believed you. Joshua really was trouble."
Charisse shook her head. "It"s not your fault. You know, I was actually starting to believe that Joshua had powers-like he was superhuman or something. But he was really just a run-of-the-mill psycho. I shouldn"t have let my imagination run wild like I did."
I sighed inwardly. Charisse"s instincts had been right, of course, but there was no way I could tell her that.
"How is your mom?" I asked.
Charisse turned her head involuntarily toward her mother, even though the curtain blocked her from view. She took a deep breath, and then turned back to me. "I think she"s okay at the moment, but she"s still pretty groggy. When she"s more herself, and she realizes what almost happened, I think it"s going to hit her pretty hard."
Charisse gave me an agonized look. "Katie, I didn"t like Joshua, and I didn"t like having him around, but I never wanted my mom to be hurt. I never wanted anything like this to happen."
"I know you didn"t," I said. "And your mom knows that, too."
I could see tears welling up in Charisse"s eyes, and I came over to sit beside her on the bed.
"Don"t think about it," I said. "You"re both safe now. This wasn"t your fault, and it wasn"t your mother"s either. People like Joshua are really good at what they do." Unfortunately, I knew from personal experience that this was true. "Plenty of smart people have been tricked by him-trust me. Your mom didn"t really have a chance against him."
Charisse looked down at her hands. "He"s still out there, isn"t he? He wasn"t caught."
"No, he wasn"t."
"We aren"t safe then, are we?" Charisse said. "He could come back for us."
"I don"t think he will," I said. "I think he"s wise enough to stay away from you and your mother."
Whether or not he would come back for me was a different matter.
"I hope you"re right," Charisse said. She frowned. "You know, I really don"t remember what happened, but I have a feeling that there was something important I needed to tell you-something you needed to know."
I already knew that Joshua had set up the whole thing to trap me, so I wasn"t too concerned about any details Charisse might remember.
"Don"t upset yourself," I said. "I"m sure if there"s anything I need to know the police will tell me."
"No-it"s important-it really is. Give me a minute. I"ll think of it."
Charisse closed her eyes. In the silence I could hear GM and Mrs. Graebel murmuring on the other side of the curtain.
Charisse remained still for such a long time that I thought she had fallen asleep. Then her eyes flew open.
"Someone else was there."
"What was that?" I asked.
"That"s what I needed to tell you," Charisse said. "I knew it was important. Someone else was there with Joshua-someone who had a connection to you."
"Are you sure you actually remember that?" I asked. "You said you didn"t even remember Joshua. And Simon and I didn"t see anyone else."
"I"m sure of it, Katie. Something was pushing at the back of my mind-something that mattered so much that it pushed through whatever drug it was that Joshua gave me."
Charisse frowned again and struggled to remember. GM stepped around the curtain and came to stand beside us.
"How are you, dear?" GM asked Charisse. "You"ve had quite a trying time."
"I"m fine, Mrs. Rost. I really am." Charisse gave her a small smile, but her brow remained creased in thought. "I don"t really remember much, but I"m trying to remember something now. Someone else was there with Joshua."
"Someone else?" GM looked concerned. "Who was it?"
Charisse rubbed her temples. "I"m sure it has something to do with Katie."
Charisse paused for a long moment.
"It was William," she said suddenly.
GM blinked in surprise. "What did you say?"
"William was there," Charisse said, staring at me defiantly. "I"m sure of it."
"Charisse, that"s crazy," I said. "There"s no way William was there. If he had been, he would have stopped Joshua himself."
"Have you told the police about this?" GM asked sharply.
Charisse ignored what I"d said and addressed GM. "Not yet. It"s only just come back to me. But I will."
I was horrified. "Charisse, you can"t do that."