I felt sorry for the youngest Maxwell. He was b.u.mmed out not to be among his peers. I couldn"t blame him, but I wasn"t so sure that I wanted him hanging out with my brother. Last time Valentine met Billy, he took him to a cave where he tried to bite him. I wasn"t so sure my brother should be in his company again. In fact, I knew it wasn"t a good idea.
"He"s been really busy," I said. "Tons of science fairs coming up."
"Well, we"ll still have to get together soon. And at least I"ll get to see Stormy now that she"s in town, too," he said. "We can hang out here at the Crypt."
"Yes, we"ll see what we have planned," Alexander said. He didn"t seem so eager for his sibling to be hanging around the younger Maxwell, either.
When Alexander and I arrived at my house, we found the sugared-up s.p.a.ce invaders in the family room watching Friday the 13th.
"You"ll never guess who we saw tonight," I said.
"Frankenstein?" Stormy asked.
"No."
"Freddy Krueger?" Henry asked.
"No, Valentine Maxwell," I replied.
"Who would dress up as him?" Billy asked.
"No one," I said. "He was at the Crypt."
"Valentine?" Billy and Stormy said in unison.
"He"s here?" Henry asked.
"Yes," I replied. "He came in for Halloween."
"When can we see him?" Stormy asked.
"We"ll have to go to the Crypt tomorrow," Billy insisted.
There was one person I didn"t want to go to the Crypt and that was my little brother. Not only didn"t I want the responsibility of bringing him to a club filled with young adults, many of whom were vampires, but the Crypt was my place, not his, and I was territorial over it. "We"ll see. Besides, it"s getting late," I said.
"Here, Raven, I saved these for you," Stormy said, handing me spooky spider tattoos.
"I love these! Thanks so much, Stormy," I said.
"And I"m saving this for Luna," she said. She held out a pink plastic skeleton ring.
"I"m sure she"ll love it," I said sincerely.
"I had a blast," Stormy said.
"How was the haunted house?" Billy asked.
"It was really cool," I said. "You would have loved it."
"Well, it"s getting late," Alexander said. "We really should be getting home."
"But we just got back!" Stormy whined. "We were just going to watch Halloween!"
"It"s okay," Billy said. "You guys can watch, too."
Stormy looked at Alexander with puppy-dog eyes.
"I love Halloween, too," I said. "Can we all just watch?" I nuzzled up to my swashbuckler.
"Sure," Alexander said. "How can I say no to such pretty girls?"
"Thanks, Alexander," Stormy said, and hopped on the couch with Billy and Henry.
I scooted close to Alexander on the loveseat. "I"m going to be scared," I said. "You"ll have to protect me."
"I"ll do my best."
We dimmed the lights and pigged out on candy as Michael Myers hunted Laurie Strode.
After the movie was over, Stormy grabbed her candy and she and Alexander headed for the front door.
"I had the best time ever!" Stormy squealed to Billy and Henry.
"We"ll have to hang out again soon. I have tons of scary movies to show you," Billy said.
"I do, too," Henry chimed in.
"I can"t wait!" she said.
I was pleased that Stormy had had such a good time with my brother.
When it came to them saying good-bye, there was an awkward pause between Stormy and the two other trick-or-treaters. She extended her hand to Henry. He looked at her formality oddly but reached out to accept her hand. When he did, she instead reached in and hugged him
. By Henry"s reaction, I"m not sure if he"d ever been hugged by a girl before. It was too cute for words.
Then she leaned in and hugged my brother. They held on for a little bit too long, until Alexander cleared his throat and said, "It"s time to go."
I walked Alexander to his car, and he gave me a long good-bye kiss.
I really liked Stormy being in town. As much as I didn"t want to hang out with my brother, it was bringing out a sweet side to him, and I was impressed at how much of a gentleman he was becoming. And most important, Alexander seemed so happy having a family member at the Mansion. One who couldn"t boss him around, even if she tried.
13 House Calls.
A few days later, Alexander thought it would be a good idea to let Stormy spend time again with her friends. She was so excited at the prospect of being with Valentine, Billy, and Henry that she was glowing. Alexander thought it would be okay for them to all be together, but I wasn"t convinced that this particular mixture wouldn"t be too dicey.
We dropped Stormy and Billy off at Henry"s and headed back to the Mansion. It was too risky to have them hang out at the Mansion, with coffin beds in the Sterlings" rooms and a cellar full of blood, and my house was so small it felt like neither group would have any room to breathe. Alexander thought it would be safe for them all since Henry"s parents were hom ~ liked Ste. I wasn"t sure what I was afraid of exactly. Billy getting bitten by Valentine? Stormy screaming about mirrors? I feared Alexander and I were being like her parents and not letting her spread her bat wings among mortals. It was time to give Stormy a chance again to develop friendships with her peers and truly have some fun.
Alexander and I returned to the Mansion for a little private time. I walked into his attic room and spotted a new painting he was working on displayed on his easel. It was smaller than many of his portraits that I"d seen before. This was an eight by ten.
I examined it closely. "That looks like Billy and Stormy!" Our siblings were dressed as they were the night of the dance.
"I thought since his picture wasn"t going to turn out," my boyfriend said, "that I could paint him one."
"That is so thoughtful of you," I remarked sweetly. "I know he"ll love it. Normally I wouldn"t want a picture of my brother, but this time I think I want one, too."
"Well, this is for him," he said protectively. "By the way, has he mentioned that Stormy wasn"t in the photo?"
"No, come to think of it, he hasn"t," I recalled. "Maybe he hasn"t checked yet or maybe we"re off the hook."
"What are you going to say if he brings it up?" Alexander was seriously concerned.
"I guess the same thing I said to Becky about Sebastian not showing up in her pictures," I said, referring to the time Becky snapped a few of Alexander"s best friend at a soccer game. "That she must have moved when it was taken."
"Will you be able to find a frame for this painting?" he asked. "You"re good at shopping for those things."
"An excuse to shop? I"m your girl!"
Alexander kissed me long. But the picture of Billy and Stormy was staring at me. It was hard for me to concentrate when my brother was looking over my shoulder.
"You seem distracted," he said.
"I don"t know if it"s such a good idea to leave them alone. Do you?"
"How much trouble can they get in at Henry"s?" Alexander asked.
Just then I heard my text beeping.
I let go of our embrace and grabbed my phone. It was from Billy.
STORMY FREAKED OUT. HENRY DARED HER TO EAT A CLOVE OF GARLIC. SHE"S LOCKEDSHEe go IN HENRY"S ROOM.
"Oh no!" I said.
"What is it?" Alexander asked, concerned.
I showed him Billy"s text.
"I hope she"s okay," I said.
"We have to get there now!" Alexander was alarmed. "Call Billy. I"ll get the antidote."
I called and texted my brother but it went right to voice mail.
"He"s not picking up!" I shouted.
Alexander stuck the antidote into a plastic bag and we raced down the stairs past Jameson, who was coming out from the kitchen.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" he asked.
Alexander didn"t even answer his butler and instead rushed out the front door and into the Mercedes. I did my best to keep up with him, but I was huffing and puffing. This time Alexander didn"t stop to open the door for me. He had one thing on his mind, and that was the safety of his sister.
Alexander peeled out of the driveway and raced toward Henry"s house.
I kept calling Billy, but he didn"t answer.
"Should we call the doctor?" I asked.
"I think we"ll get there before he does," Alexander said.
Alexander pulled the Mercedes into Henry"s long driveway. We hopped out. Alexander didn"t even pause to shut his driver"s side door. He raced up to the house and rang the bell relentlessly.
Henry opened the door, surprised to see us.
"Where is she?" Alexander demanded.
"Stormy?" Henry was still bewildered by our sudden presence at his house.
"Yes!"
"Uh ... upstairs in my room."
Alexander took off up the stairs, and I followed close behind.
"Stormy?" Alexander called.
We pa.s.sed several normal-looking bedrooms and a bathroom. At the endom.v h of the hallway was a movie poster of Lord of the Rings hanging on the door.
"That must be it," Alexander said.
Alexander pushed open the now-unlocked door.
We were both afraid of what we might find. Stormy was lying on the bed, pale and still. Valentine was holding her wrist as if he were looking for a pulse. Billy was standing next to them both.
Alexander rushed to his sister"s side. "Are you okay?" Alexander shouted.
Stormy sat up. "What are you doing here?"