So Fred just wanted his peace and quiet. Wel, whatever. I was alive because of it. Most likely Raoul would get distracted by some other irritant before dawn and take out his anger on somebody close by. And Riley always came back at the end of the night. He would hear that Diego had been in his cave rather than outside and destroyed by the sun, and Raoul wouldn't have an excuse to attack him or me.
At least, that was the best-case scenario. In the meantime, maybe Diego and I could come up with some plan to steer clear of Raoul.
Again, I had a fleeting sense that I was missing an obvious solution. Before I could figure it out, my thoughts were interrupted.
"Sorry."
The deep, almost silent mutter could only have come from Fred. It looked like I was the only one close enough to real y hear. Was he talking to me?
I looked at him again and felt nothing. I couldn't see his face - he had his back to me stil . He had thick, wavy blond hair. I'd never noticed that before, not with al the days I'd sat hiding in his shadow. Riley wasn't kidding when he'd said that Fred was special. Gross, but real y special. Did Riley have any idea that Fred was so... so powerful? He was able to overwhelm a whole room of us in a second.
Though I couldn't see his expression, I had the sense that Fred was waiting for an answer.
"Um, don't apologize," I breathed almost silently. "Thank you.
"
Fred shrugged.
And then I found I couldn't look at him anymore. The hours passed slower than usual as I waited for Raoul to come back. From time to time I tried to look at Fred again - to see past the protection he'd created for himself - but I always found myself repel ed. If I tried too hard, I ended up gagging. Thinking about Fred was a good distraction from thinking about Diego. I tried to pretend I didn't care where he was in the room. I didn't look at him but focused on the sound of his breathing - his distinct rhythm - to keep tabs. He sat on the other side of the room from me, listening to his CDs on a laptop. Or maybe pretending to listen, the way I was pretending to read the books from the damp backpack on my shoulders. I flipped pages at my usual rate, but I didn't take anything in. I was waiting for Raoul.
Luckily, Riley came first. Raoul and his cohorts were right behind him, but not as loud and obnoxious as usual. Maybe Fred had taught them a little respect.
Probably not, though. More likely Fred had just angered them. I real y hoped Fred never let his guard slip. Riley went to Diego right away; I listened with my back to them, eyes on my book. In my peripheral vision, I saw some of Raoul's idiots wandering, looking for their favorite games or whatever they'd been doing before Fred had driven them out. Kevin was one of them, but he seemed to be looking for something more specific than entertainment. Several times his eyes tried to focus on where I was sitting, but Fred's aura kept him at bay. He gave up after a few minutes, looking a little sick.
"I heard you made it back," Riley said, sounding genuinely pleased. "I can always count on you, Diego."
"No problem," Diego said in a relaxed voice. "Unless you count holding my breath al day as a negative."
Riley laughed. "Don't cut it so close next time. Set a better example for the babies."
Diego just laughed with him. From the corner of my eye, it seemed like Kevin relaxed some. Was he real y that worried about Diego getting him in trouble? Maybe Riley listened to Diego more than I realized. I wondered whether that was why Raoul had gotten crazy before.
Was it a good thing if Diego was that in with Riley after al ?
Maybe Riley was okay. That relationship didn't compromise what we had, did it?
Time didn't pass any faster after the sun was up. It was crowded and unstable in the basement, like every day. If vampires could get hoarse, Riley would have lost his voice entirely from the yel ing. A couple of kids temporarily lost limbs, but nobody got torched. The music warred with the game tracks, and I was glad I didn't get headaches. I tried reading my books, but I ended up just flipping through one after the other, not caring enough to make my eyes focus on the words. I left them in a neat stack by the end of the couch for Fred. I always left my books for him, though I never could tel whether he read them. Couldn't look at him closely enough to see what, exactly, he did with his time.
At least Raoul never looked my way. Neither did Kevin or any of the others. My hiding place was as effective as ever. I couldn't see if Diego was smart enough to ignore me, because I was ignoring him so thoroughly. No one could suspect that we were a team, except maybe Fred. Had Fred been paying attention as I prepared to fight alongside Diego? Even if he had, I didn't worry too much about it. If Fred felt any particular il wil toward me, he could have let me die last night. Would have been easy.
It got louder as the sun started to go down. We couldn't see the light fading here underground, with al of the windows upstairs covered just in case. But waiting through so many long days gave you a good sense for when one was almost over. Kids started getting antsy, bugging Riley about whether they could go out.
"Kristie, you were out last night," Riley said, and you could hear the patience wearing thin in his voice. "Heather, Jim, Logan - go ahead. Warren, your eyes are dark, go along with them. Hey, Sara, I'm not blind - get back here."
The kids he shut down sulked in the corners, some of them waiting for Riley to leave so they could sneak out in spite of his rules.
"Um, Fred, must be about your turn," Riley said, not looking in our direction. I heard Fred sigh as he got to his feet. Everyone cringed as he moved through the center of the room, even Riley. But unlike the others, Riley smiled a little to himself. He liked his vampire with skil s.