There was so much manipulation going on in this one little speech, and I wasn't sure I was catching it al . I wished Diego were here so we could analyze it together.
If Riley was just making up this four-days story on the spot, I guess I could understand why. It's not like he could have just said, Hey, so I've lied to you for your whole lives, but now I'm telling the truth. He wanted us to fol ow him into battle today; he couldn't undermine whatever trust he'd earned.
"It's right for you to be terrified at the thought," Riley told the statues. "The reason you are al stil alive is that you paid attention when I told you to be careful. You got home on time, you didn't make mistakes. You let that fear make you smart and cautious. I don't expect you to put that intel igent fear aside easily. I don't expect you to run out that door on my word. But..."
He looked around the room once. "I do expect you to follow me out."
His eyes slid away from the audience for just the teensiest fraction of a second, touching very briefly on something over my head.
"Watch me," he told us. "Listen to me. Trust me. When you see that I'm okay, believe your eyes. The sun on this one day does have some interesting effects on our skin. You'l see. It won't hurt you in any way. I wouldn't do anything to put you guys in unnecessary danger. You know that."
He started up the stairs.
"Riley, can't we just wait - ," Kristie began.
"Just pay attention," Riley cut her off, stil moving up at a measured pace. "This gives us a big advantage. The yel oweyes know al about this day, but they don't know that we know."
As he was talking, he opened the door and walked out of the basement into the kitchen. There was no light in the wel -shaded kitchen, but everyone stil shied away from the open doorway. Everyone but me. His voice continued, moving toward the front door. "It takes most young vampires a while to embrace this exception - for good reason. Those who aren't cautious about the daylight don't last long."
I felt Fred's eyes on me. I glanced over at him. He was staring at me urgently, as if he wanted to take off but had nowhere to go.
"It's okay," I whispered almost silently. "The sun's not going to hurt us."
You trust him? he mouthed back at me.
No way.
Chapters 13
Fred raised an eyebrow and relaxed just slightly. I glanced behind us. What had Riley been looking at?
Nothing had changed - just some family pictures of dead people, a smal mirror, and a cuckoo clock. Hmm. Was he checking the time? Maybe our creator had given him a deadline, too.
"'Kay, guys, I'm going out," Riley said. "You don't have to be afraid today, I promise."
The light burst into the basement through the open door, magnified - as only I knew - by Riley's skin. I could see the bright reflections dance on the wal .
Hissing and snarling, my coven backed into the corner opposite from Fred's. Kristie was in the very back. It looked like she was trying to use her gang as a kind of shield.
"Relax, everybody," Riley cal ed down to us. "I am absolutely fine. No pain, no burn. Come and see. C'mon!"
No one moved closer to the door. Fred was crouched against the wal beside me, eyeing the light with panic. I waved my hand a tiny bit to get his attention. He looked up at me and measured my total calm for a second. Slowly he straightened up next to me. I smiled encouragingly.
Everyone else was waiting for the burn to start. I wondered if I had looked that sil y to Diego.
"You know," Riley mused from above, "I'm curious to see who is the bravest one of you. I have a good idea who the first person through that door is going to be, but I've been wrong before."
I rol ed my eyes. Subtle, Riley.
But of course it worked. Raoul started inching his way toward the stairs almost immediately. For once, Kristie was in no hurry to compete with him for Riley's approval. Raoul snapped his fingers at Kevin, and both he and the Spider-Man kid reluctantly moved to flank him.
"You can hear me. You know I'm not fried. Don't be a bunch of babies! You're vampires. Act like it."
Stil, Raoul and his buddies couldn't get farther than the foot of the stairs. None of the others moved. After a few minutes, Riley came back. In the indirect light from the front door, he shimmered just a tiny bit in the doorway.
"Look at me - I'm fine. Seriously! I'm embarrassed for you. C'mere, Raoul!"
In the end, Riley had to grab Kevin - Raoul ducked out of the way as soon as he could see what Riley was thinking - and drag him upstairs by force. I saw the moment when they made it into the sun, when the light brightened from their reflections.
"Tel them, Kevin," Riley ordered.
"I'm okay, Raoul!" Kevin cal ed down. "Whoa. I'm al ... shiny. This is crazy!" He laughed.
"Wel done, Kevin," Riley said loudly.
That did it for Raoul. He gritted his teeth and marched up the stairs. He didn't move fast, but soon he was up there sparkling and laughing with Kevin.
Even from then on, the process took longer than I would have predicted. It was stil a one-by-one thing. Riley got impatient. It was more threats than encouragement now. Fred shot me a look that said, You knew this?
Yes, I mouthed.
He nodded and started up the stairs. There were stil about ten people, mostly Kristie's group, huddled against the wal . I went with Fred. Better to come out right in the middle. Let Riley read into that what he would.
We could see the shining, disco-bal vampires in the front yard, staring at their hands and each other's faces with rapt expressions. Fred moved into the light without slowing, which I thought was pretty brave, al things considered. Kristie was a better example of how wel Riley had indoctrinated us. She clung to what she knew regardless of the evidence in front of her.