"Well, these are vintage Doc Martens. What's the big deal?"
"I think you may have scuffed them," she said, scowling at me.
I stared at her bright white shoes.
"You should be thanking me. I'd be glad to scuff them some more, if you like."
Her boyfriend laughed.
"It's not nice to eavesdrop," she reprimanded me as if she were a teacher.
"It's even worse to gossip," I snarled. "And very tacky to designer-name drop." We were fast approaching the ticket table. "You still have time to ask someone else," I whispered to her boyfriend.
He laughed again and she slugged him in the arm.
"Come on, Raven," Becky ordered, pulling me away. "It's our turn." I left the gossipmongers and approached the ticket table.
Becky beamed as Matt bought two tickets.
I pulled out a wad of cash from my Olivia Outcast purse.
"No cutting," I heard the couple say in back of me. I turned around. Trevor Mitchell was standing behind me.
"So have you found a date, Corpse Bride?" he asked in a seductive voice.
"Yes, I have," I said, putting the tickets safely in my purse.
"Your father? Or your first cousin?"
"Alexander," I said confidently.
"That's a shame. I would have escorted you. I could have used it for my community service hours."
Trevor handed the cashier a hundred-dollar bill as Matt, Becky, and I made our exit.
On the way home from school, Becky agreed to stop off at Henry's house.
"Billy Boy left something in the backyard. I'll only be a minute," I said, getting out of her pickup truck.
I raced up the driveway. No lights in Henry's house were lit. I peeked into the garage, empty of his parents' cars. Henry and Billy Boy were at Math Club, so the coast was clear.
I hurried past his gigantic pool and gazebo and ran through the pristinely mowed lawn. I climbed the treehouse ladder, the rungs creaking with every step of my boots. I reached the treehouse deck and inspected the door.
The amulets were gone.
Shortly after sunset, Alexander arrived at my house to find me pacing on the front walkway.
I kissed him, bursting to tell him my news.
"I went to the treehouse. The amulets--they're gone!" I proclaimed, leading him inside. "Valentine has been back to the treehouse."
"Then we can set a trap. This time, I'll be waiting," Alexander said.
Alexander was giving me a huge squeeze when Billy Boy burst through the front door.
"Look what Henry and I found at the treehouse," my brother declared. In his smarmy little palm he held two shining amulets.
My heart dropped. "Those aren't yours!"
"Well, they certainly aren't yours. Finders keepers."
"Let me see those," I said, reaching for them.
"Here," he said, holding the clasps and letting the amulets swing, as if trying to hypnotize me. "See with your eyes, not with your--"
I tried to grab them, but my brother pulled them away.
"There were four," I said. "How do you know?"
"Uh...amulets come in four; don't you know anything?" I stumbled.
"Henry kept the other two."
"Well, I think they are more my style than yours. Let me have them."
"Forget it. It looks like they're filled with blood," Billy Boy said with delight. "Henry plans to test them."
I paused.
"Then what will you do with them?"
"Use them for our Project Vampire."
Chapter 8 The Bat Cave
That night, Billy Boy and Henry were hunkered in our family room, eagerly doing their vampire project while I was making the finishing touches to my hair.
I heard the doorbell ring.
"I'll get it!" I hollered.
I checked myself out in the hallway mirror. I made sure my teeth were lipstick-free and tightened my black lace sash around my waist. I opened the door to find my dream guy, looking sexy in a shadowy oversized black shirt, silver-seamed black jeans, and combat boots riddled with straps.
Alexander pulled me to him and gave me a hello kiss.
"Alexander's here! I'll see you later," I called to anyone who was listening, and closed the front door behind me.
"Fortunately Billy Boy's in for the night," I said when I reached Alexander's waiting car. "Who does homework on Friday?"
"There's nothing wrong with being studious," Alexander defended, holding the door open for me.
"It is when the ultrastudious one is my brother," I said, half teasing. "I've always wanted a cool brother. Cryptic, clever, dangerous. Not a nerdy one. But I suppose Billy Boy's always wanted to have an honor student for an older sister, so I guess we're even."
I settled into the Mercedes and Alexander pulled out of the driveway.
"Did Ruby come over for dinner the other night?" I asked, checking my eyeliner in the rearview mirror.
"Yes. The old guy is getting to be quite the ladies' man. It's getting harder for me to borrow Jameson's car. He lent it to me for this evening, but he is taking Ruby out tomorrow night."
"So where are you taking me?" I asked.
"It's a secret. And I have a surprise for you when we get there."
Alexander drove through downtown and toward the outskirts of Dullsville.
"I found this place last night," he said as he turned the car around a tight bend. "I discovered it when I was looking for Valentine. I thought we could grab a few minutes just for us." Just us. A stolen moment when Alexander and I could finally have a romantic interlude with stars twinkling and the moon shining down on us, and we wouldn't have to worry about Jagger, Luna, Trevor, Valentine, or Billy Boy. I think we'd both been waiting for a chance like this forever.
The car lights illuminated fog as it began to creep over the twisting road, eventually puffing against the car and making it seem like we'd driven through a ghost.
I peered out the passenger-side window, out into the distance. In the darkness, a white billowy haze hung over the desolate fields.
Alexander pulled off onto a dirt road. I could barely see anything in front of us. The car bumped along the unmarked path. We were surrounded by darkness and a fog-covered meadow.
"How can you even see where we are?" I asked.
Alexander seemed confident. He stopped the car and shifted the gear into park.
"I thought we could take a moment to enjoy something new," he said as we got out of the Mercedes.
Alexander grabbed his backpack from the trunk and threw it over his shoulder. He held my hand and gave me a flashlight.