We cased every aisle to see if Valentine might be hiding behind one. The library was empty of its regular and visiting readers, but a few Math Club family members were biding their time surfing the Internet. Alexander and I searched the fiction aisles and then wandered through the DVD and CD section. A few siblings were hanging out in the teen section. Valentine wasn't around, and neither was Billy Boy.
A young woman with a checkered sweater and jeans was restocking books. "May I help you?" she inquired.
"Can you tell me where the Math Club is having their party?" I asked.
She pointed to the stairwell and adjacent elevator. "Lower level, behind children's literature, in the conference room."
As Alexander and I descended the aging staircase, I could smell the strange scent of old books combined with the intoxicating scent of cheese pizza. When we reached the bottom, we saw a fountain with rocks running along the back wall. It held some hefty goldfish, and gold and silver coins lay at the bottom like sunken treasures. A woman was sitting with her child as the little girl innocently tried to pet the yellow swimmers.
"My mom brought me here when I was little. She used to give me a penny to throw into the fountain," I shared with Alexander as we walked past a round child-sized table riddled with picture books. "My wish was always the same. That I'd become a vampire." I gazed into his eyes. "Maybe that wish can finally come true."
Instead of answering, Alexander led me toward the conference room.
We walked by shelves of picture books, tables of computers, and posters of the Cat in the Hat, Curious George, and Babar. The normally quiet library was filled with the sounds of kids talking and laughing.
We finally reached the doors of the conference room. A long rectangular table was covered with pizza, popcorn, chips, and all the soda a preteen's bladder could hold.
A middle-aged man, who looked more like a football coach than a librarian in his sweatshirt and jeans, was at the head of the room, pulling a movie screen down over the blackboard.
About twenty kids in all were having a blast, hanging out on the weathered brown carpeting, lounging in beanbag and folding chairs, playing with MP3 players or Gameboys, and munching on snacks.
Stationed at the doorway, I quickly scanned the room, searching for any white-haired preteen. I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn't see Valentine. But I did see something I never thought I'd witness-- my pesky sibling entertaining a small group of students who had gathered on the floor around him, cracking up like he was a nerdy Chris Rock. I was stunned. I'd always called Billy "Nerd Boy" for a reason, but now he was shining in a way I'd never seen before. I realized the scrawny little brother that I'd always picked on my whole life had something I didn't have--a club of peers that he related to and who looked up to him as if he were a king.
I hated to admit it, but I felt a tinge of pride and a tiny bit of jealousy. My puny little brother was lucky to have a group to belong to--something I had never had. There was Chess Club, French Club, but never the Goth Club. I imagined a preteen roomful of students like Alexander and myself, eating gummy worms, reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, and watching Queen of the Damned.
Suddenly the laughter stopped, and the students glared at us, like we were the nerdy ones.
Billy Boy turned around. "What are you doing here?" he asked, joining Alexander and me by the door. "Is something wrong?"
"Have you seen that pasty kid with black fingernails that you promised to show Henry's treehouse to?"
"No. I told him we had Math Club tonight, so we agreed to meet at Henry's tomorrow at sunset. He eats dinner late," Billy Boy explained. "I thought maybe he might meet us here, but I haven't seen him. Why?"
"Never mind...Mom and Dad are waiting for us at the Cricket Club. We want you to come over."
"The Cricket Club," he said enthusiastically. "But I've already eaten."
"It doesn't matter; you can get dessert."
"But Star Wars is about to start. And I promised I'd go home with Henry."
Billy Boy was at the age where he preferred the company of his friends to his family. I nearly felt torn insisting my brother join us when he was having such a great time at the party, but I didn't have a choice. Valentine might be lurking in the Dead Tree Forest--or anywhere in Dullsville, for that matter.
"We'll bring Henry with us," I said sternly.
The preteen techno wizard then sauntered over. "Hi, guys. Have you come to watch the movie?"
"No, we've come to take you and my brother to dinner. We have to hurry; Mom and Dad are waiting."
The librarian came over. His generous smile couldn't mask his concern that my brother was talking to a dark stranger.
"This is my sister--and her boyfriend." Billy Boy introduced us with a hint of pride.
"We are just about to start the movie," the book man began. "You are welcome to stay."
"Henry and I will have to take a rain check," Billy Boy replied. "We have a match at the Cricket Club."
Back at the restaurant, Alexander placed his hand on my knee in between bites of his "bloody" steak. The Mitchells continued to eyeball us as Billy Boy and Henry took over the conversation, talking about computer math and the strange boy they met a few days ago at the library.
"Maybe you shouldn't invite a boy over you don't know," my mother said, sounding worried.
"That's what I said."
"Did he transfer to your school?" she questioned. "No, I think he's visiting," Billy Boy replied.
"Who?" my mom asked. "Do you know his family?"
Billy Boy turned to Henry, who just shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm not sure I like you hanging around a boy who nobody knows anything about."
The truth was, Alexander and I did know--we just couldn't tell.
"Well, we'll find out all about him when we meet him tomorrow," Billy Boy concluded.
My dad quickly changed the conversation to Billy Boy's upcoming English project.
"It's Facts Versus Folklore. We got to choose from a bunch of myths and legends--mermaids, werewolves, trolls. Henry and I picked vampires. I figured if we bring in Raven we'll get an easy A," my brother said with a laugh.
"Billy--be kind," my mother scolded.
Little did they know who the real vampire at the table was.
In spite of my family's intense inquiries, I could see Alexander was having fun. I felt a twinge of melancholy for my beloved, who'd been forced to leave Romania and his family. I wondered if I would have been able to leave my whole family and Becky behind, move to another country, and live in a lonely old Mansion with just a butler for company. Even though the creepy man himself, Jameson, was a dear and trusted friend to Alexander and the Sterling family, he was centuries older. I'm sure the odd couple didn't talk about music, girls, and movies.