I bristled at the memory. Suddenly, I felt eager to explain this to Mei-Ling and her judgmental eyes. “I had no place else to go. I had nothing but thirty bucks in my checking account and an abusive dad waiting for me at home. ”
She gave me a look that said she didn’t fully understand me, and worse, that she found me pathetic. My defenses locked even more firmly into place.
It made me think with cold reason. “Hold on. ” She was brought in against her will—which Tracer would do such a thing? “You said he made you come. He who?”
She shrugged. “He…he had an accent. ”
“Scottish?” I held my breath.
“Not like that,” she said.
Not Ronan, then. I felt more relieved than was good for me. “You mean English was his second language? Could it have been a German accent?”
She shrugged again.
The one-sided interrogation was tiring me. “Blond?”
Finally she nodded, and I said, “Sounds like Otto. ” I could picture him doing it, too. He was the badass Tracer who’d been strong enough to bring my pal Yasuo in.
Mei studied me, and it made me uncomfortable. She looked like she was evaluating me, and evaluations made me feel vulnerable.
I struck out in defense and said, “If you were taken against your will, that means your parents are probably looking for you. ” I regretted the words the moment they were out.
An expression of acute misery flickered in her eyes then was gone again. “You’re right. ”
I’d noted the tiniest waver in her voice. “Damn,” I whispered, aghast. Why had they kidnapped this girl? This nice, normal, fifteen-year-old girl?
And even better: Why on earth had they put her in a room with me?
I felt bad for mentioning her parents and found myself volunteering, “You’re lucky. My dad wouldn’t have cared. And my mom is dead. ”
It took her a moment to roll with my topic change. “I-I’m sorry. ”
“Thanks,” I muttered, the response feeling rote. I should’ve felt relieved. I could definitely write off my concerns about what Mei would do if she were to find out about me and Carden. This girl didn’t know up from down. “But it’s not me you should worry about. ”
Mei-Ling wasn’t a runaway. She wasn’t a gang girl or a meth addict. She was a fifteen-year-old musical prodigy from Long Island.
She wouldn’t survive a day.
I knew it meant that Carden and I would probably be safe from her prying eyes. But instead of feeling relief, it needled me. This poor kid.
Bastards. The vampires had abducted her against her will, which meant they wanted her here for a reason. A really big reason, if they were willing to risk kidnapping. What were they going to do to her?
I went over and sat next to her on the bed. “Look, I’ll help you out. But you need to be strong. ”
She stiffened. “I am strong. ”
“No, I mean really strong. ” Amanda had told me much the same when I’d arrived. The girls on this island, if they scented fear, like wolves killing the weakest member of the pack, they’d turn on you. And worse. “Because if you’re not, they’ll kill you. ”
CHAPTER FOUR
I stared at my class list.
The dining hall’s mealtime hum swirled around me—the clanking of cutlery and chattering of teens as they snarfed down a dinner of bread, potato soup, and mystery fish. We ate a lot of mystery fish. The only thing separating this cafeteria from that of any other boarding school or college was the side shooter of vampire blood.
It was only the first day of classes and already it was shaping up to be a banner semester. A Guidon was dead, and everyone thought I had something to do with it. I shared an inexplicable bond with a vampire. I had a mysterious roommate whose very presence here was wrong. And now this.
I reread the schedule, as if maybe it’d changed in the past twenty-four hours. All in all, there were some cool things, taught by some cool teachers (creepy Alrik Dagursson notwithstanding).