CHAPTER TWENTY: THE HARDEST TRUTH

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The most difficult part wasn't the punishment they gave me, but living with the realization that I'd disappointed them by violating their trust. I think I was harder on myself than they were on me. Of course Aunt E was hurt, and it showed in just how quiet she was and the look in her eyes; and Uncle Bill just kept saying I was "damn lucky," and that things could have turned out badly. "Very badly."

I hated myself. I hated that I'd caused them pain. But I think I hated even more that I couldn't have been like my friends, who were actually quite excited about what had happened and talked about it for days on end—despite incurring the wrath of their parents and being put on a "tight leash," as Cecilia put it. Even Martine reveled in her new found status as a rebel—though her aunt had been positively livid about the whole affair and even threatened to send her home to her parents.

It was the conversation I was going to have with Mom that concerned me most. Usually I couldn't wait to talk to her, but this time I was dreading it. Uncle Bill said he was going to let me tell her everything, which was a lot worse than if he'd done it. How was I supposed to explain to her that I'd ignored everything she'd taught me and warned me about, just so I could have a little fun and pretend like I was one of the girls? And the worst part about it was that in the end I hadn't really wanted to go to that bloody party, and if I'd listened to myself and stayed home I wouldn't have been in the mess I was.

And I wouldn't have met that goddamn vamp.

That vamp, who for some reason I couldn't stop thinking about.

****

"Be ready by ten," said Uncle Bill on the Sunday following the Halloween party.

I looked up from my breakfast and stared at him. "Be ready for what?"

"We've arranged a little surprise," said Aunt E.

I knit my brow and eyed the two of them warily. "What sort of 'surprise'?"

"Just be ready by ten," said Uncle Jim. "We're going for a drive."

An hour later, I sat in the rear seat of his electric as we drove northward out of the city, following the road that led toward the Blue Mountains. It was a gorgeous day out—not that Haven lacked for those. Even in the height of monsoon season, when the weather could be wild and unpredictable, you could always count on it changing for the better if you just waited long enough.

"What is this?" I asked. "It's illegal to kidnap people, you know."

Uncle Bill laughed. "I'm not worried; I've an in with the police."

Beside him Aunt E smiled, then shifted in her seat so she could look over her shoulder at me. "I thought it would be nice if we could do something different," she said. "It seemed such a waste to spend the day holed up in the house."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to go anywhere except to school for the next few weeks."

"This is different."

I narrowed my eyes. "Different how?"

"You'll see."

"I have homework," I said. But it was a pretty lame excuse. They both knew I always did my assignments as soon as I could, and my homework had been finished a couple of hours after I'd gotten home on Friday.

"This'll be fun," Aunt E assured me. "And William and I haven't had a picnic in such a long time."

"A picnic?"

"Yes. You know? A meal outside, under a nice blue sky."

"I know picnics, Aunt E. But why today?"

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