I remember not understanding Sunny’s distress when Magnus first turned her by mistake. After all, what could be so horrible about the gift of eternal life? But now I wonder if perhaps she was the smart one all along. Had I been so seduced by the glory and glamour that I ignored the evil lurking underneath it all?
And now it’s too late. I’m a vampire. A bloodsucking beast. For eternity. And there’s nothing I can do about it. I so wish Jareth were here. He’d know what to do. Not that I’m some helpless damsel in distress who’s dependent on a guy, mind you. But sometimes it’s nice to have backup.
Speaking of Sunny, where the hell is she? It’s nearly dawn and it doesn’t look like her bed’s been slept in. God, I hope she didn’t run into any trouble with curfew. My mind flashes to Headmistress Roberta dragging the squirming body bag down the road and I shudder.
Just as I’ve decided to head out and look for her (not like I’m getting any sleep anyway) the dorm room door creaks open and Sunny slips into the room on tiptoes.
“Where the hell have you been?” I demand, pointing at the glowing alarm clock, which currently reads 4:45. “I was worried!”
Startled, she gives a little shriek. Then she starts laughing. “You scared me!” she says, laughing and plopping down on the bed. I wrinkle my nose. She smells more than a bit ripe. Has she really been up all night?
“Yeah, well you scared me. It’s nearly five A.M. I was about to send out a search party.” I notice she’s still wearing the same clothes she had on the day before. If it were anyone else, I’d totally be calling “walk of shame.” But this is Sunny we’re talking about. My sister. Innocent with a capital—
“I hooked up with Aiden,” she announces excitedly. “Oh my God, he is so hot.”
I lurch up in bed. “You what?” I cry. “You don’t mean you actually ... ? And I thought it was Peter that you were ... ?” I trail off, confusion and horror whirling in my gut, not knowing which question I want answered first. “What about Magnus, Sunny? Are you saying you ... cheated on him?”
I feel the walls of reality crashing down on me. Could it be true? Could my sister, after all this time of waiting, actually have thrown away her virginity to some random guy at Slay School? No way. No effing way. This has to be some kind of joke.
Silhouetted in the light streaming in from our window, Sunny gives me an amused shrug. “Magnus? Magnus who?” she says with a giggle.
“Are you effing kidding me right now?” I demand. “You’ve been sitting here for days, practically comatose ’cause you can’t get in touch with the guy. Going on and on about how you’re going to die without him. And now you’re telling me you’re just hooking up with random classmates and pretending he doesn’t exist?” I shake my head in disbelief.
“Look, I’m bored. And a girl has needs, you know,” she replies sulkily.
“Sunny, I’ve known you since you dropped out of the freaking womb. And you’ve never once had ‘needs,’” I remind her. “Not to mention you told me a billion times you wanted your first experience to be special.” I snort. “So was it special, Sun? Was hooking up with Aiden all you wanted it to be and more?”
Sunny looks a little taken aback. But she rallies. “It was great,” she retorts. “Absolutely fantastic. I can’t wait to do it again.”
I can feel tears coming to my eyes and I’m not even sure why. After all, I’ve been trying to get her to give it up for years. I should be happy she finally got it over with, for goodness’ sake. But instead all I can think of is Magnus’s sad eyes. If he knew about this it would crush him. Absolutely crush him.
Sunny looks over at me and scowls. “Oh you’re so self-righteous, aren’t you?” she says scornfully. “What, do you think you’re the only one allowed to have fun here?”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t act all innocent with me. I’ve heard all about your little rendezvous with Corbin in the woods,” she says. “It’s all over campus. Don’t you have a boyfriend that you’re not supposed to be cheating on, too?”
Oh God. Fears slams through my heart. People saw us? That is so not good. What if they put two and two together and—
“Yeah, I thought so,” Sunny adds smugly, taking my silence as an admission of guilt.
I decide I need to come clean. After all, I have no one else to tell. I swallow hard and prop myself up in bed. “Sunny, I’ve wanted to tell you. I’m in the worst situation ever,” I blurt out, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes. Bleh. I hate crying. Especially since vampires cry blood.
In a flash, my sister is on my side of the bed, peering at me with concerned eyes. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” she asks. I breathe a sigh of relief. For all her sudden boy weirdness, she’s still kind, caring Sunny underneath it all.
“I ... I ... drank his blood,” I manage to say in a rush. The need to admit it out loud has built up inside like volcano, desperate to erupt. “I drank so much I think I almost killed him.”
Sunny stares at me, a horrified look on her face.
“What? Why would you—?”
“I know, I know,” I moan, collapsing back on my bed and staring up at the ceiling. “But I’m a vampire, Sun. And I’ve been starving to death this entire time, not having any blood substitute on campus. I was wounded during the fairy attack and I needed something to help me heal quickly before someone took me to the infirmary and they found out I wasn’t human.” I squeeze my eyes shut and then open them again. “It was supposed to only be a one-time thing. But then Corbin brought me out into the woods and ...” I choke on my tears. “I couldn’t help myself.”