A Girl in the Shadows

Chapter Seven

 A night of searching and frustration led to a day of peaceful sleep. I took my calendar off the wall before retiring to my sheets. I already knew what day it was. Once I saw the sunlight coming through the window, I pulled my pillow over my head, and closed my eyes. There was nothing but images of Dolly running into the dust. You lost her, fool. You lost her. I pulled her blanket closer to my chin. Molly and Dolly: the two who disappeared into the unknown on my behalf.

As the sky turned orange, there was some light noise at my door. I threw off the covers and went to the bottom of the stairs, only to find an envelope. It had my name on it in elegant cursive. My heart started to race. Did Tristan leave me a nice note? Anxiously, I opened it to find something different. It was an invitation that read:

"Dear Taliah,

You have been cordially invited to the University of Tampa faculty and staff fall gala at 10 p.m. tomorrow night in Fulton Banquet Hall. Please consider this invitation as a way to strengthen your bond with the school faculty and make amends with the UT community.

Sincerely,

Dean Bradley R. Beck."

The letter slipped out of my hands. They knew about Molly. They were coming for me. I didn't care how or with what, but tomorrow, they were coming for me.

"I can't wait to see what you've got for me, Dean Beck. I could use a good challenge," I whispered. Strategize later, if you really are stupid enough to walk right into a trap. "I'd rather knowingly walk into an ambush than be a victim in my own home."

I took the letter upstairs and waited in the sketching corner, lost in memories. The sky was dark when I finished the basic picture: eight misfits who would do anything for each other, huddled together under a bridge. I jumped when I heard the knocking, then checked my watch. Ten minutes late. I threw on my cloak, then quickly scaled the ladder, opened the hatch, and hid my most valuable weapons on the roof, just as a precaution. I closed the hatch and went downstairs to Tristan.

"Night classes are still going on. You shouldn't stay here for too long," I whispered.

"Nice to see you too," he said, eyeing my cloak.

"It's odd, I know. Would you like me to change?"

"No. I love it. It looks really vampire-y."

The way he was undressing me with his eyes—it was something I should've found repulsive. I shut the door and we made our way to the park. My eyes quickly glossed over the fliers on the marble pillars in Proctor Hall's lobby. There was nothing but sorority events and advertisements for tutors. How long did Beck and his buddies really think they could hide a missing student?

"Trust me, you don't want to go to that," Tristan said, gesturing at one of the flyers. "That's the ugly sorority."

"Very mature," I said. "How would you feel if someone said that about your sister's sorority?"

He laughed. "That is the sorority she's in!"

I giggled along with him. "I suppose I could give you a pass for that." I looked out at the river as we walked over the bridge into downtown. The lights of the tiny skyscrapers left intricate patterns on the water. The park was somber, as it always was, with soft music and people lighting candles. "It's very thoughtful of you to join me."

"I just like seeing you," he said. There was a long pause between us. We took a left into the park's entrance. "Did you lose somebody or something?"

"I don't talk about it. I remember, much more than I should, but I don't talk about it."

"Oh...sorry."

"Don't be. Wasn't your fault." I saw the lady waiting at a table with the white paper bags and the tea lights. "I'm going to get a bag."

I went to the lady, gave her a dollar, and was handed a light and a tea light.

"Thanks for coming out tonight, guys," she said.

"Thank you for not forgetting," I said, taking the cap of one of the permanent markers. Each year I chose the green one, of course, because it was her favorite color. I wrote the name Dolores "Dolly" Beauregard, switched the light on, and placed it inside. Tristan laid his hand softly on my shoulder. I turned and went towards the edge of the river. The line of bags in front of the guardrail was slowly growing. Clusters of families hugged each other, and some individuals sat in front of their bags. It never ceased to amaze me how the grief had it extended this far away.

Tristan was silent as I placed Dolly's bag on the ground with the others. I sat down in front of it, watching the light flicker as the minarets loomed in the background, the water swishing softly below. The guitarist on stage was finishing his melancholy song about missing some one. The half-mast flag in the center of Proctor Park flapped in the breeze. Tristan's hand was in mine, and I had no desire to pull away. Dolly's laughter echoed through my head.

"Do you mind if I tell you about her?" I asked Tristan.

"No. Go ahead."

"Dolly was a sweet little thing, a child. Not family, but someone who is like family. I had a younger sister, and after I was bitten, I left home. Dolly reminded me of her, in a way. It was her smile—which was strange, because my sister, Annie, wasn't an Orphuis vampire." Tristan laughed, just once. I smiled and gripped his hand a little tighter. "She loved to knit, and by love I mean...it was her life support. She had a bit of a delay, so she wouldn't speak much, but I think 'yarn' was her favorite word. She always threw a fit when she didn't have it...but she never knitted anything for herself, always for us.

She was very interested in the Trade Center. I used to watch her eyes move back and forth over the towers. She'd point and say, "twin towers!" and I'd say, 'Yes Dolly, I know how much you love the towers.' We'd take her for walks, and a few weeks before we went there, to see them, and it was late at night so the doors were locked. She tugged at the doors of the North Tower and she threw a fit, so Ace, my good friend, scooped her up and put her on his shoulders. She was moaning and crying—the worst fit I'd ever seen her throw. We walked away, and she kept looking back saying, 'Falling. No! No fall. No fall.' Ace said to her, 'I've gotcha, Dolly. You're not falling.' It was like she predicted it. Orphuis are such a rare breed and their powers are so unknown. When I told the rest of my clan, nobody believed me. Not saying you're obligated to, but—"

"Hey, you never know," Tristan said. "I always believed in stuff like that. Like, I used to have déjà vu all the time as a kid."

A teary-eyed woman placed a bag next to Dolly's. Tristan pulled me closer to him. I waited for my head to make a remark, but was met with nothing but the flickering of the lights and the fluid melody of the violinist that had taken the stage.

"They never found her body," I said.

"I'm really, really sorry that happened to you, Taliah."

As I shifted against Tristan's body, Molly's sketch crinkled in my pocket. A full moon was rising higher in the sky. It was a long walk to Seventh Avenue, but that could wait. I had the whole rest of the night to search for a girl I was starting to believe would never be found.