A Grave Problem

38. Anna's Reservations

Mia was lying patiently under the covers, waiting for her parents to go to sleep. She figured by the time she was finished reading her English book, they should be in bed. But even when she finished the last chapter she was supposed to read, the hall light was still on. Why were they taking so long? Mia wished she could just go out there and tell them to hurry it up. Instead, she decided to read ahead. She ended up reading all of next week's assignments before the lights finally went out.

After waiting to make sure her parents actually went to sleep, Mia quietly pulled the covers off, got dressed, and opened her window. Despite the fact that it was getting warmer during the day, the night air was still cool. Leaves blew past her as she hurried down the sidewalk and turned the corner at the first light. As soon as she was on the main street, she slowed down and started scanning around her. It took a couple minutes to see, but she finally spotted the figure leaning on a fence behind the trees in someone's side yard.

"Sorry I'm late." Mia said. "It took my parents forever to go to sleep!"

"That's alright." Anna replied, stepping out from behind the trees.

Mia was glad she was finally going to get to hunt with Anna again. It seemed like such a long time since they'd been out together. Sure, they'd gone together that day they'd brought Carmine, but Mia couldn't really count that; she'd been dreading bringing Carmine so much that she couldn't even enjoy the fact that she didn't have to go out alone. At least tonight she could have the company without having to feel awkward about what they were going to do.

The two girls walked down the street in silence, heading north. Normally Mia would have taken the bus, but for once she decided to go somewhere a little closer to home. Besides, she didn't want to always take the bus; once in a while was fine, but sooner or later the bus driver would start to remember her.

The girls walked in near silence. Mia tried to talk to Anna about school, but she only got minimal responses. She looked over and saw Anna staring off into space, chewing her lip in thought.

"Are you ok?" Mia finally asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Anna told her. "I've just been thinking a lot about Luke." She glanced up at the night sky for a minute before asking, "Is tonight the full moon?"

Mia looked over in the direction Anna was facing. The moon was shining bright, despite being partially hidden by clouds.

"Not tonight." Mia told her. She'd bought a lunar calendar with her lunch money, and it had promised her that the full moon wouldn't be until the day after tomorrow.

"Are you sure? It seems really bright." Anna said cautiously.

"I'm sure. Trust me." Mia really hoped her calendar was right, but it was too late to worry about that now. "So what's wrong with Luke?"

"We were supposed to do something together this weekend, but I think I'm going to tell him I can't go anymore."

"Why?" Mia asked. Anna had always seemed to like Luke; so why would she cancel? Mia hoped it wasn't because of her.

"I just don't know if it's a good idea to be around him after what you said." Well, so much for that idea.

"You can't cancel!" Mia practically shouted. Anna blinked in surprise.

"Why not? I'll just tell him that something came up."

"You can't do that. First, if you stop talking to him, he'll know something's wrong."

Mia couldn't even begin to tell Anna how nervous the thought made her. If Anna started acting strange towards Luke, he would know instantly who was behind it. Zev had assured Mia that he would never hurt her, but did that apply to Luke as well?