For the next few days, I went to school, hung out with Becky and Matt, dodged Trevor, came home, and took care of Nightmare. After sunset, I spent as much time as I could with Alexander, watching movies, cuddling, and listening to music in the darkness.
By Saturday, I was exhausted. I slept the day away and met Alexander by dusk at his Mansion. It was the night of Dullsville's Spring Carnival.
In the past, Becky and I had always attended the carnival together. This time, we would be arriving separately on the arms of our respective dates.
Alexander and I entered, hand in hand, shortly after sunset. We stepped through the two arches made of multicolored balloons, a white wooden admission booth in between. Alexander approached Old Jim, who was selling tickets; Luke, his Great Dane, was sitting at his feet.
"Two, please," Alexander requested, paying for us both.
"I see you've been sleeping in one of the vacant coffins," Old Jim warned. "I haven't slept at the cemetery for months," I replied. "Maybe it's--"
He looked at me skeptically. "Well, if I catch you, I have to tell your parents, you know."
Alexander grabbed my hand and led me away from Old Jim and through the balloon-filled entrance. The carnival was spread over Dullsville High's soccer field. There were booths of homemade pies, corn dogs, snow cones, rides like the Ferris wheel and the Scrambler, a fun house, and games of tic-tac-toe, a ring toss, and a dunking booth. The air smelled of cotton candy and grilled corn on the cob. Alexander and I walked through the crowd like the prince and princess of darkness. But he was oblivious to the stares and looked like a wide-eyed kid not knowing what to play with first.
"Haven't you been to a carnival before?" I asked.
"No. Have you?"
"Of course."
"You made it," I heard a familiar voice say. It was my dad.
I turned around to find my parents eating hot dogs at a picnic table.
Alexander shook my dad's hand and politely said hello to my mother.
"Would you like to sit with us?" my mom offered.
"They don't want to spend all night with us old fogies," my dad interjected. "You guys have fun," he said, reaching into his wallet and offering me a twenty.
"I've got it covered, Mr. Madison," Alexander said.
"I like your style," my dad replied, returning the money to his wallet. "Thanks anyway, Dad," I said. "We'll see you later."
As Alexander and I walked past the booths, patrons and workers stared at us like we were part of the sideshow.
"Hey, Raven," Becky said, when I found her selling homemade pies at her father's booth. "Dad had to run home. We sold out of the caramel apples and only have two pies left."
"Congratulations," I complimented her. "But I was looking forward to some."
"I'll reserve two for you when he gets back," Matt said, as he handed a piece of apple cobbler to a customer.
"I think you've found your calling," I said to him.
We said good-bye to Becky and Matt as they tried to keep one step ahead of their customers.
On our way to the carnival rides, I spotted Ruby, who was standing in between two booths. "Hi, Ruby, are you here with Janice?" I asked.
"Oh, hi, Raven," she said, giving me a friendly hug. "No, I'm here with a friend," she added with a wink.
Just then Jameson, minus his usual butler uniform and wearing a dark suit and black tie, walked over with a fresh swirl of blue cotton candy.
"Hello, Miss Raven," he said, gently handing the candy to Ruby. "I'm glad to see Alexander is in such good hands, as I have the night off."
Alexander gave the Creepy Man a smile.
"I'm glad that you and Jameson are back in town," Ruby said to Alexander. "I am, too," he replied, and squeezed my hand. "Is Jameson treating you tight? I know he can get kind of wild," he teased.
"He's been nothing but a perfect gentleman," she said, but then whispered, "Hopefully that will wear off as the evening continues."
Alexander and I laughed. "We'll leave you two kids with your candy. I promised Raven I'd take her on the Ferris wheel."
We cut away from the food booths and past the carnival games.
"Raven," Billy Boy called from behind.
We turned around, and my brother ran up to us, holding a plastic bag with a frantic fish inside. Henry followed close behind with his own swimming prize.
"Look what we just won!" Billy Boy exclaimed.
"Cool," Alexander commented.
"He's a cutie," I said, tapping the side of the bag. "Just make sure you keep him out of reach of Nightmare. She's small now, but she'll be growing."
"Not to fear, I'm going to make a safety roof for their fishbowls," Henry proudly proclaimed.
"I'm sure you will," I said to my brother's nerd-mate.
"We're all out of tickets," Billy Boy whined. "Did you see Dad around?"
"Here," Alexander said, reaching in his back pocket before I could answer. He handed Billy Boy some cash.
My brother's eyes bugged out as if he'd just won the lottery.
"Thanks, Alexander!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, thanks, man," Henry said, and they took off back to the goldfish booth.
"That was so nice of you. You didn't have to do that," I said.
"Don't worry about it. Now let's go ride the Ferris wheel," he suggested.
Normally I hated waiting for rides and would cut in line, dragging along a reluctant Becky. Now I enjoyed the wait, because it meant I had more time with Alexander.
Soon we were ascending into the night sky. We slowly came to the top when the ride stopped, letting off the riders at the bottom.
"Do you think it will be difficult because we are different?" I asked, staring down at the couples.
"We are more alike than most."
"Does it bother you that we are not the same on the inside?" I asked, looking at him.
"But we are in here," he said, pointing to his heart.
"If I were Luna, would you have left the ceremony?"
Alexander looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Do you want me to become a...?" I asked.
Suddenly the ride started up, cutting our conversation short. We cuddled as our car finally descended to the ground.
Alexander helped me off the Ferris wheel. We paused, overwhelmed by the choices of food, games, and rides that still awaited us.
"Let's do the ring toss," he said when we got off. Alexander and I went over to the ring toss booth as a couple finished, walking away emptyhanded.
I gazed at the stuffed animals as the blue-and-white-uniformed clerk, wearing a black top hat, picked up the rings off the floor.
"They're rigged. I never win. I usually spend all my allowance and I don't even get Mardi Gras beads," I lamented.
Alexander placed some money on the counter, and the clerk stood up and handed him three rings.
"Harder than it looks," I said.
Alexander stared at the single wooden pole as if he were a wolf staring at an unsuspecting deer.
He threw the rings in quick succession like a dealer at a casino. The clerk and I were stunned. The three rings were resting around the pole.
I jumped up and down. "You did it!"
Alexander beamed as the clerk handed me a giant purple bear. I squeezed it hard and gave Alexander a huge kiss.
I glowed as I held the bear, almost bigger than me.
"Snow cones are on me," I announced, as we turned to make our way back through the crowd. My stride was broken when I bumped into someone.
"Excuse me," I said, and placed the bear on my hip so I could see. "Hey, monster, watch out!" Trevor hollered, holding two tickets. "On your way to get your face painted?" he asked. "Perhaps you should."
"Nice seeing you, too," I said sarcastically.
I grabbed Alexander's hand, and we headed toward the snow cones.
"Hey, Luna!" I heard Trevor call from behind.
Alexander and I stopped dead in our tracks. He couldn't have just said what we thought he said.
"Luna!" Trevor called again.
Alexander and I looked at each other in disbelief.
Luna? It couldn't be! Jagger's twin sister? What would she be doing in Dullsville?
We turned around to find Trevor looking toward the fun house--a huge multicolored rectangular building. On the upper left- hand side of the structure was a gigantic clown's head, his mouth the entrance to the exhibit. On the bottom right-hand side, patrons exited through the red fabric laces of the clown's enormous brown shoe.
"That is her," Alexander said, shakily pointing to a petite girl standing near the front of the ramp that led to the entrance. She had long, flowing powder white hair and pale porcelain white skin, and she was wearing a pastel pink dress and black boots.
"It's like seeing an apparition. The last time I saw her was in Romania."
"What is she doing here?" I asked. "It's not like this town is vacation central."
"That's what I want to know!" I handed the bear to Alexander, and we hurried after her, catching up to Trevor.
"You know that girl?" I asked Trevor, my pulse racing.
"A friend of Alexander's introduced us and asked me to bring her here. She's really pretty," he said in my face. "Why, are you jealous?"
"Jagger? He's still here?" I asked, confused.
"If you really were a good friend of his, you'd know that."
"He's not a friend. He's evil. You can't trust him," I warned.
"Well, he is kind of freaky like you guys, but he said he'd had a falling out with Alexander, so I figured that made him cool."
"He talked to you more than that night outside the Mansion?"
"What, are you spying on me? He came to a night game and told me his sister was coming to town. He asked me if I'd want to meet her. The coach wouldn't let him on the field, though. That dude has more metal on his face than a pair of cleats."
"Jagger's not a replacement for Matt, you know," I tried to tell Trevor. "He's nothing like Matt. Jagger's just trying to play you."
"Sounds like someone is jealous."
"He's not what you think he is," Alexander urgently cautioned.
"Listen, it was wonderful talking to you, but I have a date. Besides, you better get back to your cage. I think the zoo has reported you missing."
He took off into the crowd. We began to follow but were stopped when a burly man holding a toddler stepped in our way. I could see Trevor and Luna racing up the red, tongued ramp of the fun house. "The end of the line is back there!" the burly man ordered, pointing behind us.
"It's urgent," I said.
I peered past the disgruntled fun house customer and saw Trevor handing his tickets to the clerk. They stepped into the clown's mouth and disappeared.
I grabbed Alexander's hand, and we raced around the man as he wiped ice cream off his child's mouth.
We hurried up the plank and around the patrons in line. "Hey, no cutting!" a few kids started shouting.
When we reached the entrance, the clerk blocked our way. "Tickets, please."
"I don't..." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a handful of change and put it into his palm.
"That's only enough for one."
Alexander pulled out a wad of dollars, stuck it into the clerk's hand, and placed the bear at his feet. "I'll be back for him," Alexander said. He grabbed my hand, and we raced through the clown's mouth.
We stepped into a room filled with multicolored plastic balls up to our knees. We waded through the balls, trying to move as quickly as possible.
"At this rate, we'll never find her," I said.
When we finally reached the end of the room, we saw that to the right of us was a red door, to the left a black-and-white tunnel.
"Oh no! It's a maze!" I groaned. "Should we flip a coin?"
"We don't have time," Alexander said. I followed him through a huge black-and-white tunnel that twisted around us as we walked. I got dizzy, stumbling, holding on to the railing and Alexander for support. We had to walk over a glass bridge. I could see Trevor below. I banged on the glass, but he didn't look up.
At the end of the bridge, there was a red slide. I went down first, with Alexander following behind. When we rose to our feet, I saw Trevor's blond hair ten feet ahead of me.
"Trevor--" I called.
But he turned the corner, heading into the next room. I pushed past a family of three and opened a polka dotted door.
Alexander and I were alone.
"Trevor?" I called.
The lights went out. I stood frozen. We could hear the maniacal laughter of a clown as soft lights slowly dimmed. And then Luna appeared before us.
She was beautiful. Ocean blue eyes, puffy pink lips, brilliant baby-doll black eyelashes. Her pale bubblegum-colored cotton dress outlined in fuchsia lace hung on her. Her skinny alabaster white legs poked out of her chunky black knee-high boots, a plastic pink Scare Bear dangling from the zipper. On her upper arm was a tattoo of a black rose.
Before we could speak, it went totally dark.
Alexander grabbed my hand just as the room slowly began to brighten, the black walls now glass. Luna was still standing before us.
I caught my reflection. The wall wasn't glass after all, but a hall of mirrors. Dozens of Ravens reflected on and on. Alexander, still standing beside me, didn't reflect back. There was one other reflection that was missing.
I was breathless.
"What have you come for?" Alexander challenged her.
"Luna!" I could hear Trevor call from another room. "Where are you?"
Luna smiled a wicked pale smile, two sparkling fangs glistening. I gasped.
"Well, if you've gotten your wish--to become a vampire," Alexander said, "then why are you here?"
"Jagger sent for me. Now I want to live the life I was never able to before. Jagger gave me an opportunity to get out of Romania."
"What about the vampire who bit you? Shouldn't you be with him?" Alexander argued.
"He was just a fling, on unsacred ground. After you left me, I realized I could find someone else--anyone else--to transform me and find true love later."
"You can find that in Romania," Alexander disputed.
"You didn't," she said with an evil glare. "Besides, Jagger told me he met a guy who he thought might be perfect for me."
"Trevor?" I asked. "You've got to be kidding."
"But you can't trust Jagger," Alexander argued. "He's not looking out for your best interest, only his own. He's motivated by revenge."
"Now that I'm in your world, I see things differently. I saw it in your eyes at the cemetery, Alexander. We both want the same thing," she said. "Vampire or human. I just want a relationship I can sink my teeth into."
The lights went out. I squeezed Alexander's hand tightly. I reached out blindly. I had to find Trevor before Luna did.
"Trevor!" I called. "Don't--"
The light flashed on again.
Luna was gone.
