CHAPTER 27 APRIL IS CAUGHT

“Don’t even talk to me,” Jay told Billy as soon as he entered the theater for play practice. “I don’t want to hear any more talk about vampires—unless you’re talking about the play.”

“Jay—” Billy began. But his friend strode away across the stage. Billy watched him, knowing he couldn’t give up, no matter how angry Jay got. I have to keep trying, Billy thought.

Rehearsal was late getting started. Some of the kids hadn’t shown up yet—including Kylie, Irene, and April. Ms. Aaronson paced back and forth along the front of the stage, glancing at her watch.

Billy shifted his attention back to Jay. He looks even worse, Billy saw. Jay’s eyes were glazed and watery. He was so pale he was totally white, as if he’d never been in the sun in his entire life.

Like a vampire.

How many more sips before Jay became one of them?

• • • • •

After rehearsal, Ms. Aaronson asked Nate and Irene to stay for a few moments so they could work on their scenes.

Billy spotted Jay and April leaving together through the main exit. He started to go after them, but someone blocked his path.

“It’s nice out,” Kylie told him. “Want to take a walk?”

“Yeah,” Billy replied. “Let’s catch up with April and Jay.”

They stepped out of the theater, and Billy looked around for Jay and April. He spotted a boy and girl making out by the corner of the building. Kids were strolling toward town on the narrow road. Others headed directly for the beach.

No sign of Jay.

Had April lured him behind the theater? Into the woods?

Was she drinking his blood at that very moment?

“Come on,” Kylie urged. “Let’s go into town.”

Billy scanned the sidewalks as he followed her, searching for Jay and April. He saw kids holding hands. Eating hot dogs. Checking out the window of the Beach Emporium.

“Do you want to rehearse our scene?” Kylie asked.

“I only say a few words,” Billy muttered. “They’re not hard to remember.”

“But I’ve got a lot of dialogue to memorize,” Kylie reminded him. “I could use the help.”

“Okay,” Billy agreed. “But I don’t have my script. I left it at the theater.”

“Run back and get it,” Kylie said. “I’ll meet you on the beach by the wooden steps.”

Billy trotted back to the theater. He expected to find Nate and Irene still going over their scenes with Ms. Aaronson. But the theater was dark.

Bet Ms. Aaronson locked it up, Billy thought. He tried the door.

It opened easily. Billy stepped inside the lobby, letting the door slam behind him. The theater was black. He felt his way along the wall.

Billy tried to remember where the light switch was. He pictured the lobby in his mind. The ticket booth. A Coke machine. The doors leading to the seats. Where was the light switch?

A noise. Off to his left. A click.

“Who’s there?” he called.

No one answered.

Billy’s heart began to hammer in his chest.

Why is the theater open but all the lights off? he wondered.

He slammed against something big and hard. It clanked and rattled.

The Coke machine.

Billy let out his breath. He went back to searching for the light switch.

Another sound. A soft patter. It seemed to echo off the walls and surround him.

“Hello?” he called, surprised at how shaky his voice sounded.

Get a hold of yourself, he thought. It’s probably just mice.

He moved along the wall, feeling for a light switch. Finally his fingers found the edge of a switch plate. Then the switch itself. He flipped it up.

The overhead lights came on.

Billy blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness. He took in his surroundings. He stood in the lobby. Alone. If there had been mice, they had scurried for cover the moment the lights came on.

The rest rooms, Billy thought.

Was someone hiding in the rest rooms?

He pushed open the door of the men’s room and stepped inside. Empty. He tried the women’s room. No one there either.

Okay, he told himself, quit this messing around and get your script. Kylie is going to wonder what happened to you.

He stepped through the double doors into the auditorium. Rows of empty seats stretched out in front of him. All facing the empty stage.

His footsteps echoed in the deserted theater as he walked slowly toward the stage.

He had left his script in the wings, on a wooden stool.

He started up the steps to the stage. A large bundle of cloth lay on the floor toward the rear of the stage. Billy glanced at the material. Gray streaks on it. Familiar gray streaks.

It was a backdrop painting of a grimy basement where the vampires kept their coffins.

It had taken some of the kids hours to paint it. Who would have rolled it up like that and tossed it to the side of the stage?

Billy hurried over to the backdrop. I should spread it out, he decided. It will get wrinkled if it is left all bunched up like that.

He grabbed the edge of the backdrop and pulled hard.

To his surprise, the cloth had not been rolled up. Merely placed on top of something.

On top of what? Billy wondered.

He peered down—and saw the body.

A woman’s body.

Billy felt his stomach tighten into a hard knot.

“No!” he gasped.

Ms. Aaronson. Sprawled on her back. Her face as gray as the backdrop that had covered her.

Billy climbed shakily to his feet. He leaned over her—and saw the two bite marks on her neck.

Not another one, Billy thought. Another vampire murder.

A movement caught Billy’s eye.

Was the vampire still here?

His heart pounding, he spun around.

And saw a figure hiding in the shadows.

April.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 528