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CHAPTER 1 VAMPIRE ISLAND

“There’s the Pizza Cove,” Billy Naughton announced, pointing to a small restaurant across the street. “Excellent sausage and mushroom pizza.”

Jay Windley nodded.

“Best pizza in town,” Nate Stanton agreed as he ran a hand through his sandy hair. “I ate it every night last summer. Really. I mean, every night.”

Jay nodded again.

Billy glanced around for other Sandy Hollow landmarks to point out. He had decided to spend the first night showing his best friend around. After all, he had spent all of last summer here, and Jay had never been to Sandy Hollow before.

Jay’s friend Nate seemed kind of boring. Nate and his family had been at Sandy Hollow last summer. But Billy didn’t remember much about them.

Maybe I was too busy with Joelle to notice anyone else, Billy thought.

“I don’t like the Pizza Cove,” announced Lynette, Nate’s little sister. Billy had a feeling Lynette would be tagging along all summer. It was only the first night, and already Mrs. Stanton had made Nate take her with them.

“Who cares what you like?” Nate teased her. “You’d like Gummi Worms on your pizza!”

Billy felt the salty dampness of the ocean breeze on his cheeks. The wind ruffled his long, black hair. He shook himself out of his daze. “It gets cold here at night,” he commented.

“No kidding,” Jay muttered, shivering. The ocean breeze plastered his light brown hair against his cheek.

“It’s fun even when it’s cold,” Nate declared. “This is going to be an awesome summer. Except for work.”

Billy groaned. “Don’t remind me.” He turned to Jay. “What are you going to do while we’re at work, Jay? Hang out with your parents?”

Jay laughed. “No way. I’m going to hang out at the beach and get a killer tan. But I’ll be thinking about you poor working guys all the time.”

“Yeah, right.” Nate gave him a shove. Jay stumbled into a woman passing by.

Billy laughed. Nate was a big guy. Big and strong. He was nearly twice Jay’s size.

Jay’s taste in friends really changed while I was away this past year, Billy thought. He never used to hang out with jocks.

“The only thing I want to do this summer is meet girls,” Jay said.

“This is the place, man,” Nate told him. “I had three girlfriends last summer!”

Jay grinned. “If there are so many girls, how come we haven’t met any yet?”

“He said there were a lot of girls,” Billy replied. “He didn’t say they’d be interested in you, Jay.”

Nate laughed loudly and slapped Billy a high five.

“All my friends think Nate’s a jerk,” Lynette announced.

Nate’s smile disappeared. “Why don’t you go play in the ocean, Lynette?”

Lynette skipped happily along behind him. “My friends all think you’re a total jerk,” she repeated.

“Who cares what your friends think?” Nate grumbled. “I’m talking about real girls—not little kids in elementary school.”

Lynette stuck her tongue out.

Billy rolled his eyes at Nate in sympathy.

“Wow, look!” Lynette exclaimed. “An ice-cream place.”

Billy followed the direction of her gaze. She had discovered Swanny’s, the ice-cream parlor and video arcade.



“Ice cream!” Lynette demanded, tugging her brother’s sleeve. “Ice cream!”

Nate snorted. “Maybe later.”

They drifted down Main Street, then crossed to the other side and headed back the way they had come.

Only a few shoppers at the Mini Market, Billy observed. The summer season had barely begun. In a few days the Mini Market and every other shop in Sandy Hollow would be crowded night and day with summer people.

“This has got to be a great summer,” Billy declared. “I deserve it after the year I had.”

“Yeah, it was so weird with you being in that hospital,” Jay replied. “I couldn’t even visit you.”

“So what?” Nate put in. “Look on the bright side, Billy. You got to miss a whole year of school!”

“Well, I’m better now,” Billy declared. “And ready to party—big time!”

Nate stuck his hand in the air and Billy high-fived him.

“How are your jobs starting out?” Jay asked.

Billy and Nate groaned in unison.

“Mine’s not too bad,” Billy replied. “At least I’m outside all day on the boat. My boss says sometimes rich guys charter it to go deep-sea fishing. Maybe I’ll get some big tips.”

“At least you wanted a job,” Nate complained. “When my dad found out the golf course needed help, he said I’d do it—without even asking me! I wanted to party this summer, not kill weeds and replace divots.”

“Daddy says it will be good for you,” Lynette chimed in. “Because you’re a lazy bum.”

Nate glared at her.

“Well, I’m not going to let work keep me from having a good time,” Billy declared. “I can work all day and party all night. Who needs to sleep?”

“I can party all night, too,” Nate agreed. “Bring on the girls.”

Jay laughed. “Get serious. In two days you’ll both be totally wiped.”

“Not me,” Nate insisted. “No way!”

Billy was only half listening to his friends. The sound of surf in the distance had caught his attention. “Hey, let’s check out the beach!” he suggested.

He led the way off Main Street to locate a boardwalk that ran to the beach. The old wooden steps leading down from the dunes groaned and sagged under their weight.

They had the beach to themselves. Billy knew it wouldn’t last. By the end of the week, the beach would be jammed with sunbathers and swimmers and kids making sand castles. And at night there would be clambakes and bonfires and parties.

I can’t wait, Billy thought. I can’t wait to get started.

“You’re right, man, this is awesome,” Jay agreed.

Billy glanced around. The crests of the waves glowed white in the silvery moonlight. Billy could see a stone jetty in the distance, stretching out from the shore until it disappeared into the sea.

“What’s that?” Jay cried.

Billy jumped. He heard Lynette gasp.

The sky suddenly filled with noise. Flapping. Fluttering. Above them. In front of them. Behind them.

“Look!” Nate shouted, pointing toward the jetty.

Billy saw them. Bats. Dozens of them, flying low over the stone jetty.

A chill slid down Billy’s spine. He stared at the bats. So many of them, he thought. How can there be so many?

“Awesome,” Jay whispered.

Lynette squeezed past Billy and hid behind Nate.

The bats fluttered up, blocking the moonlight, darkening the beach. Then they flew out to sea and disappeared.

“Where did they go?” Lynette asked in a tiny voice.

“To the island,” Billy answered. “There’s an island close to shore. Nobody lives there anymore. The bats use the abandoned houses.”

“Bat island,” Jay said. “Sounds like a place in a horror movie.”

“The local people call it Vampire Island,” Nate corrected him. “It’s covered with burned-out houses. That’s why no one lives there.”

Jay laughed. “Vampire Island? Give me a break!”

“Some people say vampires lived there—in the abandoned houses,” Billy explained. “Some high school kids went out there after a graduation party. They dared one another to find the vampires and destroy them. Two kids found a coffin and set it on fire.”

Lynette shivered. She moved closer to Nate.

“The fire killed the vampire,” Billy continued. “But when the kids tried to leave the island, other vampires followed them. The kids tried to set them on fire, too. All the houses burned, and none of the kids ever came back from the island.

“Some people say they died in the fire with the vampires. But other people believe that the vampires got them. So now nobody ever goes there.”

“How many kids were there?” Lynette asked.

“Six. I heard that three of them tried to row away. But the vampires changed into bats and flew to the boat and killed them.”

Nate laughed. “What a dumb story. Does anyone really believe it?”

“A lot of people do,” Billy replied softly.

They stood silently, staring at the rock jetty.

Finally Billy turned away from the rolling, dark ocean. “Let’s go back to town,” he suggested, shivering.

His friends immediately agreed. Billy knew they had been spooked by the bats—and by his story. Lynette grabbed Nate’s sleeve and wouldn’t let go.

“How am I going to meet any girls with my little sister always tagging along?” Nate grumbled.

“If you don’t want me here, go home,” Lynette declared.

“No!” Nate cried. “No way.”

“Why not?”

“Because Mom will kill me.”

“Buy me an ice cream, or I’ll tell Mom you tried to lose me!”

“But that’s blackmail!” Nate protested.

Billy chuckled. “She’s got you, Nate.”

“I’d buy her the ice-cream cone if I were you,” Jay told him.

Nate gave in. “Okay. Okay. Ice cream.”

Billy had to laugh. Nate was a big, tough-looking guy. And his little sister knew exactly how to push him around.

They walked along the beach in silence. But as Billy stepped onto the stairs leading up to the boardwalk, Lynette let out a piercing scream.

“No!” she wailed. “Let him go! Let him go! Nooo!”

 

 


Date: 2015-04-20; view: 621


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