The Eternal Tomb (5 page)

“Mitch,” Tammy said with a sigh. She began lighting the candles.

Oliver remembered the nights back in the winter, after Dean had first returned, when Mitch had been much less enthusiastic about his nocturnal life. He seemed to be enjoying it now. And Dean listened to his stories with undivided attention.

The back door burst open. Tammy glanced at the clock. “Is that—”

“Relax, Mom,” said Dean, all smiles as Autumn Fitch entered the kitchen. “Hey, Autumn,” he said, his voice raising ever-so-slightly in pitch.

“Hi, Dean,” said Autumn. “I'm not too late, am I?”

“Oh, no, course not,” Dean replied instantaneously. Oliver noticed Dean's hands doing nervous gymnastics: into his pockets, back out to drum on his sides, into his pockets again.…

Elizabeth huffed loudly.

“We should take our places,” said Tammy, picking up the cake.

Everyone filed into the dark dining room. Tammy placed the burning cake on the table, and they all scattered around the room and into the living room beyond, finding places to hide. Oliver scrambled up to the ceiling and crouched in a corner.

A silent moment passed, then the front door clicked open. “Hey, guys?” Footsteps creaked across the living room, clopped on the kitchen tiles, padded onto the dining room carpet—

“SURPRISE!”

The lights flicked on and everyone jumped out. Emalie's face went white, her eyes wide. She threw her hands over her mouth.

“Ha-appy birthday,” Tammy began, and everyone joined in. Emalie watched, her eyes welling when she spotted her dad in the group.

After the singing, Emalie cut the cake and they ate it with ice cream. Tammy brought out a trio of red sauces in metal bowls, and was careful to explain which one was normal raspberry sauce, which one was just for Dean and Autumn, and which one was specifically for Oliver.

They sat around the living room, eating and chatting. Oliver found himself even more quiet than usual. He watched the kids and parents, and tried to imagine Phlox and Sebastian here at this party. He could only picture them standing off to the side, too well-dressed, silent. But of course, it would have been improper for vampires to even attend a human event.

But what did “proper” matter? These parents—Cole, Tammy, Mitch—had drastically changed their lives for their children, sacrificed what was proper and normal, no matter the cost. Would Phlox and Sebastian ever do the same? Cole had shaken Oliver's hand. He thought back to the one time that Phlox and Tammy had met, before the trip to Morosia. Phlox had been awful.

Watching the party around him, Oliver's thoughts darkened further. If his parents and Half-Light had their way, and Oliver fulfilled his prophecy, everything in this room would be destroyed. All that Dean's and Emalie's families had sacrificed would be for nothing. Cole had been more right than he knew. Oliver was very dangerous. They had invited their destroyer to the party.

There was sushi and presents. The Aunders got Emalie a gift card for Glazer's, which was Emalie's favorite photo shop.

“No way,” she exclaimed when she opened the box from Dean. She pulled out a long length of tailbones, shiny white and enameled. “Is it…” Emalie asked. Oliver knew it was an iguana tail.

“Isabella Island,” said Dean, referring to the island in the Galápagos, “from the wolf volcano caldera.”

“That's so cool!” Emalie exclaimed.

“Cleaned and polished the vertebrae myself,” said Dean proudly.

Oliver watched with growing nerves. His gift was next.

Emalie picked up the small box, unwrapping the satin paper and horse mane bow that vampires used for wrapping, the ends always expertly folded so that no tape was necessary. She held up the tiny gift box, made of thin wood, and opened the hinged lid, digging into tissue paper. Oliver heard Autumn whisper girlishly to Dean, and sank to new depths of embarrassment.

“It's…” Emalie pulled out a long, narrow length of fabric, holding it up in front of her. “A scarf.”

“What's it do?” Kyle asked skeptically.

“Um, nothing, really,” said Oliver weakly. “It's just a scarf.” He didn't bother to mention that it was made of moon-spun silk from Naraka, some of the finest in the underworld. Moon-spun silk was also supposed to gather flattering light around the wearer.

“It's really pretty,” said Emalie, smiling at him and wrapping it around her neck.

Oliver wanted to melt away. He'd looked at lots of pendants and magical charms, all kinds of important and powerful objects, but knowing that Dean had already gotten her the iguana tail, he'd wanted to do something different. Except what did you get Emalie? What did you get for the girl that you…well, sorta…
Don't think that!
he shouted to himself, in case Emalie was listening.

When he looked up, he found her smiling his way.
I really like it
, she thought to him. Oliver managed to nod.

Soon, Elizabeth and Kyle had to return to bed.

“Do we need to go, Dad?” Emalie asked Cole.

“I gave him the morning off,” said Aunt Kathleen, with a wink to Emalie. She was Cole's boss, as the owner of a small fleet of salmon boats.

“I'd be worried about you not getting your sleep,” said Cole, “but then I know these have been normal hours for you, lately.”

Emalie smiled sheepishly. “Thanks.”

Dean, Autumn, Oliver, and Emalie headed out to the tiny backyard. There was a sweet smell from the last tomatoes in the garden, and the grass was littered with the first fallen leaves. A light mist had begun to fall, so they zipped up their sweatshirts.

Dean grabbed an old basketball from the grass, and the group moved to the driveway beside the house. They split into teams, Autumn and Dean versus Emalie and Oliver.

“Pass it!” Emalie called, racing past Dean. Oliver flicked her the ball, and she immediately vanished, reappearing on the roof behind the backboard.

Dean was leaping up right behind her. Emalie laughed, dribbling across the sloped roof, Dean sidestepping to keep her from the basket.

“Oliver!” she called. Oliver got a running start past Autumn and leaped. At the same time, Emalie hooked the ball over her head. Oliver caught it in midflight as he sailed past the basket, which was down by his knees. He flicked it off the backboard, only to have it swatted away from the rim by Autumn as she arced through the air.

“Nice!” called Dean, jumping off the roof.

They played to breathless exhaustion, the zombies winning, despite Oliver and Emalie's best attempts. It was fun to watch Dean come up with new levels of awkwardness to justify bumping or falling into Autumn, and most of all, Oliver enjoyed the high fives with Emalie—all business, no smiles; she got so competitive in games like this.

And then there was one moment, after Oliver hit a tricky shot while falling to the ground, when Emalie helped him up with two hands, and Oliver lurched to his feet, and they ended up within inches of each other. For a moment their eyes locked, and Oliver swam out of balance. Her eyes were so clear, so enormous, and her face, and her skin, slightly aglow from the scarf, and the scent of her, warm and alive. Oliver felt like he was falling toward her even though he was standing still—

Ah!
Emalie disappeared. Oliver felt her invisible hands push him away. She winked back into sight at the far end of the driveway, picking up the ball and checking it to Autumn, her eyes firmly
not
on Oliver.

Sorry,
he thought to her.

She glanced at him with a slight smile, but didn't reply.

After the game ended, Dean looked around. “Where'd Emalie go?”

“Don't know,” said Oliver. She'd just vanished, but he sensed her nearby. “There she is,” he said, pointing to the roof. Oliver started toward the side of the house.

“I'll be, um, up in a sec,” said Dean, “I'm just gonna…er, walk Autumn out.”

“Sure,” said Oliver, smiling. He climbed up the wall to the roof and sat beside Emalie on the narrow peak, overlooking the sleepy neighborhood.

“Cool party, huh?” he said.

Emalie sniffled and wiped at her nose. She was wrapping and unwrapping her finger with the scarf.

“Hey, what is it?”

“I'm thirteen,” she said with a heavy sigh.

Oliver wasn't sure what to say. He could see how a birthday could be a downer for a human, considering they had so few of them. “Well, now we're the same age. That's cool.”

Emalie huffed. “But next year I'll be fourteen.”

“Me, too.”

Emalie frowned at him. “And what about when I'm fifteen?” Her eyes burned.

“Well,” Oliver began, but then he understood. “I'll still be fourteen.”

Emalie sighed. “And then I'll be, like, eighteen and in college and you'll still be fourteen. And then I'll be old, like,
thirty,
and you'll only be…”

Oliver did the math immediately. “Sixteen.” His insides sank.

Emalie nodded quietly.

Oliver thought of that moment during the game, when their eyes had locked and he'd been dizzy and he'd wanted to…

I know
, Emalie thought to him, her gaze still distant.

Oliver's head fell. Long seconds passed and he couldn't think of anything to say. Finally he tried, “It's not for a while yet.”

“But it's gonna happen,” said Emalie.

Oliver looked at his hands. “Or maybe I'll just destroy everything first.”

Emalie turned to him. “Don't say that. We're going to stop the prophecy, I promise.”

“Okay,” Oliver agreed, but he felt a shudder of fear.

I know you're scared
, Emalie thought to him.
We can be scared together.

Okay
, Oliver replied, despite having a shameful thought:
Vampires aren't supposed to be scared.
But that was just a myth. Even big bad Bane had been scared, in a way.

Emalie took his arm and pulled it up from his side. “What—” Oliver began, but then couldn't finish.

She laid it across her shoulders and leaned against him. Oliver felt the warmth of her against his side and felt a great, freezing rush, like all his molecules were unsticking.

Emalie put her head on his shoulder. “I wish my mom was here tonight,” she said.

“Have you had any more dreams about her?” Oliver asked. Emalie had dreams where she felt like she was looking out her mother's eyes, like she was with her somewhere. Margaret had been missing for almost three years. She'd left one morning for her job as a flight attendant and hadn't returned. Over the winter, Emalie had learned that her mother was Orani like she was, and that her disappearance was no accident, but no one knew where she'd gone or why. Then, in Fortuna, the town in Italy near the Underworld city of Morosia, they'd found two more mysterious clues: There had been an ancient statue in a museum, of a woman named Phoebe who looked exactly like Emalie's mom. Then there was a photo of Margaret and the oracle Selene in a town called Arcana, from the year 1868.

“I have,” said Emalie. “They've been different, though. The places she's in seem, like, modern. One time there was this shop. It almost looked like Désirée's, but different. Lately there have been these long tunnels, and tall orange lights, and it's really hot. She feels closer. And scared.”

“Of what?”

“Don't know.” Emalie looked up at the faint stars. “I need to find her.”

“We will.” Oliver tried to sound confident.

Footsteps scraped on the roof. Oliver quickly pulled his arm from Emalie's shoulder, and scooted away.

“Hey, guys.” Dean plopped down beside Emalie.

“How'd it go?” Oliver asked, trying to brighten his tone. Dean's face split into a goofy grin, and though he didn't blush like a human, his purple blotches did seem to darken. Oliver smiled, too. “Well done.”

“Yeah,” Dean said with a sigh. He pulled a package from his pocket. “Check it out, I brought some chocolate-dipped roaches.” He popped one of the crunchy morsels in his mouth, then passed the bag to Oliver, who took a couple and gave it back.

Emalie intercepted the bag. “What the heck,” she said. “It's my birthday.” She pulled out a creature and bravely tossed it into her mouth, winced slightly at the feel of tiny legs against her tongue, then bit down. Her face puckered, but then she nodded scientifically. “Huh, that's not that bad.” She kept chewing. “I'm eating bugs,” she announced, swallowing the creature. Then she burst out laughing. “That's got to be a sign about my social life.”

Oliver and Dean laughed, too, relief washing over the roof.

“They're actually pretty healthy,” said Dean. “Raised in—”

Emalie held out her hand. “Tell me nothing. Please. Whatever you're gonna say, I know I don't want to know.” She took another and started chewing. “So gross,” she said around the mouthful.

They laughed some more. Oliver felt like he could
almost
forget what they'd just talked about.

“Hey,” Dean was saying to Emalie, “so, the Portal is ready?”

“Oh, yeah, but actually, I left it at home,” Emalie admitted. “I didn't think we'd have time…”

Dean's eyes went wide. “You
knew
, didn't you? About the surprise party?”

Emalie smiled sheepishly. “Kinda, yeah.”

“Oh, man!”

“I can't help it!” she said, laughing. “Besides, you guys have minds like billboards when you're trying to keep a secret!”

“Great,” Oliver muttered.

“We'll do it tomorrow night,” she said. “My place.”

“Okay,” said Oliver.

“That was so funny,” Dean said to Emalie, “when your dad was all,
Hey, let me try the zombie sauce.
The face he made!”

Emalie laughed, shaking her head. “I don't know what he was thinking.”

Oliver watched them, smiling at their laughter, but not joining them. The dark thoughts were returning.
I was made to destroy them.
There was no escaping it. He had to find a way out of his prophecy, had to find his human parents, had to find an existence of his own choosing. Oliver reached into his pocket. He hadn't shown them Bane's objects yet.