gnawing sensation, in your belly? That’s what guilt feels like. Honestly, with a friend like you, does anyone really need enemies?”
Amber looked up to argue, but her demon-self was already gone.
Clarissa got back just in time for the burgers, and Amber ordered more Sprites.
“Something happen?” Clarissa asked.
“Sorry?”
“It feels like something happened while I was gone. You okay?”
Amber forced all thoughts of Glen to the back of her mind, and smiled. “Nothing’s wrong,” she said. “Just thinking about stuff, that’s all. So do you have plans?”
“For world domination?” Clarissa responded with a mouth full of cheeseburger.
Amber smiled – genuinely, this time. “Or just in general.”
“Dunno.” Clarissa thought as she chewed. “Wouldn’t call them plans, I guess. More like hopes. Such as, I hope I don’t spend the rest of my life homeless. I hope I don’t die on the streets. I hope I get rich somehow. The usual hopes and dreams and idle fantasies, y’know?”
“Totally.”
Clarissa’s burger started to slide out of its bun. She frowned, tried to poke it back in with a French fry, then resorted to using a finger. “What about you?” she asked. “You ran away from home, you’re with a friend who watches your back, you’re staying in motels … You seem to be keeping it together more than most. What’s your plan?”
Amber looked puzzled for a few moments before she answered. “I … guess I want my freedom back. I agreed to do a job I didn’t want to do, and now I have to figure out how to trick my way out of it.”
“And how do you manage that?” Clarissa asked.
“I don’t have a clue. It’s a whole lot of trouble.”
Clarissa peered at her. “You’re, what, sixteen?”
“Seventeen tomorrow, actually.”
“Well, happy birthday for tomorrow, then. And you’re young – you’ve got the rest of your life ahead of you. You’ll be fine.”
“And how old are you?”
“Turned seventeen three months ago,” Clarissa said, grinning. “There’s no hope for me.”
They ate, and chatted, and Clarissa used the bathroom twice because of all the Sprite. Then Amber paid and they left the diner, emerged into the night air. They looked around, a little awkwardly, before Clarissa wiggled her eyebrows.
“Hey,” she said, “thanks for the food.”
Amber gave her a thumbs up, then felt stupid. “Sure,” she replied.
Clarissa nodded to the Charger. “Don’t suppose there’d be any room in that car for one more, would there? It gets pretty lonely out here and … Naw, forget it. The look on your face says it all.”
“I’m sorry,” said Amber.
“It’s fine,” Clarissa said, waving her hand dismissively. “It was a crappy thing to ask.”
“No, it wasn’t,” said Amber, “and I wish I could say yes. But the last person to hitch a ride with us … it didn’t end too great for him. We have a habit of getting into trouble.”
“I’m used to trouble.”
“Not like this you’re not.”
Clarissa shrugged. “Hey, forget it. Thanks for the food, and I’m sorry I tried to steal your bag.” She started walking.
Amber called after her. “Where you going?”
“Moving on,” Clarissa said, turning and walking backwards. “I’m that little doggy, y’know the one? Wherever I go, I make a new friend? That’s me.”
“Where are you sleeping tonight?”
Clarissa spread her arms wide. “The world is my bedroom.”
“I thought the world was your bathroom.”
“It can get messy, I’m not gonna lie.”
“I’ll get you a room here.”
Clarissa laughed. “No, Amber, really, it’s fine.”
“Why not?” Amber said. “They’re cheap rooms, Clarissa, and I have the cash. What, you’ll take food off me, but not a bed for the night?”
Clarissa stopped walking, but shook her head. “I have principles.”
“Do your principles hate pillows?” Amber asked. “One night where you can sleep in a bed, behind a locked door? One night when you’re safe? Are you really going to turn that down?”
“Safety does sound nice …”
“Come on,” Amber said. “I’ll even get you a room with a shower.”
“A shower?” Clarissa said, skipping back to Amber. “For realsies?”
“For realsies.”
“Golly!”
They stepped into the manager’s office and Amber got Clarissa a room key.
“Meet you for breakfast in the morning?” Clarissa asked, swinging the keychain around her finger.
“We’ll probably be gone by then,” Amber said. “We tend to leave early.”
“Oh,” said Clarissa. “Well, okay then, so I guess this is goodbye.”
“Guess it is.”
They looked at each other.
“You’re a really nice person, Amber.”
“And you’re pretty cool.”
They hugged, and Clarissa went to her room and Amber strolled back to hers. But, right before she slid the key into the lock, she heard the fluttering of clothes from somewhere above.
Glen.
AMBER SHIFTED AND CLIMBED on to the Catching Z’s roof. She saw him watching her, pale in the saturated night. Thin. Had he always been this thin? She couldn’t be sure. The weak breeze didn’t stir so much as a strand of his brown hair. His face, frozen now in his eighteenth year, was mournful.
She moved towards him and he turned.
“Stop,” she commanded.
He hesitated, one foot over the edge of the building.
She bit her lip, and reverted. All horned up, she had a tendency to shoot her mouth off, but something like this required a little more empathy. “Why are you doing this?” she asked gently. “You’ve been following us since Cascade Falls. You followed us to Alaska and back. I’ve checked online. I’ve seen the reports in the towns we’ve passed through. I know you’ve been killing people.”
Glen didn’t move. Didn’t turn. Didn’t answer.
“Milo thinks you’re following us because Varga’s dead, and you don’t have a – a vampire family. Is that true? Is that why?”
She moved a little closer. “Glen, you helped me in Desolation Hill. You took care of Kirsty. Thank you for that. But you can’t keep doing this. You can’t keep killing and you can’t keep following us. You helped me, but I can’t trust you. I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re going to