Bitten - Emma Knight Page 0,3

took a breath.

“Of course we are not keeping you here. If you want to go back home, if you want to pretend that you can ease back into your normal life, by all means. That is a choice for you to make. If you want to stay here with us, in safety, then you are going to need to learn how to become one of us. You are going to need to learn to harness and understand all of your new skills. Learn what it means to be a vampire.”

“But how do I learn all that?” she asked back in confusion.

“There are others here who can teach you. I don’t have time for that sort of thing. I have a war to wage. In fact, I have already wasted enough time with you already.” He turned and began to storm out the door.

“Wait!” Rachel screamed. “You can’t just leave me like this. I need to know more. I am all alone here. Like, what do I do next? Where do I go now?”

He opened the door and then stopped and turned and grinned back at her.

“Try the north tower. Matilda might have time for you.”

Rachel quickly jotted that down on the piece of paper and then looked up to find Uncle Drew gone and the door swinging back and forth on its hinges.

She folded the piece of paper and put it into her pocket as she stood from the stiff chair. Her body creaked as she arose. North Tower? She thought to herself. How do I find the North Tower?

She took a look around the library to see if there might be a map that could direct her to the North Tower. Then, suddenly, she felt herself being pulled, like a magnet, by a strong force out of the room, back through the large foyer and across another corridor. It felt odd to her, but she didn’t want to fight this force. She figured it might be her only chance at finding the North Tower.

Her body moved through the halls as if being pulled by a current. She breezed by pictures of people hanging on the walls, which she assumed were some of her new “family members.” Replaying Uncle Drew’s conversation in her head, she had difficulty considering him family—let alone the many others she had not even met.

At that moment, seeing all the photos and thinking about family, she longed to see her mom and dad. She missed her sister Sarah, who had recently become like a best friend to her, and even Mark, her annoying younger brother. She wished she could see them again, and part of her wished she had never snuck out. If she hadn’t, she thought, this would never have happened, and she would probably be in the car with her mom, on her way to Apache High School right now.

Her nostalgia came to a quick halt as she heard a sawing noise coming from inside one of the rooms off the long and winding hallway. Her heart stopped as she replayed scenes from horror movies in her head.

As she approached a large metal door, she saw sparks coming out of the cracked doorway. She tried to pull her body away, but the force wouldn’t let her move. She stood back so she wouldn’t get hit by the flaming sparks, but couldn’t get a peek inside. Gaining a new sense of calm, she inched closer and craned her neck to look inside, but she was still too far away. She inched even closer as the sparks began to fly right towards her body, and quickly jumped back, but it was too late—her skin was being hit with thousands of fiery sparks.

She watched in fear as they hit her skin and hair but was surprised to find that they didn’t hurt at all. In fact, she couldn’t even feel them. She continued to watch the sparks and then saw that they were turning to water as soon as they touched her. She looked down to the floor and saw that her feet were in a puddle of cold water.

The sparks stopped and she heard other strange noises coming from inside the room. She walked closer and then stuck her head through the small opening in the doorframe. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was like Santa’s workshop: there were small, dwarf-like people in yellow and black outfits working at their workbenches with hammers and chainsaws, creating toys and furniture out of bones. It was the coolest