Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror by Jennifer Finney Boylan Page A

they’ve never seen before, or else—”
    Jonny Frankenstein appeared in the doorway and looked at Megan.
    â€œHey, Jonny,” said Megan. “We were just talking to Falcon about—”
    â€œListen. They got this dance thing,” said Jonny. “This Monsters’ Bash. You wanna go?”
    Falcon wanted to interrupt, wanted to tell Megan that he’d wanted to ask her to the bash. But it appeared as if Falcon had lost his chance.
    â€œMe?” said Megan. “Go to the—?”
    â€œYou don’t have to,” Jonny said. “If you don’t want to.”
    â€œNo, I’d love to go,” said Megan. She looked at Pearl, then Destynee. “That’d be—great!”
    â€œYeah,” said Jonny, then left. A moment later they heard him starting to play the guitar in his room.
    â€œNo one’s taking me to any dance,” said Destynee. “Not now.”
    Megan looked thoughtfully at Falcon. “Why don’t you go with her, Falcon?” she said. “You don’t have a date yet, do you?”
    Falcon felt the blood rushing to his cheeks. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was to take Destynee to the Monsters’ Bash, and not because he had a problem with her being a giant slug, either. It was because she had been so rude to him before, back when she thought she was a high and mighty vampire-to-be. She was the kind of girl he had liked the least, back in Cold River, the kind who viewed the world as a pyramid, with herself on the top and everyone else on the bottom.
    â€œIt’s okay,” said Destynee. “You don’t have to take me.” She sighed sadly. “ I wouldn’t take me, if I had the choice.”
    Falcon thought, I bet that’s true. She wouldn’t.
    Megan was looking at Falcon with an intense expression. Falcon could tell that she was trying to send him a message. Take her , she was saying. Take her.
    â€œI’d be glad to take you,” Falcon heard himself say.
    â€œSeriously?” said Destynee. Her face filled with hope. “Would you really?”
    â€œSure,” said Falcon, with almost no passion whatsoever. “That would be really fun.”
    â€œWhat about you, Pearl?” said Megan. “Do you have a date for tonight?”
    La Chupakabra began to buzz. “Indeed,” she said. “I have accepted an invitation!”
    â€œAre you going to tell us who it is?” said Megan. “Or do we have to guess?”
    â€œFor now, it shall remain a secret,” said Pearl. “A secret that shall be unveiled, in the fullness of time!”
    â€œOh my god, oh my god,” said Destynee. “This is excellent!” She looked excitedly at Megan, then Pearl. “Okay. Well, now we have to get ready. How long until the bash? We have so much to do!”
    Falcon understood that it was time for him to excuse himself, so he got up and left the girls to their own devices. As he walked through the parlor, Quimby gave him a hard look.
    â€œI spy with my little eye,” he said. “Something— doomed .”
    Falcon walked into his room without responding and lay down on his bunk. Jonny was on the bottom bunk across the room from him, playing his guitar. For a moment Falcon just lay on his back, looking at the underside of theupper bunk. Lincoln Pugh was above him, softly snoring.
    Suddenly Falcon realized that the room had gotten quiet. Jonny had stopped playing and was looking at Falcon curiously. “So, what’d you get?” he said.
    â€œNothing,” said Falcon softly. “I didn’t get anything.”
    There was silence for a moment. Then Jonny said, “Meaning what?”
    â€œMeaning,” said Falcon, “they don’t know what I am. They can’t figure me out. Either I’m something they can’t identify or else—I might not be a monster at all. I’m a mystery.”
    There was another pregnant