SCROLLS OF THE DEAD-3 Complete Vampire Novels-A Trilogy by Billie Sue Mosiman Page B

everything around her.
    "Then don't watch it."
    She saw him open a notebook and begin turning the pages rapidly. In less than two minutes he closed it again and stuffed it back into the book bag.
    She studiously ignored him. So what if she couldn't do anything with her powers yet? So what if there was no point in trying to talk to Ryan Major? She flipped the channel changer, going through various HBO cable channels. All the movies were either action flicks or romantic comedies. She was not in the mood for either.
    "You're seriously pissed, aren't you?" Eddie asked. She changed the channel again.
    "Look, there's more to it than what I said. You'll just have to talk to Mentor about these things."
    "Okay!" She mashed the channel changing button hard and saw the CNN news come on. She left it there, watching pictures of a flood in Ohio.
    "No point in getting mad at me. It's not my idea. I'm left out in the cold, too, you know."
    Dell reconsidered. Her temper, like every other emotion, seemed set on a hair trigger. "I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault. All this takes getting used to, that's all."
    "Not all of it sucks," he said. Then he laughed. "Sucks. Get it?"
    She couldn't smile. Eddie's jokes weren't all that good to begin with.
    "Anyway, take it easy, Weezy. Things will work out."
    Weezy. That almost made her laugh. He liked to be playful with her, rhyming a name for her with whatever he was saying at the moment. She expected some day he'd get to say, "There's a hitch, Bitch."
    "What are you smiling at?" he asked, glancing at the flood waters on the TV screen.
    "Nothing." She was surprised he hadn't read her mind.
    "Want to play Monopoly?" he asked.
    "You always beat me. You always get the hotels first."
    "Chess?"
    "Not now. I always get checkmated."
    "Well, I'm going out. Tell Mom and Dad I've already eaten."
    She watched him go, this time the normal way, one step at a time. She heard the front door shut. She was left with CNN and a reporter in hip boots and a yellow rain slicker.
    She couldn't wait to get back to school.
     

Chapter 9
     
     
     
     
    The first day back at school Dell was as nervous as a goose stranded in the center of a freeway. Cheyenne, one of her friends from her neighborhood, was waiting for her at the front entrance before classes started. "I tried to call, but your mom said you were in bed. What's up?"
    Dell was careful not to look her in the eyes. She said, "Oh, the usual, you know, cramps and stuff."
    "Oh, yeah, that. Maybe you need hormone shots."
    Surprised, Dell said, "Why would I need that?"
    "Well, that's what my mom would say. She said she saw it on some TV show about girls who get bad cramps. Hormones are all screwed up. A couple shots—boom!—everything back to normal."
    "Sounds drastic to me." In fact, she wondered about that. Would she menstruate? For what reason? She'd never have children if she could never have a boyfriend. Oh, God, she couldn't ask Mentor about that. She'd have to talk to her mother. She sighed aloud, and Cheyenne looked over at her.
    "You all right?"
    "I'm fine. Just a little tired."
    They walked under a cool portico out of the hot spring sun, and then through the entrance doors into the building. School would end in three weeks, thank God. She didn't know if she could stand being indoors even that long. The long dark hallway illuminated by overhead fluorescent lights was oppressive to her, and the sounds of the lockers banging open and shut sounded like an orchestra's percussion section had gone cymbal-mad.
    "You have your sunglasses on."
    Dell touched the nosepiece. "They're almost clear. My eyes are bothering me."
    "Listen, my mom said you could go blind if you have a seeing problem and you don't go to the optometrist."
    "Come on, Cheyenne. You know how your mom is." Cheyenne's mom had been pushing odd cures and potions on her daughter's friends since they were in first grade together. Dell opened her locker and took out the books for her first class, English