The Calling by Barbara Steiner Page A

those people. Romney and Kyle are okay, a little strange, but okay. Primavera is even weirder, but I think she likes you. Rima. Well, keep your eye on Rima.”
    â€œI’ve already decided to do that. We might have been imagining things yesterday. Maybe—” Miki couldn’t think of any good reason why Rima’s scarf should have been in the gutter under her burned skirt, but maybe there was one. “She’s probably just jealous. I think she likes Davin.”
    â€œI like Davin.”
    â€œPlease, please go with me, Paige. I’ve spooked myself out, thinking too much. I know once I get there and start to dance, I’ll be fine, but getting there seems to be a problem.”
    â€œOkay, Miki. I’ll go, but reluctantly. And only because you’re my best friend in the whole world and my blood sister, and I’m really curious to see the show before it opens.”
    â€œThanks, Paige. You’ve saved my life.”
    â€œAnd promise me one more thing.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou’ll come over for lunch tomorrow. Mom pointed out that you haven’t been here for a long time, and how could I say you were busy being a vampire. She misses you. My whole family misses you. I don’t know why.” Paige paused to let her teasing sink in. “But if you say no, I’ll have to tell them the truth. That you’re undead.”
    Miki smiled. Leave it to Paige to make her feel better. “Okay, I will. You don’t have to threaten me. I need some of your mother’s home cooking. Tell her I’ll come if she makes sweet rolls.”
    â€œHey, great idea. She’ll make them for you, and we’ll all benefit from that.”
    Miki stopped thinking about anything except homemade sweet rolls and drifted off to sleep. The apartment was so quiet when she woke up, she even resorted to studying. She had three term papers due next week, and only one was close to finished. She’d been too distracted to care. She still had to graduate, she reminded herself. But school was so boring when put alongside dancing with her new friends.
    Going to Paige’s house was anything but boring. Late Sunday morning, Miki walked the mile instead of taking the bus. She needed the exercise and she wanted to make sure her leg wasn’t going to hurt when she danced. She hardly noticed the burn, though. It really had been slight.
    Paige’s little brother, Joey, answered the doorbell when Miki pressed the button. “Hi, Miki. Where’ve you been? I missed you.”
    Miki leaned down and hugged Joey, who was only six. An afterthought, Mrs. Anderson said when he wasn’t listening. “And now our whole life revolves around him.” She would laugh when she said that. But Joey was pretty spoiled.
    â€œLook at my new comic, Miki. You can read it to me.” Joey held out a fan of colored sheets. When Miki took it and looked at the cover, she shivered. The comic was about vampires. She looked at Paige, who was in the hall by then. Had she put Joey up to this?
    Paige shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. This was a coincidence, but predictible, since last week Joey was obsessed with mummies.
    â€œDo you believe in vampires, Miki? I love vampires.” Joey took the comic back and started reading it to himself. He didn’t really need Miki’s help. “I had a comic about Count Chocula, but this one is about real vampires.”
    â€œHe traded for it,” Mrs. Anderson said as they gathered in the kitchen as usual. The place smelled of the yeasty sweet rolls that Miki had ordered. Miki inhaled and her mouth watered. Mrs. Anderson, knowing what time Miki was to arrive, handed her a napkin holding two warm rolls she had just drizzled powdered sugar icing over. “They’re best when they’re hot. I never would have bought him that.”
    Miki had to sort out the conversation. The subject was off sweet rolls and back to vampire