Free Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel Page A

all of my best efforts. This society was particularly complicated.
    I glanced at the clock around 4:30 and realized I had two more hours on my shift. I decided to explore the library. I walked aisle after aisle, deep into the depths of the stacks, taking in the beauty of Wickham’s library. As I turned into the last aisle of books, a girl’s laughter echoed from somewhere nearby. It was a kind of vibrating chortle that came from deep within her, bouncing under her ribs. Pure laughter. I wanted to see who she was. I raised on my tiptoes and peered over the tops of the books. Running parallel to the row were study atriums with glass walls and panoramic windows. Inside the room were deeply padded, blue couches and study desks.
    The row of books was a good hiding place because I could duck down behind the shelves, if I needed to. I peered over the top of the books again and kept walking, following the laughter.
    I stopped short, just when I realized who the laughing girl was—Tracy Sutton, Justin’s girlfriend. They were in the very last study atrium. Justin was relaxing in a lounger, and Tracy sat on his lap. In chairs on either side of him were his brothers Curtis and Roy. Tracy laughed that same happy sound again. It struck me how easily people laughed in this age. How easily they could express their happiness. I had forgotten what that was like. Justin was tall, very tall, so Tracy looked tiny in his lap. If I had been in Tracy’s place, my legs would have dangled over Justin’s knees like a spider’s.
    Tracy stood up and shrieked something unintelligible. The other members of the Three-Piece, Kate and Claudia, stood on either side of her and pulled down the sides of their matching jeans to expose their hip bones. I raised higher on my toes and stared. They were wearing matching undergarments made to look like leopard skin. Claudia hung an arm over Kate’s shoulders, and Tracy slipped back into Justin’s lap. I couldn’t help it—the staring, I mean. I was transfixed by their happiness.
    I was especially drawn to Justin. He had this…aura. There is no other way to explain his life force. The image of his chest dripping with rain flashed through my head. And how his lips looked when he formed words. Especially when he asked me if I was sad. I wanted him to talk to me more.
    “I am so not into morning assembly,” Tracy said, and then kissed Justin’s cheek. She was facing in my direction. I gasped and ducked down out of sight. I didn’t want anyone to see me. Not from that group, anyway. I peered through the space between the shelf and the tops of the books.
    I’d had a human reaction to Justin Enos. The flip-flopping of my heart and the way my breath skipped around in my chest. Would it have been this way for Rhode? Would Vicken, if he were human again, possibly have jitters when he looked at me?
    Justin reached around Tracy and his palms rested on her thighs. As I examined him, by some horrible chaotic coincidence, Justin, who was looking at one of his brothers, furrowed his eyebrows and stopped speaking. His smile fell, and he turned his head, so I could see not just his profile but his whole mouth. Then, the sharp point of his nose, then his eyes, staring directly into mine.
    “Ms. Beaudonte.”
    I spun around. The librarian with the cat-shaped eyes stood before me. She held a black crate filled with slim plastic cases. “Please alphabetize these CDs in the listening room.”
    “Listening room?” I said, wondering what on earth a listening room could be. Had the modern world evolved so much that people sat in a room and simply— listened?
    The librarian handed me the crate and pointed down the aisle of atriums to a room at the end. When I didn’t move, she sighed. “This way…”
    I followed behind her. She shuffled when she walked, as though her hips and behind were too heavy for her to pick up her feet properly. As a vampire, I would have been able to murder her in less than ten seconds. She