Free Hourglass by Claudia Gray Page A

But the theater wasn’t rich and plush any longer. It was run-down and littered, the seat upholstery ripped and the screen empty of any image. I had been looking around wildly for Lucas, and instead I had seen this man, the one with the reddish-brown dreadlocks.
    The wraith, floating next to me, had whispered, The two of you have mutual friends.
    In the dream I hadn’t known him. But I recognized him now.
    “There,” I whispered. “Is that—is he—?”
    “You mean, a vampire?” Raquel peered at him with interest, as did Milos.
    My heart sank. Had I just identified a vampire to the hunters? A vampire who was passing by without their notice? Had I just gotten him killed?
    The dreadlocked vampire was in his element, though. He strolled beneath one building’s dark-green canopy, nodded at the doorman, and went on in—safe at home.
    I breathed out in relief, too loudly. Milos shot me a look. “You don’t want to fight? You’re with the wrong group.”
    “Give her a break,” Raquel said. “It’s still scary for us, okay? We’ll get tough in time.”
    “Maybe you will at that.” Milos kept staring at the apartment door. “We’ll have to do a stakeout here sometime—nopun intended. For now we check the back alleys. See who else is roaming around here and not nearly ready to go home.”
    We continued searching the neighborhood, and to my immense relief, Raquel and I were able to split off from Milos. Raquel kept gushing on and on about how smart I was to spot a vampire like that, when he wasn’t up to anything and didn’t have any of the signs. It just made me feel like more of a traitor.
    I cast around for something else to talk about and, almost at random, said, “Hey, where were you guys when we came back last night? You didn’t respond to Eliza’s call.”
    “Oh. Dana and I were…”
    “Were what?”
    Raquel paused. It wasn’t like her to avoid a simple question. Ducking around a lady on the sidewalk who carried three big shopping bags in each hand, I repeated, “Were what?”
    “We were off together on our own. Alone. So we’d have some—you know—some space.”
    I shrugged. What was the big deal?
    Then I saw the hesitation on Raquel’s face, and the hopeful light in her eyes, and I realized that I was just about the blindest person on the face of the earth. “You and Dana are—”
    “Me and Dana.” Raquel grinned, the brightest smile I’d ever seen on her face, just for a split second, like she couldn’t hold it in any longer. But her uncertainty returned quickly. “That doesn’t make you feel weird, does it?”
    “Some,” I confessed, “but only because you never said anything. After all the stuff we’ve told each other, you could’ve told me this.”
    “You never know who’s going to be strange about it. Besides, you kept trying to fix me up with guys .”
    “I tried to fix you up with Vic. One guy. Not plural.” My head was spinning a little. At least talking about her love life had distracted Raquel—and me. “I just never guessed.”
    Her lips twisted in a funny smile. “Hello? No interest in men, like, ever?”
    “I didn’t want to think in stereotypes.”
    “There’s not thinking in stereotypes, and then there’s just plain not thinking.”
    “Okay, if you wanted me to feel really stupid, mission accomplished.”
    We stared at each other for a second and then burst out laughing. I hugged her tightly around her shoulders and then listened to her go on for almost half an hour about how beautiful and incredible and smart and terrific Dana was. Although I completely agreed with Raquel about that, my input wasn’t required. My job was to smile, nod, and be happy for her. It was easy enough to do.
    Does Lucas know about this? I wondered. Probably he did, or at least suspected. He and Dana were pretty tight. This was just one of the dozens of subjects we hadn’t had a chance to discuss.
    We returned to Black Cross headquarters just before sundown, luckily without