Free Eternal Dawn by Rebecca Maizel Page B

my room. It certainly wasn’t me they were interested in.
    ‘No family. It’s tragic, isn’t it?’ he said with a wry smile. ‘My parents died when I was young. I only have memories of living here in Lovers Bay. I’m OK
with it, really.’ He leaned his shoulder against the wall just outside my room.
    ‘Hey, Rhode,’ a girl I didn’t recognize said. He acknowledged her with a small nod.
    ‘So you’ll come shoot?’ Rhode asked me.
    ‘You’re really offering to teach me?’
    ‘Yes, Lenah.’ My body electrified at the sound of his voice saying my name and I couldn’t drag my gaze away from his face.
    ‘Oh, you two,’ Tracy said, appearing down the hall. ‘Get a room.’ She laughed and went to unlock our door. The keys clanged as they hit the floor, and Tracy screamed so
loud the shriek was a needle through my eardrums.
    Rhode placed a palm on Tracy’s shoulder. ‘Don’t move,’ he commanded.
    ‘What happened?’ I asked. Tracy had her palm over her mouth.
    Rhode said, in a grave tone, ‘Call the resident advisor.’
    ‘Frogs?’ Tracy cried through her hand. ‘Seriously?’
    Frogs? What?
    I pushed past her into the room and froze. She was right – frogs. Dozens of dead frogs were scattered around our room. They dangled from the mirror, on top of our beds, even from the light
fittings. Some looked as though they could have been sleeping. Others were split down the middle, carcasses – dissected.
    ‘This is so disgusting!’ Tracy cried. ‘What the hell kind of prank is this?’
    She screamed again as she uncovered more frogs in the bathroom.
    A memory sprang unbidden to my mind. Justin and me. Before. In biology.
‘You can rip a cat open with your bare hands but you couldn’t cut the frog?’ Justin asked
gently.
    ‘I couldn’t cut the frog,’ I admitted.
    I lingered on the memory. When I was first at Wickham, I couldn’t dissect a frog in biology class. I had killed too many humans as Vampire Queen, and once I’d regained my human form,
that little frog was just too much. That was also the day my relationship with Justin changed, when I fell for the twenty-first-century boy and left my brutal past behind.
    Rhode started collecting the little bodies.
    One hopped on to the toe of Rhode’s boot. ‘There!’ I cried. ‘That one’s still alive!’ I wanted to hold it tightly and thank it for surviving. Instead I
scooped up its soft body, opened the window and placed it gently on the ground beneath some leafy branches.
    ‘What’s all the screaming?’ The voice of our resident advisor, Tina, made me spin around. ‘Wow,’ she said and surveyed the room. ‘This is . . .
crazy.’
    Rhode was still collecting up bodies. Tracy wrapped her hands around herself.
    ‘Tina,’ Tracy said in a quiet voice, ‘these were just
here
.’
    ‘This is one messed-up prank,’ Tina said. ‘Do you guys know who did it?’
    Justin
, I thought, but did not say anything out loud.
    Tina shook her head in disgust and took out her cell phone. ‘Put them down, Rhode, and go wash your hands.’ She waited for someone to pick up on the other end of the line.
‘Hey, Bob? I’m in Turner dorm, double 102.’
    Tina asked for a cleaning crew and explained that we would need to leave for a few hours so maintenance could do their work. ‘I’m calling Williams,’ she said.
    ‘Hey, guys,’ Tony said, stopping in our doorway. He surveyed the room. ‘Ho-ly crap.’
    ‘Tony, stop right there. All of you guys need to leave,’ Tina said, ushering Rhode, Tracy and me out.
    ‘Were those . . . frogs?’ Tony asked.
    ‘About a hundred,’ Rhode replied.
    ‘What did you guys do?’ Tony asked.
    ‘Oh sure, it’s our fault,’ Tracy said. ‘You’re the one denying girls when they ask you out. I don’t usually have vendettas against me.’
    Rhode carried my comforter and Tony had Tracy’s. He brought the fabric to his nose. ‘It doesn’t smell like frog.’
    I swallowed and ignored the impulse to say