Chapter Ten
Deco sat next to me before Base could the next morning. I half-shrugged apologetically at Base, but he didn’t seem bothered. Maybe it would be nice to talk about something other than Sully and Aoife for a change.
It wasn’t.
“Aren’t you over it yet?” Deco whispered.
“Over what?”
“Us. Splitting up. It’s time we made up. People are starting to talk.”
My laughter turned into a snort of derision. “Let them. I don’t care what anyone says. I don’t make the same mistake twice.”
“Oh, is that why you’re hanging around with Base?” He spoke loudly as he glared in Base’s direction. Base turned in his seat to wink provocatively at him, pouting his lips and making me laugh again.
Deco scowled at me. “He’s not funny, Devlin.”
“I can hang around with anyone I like,” I insisted. “And making friends is never a mistake. What do you care anyway? You cheated on me.” I made myself furious just thinking about it.
“I didn’t actually cheat. Okay, so I spent time with someone,” he admitted. “But I didn’t do anything more than that.”
“That’s because I caught you,” I hissed under my breath. “Oh, forget this.” While the teacher’s back was turned, I grabbed my stuff and slipped into an empty seat beside Base.
“Not a word, please,” I whispered pleadingly, and he stared straight ahead, his mouth twitching. The teacher turned around, frowned, and then got on with the class.
Later, at lunch, Maisy got with the Deco program. “Maybe you should give him another chance,” she said. “Unless you’ve someone else on your mind,” she added, fluttering her eyelashes in Base’s direction.
“Enough of that,” I warned. “I’ve had enough of men to last me a lifetime.”
Maisy rolled her eyes. “I would hardly call Base a man.”
Base turned to her. “What was that?”
“Never mind.” I glared at Maisy. “She’s being her usual daft self.”
“Anyone see Aoife today?” he asked. Nobody had. Maisy raised her eyebrows in concern. Not at the fact Aoife wasn’t around, but at the idea he would ask about her in front of me when she clearly believed something was going on between us.
“I’m not with him,” I whispered to her, but she shrugged.
“It’s not a big deal,” she replied. “You can do whatever, and whoever, you like.”
I made a face. “You don’t have to make it sound so trampy.”
She laughed. “He’s really into that Aoife chick.”
“He’s worried about her. Because of the whole Sully thing. I’m worried for her, too.”
“She’ll be fine. She’s a big girl. You can’t be everyone’s big sister.”
I stared at her in surprise.
She smiled. “Don’t act like you don’t know what you do. That whole bitchy act doesn’t fool me, especially whenever someone needs help. I’m on to you, O’Mara.”
“I seriously have no idea what you’re on about, Maisy.” But I grinned as she patted my arm affectionately. Sometimes I was grateful to Deco for screwing up, because the result had been Maisy and I becoming much closer.
After school, Base and I headed straight for Aoife’s house. I sensed the nervousness emanating from Base, and it unsettled me, too.
Aoife’s home was a small cottage. The well-kept window-boxes made it look pretty, and I felt a twinge of embarrassment for the state of my own home. Base hesitated at the door, taking deep breaths as if working up the courage.
“Oh, for the love of…” I rapped on the door sharply, ignoring Base’s groan. After a moment, Aoife’s father appeared, as Base had predicted.
But her father didn’t look good. His eyes were red-rimmed, his stubble at least four days old, and his shirt was stained with God knew what.
“Um, is Aoife here?” I asked, unsure of myself. Aoife’s father wasn’t what I expected.
“In bed,” he said, and he moved his bulk in the way of the doorway as if we would try and get past him.
“Is she okay?” Base asked.
“She doesn’t want to see you anymore,” he said in a dull voice.
“Is she sick?” I stared at Aoife’s dad, weirded out by his appearance. He sounded like Aoife, and his eyes had that look in them, the one she had when she attacked me.
“No,” her dad said.
“Then maybe she should be going to school,” Base said.
I pulled Base backward just in time. Aoife’s Dad swung a punch right at his head, but he didn’t seem to care that he missed.
“What the hell are you doing?” Base pushed me behind him, but he didn’t back off. “Where’s Aoife?”
“Don’t come back here.” Aoife’s Dad lurched toward Base again, but his coordination was off, abruptly reminding me of Aoife at school when her body appeared to work against itself.
“Let’s go,” I whispered. “This is getting too weird.”
“I’m not going until he tells me what’s going on,” Base insisted, and he called out Aoife’s name.
I tugged at his sleeve, calling his name, and he finally realised that we weren’t getting anywhere. He let me lead him away, but Aoife’s dad watched us until we turned a corner. Base still shook with anger, and I had to physically push against his chest to stop him from going back.
“Leave it, okay? Don’t make it worse.”
He glanced down at me, but I wasn’t sure he was even seeing me.
“Please,” I said softly. “Come home with me. We can’t do anything here.”
Sighing, he took my hands away from his chest. “Sorry. I’m just…”
“I know, but there’s nothing for us here.”
He nodded, letting go of my hands.
“What the hell is happening to everyone?” he said as we walked to my house.
“I don’t know, but he was acting just like Aoife. That, I don’t understand,” I said. “I kinda get how Sully could, like, brainwash Aoife, but her dad, too? That’s really unsettling.”
He hesitated, his cheeks turning pink. “Ever think about the idea it could be something a little abnormal?”
“Like what?”
“Like paranormal.”
“What are you saying, Base?”
“None of this makes sense, so what if it’s magic or something?”
I stopped walking and faced him. “Magic? Really, Base? Really?”
“It has to be something,” he murmured. “And you told me about your mam talking about getting bitten. People just do whatever Sully wants when they look at him, including you, by the way. What if he’s—”
“Do not say it.”
“—A vampire?”
“A vampire,” I echoed, thinking of all of the troubling things that had been happening, thinking of how that word had been on the tip of my tongue since the very first time I had laid eyes on Sully. The blood, the figure at my window, the gouge marks on my arm, Sully and his sunglasses, and me feeling inexplicably under his spell.
“Let me get this straight,” I said, my heart racing. “You think Sully is a vampire.”
“I’m just saying it’s a possibility.”
“It’s… I really need to get ready for work. I have to get out of here.”
I left him standing there, unable to deal with what he was trying to say. Adding up everything made no sense. Or rather it made too much sense. But vampires weren’t real. Sully was just some creepy kid trying to scare people. Maybe he was in a gang, and Aoife’s dad was terrified. He had scared me with little or no effort, after all. But not in a normal way, and there were all of those little things that didn’t have reasonable explanations.
The stuff with Aoife was just typical dickhead stuff. Treating her mean to keep her keen. It didn’t mean anything. Not really. Certainly not anything paranormal. It wasn’t logical.
I thought about it all night at work, unable to concentrate on anything else. Base had really gotten under my skin again. I knew spending time
with him would turn out to be a terrible idea. That’s what happened around Base, I lost my damn mind.
Of all the stupid things… a vampire. If Maisy had said it, I would have accused her of reading too many young adult romances with handsome vampires. In fact, from the beginning, I had assumed Sully was influenced by those kinds of stories, trying to be that unattainable, dangerous boy that all of the girls fell over themselves for.
But I hadn’t fallen for it, and he had moved on to Aoife, who now acted truly brainwashed all of a sudden. That kind of thing didn’t usually happen overnight either, no matter how good at it the man was.
In this case boy.
Vampire.
Why would Base even come up with something like that? Just because Sully was an oddball who tried to act mysterious and would happily wear sunglasses in the rain. Just because… a million other reasons.
I had work all weekend. Mark had obviously gotten over the whole time off thing, probably because he couldn’t get anyone to replace me. I was shocked to see Base, again, turn up during my shift.
“Thought I’d have some lunch,” he said warily.
I rolled my eyes. “What can I get you?”
“Anything. Are you still mad at me?”
I bit my lip and doodled on my notebook, purely out of habit. I didn’t need it, but some customers complained that I didn’t write down orders, so Mark made me carry the notebook around and pretend to use it, even though I was fine memorising orders by now.
“I wasn’t actually mad at you,” I said, tapping the end of my pen against my chin. “But you have to admit it’s a fucked up thing to say. Especially after everything. Yeah, he’s peculiar, but I mean, paranormal stuff?” I shook my head. “That’s a bit much, even for you.”
“It makes sense though,” he said, leaning forward, his dark eyes gleaming with excitement. “Doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, a certain kind of illogical sense,” I said. “But it doesn’t make actual sense.”
He frowned. “There’s a difference?”
“Um, yeah. I mean, imagine if we started telling people we thought he was a, well, you know.”
“Fine, I get it. Nobody would believe me, even if it was true, but there’s something dodgy about Sully. Look at Aoife. Look at her dad. Look at how shaken you’ve been by him. And all of the stuff you talked about before: your mam, your past, the way he made you feel that day in school. He has to be doing something.”
“Yeah, and maybe he’s pretending to be doing something paranormal. Maybe this is some kind of creepy role-playing game he’s taking a little too far. And what can we do about it anyway? He obviously has a lot of people fooled.”
“We film him,” he said enthusiastically. “We follow him around, video any unusual activities, and get some proof that he’s up to no good.”
“So we stalk him?”
“Pretty much.”
“I’m going to order your lunch before you get into this. What do you actually want to eat? I’ll take my break when it’s ready, and you can talk me through your lunatic plan.”
“Whatever’s good.”
I sidled up to Mark. “Think I’ll take my break now. That okay?”
He looked up from the pint he was pulling to glare at Base. “He bothering you?”
I covered my smile. “Not right now, no. He’s a friend from school.”
He shook his head. “That’s what passes for a school kid these days? Holy hell, Devlin.”
“Are you quite finished? We have homework to discuss, so I’ll be taking my lunch with him. But if you’re run off your feet…”
Mark stared around at the mostly empty lounge and sighed heavily. “Fine. Help yourself in the kitchen. Go ahead. Feed my profits to the man-child eyeing you up.”
“Is he?” I blurted. I glanced over my shoulder to see Base regarding us guardedly. “Oh. You’re freaking him out. Stop, please.”
“Maybe I should introduce myself,” Mark said, only half-teasing.
“Don’t you dare! I’ll be in the back for five minutes tops. I’ll blame you if he’s gone by the time I get back.”
“Oh, God,” he said with a groan. “That serious?”
“It’s not… Oh, shut up,” I said as I saw his grin.
I hurried into the kitchen, still half-afraid Mark would embarrass me, and when I carried the sandwiches past him, he stopped me for a few seconds.
“Let him know I don’t appreciate hands on my staff, all right?”
I rolled my eyes and headed over to Base. We ate together, squashed up in the corner, as far away from listening ears as possible, but Mark kept inching his way along the bar to get closer to us.
“What’s with all of the evil eyes?” Base asked between bites.
“My boss is afraid I’ll run off and have a baby instead of being his slave my entire life,” I said loudly enough for Mark to hear me. He grunted and moved on, acting as though he hadn’t been listening.
“Seems protective.”
“He doesn’t like man-children.” I sniggered.
“Um, what?”
“Never mind. So any new thoughts on the Sully situation?”
“If we can get evidence that he’s threatening Aoife, we could go to the police or the school, or try her father again,” he said eagerly.
“Her dad won’t believe us,” I said slowly. “But the school might take it seriously. Bullying and all that. The police… I don’t know.”
“Hey, it’s worth a try.”
I drummed my fingers on the table, thinking hard. “If we could catch him on camera, threatening someone, insulting Aoife, anything at all, the school would probably have to do something, right?”
“If it’s bad enough then maybe even the police. People would have to pay attention to us.”
“What if we don’t find anything?”
Base stared at me. “Then we’re going to have to accept that we’re wrong about Sully. That’s all. Are we agreed on that?”
“Of course. But there has to be something going on. It’s just how zombie-like she is,” I confided in Base. “I’ve seen it before. That look. Like she doesn’t even have to think anymore because he’ll do it for her. And I hate it. I don’t want to see Aoife go through that. I know she’s a softie, but she seems too smart to fall for this crap, and it would suck if he got away with taking advantage of her vulnerabilities.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense.”
“What does?”
“About her vulnerabilities.” He heaved a sigh. “She had a tough time of it before,” he said in a soft voice that showed his affection for her. “And it’s pretty hard for her to talk about, so I’m surprised if she’s told Sully any of it. But how else would he know that she’s vulnerable?”
“Why? What happened to her?”
He pushed his plate away, clearly disgusted. “It’s not a secret. Most people know about it already, so I’m surprised you don’t. But I’m going to tell you so you’ll start cutting her some slack. She’s not a doormat. She’s just been hurt before.”
“What do you mean? By a boyfriend?”
He shook his head. “Nah, worse than that. And it was a long time ago. Her parents had already divorced by the time her mother died, and her grandparents took care of her, but they weren’t so good at watching out for her, and let’s just say her uncle took advantage of that.”
“Are you serious? Poor Aoife.”
“Yeah, I know, but she rarely lets it get her down these days. When it finally came out, her dad was awarded custody, and she’s been with him ever since. She’s been happy. That’s why it makes no bloody sense that he’d let this happen to her, too.” He sounded so angry that I was afraid.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He flinched. “You did nothing. But she’s had it so tough that I can’t see her go through any more misery. She’s so sweet. With her uncle… she made excuses for him. Didn’t tell anyone what he was doing, but finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. She told he
r grandparents, but they wouldn’t believe her. Eventually, it all came out, and she ended up having to give evidence against him. That was harder on her than anything else. She’s been doing so well, you know. With her dad and school and everything. She was so scared, and lately, she’s been more confident. Then he comes along and ruins it.”
“You sure you’re not together?” I asked.
“We’re like family. I feel like I’m supposed to protect her, and I let him take her.”
I stared at him, seeing him through new eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve been horrible to you. I thought… you were someone else.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking embarrassed. “Thanks. I’m glad we’ve been talking again.”
I bit my lip, worried about what I wanted to say and knowing I was about to ruin a potential moment. “Here’s the thing. Sully keeps talking about misery and broken girls and all of that stuff, and, well, you talking about Aoife’s story makes me think there’s some kind of a pattern.”
“How do you mean?”
“It’s just that a lot of bad things have happened to my mother, and he’s said stuff, as if he knew about it. As if he got off on it. I mean, he’s picking on both of them, and both of them have gone through a lot. Makes me think, is all.”
“Dev, he’s picking on you, too.” Base gazed steadily at me, and I needed to swallow down the emotions that threatened to suck me under.
“Wow, Mark’s giving me evil eyes now,” I lied. “I had better get back to work. But yeah on the stalking plan. In for a penny.”
“Good.” He cleared his throat. “Start after school on Monday?”
“Yeah. But probably not for too long. I usually work most nights.”
I thought about the logistics of following Sully around all evening and finally decided I needed some time off.
But after work, Mark approached me. “Hey, Dev. Good news.”
“You sacked Franco?”
“Now what did Franco ever do to you?”
“Took my job.” But I grinned.
“Pfft. You don’t want his job. You want management. What the hell do you think I’m training you up for?”
“Wait, are you serious?”
He stared at me as if I were mental. “Who the hell else can tell everyone what to do without apologising for it? You’re my little star in training.”
“You’re messing with me.”
“Fine. I’m messing. Live in denial all you want. The actual good news is you’re looking a little more alive, so I’m rostering you as much as you want for the rest of our natural lives.”
I winced. “Actually, I was thinking I needed some time away during the week.”
He shrugged. “All right then, throw my nice gestures back in my face. But it’s good to see you finally getting a life.”
“Um, what?”
“That young fella in here earlier. I suppose you could do worse. If you tried. I take it this turn of events is down to him.”
My cheeks burned. “Well, yeah, but not in the way you think. I mean, it’s—”
“Hey, I don’t need the details. And Tom,” he called out. “You’ll be pleased to hear you won’t need to give this one lifts all week for a change.”
“How’s that?” Tom approached the bar with interest.
“New boyfriend.”
“He’s not… he’s not my boyfriend,” I told Tom.
Tom and Mark exchanged amused glances. “Well,” Tom said. “I hope it isn’t that young lad who was bothering you.”
“No, actually, he’s helping me do something about… that person. We’re going to catch him in the act, kind of use it against him if we can.”
“What’s this?” Mark asked.
“Some lad who can’t take no for an answer,” Tom said. “If anything happens, call me, okay? You never know if these kinds of idiots are harmless or not.”
“Yeah, I know.” All too well.
“Be careful,” Mark said urgently. “I need you safe to cover hours next week, okay?”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll try not to get myself killed.”