Page 8 (1/2)

For a second I considered telling them the truth: vampires don’t perspire, and our normal body temperature is lower than that of hu: ‘Cold hands, warm heart’"

"My uncle says that" Mysty was easily distracted She went back to scratching her ar wary in Autumn’s face, in the set of herOnce again, I found that I couldn’t read her thoughts

"Stop scratching," I said to Mysty "You’reit bleed" The streak of blood across her arm made me nervous I forced my eyes to look away

"You can let ate "Thanks"

Mysty said, "Ari?"

I’d already opened the car door

"Can I call you?" she asked

"Sure," I said I stepped out of the car "Autu me, and I didn’t want theate I sent Jesse the thought Go now, and a second later he drove away The last thing I saas Mysty’s face in the back , herthe words Thank you

The house looked less like a ruin now The workers weren’t there--so observed Labor Day, I think Mãe and Dashay were finishing a late lunch in the kitchen, and I helped myself to salad

I sat down Both of the?" Mãe asked

No, I told thearettes lingered in my clothes and hair

Mãe said, "Friends? Those troublemakersat Flo’s?"

"Don’t be a snob," Dashay said to her "Who else is she going to be hanging out with?"

"Are there any other ones around?" I asked "My age, I ht you knew the facts of life," Mãe said

"I do," I said, feeling confused "Dennis taught me"

"That explains a lot"

She and I had mixed memories of Dennis He’d been ht me how to swim and ride a bicycle, as well But he was mortal, and sometimes he made mistakes The last time I’d seen him, he’d asked me to make him a vampire--a request that shocked me

"Dennis is no expert" Myplates to the sink, and returned with a notebook, a ruler, and a pen She ruled in the lines for a chart, then began to fill it in I watched, fascinated

"You never saw Sara do the chart thing before?" Dashaylittle anized," Mãe said, still writing

By nature, heraround tooPowerPoint presentations at breakfast," Dashay said "And that will be the day I move out"

Mãe’s chart looked like this:

I didn’t want to appear ungrateful, but I already knew most of the inforun or in which parts of the world they were popular, but I’d heard about ht "Okay, Ms Know-it-all What do most sects have in common?"

I reread the chart, but it didn’t help

"Come on, Ariella, this is basic stuff What do most vampires have in common?"

"We have special diets?" I said

"Yes What else?"