There Conclusions Were

Giles: Yes, let's not jump to any conclusions.

Buffy: I didn't jump. I took a tiny step, and there conclusions were.

-Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Phases"

So, when last we spoke, we'd just found out that Summer had been poisoned, and then Marigold had left for reasons unknown.

Summer is doing a lot better now. Doctor M says she can probably go home Thursday or Friday unless she takes an unexpected turn for the worse.

Marigold is still gone. It's late now, and was snowing. We're worried about her. And frankly, we don't know what to think. We don't think she had anything to do with the poisoning - she loves Summer and wouldn't hurt her - but we're afraid she'll think we blame her for it. Maybe that's why she ran. It's dangerous out there, though, and we miss her.

When Doctor M had relayed the news about Summer and then left to continue her rounds, we all took a moment to absorb it. Then Gia quietly spoke up. "I don't mean to leap to conclusions," she said.

We all looked over at her. Although we weren't planning to leap, we were interested to see what conclusions she might think could potentially be leaped to.

"The doctor said it was Nerium poisoning," Gia went on hesitantly. "What people usually refer to as oleander."

"I don't think that grows in Upstate New York," Felicity said.

Gia nodded that Felicity was right. "It requires a warmer climate. I learned about it as a child; in my home country we used the flowers at funerals, and in the past it was sometimes used to poison rats. But my childhood memories aren't what I meant about leaping to conclusions. What I meant was... it was the favourite poison used by The Elders, when they needed to get rid of someone in a way that didn't scream that they were vampires."

We exchanged another look, this time of the concerned and uncomfortable variety.

The Elders were our enemies for months, and they seriously made us worry for our lives. Eventually we had to confront them, and we won with the help of an army of fairy folk. Only three Elders are left, and they agreed to make peace with us under terms we set. They weren't too happy about it, and we assume still aren't. (Gia's on our side now, but she knows stuff about them because she used to work for them.)

"There's one thing I don't understand," Inna finally said. "I wouldn't put it past them from a moral standpoint. If it was really them, though, what do they hope to gain by it? I don't see a logical motive."

"To kill Summer," Molly replied immediately.

"Alright," Inna said doubtfully. "But how does killing Summer actually benefit them? She's only one person in an exceptionally strong family. There are only three Elders left. Killing Summer wouldn't even the odds significantly, and attacking any of us would break their truce with us. They'd trigger another battle that they're in no position to win. Why would they do that?"

Why indeed? The Elders have an understandable grudge against all of us, but as far as I know they had nothing against Summer in particular. Why would they risk reigniting a conflict that they agreed to end because they knew they would inevitably lose? The remaining Elders joined our vampire council, so we know pretty well what they're doing and how strong they are - their current position isn't noticeably better than when we defeated them. So how does this make sense?

It's too early for accusations. We need to think this through more, and try to get more information. In the meantime, we're taking turns staying with Summer and going out to look for Marigold.

Marigold, if you're reading this, we don't think you did it. Please come home! It is your home now, if you want it to be, no matter what secrets you're hiding.

Love,

Bree

And then came the really bizarre part(s)...

Hi, this is Bree again. Summer is still in the hospital, but she's doing a lot better. The doctors figured out what was wrong, but that's not where the story of today really started, so I'm going to begin at the beginning.

As I mentioned yesterday, Summer had to stay overnight in the hospital while the doctors ran tests. Early this morning, her adoption records and birth certificate were delivered, so we could start tracking down her genetic family's medical history. When Maia opened the packet, the first thing on top was Summer's birth certificate.

That was when the first weird thing of the day happened... although it would seem minor compared to what came later. Evelyn said she was hungry, and Marigold offered to take her to the cafeteria to get a snack. Now, the weird part was not that Ev needed to eat - her school normally has a morning snack time, so that's part of her routine - or that Marigold did something helpful. What was weird was that Marigold didn't seem at all interested in the documents and volunteered to go somewhere else without seeing them first.

I mean, yeah, it was Summer's birth certificate, not her own - but they're twins, so most of the information would be the same. Marigold could find out a lot about her birth and her biological family just from asking to see the papers that came today, and the adults would have let her. If it had been me, I would have been dying of curiosity. Marigold didn't even seem to want a look at the records. I guess everyone is different, though, and I figured maybe she just wasn't ready to find out those things yet, so I let it go without saying anything.

Tabitha glanced over Maia's shoulder, and said, "This has been changed."

Maia frowned. "It's supposed to be the original," she said doubtfully, but followed where Tabitha was pointing. It was only one line, carefully covered with a tiny section of the same kind of paper and typed over, barely noticeable. It blended in so well that I think it took Tabitha's vampire eyesight to spot it.

"That's strange," Maia said. "Why would they alter that part?"

Where the birth certificate had been changed wasn't Summer's name, or the names of her parents, or where and when she'd been born. It was where the type of birth was recorded, the part that said it was twins. Maia carefully scraped off the extra with her fingernail, and underneath, it said "single live birth" - not twins.

"Strange," Maia said again. "I wonder if they made a mistake and had to correct it?"

That didn't explain why they wouldn't just print out a new one when they first caught the error, though, instead of changing it. (When Blakeney's cousin was born, the birth certificate had accidentally reversed the mother's name and the baby's name; a replacement was issued with the correct names. That seems more standard than trying to fix it by gluing on more paper.) It also didn't explain why the unedited version of Summer's birth certificate said she didn't have a twin. It seemed like a weird mistake to make. 

Marigold came back with Ev then, and we all looked a little guilty, like we'd been doing something wrong. In a strange way, it felt like we were spying on Marigold, even if that didn't make sense.

Before we had a chance to say anything - whether it would have been a true explanation or an excuse, I'm still not sure - the doctor came back.

"I see you got those records I asked for," Doctor M said. "It turns out we aren't going to need them, though. What Summer is suffering from isn't hereditary. We got back the screens for some of the more unusual toxins, and it turns out she's suffering from poisoning."

Doctor M went on to explain that this didn't necessarily mean someone had poisoned Summer deliberately; it might have been an accident. She told us that Summer would recover and be fine as long as there wasn't a repeat exposure. We were all relieved - except Summer herself, because she'd slept through the whole thing. The doctor went on about what Summer had been poisoned with and the treatments they were doing... but I admit I was only half paying attention, because I noticed something else at that moment.

At some point during the conversation, Marigold had slipped away. She was gone.

Love,

Bree

Bad, Scary Day

Hi, this is Bree. Something scary happened today. I was at school, in my second class of the day - English, and I'd already read the book, so I was kind of daydreaming - when the school secretary knocked on the door and said the principal needed to talk to me. Everyone started laughing about Bree being in trouble, but then the secretary said it was a family emergency; the other kids got quiet, and I was suddenly really terrified. My legs felt like lead as I walked to the principal's office.

The principal told me that Summer had collapsed at school. The ambulance took her to the hospital. When the paramedics got there, she was still unconscious. They didn't know what was wrong - they still don't - and they were worried because she didn't wake up right away. Marigold was with Summer when she collapsed, and was upset, to put it mildly. She was beside herself.

I'm posting this from the hospital. Summer is awake now, but she's still pretty groggy. She has to stay overnight while they run some tests, because the doctors still don't know what's wrong. Earlier in the afternoon, she started getting short of breath and her heartbeat was irregular. She's better now, but they need to figure out what this is before they let her go home.

The doctor asked us about family medical history, but because Summer is adopted, we didn't know very many of the answers. We don't know what diseases run in her genetic family. The doctor said that if possible, we needed to find out.

Summer was born in a province where adopted people can get their adoption records and original birth certificates when they turn eighteen. (Believe it or not, in some places those records are sealed forever, and adopted people can never know their genetic history, so Summer is lucky about that.) Because of the situation, we applied for a medical exception to get that paperwork right away. Even though she's only twelve, this information might save her life. The exception was granted, and we're waiting for the information to get couriered here. Hopefully it'll help.

It also may shed light on the Marigold situation. At the moment, though, we're mostly worried about Summer.

Love,
Bree

The Disappearing Twin

Hi, this is Summer again. You're going to be sick of hearing from me, but there are new developments in my twin saga. Well, actually... the new development is sort of a lack of a development. I should back up, though.

A couple of days ago, Marigold told me she wanted to come visit. She was pretty vague about some things, though... like when she was coming, or how she was getting here, or what her parents had to say about the whole thing. We hadn't really resolved anything when she said she had to go, but I figured I'd just talk to her about it the next time we chatted.

There hasn't been a next time. I haven't heard anything from Marigold since that conversation. She hasn't been online or answered e-mails. I've tried phoning her, but it always goes to voicemail. I'm starting to get really worried!

I'm not sure what I can do about it, though. She lives really far away. I don't know her street address, or her parents' first names. All I know is her surname and that she lives in Toronto - but it's a pretty common name, and there are dozens of families in the phone listings. I don't want to bug her, but I don't know if she's alright or not, and I don't know how to find out.

In other news, Inna has been hearing rumours that the group of fair folk (fairies) we rescued Senara from - we found out that they call themselves the Stonecrown Court, after our rocky landscape  - are really upset at us, and are planning to do something to get back at us. This... isn't really a big surprise. We actually kind of figured. Maybe we should be more scared, but this was kind of just the expected result.

This isn't the first time we've had powerful supernatural creatures after us. I'm honestly more worried about Marigold.

Love,
Summer

Two letters, and life changes

Hi, this is Summer. (I guess you could tell that from the picture anyway, huh?) Well, I got huge news today. I'm still really shocked, and I'm not sure how to process it.

Last year, on my birthday, I decided that I wanted to find out about my biological family. Maia wrote to the Toronto Children's Aid Society, which is the group that placed me for foster care and adoption, to see if we could get any information about them. I did get some, which is better than knowing nothing at all, but I was a little bit bummed that I have to wait till I turn eighteen to get my full identifying details.

I had pretty much just accepted that I won't be able to make much progress on my search until I'm an adult. So I was really surprised when another letter came from the Children's Aid Society in the mail today. I didn't think I'd be hearing from them again for a few years. I wondered if there had been some mistake, or if they'd found something else non-identifying that they could give me right away.

In my haste to open the envelope, I ripped it too hard and all the contents ended up on the floor. The first sheet I picked up was written by hand, and the writing looked like someone about my age rather than an adult. That seemed even weirder. Why would I be getting a letter from another kid through the agency that had placed me for adoption?

Once my initial moment of confusion had passed, I realized there was a printed covering letter in the envelope too, so I decided to read that first because it seemed like it was probably supposed to explain the handwritten letter. I flipped it over... and got the shock of my life.

The covering letter started with an apology. It turns out that I hadn't been placed for adoption by the Children's Aid Society itself - which I had just assumed - but by another group doing contract work for them at the time. That group had made a pretty serious mistake. I had to read the next line a few times before I could comprehend it.

I was not an only child in my biological family.

I have a twin.

This was totally shocking to me. I had no idea.

I figured that I might have biological brothers or sisters out there, because my first parents weren't all that old and they likely had more children after they lost custody of me, whether they stayed together or ended up with other partners. I was prepared to find out someday that I had siblings or half-siblings.

I wasn't prepared to find out that I already had a sister that I shared the womb with. In movies, it seems like twins have this magical connection to each other, but I never felt that. I never felt anyone who was that close was out there and missing from my life. I was totally blindsided by the news.

Twins aren't supposed to be separated for adoption. Even at the time, that was very much against policy. We should have been placed together. The letter went on to say that they're still investigating how it happened, whether it was a clerical error or whether my twin was already living somewhere else when I was removed from the home... and I'm sure that with time, I'll start to care about that. For right now, I can't even begin to deal with how it happened. I'm just trying to process that this is going on at all.

The other letter, the one that was handwritten, is from my twin sister. You don't have to be eighteen to know your biological siblings like you do to find out about your biological parents. I  haven't read my twin's letter yet. I want to, and I will soon.

I'm just trying to deal with the fact this is even happening. It's totally unbelievable! I wonder if she's very much like me...

Love,
Summer

The Moon Rises

Hello again, this is Summer. In the last couple of posts, we've talked about Gia's situation - getting bitten by a large animal (which she referred to as a "dog") and then getting very sick but not wanting to go to the doctor. A couple of our readers who commented suggested the possibility that Gia might have been bitten by a werewolf.

It all seemed to fit. It explained what bit her, why there haven't been other sightings of a large predatory animal (since werewolves are human most of the time,) why she got so sick, and why some of our resident vampires had an instinctive negative reaction to her after the bite. 

We talked about it among ourselves, and we decided that a werewolf was the most likely explanation. And yes, in our world there are situations where lycanthropy is the most likely explanation; we're never going to be normal, are we?

The problem is, how were we going to tell Gia? We know things like vampires and fairies are real, which makes it easy to believe werewolves are too... but presumably Gia didn't know about any of this. She probably thought, as most people do, that these are just stories.

So how were we going break the news?

We talked about it over the course of Thursday afternoon - out of Gia's earshot - and we didn't come to an agreement. Molly favoured a direct approach. ("Congratulations, you're a werewolf!") The rest of us thought that was potentially traumatizing, and/or might just make her laugh and not take anything we said seriously. Kiwi suggested that she and I turn into cats in front of her so she would see animal shapeshifters are real - but the verdict from the majority was that this was potentially even more traumatizing, and also might make Gia just think she was insane. Bree suggested we start vague and work up to lycanthropy, which seemed like the best plan... but no one could think of a good conversational direction that would lead us anywhere near that topic.

As far as we knew, there was no hurry. Gia is doing better and seems to be recovering, but doesn't have any intention of leaving yet. No one thought to check the calendar and see when the full moon would be.

Turns out, it was Thursday - as in, that very night.

Us girls were down in the basement of the Rose house, semi-watching television and discussing the werewolf situation, when were heard screams from upstairs. Before we had a chance to respond to the screaming, we heard a crash, followed by more screams and what sounded like furniture being overturned. We ran upstairs, and found a wolf-looking creature, except capable of standing upright, in the living room, crouching behind the now-broken couch. It was not entirely surprising, given our topic of conversation, to see that the werewolf had familiar hazel eyes. Of course, it was Gia.

We weren't sure what to do. With vampires, we were able to get a lot of our information in advance from Clare and Inna. We don't really know what to expect when it comes to werewolves. (Inna confirmed for us that they are real, but knows nothing much else about them.) I'm a feline shapeshifter, and so are Kiwi and Maia, but we're pretty different from werewolves; we were born this way, we were never bitten. Since we didn't have any kind of precedent to draw on, we didn't know what a werewolf would do. Would Gia still act like Gia? Or would she act like a wild animal?

The answer seemed to be somewhere in between. GiaWolf didn't seem to recognize us, but she also didn't seem inclined to harm us at first. She sniffed at us, and paused, as if she wasn't sure what to do.

"Gia?" Maia called. GiaWolf turned to look at her, like she recognized her voice... but then she looked at us girls again, as though she was considering going hunting. This seemed like a problematic situation.

Things got even more problematic when Clare and Tabitha started hissing and snarling at her. Marie-Grace and Cécile also looked upset, but they managed to keep it under control. Our newest vampires didn't seem to be able to handle being around their "natural enemy," though, and they were making their displeasure known. 

GiaWolf dropped down into a crouch, and prepared to charge at the vampires. It was, needless to say, a tense moment.

Maia broke the tension by saying "Gia!" again, but sharply this time, like a command. The instinct to obey the dominant member of the pack overrode the instinct to attack the vampires, and Gia relaxed her stance. It took awhile, but Maia finally managed to talk her down into the basement, into the room we'd fortified for Tabitha when she was a crazy freshly-turned vampire. Once the door shut, we occasionally heard the sound of breaking furniture, and Maia's voice talking to her, calming her down. 

Things quieted down near sunrise, and Maia and Gia (now in fully human form again) came back upstairs. Gia looked a little bruised from her furniture-breaking episodes, a little embarrassed, and a lot shocked, like she couldn't believe what had happened. 

We broke the news to her that werewolves are real - which Gia had already seen for herself. Then we told her about vampires... and she pretended to be surprised, but she wasn't on her game with her acting, and she wasn't really very convincing.

I didn't think about it at the time, but that's kind of weird, isn't it? That she pretended she didn't know about vampires? Why would she do that? Maybe she just figured vampires were plausible after the whole werewolf thing, and didn't already know about them... but why try to pretend it was big news if she'd already figured it out? It seemed like maybe she already knew. I just wonder how she would have...

At the moment, we have bigger problems than Gia being tight-lipped about certain things. Night has fallen again, Gia is currently in wolf form, and is down in our basement. We don't want to be mean by locking her up, but we also don't want her to get out and hurt anybody. We're not sure how long before and after the fullest moon she'll transform, so we don't know how many days to expect this.

It looks like the Greens and the Roses are going to need a crash course on werewolves... the sooner the better!

Love,

Summer

After the Storm

Hi, this is Kaya. I realize the post title probably seems like an overblown metaphor, but it isn't... there was a literal storm. It started around midnight last night with ice pellets and high wind, then it turned into a blizzard by early morning. Before long the roads were covered, and we were snowed in. There was no school for anyone today, and most of the non-vital businesses were closed, because the city officials wanted as many people off the road as possible so they could just send the plows through without anyone in the way.

We were all home, and we enjoyed an unexpected break and playing in the snow. Afterward we came in for hot chocolate (for the non-vampires, at least) and plopped down in front of the television to watch the local news. Maybe it's geeky, but when we have a big storm, we always find it interesting to see on the news what other areas of town look like all covered in snow, because we won't get out to see it in person.

They showed footage of a few different parts of town, then they cut to a shot of the reporter standing in front of Gia's apartment complex. Apparently during the storm, some limbs had come off the nearby trees and broken windows in a number of the ground-floor apartments, letting in a bunch of snow.

We didn't mean to snoop on Gia. We honestly and truly didn't. 

We were trying to help - since we didn't know when she'd be getting back from her sudden trip to Italy, we didn't want her to return to a ruined apartment. Maia has a key to her place, and since as far as we knew she wasn't home, we decided to go check on her apartment and make sure it wasn't her window panes that were broken. If it was, we would clear out the snow and the debris and put boards over the windows like the other tenants were doing, so her place wouldn't be totally wrecked before the building super got a chance to fix it.

By this point the roads were pretty well clear but there wasn't much traffic, so we walked over and let ourselves in with Maia's key. The windows weren't broken.

And Gia wasn't in Italy...

We hadn't even thought to question whether she'd really left or not. When we tried phoning and knocking on the door, there was no answer. She had told her boss that she was leaving the country for an undefined absence. Maybe we're naive, but we just assumed she was actually gone.

Gia was in the apartment, huddled in a nest of blankets in the corner of the living room, between the arm of the couch and the wall. She was shaking like she was cold, but the heat was turned all the way up, and she was burning up with a fever. We eventually talked her into letting us look at the bite injury on her arm, and it seemed a lot worse. It was swollen and looked infected. 

She wouldn't tell us what was going on, though - she only answered our questions with a nod or a shake of the head if at all. She refused to let us take her to see a doctor. Fortunately, Gia did agree to come stay with us until she's feeling better, though. We couldn't have forced her, but I couldn't imagine leaving her alone and sick in her empty apartment.

Kiwi and I helped her up the porch steps and into the house. Clare took one look at Gia, and hissed at her. We all stopped what we were doing and froze, shocked.

I've never heard Clare hiss before. Now, Tabitha does that stuff all the time. (Sorry, Tabs, but you do!) Practically whenever she gets frustrated or irritated, or feels remotely threatened, Tabitha will hiss or growl or snarl. It's a new-vampire thing, and Inna says she'll "grow out of it." Clare has been a vampire for over a year now, and she's mostly over those animal-like reactions.

"What was that?" I asked Clare quietly.

Clare shrugged, clearly embarrassed. "I don't know," she said. "I just lost it for a minute. Something about her... I don't know. It's probably nothing."

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I think it must have something to do with Gia's illness. A couple of days ago Gia played games with us, and Clare seemed to have a good time. There was no hissing. Not even any sign of discomfort. The only thing I can think of that has changed are the bite and the fact Gia is sick. Something about that has to have triggered a vampire reaction in Clare.

I'm not sure what will happen now. Gia is sleeping on the couch. Most of us kind of hovering, especially Maia - but Clare and Tabitha are giving her a wide berth, and neither of them can explain why. Marie-Grace and Cécile don't seem to be having a problem, for some reason.

I wonder what's going on? Hopefully when Gia gets better, things will go back to normal.

Love,

Kaya

A Bad End to a Good Evening

Hi, this is Summer with an update on Greens and Roses news. This was a fun evening for our family... well, until the end.

For the past few months, Maia has been dating another teacher who works at the same school where she teaches. Her name is Gia, and she's originally from Italy. We've talked to her when she's met up with Maia at the house, and she seems really nice. Normally the two of them go out a couple of times a week, but things are getting more serious, so Maia invited her over to spend some time with us tonight.

We had a really good time. Gia is really funny, and she's a good cook - she showed Maia how to cook pasta alla carbonara, and the two of them made it for the family. It was really good! I had never had it before, but I really liked it. Gia said she'd come over and show us how to make other Italian dishes in the future, which I'm looking forward to.

After supper, we played games for awhile: Scrabble, Monopoly, and Apples to Apples. Our vampires girls came home for that part; they weren't around during supper because we didn't want to have to make up a story for Gia about why they weren't eating the food. The four of them went pigeon hunting while the rest of us had supper, and we just told her (which wasn't a lie) that they were eating somewhere else tonight.

At some point, if Gia and Maia get married or Gia moves in, we're going to have to tell her about the vampires. For now, we thought it was better to just... not have the subject come up. Cécile, Marie-Grace, Clare, and Tabitha got to join us for the games, which was a good compromise, and we all had fun.

Eventually, it had to end. Gia said she had to go prepare some lesson plans for her classes tomorrow, so she thanked us for having her over, and we thanked her for the carbonara. Then we said our goodnights, and we figured we wouldn't see her again until tomorrow.

Twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang... and rang, and rang, and rang, like someone was leaning against it. Inna and I went to the door, and when we opened it, we found Gia on the porch again. She was pale as a sheet, and her sleeve was ripped to the shoulder. Blood was dripping from a huge bite on her upper arm. She was obviously going into shock, and looked like she could barely stand upright.

Inna immediately went and got her car keys; it was clear we were going to have to drive her to Emergency. Maia and I helped her to the car, and the rest of the girls went next door to stay with the Greens while we were gone. We didn't waste any time driving there - fortunately the hospital is only a few blocks away - but while we were on the way, Maia asked quietly, "What happened?"

I was afraid she was going to say it was a vampire. Or maybe 'some crazy bloodsucking biter person,' since she presumably doesn't know vampires are real. I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do if we were in a small car with a freshly-turned vampire who didn't know she was a vampire. Could that even happen? Could you be a vampire and not know you were one?

We all breathed a sigh of relief, though, when Gia didn't say it was a vampire. She said, "I was attacked by a big dog."

I couldn't help thinking that was the cover story we had used when Kiwi had vampire wounds. Was Gia just not telling us what had happened? There were some dark-coloured animal hairs on her blouse, though, and Inna told me later it didn't look the kind of injury that would be caused by a vampire. I guess it really was a dog.

We weren't at the hospital for very long. There wasn't much of a wait. The doctor cleaned the injury, put in a couple of stitches, and then bandaged it all up. Gia didn't have to stay overnight, so we drove her to her apartment building, made sure she had everything she needed, and then left her to get some rest.

It's unfortunate that our fun evening ended at Emergency. Hopefully next time we have someone over for the evening, it won't finish with a scary random dog bite!

Love,
Summer

Unexpected Properties of the Surprise Gift

Hello, this is Marie-Grace again. As our returning readers may recall, I recently received a surprise gift in the mail. (Getting mail at all is actually rather a surprise for me, given my circumstances.) Although I still don't know who sent it, I do have a little more information now about why it was sent to me.

First of all, a helpful piece of advice: If you find yourself turned into a vampire, Northern Canada is a good choice of place to live. Although we have our sunny days from time to time, for most of the year they are few and far between. Snow, rain, fog, heavy wind, and general greyness are more common than bright days. Here, a vampire can lead a comparatively normal life, sometimes even venturing out in the morning or afternoon.

Today, however, was not one of those days. It was a bright, sunny, nearly cloudless day, with blue sky and only a light breeze blowing. Perfect for the humans, who were eager to run outside and enjoy the weather, and reluctant to spend such an unusually pleasant day stuck in a school classroom. Not so perfect, though, for vampires.

Those of us who were at home today - Cécile, Tabitha, Clare, Kaya, and I - had to be even more careful than usual to keep everything shut tight. Once the heavy drapes were over the window, though, we could spend time in the living room. Clare and Tabitha were working on their home school lessons, Kaya was posting on the forum for one of her online classes, and Cécile and I were doing our long-distance university coursework.

After a hundred and fifty years, the two of us are well past the high school level in our studies... but we can't exactly go get a job because we look so young. (We were turned into vampires when we were twelve, and since modern children are usually larger than children were during our time because of better nutrition, most people these days perceive Cécile and me as only about ten or so.) For a long time, this meant long and boring days, since we don't need to sleep much - but since we've met the Greens and Roses, we've started using the internet, and it has opened up a whole new world for us. For online courses, our age is less of a concern - and more difficult to verify - so we've found a lot of new avenues for learning.

Currently Cécile is doing coursework in botany, and I'm studying African literature. There's so much out there to learn, it'll be quite a long time before we run out of subjects to study!

Today was shaping up to be a fairly ordinary day of study. The five of us like to work in the same room, although we don't really talk because we don't want to distract each other, just for the sake of the company. (Kaya is only with us about half the time; the other days she goes to her co-op classes. Today, though, she was home doing her online coursework.) We were well into our work, and didn't really notice when the dog, April, came into the living room.

We did notice when she started playing with the edge of the drapes, but before anyone could stop her, she had pulled down the whole curtain rod.

Instinctively, the vampires ducked for cover. Kaya - the only one present who wouldn't be burned by the sunlight - tackled me to the floor to shield me, because unlike the others, I was directly in front of the picture window.

I drew in my breath, squeezed my eyes shut, and waited to be burnt to a crisp... but nothing happened.

Kaya helped me to my feet, and looked at me questioningly. I was right in front of the picture window, with sun shining brightly inside, but I wasn't on fire. In fact, I felt completely ordinary. I stood there in shock, albeit relieved shock, as Kaya put the drapes up again and scolded April.

I suggested, "Maybe the sun isn't bright enough to be a problem today," although this seemed pretty unlikely given how it was beaming on us.

Tabitha shook her head, and held up a section of her hair, the ends of which had gotten caught in the light and had been badly singed. Apparently some of the vampires were affected by the sunlight. Just not me.

Why not me?

It hasn't always been this way. About twenty years ago, Cécile and I took a trip to a southern beachfront village, where I got caught out in the sunlight one morning and burned my leg rather badly before I managed to scramble into shelter. It's not that I'm somehow a special vampire who is magically immune to daylight. Today was a change.

I was so startled that I barely noticed something else. Something significant. As the shock wore off, I realized that the necklace around my neck was starting to feel heavier, and although vampire skin isn't warm to the touch anyway, the chain felt downright cold even in comparison to me. I reflexively put my hand to the metal, and it was quite chilly against my fingers. At that point, I finally managed to put two and two together.

The necklace had protected me from the sun.

This still raises a lot of questions, of course. I don't know what property of it protected me, and whether the necklace was that way from the start, or whether something was done to it while it was lost. I still don't know who sent it.

I do know three things, now, that I didn't know before. 1.) We have a way for a vampire to go out in the sun without burning. 2.) Whoever sent it was almost certainly a friend, not an enemy. 3.) And if we can find a few more of them, it would change things a lot for Cécile, Clare, Tabitha, and me.

Love,
Marie-Grace

A Surprise Gift

Hello, this is Marie-Grace. I had a surprise yesterday - something came for me in the mail! This was startling to me, because I don't know who would be sending me something. Most of the people I know live here. I did receive a package, though, wrapped in plain brown paper and with no return address, but with a New Orleans postmark.

Who do I know in New Orleans? Cécile and I are old enough that the people from "our time" have died, and many of those we've met along the way have also aged and died, or have moved on. I actually can't think of anyone back in our former home who might send me a gift.

I opened it, and I was even more puzzled. On the top was a hat. It's white felt, with a pink ribbon - I like it and it'll look nice with my pink dress - but why would someone mail me a hat?

I dug further into the box, and found two more things. One of them was a pretty white and pink floral fan that will match my dress and hat. Again, I like the fan (although I don't know how often I'll have a need to fan myself here in Northern Canada,) but I didn't understand why I'd received it. I started to think maybe it was just random. A lot of people have pink dresses, so maybe it was just a coincidence that it matched. Maybe I was selected by chance to receive a gift.

Then I found the final item in the box, and I realized it wasn't random at all. The last thing was a necklace... my necklace! I lost it back in New Orleans more than a hundred and fifty years ago, and I thought I'd never see it again. I'm happy to have it back.

I must admit, though, I'm a little taken aback, too. Who would send this to me? How do they know where I live now? Why did they send it? And... do they know why I'm still alive after all this time? It's nice to get a gift, but I admit I'm a little concerned where it will lead.

Love,
Marie-Grace

Dancing in the Woods

Hi, this is Bree. The past weekend was a fun one for me. The highlight was that we went to the park on Saturday for a Christmas tree lighting. That's an annual tradition here, I guess - although this is my first winter holiday season here, so I haven't been to one before. There are choirs and bands who perform carols, and some sing along songs, and then at the end someone lights the main tree, and all the trees around the pond light up too. It was very pretty. Chilly, of course, since it's December, but the snow was only in patches, and the event gave out free hot chocolate, which helped us stay warm.

We got there early, shortly before dark, so mid-afternoon. While we were waiting, several of us wandered off to "explore" the park. It's pretty safe there, and it gave us something to do... plus walking around doesn't make it feel as cold as just standing there does.

Fiona and I went exploring together. I've known her longer than anyone else in the family because she's my biological sister (even though we didn't really live together very much before we moved here,) and we haven't spent much time just the two of us lately. It's fun to spend time with our new sisters, too, but this felt like old times, which is nice every once in awhile.

We went across the bridge and took the path that leads into the woods. No one else was really around, because most people had gathered for the tree lighting. Suddenly, Fiona pointed deeper into the woods, and said, "Hey, look at that!"

We saw lights through the woods, and shadows moving back and forth, so we got curious, and we left the path - following the sounds of laughter and singing - and found a ring of white stones. To my surprise, there were people gathered there, although it was hard to see them clearly because it was starting to get dark. They didn't look like they were dressed for the cold, but they seemed happy. I guess they were warm because most of them were dancing.

One of them grabbed my hand, and one grabbed Fiona's, and they pulled us into dancing with them. Now, normally I'm not much of a dancer. I'm pretty coordinated, but I'm just not graceful about it. I'm better at stuff like running, rather than artistic movement. Somehow I was able to keep up, though, and Fiona, the actual dancer, was in her element. I was totally breathless and couldn't stop smiling.

Finally, I said, "We should go get the rest of the family! They'd love this!" Fiona agreed, and we went to find our other sisters - and as it turned out, also Cécile and Marie-Grace, who had found them by the pond. It was getting pretty dark when we all met up. They followed us back to the clearing where we danced, and...

Nothing.

No music. No dancing. No one there, and no sign anyone had been there. Not even the ring of rocks. I couldn't believe it.

Kirsten said she thought we were lying, and was very irritated to have walked all that way. Kaya was more reasonable, and said we'd probably just gotten confused about where we were because it had gotten darker, and the dancing had probably really happened somewhere else in the woods. This seemed logical, since I obviously knew I wasn't lying, but it didn't seem quite right, either. There was a really recognizable double-bowed tree right by the path, so I had a landmark that I was in the right place. I just didn't know how else to explain it.

As we were walking back, Evelyn said, "Maybe it was the fairies!" Everyone kind of laughed, but... once she said that, I started thinking about it, and it made sense. What happened is just like some of the old fairy legends. Now I don't know what to think.

If vampires, shapeshifters, and strange powers exist... could fairies be real, too?

Love,
Bree

An awkward (but still fun) visit

Hi, blog friends. This is Kaya. As I mentioned in a reply to a comment on another post, our new friends came to visit us after tonight's Nutcracker rehearsal. It's easy to have people over after dance because our house is only about two blocks away from the dance school, so we just walked here after practice ended. It's getting dark here by late-afternoon this time of year, but it's still a pretty safe walk, especially at such a short distance.

Cécile and Marie-Grace seemed happy to visit, although they were a little shy. I think they don't get invited to people's houses very often. Unfortunately, as soon as I turned my key in the lock and let them in, Tabitha started freaking out. She's used to the family coming and going, but we weren't sure how she was going to handle a guest.

It was even worse than Halloween. Tabitha's room is in the basement of the Rose house, but we live in row houses so we only have interior walls between us. Cécile and Marie-Grace heard everything... including Tabitha ripping her bed apart and throwing pieces of it at the wall. They obviously weren't quite sure what to do.

I wasn't sure either, honestly. I'm used to Tabitha, but Tabs doesn't usually cross paths with "civilians." Was I supposed to joke about it? Explain? (Which would have to be a lie. I can't tell our guests, "Oh, that's just one of our vampires.") Should I apologize? Pretend it wasn't happening?

I went for a brief vague apology, followed by pretending it wasn't happening. Fiona followed my lead, but she kept glancing anxiously at the wall that separates the two houses, as if she was afraid Tabitha was going to burst through at any second. I was... not unconcerned about that possibility, too. Clare was out hunting, so at least we didn't have two of them to worry about. Since Clare is more used to being a vampire, she's in better control and has more options for that kind of stuff; we can't let Tabitha hunt alone in the city, but Clare can control herself well enough to stick to rats instead of humans.

Weirdness aside, we actually had a fun time. Cécile and Marie-Grace said they'd already eaten, and apparently they have a bunch of food allergies, so they didn't want anything to eat, but we all had some herbal tea. We talked about dance, and the places we've visited, and what their lives were like in New Orleans. They didn't say anything about their family, though, so I'm not really sure who they live with. When it was time for them to go, they walked home, so I'm not even positive where they live... although they did mention what street, and it's not far from here.

By the time we had finished our tea, some of my other sisters had joined us, and we played Scrabble and listened to music. (Cécile won the game.) Marie-Grace taught us some old-fashioned ballroom dance steps she had learned back in New Orleans. Not all of my sisters are very wonderful dancers - I thought Kirsten was going to sprain something - but we had a good laugh and it was a lot of fun.

Finally it got late for a school night, and Marie-Grace and Cécile had to say goodnight. (Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, so tomorrow is just a regular school Thursday for us.) It was a fun time, in spite of the weirdness with Tabitha.

Speaking of Tabitha, she totally destroyed her room - especially her bed, which is now in small pieces. At this point, she's being nonverbal again, although she stopped being aggressive once the girls left. Inna says Tabitha will snap out of it; actually Inna thinks Tabitha is over whatever happened, and is just being silent because she's too embarrassed to talk about it. I hope she doesn't feel too bad. I like it better when Tabitha is happy, and it's not her fault she's still struggling with being a vampire.

The weather probably didn't help. We're supposed to get a big snowstorm tomorrow. (I wonder if we'll get a little "holiday" from school after all?) Can vampires sense the weather like wild animals can? It's not a very flattering comparison, but I should ask Clare anyway. It would be interesting to know.

Oh! I also got another letter from my penpal in Nunvavut today. I found out she's a foster kid like I was; I wonder if they matched us up on purpose because of that. She told me more about her school and her activities, and it turns out she likes dance also. She also likes animals. I'm going to write her back about Nutcracker.

Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers who celebrate it, and Happy Thursday to the rest! :-)

Love,
Kaya

P.S. We've decided to use our little cartoons of ourselves in posts we write so it's easier for our readers to remember which one of us is talking. Hopefully it won't be confusing! Group posts won't have a picture, but individual posts will.

P.P.S. Happy Birthday, Inky! :-)

Recovery

Hi, this is Kaya.

Well, life goes on. Even after something really scary, like the accident with Kiwi and Tabitha.

Kiwi is feeling better today. She's still really sore, and her cheek and nose are really swollen. She's still having trouble with her eye. Surgery is looking like a certainty. Kiwi is taking pain meds, though, and using ice, so she seems pretty cheerful. Especially when we watched Labyrinth with her.

Tabitha feels really, really awful. We all feel bad when we see her, because she looks so dejected. She keeps apologizing to Kiwi - even though Kiwi forgave her - and seems surprised Kiwi even still wants to see her. All day, Tabitha has been doing her best to make Kiwi feel better. Once the sun set she even went in the kitchen and baked cookies for her, even though she couldn't taste any of it herself. We didn't even know Tabitha could cook; we've never seen her do anything around the house. I think she's really trying to turn over a new leaf... and find some humanity. We all wish her well.

For the rest of us, things are kind of back to normal again.

Felicity and Josefina are preparing for the French language oral exams they have every semester. They spend a lot of time chatting away to each other, and the rest of us sort of understand.

Fiona and I are thinking a lot about Nutcracker for ballet - we find out our roles on Monday. I'm pretty sure I'll get something because pretty much all the pointe students are in it. There aren't as many of us, and we have more experience, so I'll probably get cast. I hope it's something good! Fiona isn't sure if she'll get a role, because there are a lot more kids in her age group, and most of her class has studied longer than she has. She also thinks her teacher doesn't like her. She's not sure she'll even be in the show. I think she will, though. She's a good dancer and she works hard. Day after tomorrow, we'll find out!

And yet as always lately, our life is a balance between the mundane and the weird. Day-to-day, it's pretty normal for us. We live just like many other kids our age.  There are some shadows hanging over us. Some scary things still unresolved.

1.) We don't know where the bad feral vampires that kidnapped Kiwi and are trying to kill Clare are. After the last incident, Inna tried to track them down, but couldn't find them. They're still out there. That is worrisome.

2.) The vampire hunters who also wanted Clare dead got kicked out of Canada and aren't supposed to come back. They were after Tabitha when we found her in Pennsylvania, though, so they have even more reason to want to get to us if they figure out where she is. What if they hear about what happened to Kiwi and think Tabitha is an urgent danger? What if they sneak across the border and come back?

3.) The people who keep threatening Inna. We don't know who the are. Whether they're more vampires, or humans, or what. We do know Inna is scared of them... and Inna isn't scared of much, not even ordinary bad vampires. Whatever has her spooked has to be really bad.

So that's life. Kiwi is recovering. I guess we're all recovering - Kiwi was the only one who got hurt, but it was really scary and upsetting for all of us. Tabitha is still trying to get over her guilt. Yeah, we're all still getting better. But I think we're going to be okay.

Love,
Kaya

How We Rescued Kiwi

"What you've got to do is finish what you have begun.

I don't know just how, but it's not over till you've won..." 

- The Secret Garden Musical, "Hold On"

Hey, this is Bree, yet again. My sisters figured I should be the one to finish the story, since I was the one who filled you in on the beginning and the middle. I'm glad to report, so you don't need to worry anymore - it had a happy ending! Kiwi is home safely.

After we got the last letter, all we could do was wait. I read a few blogs and commented on them, because I was trying to be as normal as possible, but it was never far from any of our minds where Kiwi was, and how much danger she was in.

As it got closer to nightfall, we started trying to prepare ourselves. At first, Blakeney said none of us kids could go, but then eventually she considered our chances and relented a little and said no one under age fifteen could. Inna sharpened some stakes, and the rest of us thought about how we could use our individual powers and skills to help Kiwi.

The plan went like this: Maia would change into cat form, and scout the area. Once she figured out they where they were holding Kiwi, the others would create a diversion and/or actually fight off the vampires if necessary, while I dashed in with my awesome speed (which is apparently my special gift,) grab Kiwi and run. Once I signaled that I had her, we'd all get out of there as fast as we could.

Of course, there was one obvious downside to that. The vampires would come back, eventually, and try again, even if we got away. I'm not big on killing people or anything, but I very cautiously asked about a more permanent solution.

Inna got a very steely look in her eyes, and said that once Kiwi was safe, she would go take care of it. I wasn't scared of her, because you know... it's Inna. She's basically my sister. At that moment, though? I was glad I wasn't on the other side.

As we got ready to go, we tried to work up our morale. Blakeney gave us all a pep talk. Then Kirsten started singing rousing songs from Les Miserables to try to get us in the mood... till I kind of put a damper on things by reminding her how that story turned out. Les Mis is not a plotline I hoped to emulate! Kirsten pouted a little, but she got the point and switched to The Scarlet Pimpernel, a much better example of heroism that actually paid off.

We got to the park as the sun was setting. Maia went behind a tree (the clothes thing) and turned into her cat form, then she came out and we all petted her for good luck. She took off into the night. Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen. Inna and Blakeney started to get ansty. The park isn't that big. Was something wrong? At the twenty minute mark, Maia came back. She turned back into human form, and told us the vampires were in the brick gazebo at the centre of the park.

This was not entirely surprising. If I was going to pick a place to defend in the park, it would be there. The shelter is solid, the sides are steep, and it's surrounded by a wide grassy space with no trees, so it would be difficult for us to sneak up. We were definitely going to need that diversion.

Luckily, three of my sisters have pretty flashy powers. Josefina lit a pile of leaves on fire. Molly started making sheets of ice, then Kirsten would concentrate and shatter them. I'm not sure what the vampires thought was going on, but from where I was standing, it sounded like a huge battle. I was sure they would go investigate.

I needed to wait till they were out of the way... but not too long, in case they came back. I counted to ten, then dashed in. The gazebo was mostly empty. There was one of those pet carriers, which I figured Kiwi must be in. Poor thing! Unfortunately, there was also a vampire still standing guard - and the difference between one vampire and none is fairly significant.

I took a deep breath and psyched myself up. Be brave, Bree. Be fast! Before I had time to think about how suicidally insane what I was about to do was, I took off at a run toward the gazebo and pounded up the steps, keeping my eyes on the the pet carrier. Luckily for me, the vampire was startled. I think he would have expected someone to run away from him, not toward him. He didn't react fast enough. I didn't stop running; I grabbed the carrier and vaulted over the low rear wall. I said a quick "Oof!" as I took the impact in my knees, but there was no time to stop, and thank goodness I didn't fall. 

I ran all the way to the park entrance, still holding onto cat-form Kiwi in the carrier. Luckily she's the size of a normal cat. I didn't have time to stop and let her out, and I'm not sure she could have kept up with me. When I was close to the boundary of the park, I started whistling "Into the Fire," the song from The Scarlet Pimpernel that we'd used to psyche ourselves up. That was the signal.

It wasn't long before I heard running feet. The others looked pretty tense and exhausted, but they were all still okay. Inna and Clare were the last; they were holding off the vampires. Unfortunately, one of the vampires was still following them, and gaining on them.

At that moment, we discovered Felicity's power. She later told us she didn't know why, but she yelled, "Just settle down!" at the vampire... and he stopped, confused. So that is how she stops our arguments all the time! She knows how to make us calm down!

There was no time to stop and talk. We ran to Inna's station wagon, let Kiwi out of the carrier, and piled in. Inna drove like a crazy person - but she always does that, even when we aren't running from anything. 

Once we were on our way, I turned to Felicity. "That's really cool!" I told her, still kind of panting from my run.

Felicity looked very proud of herself. "You guys helped me figure it out, with all your bickering," she joked.

"You're welcome!" I replied, and stuck out my tongue.

It didn't take us long to get home. Kiwi hadn't cried the whole time she was being held captive, but when she was safe she finally did. She was really really scared, both for herself and for Clare, and she was tired of being in a tiny cage. She's okay, though, and happy to be home.

So that was our "adventure." Everyone is safe. For now, at least...

School starts next week. It would be okay for life to be boring for awhile. :-)

Love, 

Bree

Missing

Kiwi, Charissa, Evelyn, and Fiona were playing hide and seek in the neighbourhood this afternoon, even though it was cold, rainy, and the sky was full of clouds. (Sometimes you just have to seize the day and play anyway. Waiting for good weather can mean waiting awhile, here.) They had fun for awhile, but then they couldn't find Kiwi at all. Finally they had to give up. They figured she'd get bored of hiding and come inside... but she never came home.

We thought she was just joking around, but it's dark now. That would be taking a practical joke too far, especially given some of the stuff we've dealt with the last few months. She's never done this before.

We told the police, and we're going out looking for her ourselves. Hopefully Kiwi just isn't thinking or got mad at us or something. But we can't help thinking about the "last warning" note we got from the vampires demanding Clare. What if they kidnapped Kiwi to try for a trade?

We're really worried! Hopefully Kiwi will come home soon...

Love,
The Greens and the Roses

Crash

Hi, this is Felicity.

Kirsten and Bree had driver's ed this afternoon. They left after lunch, in their usual manner... bickering about which of them is a better driver. (Bree totally is, but Kirsten is stubborn.) They were teasing each other even as the door shut behind them and they went to catch the city bus to the school where the class is held.

Normally they come home at 4:00, but there was no sign of them. Sometimes they miss the bus and have to catch the next one, but there was no sign at 4:30 either. 5:00 rolled around, and we thought they might have decided to go somewhere after class and forgot to call, but we were starting to get really worried. Our guardian was reaching for the phone at 5:07 to call the school and try to track them down, when it rang. It was Kirsten, and she wasn't calling from class, or from the mall, or from anywhere she and Bree might hang out. She was calling from the hospital.

Kirsten told us that another car came out of nowhere, crashed into the side of the driver's ed car, and then drove off. The cars they choose for the program are like tanks, so neither our sisters nor the instructor were hurt, but the police took them to the hospital just to make sure nothing was wrong. They were pretty shaken up - especially Bree because it was her turn behind the wheel at the time and it hit her side - but they weren't physically harmed.

Obviously we went straight over to the hospital. Kirsten and Bree had to finish giving a statement to the police, but then we were allowed to take them home. They were really relieved the whole thing was over, although Bree is still kind of trembling even now.

Up till the point we got home, we were assuming it was just random. I mean, accidents happen when you drive. Once we were at the house, though, Bree quietly informed us that the people in the car that hit them were the vampire hunters she tried to send on a wild goose chase to Vancouver to protect Clare. Apparently they weren't very appreciative of the detour, to put it mildly. At least it bought Clare some peace.

Knowing this made the whole thing even scarier. Apparently the mean people are really angry now. We're worried about Bree (and the rest of us too, really) if they try to take more revenge. But we're also worried this is going to undermine all the progress we've made with Clare, if she thinks the risks to us have gotten too high.

For tonight, everything is alright. Now we just need to figure out what happens next...

Love,
Felicity

On the porch with Summer

Hi, this is Felicity. I decided that today was the day I was going to talk to our neighbour Summer about what I saw. I was pretty nervous. I didn't want to upset her or make her think I was spying on her or anything. But I also feel like not talking to her was making a rift form between us. She seemed more distant from me than she used to be, and it happened really abruptly that day, so I'm sure it was the cause. I wanted to sort things out before the problem got worse.

I saw her out on the deck, and I went across to talk to her. I sat on the chair next to her without being invited, and she looked nervous, but she couldn't exactly tell me to go away without being really rude. So she just tolerated me, and waited to see what would happen.

I took a deep breath and said, "Summer, I wanted to talk to you about a couple of days ago."

She shrugged and looked out into the yard, watching the birds.

I went on, "I want you to know that it doesn't matter to me if there's stuff that's... different... about you. We can still be friends. You can trust me. Whatever it is, I don't mind. Neither do my sisters."

"Sometimes I'm a cat," Summer said, sounding semi-sarcastic, but glancing up at me through her lashes, waiting for me to react. If I'd scoffed or acted freaked out, I'm pretty sure she would have passed it off as a weird joke.

"I figured. Cat-you reminds me of regular-you. It's okay. Really." I smiled reassuringly. "Have you always been able to turn into a cat? Can you control it?"

She nodded. "Yes. To both. I have to change at least every once in awhile, but I can decide when. Kiwi and Maia can change too."

"Can Inna?"

"No, she's... different. When Kiwi is a cat, she looks like a little tiger. Maia has spots; she's like a cheetah."

"That's really neat!" I said enthusiastically.

Summer shrugged. "You don't think it's weird?"

"No, it's great. I wish I could do that!"

She shook her head. "You shouldn't. It's caused a lot of trouble for us. Did you know me and Kiwi have been adopted twice?"

I was surprised. "No, how did that happen?"

Summer looked out into the yard again, and it was hard to hear her. "We weren't always in the same family. Kiwi was adopted from China when she was a toddler. I'm not from overseas; I was born in Toronto. I was in foster care when I was a baby, and a family adopted me pretty quickly. Neither family kept us, though. It was too much trouble to deal with... what we are."

"That's so horrible!" I said, instantly sympathetic.

She shrugged. "Kiwi barely remembers the people who adopted her. They only kept her a couple of months. I stayed with mine till I was seven, though. Eventually they both decided to get rid of us. Kiwi was a Canadian citizen by then, and I always was, so we ended up in foster care in this country. Another family was going to adopt Kiwi when she was in kindergarten, but they decided not to after they'd had her for awhile and made a lot of promises to her. It hurts her more than it hurts me. I've had more time to get over it."

"So Maia got custody of you both?"

"Yeah. She was our foster sister, and she recognized that we were like her. She and Inna are wonderful sisters to us. I'm glad things worked out the way they did. But..."

"But you've lost a lot because of this secret?" I suggested.

"Yeah. I just want to have a regular life, with... friends."

I smiled. "Well, you have friends! You have all of us, for one thing! This doesn't change anything."

Summer didn't say anything. She gave me a relieved smile, though... and she isn't being weird with us anymore. I think talking about it really did help after all.

Love,
Felicity

Amber is the Colour

"Brainstorm, take me away from the norm 

I've got to tell you something 

This phenomenon, I had to put it in a song 

And it goes like

Whoa, amber is the color of your energy 

Whoa, shades of gold displayed naturally..." - 311, "Amber" 

Hi, this is Felicity. For some reason I woke up really early this morning, and I couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to make a cup of tea and sit out on the porch. The sun was already up, but it was low in the sky, and the birds were starting to sing.

I saw a cat in the neighbours' yard. It was chasing the birds, but more playfully... not like to really catch and eat them. More like teasing them. I found it odd because our neighbours don't have any pets as far as we know. We've been in their house on a pretty much daily basis and there was never a cat.

The cat also looked kind of strange. It was really big for a domestic cat! It wasn't fat, though, it was sleek and muscular. It also had lovely amber fur, almost like a tiny lion. What a beautiful cat!

I watched for awhile, then the wind shifted and the cat caught a whiff of me. It got scared, and ran under their deck. As it was going, though, it glanced up at me. The cat had amber eyes. 

Eyes I recognized.

The same eyes as our neighbour, Summer.

I thought it was kind of weird, and not really thinking about it, I muttered "Summer" under my breath. The cat tilted its head and looked at me, like I'd called its name. Then it crossed under the deck, climbed the fence, and circled toward the street.

I know it sounds like I'm making a big deal out of nothing, but it kind of unsettled me. I figured I was just making up a resemblance. All day, though, Summer wouldn't meet my eyes. She was acting really embarrassed, like I'd stumbled onto something she considered private. As much as possible, she avoided me. That's not like her. 

Then after awhile, Maia made a comment about how she'd gotten up too early for a vacation day... and without thinking, Summer commented, "Felicity was up even earlier than you." How did she know that? I didn't see anyone awake except the amber-eyed cat.

Our life was so ordinary till recently. Now there are vampires and secret powers and... could Summer be some kind of were-cat? 

Love,

Felicity

Finding Clare and (Sort of...) Fighting Vampires

This is Josefina. :-)

The good news is, we found Clare, and she's alive. She's currently in our house, taking a shower. This time we're a lot more wary that she might bolt, but there's no access to outside from the bathroom, so she'd have to walk past us. Not like we could probably stop her if she really wanted to go, but at least we'd know she was leaving.

The bad news is, it's becoming more and more obvious why Clare ran. Those human would-be vampire hunters? Not the only ones who want her blood. And I don't mean that in the harmless vampire fun way, I mean in the wanting her dead sense.

Here's the whole play-by-play of what happened:

In which things get more complicated and Lilly wins the guessing game

Hi, friends! This is Kaya.

So, you're not going to believe this. Like literally, NOT going to. I'm still not 100% sure I do. But...

It's looking like Lilly was right, in the comments she made. About... well, almost everything.

This afternoon, the sun was out, and our family went to the carnival that has come to the city for the week. We rode a few rides, had hot dogs, popcorn, and cotton candy, and played games to win stupid prizes. Yeah, we spent way too much of our allowance, but it was fun.

When we got home, we decided to go see Clare. I guess Charissa wasn't really thinking about the fact that we were early and she should really knock, because the shed is at least temporarily Clare's home. She didn't remember. She just threw open the door.

The sun was low in the sky, but it wasn't dark yet. Clare dived out of the way of the light that came in through the door, but we could see what she was doing. She was eating - or drinking, really. Blood.

It wasn't a person. It was a rat. Still, it was very unsettling. It was also the first time that Clare has seemed scared of us, not just scared about the situation. It was the most surreal moment of my life so far.

Clare is a vampire.

At least... you know... seemingly. She begged us not to tell anyone, and now the situation is more complicated. She's not just a runaway who needs some good therapy. She's a supernatural creature of the night. We're still kind of getting used to this whole thing.

It also begs the question - who scared her this badly? Other vampires? We may need to sharpen the stakes and ready the garlic.

~Kaya