You Were What You Eat

29. The Chase

Just before dusk, Anna walked up an unfamiliar street, scanning the houses as she went. The houses in this neighborhood were all two stories and separated by tall hedges instead of the customary fences that Anna was used to. They were set farther back from the street than most of the homes Anna'd seen, and she had a little difficulty finding the addresses on some of them. A torn piece of notebook paper in her hand had Carmine's address scribbled on it, and Anna kept glancing down at it for reference. She was almost to the very end of the street when she finally spotted the house she was looking for. It was a nice stucco one that had been painted a light beige color. Slowly, Anna started walking up the driveway towards the front door.

Anna stepped up onto the porch and knocked on the door. Within a few moments, the door was opened – by Mia.

"Hi. Come in – Carmine's almost ready." Her face darkened a little as she added, "I'm not really sure what she's doing though..."

Mia stepped back from the door, and Anna followed her through the house and into the kitchen. Carmine's schoolbooks were sitting in a messy pile on the table. The pantry doors were open, and Anna could see the crown of Carmine's head over the top. Carmine shut the pantry door, and Anna saw she had her backpack in one hand and a box of fruit snacks in the other. When she saw Anna she smiled a little sheepishly.

"Last night," she explained, "I got really hungry. If tonight's going to be anything like that, I'm going to want a few snacks."

Carmine saw the look of mild annoyance on Mia's face and told her, "Hey – it's not like I'm only packing food! I've got binoculars and garlic just in case."

Mia grudgingly accepted this, but was left in shocked surprise when Carmine added with a gleam in her eye, "Besides, all this food isn't just for me – you can have some, too."

The look on Mia's face was priceless. Anna laughed out loud as Mia protested, "But that's not the point!"

It clearly hadn't occurred to Mia that Carmine's packing could have any kind of selfless gestures in it – she'd only seen it as Carmine taking forever to get ready.

Anna thought about what Carmine had said and was fairly impressed. Carmine had good planning – especially considering the fact that she hadn't even wanted to go on this trip. And it hadn't occurred to Anna before Carmine had said something that staying up all night without really doing anything could make someone hungry. Anna was glad she never got hungry.

Carmine walked around the kitchen, pulling out various drawers and throwing a few more things into her backpack. A few minutes later, she was finally ready. The three of them walked out to the backyard.

Both Carmine and her parents were fairly active, so they had a few bikes outside that were in good shape. The girls had already decided in advance that they would ride the bikes over to Fredrick's house so they could get there as soon as possible.

Carmine lived about twelve blocks from Fredrick's house, so they set off as fast as they could. The sun had slipped almost completely below the horizon by the time they left. Anna knew they had to hurry; she didn't want to miss what could be her last chance to convince Carmine that Fredrick and Jacqueline were the dangerous vampires she'd been looking for. And if Carmine didn't believe them, then where would they be?

They turned right onto Fredrick's street. Without saying a word to each other, they all slowed. None of them wanted to be noticed, especially since they wouldn't actually be going into any of the houses when they stopped. If they were noticed by some nosy neighbor, things could get ugly – at this point, any attention was bad attention. They went slower and slower with every house they passed, and by the time they were in front of Fredrick's house, they were all but crawling. Anna's bike started to wobble with the lack of speed, and she had to get off to keep from falling over. Carmine and Mia followed suit. They walked their bikes up to the driveway and looked at each other. Mia pointed to the spot where they would be spending the night – at the side of the house where they'd been stationed the night before and the night before that.