Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 35

It occurred to me that I'd be smart to know what Jason Rosser looked like, in order to avoid him, but I had the strong feeling that it wouldn't be a very good idea to ask Eve for a peak at the family album. Eve was pretty touchy just now about anything to do with her brother.

So I went researching. Not the university library, which didn't really have a lot of info about Morganville itself. I'd checked. There was some history, all carefully blanded down, and some newspaper archives.

But there was a Morganville Historical Society. I found the address in the phone book, studied the map, and calculated the time it would take to walk there. If I hustled, I could get there, find what I needed, and still make it to my noon class.

I showered, dressed in blue jeans and a black knit top - one of my thrift shop buys - and grabbed my backpack on the way to the door. I set myself into a blistering pace once I hit the sidewalks, heading away from the university and into the unexplored guts of Morganville. I had a map with me which was handy, because as soon as I was out of sight of the Glass House, things became confusing. For having been master planned, Morganville was not exactly logical in the way the streets ran. There were cul-de-sacs, dead ends, lots of unlit deserted areas.

But then again, maybe that was logical, from a vampires planning perspective. Even in the hot beat sunlight, I shuddered at that idea, and moved faster past a street that ended in deserted field. It even smelt of old decay, the ugly smell of dead things left to rot in the heat.

The residential areas of Morganville were old, mostly run down, parched and beaten by summer. It was bound to get cooler soon, but for now, Indian summer was broiling the Texas landscape. Cicadas sang in full dental drill whines in the grass and trees, and there was a smell of dust and hot metal in the wind. Of all the places to find vampires, this was pretty much the last thing to expect.

The next street was my turn, according to the map. I made it, stopped in the shade of a live oak tree, and took a couple of drinks from my water bottle as I considered how much further I had to walk.

The street dead-ended. I came to a stop, drowning, and checked; nope; according to the map, it went all the way through. I sighed in frustration and started to turn back to retrace my path, then hesitated when I saw a narrow passage between two fences. It looked like it went though to the next street.

Lose ten minutes or take a chance. I'd always been the lose ten minutes kind of girl, the prudent one, but maybe living in the Glass House had corrupted me. Besides, it was hot as hell out here. I headed for the gap between the fences.

"I wouldn't do that, child" said a voice. It was coming from the deep shadow of a porch, on a house to my right. It looked better cared for than most houses in Morganville - freshly painted in a light sea blue, some brick trim, a neatly kept yard.

I squinted and shaded my eyes, and finally saw a tiny bird like old lady seated on a porch swing. She was as brown as a twig, with drifting pale hair like dandelion fuzz, and since she was dressed in a soft green sundress that hung on her like a bag, she looked like nothing so much as a wood spirit, something out of the old story books. The voice, though, was pure warm southern honey.

I backed up hastily from the entrance to the passageway. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I don't mean to trespass"

The tiny little thing cackled. "Oh, no, child, you're not trespassin. You're being a fool. You never heard of ant lions? Or trap door spiders? Well, you walk down that path, you won't be coming out the other side. Not this world"

I felt a pure cold bolt of panic, followed by a triumphant crow from the prudent side of my brain. "But it's day time?"

"So it is" the old woman said, and rocked gently back and forth in her swing. "So it is. Day don't always protect you round Morganville. You should know that, too. Now, go back the way you came like a food child, and don't come here again"