Page 17 of Incandescence

I clicked on the link and read the passage of information with a quickening pulse.

Critics mock the claims of once-distinguished academic Doctor Lester Newry, who believes vampires and the supernatural world actually exist. Those same beliefs have forced him into early retirement. But he stands firm on the subject and has safeguarded his house against the ‘blood sucking predators’.

There wasn’t much more to the article, but excitement filled me even as I clicked on the directory listings of anyone named Newry. There was no Lester recorded, but there were two others with the same surname who I hoped were family and who’d give me Lester’s phone number for my troubles.

Scribbling them on my wrist, I then counted my change and walked back outside for the nearest public phone, Alexander right by my side. We strode three blocks before we found one. Again, I wished for my cell phone, and that the convenience of everyone having one hadn’t almost made public phone booths extinct.

I pushed in some change before pressing the numbers and turning to Alexander, who waited outside. He peered up at the sky like a man constantly glancing at his watch. I frowned. I knew time was a precious commodity, and contacting Lester was a long shot, but it had to be better that than running all our lives.

The money clattered and a voice answered. “Hello, Amy speaking.”

I swallowed any further anxieties and doubts, and put on my best friendly voice. “Hi, Amy, this is...Sally. I was a student of Lester’s and wondered if you might know how I could get into contact with him.”

I almost felt Amy’s tension leaking down the airwaves. “Oh, my god. Please tell me my father’s not brainwashing yet another student with his supernatural theories?”

I forced a chuckle out of my sandpaper-dry throat. If only Amy knew! “No, far from it.” My brain whirled. I needed to evade the truth and quickly, before Amy decided I was as deluded as her father and disconnected the call. “If you could give me his number—”

“He doesn’t have a phone. He’s hidden away in his little apartment with his cats and his research. Little wonder my sister ran away.” She sighed in disgust. “Look, if you really want to contact him, you’ll have to go see him. Don’t expect him to answer the door, though.”

After she’d rattled off the address and hung up, I leaned my brow against the phone booth glass with a soft exhalation. My eyes involuntarily looked skyward. We really were running out of time.

“Maya, is everything okay?”

I turned and stepped outside. “I have his address.” I smiled. With all but a couple of dollars left, luck was shining on us. “It won’t be any more than a twenty-minute walk.”

He frowned. “In twenty minutes the vampire will be waking from his nest.”

I resisted shuddering and instead nodded, saying briskly. “Then we’ll get there in ten.”

Chapter Ten

Alexander

Though the sun wassinking slowly down the sky, its brightness hidden by big buildings, I couldn’t help but appreciate every second of being free.

The world was a vastly different place from the one I’d known, and seeing it from up high had given no perspective to how crowded and advanced human society had become.

---