Families Read online

  “I know that,” I said even though I didn’t really know that. But I really should have known that.

  She looked at me. “Could the thing disguised as you, mimic your powers?”

  I nodded. “Apparently so. They said they didn’t really see it, but it moved at blur speed, so it must have been a vampire and they assumed it was me.”

  “How do they know it wasn’t another vampire like your mom?” Ruby asked.

  “Because apparently, they heard my voice taunting them as I was hurting them…"

  “In other words, you were being set up. Of course, it could also have been another vampire, right?” Ruby asked, looking at Aunt Mika and Ms. Anna.

  “Obviously, it could be,” Aunt Mika said. “But the only other vampire around is Liza, and she’s at the North Pole. Plus, she wouldn’t set up her own daughter.”

  “What about Grandma Jasmine?” Frank asked.

  “That is possible,” I said slowly.

  My Grandma Jasmine can be a bit of a loon. She loves testing me. Maybe she did have something to do with this.

  Anna nodded. “While that is possible, I’ve heard rumors that a new vampire family has moved into town.”

  “What?” Aunt Mika said. “Why haven’t I heard this?”

  “It’s only a rumor, but it might have happened. We have a new student starting school tomorrow. Her name is Adra Anagal. Her family could be from the Indian line of vampires. Many people believe vampires began in India.”

  “Well it looks like I’d better get to know this Adra then,” I said.

  Ruby looked at her phone. "Well, that's weird. She doesn't have an Instagram or a Snapchat account.”

  “She must be a monster!” Frank said.

  Nina Note: Okay, I was mad - really mad! I did not like the idea at all of somebody pretending to be me. And they were stirring up trouble with the dark mummies. I had to track down who or whatever this was. I needed to stop them before they caused more problems for my friends and even my enemies. It was hard enough being a vampire and trying to encourage others to trust you. Vampires had a bad rap in the media. I had worked hard to change that perception. I had made progress. Still, it wouldn’t take much to turn people against me.

  The good news was that I had my friends and family by my side. They were my team. I knew they always had my back, no matter what. That made me feel really good.

  Now, could this new girl who I hadn’t even met yet, be a vampire? And even if she was, why would she try to ruin my reputation with the dark mummies and make me look bad? Suddenly, I couldn’t wait for school on Monday. I would definitely be doing some investigating!

  Chapter 2: The Poo Bomb

  On Monday morning, Aunt Mika gave Ruby, Jimmy, Frank, and I a ride to school. It felt weird to be anxious about arriving at school. I wanted to see this Adra and scope her out. Could she be a vampire? If she was, why was she trying to give me a bad image?

  “Do you think this Adra is a vampire?” I asked Aunt Mika.

  “Anna seems to think there is a good possibility,” Aunt Mika said.

  Looking at Jimmy, I asked, “What does your vampire hunting gut tell you?”

  “And has your mom said anything?” Frank added. “After all, she is NOT a fan of vampires!”

  Jimmy sat back in his seat. He popped his hands behind his head. “That’s the weird thing. My mom did say that a new girl is coming to school. Ms. Elena’s group has invited her parents to work with their group. Mom seems excited. Which, like I said, is weird. Not a lot makes my mom excited.”

  “Hopefully, you will figure that out when you meet her,” Aunt Mika said. “And even if she is a vampire that doesn’t mean she’s the one who attacked the dark mummies.”

  “True, dark mummies probably have a LOT of enemies!” Jimmy replied.

  Ruby stared out the back window. She seemed to be focused on something. She pointed up to the sky. “Now, that is weird,” she said slowly.

  “What?” I asked glancing in the direction Ruby pointed.

  “The sky is filled with birds,” Ruby said.

  Frank laughed. "Well yeah, that's because birds can fly. I mean…come on Ruby; you are super smart, you should know this stuff!"

  “I mean there are a LOT of birds up there! BIG birds!” Ruby sounded very concerned.

  “You mean they are yellow and like Big Bird on Sesame Street?” Frank asked.

  Sometimes I had to think my bro was lucky he was so handsome. Right or wrong, it made some of the stuff he said seem cute instead of stupid.

  Ruby shook her head. “No,” she said slowly. “These aren’t friendly birds.”

  “How can you tell?” I asked.

  White gross bird poop began raining down on us, smacking down on the car, soaking it in white goo. The car had so much white poop on it that Aunt Mika had to turn on the windshield wipers to see.

  “Okay, now that is gross!” I said.

  “I just had this car washed!” Aunt Mika groaned.

  “I think we have bigger problems than that,” I told Aunt Mika.

  Ruby pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked upwards. “Those big birds are vultures,” she said. “I’ve never seen vultures around town….”

  Aunt Mika looked up through the goo on the window. “If that’s true then this is extra bad. Vultures are friends of mummies. Normally they are pretty mellow.”

  Frank pointed at the goo covering our car. “I don’t think this is mellow. Unless I don’t know what mellow means…”

  “You’re right Frank, this is not mellow,” I said. “The question is - how do we stop them?”

  Aunt Mika pulled the car suddenly to the right. Spinning around, she hit the gas. The car raced forward. “We need to talk to them. And we need to do it in private.”

  “How do we talk to vultures?” I asked.

  “Like I said, privately.” Aunt Mika said, leaning forward to get a better view. "I know an old country road. It's out of the way but near enough. So hopefully, we won't be late for school."

  “Oh good. I hate being late,” Ruby said.

  “I have a perfect on-time record too,” Jimmy said.

  “Not to get picky, but perhaps, for now, we should be asking why are vultures pooping on us, and how can we stop them?” I shook my head, wanting an answer.

  “Vultures, despite their bad rep, can usually be reasoned with,” Aunt Mika said. “You just have to show them who’s the boss. And you, being part-tiger and part-vampire, are the perfect being to put them in their place.”

  “How do I do that?” I asked.

  “We’ll have to ask them,” Aunt Mika said.

  Looking out the back window, we could see that the vultures were still in pursuit. But they had stopped pooping on us. “Is it a good sign that the pooping has stopped?” I asked Aunt Mika.

  “It could just mean they are out of poop,” Aunt Mika replied.

  Aunt Mika drove the car to a side road surrounded by thick trees. She stopped and got out of the car.

  “You sure this is safe?” I asked.

  “I’m a zombie, trust me, honey, vultures want nothing to do with me.”

  A couple of big ugly vultures landed on top of the car. The rest settled in the trees around us.

  I jumped out of the car too. Like Aunt Mika said, the cat in me made it natural for me to put fear into the hearts of the big birds.

  “What gives, Vern?” Aunt Mika asked the oldest looking of the vultures.

  “How do you know his name is Vern?” I asked.

  “All vultures call each other Vern,” she said. “Less thinking.”

  “How do they tell each other apart?” I asked.

  “Who cares?” Aunt Mika said.

  “We care,” Vern said. “And we can tell each other apart by scent. We only use names when dealing with different species.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I’m glad you speak English.”

  “We are vultures, not hummingbirds. Of course, we speak English,” Vern said, rolling his
eyes. “Those dumb birds can never remember words. Hence, the reason they always hum.”

  “Is that true?” I asked.

  “Is that really the biggest issue you have right now?” Aunt Mika asked me.

  “Right,” I said. Turning back to Vern, I demanded, “What gives with you pooping all over our car?”

  “We wanted to get your attention, and we didn’t know your cell number,” Vern said.

  “Besides, we don't have phones,” another vulture said. “Those plans are priced way out of our budget. We’ll stick to using carrier pigeons.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite!” I said.

  The vultures all flew off the car and started squawking.

  “Poor choice of words!” Aunt Mika told me.

  “Figure of speech. It means…I’ll ask,” I told the flapping vultures.

  They settled back down on the car.

  “Our bad, we should have known that,” one of the vultures replied.

  “Still, you can never be sure with vampire-tigers,” another said.

  “Why did you want our attention?” I asked.

  “Well,” Vern started to say slowly.

  “Wait!” Another vulture put his giant wings over Vern’s beak. “She must pass a test before we can trust her.”

  “Come on guys, you did seek us out,” I told them.

  “Yes, yes, we did, but that was to see if you are worthy,” the other vulture said.

  “Okay, how do I prove my worthiness?” I asked, despite my better judgment.

  “You must defeat me,” Vern said boldly.

  I shrugged. “Sure, vultures may be tough old birds, but I am pretty sure you’re not a match for me.”

  “Wow, bragger!” another vulture said.

  “Yeah, somebody sure thinks they are all that and a slice of cheese!” a different vulture said.

  “I’m just saying, when it comes to fighting, a vampire-weretiger is more than a match for even the worst of vultures. Plus…nothing personal Vern…but you look pretty old.”

  “It’s hard not to take that personally,” Vern said.

  “But it is the truth,” another vulture pointed out.

  “Sadly it is,” Vern agreed. Vern pointed a wing at me. “That is why we are not going to fight physically. We are going to embark on a battle of wits!”

  The other vultures all clapped their wings and made an excited vulture sound.

  “Okay, then how do we embark on this battle of wits?” I asked.

  “We engage in the greatest mental challenge ever devised. We compete in three rounds of rock, paper, claws.” Vern said. He leaned into me. "Have you heard of it?"

  “I have heard of rock, paper, scissors,” I said.

  “The same thing, Vern nodded. He lifted one of his claws off the car, making a claw shape with it. “In this version, claw replaces scissors. Because when you are a vulture, you do not need scissors.”

  “I would guess you don’t need paper or rocks that often either,” I said.

  “You’d be surprised,” Vern said. Leaning into me, he asked, “Do you need time to prepare?”

  “For rock, paper, scissors?” I asked.

  “Rock, paper, claw,” he corrected.

  Ruby got out of the car. She had been listening intently to our conversation. “To win this game, you need to get into your opponent’s head!” she told me.

  “My opponent is a vulture,” I noted.

  “Exactly, so think like a vulture!” She leaned closer and whispered, “A vulture would think, and then counter it.”

  I actually had no idea what Ruby meant by that. I did appreciate her advice though.

  “On two,” the vulture told me. He lifted one of his talons off the car and curled his claws into a fist.

  “Why two not three?” I asked.

  “Two is more reactionary,” the vulture said. Turning his head to Aunt Mika, he asked. “Zombie, will you count us in?”

  “Sure,” Aunt Mika said. She drew a deep breath. “One.”

  The vulture shook his clenched claw. I shook my clenched fist.

  “Two!” Aunt Mika said.

  I formed my hand into a claw. Figuring that’s what a vulture would want.

  The vulture turned his claw into a fist. “Ha! Rock shatters claw!” the vulture laughed.

  All the other vultures clapped their wings in approval.

  “Think like a vulture thinks you would...think, then respond,” Ruby repeated.

  “You got this, sis!” Frank said, rolling down a window. “Yuck…poop!” he added.

  “I have faith in you!” Jimmy told me.

  That made me smile. I had to think about thinking like a vulture thinking what a human (well, a vampire-weretiger) would think. He probably thought I’d expect him to pick claw, so that's why he went with rock. Now I had to think about what he was thinking and counteract it. I looked into the vulture’s red eyes. They seemed lifeless.

  “You can’t read me, honey,” Vern said. “So don’t try. You ready for round two?”

  I nodded.

  Aunt Mika did her countdown. “One…”

  I shook my arm; the vulture shook his talon.

  “Two!” Aunt Mika said.

  Figuring the vulture would expect me to shift away from claw, I stuck with claw.

  The vulture held his claw out flat.

  “Darn! Claw beats paper!” he spat. Literally.

  “Yes!” Ruby said.

  “Way to go, sis!” Frank said.

  “You got this!” Jimmy said.

  “Ready for round three?” Aunt Mika asked.

  I nodded. The vulture nodded.

  I decided that the vulture, being a vulture, had to be stubborn. I somehow knew he was going to stick with paper. I would, therefore, stick with claw.

  “One!” Aunt Mika said.

  I shook my arm in readiness.

  “Two!” Aunt Mika shouted.

  I thought for a split second about changing my mind, but then I realized I’m a super-fast vampire with superhuman reflexes. I would stick to claw, but if I noticed the vulture didn’t stick to paper, I would change before he knew it. Sure, that may have been cheating, but the vultures did poop all over our car. Additionally, they were the ones that wanted to talk to us, therefore making us pass a test seemed silly.

  The vulture stuck with paper. I stuck with claw.

  “Claw chops paper!” I said with a smile.

  “True,” the vulture said. “You are a wise girl.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  “Why are you attacking us?” Vern asked.

  “Say what now?” I frowned.

  “Something has been moving at blur speed and hitting the trees we live in; shaking them, knocking us out of the trees.”

  “Ah, you can fly!” I pointed out.

  “True, we can, but it is still annoying,” Vern said. “We need our beauty rest.”

  “That’s true,” I heard Frank say.

  “Will you guys believe me when I say I haven’t been blurring around, knocking you from your trees?” I asked.

  Vern nodded his head. “Now that you have passed our test and proven to be worthy…”

  “You can tell that from playing rock, paper, claw?” I asked.

  “Well, that and we can smell lies,” Vern said. “We really had to distract you with the game.”

  “Plus, we love games,” another vulture said.

  All the other vultures nodded in agreement.

  “Then you believe me?”

  “Yes, we believe you. But that means you have a problem because someone is trying to make you look bad,” Vern said.

  “Ahhh...I am aware,” I told him.

  “What do you plan to do about it?” Vern asked.

  “Find them and stop them,” I said.

  “Pretty vague plan,” Vern told me. The other vultures bobbed their heads in agreement.

  “I realize that,” I said.

  “But it’s a plan
we can build on!” Ruby added.

  “Good enough,” Vern nodded.

  He pointed to the bird poo soaked car. “Sorry about the mess, but we needed to get your attention, and nothing gets a person’s attention like poo. Send us the cleaning bill.”

  “Oh, I will,” Aunt Mika said. She looked at her watch. “Now I’d better get these kids to school before they’re late.”

  Nina Note: First off, vultures are gross! As if using poop as a means of communication wasn’t bad enough...up close and personal, they really stink. I guess when you eat nature’s leftovers there is no need to smell good or be squeaky clean. Outside of their smell though, the vultures seemed fairly level-headed. Unlike the dark mummies, there were willing to talk first. Okay, the poop was still pretty gross. But they got their point across.

  Of course, the bigger point here was somebody, or something, was definitely trying to give me a bad rep. It appeared that was the case. This could have been an incredible coincidence and have nothing to do with me, though I doubted I was so lucky. I needed to figure this out, and fast.

  Chapter 3: The New Girl

  Somehow, we managed to get to school with plenty of time to spare. No idea how...but as dad says… ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth.’ I’m not really sure what he means, but I believe it has something to do with not questioning good fortune.

  Ruby, Jimmy, and I made it to the homeroom a good three minutes before the morning bell rang. Mrs. Shade smiled and looked at the clock on the wall as we made our way to our desks.

  “You three are cutting it surprisingly close this morning,” she told us.

  “Car trouble,” I told her as I sat down.

  Looking around the class, I didn’t see any new girl. Mrs. Shade noticed me scanning the room.

  “Looking for something, Nina?” she asked.

  “Ah, well, I heard a rumor that there might be a new girl in school today,” I replied meekly.

  “You know a lot of rumors turn out to be false,” Mrs. Shade said. “That’s why they are called rumors, not news or truths….”

  “Yes, I realize this,” I said.