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mush. "I am happy to do it."
"No, I mean for everything," I babble on, not quite ready to shut my eyes for some reason. Not quite
ready to stop looking into his beautiful blue eyes, if we're being completely honest here. "You've got a ton
on your plate with the whole taking over the coven thing. And bringing me here to England on what could
be a total wild goose chase is probably the last thing you wanted to do this week."
He reaches over and brushes a strand of hair from my eyes. "It's no bother. Really."
"You know, Magnus," I say, feeling warm and cozy from his touch and for once deciding not to fight the
tingly feel-ings. "You're really a nice guy. If Idid want to be a vampire, you'd totally be my first choice for
blood mate."
He smiles again, though this time I'm half convinced his eyes look a little sad. "Go to sleep, Sunny," he
whispers, lean-ing over to kiss me softly on the forehead. "Go to sleep."
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I do.
20
A Rave Mistake
I sleep like a rock and wake on my own when the sun sets, feeling well rested, though ravenously
hungry. I open my eyes. Somehow in the middle of the day, Magnus has shifted in his sleep and is
currently lying with his arm draped over me, spooning me into him. Surprised at the nearness and more
than a bit uncomfortable, I squirm out of bed, waking him in the process.
He rubs his eyes sleepily. "Is it nighttime?" he asks.
I glance at the bedside clock. "Yup. Eight p.m. on the dot." I wonder if he has any idea I was just in his
arms. Hopefully not, as that would betrès awkward.
"Excellent." He rises from bed and grabs his shirt from the floor, pulling it over his head. "Time to head to
Glastonbury."
Since we've both slept in our clothes, there's not much getting-ready time and moments later I follow him
out of the bedroom and down the stairs.
"What's Glastonbury like, anyhow?" I ask as we step out-side the mansion. The limo is still waiting for
us, go figure. I wonder if the driver got any sleep.
"It's a very quiet village, home to many artisans and spir-itualists," Magnus explains as we get into the
limo. "Quaint, actually. A pleasant holiday spot for most tourists."
"Cool." I always wanted to visit one of those stereotypical English country towns, with stone cottages
and antique shops.
"Once a year they have a major festival with big-name musical acts," he continues. "The crowds descend
on the town in droves. Usually more than a hundred thousand people show up, if you can believe it. They
camp for three days in a field, listen to music, dance, and do God knows what drugs. It's meant to be
quite insane."
"Sounds cool. When's the festival?"
"Oh, they don't hold it until the end of June or so. Never in May."
I frown, disappointed. "Too bad. It sounds like a blast."
"Believe me, it's for the best. With a hundred thousand people crowding the town, the druid order
makes itself scarce. We'd never find them and thus never find the Grail."
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"Oh. Well, then I guess it's a good thing it's not that time of year." Obviously, getting the Grail is much
more impor-tant than partying at some big English rave.
"Indeed."
"Still, it would have been kind of cool to see. A hundred thousand people standing in a field, all one with
the music. You don't get that in America."
Magnus pauses for a moment, then says, "If you really want to see it, I can take you in June, if you like."
I glance over at him, completely taken aback. Is he mak-ing postvampire plans with me? Does he
honestly think we'll be hanging out with each other after I turn back into a hu-man? Is it even possible to
keep some kind of relationship . . . friendship going between a vampire and a human? And if it is
possible, is that what I want to do?
Do I want to keep hanging out with Magnus after I've been rehumanized? I've only known him a few
short nights, but if I'm being completely honest here, I do kinda like hav-ing him around. He's funny and
interesting and loyal and chivalrous, and yummy as anything. What's not to like? Then again, what will I
do when he eventually gets assigned an-other blood mate? Will he drop me like a hot clove of garlic
when the Council assigns him a real, willing partner? His true queen? And how will I deal with that?
No, I decide to myself. It's better to make a clean break of it. Once I turn back into a human, that's it.
I'm severing all ties. Forgetting vampires even exist and going on with my normal boring everyday life.
"Um, Sunny? You know what I was just saying about taking you to the festival?" Magnus says,
interrupting my whirling thoughts. I glance over. He's staring out the tinted window.
Okay, here goes. Time to make the break. I swallow hard. "You know, Mag, you really don't have
to "
"I think we may see it afterall."
"Huh?"
Magnus leans back into his seat. "Look out the window."
I scramble over him to cup my hands over the glass and peer outside. Then I gasp.
The festival, it seems, has been moved up a month.
Everywhere I look, there's people. All types of people. Young people. Old people. People with
dreadlocks. People with mohawks. People dressed in designer clothes and people dressed as Goths.
Hippies, ravers, stoners, metalheads. All swarming the streets with sloshy plastic cups of beer.
"Oh my gosh," I cry. "The festival is . . . now?" The sec-ond I voice the question I realize how obvious
the answer is. We're in the middle of a swarm of people.
I sink back into the leather seat. Great. Just great. I make it all the way to England and it just happens to
be on the one day of the year when the druids I'm seeking go into hiding. Once again, my lack of luck
astounds me.
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"Wow. This sucks," I say mournfully.
"Indeed," Magnus agrees, as always not the most opti-mistic of blood mates.
"What are we gonna do?"
"Well, there's no way to find the druids in this mess," he says, peering out the window again. "They'll
have gone un-derground. We'll just have to wait it out."
"But it's Thursday night. And I turn into a vampire on Saturday. That doesn't give us much time."
Magnus reaches over and squeezes my knee. I know he means it to be comforting, but it's totally not. "I
know, Sun," he says. "It's a complete disaster. I'm so sorry."
I look out the window again, feeling the tears well up in my eyes and drip down my cheeks. Of all the
unfortunate things to happen, this has got to be the worst. My one chance for redemption has been ruined
by a massive flock of English raver kids. Don't they have school? Don't they have lives? Why are they
here, set on ruining mine?
I try to resign myself to life as a vampire. It won't be that bad, will it? I mean, I'll have riches beyond my
wildest belief, unimaginable powers. That'll be fun, right? And hey, if we're being honest here, sunshine is
completely overrated. As is college. And getting married and having a family. And . . .
Oh, what's the use? No matter how you slice it, this ab-solutely blows. I don't want to be a vampire. I'm
sure it's a fine lifestyle choice for some people. But it's just not me.
The sobs come in full force now. Choking, rasping gulps of sorrow that rack my body. Soon, I'm crying
so bad I'm ac-tually shaking. All this time I've held out hope that somehow the process could be
reversed. And now that I know I'm doomed, the magnitude of my situation hits me like some Acme anvil
in a Road Runner cartoon.
This sucks.
This totally sucks.
This totally, utterly, and unbelievably sucks.
Suddenly I feel arms around me, pulling me away from my dark pit of despair and enveloping me in a
warm, safe embrace. I press my head against Magnus's shoulder and just let him hold me as I cry. Let
him stroke my back with his fin-gers as I choke out my sobs.
"Shh, shh," he soothes. "It's going to be okay."
"It'snot going to be okay," I cry. "I'm going to be a vam-pire forever."
"That's not necessarily true," he whispers. "We can find a way. Or wait till the festival is over. The place
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