Vivian nodded in sympathy. But did he realize how different people could be; he who wrote of exchanging skin for a pelt of brindle luxury? Would he grant her the right to be different? "What brought this on?" she asked.

"My aunt sent them some stupid book about teenagers listening to heavy metal records backwards and committing suicide. That and a pamphlet called 'Ten Signs Your Child Has Sold His Soul to the Devil.' "

Vivian burst out laughing before she could stop herself. "But that's ridiculous."

"I know. I don't even like heavy metal." Even Aiden couldn't suppress a laugh now. "You always make me feel better, Vivian. You never judge me. You accept me."

Vivian wound her fingers into the hair at his temples and pulled his lips toward hers. "Yes," she whispered the moment before their lips met. When would he realize how far she would accept him?

Her claws, unbidden, traced promises on his back. The hothouse heat of the car made his body wonderfully pungent. She wished they were somewhere, anywhere, besides the front seat of his car. Should she wait for him to suggest they find somewhere secluded? To hell with waiting, she decided. I'll take him down to the river.

"Aren't you coming in?" a voice asked.

Aiden pulled away abruptly, and Vivian looked up to see Kelly peering in the driver's-side window.

"Uh, oh yeah, Kelly, in a minute," Aiden said.

"Where?" Vivian asked, not bothering to conceal her irritation.

"For pizza, of course," Kelly answered. She gestured to Mama Lucia's Pizza right in front of their parking space. Her smile was too sweet.

Vivian stared balefully over Aiden's shoulder. She knew Aiden would be too embarrassed to leave now. I may kill you for this, she thought at Kelly.

Kelly must have read her thoughts. She backed away from the car. "Coming?"

"Guess we better go in," Aiden said reluctantly.

Inside, a subset of the Amoeba sat around two tables dragged together under a ceiling fan that barely moved the thick air.

"Hey, Vivian," Jem said. Vivian decided his haircut wasn't so bad once you got used to it.

Others called their greetings, and Bingo toasted Vivian with her Coke.

"Wow, Vivian! Still beautiful!" Peter Quincey exclaimed as if surprised, and the girl who hung on him hit him in the arm.

The gang talked about videos while they ate, and Aiden and Quince argued amiably over something that had happened years ago in grade school. Aiden's left thigh pressed tightly against her right, and she yearned to be alone with him. She piled her hair on top of her head, hoping to catch a breeze on her neck from the fan. There was no relief from the heat. She thought again about the riverbank, but realized now what a stupid idea that had been. She couldn't be sure the Five wouldn't be prowling there.

They hung around outside the pizza place after they'd eaten while they discussed what movie they might go and see. The sky in the west was an angry-red, and the heat wouldn't leave with the night. An air-conditioned theater sounded good to Vivian. She would find them a nice dark corner.

A motorcycle roared down the access road and came to a stop in front of the automotive parts store down the strip. She recognized it at once. Gabriel, helmetless, clad in jeans and tank top, silenced the growling machine.

He saw her, raised his eyebrows slightly, and stayed seated, staring at her with an inscrutable look on his face.

So what! she told him silently and turned away.

"What do you think, Vivian?" Aiden asked. "Killer death robots or sloppy love story?"

Before she could answer she saw a look of apprehension slide over Kelly's face, and Jem took a step back. Firm hands descended on Vivian's shoulders.

"Gabriel," she said without turning.

"Hi, babe," came his rumbling voice from somewhere above her head.

Aiden looked annoyed and hurt at the same time.

"A friend of my mother's," she told him, then, "Get your hands off me," to Gabriel.

His hands tightened on her shoulders instead, and she felt his breath on her cheek as he bent his head closer. "Let him go," he whispered in her ear. Then the pressure of his hands was gone.

She turned to see him strolling toward the parts store. How dare he?

There was a moments silence; then Bingo hummed her appreciation. "Ummm-mmm. Buns of steel, absolutely."

"Who was that?" one of the gigglers asked breathlessly.

"A jerk," Vivian said, putting her arm around Aiden.

"He hasn't been bothering you, has he?" Quince asked, making a fist.

Vivian was touched by his concern. "No, he just irritates me," she said. Quince wouldn't last a second against Gabriel.

Aiden squeezed Quince's arm and shook him affectionately. "Come on, you guys," he said. "We've got a movie to see."

Chapter 14

14

When Aiden called the next night he had bad news. "Don't tell anyone," he begged. "They'll never let me live it down. Guys don't get grounded."

Oh, yeah, Vivian thought. Like, who am I going to tell? She didn't imagine she'd see the Amoeba without Aiden to take her out with them. "How long?" she asked.

"Until I can get my mother to tell my dad to lay off."

How can he allow them to restrict him like that? Vivian thought. What was wrong with him? No one could cage her up. "That's awful," she said. "What are you going to do?"

"Paint my room, supposedly," he answered. "Dad's stacked a pyramid of cans outside my door. He said twenty-five coats should do it."

"What about work? "

"Oh, he's got that timed." Aiden's voice was brittle. "I can go to work but if I come home five minutes late he's phoning the courts to have me officially declared an uncontrollable minor."

Vivian wasn't sure what he meant, but the threat sounded terrible. "Can he do that?"

"God knows, Viv, but I don't feel like testing him. I thought he'd lighten up when he retired from the army. Fat chance. Sometimes I wonder if he wasn't blown up in Vietnam before I was born and they sent home a robot replica."

Vivian chuckled. "That would make you a cyborg."

"Huh?"

"Half human, half robot."

Aiden let out a delighted yelp of laughter, but it was cut short by someone calling out to him in the distance. "Gotta go. Parents home," he said, and Vivian found herself holding a dead line.

Vivian was surprised when Bingo showed up at her door that evening.

"Thought you might like some company since your boyfriend's in the slammer," Bingo said.

"How did you know?" Vivian asked.

"I phoned up to see what was on for the night and his old man told me," Bingo replied. "Well, actually," she continued, "what he said was, 'He's not spending any time with you weirdos until he cleans up his act.' "

Vivian laughed. She recognized the tone of voice. "Want to come in?" Thank goodness Esmé was at work. She could trust Rudy to be a gentleman.

Bingo poked her head through the door and looked around. "Neat house, but I got Jem in the car and a stack of videos. Wanna come to my place and OD on popcorn?"

Vivian hesitated. She wouldn't have Aiden to hide behind. What if she didn't know how to join in? What if she made a fool of herself? But this is what you wanted, you coward, she told herself. She ignored the flutter in her stomach and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. I'd love to."

"There, I told Jem you'd come," Bingo said triumphantly.

Vivian wondered why Jem had thought she wouldn't. "Let me grab my bag," she said.

Bingo's parents were home, which explained why the entire Amoeba hadn't descended. "I told them it was their duty to go out so I could throw wild parties, but they wouldn't listen," Bingo said as she led the way upstairs to a small room that had been turned into a den for her use.

"Bingo's lair," said Jem, snapping his skinny fingers.

"Mom said she understood my need for privacy, but she was damned if I was going to entertain boys in my bedroom," Bingo explained as she flopped onto an overstuffed couch. "Put that one in," she ordered, jabbing a video at Jem, who almost dropped the popcorn but obeyed slavishly. "As if I couldn't do the same things she worried about in here," she said to Vivian, and winked.

Vivian began to think she needn't worry about keeping up her end of the conversation, but what did Jem feel about her coming along? It soon became clear, however, that Bingo and Jem were merely buddies.

The movie was wonderful  - a real grade-B, drive-in clunker - and Bingo and Jem immediately began a sarcastic commentary on what was happening. "Hey, man, I'm having a bad hair day," Jem said in a falsetto as a zombie with clumps of hair missing shambled across the screen.

"I may be the president of the Hair Club for Zombies," Bingo added, parodying a well-known TV commercial.

"But I'm also a client," Jem and Vivian chimed in together.

The three of them fell about laughing.

"Your life is a bad hair day," Bingo said to Jem, and they screamed with laughter again. Vivian had to wipe tears from her eyes.

"You're all right, girl," Bingo said, and a flood of warmth surged through Vivian.

Halfway through the movie the phone rang. Bingo paused the tape and grabbed the receiver. "Yeah? Oh, hi, Kelly."

Vivian stiffened.

"Oh, hangin' out movie bingeing," Bingo said. "Yeah? No. Did they? Yeah, I heard. Phoned his house. Yeah, again. His dad's a real prick."

It was obvious the subject was Aiden. Vivian picked up one of the cassettes and tried to look as if she wasn't listening, but Bingo's next words made her glance over anyway.

"Well, why don't you ask her, Kelly? She's sitting right next to me." Her tone was mockingly sweet. "Bye-ee," Bingo sang in response to whatever Kelly said at the other end of the line, and she hung up.

"That girl can be such a bitch," Bingo said.

"What did she say? " Jem asked. Vivian never would have. She waited for Bingo's answer warily.

Bingo flung a hand up as if dismissing Kelly's words. "She was like, 'I guess Vivian won't be going out this weekend,' only she sounded happy about it, you know? She thinks you don't have any friends or something."

"She's jealous," Jem said, reaching for the remote.

"Oh, duh!" Bingo responded, then to Vivian, "She was like that to me before you came along, you know. I've been friends with Aiden forever, only when Ms. Me-First decided to claim him, suddenly I was the enemy, and I wasn't even competing."

"Let's watch the movie," Jem said.

"Aiden's too sweet," Bingo continued, ignoring Jem. "He was falling right into a thing with her, just 'cus it was easier than saying no and hurting her feelings."

"She's not that bad," Jem said, starting the movie again.

"Guys," Bingo said. "They think with this." She grabbed her crotch.

Jem laughed. "You're crude."

Bingo blew a raspberry at him. "Yeah, you love it."

On the screen a scientist put the severed head of a zombie in a pan and poured in a nutrient to sustain it. The zombie's lips wriggled and its eyes rolled.

"Mmmmmm! Zombie Helper," Jem said. "Pop it in the oven and bake."

Bingo added her own interpretation. "Now, baby, use your zombie litter."

"Good one," Jem conceded joyfully.

Vivian settled back into the cushions. This was great. She had an ally. Who would have guessed? She was having the most fun she'd had with anyone in ages, and they weren't even pack. We can be friends, she thought. It needn't be them and us.

But what if they saw her in her wolf-shape? They'd be fleeing down the streets like those teenagers on the television.

"Stop, wait," she said for a zombie that chased some kids down an alley. "Let's play Scrabble."

Jem and Bingo cracked up.

Chapter 15

15

The trees in Gaskill State Park were festooned with crystal raindrops, and thunder still rumbled in distant skies. The air was thick with mist as the heat of the day steamed from the turf into the pewter light of dusk.

Figures wound through the trees and emerged into the clearing - pairs, singles, groups. Vivian watched them arrive from the fallen elm where she perched. Some chattered in hushed, excited tones, others came silently. Most had walked a long distance after the two-hour drive, their cars, vans, or bikes parked along lonely-country roads, in hidden clearings and forgotten lanes  -  anywhere they wouldn't attract a park ranger's eye.

Lucien Dafoe hobbled between two friends, complaining loudly that he was still too hurt to fight. Vivian sniffed in disgust. Her people healed faster than that.

"I hope someone beats the crap out of him," Lucien said, nodding toward Gabriel, who was laughing with a friend. "Someone not so prissy about where and what he can hunt."

Gabriel pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it on the ground. His body was a sculptured, oiled machine straight out of an action movie poster. Vivian caught the smell of his musk on the moist, hot air - the odor of power and excitement mixed with that of cheap strong soap. It made the light fur on the back of her neck bristle.

Over by honeysuckle-strangled bushes stood Willem, Finn, Gregory, and Ulf. Ulf stared beyond his companions, ignoring their cackles and good-humored punches. His thin shoulders were rigid, his fists tight balls at his sides. Vivian followed his gaze and saw two figures entangled in the shadows of a white oak. If logic hadn't told her otherwise she would have thought they devoured each other. The female broke away, laughing, and left the male behind, clutching after her. She stepped into the clearing and revealed herself as Astrid. It was Rafe who pursued her, his mouth still open and wet from her tongue.