Sal met my eye and held it. “It’s a quiet place, but don’t mistake quiet for dull. You two might find you’re not even the strangest or most exciting people here.”

“Oh, Sal,” I said, shaking my head and smiling at the old guy for the first time. “I am always the most exciting thing happening anywhere.”

Twenty minutes later, Sal shooed us out of the kitchen with new backpacks, directions to school, and the promise of a short walk. And twenty minutes after that, I was dripping sweat and cursing his name as we finally reached civilization.

If you could call it civilization.

The path from the cottage into town was a straight line of country road with more dirt shoulders than sidewalks, walled in by cornfields on either side. Eventually, that endless tunnel of corn gave way to rows of houses with sharply peaked rooftops and colorful shutters. Maple and oak trees leaned over the streets to shade our path, and a cheerful-looking sign welcomed us to “Nowhere: No more, no less!”

Reg paused, reading the words aloud. “I wonder what that could mean.”

“Who cares?” I said, stomping past the sign.

He shrugged and jogged a few steps to catch up.

“I am soaking wet,” I complained. “Sweating is the absolute worst part of being human.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be wearing a sweater in September.”

“Says the guy in flannel.”

“I’m not the one who’s melting.”

“Well, I’m not apologizing for Prada.” I lifted my chin and picked up my pace, despite the fresh line of perspiration I felt slide between my spine and my furry black top. “It’s the best sweater for this skirt, and this skirt screams first day of school.”

Reg pulled at the hem of my leather mini. “Didn’t you wear this to an AC/DC concert, circa 1985?”

I smacked his sticky fingers away. “Yes, and now it’s vintage.”

“That was a good night, hunting that crowd,” Reg mused.

“And we’ll never do it again.”

“Of course we will. Just be patient.”

“When have you ever known me to be patient?”

“Fair point.”

We walked in silence for a bit, then Reg said, “Can you believe Sal thought we might have been something other than siblings? The possibility that we were . . .”

He shuddered, unable to finish the thought, and we both made gagging faces that dissolved into laughter.

“He did make me wonder about the night we were turned,” Reg said. “Where might we have been? On a road like this one? Were we attacked and I failed to protect you?”

“You protect me?” I scoffed. “Just because you’re the guy?”

Reg was wise not to answer, but his questions still rattled me. As a vampire, I’d never thought twice about physical danger, but now, as a human, I was hyperaware of my soft skin, my breakable bones, my dependency on a beating heart.