Ch. 13

Rosemary opened the door quietly and tried to sneak past the kitchen, but inevitably failed that mission.

“Just because I’m a vampire and not a father, that doesn’t mean I’m an idiot, you know. How did your date with Michael go?” asked Bodoleck, holding up the locket that Rosemary had forgotten to put in her bag when she left that morning.

“Oh . . . yeah. I had a good time. We saw a really good movie,” said Rosemary. She walked into the kitchen to find Bodoleck washing the dishes. He was almost done. He would have been done sooner if he wasn’t doing them at human speed.

Bodoleck quickly put the dishes back in their proper cupboards and added, “I saw everything that happened. He really likes you, you know. He’s nice, too.”

“I’m going to go upstairs and read a bit more. No. It’s not the vampire book. Michael recommended it to me. It’s called The Children of the Lamp: The Akhentaten Adventure by P. B. Kerr. It isn’t very long. 355 pages. I’ll read it in a heartbeat,” said Rosemary, taking off her shoes and climbing the stairs. She dropped her bag on the floor of her room and grabbed the book before she curled up on her bed.

While Rosemary was reading and Bodoleck was finished up with the dishes, Veripema was just entering the door in the bookstore. Nothing had changed, except there was noone in the shop except her and Mr. Monajelli.

“Hello. Remember me? The woman from yesterday with all of those questions about vampires?” Veripema asked Mr. Monajelli as soon as he looked up from his book.

“Oh, yes. I do, actually. By the way, what is your first name?” asked Mr. Monajelli, setting the large book down on the table next to him.

“Ver - onica. Veronica,” replied Veripema.

“Well, Veronica, what questions do you have for me today?” asked Mr. Monajelli.

“First off, I’m not comfortable with not even knowing your name. What is it? I’ve never quite seen hair like yours. Where did you come from?” asked Veripema. She sat down on the chair that Mr. Monajelli was gesturing to. There was a table between them with sandwiches on them, and Veripema took one just to be safe.

“I’m Mason Monajelli. I know, I know. Strange name, but I’m not from here at all. I’m actually from America. I was an orphan, and once I was 18, I decided to travel. And so I came to Europe. I traveled all over until I finally came to Prague. It’s a strange place to fall in love with, but I did. So here I am,” said Mr. Monajelli.

It was true that his hair was a bit different. Mr. Monajelli had white blond hair that went just below his chin, light blue eyes, and sliver rectangle-framed glasses. He was incredibly thin and showed no signs of having muscles at all.

“Well, that’s interesting. Where in America?” Veripema asked.

“Oh. I’m from New York. My parents were killed in a robbery while I was at my grandparents’ house. I just have to say that I’m sure glad that I wasn’t there,” said Mr. Monajelli, finally picking up his book again.

But Veripema wouldn’t let him read.

“What book is that?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s a book called The Life of a Vampire. It’s actually really interesting. It tells you the true vampire tales, the false ones, and what happened to make the false ones. I’m just reading about Everblood. It’s actually quite good,” said Mr. Monajelli, his eyes still glued to the page.

Veripema was frozen in her chair, thinking, ‘That’s the book! That’s the one I need! I can’t believe it! A human is sitting in front of me with the book, and I don’t have it yet. I have to get it somehow.’

“After you’re done with it, may I have it?” Veripema asked him.

“I’m sorry. I sometimes chose books that go in my private collection. This is the only one I have of this book. I really do like it, and I think I’m going to read these stories over and over again.”

Mr. Monajelli could tell that Veripema was really disheartened by that, so he added, “If you come over to my shop on Sundays, I could read it aloud. I’m closed, but I come here anyway.”

“Okay. I would love that if you would do that for me. Then we’d both know what vampires are really like. That is what I was originally here for, isn’t it? To ask you questions about vampires?” Veripema asked him. He nodded in reply and continued to read.

Veripema impatiently looked at her watch, then said, “Oh dear. Look at the time. I really should be going. I will see you Sunday, then?”

“Yes. See you then.”

Veripema left the shop to let Mr. Monajelli read and for her to tell her parents the news of what will happen.

Meanwhile, Rosemary had read the book cover-to-cover and was talking to Michael on the phone about it.

“Yeah. I really liked it. I thought Phillipa’s word was really weird, too, but I think the author did that on purpose. No, I don’t think anyone would really look as ugly as P. B. Kerr said Akhenaten did. I liked Layla, even if she really didn’t play a big part in the book. Of course I hated Iblis. He was pure evil and there was nothing that anyone would like about him, not even his scheming mind. Hang on, why don’t I just come over? I’ll be there in a minute. Let me just tighten my sneakers. See ya.”

Rosemary tugged her shoes on and was out the door faster than you could have blinked. It literally took her a minute to travel five miles to get to Michael’s house.

When she did, she knocked on the door.

“Hello Rosemary. I didn’t expect to see you here. And you are unwelcome, for that matter. I haven’t told my parents yet, but if I find anything wrong with - anything, I’ll make sure you never step foot in this house again,” said Anna.

“Great way to greet a person. Good to see you too. I haven’t had any blood for years. You can relax. I’m not going to hurt anyone. If I was as evil as you think I am, you wouldn’t be here right now, would you?”

Before Anna was even able to answer, Rosemary had glided up the stairs to knock on Michael’s open door.

“Hi. I brought your book back,” said Rosemary, holding up the book.

“Thanks. Did you really like it as much as you say you do, or were you just lying to make me feel better?” asked Michael.

“I liked it as much as I told you. I liked it better than Nimrod and Mr. Rakshasas knows the Baghdad Rules. Besides, I’ve read it about fifteen times. I know it better than you’ve known anything,” said Rosemary.

“I think I’m just going to have to believe you on that. What do you want to do?” Michael asked, having a feeling that this would make him uncomfortable.

“You decide this time. I don’t care,” replied Rosemary, smiling. She had just 
acquired a new spell, and she wanted to test it on a human. She knew how to use it; she had just used it on a bird outside.

“I want to . . .” started Michael.

“Go to the park so your parents won’t be around? I like the way you’re thinking. Let’s do it,” said Rosemary.

“How did you? And when did you? I’m confused,” Michael complained.

Rosemary laughed and replied, “I have a new spell that lets me read your mind. I wanted to test it on you to see what would happen if I did it on a human. Don’t worry. I was lucky I was able to do it. You need some pretty powerful ingredients that are very hard to come by. I may not ever use it again in my life.”

With that they left.

Before anyone knew it, it was Sunday, and Veripema was walking over to the bookstore. Her parents had been pleased, and she knew that they had almost changed their minds about locking her in a dungeon. If all went well, she would be the best daughter they had ever had.

“Hello, Mr. Monajelli,” said Veripema as she walked in the store.

“Good day. Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

And Mr. Monajelli started reading. Sundays passed by. Soon he was done with the book, and still no spell. Veripema was getting frustrated. If it wasn’t in the book, where would it be?