Not giving up:

“Are you sure this is the way?” Sammy asked for the hundredth time, looking over the driver’s seat of the bus out through the front window.

“I think so,” Randolph muttered. “Finding someone who is different isn’t exactly all that easy, especially if they are far away.”

“I wish we hadn’t been delayed. I can’t believe Dust could have traveled so far,” Sammy replied with a worried frown.

“Maybe he made wings like he did before,” Todd suggested.

“Josie, can’t this thing go any faster?” Randolph groaned over the noise of the bus.

“You are more than welcome to get out and start pushing. If you need help, let me know,” Josie retorted in a voice laced with sarcasm.

Sammy bit back a grin when Randolph blanched and pressed his lips together after Josie followed up her retort with a heated glare in the long, rectangular mirror above the driver’s seat. Between the storm and the bus breaking down—twice—the distance between them and Dust had increased.

Randolph reluctantly admitted to her that he couldn’t really sense the strangeness in Dust the way he could in others who had been Changed. They had been relying more on the hope that Dust was still heading to Portland and whatever clues they could find. Randolph didn’t want his sister to know that though. The first day on the road, he and Josie had a huge fight about his ability to sense the Changes in others and how he had used it against his own sister. When it turned out he was practically hopeless at repairing the broken down bus as well, Josie said that if Randolph wasn’t going to be of any use to them, they should just leave his ass on the side of the road.

It had taken all of them to calm Josie down. Sammy couldn’t blame Randolph for lying about sensing Dust miles away. It had finally cooled his sister’s temper. Thankfully, Raymond and Martha knew a bit more than the rest of them about working on engines. Sammy had decided it would be better if she and Todd kept Josie distracted while Denise and Randolph did what they could to help with the bus repairs.

After they were finally on the road again, they discovered the hardest part was trying to determine where they should begin their search. It had taken two days of searching before they found the remains of a campfire. Fortunately for Randolph, he had been the one who stumbled across it. Unfortunately, that had been nearly three weeks ago, and Josie was eyeing her brother with that suspicious glare again.

“You won’t let her leave me behind if she tries, will you, Sammy?” Randolph quietly asked.

Sammy grinned at his soft plea and Denise smothered a laugh. Randolph had been asking the same question at least three times a day—or whenever Josie looked at him the wrong way. Her expression softened when she saw Denise reach over and grip Randolph’s hand. Seeing the affection between the two gave her hope for the future.

“No, we won’t let her leave you,” Sammy promised.

Randolph’s expression changed, and he sat forward. Sammy followed the movement, her lips parting at the same time as his excited exclamation rose above the sound of the bus. Her eyes widened in relief.

“There! I told you I could find him!” Randolph said triumphantly, pointing.

“I admit I had my doubts,” Josie loudly retorted as she ground the gears in an effort to slow the bus down.

Her comment drew relieved laughter from the small group riding in the short, faded yellow bus. Josie winced when the brakes squealed loudly as they pulled alongside the solitary figure walking along the highway. Sammy was already out of her seat and working her way down the aisle by the time Josie pulled the door open.

“We have room for one more if you need a lift,” Josie called down in a teasing tone.

* * *

A Few Minutes Ago:

Dust stroked the trembling rabbit whose blood he had been drinking and murmured a few soft, reassuring words before he lowered it to the ground. The frightened creature took off as fast as it could, disappearing back down the hole from where he had coaxed it and three others a half hour ago. He always made sure he took only enough to keep his hunger at bay.

He had finally taken control of the constant hunger that had plagued him over the last few weeks. Sighing, he turned back toward the highway. He was running low on water and would need to find a place to set up camp within the next hour.

His journey today had been a slow and depressing one. It was his sixteenth birthday. Today was supposed to be a day of fun.

By now he and his dad would have finished working on the old truck that had belonged to his grandfather and then his dad. He would have been excited to go down to the local Division of Motor Vehicles so that he could take the test and trade in his learner’s permit for a real driver’s license. Then there was the fact that there was a month of school left, and he would have been able to drive his new truck instead of riding the bus. When he got home, his mom would have made one of her famous German Chocolate cakes and added sixteen candles to the top. It was his favorite. He would have blown out the candles while she and his dad sang Happy Birthday in an off-key tone, making them all laugh.

He shoved his hands in his pocket and kicked at a rock in the middle of the road. Instead of celebrating his birthday with family, he was walking in the middle of nowhere, and drinking the blood of rabbits. His chest ached at the thought of his parents. If he could have one birthday wish come true, it would be to tell them that.

“I wish the two of you were here. Today of all days, I wish I could talk to you both,” he muttered.

He lifted a hand to brush it across his burning eyes. The last couple of days had been hard to endure. It wasn’t the struggle to find food and water that made it difficult. It was the shattering loneliness.

He frowned and shielded his eyes against the glare of the setting sun reflecting off a pane of glass. In the distance, he could hear the sound of a vehicle approaching. He tilted his head and listened to it. It sounded like a diesel engine that had a slight skip in one of the cylinders.

He stepped to the side of the road as the short and faded yellow school bus drew closer. A shudder ran through him, and he winced when he heard the sound of grinding gears. A few seconds later, the sharp, piercing screech of the brakes as the bus drew to a jerky stop beside him made him want to cover his offended ears. A ghost of a smile curved his lips when he heard Josie arguing with Randolph about her driving. A moment later the doors popped open, and he could sense Josie’s gaze on him.

“We have room for one more if you need a lift,” Josie invited with a smug tone of satisfaction.

Dust shoved his hands into his front pockets and looked down at the road. “I’m good,” he replied, running the toe of his tennis shoe along the rough pavement.

There was no mistaking Josie’s unladylike snort. “Yeah, well, I’m sure as hell not. Do you have any idea how many back roads and potholes I’ve driven over the last three weeks? I’m surprised this thing is still running. Besides, we could always use a good mechanic on board. Randolph doesn’t know shit about working on engines,” Josie retorted.

Behind Josie, Dust heard Randolph’s sarcastic response to the jab. “Ha-ha, Josie. I don’t see you fighting us to get under the hood,” Randolph replied.

“Uh, Randolph, you might want to watch it or Josie might follow through with her threat to leave you behind,” Denise warned him with a pointed look.

Dust forced himself to stare straight ahead down the road. Deep down, he was afraid—almost terrified—that he was hallucinating and none of this was real. What if some bizarre part of his imagination had created an illusion of them being there?

The last few days had been rough. Even the rumble of the engine, the sound of Josie’s voice, and the smell of the diesel exhaust weren’t enough to give him confidence that he wasn’t asleep somewhere and just dreaming. Then, he heard Sammy’s soft voice calling his name.

“Dust….”

Straightening his shoulders, he swallowed and slowly turned toward the bus. A soft sound of distress slipped past his lips when he saw her standing on the steps of the bus. He stumbled back a pace when she hopped off the bottom step and stood a couple of feet from him.

Unsure of what to say, he forced his gaze away from her face. A frown creased his brow when he noticed a small box wrapped in the Sunday comics of a newspaper in her hands. On the top was a tiny bow made of string that hung cockeyed against the present.

He slowly lifted his gaze to her face. “What’s that?” he asked in a voice that sounded funny.

She stepped closer to him and held it out. “It’s your birthday present. You weren’t with us, so we had to come find you.”

He looked at the box again and swallowed past the lump in his throat. Lifting a hand, he reached for the box. Sammy released a low hiss when his fingers brushed against her knuckles. He knew she must have seen his hands were trembling. Clutching the box, he blinked back the tears that suddenly burned his eyes.

Shaking the box, he looked up at her. “What is it?” he asked.

She laughed and shook her head. “Open it. We all kind of worked together to make it. It isn’t much,” she said with a regretful sigh.

He looked up and drank in the wonderful sight of the line of faces staring at him through the bus windows. He could feel his cheeks warming at the unexpected attention. He carefully removed the paper.

Under the wrapping was a small white cardboard box with a matching lid. He pulled off the lid and looked inside. Lying on a bed of cotton balls was a colorful glass necklace. The glass segments were twisted together into a series of long spirals that wrapped around each other. The way the glass was formed and shaped was unlike anything he had ever seen before. Each unique section was a different color, but they were all fused together and there were randomly placed small blobs of silver on the segments. A black piece of string made up the chain.

“The green one is mine. I found it,” Todd said, leaning out of the front window.

Sammy reached out and touched the brown piece of glass with the tip of her finger. “I like the brown one. It reminded me of your eyes,” she said, looking up at him. “Josie melted them all together. Denise did the design.”

“Raymond and I found the silver. We figured you could use it if you ever meet the She-Devil again,” Randolph said with a grin, standing in the doorway of the bus.

Dust’s gaze moved to Josie. She sat leaning against the steering wheel. She grinned at him with a raised eyebrow, and gave a small shrug at his questioning expression.

“We missed you,” Sammy quietly murmured.

He jumped when he felt her warm hand against his chilled skin. A confusing rush of emotions swept through him as he looked down at her. He didn’t know what to say. He was suddenly overwhelmed with unfamiliar feelings at the efforts Sammy and the others had gone to—all for him. Looking toward the bus, he regarded all the faces looking at him with quiet, almost pensive expressions.

“Sammy, I don’t think…” he started to say.

His voice faded when she lifted her hand and gently placed the tips of her fingers against his lips to silence him. A wry smile made his lips twitch. Sammy had that intensely determined expression on her face—the one he had come to love.

She shook her head. “Then, don’t. You are part of this family. We love you,” she informed him in a low, fierce tone.

The agonizing fear swelled inside him. “There’s something you should know,” he started to say.

Sammy shook her head again, this time more angrily. “Josie already told us. She sort of guessed when your teeth did the, you know….” She poked her fingers in a downward movement from her top lip. “We’ll figure it out in time,” she stated in a tone that brooked no argument.

His lips twitched with a reluctant smile. Unsure of what else to say, he nodded. “Okay,” he agreed.

He gasped when Sammy suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. She buried her face against his neck and held him like she never wanted to let him go. A shudder ran through him when he felt her hot breath and warm tears flowing against his skin. His arms moved instinctively around her waist, and he pulled her close when he felt her body tremble.

“Happy Birthday, Dust. I really missed you,” she sniffed.

He bent his head and pressed his cheek against her hair. “Thanks, Sammy. Thanks for finding me,” he replied with a slight tremble in his voice.

She leaned back and looked up at him. “Always,” she whispered before reaching up and pressing a tender kiss against his lips.

“Aw, man, they’re kissing again. I thought vampires just drank people’s blood,” Todd said in a loud, disgusted voice.

Dust lifted his head in time to see Todd’s head disappear back into the bus. He could feel his mouth hanging open and the heat rushing to his cheeks. Fortunately, Josie’s laughter drowned out everyone else’s response.

“Come on, you two. This circus has a long way to go if we are going to try to find your relatives, Dust. We’re running short on gas, short on food, and I think we might just get some snow tonight,” Josie said, grabbing the back of her brother’s shirt and pulling him away from the opening.

“That’s okay. I know someone who loves to play with fire,” he retorted.

He grinned at Josie as he loosened his hold on Sammy so she could return to the bus. Randolph muttered a curse when he almost toppled backwards from Josie’s tugging. Josie rolled her eyes at her brother’s clumsiness. Dust paused when he felt Josie’s hand on his arm as he reached the top step.

“Happy Birthday, Dust,” Josie said, her gaze moving over his face.

“Thanks, Josie,” he replied.

Her eyes hinted at an emotion he didn’t quite understand. Breaking eye contact with her, he focused on the other people looking at him with broad grins. He pasted a crooked grin on his face as he made his way to the back of the bus. He followed Sammy. He didn’t have much choice considering she had a death grip on his hand.

He slid into the seat next to her and grinned at Todd when he quickly changed to the seat in front of them. Todd twisted and rested his chin on the back of the seat. The young boy watched him with an almost worshipful expression.

“So, can you do any really cool stuff as a vampire?” Todd curiously asked.

He shrugged. “Yeah, I can do some really cool things now,” he answered, holding onto Sammy’s hand.

Josie released the brake and shifted into first gear. He grimaced when the bus jerked forward before it smoothed out. She managed better when shifting to the higher gears. Around him, the others quietly talked. He didn’t miss the curious glances they sent his way.

He leaned back in his seat and listened to the conversation, but soon he was fixated on the oncoming darkness behind the window. For the last three weeks, he’d had a lot of time alone to think. Today, he had done nothing but think about being alone, about his parents, his life, and where he was going.

This world was a lot different and so was he. If he was going to survive, he needed to make a decision. He could continue with the solitary life he’d had in the last three weeks, or he could embrace Sammy and the others’ acceptance of him. His dad had told him to be who he wanted to be. Well, he wanted to be good and strong and help others. He also didn’t want to be alone—not now that he knew what it felt like to belong.

If he wanted to be who he was, then he had to accept who he was becoming. Every day was a new one in this strange new world. He didn’t know what would happen. The only thing he could do was make the best of it, try to make the world a better place, and hope that he got a chance to try again tomorrow. If it meant he would continue to evolve—well, he would use each new power to make the world a better place every day.

Satisfied with his decision, he felt grateful for his parents’ wisdom. It felt like it was their birthday present to him. A sense of peace washed over him, and for a moment, it was as if they were there with him. In the reflection of the window pane, he could see his father’s eyes staring back at him and his mother’s mouth smiling.

Thank you, Dad. Thank you, Mom, he silently thought.

“Happy Birthday, Dust,” he murmured to his reflection.