Most of the articles were written by Hayden (whose last name turned out to be Howland, as indicated in the staff section and under the headlines), but there was a second journalist who covered sports, weather, and a few personal interest stories. Hayden seemed to cover crime stories mostly, but Kenzie was surprised to find that up until recently, around the time the supernatural creatures had revealed themselves, hardly any crimes had been reported.
This was undoubtedly a cover-up so humans wouldn’t realize that supernatural creatures existed. Hayden couldn’t falsely report an arrest but reporting on a supernatural suspect would be even worse.
Just then, Kenzie’s instant messenger chimed. Jillian was writing to her.
LifesABeach: Kenzie, you’ll never believe this!!!
WolfKen: I probably won’t, but tell me anyway.
LifesABeach: I got called for an interview for a fashion magazine!!! They want to talk to me about my designs!
WolfKen: Seriously?! That’s awesome, Jill! Congrats!
LifesABeach: Thank you! My professor gave us a list of possible agencies to send our designs to, and I sent mine all over. I guess one of them really likes my stuff because they want to do an interview with me to be featured in their magazine!
WolfKen: I knew you’d pull this off, Jill! No one knows fashion like you do. You should change your username to FashionPassion.
LifesABeach: Nah, I like this one better. Oh, and the best part? The magazine is based in Sunlit Tides! If they like me enough and offer me a job there, where I can design my clothes and hire seamstresses and models and everything, plus be featured in their magazine, I could move there!
WolfKen: Move to Sunlit Tides? But what about Sunset Valley?
LifesABeach: Well, I don’t know why I didn’t move to Sunlit Tides first. I guess because I’d never been there. We went to Sunset Valley when I was a kid and I loved it for the beach, but come on. Sunlit Tides is ALL beach! It would be perfect! I can’t wait to tell Isaiah!
“Shit!” Kenzie said out loud, causing Sage’s ears to perk up in alarm. Isaiah. Of course. He had a hard enough time visiting Jillian in Sunset Valley. Sunlit Tides was sunny twenty-four seven. How would he pull that off? She didn’t want to see them drift apart, even if Isaiah could be a little tyrannical from time to time. Plus, Jillian had just moved into her new home in Sunset Valley not too long ago. Would she seriously make enough money from this interview to make up the difference of selling out and moving again?
WolfKen: Um…well, yeah, tell Isaiah, but what about the whole vampire thing?
LifesABeach: I know, I thought about that. He sees me here in Sunset Valley as often as he can, but sometimes I wonder if it’s enough. But I know we can make this work, somehow. But either way, I just can’t pass this up. It’s my dream. I’m so excited I can hardly type! This is the chance of a lifetime, Ken! I was so afraid that after I went back to school I’d never make it, but now…I feel like jumping up and down screaming!
WolfKen: You may not want to; you might scare your neighbors.
LifesABeach: True. Let’s talk about something a little less exciting, then. How’s Moonlight Falls?
WolfKen: It was better yesterday.
LifesABeach: Oh, great. What happened?
Kenzie plunged into detail, guiltlessly leaving nothing out. If she was going to tell Jillian, she might as well tell her everything. Maybe she’d even be able to shed some light on the situation.
Still, after she spilled her guts, Jillian could come up with only one thing to say, and it wasn’t particularly helpful.
LifesABeach: Maybe you need to get laid.
WolfKen: JILL! Of everything I just said, THAT’S what you get out of it?!
LifesABeach: I’m just saying, you said you’re attracted to this guy and it’s been, what, two years almost? Talk about a dry spell.
WolfKen: What the hell?! Since when are you this blunt?!
LifesABeach: I’ve always been blunt. You just don’t like to hear it. Okay, forget I said it.
WolfKen: Thank you. The last thing I’m doing is throwing myself at some guy like a woo-starved succubus.
LifesABeach: Okay, well you can’t say I didn’t try.
WolfKen: I know.
Kenzie was about to sign out when she saw Cheyenne sign in. She invited her to join the chat between her and Jillian. That should change the subject.
WildHorse: Hey, ladies! What’s up?
LifesABeach: Not much with us, but how about you? You’re the one getting married!
WolfKen: Yeah, how goes the wedding planning?
WildHorse: Good so far. We sure saved a lot of money not hiring a professional wedding planner. And get this – Austin is working on developing vampiric sunscreen!
LifesABeach: What?!
WildHorse: Yeah, thanks to you and Isaiah, he was inspired to look into something to allow vampires to be out in the sun without burning (literally). It’s got a long way to go yet, but he and some coworkers are getting there.
WolfKen: Wow, that’s amazing! I really hope it works.
LifesABeach: YOU do?! I could easily move to Sunlit Tides with Isaiah if he had vampiric sunscreen!
WolfKen: Move with him? Are you guys talking about moving in together?
LifesABeach: Somewhat, but not very seriously yet, mostly because of the whole sun thing. Isaiah knows how much I love the beach...I still have to tell him about this magazine thing.
WildHorse: What magazine thing?
Jillian repeated her story to Cheyenne, who also offered up her congratulations. Before long, Kenzie’s stomach growled, so she excused herself to get some dinner.
After she was finished, it was already dark. She hadn’t realized how late it had gotten. Suddenly feeling lethargic, she staggered into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
The whole time she bathed, Kenzie couldn’t stop thinking about Hayden. Should she follow Jillian’s advice and pursue him? She wasn’t that type. Whenever she’d had crushes in the past, she’d tried to keep them a secret because, to put it bluntly, she knew she’d have no chance with them. Austin was a rare exception, but then again, he wasn’t one of the hottest guys in school either, which kept his relationship status open almost all the time. Sad, but unfortunately true.
And now he was marrying his soul mate. Kenzie smiled despite herself. Austin was her first serious relationship, but hopefully not her last. It wasn’t meant to be between the two of them. But she knew that Cheyenne would make him very happy.
As she got out of the shower and dried off, Kenzie sashayed over to the bed, intending to get some reading done before turning in for the night. She grabbed her book and snuggled into bed with Sage next to her.
She was so immersed in her book that it wasn’t until Sage began to growl shrilly that Kenzie looked up. She looked around the room and out the window from her odd angle on the bed but didn’t see anything. After her last encounter at looking out a window while in a different town, she was almost terrified to see what was causing Sage to be acting this way.
Still, she’d probably be even more afraid if she didn’t investigate. Fear of the unknown was a powerful thing.
So finally, Kenzie laid her book aside, stood up, and stalked over to the window. She pulled back the curtain but didn’t see anything. Relief washed over her like a river.
Until she heard it.
A low sound, almost like a groan, and definitely not human. Kenzie forced herself to look out the window once more...
...and found herself as startled as she’d been when she’d seen a ghost in Barnacle Bay. But this was no ghost that looked back at her.
The sallow green skin framed yellow eyes as the creature moved at a hindered pace, its limbs flailing every which way, parts of its face sunken into the bones...Kenzie had seen enough horror movies to know what she was looking at. She blinked rapidly, as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but the manifestation didn’t go away.
Kenzie was staring face to face with a zombie.
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