نفس خون آشام فصل 20

Vampire Breath - Chapter 20

The lid was solid and heavy. Cara and I leaned into it and pushed. Finally, it dropped to the other side of the coffin.

I turned to the door to make sure Count Nightwing hadn’t heard.

No sign of him.

I pulled myself up straight and peered into the open coffin. The inside was covered with dark green felt. It reminded me of the pool table in our basement.

I sighed. I wondered if I’d ever see my basement again.

“It’s empty,” Cara murmured sadly. “Just an empty coffin.”

“We’ve got to keep searching,” I said. I started to back away from the coffin when I saw the pocket.

A green pocket in the side of the coffin. Like the pockets on the sides of suitcases. It bulged out a little from the side.

“Whoa. Hold on a minute,” I told Cara. She was already halfway to the door, I reached into the pocket.

And pulled out a blue glass bottle.

“Cara—look!” I cried. I forgot that we didn’t want Count Nightwing to hear us. “I found it! The Vampire Breath!” A smile broke out over Cara’s face. Her dark eyes flashed with excitement. “Excellent!” she exclaimed. “Excellent! Now we’ve got to hide it from Count Nightwing. Somewhere he’ll never find it.” I held the bottle up close to my face and studied it. “Maybe we should open it and pour it all out,” I said.

Cara rushed up beside me. She took the bottle from my hand. “When we opened it before, it took us back in time,” she said excitedly. “Maybe if we opened it now…” “It will take us forward in time!” I finished her thought for her. “Yes! Count Nightwing said it can be used for time travel. Maybe if we open it—and think real hard about where we want to go—it will take us home to my basement.” We both stared at the blue bottle.

Should we hide it and keep it away from the old vampire to stop him from getting back his fangs?

Or should we open it up and hope that the smelly mist would carry us home?

Cara gripped the bottle tightly in one hand.

She raised her other hand to the glass stopper on the top.

She started to pull it open—then stopped.

We stared at each other. We didn’t speak.

“Go ahead. Do it,” I whispered.

Cara nodded in agreement. She squeezed the stopper again and started to pull.

But she stopped once again. And gasped.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I heard a soft footstep.

And I realized that we were no longer alone.