"We can do that," Katherine said, and a semicircle of vampires surrounded her to face us as we wormed our way across the ground. "We thought a little night music might do the trick."
Katherine sang a note to test her pitch, which was as perfect as a wel -tuned grand piano. She winked, and with no more ado than that, Katherine and the rest of her vampire glee club began to sing the Beatles' "Black Bird."
The grounds fel completely silent, every vampire quiet as her voice rang, clear and strong, across the night.
Weeks and weeks of Frank's abusive behavior had taken its tol on the House. When Ethan had been Master, Cadogan House had been more than a structure; it had been a home. I hoped Malik could make it that way again, but as Frank had made clear, his goal was to break Cadogan House down, brick by brick, vampire by vampire.
But as I lay on my stomach on cold, dewy grass, I couldn't have felt any closer to those vampires. Tears began to stream down my face, and I wasn't the only one moved.
There were tear tracks on Lindsey's face, and Keley was biting her lip to hold them back.
When the ensemble reached the bridge, the rest of the hundred vampiresndron on the lawn joined her, their voices a chorus against idiocy. Their voices a chorus for the House, and for us, and for al that Ethan had tried to create.
For the family he'd wanted to make of us.
Magic lifted and rose, peppering my arms with goose bumps, and I sent a silent prayer of "thanks" into the universe. Frank may be an ass**le, but he'd managed to bring us together even after Ethan's death had pul ed us apart.
The chorus had only just finished the song when Frank emerged through the crowd again. The vampires rustled nervously while he pushed his hands into his pockets and surveyed us with obvious disdain.
"I'm not sure concerts are within the spirit of the rules.
This is a testing procedure, not a block party."
Malik, who also stood at the edge of the crowd, his hands behind his back, turned to regard him. "It may not be within the spirit of your rules," he said, "but neither is it against their letter. And that, as you have reminded us, is what's important. The rules."
Frank stared at Malik for a moment . . . but he didn't argue. Maybe he could learn to pick his battles after al .
Alas, I was wrong again. Having tested our agility, strength, and stamina, Frank decided to test them al again.
He led us to the far back corner of the House grounds, where four wooden posts the width of telephone poles had been pounded into the ground. They were four feet tal and maybe ten inches in diameter.
"Juliet, Keley, Lindsey, Merit," he said, pointing to the poles in succession. "Stand atop your pole."
We al looked at him for a second, probably al thinking the same thing: I'm sorry; you want me to stand on a pole?
"That wasn't a request," he said in the prickly tone of a leader so inadequate he had to bul y people to fol ow his orders.
We al shared a glance, but without a better option -
other than losing our positions in the House - we obeyed.
I hopped up onto the post and windmil ed my arms to keep from fal ing over again. On shaky knees and ankles, arms outstretched, I slowly stood up, then cast a glance back at Frank.
"This vol ey tests your endurance, your strength, your balance," he said.
"What do we do exactly?" Juliet asked.
"You stand there," Frank said, "until you can't stand there anymore."
"The sun wil be rising soon," Lindsey pointed out.
"And you wil stand there until you can't stand there anymore," Frank repeated.
I looked at Malik. He nodded at me, an acknowledgment of our struggle, and a promise to intervene should the need arise. I closed my eyes in anticipation of the coming drama and wished for the strength to deal with it.
And so, with three hours to go until dawn, we stood on posts in the middle of Hyde Park, and we waited for the sun to rise.
For nearly three hours, we stood on our posts - vampires being used as pawns in a political game that had nothing to do with us. It was unfair, sure, but certainly not the first time people had been used and manipulated to meet some political goal. Wasn't that the mechanism of virtual y every dictator and demagogue an bu in history? To use the people to accomplish some presumably important political end?
Three hours ago there'd been four of us. Now we were down to two. Keley had stumbled and fal en from her pole as darkness began to give way to dawn and exhaustion had final y overtaken her. Lindsey, tired and dehydrated, had gotten a cramp and had crumpled to the ground.
The test, whatever its purpose, was down to me and Juliet.
We stood in silence, she of the elfish frame and delicate features. Me with the fortuitous balance of a former bal erina, but stil stiff and aching. Juliet had thrown on tennis shoes for the racing portions of the test, but I was stil barefoot, and I could hardly feel my feet, the cramps having long since given way to a buzzing numbness. Every other muscle in my body ached from the effort of balancing myself in that spot, and I knew I'd be sore when this task was done.
The eastern sky was beginning to turn a searing shade of orange. The vampires who'd stayed outdoors with us hunched into bits of shade that would protect them from the rising sun.
We had no such option.
Frank walked into the backyard, a pretentiously delicate mug in his hand. He'd popped in and out of the House to check in on us, presumably to ensure we hadn't fal en off the posts or taken disqualifying breaks. I had no respect for a proctor who couldn't bother to keep vigil over the exams he'd decided were crucial for the House.
Malik, on the other hand, stood in front of us, his back to the east, arms crossed over his chest. He looked obviously tired, his eyes swol en with exhaustion, but he'd stayed with us. He'd watched over us. It was like a promise from father to children that even if he couldn't face the trials for us, he'd unwaveringly support us while we went through them.
This man was a Master of vampires.
He watched Frank suspiciously as he crossed the yard.
"The sun is rising," Malik said. "If there's a point to this test, you should reach it now."
"Of course there's a point," Frank responded. "This is an endurance test. The endurance isn't merely standing on the pole; that's not exactly a complicated task. The endurance is standing on the pole in the sun."
Juliet and I exchanged a nervous glance. "But that wil kil us," she said.
We were partial y protected by the trees at the back of the yard, but as the sun rose, the rays of light would shift across the lawn, moving ever closer to where we stood . . .