Read History of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Castle Series Book 4) for Free Online Page B

talked too much about football?”
    “It’s not the only reason,” I told her.
    “Then what is?”
    Sighing, I pulled at a few more shriveled weeds. “He never asked me about myself,” I said, feeling a little foolish for no reason. “Not one thing.”
    “Oh, is that all?” Lilly said, dusting some soil from her gloved hands.
    “You don’t understand,” I told her. “If there had been just a photograph of me there in my place, it would have been the same to Lev. And when he finally stopped speaking for a moment, and I asked him a question, he ridiculed me.” Standing up, I brushed some dried grass from my legs. “I’m sorry,” I told her, picking up my hoe. “I don’t want to prevent you from seeing your beau, but I will not go out on another date with Lev Wilson.”
    “But…” Lilly started to protest.
    “I don’t see why I have to be miserable, just so you can be happy,” I told her chopping vigorously at the soil with the hoe. “Just explain to Walter that Lev and I didn’t hit it off and have him fix me up with another boy. Or none at all, for all I care. I’ll just bring a book on your next date and be a third wheel.”
    “No, that’s alright,” Lilly hastened to say. “I’ll just tell Walter you need someone who is a little more intellectual. He should understand that.”
     
    That afternoon was the first time I rode my bike out to the castle. It hadn’t been my intention. My original destination was the library to hunt for a new book to read, but somehow I found the wheels of my bike rolling toward the shores of the Tiburon River. And the next thing I knew, I was admiring the progress that had been made on reconstructing the castle.
    I knew better than to get too close to the work in progress. I didn’t want to be in the way. But even from a distance, I could see the walls of the castle starting to rise. The dungeon must have already been finished and the stones for the ground floor in place. I had somehow thought they would build the exterior walls first and then fill in the middle, but they appeared to be building everything up, layer by layer.
    All of the stones from the barges had been off-loaded onto the shore. The boats themselves had disappeared; probably they were headed back down to the Ohio River. There was still a massive pile of rocks on the shore, but I had heard a second round of barges would arrive with more stones once the first pile had been cleared.
    It was amazing the amount of progress the stone masons had done in only a few days. But the sheer number of people reconstructing the castle probably made the whole thing go quicker than expected.
    There didn’t seem to be very many windows to the castle. None at all, as far as I could tell. I thought about the drawings and photographs of castles I’d seen in books. There never were any windows. That made sense, especially if a castle’s primary purpose was to defend its inhabitants against a siege.
    There was no sign of the Vanderlind family. It seemed unlikely that they would arrive before the castle was completely finished. Wealthy people probably hated being inconvenienced even more than us regular folks.
    I knew it was foolish, but I couldn’t wait for the Vanderlinds’ arrival. I didn’t think the family would actually socialize with people from Tiburon, but it would be exciting to see a few of them as they drove through town, or maybe catch a glimpse of them as they entered the policemen’s ball, or stopped by to pay a call on the mayor. I imagined it would be like catching a glimpse of royalty.
    I had read how the English who owned grand houses would have a day each month when their homes were open to the public. That way regular folks could come in and admire the art and finery. I sincerely hoped that the Vanderlinds would adhere to that sort of tradition, so that I would have a chance to see inside the castle. It was something I wanted very much and I just knew there had to be a way.
     
    That night I