Blood Relatives

32. Will He Make It?

"Don't worry about anyone coming to get you." Adam shouted at them from the other side. "I start work in about ten minutes, and I promise I'll be the only one who comes back here until we close for the night. Have fun!" Carmine could hear his laughter fade as he made his way back to the front of the building.

Carmine felt the door, looking for a handle. There was none – only one of those metal sheets that bolt to the inside of doors that are only supposed to be opened from one side. She looked carefully along the wall. Finally, she found a light switch and flicked it on. It wasn't much, but at least they wouldn't have to sit here in total darkness all night.

"What are we going to do?" Conner asked, a wild look on his face. "We have to get out of here!"

"I know." Carmine told him. She didn't want to spend all night in a closet any more than he did. Well, it looked like she was going to have to text Anna and let her and Mia know she'd be a little late for their sleepover tonight.

"No, Carmine – you don't understand." Conner said, starting to panic. "We have to get out of here now."

Carmine was about to ask if he was claustrophobic or something when suddenly she remembered – the full moon. Her eyes got real wide and she could feel her expression starting to mirror Conner's.

"How long do we have?" she asked. Conner took his phone out of his pocket and checked the time.

"Thirty-one minutes."

"Thirty-one minutes?" she repeated. "You know down to the minute?"

"Sunset." he told her. "I can probably hold off for five minutes past that before it starts – if I'm lucky."

Carmine just stared at him. How could he possibly know that?

"Unlike you guys, ours actually is more of an exact thing." he told her grimly.

"Lucky." Carmine mumbled.

"Yeah, I feel real lucky right now." Conner snapped.

"Sorry."

"So how are we going to get out of here?" Conner asked, making an effort to keep calm.

"I guess we could call someone." Carmine said slowly. Of course, that would mean letting their friends know where they were.

"Like who?" Conner gave her a pretty withering look, especially for him.

"Luke or Zev?" she asked. Neither Anna or Mia could drive. Conner shook his head.

"They'd never make it on time." he told her. "By the time either of them got here and got the door open, we wouldn't have time to make it back. It's bad enough I'm here – but getting them caught too would be even worse."

Carmine nodded. So it was up to them. She looked around to see what they had to work with.

"Well, he already took all the useful tools." Carmine said, looking around. She saw a mop and bucket, a garden hose, and a few extension cords.

"Break the door down?" Conner asked. At least he was managing to keep the panic out of his voice for the most part. But he still looked scared.

"You think we can?" Carmine asked. It was like three inches thick.

"A werewolf and a vampire? I think we can manage." he told her. "Besides, I don't see what else we can do – unless there's something Adam forgot about in one of these boxes." They both turned to the boxes, hurriedly searching for anything that could be helpful.

"This might be an odd question," Carmine said slowly. "But a full moon is just like any other time for you, right? I mean, when you change."

"Except for it being something I do on purpose? Yeah, why?"