9780241712016

V. P. Anderson Tatiana Hill

BY V. P. Anderson

ILLUSTRATED BY Tatiana

Hill

PUFFIN

PUFFIN BOOKS

Puffin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

www.penguin.co.uk www.puffin.co.uk www.ladybird.co.uk

First published in the United States by Labyrinth Road, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York 2024

This UK edition published by Puffin Books 2024 001

The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted Set in 9.5-point Tucker Script Interior Design by Juliet Goodman Printed and bound in China

The authorized representative in the EEA is Penguin Random House Ireland, Morrison Chambers, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin D02 YH68

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978–0–241–71201–6

All correspondence to:

Puffin Books

Penguin Random House Children’s One Embassy Gardens, 8 Viaduct Gardens, London SW11 7BW

To a e ams at “ crui d” me ov e yea and alized ey got mo an ey’d bargained for: you’ nev be rid of me now!

— VeroNica

To a e rby ska who fi t lcomed me e ska park and sho d me how n rful e ska co unity could be

— TatiAna

They say if you’re bitten during a blood moon, you get to choose.

An obscure factoid of Vampire Lore, that there’s a choice. To turn OR to remain human. Live forever OR stay regular. Normal. Basic.

Seems like a no-brainer, if you ask me.

But then, nobody ever asks me.

1

Okay, we need to arrive at the rink by seven-thirty, so you can check in and I can get good seats. Don’t forget to bring your leg warmers. They’re in the laundry.

Oh — you should wear the glitter scrunchie I bought last week!

A few weeks earlier . . .

Good call. Wouldn’t want to get caught looking drab in last place.

Dad, are you gonna be there? Watching? With . . . all the other billions of people?

Yeah, Dad.

Sorry, pumpkin. Lots of cavities to drill ‘n’ fill today. That reminds me: Have you been flossing?

Remember. No more baby teeth. This set’s got to last you the rest of your life.

No more baby ANYTHING, for the rest of my life. Which starts today, basically. Hope I don’t mess it up.

2

. . . In local news, the Romania Police Department is still requesting information that could lead to the recovery of fifteenyear-old runaway Ilona Szilágyi, now missing for several months.

Authorities are asking anyone who may have had contact with Szilágyi to call—

Mom . . . I’m still not sure about “Nessun Dorma.” Isn’t it a little too . . . uh . . . classic?

I don’t know why you’d say that like it’s a negative, Mina. Classic never dies.

Unlike all those trendy little songs on the radio— most of those lyrics are pure trash, anyway. You know judges deduct points for that.

3

Nessssuuuuun doooooormmmaaaaa

You say “classic,” I say “old.”

I heard that.

To be fair, it feels like some classic things kind of deserve to die.

There, this’ll set the mood for your routine.

Just what I need, more . . . mood.

4

Maybe I was born with this #mood . . . or maybe it’s a side effect of spending 75 percent of my life and 50 percent of every day training against thousands of other kids for a job that only, like, a dozen people in the world are allowed to do, once every four years.

I’d do the math on my chances of getting to the Olympics, but I have enough “problems” already: sticking my landings, keeping up with the Johannsens . . .

Dividing friends, times infinity . . .

5

I’m so looking forward to championships. At least there, everyone will be . . . at our level, you know?

You say that like anyone’s . . .

. . . at our level, sis.

Oh, hey, good luck on your routine, Mina!

6

I’ve always loved skating. That’s not my problem.

My problem: It’s not enough to love a thing. To do art for fun—for the love of it.

I have to prove I’m good enough to do it FOR A LIVING. Or else I don’t get to do what I love. That’s how the world works, I guess. Being is earned by doing.

7

First up in the junior singles category is fifteen-year-old Ariel Johannsen, performing her routine to “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé. Always a crowd-pleaser!

I’m so nervous, I think I might throw up.