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participate in it or watch it, and to tell your Lifer friends that the vast majority of Leaguers obey the third Leaguer commandment: “You shall not frighten Lifers with your powers.” That includes not CDing unless in the event of a life-threatening situation to a fellow human being.
    Your guide,
Luther Birnam

8

The Shadow
    While Morning had read the post when it first came out and had wanted to join the boycott, he couldn’t. Watching
The Shadow
was one of his date nights with Portia.
    Besides loving the show for its cheesy entertainment value, Portia watched it for “research” on her senior film project, a documentary on Leaguers since American Out Day. While the doc she had made the year before,
Morning McCobb: The Jackie Robinson of the Vampire League
, had won several awards and guaranteed her admission to the film school of her choice, she had to make another doc to graduate from LaGuardia Arts.
    The motion of Zoë’s pedicab starting up again burst the bubble of Morning’s thoughts.
    Zoë pumped the pedals and they picked up speed. “You saw the show last week, right?”
    “The
Shadow
?”
    She scoffed at his spaciness. “No,
Hot Goth Biker Chicks
. Of course
The Shadow
!”
    “I missed it.”
    “What? I thought it was sure-thing TV for you and Portia.”
    “We had to study.”
    Zoë summarized the episode Morning had missed with the same energy she pedaled with, and she didn’t stop for spoiler alerts. “It was the best one yet! The category was ‘boat captain’ and the top shadow ended up being Jeremy. He hooked up with a marine salvage company that’s been diving for a lost treasure in the Hudson for years. Then Jeremy CDed into a three-foot sea worm, went burrowing in the river bottom, and found the sixteen hundred silver bars treasure hunters have been chasing since 1903. The find was worth twenty-seven million!”
    “That’s great,” Morning said flatly. “I wonder how the other treasure hunters feel about vampires now?”
    “Are you kidding? They’re probably trying to hire ’em to turn into sea worms for them, too, so they can find other sunken treasures.” She shot a frown at her passenger. “You know what you’re problem is, A.M.? You look to the future and see doom and gloom. If you ask me, it’s totally unfair.”
    “What’s unfair about it?”
    “That immortality gets wasted on the shortsighted. I mean, if you’d just turn me, I’d show you what vampires could do!”
    “Okay”—Morning flicked a hand at her—“
poof
, you’re a vampire. What would you do?”
    “For starters, I’d get on
The Shadow
next season, and while I was making my run to the winner’s circle I’d turn every vampirophobe into a vampirophile. If the category was ‘water department,’ I’d become a rat, inspect all thecity’s water mains and find the ones that were about to break, and no one would ever have their water shut off again. If the assignment was ‘nuclear containment,’ I’d hook up with the CIA, turn into a camel, and find every secret nuclear processing plant in Iran!”
    Morning laughed at Zoë’s wild imagination. “I promise if I ever turn anyone, it’ll be you.”
    She hit the brakes and spun around. “You mean that? You’d flip me before you flipped Portia?”
    He gave her a stern look. “
That
I will
never
do.”
    “Never say never.”
    He shuddered at the thought, which spurred the memory of the night he almost did worse than turn Portia. He hopped out of the pedicab.
    “Where are you going?” Zoë protested. “We’ve got another ten blocks.”
    He checked his cell to make sure he had enough time. “Thanks for saving my butt, ZZ, but I wanna walk. See you at the parade.” He started away.
    “I’m not going.”
    He turned back. “What? The number-one vampire fan is gonna miss the Vampire Pride Parade?”
    “Yep. Fanpire Tours has an after-school booking.”
    “With who?” he asked suspiciously.
    She broke into a sly smile. “I’m not sure, but