#like all teases and snippets this one is subject to editing & placement in another chapter

[vladdyissues]

Please give us a wee tease of the next chapter? ❤️❤️❤️

“Hey, look, it’s Master-bator!” a voice called, and Danny instinctively cringed. He knew a bully when he heard one.

Turning, he spotted a group of four boys in their late teens—tall, athletic, dressed stylishly for the time—gathered around another student who appeared to be seeking refuge beside the water fountain. The lone boy was equally tall but lacking everything his tormentors boasted: mass, looks, confidence, and means. His clothes were ill-fitting and old-fashioned. A red checkered shirt billowed around his thin body, tucked into a pair of brown corduroy trousers that offered far too much sock, and a scuffed pair of army boots that looked like they might have been Korean War vintage. An odd ash-gray streak interrupted the boy’s otherwise dark, oily hair. His forehead was large, his face narrow and long. Pitifully homely. Danny’s heart ached with sympathy.

The boy pulled on a brave scowl like it was armor. “Not today, Ron. I’m not in the mood.”

Ron—tan, tow-headed, sporting a mouth too big for his face—slung his arm around his victim’s skinny shoulders. “Aw, that’s okay, Vladislob, this won’t take long, I promise.”

His three flunkies snickered like a basket of hissing cobras. Danny’s stomach dropped into his sneakers.

The boy was Vlad Masters.