LIKE A BAD JOKE

Vivian?" I opened my eyes, panicked, and stared at the ceiling. Where had she gone?

“Evie, wake up.” Lend's voice startled me.

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled. “It's my room.”

I sat up, looking around. Everything from the day before clicked into place, and I wished it hadn't. It was like losing Lish again.

“Sorry,” Lend said, “but they need you downstairs.”

I blinked, trying to get my eyes to focus. “Who's they?”

He shrugged uncomfortably. “Just some people my dad works with. I'm sorry, I let you sleep as long as I could.”

“Oh, that's okay, then. Can I go to the bathroom first?”

“Of course. It's right down here.” I followed him out into the hall and he pointed out the bathroom. “Hey, who's Vivian?”

My stomach dropped as the dream flooded back. “Don't know,” I blurted, walking into the bathroom. Why did I feel guilty hiding a stupid dream from Lend? I shook my head, trying to dismiss it as a meaningless nightmare. After all, Vivian had said a lot of the same things I'd heard from Reth. It was probably my brain trying to process everything that had happened. Ignoring the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach, I swished some toothpaste around my mouth.

Lend was waiting when I came out and I followed him down the stairs. The two bolted doors were open now. Wondering what I would find, I walked into the kitchen behind Lend and stopped dead.

Lend's dad, two werewolves, and a vampire. It was like the setup to a bad joke or something. A doctor, two werewolves, and a vampire walk into a bar. “What'll you have?” the bartender asks. “We were thinking him,” the vampire answers, eyeing the doctor.

Okay, jokes weren't my strong point.

The yellow eyes staring warily out at me from the werewolves and the shriveled corpse face of the vamp--I automatically reached for Tasey before remembering I didn't have her. I didn't know where she was, either, which made me all sorts of nervous. All their ankles were covered by pants, but I was certain there weren't any trackers underneath.

The vampire's glamour was a pretty, goth-​looking woman in her early twenties. Black hair streaked with crimson; heavy eye makeup; and all black, skintight clothing. Way to blend in there. The two werewolves, holding hands, were a man and a woman in their thirties; he was tall, with his head shaved, and she had curly brown hair, cropped very short. There was something familiar about her face, but I couldn't place it.

Of course, now the bolted doors made sense. Holy crap, I had just spent the night of a full moon with two unneutered werewolves. And a vamp, too, although one vamp I was pretty sure I could handle, even without my beloved Tasey.

“Lend, you little monster,” the vampire said, glaring. “Don't you ever pull that again.”

Lend hung his head. “Sorry. I didn't mean for--When did you get here?”

“Just now.” She turned to me. “So.” She sounded witchy. I didn't like her. “IPCA, huh?”

“So.” I raised my eyebrows (wishing I could raise just one like Lend did), “Bloodsucker, huh?”

“Yeah. So are Luke and Stacey.” She jerked her head toward the werewolves.

“Okay, sure. Since I'm stupid and don't know they spent last night as wolves.”

All three of the paranormals looked surprised. “Fine,” the vamp snapped. “Did you figure out what David is yet?”

I gave her a flat stare. “Did you really wake me up for this? Because unless one of you did something to him last night, he's human.” I glanced over at him to make sure. Yup, just human.

David cleared his throat. “We wanted to ask about this.” He moved to the side and gestured at the table, where I saw Tasey--yay Tasey!--my communicator, and Lend's ankle tracker. David looked sad. “You brought IPCA technology to my home. Will they track you?”

“No!” Truth was, I hadn't even thought about that stuff in the confusion last night. There wasn't a problem with it, but he had a right to be worried. “Trust me, they'd already be here. The tracker is deactivated and my communicator doesn't have GPS or anything. It kept getting screwed up and reset every time I went through the Faerie Paths so they got rid of it. They always knew where I was anyway, since the only way I ever left was with a faerie. They can't track the communicator unless you hit the panic button, I promise.”

The vamp cut in again. “Sure, but you could still call them, couldn't you?”

I glared at her. “Yeah, because I really want to get locked up for the rest of my life. Sounds like a party. In fact, I think I'll turn myself in right now!”

“Like they wouldn't kill to get you back,” she sneered.

I exhaled sharply, trying not to yell at her. Vamps grated on my nerves more than any other paranormal--the disconnect between their glamours and real faces was just too much. “Listen, corpse girl, do you know what I did? I broke section one of the charter. As in, the section. As in, let a paranormal loose without authorization and be locked up for the rest of your mortal life. Even if I wanted to go back, which I don't, and even if there was anything to go back to, which there probably isn't, I couldn't. So bite me.”

She looked like she was going to take me up on it, but David interrupted. “That's enough. We're all on the same side here, Arianna. Lend told me everything that happened and I think Evie's right--if they could track her, they'd already be here.” He picked up the communicator. “It's been beeping off and on all night. We found it with your clothes in the bathroom.”

My heart leaped. Raquel! She had to be worried sick about me. If I could call her, let her know I was okay...then they'd know exactly where I was and I'd be locked up for the rest of my life. “They're probably trying to figure out whether or not I'm dead,” I said sadly, then paused. How many times had I told them not to work with the faeries, urged them to trust Lend and figure this out together? Of course, my classification was proof enough of how IPCA really saw me. And no matter how I felt about Raquel, she was IPCA. I shook my head. “Let them think I'm dead.”

The woman werewolf spoke, her voice gentle, fear in her eyes. “Did you really see it?”

It took me a moment to realize she was talking about Fire Girl. Vivian. I closed my eyes and nodded. It was just a stupid dream; I didn't actually know her name. I didn't want to talk about it anymore; I didn't want to think about it anymore.

“How's your leg?” Lend's dad asked.

“Oh, it's fine. Hurts a little, but nothing major.”

“Good. We're going for a little walk.”

“Okay.” Confused, I looked over at Arianna. Vamps stayed away from sunlight. Not because they'd burst into flames or anything, but because in direct light their true selves showed through. Only a little, but they avoided it just the same.

“You'll probably want long pants,” Lend said. “It's kind of cold today.”

I followed him upstairs. He rifled through his clothes, frowning. “You're skinnier than I am.”

I laughed. “Umm, yeah, kind of happy about that.”

He looked up at me and grinned. After a minute he pulled out an old, worn pair of flannel pajama pants. “These are a couple of years old; they probably won't fall off.” He handed them to me and stood there. I raised my eyebrows and he blushed. “Oh, yeah, I'll let you change.”

After the door closed I slipped out of his shorts and pulled on the red and blue flannels. They were a couple inches too long, but they'd stay on. Those combined with the oversized green hoodie meant I wasn't exactly looking hot. I sighed. I could have used a shower, too, not to mention some makeup. My eyelashes were as blond as my hair; without mascara I felt like a five-​year-​old.

I opened the door and Lend smiled. “They look better on you.”

“Wow, they must look just awful on you then.” I smiled back.

He handed me my boots, which completed my ensemble of ridiculousness. To make matters worse, he looked downright adorable in a thermal shirt that fit him just right (trust me, I noticed) and a pair of jeans. I looked at his face. I loved his eyes--his real eyes. They were always the easiest of his features to pick out.

“Are you doing okay?” he asked, and his soft, sad look made everything rush in again.

“No, not really, but I'm trying not to lose it in front of everyone.” I willed myself not to cry. I might bawl like a baby during The Notebook, and, sure, I cried myself to sleep sometimes...okay, a lot...but that was by myself. I didn't like doing it in front of other people.

“Let me know if you need anything.”

I smiled, wanting to get a move on so I could stop thinking about things that made me sad. It was weird being on Lend's turf; I was a lot more confident when we were both in the Center. Like right now, I really wanted to hold his hand, but I wasn't brave enough to try with his dad and that stupid vamp downstairs.

Lend and I met David and Arianna outside and I got a better look around. A narrow paved road led away from the house through the trees, but we turned to the right and walked down a barely-​there path into the woods for about twenty minutes. The trees were budding, the air crisp and clear with a hint of warmth. Spring was on its way. I tried to focus on the sun streaming down through the branches.

“Where are we?” I whispered to Lend.

“Virginia.”

Through the trees ahead, I saw a pond fed by a wide stream to our right. We came through the last of the trees and stood on the banks. The pond was oval, fairly large, and pale blue, reflecting the cloudless sky. The edges were crystallized with frost.

“Oh, good,” Lend said. “She can come out today.”

I frowned at the horrible idea that maybe they were friends with a hag. But the look on Lend's face--excited and happy--reassured me that I wasn't going to meet a violent end. “Who?” I asked.

He smiled at me. “My mom.”

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