Кирстен Уайт - Paranormalcy

“I’m a little curious about that as well.”

He smiled. “I’ll bet. Of course, it’s your fault I’m stuck in this room in the first place.”

I had to admit he was right. Actually, I didn’t have to. “No, it’s your own fault your plan was so crappy a helpless teenage girl caught you.”

“Helpless? Hardly. I seem to recall being electrocuted.”

“Oh, yeah, there was that.”

“You’re not wearing your Taser today. You didn’t last time, either.” He looked at me thoughtfully.

“Planning something?” I wasn’t nervous. Well, maybe a little, now that he said that.

“Nope, not at all. I’m glad you trust me.”

“Once again, how much threat can a guy be whose grand plan for breaking into the Center included punching people and running?”

He put a hand on his chest. “Ouch. You’re right, though, I didn’t have any idea what I was doing. It was pretty desperate.”

“That’s all right. We all do stupid things. Last week I was following a vamp and burst into a room that I hadn’t checked out first. Turns out there were a whole bunch more. I nearly got killed.”

“How did you get out?”

“Reth.” I frowned.

“Who’s Reth?”

“It’s a long story.”

Lend leaned back. “I’ve got nothing but time.”

My shoulders sagged under the weight of memory as I thought of how wonderful Reth had made my life—for a while, at least. “When I started here, I thought faeries were angels. They were so beautiful and mysterious. Then Reth came when I was about fourteen. At first he was like all the others—cold and distant. But when he found out what I could do, he started talking to me, taking an interest. Not only was he one of the only guys—well, I guess males—around, but he was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen. Pretty soon he was coming by my unit, telling me stories, listening to me. When we talked he held my hand and it was like he was warming me from the outside in. I lived for the times I got to see him, and he told me about how he was going to take me away to his dreamland. What lonely girl doesn’t want to hear that?”

Lend frowned, looking bothered. “So, were you guys, like, dating?”

I sighed, heartsick remembering how much I had loved Reth, depended on him. Life had been easier then. “Not like dating dating. I mean, we didn’t kiss or anything normal. Anyway, every time he held my hand I got warmer, faster. He’d come and take me in the middle of the night, dance with me until I swear we both glowed. I thought he was perfect. Sometimes when he held me, my heart would be so warm it felt like I would burst.

“Then one day I went on a simple retrieval, just a werewolf. Those are pretty easy—the people are so freaked out they’re relieved to have someone explain things. I guess this guy had been a werewolf for a couple of years and he actually liked it. So when I found him and told him he was under arrest, he got really angry and hit me. Before I knew what was happening Reth was there. His face —it was pure fury. There was nothing human there. He put his hand out and the werewolf flew back into a tree. Then Reth was muttering and the tree started shaking and cracking, growing out andthe werewolf was—It crushed him alive,” I finished hurriedly, trying to get the image and the screams out of my head. “As much as I still loved Reth, it scared me so bad that I wouldn’t talk to him or see him for a month. The heat faded, and I could finally see things clearly. I don’t know what he was doing—Raquel thinks it wasn’t even real.” I scowled. “So now every time he sees me, he tries to touch me and I can feel the heat spreading again, trying to get to my heart.”

Lend was quiet for a while. “Why don’t they just send him away?”

“IPCA is too dependent on faerie magic. They think because they know a faerie’s name they can control him, so they don’t care. They don’t know how stupid they’re being.”

“IPCA doesn’t know a lot of things.”

“Yeah.” I frowned, trying to get the memory of Reth’s warmth out of my head. “So, your turn. What did you do out there? Do you have a family? Did you go to school? Where do you live? Have you always been like this?” All the questions I had been saving up for him spilled out. Except if he had a girlfriend. I managed to keep that one inside.

He just laughed. “I think, considering Raquel has decided to join us, we’ll have to talk about those things another time.”

I looked up. Raquel stood in the doorway, hands on her hips and looking like she could spit fire.

“Oh, bleep,” I muttered. Then, smiling, I waved. “Hey, Raquel. What’s up? Did you change your mind about the movie?”

“What are you doing here?”

“You know, just hanging out. Lend’s been teaching me how to draw.”

“Get up and move away from him, now.”

“Oh, relax.” I waved my hand dismissively. “If he wanted to kill me, he already would have. I brought him all these sharp pencils, ideal for stabbing, and he’s been a perfect gentleman.”

“Evie.” Her voice was dangerous now. She meant business. I went to stand, but Lend took my hand.

“You want answers?” he said to Raquel. “Let her hang out with me and I’ll tell you why I came.”

Raquel looked from me to him. She had this strange expression on her face, calculating but almost sad. I could tell she was desperate for answers, but there was something more. I didn’t know what.

Finally, shaking her head, she sighed. It was a sigh I rarely heard from her—the sigh of defeat. I couldn’t believe it.

“Fine,” she said.

Lend let go of my hand. “How many dead paranormals did you find this week?”

Raquel looked surprised, then suspicious. “Paranormals don’t die very often. What makes you think we found any?”

He rolled his eyes. “How many?”

She paused, then said, “Thirty.”

“Wait, what? Seriously?” I couldn’t believe it. Thirty dead paranormals? That just didn’t happen.

We’d lose five, maybe ten a year. And most of those were vamps that activated their ankle trackers’ holy water function.

“You’re missing a lot then,” Lend said. “I’d guess it was probably closer to fifty, if the numbers are holding steady.”

“Where are you getting this information?”

“Do you really think IPCA is the only group that keeps track?”

Raquel looked triumphant, sure she was finally going to figure Lend out. “What is your group?”

Lend shook his head. “I’m not stupid. We’re not interested in being tagged. We’re also not interested in being slaughtered.”

“Where are you getting your information?” she repeated.

“A banshee. She said—”

“You know a banshee? Where?” Her eyes were practically bugging out of her head now.

“Please stop interrupting. She told me that the answer was with IPCA, and then spouted off a strange poem.”

Raquel waited expectantly. “Well?”

Lend turned and looked at me. “Evie, you wanna start it?”

“What?” I was completely confused.

“‘Eyes like streams of melting snow,’” he said softly.

That’s what I’d said to him when he was first trying to figure out my eye color. No wonder I had terrified him. I had forgotten about it until now—but how did he know what I’d heard in a dream?

“What are you talking about? I—I don’t even know what that means.”

“What was the rest of it?” Raquel asked, impatient.

He turned to her. “I’ll tell you when you let me go.”

“We’re not letting you go. For all I know, your group is behind the attacks. Maybe you broke in to find our tracking records for more victims.”

“I’d say whatever this thing is, it’s doing just fine on its own.”