I could see the light of a door from behind my eyelids and waited until it faded to open them again. Reth was gone.
I went over to my vid screen and turned it on. “What good are freaking palm-?coded locks when faeries can make their own doors any time they want to!” I shouted at Lish. Her green eyes widened in surprise and concern. I took a deep breath. It wasn't her fault. “Thanks for the interruption,” I added.
“Reth?”
“Yeah. Can you file a report for me?”
“Yes, of course. We will try to make his instructions more explicit. ”
I shook my head. He always found a way around them. My guess was when they told him to go get me today he applied it as a blanket statement rather than a simple onetime retrieval command. “What did you need?”
She looked embarrassed. “I wanted to ask about the disturbance. I will talk to you tomorrow. ”
“Yeah, I'm kind of exhausted. I'll come visit and tell you everything, okay?”
“Do you want to spend the night here?” When I first came to the Center and had bad dreams, I would drag my blanket and pillow in and sleep on the floor next to Lish's aquarium. She'd tell me stories until I fell asleep. I was tempted, but felt too silly about not being able to spend the night alone because of a stupid faerie.
“I'll be okay. ” I forced a smile. “Thanks, though. Good night, Lish. ”
The mermaid's eyes smiled, and the vid screen went blank. I plopped back down on the couch. Reth had been so close. Again. And--worst of all--part of me wished that we hadn't been interrupted. But I had learned the hard way with faeries. It's all about possession and taking advantage, and, unlike human boys on all the TV shows, they aren't in it for sex. They couldn't care less about that. They want your heart, your soul. I was never giving mine back to Reth.
Deciding that hadn't stopped the ache of missing him, though.
I spent the rest of the night wide awake, wrapped in three blankets and freezing. When the clock read 4 A. M. I gave up. I got dressed in my warmest clothes and walked to Containment. Lend was curled up asleep on the floor. I sat against the wall and watched, fascinated, as his body flicked through identities the way I click through channels. After maybe an hour he went into his strange water-?and-?light state. I was so tired I could barely focus my eyes at all--and suddenly I could see him. It was like once I stopped trying so hard to look, he was just there. He actually had hair and normal features--cute even, if he had pigment. Even more surprising, he didn't look much older than me.
After a moment his eyes opened and met mine. Color flooded through him--he was wearing me again. The eyes were still flickering, trying to find the right shade.
“What are you?” I whispered.
“What are you?”
Offended, I frowned. “Human. ”
“Funny, me, too. ”
“No, you're not. ”
“Funny, neither are you. ”
I set my jaw and glared. What a jerk. “Why did you come here?”
&
nbsp; My voice came from his mouth, disconcerting as always. “I could ask you the same thing. Are you going to kill me?”
Chapter Four
HAVE A BLEEP BLEEP DAY
I--no, that's not what IPCA does,“ I said. ”They don't kill paranormals, they--"
Lend raised a hand to stop me and sat up, large eyes narrowing. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Why would I kill you?”
After a moment he let out a deep breath. “I don't think it's you. ”
“What's not me?”