Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy 1)

“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. ”

“Why did you break in, then?”

“I already told you. The banshee said the answer was here. I thought maybe you had info on it, had figured out a pattern or something. That's what I was looking for. Obviously I was on the wrong track, since it seems you know even less than we do. ”

Raquel was seriously pissed. I'd never seen anyone who could push her buttons as well as Lend. “When you're ready to give me anything useful, let me know. Evie, let's go. ”

“I think I'll stay here for a while. ” Oh, baby, that was the wrong answer.

Her mouth barely moved as she snapped one word: “Now. ”

“I guess I'll see you later, Lend. ” Leaving the drawing stuff with him, I followed Raquel out, turning to give him a sheepish grin.

“I can't--Why you were--You could have--” Raquel stopped, taking a deep breath. “I'm very disappointed in you. ”

I rolled my eyes, walking next to her down the hall. “Yeah, well, maybe if I actually had a life or some friends I wouldn't have to hang out with the prisoners. But as it is, he's very nice, and I think if you were nice to him, you might have learned something by now. ”

“You don't understand how this works. ”

“No, I don't, because you don't tell me anything! What's up with all the dead paranormals?”

Raquel rubbed her forehead wearily. “I don't know. The vampires last week, and there have been several more the last few days. Either we haven't been picking up on it, or it's getting worse. ”

“What are you gonna do?”

“We've got research and analysis working on it, but we haven't been very lucky coming up with answers lately. Like your friend in there--we have no idea what he is or where he came from. ”

“Kinda like me?”

She gave me a sharp look that softened quickly. “You're a very different case. ”

“Yeah. Okay. ” I wanted to add a whatever, but knew it would push her over the edge. “Oh, did you figure out a new command for Reth? I'm tired of sleeping with weights on my bed. ”

“You're sleeping with weights on your bed?”

“Gotta stay safe somehow. ”