Paranormalcy (Paranormalcy 1)

Lend laughed. “Yeah, probably not. Death in sparkly platform sandals. It's a nice image, at least. ”

I smacked him on the shoulder. “Hey, I'm scary. You thought I was going to kill you, remember?”

“Oh, I remember. Man, that was a stressful day. ”

“No kidding. I wonder if things have always been this weird and I just never knew, or if they're getting worse. ”

“They're getting worse. ”

“Okay, so poetic prophecies and creepy faerie stalkers aside, I've got an important question. ”

“What?”

“Do you have a driver's license?”

He laughed. “That's important?”

“Oh yeah! I'd kill for a driver's license! Hey, maybe that's what the poem means! I'm going to go berserk and start attacking people because they won't let me drive. . . . ”

“Could be, you never know. But, yes, I have a driver's license. ”

I leaned back against the wall, sighing. “Man, that must be so cool. ”

“It ranks right up there with lockers. In fact, sometimes I put my license inside my locker, and it's so cool I worry that the whole thing might explode with the sheer coolness of it all. ”

I smacked him on the shoulder. Again. I was doing that a lot. “Shut up. You try living your whole life here and then tell me what you think is cool. ” He gave me a funny look; he'd been watching me closely this whole time.

“You really don't care about this face, do you?”

“What face?” I asked, confused.

He smiled, showing off braces I hadn't noticed. “This one. ”

I laughed. “Why would I care? You wear a lot of different things. ”

“Yeah, but this one isn't very cute. ”

“Not really, but it's not you. ” He got that funny look again. I smiled. “The only thing that bugs me is that your voice is always different. I wish I knew what it really sounded like. Oh, and also I think it's a little creepy when you're a girl, but you haven't done that in a while. ”

He shook his head. “You're weird. ”

“Says the invisible shape-?shifting boy. ”

He laughed a little, then leaned back against the wall like me. “We aren't figuring this out. ”

“I know. Sorry. ” I had racked my brains but didn't know how to begin to put together all Reth's random tidbits and the stupid poem with what I had seen. And even more bothersome, I couldn't stop wondering what the ending to my poem was, if there even was one. Have I mentioned how much I don't like faeries?

“Evie?” His voice was tentative. “Is there any way you could email someone for me? If I could get this information out, maybe my--my group could help. ”

My heart fell. Was Lend just using me? But then I remembered the whole trying-?not-?to-?be-?self-?centered thing. So what if he was? He should be. IPCA wasn't solving this, and they were stopping him from doing anything. Still, I hoped he liked me and wasn't just trying to manipulate me.

“I don't know. I've got a computer, but the only thing I do online is shop and I know IPCA monitors every single thing I click on because they cancel about ninety percent of my purchases. I could try to set up a new email address or use yours or something, but I'm pretty sure they'd catch it immediately. Maybe it would already be sent by then, though. ” I bit my lip, nervous.

“What would happen if they caught it?”

I smiled, feigning nonchalance. “Umm, I'd be imprisoned indefinitely for treason. Probably. But you never know--they really like what I can do. And I think Raquel would stick up for me. Maybe I could get out of it. ” I'd never been sent to a disciplinary hearing; the idea terrified me.

Lend shook his head. “No, I'm sorry. It's not worth the risk. ”