"Umm, eew?" Arianna pulled back her hand, her face disgusted but a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. "Eternal life is bad enough without giving it to pests like you. "
He sighed heavily. "Girls are mean. At least faeries simply kill you if they don't want you around. " He put a hand on the wall, leaning against it and tapping his foot impatiently.
"Where are you going?" I asked, feeling guilty for not being able to hang out with him.
"To find a faerie to kill me, of course. " He winked at us, then pretended to fall straight through when the faerie door opened. Even Arianna laughed as the door closed behind him.
"Where did you find that one?"
"I have no idea. I'm a magnet for crazies, I guess. "
"They must be able to sense a kindred spirit. "
"You're one to talk. Don't you have more hordes of the undead to lead in a glorious revolution?"
"Zombies, not undead. There's a fine distinction. And no. Right now I'm scouting new talent. The glorious revolution comes tomorrow. "
"Good luck with that. Hey, you want to hang out? Lend's here the whole weekend. "
She shrugged. She'd been more and more withdrawn lately. But, short of a faerie apocalypse, I definitely wouldn't bail on her this time. "Sure. Yeah. Easton Heights marathon?" Bonus to that was, since Arianna didn't sleep, we could watch DVDs the entire night, which meant I didn't have to be apart from Lend at all. Excellent plan in my book.
I nodded and smiled enthusiastically. "Party!"
"Lend'll whine. "
"He's cute when he whines. "
"There's something wrong with you," she said.
There were a lot of things wrong with me, but loving Lend was definitely not one of them.
"Oh, hey," she said, pointing to some thick folders on the desk. "I ordered materials from a few other DC schools. "
"Why?"
"Backup plan. You know, just in case. "
I scowled. You'd think she was the one sneaking around with Raquel. "I don't need a backup plan. "
She rolled her eyes again. "Don't be an idiot. Sometimes things don't work out. You should always give yourself options. You're lucky you have them. "
"I don't need options. I'll see you later. " I shut the door behind myself rather louder than was necessary.
When I got downstairs I ducked into the kitchen to find Nona and Grnlllll standing next to each other and leaning over something on Nona's arm. I squinted my eyes, sure I was seeing it wrong. It looked like they were talking to some sort of glowing orange gecko or salamander, which couldn't be right.
Then again, Nona was a tree. So pretty much nothing she did was weird. Or everything was. There really wasn't a standard for normal here.
"Hey, Nona?"
She straightened, pulling her arm protectively behind her back with a stern look. I frowned, wondering if I wasn't supposed to see that, or if she was just pissed at me for not working much anymore. "You need me on tables or register today?"
"Neither, Evie. Thank you. You may go. "
"O-kay . . . " There was definitely a strange vibe there. Between her hushed conversations with Grnlllll and meeting up with Reth, Nona was seriously creeping me out. And there was this certain way she watched me when she thought I wasn't paying attention-like she was just, I don't know, waiting. For something.
I was pretty sure I didn't want to know what.
As I walked through the diner to go out, I swear every pair of eyes in there, not a single one of which were human, watched me. Fighting off a shudder, I pulled out my phone to call Lend for a ride. No way I was walking outside under the open sky today.