Plague (Gone 4)
Page 33
“Fake.”
“But beautiful.”
Lana glared at him. And Sanjit had to admit: the girl could glare. The pistol in her waistband definitely added to the tough-girl look. But more it was that hurt-but-defiant expression.
“So asking you to take a moonlit walk with me, that would totally not work?”
“What?” Again that glare. “Go away. Stop being an idiot. I don’t even know you.”
“You’re healing my little brother Bowie.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t make us friends, kid.”
“So no moonlight.”
“Are you retarded?”
“Sunrise? I could get up early.”
“Go away.”
“Sunset tomorrow?”
“Just what is your problem, kid? Do you know who I am? No one messes with me.”
“Do you know my name?”
“Which part of ‘go away’ do you not get? I could shoot you and no one would even say anything.”
“It’s Sanjit. It’s a Hindu name.”
“One word to Orc and he’d play basketball with your head.”
“It means ‘invincible.’”
“That’s great,” Lana said.
“Invincible. I can’t be vinced.”
“That’s not even a word,” Lana said. Then she ground her teeth, obviously annoyed with herself for having been baited.
“Go ahead: try to vince me,” Sanjit said.
Just then Patrick came rushing over. He dropped the ball at Sanjit’s feet, grinned his delirious dog grin, and waited.
“Don’t play with my dog,” Lana said.
Sanjit snatched up the ball and threw it. Patrick went tearing after it.
“You don’t scare me,” Sanjit said. He held up a hand, cutting Lana off before she could answer. “I’m not saying I shouldn’t be scared. I’ve heard some of the stories about you. About what happened. You went up against this gaiaphage thing all by yourself. Which means you are the second bravest girl I ever met. So I probably should be scared. I’m just not.”
He watched her struggle to resist asking. She lost. “Second bravest?”
“I’ll tell you the story when we go for that walk,” Sanjit said. He jerked a thumb toward the helicopter. “I better get back to town. Edilio wants a report from me.”
He turned and walked away.
Chapter Nine