Neither (The Noctalis Chronicles 3)

“What?” Tex perks up.

Somehow, in all the madness, she, Tex and I start discussing the zombie apocalypse. Because it's an important thing. Much more important than planning how Helena is going to convince Di to cease her vendetta against me and let Peter and Viktor go. There will be more time for that later. The boys sit back and let us go, knowing that there's no stopping this runaway train of a conversation.

“See!” I say when Helena agrees with me about the treadmills not working.

“Whatever,” Tex says, all huffy. There is a lull and we all sit back. We humans sink to the uneven ground and the noctali follow. I have my head in Peter's lap, and Tex has her head on Viktor's shoulder. Helena has her shirt off again, but at least she's still got the bikini top on.

“What should we do now? Will you take me shopping? I haven't been real shopping in forever. I mostly buy everything online,” Helena says. She's wearing the cutest skirt with tiny pink flowers on it, and she has folded her white peasant top so it won’t wrinkle while she gets her daily sun dose. I can tell from the way they're made that they're more expensive than most of the clothes in my closet.

“You want to go shopping?” I say, just to make sure. Not that it doesn't sound like fun, but we should really be concentrating on Di.

“Yes! Please?” She claps her hands and pouts. If I didn't know she was a noctalis, I'd never know the difference. She is so human. “I know you want to deal with the Di thing, but can we do that tomorrow? I mean, I did just get here.”

“What about your parents?”

“They are busy and are going back to India in a few days. They said I could stay as long as I wanted.” She sounds like a teenager asking to stay out late at a party.

“I'm in,” Tex says. “I could sooo use some girl time.”

Helena squeals with delight. Wow, she is so human.

“What the hell?” I say. We aren’t going to get to Di today, and we need Helena to continue to want to help us. “Brunswick? I told my mom we were doing a girl thing anyway.” Perfect. I don't even have to lie.

“What about the boys?” Tex says, as if just remembering that they have to come with us. We both glance at them.

“We will be right behind you, but a suitable distance away so you can have girl time,” Peter says.

“I like this plan,” Tex says. “Sorry, dude, but I need someone who gets excited about pink to shop with.”

“I could get excited about pink,” Viktor says. Tex gives him a look. “Perhaps not.”

“Oh, yay!” Helena has enough energy for five people. Maybe she had too much blood or sun or something.

“You don't need to, um...” I still don't know what the PC way to say feed is.

“No, I'm good. I ate before I came.” Her face brightens with a smile. God, she's so perky, but not in an annoying way.

This is going to be interesting.

***

Two hours later I'm shoved into a dressing room with a baby blue dress I would never have picked out for myself. Tex and Helena joined forces and attacked me with it. I couldn't really say no to Helena.

“Put it on,” she says, a hint of whine in her voice. She sounds just like Tex when she begged to meet Viktor.

I slip the dress on over my head and turn around in the mirror. It's true, the lighting makes me look like a washed-out alien with my big eyes, but the dress is a nice color. It also makes my boobs look fantastic. It's sort of a ’50s style, with a tight, high-cut top and a skirt that flares out and hits around my knees.

“I know you've got it on, come out and give us a twirl,” Helena says. God, she's worse than Tex, and I didn't think that was possible.

I open the door and emerge in the dress. Tex and Helena share a look.

“I'm amazing,” Helena says, sighing.

“Way to go, girl.” Tex gives Helena an air high-five, since they can't touch skin. “You are so getting it.”

I peer down at the price tag, and my eyes pop. Oh hell, no. “Yeah, that's not gonna happen,” I say, turning back and forth in the 360-degree mirror. It is a really pretty dress. Mom would love it.

“I've got it covered,” Helena says, pulling a number of cards from out of nowhere. “Pick a card, any card.” She fans them out in front of my face. I'm conflicted. On one hand, I really want the dress. On the other, those cards were probably obtained not-so legally and I shouldn't participate in that kind of thing.

“Come on, be bad. I can tell you're the kind of girl who follows the rules.”

“She is,” Tex says, rolling her eyes. They're egging me on, but I don't want to be called a wuss. I pick the prettiest card, which is from a lingerie shop and hand it to Tex.

“I'll be right out,” I say, turning around and going back into the dressing room to take off my new dress. Peter is going to love it.

***

“So how old are you?” Tex asks Helena as we two humans eat lunch and she watches us. I have gotten used to the non-blinking nature of the noctalis, but Helena is so human-seeming it is odd when she doesn’t blink and stays so still.

“I was fifteen when I changed. My birthday is June 16, so you should totally get me a present.”

“How do you remember that?” I say. She blinks.

“I don't know. I remember a lot of things from my human life.”

“Where are you from? You don't have an accent,” I say. I am wary of noctali with accents after the whole Cal situation.

“Yes, I do. I just choose not to use it,” she says, switching to her Greek accent.

“I have an infatuation with the American lifestyle, so I emulate it,” she says, switching back. They're really good at that. She is both the weirdest and most-human noctalis I have ever met.

“I know,” she says, as if responding to my thoughts. I give her a look and she giggles. “I'm good at reading faces. Something my parents taught me. You're an easy one to read.”

“So I've been told,” I say dryly. Does everyone have to point that out?

“It means your spirit is pure, and that's a good thing,” Helena says.

“I've been told that before, too.” I look down at my nachos, thinking about Peter. He and Viktor are somewhere in the mall, but I can't tell exactly where. He's close enough that I'm only a little uncomfortable, but far enough that I can't pinpoint his location.

“Where are they?” Tex keeps looking around, hoping to see them. She wants girl time, but doesn’t know what being away from Viktor will do to her.