LITMIR.BIZ

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the counter, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. Then, with a jaunty salute, he flipped off, landing on his feet.

      I kept staring, looking for something, anything under his skin. There was no glamour. His clothes were normal, too, a light blue printed T-shirt and nice jeans. “How did you do that?” I asked.

      “Lots of practice. You should see me walk on my hands.”

      “The door! How did you come through a faerie door by yourself?”

      “Oh, that?” He ran a hand through his curls and looked back at where the door had been. “Easy. You walk up to a wall, and”—he leaned in close, all of us leaning with him, watching breathlessly—“open sesame!” He raised both arms dramatically in the air.

      Nothing happened. “Huh.” He turned around and shrugged. “Well, guess I’m stuck.”

      Raquel heaved a sigh I used to know well—it was her Evie, Evie, Evie sigh. But this time she followed it up with a tired, “Jack. Please stop playing around. We’re here for business.”

      “Yes, ma’am,” he said, eyes wide and earnest. Raquel turned around to go back into the living room and Jack tugged lightly on the end of my ponytail, then sauntered out after her.

      Who on earth was this person?

      Lend took my hand. “Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

      I shook my head. I had never seen anyone who could go through a faerie door or navigate the Paths unless they were accompanied by a faerie. You couldn’t even let go of your faerie’s hand on the Paths or you’d be lost forever in the infinite darkness. I still had nightmares about being there alone.

      David, Lend, and I walked cautiously into the other room, tensed for an attack. But Jack was sitting, casual as can be, on the back of the couch.

      “Jack is who I was trying to tell you about, Evie.” Raquel smiled smugly at us. “Thanks to him, we can transport you to and from sites with the same speed as a faerie. You’ll never have to work with the fey.”

      “How?” I had seen it with my own eyes, but I still didn’t believe it. Then something struck me. “Take off your shirt!”

      “I’m not that kind of guy!” He frowned thoughtfully. “On second thought, why not?” He pulled the shirt over his head, revealing a lean torso that under other circumstances might have elicited admiration, but today was only more confusing. Once again there was absolutely nothing shimmering underneath it. So much for my theory that he was hiding something paranormal under his clothes.

      I blushed angrily and looked at Raquel. “What is he? I don’t see anything!”

      “He’s not ‘anything.’ Just a talented boy.”

      “Then how did he make a door? How did he get through the Paths?”

      “Wait, so am I allowed to put my shirt back on? Or did you want me to remove my pants, too?”

      Lend and I joined forces in a dark glare. “Only if you want me to vomit,” I snapped.

      Raquel’s communicator let off a small beep and she pulled it out, scanning the message. “Jack, we’ve got to go. Evie, think about my offer and we’ll talk again in a few days.” She looked up at me and smiled, this one touching her stern eyes and making her surprisingly lovely. “And it was nice to see you again.”

      I threw my arms around her in a hug. “You, too.”

      “David,” she said, her voice tighter as she turned to him and nodded. He nodded back, his eyes lingering on her a little longer than they needed to. “Lend.”

      Lend shook his head, looking to the side in frustration.

      Jack jumped off the couch, pulling his shirt back on. “Next time, if you’d like, I’ll just come without one,” he said, grinning at me. Taking Raquel’s hand, he walked up to the living room wall and put a hand on it. For the first time his face lost its cocky, playful cast, and he seemed to be straining in concentration. Far slower than it would take a faerie, the bright outline of a door formed on the wall, opening into black. Raquel and Jack walked through, and it closed behind them, leaving no evidence that it had ever existed in the first place.

      Lend turned to me. “Well, that was interesting. And a waste of time. However, since I’m already here, what do you say we make up for your sucky afternoon?”

      I wished I could make him understand that Raquel wasn’t just my former employer—or worse, my captor, as he seemed to view anyone who worked for IPCA. And Jack puzzled me to no end. But extra time with Lend quickly took my mind off those particular problems. “What are you thinking?”

      “How about the Mall?”

      “Wait—you mean the Mall, as in a bunch of museums in DC that we would wander around and I’d pretend like I understood modern art while really thinking, holy crap, a gremlin could have painted that and for all we know did, or the mall, as in picking out a new pair of shoes, eating food that’s terrible for us, and making up life stories for all the people that pass us?”

      “I can see now that I must have meant the second.”

      “What a smart boy.” I smiled and he pulled me close.

      “I still say that guy was CIA. Spy all the way.”

      I laughed, turning to face him as he parked in front of the diner. “Lend, he was like five foot nothing.”

      “Exactly! You’d never suspect him. He’s the quiet, nondescript-looking guy, doesn’t seem like a threat at all until—BAM. Say good-bye to all your country’s secrets!”

      “Okay, fine. He was a spy.”

      “We should have gone to that movie, though. I think some explosions would have done you good, helped you relax after a hard day.”

      “It’s not my fault I wasn’t allowed in without an adult and you forgot your license.”

      Lend rolled his eyes. Silver shot through his nearly black hair and I laughed, shoving him.

      “Knock it off. That’s creepy. Besides, if you pretend to be old to sneak me in, it’d be super gross if we started making out or something. No more gray.”

      “Fine.” His hair rolled into corkscrew curls, turning a coppery red.

      I laughed. “Quit it! Someone will see you.”

      His eyes got serious and his hair shifted back to its normal appearance. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay? I can blow off classes tomorrow if you aren’t feeling well.”

      “You really don’t have to.” Lend never missed class; I loved that he was willing to skip for me, and part of me was tempted by the offer … but I’d feel too guilty.

      He sighed. “I do have a bio lab. You’re really okay? Nothing hurting from your fall? No weird side effects from the sylph?”

      “I’m okay.”

      “Alright. I’ll see you on Saturday.”

      “Not Friday night?” I hated the whine that crept into my voice. I wouldn’t be that girlfriend, the whiny, clingy one who couldn’t have a life outside her boyfriend. Even though she totally justifiably wanted nothing more than to spend every minute of her life with him. Nope. Not that girl.

      “I’ve got a group project in vertebrate anatomy, and the only time we could schedule it was then. I doubt we’ll get done early enough for me to get here at a decent hour, and if I stay in my dorm where there are no beautiful, fun distractions, I can finish up my homework and be absolutely yours all weekend. So first thing Saturday morning.”

      He leaned in and kissed me. I wished he could melt away his glamour and kiss me as himself, talk to me as himself, but it wouldn’t do for someone to walk by and see me making out with a nearly invisible silhouette. The downside of dating a half-human,

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