I frowned. Not cool. Wait, spirits? She nodded. Nope, dudes corporeal. I had dealt with a few ghosts and poltergeists in my time. The great thing about them is they cant touch you. Their only power is fear. And theres a whole lot you can do with fearmake people see, hear, and even feel things that arent therebut if you know that going in, its a lot easier to see past it. Besides, if Im going to die, Raquel, Denise, and Jacques are all going with me.
She blinked thoughtfully. And why would a doppelg?nger want to look through Raquels files?
Exactly. Plus, hes only seventeen.
Lish tilted her head. He is not an immortal?
Nope. Oh, whoops, probably should have told Raquel that. I frowned. Id tell her when she decided to include me. Listen, dont say anything, okay? I want in on this one, and infos the only leverage I have.
Lish closed one of her transparent eyelids at me in her best imitation of a wink. They are not giving me research clearance anyway. I have no reason to tell.
Youre the best, my fine fishy friend.
Lishs eyes smiled at me. Different as we were, we were both exactly what the other neededa friend. As was my custom, started when I first met Lish as a ten-year-old, I smashed my face against the glass and blew my cheeks out at her.
DEAD MEAT IN ANY LANGUAGE
I had finally fallen asleep later that morning when the alarm went off. I jumped out of bed, confused, thinking there was yet another break-in or emergency. Then I realized it wasnt the Centers alarms, it was my personal alarm. The alarm that meant my tutor, Charlotte, would be here in exactly ten minutes.
Oh, bleep. I hadnt done any of my homework.
The last few years Id tried to convince Raquel that I really didnt need to study math, English, science, world history, and fouryes, fourforeign languages. It wasnt like I was going to go to college or anything. Sure, I wanted to attend real high school, but that had more to do with being around actual teenagers than learning stuff. Besides, I doubted IPCA cared whether or not I had my
GED. As long as I could keep seeing through glamours, I had a job for life. But every time I brought it up, Raquel looked at me with those almost-black eyes and heaved her patented I know you think its not important to know these things but one day youll appreciate that Ive made you into a well-rounded adult sigh.
I pulled out my Spanish book, pretty sure thats what I had this morning. Hastily filling in my irregular verb chart for morir, I wrote out example sentences. T? eres muerta carne. Scratched thatadjective after the noun. T? eres carne muerta. Oh, who was I kidding, I wasnt even using morir in the verb form anyway. Yo soy carne muerta. Translation: I am dead meat.
Right on time my unit door beeped and I let Charlotte in. She was a pretty woman, looked to be in her late twenties. A couple inches shorter than me with shiny brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and these adorable rectangular glasses over her blue eyes, which were over her bright yellow wolf eyes.
Charlotte always smiled so sweetly. Teaching had been her lifes passion until she was infected. After she realized what she was and what she had doneattacked a family membershe tried to kill herself. Fortunately we found her before she could figure out the few things that can bring down a werewolf. I could never tell if it was my lack of motivation as a student or her pain and regret about the past that made her look sad even when she was smiling.
We sat down on the couch and pulled up a table. She glanced over my worksheet and suppressed a smile. You are dead meat?
I gave my best dont get mad, arent I cute? grin and shrugged.
Thats an American expressionthe meaning doesnt translate. And you didnt finish your verb charts or the short story you were assigned. She looked up at me with those sad, sad eyes. Those eyes killed me.
Im sorry. I hung my head. Yesterday was crazy. First I had a vamp job, and then there was the break-in, and then Reth paid me a late-night visit, and then I couldnt sleep.
It sounds like you had a rough day. But youve had this assignment for a week. Perhaps next time if you didnt leave it to the night before?
Hey, now, lets not start talking crazy, Char. That, at least, got me a less-sad smile.
We spent the rest of the morning conjugating (a word that sounds dirty but is, in fact, boring) and conversing in good old espa?ol. She stayed and ate lunch with me, and then it was time for my afternoon training session.
Bud, my self-defense and combat skills teacher, was still trying to get me to learn knife fighting.
Bud, my self-defense and combat skills teacher, was still trying to get me to learn knife fighting.
Silver knives! Painful and sometimes deadly to nearly all paranormals!
Tasey! I countered. Hot pink and sparkly!
You cant always count on technology. Bud was human, but youd think hed grown up in the
Middle Ages. In case you were wondering if he was cute, well, maybe thirty years ago. Now, not so much. And, since weve had this argument before, I made you something.