“As long as it doesn’t hurt.”
We hummed along to the opening theme, which ended when the door banged open and my boyfriend walked through, shrugging out of his coat and beaming as he dropped a duffel bag. “Free! What did I miss?” Lend asked, his cheeks rosy from the cold and his smile lighting up his water eyes beneath his dark glamour ones.
“I lost the vote on color schemes for the dance, the last episode of Easton Heights before they go into reruns is back on in three minutes, and Arianna is going to murder me in my sleep.”
“As long as it doesn’t hurt.”
“That’s what I said!”
Lend scooped me into his arms, turning around and sitting back down on the couch with me in his lap. This Christmas break of his couldn’t have come soon enough. After the crazy events of last month—including but not limited to finding out that my father was a faerie, being abandoned in the Faerie Paths by a vengeful Jack, and finally finding my way back to Lend—we needed some time together to relax. I’d figured out that this was the only answer I needed about my life. No more worrying about how much time I’d have, no more fretting over what I was or wasn’t. What I was was here, now. And happy.
“Anything else?” he asked, playing with my hair.
“Oh, yeah, there’s a dragon in the alley behind the diner, hanging out with Nona.”
Lend frowned at me, his warm fingers lingering on the back of my neck. “And this gets a mention after the color scheme for a dance and a new episode of a teen soap?”
“Priorities, Lend. Priorities.”
My IPCA communicator beeped from the coffee table during a commercial, earning me an icy glare from Arianna. “If it goes off during dialogue, I will smash it to pieces.”
“Sorry! I told Raquel to call on my actual cell. The one that is cute and pink and has a cool ringtone instead of an annoying beep. Not like I can do anything for IPCA now anyway.”
“That whole lack-of-faerie-transportation thing does kind of make it pointless.” Lend tried not to sound too happy about it, but I knew he was secretly thrilled.
I wasn’t sure how to feel. It had been nice to be involved with Raquel again, and I didn’t mind helping out in the ways that I wanted to with IPCA. But I wouldn’t travel anywhere with a faerie. A very small part of me was curious to see if I could use the Faerie Paths on my own now. But that part was very, very small, and all the other parts of me thought that part was crazy and wanted to beat it up. I was never going back into that inky, empty darkness.
My communicator beeped again, and Arianna gave it such a death look that I snatched it from the table and ran back to my room before she could put it into early retirement.
“Raquel, honestly! Just call on my cell!” I answered.
“Evelyn,” a strong voice that was definitely not Raquel said.
“I— Who is this?”
“Anne-Laurie LeFevre, Supervisor. Raquel’s no longer over you; you will report to me.”
“I’ll what?”
“From now on I will be your supervising authority with IPCA. We need to discuss your schedule and reform the current arrangement. There are several infractions that need to be addressed as well.”
“Whoa—first things first, I’m not with IPCA. So you are not my Supervisor or my authority or whatever. Second of all, I work with Raquel. Only Raquel. Does she know about this? I want to talk to her.”
“Raquel isn’t available; she’s been reassigned.”
“Well, so have I. To my life. So thanks but no thanks, and don’t call back.” I disconnected and glared at my communicator. Which beeped—again. I ignored the incoming line and dialed Raquel, but the call didn’t go through; maybe she was busy with her reassignment, whatever that meant. I’d have to get ahold of her to find out what the crap was up with IPCA. When I went back to work for them, we all agreed it was on a contract basis and I could leave whenever I wanted. Apparently someone hadn’t gotten the memo. Raquel would take care of it, though.
“Evie! Commercial is over!” Arianna yelled. Frowning, I shoved my communicator into my trusty sock drawer.
Lend stood up, shouldering his duffel bag, as I walked back into the living room. “Where do you think you’re going?” I snatched his coat away and held it. He just got here. There was no way I was letting him go anywhere else.
“I happen to have very important things to do.”
“What on earth is more important than watching Easton Heights?”
“Christmas shopping for you?”
I dropped the coat into his arms and opened the door. “Take your time.”
“Glad to know I’ll be missed.”
“Have fun!” I leaned up and kissed him hard, then shoved him out and sat back on the couch with a sloppy smile on my face. “Best boyfriend ever.”
“Shut. Up. Now.” Arianna didn’t move, eyes fixed on the television. A firm knock sounded on the door. “And tell Lend he can just walk in already!”
“Did you forget something?” I said as I opened the door, surprised to see a short black woman in a suit. And not Lend pretending to be one, either. Definitely just a woman, no glamour. “Umm, hi?” That was when I noticed the man standing to the side behind her. The man who, beneath the glamour, was a faerie.
“Evelyn,” the woman said, in a voice I instantly recognized from our phone conversation. Oh, bleep no. Not here, not now, not with my best vampire friend sitting right there on the couch. This was the last place I wanted anyone from IPCA other than Raquel.
I straightened my shoulders and fixed Anne-Whatever Whatever with an icy glare. “I’m sorry, did I say it was okay for you to come here? Because last time I checked, I don’t work for you anymore. In fact, wait.”
I stalked back to my room and grabbed my communicator. “Here,” I said, shoving it into her hands. “I won’t be needing this. When I said I will only talk to Raquel, I meant, I will only talk to Raquel. Feel free to pass that along. And if you ever use a faerie to come to my home again, I will tase you both.”
I slammed the door in her face, then put both hands over my mouth in panic. IPCA. Here. Pretty much the epicenter of free paranormals in the United States. Regardless of the reforms they’d undergone, I did not want them paying any attention whatsoever to my town. Or to my swarming-with-paranormals diner. How did they know where I was? Raquel wouldn’t have told them. Would she? No. Never. I needed to call David right now. I needed to talk to Raquel to figure out what the bleep was going on. And I needed to make sure that Arianna never got fitted with an ankle tag.
“What did she want?” Arianna’s tough voice betrayed a hint of fear.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, my heart still racing as I stared at the closed door and willed it to stay that way.
Pouting again?” Vivian and I sat on our usual dark hillside, but it seemed darker than normal, the stars winking out one by one as I watched.
“Hmm? Oh, no. Just worried about the usual. Weird stuff going on with paranormals. IPCA being obnoxious. Did you know dragons are real?”
She snorted. “You really should give the whole coma thing a shot. It makes life much less complicated. In fact, the only complicated thing here is you.”
“As tempting as a coma sounds, I’d miss out