She didn’t look relieved; if anything, she looked more agitated than ever. “Thank you. I will give you a couple of days to think things over.” She reached out and took one of my hands in hers, squeezing it way too tight.
“Maybe switch to decaf,” I muttered, scowling. “Now can you tell me what’s going on? And what about the town, are the para—”
“Thank you, yes, I must be going.” She stood up, smoothing out her charcoal-gray skirt. “I’ll speak with you at the end of the week when we’ve finished making the arrangements.”
“I didn’t say— Raquel!” I stood up as she turned on her heel and marched out.
Lend tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, frowning thoughtfully. “So, we know for sure Nona is keeping tabs on you. But she’s told us before she wants you to be safe.”
“Still, creepy. She’s having me followed by her little seal cronies. And what about Reth?”
“Are you sure it was Reth?”
I traced my finger through the condensation on the window, watching the leafless trees fly by. There wasn’t any snow out, which just made everything dead and flat and cold and brown.
I hate brown.
“Pretty sure. We know they’re in contact. But even if it isn’t him specifically, it’s a faerie.”
“Alright. No more Nona. You can stay with my dad more permanently than we had planned. Plus, it’s safer there if IPCA decides to come knocking with their pet faeries.”
“Too bad your dad is my legal guardian. Otherwise there wouldn’t be any way to find me through him.” My stomach dropped. “Oh my gosh, Lend. They can find him if they look, which means they’ll know that he’s not dead, either.” David had faked his own death almost twenty years before when he was an employee of the American Paranormal Containment Agency. Falling in love with a water elemental wasn’t exactly conducive to working for them anymore.
Lend shrugged dismissively, resting his right hand on my knee. “My dad’s been doing this a long time, Ev. He’ll be fine. Don’t worry about him. I’m just pissed Raquel is still IPCA’s lapdog and didn’t tell you what was really going on.”
I scowled, wiping away the hearts I’d traced along the window. “It wasn’t like that. Something was up—something weird. She’s definitely not acting like herself. I think she’s scared about something, or … I don’t know. It was like she couldn’t tell me anything. Maybe she’s trying to protect me by bringing me back in. Remember I told you I read all their documents about elemental paranormals going missing?”
He nodded grudgingly. “We still haven’t heard from my mom in months. But she usually doesn’t come out in winter anyway because of the ice.”
“It could be connected. Nona’s getting weirder by the day; now she’s having me followed. There could be something going on that Raquel knows about.”
“Why didn’t she tell you what it is, then?”
“I don’t know. But Raquel has my back. Always.”
“I have your back.”
I smiled and wove my hand through his elbow, leaning over to put my head on his shoulder. “I know.”
“Good. That settled, I hereby declare a moratorium on any and all talk of IPCA or paranormals stalking you.”
“Ooh, breaking out the fancy language. Why?”
“Because today is about fun.”
“I like fun days!”
“This is a special one.”
“It is?” Had I forgotten some sort of anniversary?
His face split into a sly grin. “It’s your birthday.”
“No, it’s not,” I answered, confused. “I mean, I guess it could be, but since we didn’t know when it was for sure we always said I was a year older on New Year’s.”
“Ah, but when was the last time you checked your birth certificate?”
I laughed. “You mean the fake document your dad had Arianna compel the county records office into making?”
“Yup. You never noticed the date we put on it?”
“No …”
“December twenty-first. Which is today.” He pulled into the mall and parked. “Happy birthday, Evie,” he said, leaning in and kissing me with his perfectly soft lips. I smiled under his mouth, letting everything else slip away. Best fake birthday ever.
“Okay, I never thought I’d say this, but I’m tired of the mall.” I sat on a bench, feet aching but heart happy. Lend had dragged me through the entire thing, even insisting I get a manicure and surprising me with a scheduled make-over appointment at one of the high-end salons. My hair twisted and curled just so, along with dramatic eyeliner, looked a little odd with normal clothes, but I felt special.
Lend finished texting someone and slipped his phone into his back pocket, then stood up. I’d never paid much attention to guys’ jeans before (not for lack of desire, but rather lack of opportunity in the Center), but in the past few months I’d come to realize that most guys’ jeans are really, truly horrendous. Too baggy, too tight, too low, etc. It’s like guys don’t realize that they can look great in a good pair of jeans. Shockingly enough girls, too, enjoy a well-framed butt.
Another area Lend was perfect in. His jeans choice, I mean. Well, his butt, too.
I smiled and stared at his face, watching his two profiles—the glamour one, which fit snugly over his real one. He looked down and caught me staring.
“Evie?”
“You, my dear boyfriend, are kind of beautiful, you know that?”
“That’s what all the old ladies tell me before pinching my cheek.”
“Which cheek?” I reached out and goosed him. He jumped and swatted my hand away, laughing.
“Okay, we’re going to meet Arianna and my dad at the house; they made a big dinner and cake. Then a movie?”
I shrugged, happy. “Sounds good to me.” It wasn’t huge or over-the-top, but that was never Lend’s style. I was glad that this wasn’t when I usually had my birthday. New Year’s would remind me how I used to celebrate. Every year I was in the Center, I figured out a way to sneak a ladder into Central Processing, climb the side of Lish’s tank, and cannonball in. It was my favorite tradition.
Maybe I could talk Arianna and Lend into a polar bear plunge as a memorial.
My phone buzzed with a text and I pulled it out. Carlee. I smiled as I read, “OMG BRATTT U DIDNT TELL ME ITS UR BDAY. Girls nite friday?”
I texted back a yes, touched she cared about my pretend birthday. “Did you tell Carlee it was my birthday?” I asked Lend as we wriggled into our coats, held hands, and braced ourselves against the bitter chill of twilight that slammed into us when we walked outside.
“Guilty.”
I smiled, then shivered. “It’s dark so early these days.”
“Today’s Winter Solstice—shortest day of the year.”
“Gee, thanks a lot. Way to pick the shortest day of the bleeping year for my birthday.”
He laughed and put his arms around me. “Ah, but the longest night …”
“Scandalous!”
He blinked innocently at me. “What? More time for movies, right?”
“Sure …”
We