There's No Place Like Home

What were you thinking, sending that rabid monkey child to my school?" I shouted into my communicator.

"Beg pardon?" Raquel asked.

"Jack. My school. The girls' locker room. Ring any bells? If Carlee hadn't sworn to my ogre of a gym teacher that Jack was neither my boyfriend nor my brother, I probably would have been suspended!"

"Your gym teacher is an ogre?"

"Focus! If I get suspended, my grades take a hit. If my grades take a hit, I might not get into Georgetown. And I will get into Georgetown."

"I'm pleased to see you finally taking ownership of your education. And I'm sorry about Jack; I asked him to contact you discreetly."

"That boy wouldn't know discreet if it tap-danced on his stupid blond head."

"Still, if this discreet were tap dancing, it wouldn't be very discreet, now, would it?"

"Shut up," I said, trying not to smile. I was annoyed. No smiling. "When did you get funny?"

"I'll talk to Jack and tell him not to contact you at school anymore."

"What's his deal, anyway? He's the weirdest person I know, and that's saying something."

"Jack has had a very . . . unconventional upbringing. You two have more in common than you think. His life was disrupted by the fey, too. He's a remarkable boy, though, and a great asset. We're lucky he found us."

I frowned. It made sense that Jack had some connection to faeries with his abilities. "Fine. No more school visits, though. And tell him not to come into my room unannounced."

"So you're certain that you want to help us?"

I hesitated, biting my lip. It felt like I was balancing on a fence. Tip to one side-say no-and I knew exactly what I would find when I fell.

More of the same.

Say yes and tip to the other side, and . . . I had no idea. But the fence would still be there, and I could always find my way back over. Right?

"Two conditions," I said, practically feeling her relief and excitement seeping through the connection. "One: I am not Level Seven or anything in any system. I am not IPCA. If I don't like a mission, I don't do it. It's totally my call."

"Done. And the second?"

"I want my credit card back." Clearly the unknown I was about to venture into would require a new wardrobe.

"Very well. As long as you reserve it for emergencies."

"Seriously, Raquel, when did you get so funny?"

She paused. "Evie, I'm-I'm very pleased you'll be helping us again."

"I missed you, too." I meant to be lighthearted, but was surprised by an uncomfortable itch in my throat and pricking in my eyes. Good heavens, I was not about to cry on a call with Raquel. After all, my seventeenth birthday was coming up, I was living on my own, independent, strong. I was doing this because I wanted to-not because I missed her. That would be stupid.

After a very suspicious throat clearing, Raquel's voice resumed its brisk, business tone. "Excellent. I'll send Jack for you tonight around eight."

"Whoa, tonight? So soon?"

"I wasn't joking when I said we needed help. Lately, it seems as though everything that can go wrong does. And there have been strange shifts in the paranormal world-nothing compared to April, but enough that we're forced to use manpower we don't have to try and track it."

"I guess I can swing it, then." A night free from cow print and grease? Bleep yes I could swing it. "So where to? Italy? Iceland? Ooh, I could go for Japan."

"Actually, it's a little less exotic than that. The Center."

And just like that my excitement was replaced by an icy dread.

I couldn't go back there. The Center was a tomb. In my mind it hadn't changed since my last night there. Lifeless vamps lined the halls, eerily illuminated by warning strobe lights that failed to save the mermaid I loved most. I couldn't handle the thought of revisiting what had been our home.

"Raquel, I-"

"I'll see you at eight!" The line went silent and left me staring numbly at the communicator.

Two hours later I was still on my bed, glaring at the ceiling. Not even the familiar contours of Tasey clutched in my hand made me feel better.

I'd have to tell Raquel the deal was off. There was no way I was going back there. As soon as I could get my fingers to punch in her connection, I'd do it. But I couldn't stand to hear the disappointment in her voice. She'd been excited, genuinely happy about working together again. Happy wasn't something she did very often. And now I'd have to tell her that I wasn't coming because I was too freaked out.

Lame.

I turned onto my side. The pendant Lend gave me sparkled on the nightstand and I reached out to it, running my finger along the side of the heart.

Why didn't things ever get easier? Sometimes I wanted to take a memory-one perfect memory-curl up in it, and go to sleep. Like my first kiss with Lend. I could live in that memory forever. Just us and our lips and figuring out how well they fit together. If things always felt like that, life would be better.

"Honestly, Evie," I huffed, flopping back to the center of my bed and glaring at the ceiling. "Why don't you whine some more instead of actually doing anything?"

"Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness," Arianna volunteered, leaning on the frame of my open door.

"Yeah, so's seeing things no one else can, but people seem to like that about me."

"Good point. Odds are, you've been crazy for years now. I'm probably nothing more than a figment of your imagination."

"If that were true, I'd imagine you as less of a slob."

She sighed. "Isn't it sad that you hate yourself so much you can't even dream up a pleasant roommate?"

"Not as sad as the fact that you admit how bad you suck as one."

Flashing a wicked grin, she narrowed her eyes. "I'd use the term 'suck' sparingly around me. Don't want to go planting ideas in my pretty, dead head."

I threw a pillow at her.

"Anyway," she said, fixing her spiky red and black hair (far nicer than the strands that clung to her shriveled head under her glamour-don't look, I reminded myself yet again), "It's dark out. Let's go to a movie. I'm so bored I could die."

"Too late."

She threw the pillow back and went out into the main room. I sat up on the side of my bed and heaved a sigh. The communicator radiated waves of guilt from its position next to my pillow, but I couldn't call Raquel. She'd figure out I wasn't coming in about-I glanced at the clock-ten minutes.

It was probably for the best.

Oh, bleep, like I knew what was for the best anymore. Shaking my head, I picked up Tasey and walked to my dresser, opening the sock drawer.

"Sorry, friend," I whispered. "Maybe another time."

I heard the front door open, and Arianna shouted. "I'm leaving now. Meet me there if you want to come."

"Yeah, let me get my-"

A light flashed as a hand reached through the wall, grabbed my arm, and pulled me into the infinite darkness.