“Where else?”
My voice came out a whisper. “My heart.”
Lend was quiet for a long time. “What did Raquel say?”
“I didn’t tell her. They’ve already got me classified as a paranormal. I don’t want to give them anything else that would make them—make me, I don’t know, weirder?”
“I can understand that. I’ve hidden from them my whole life. But where else are you going to get any answers?”
“They don’t know a bleep thing about faeries.”
Lend laughed.
“What?” I asked.
“What’s with the bleep? Didn’t they teach you any actual swearwords here?”
I blushed, then laughed. “It’s kind of an inside joke. Lish—Alisha, my best friend—she’s a mermaid, and the computer talks for her. It won’t translate swearing, so it all comes out as ‘bleep.’ I kinda picked it up.”
“I guess that makes sense in a weird way.” He was still holding my hand and looking at the burn. I really, really, really liked the feeling of my hand in his. It was amazing that even with everything that happened today such a little thing could still make me feel giddy. Granted, it would have been better if he wasn’t staring at the wound that had gotten him electrocuted and possibly meant I was even more of a freak than before, but I’d take what I could get.
“Isn’t there anyone you can ask about this? I’m kind of worried about it.”
I laughed. “I’m the one who’s freaking on fire on the inside. Lish would keep it a secret, but she doesn’t know anything that IPCA doesn’t. And I could always ask Reth what the bleep he did to me, but I kinda don’t want to see him again. Ever. And I’m sure no other faerie would help. They don’t really do helpful.”
Lend had a weird look on his face. “Did you say you’re on fire on the inside?”
“That’s what it looks like on my arm and chest—kind of all swirly and golden, like liquid fire.”
“Liquid fire.” His tone was flat, disbelieving.
Feeling defensive, I shrugged. “Yeah.”
He sighed. “‘Eyes like streams of melting snow, cold with the things she does not know. Heaven above and Hell beneath, liquid flames to hide her grief. Death, death, death with no release. Death, death, death with no release.’”
What. The. Crap. That was what I thought. And what I said was, “What the crap?”
Lend let go of my hand and rubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t know. It’s what the banshee gave us, some sort of prophecy poem. I have no idea what it means. And a lot of it seems like it means you. Your eyes, and you’re always talking about how cold you are. And now the liquid fire inside you.”
“Umm, yeah, but you’re forgetting that whole ‘death death death’ part! And I am not a killer!” I stood, insulted. I couldn’t believe Lend would think that.
He laughed drily, shaking his head. “Trust me, I really don’t think you’re the killer. You’re not exactly the slaughter-hundreds-of-paranormals type.”
“Oh.” Feeling stupid, I sat back down. “What do you think it means, then?”
“I don’t know. I used to think it was describing whoever was doing this, but now I have no idea.”
I thought about it. The whole thing was weird and creepy. “Hey, the part about heaven and hell—do you know any faerie mythology?” He shook his head. “Well, the traditional stories about them say that they were too bad for heaven and too good for hell, so they got stuck in the middle—Earth and the Faerie Realms. And they’ve been trapped here ever since, immortal, unchanging, trying to find a way back to heaven. Or hell. Or somewhere else entirely, I’m not sure. Trying to find a way out, I guess. Maybe it’s about the faeries!” If it was about the faeries, then it wasn’t about me. I needed it to be about the faeries.
He nodded thoughtfully. “Could be.”
“And! And! Reth was the one who came and got me from the vamps, and then he left pretty soon after taking me to his home—He totally could have gone back and killed them all!”
“But why? And it says ‘she,’ not ‘he.’”
I frowned. He had a point. “Still—there are lots of girl faeries. And he’s the one who put the fire stuff in me. I think it’s Reth.”
“You could be right. Honestly, I’m in so far over my head. I should never have come here. Not only did I not figure anything out, I can’t help anyone.”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “You helped me.”
He nudged me back. “That’s something, at least.”
I smiled, happy. Then I frowned. Lend didn’t belong here. As much as I never wanted him to leave, the whole thing was stupid. “I’m gonna talk to Raquel, see if we can get you out.”
He laughed, but it didn’t have any humor. “They won’t let me leave. And even if they do, it’d be with this ankle tracker, which would mean I could never go home.” He turned toward me, his face serious. “You should leave, though. You could get out, get away.”
I shook my head, sad. “I can’t. I don’t have anyone or anything outside IPCA. I’d have no money, no family, nowhere to go.” Ever since I found out the agency that took care of me considered me one of the things they protected the world from, it was a lot harder to forget I was totally alone.
Reth’s words came back to haunt me. Stupid, stupid faerie. I sighed heavily. “Gosh, now I don’t even feel like watching another episode of Easton Heights.”
Lend put his arm around me and patted my shoulder. “At least there’s one good thing to come of all this, then.”
I elbowed him in the stomach, laughing. “Whatever.”
“You don’t have wireless on that thing, by any chance?” He had dropped his arm back to his side and was eyeing the laptop we used to watch the show earlier.
“Nope, sorry.”
“Evie!” Raquel was standing at the door. “Why don’t you have your communicator on you?”
“Forgot it. What’s up?”
“You’ve got a job.”
“A real one? Today?” Surely what I had just been through was enough to get me a sick day.
“Yes, today, right now. Hurry up.”
Sighing, I stood, leaving the laptop. Poor guy needed something for entertainment. “See you later, Lend. And thanks again for that whole electrocuting-yourself-to-save-me thing.”
“Anytime.”
I followed Raquel out. “Not that I’m nervous or anything, considering the last job almost got me killed and Reth burned a hole in my arm today, but what exactly is this job?”
“Ireland. Possible hag.”