features—cute even, if he had pigment. Even more surprising, he didn’t look much older than me.
After a moment his eyes opened and met mine. Color flooded through him—he was wearing me again. The eyes were still flickering, trying to find the right shade.
“What are you?” I whispered.
“What are you?”
Offended, I frowned. “Human.”
“Funny, me, too.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Funny, neither are you.”
I set my jaw and glared. What a jerk. “Why did you come here?”
My voice came from his mouth, disconcerting as always. “I could ask you the same thing. Are you going to kill me?”
I–no, that’s not what IPCA does,” I said. “They don’t kill paranormals, they—”
Lend raised a hand to stop me and sat up, large eyes narrowing. “Are you going to kill me?”
“Why would I kill you?”
After a moment he let out a deep breath. “I don’t think it’s you.”
“What’s not me?”
Standing, he stretched. Did I mention how weird it was watching my body do this stuff? He even had the hair right—a little messy this morning, since I hadn’t bothered to brush it yet.
“Can you please go back to normal?” I wanted to look at him more now that I could see him better.
He smiled, flashing my perfect teeth at me. I had to go through three years of braces for that smile; no fair that he could copy it in a second. “Normal? What’s that?”
“How you really look.”
“Can you take off all your clothes?”
Okay, weirdest thing ever—I just asked myself to take off all my clothes. It doesn’t get much creepier. “Why on earth would I do that?”
“You asked me to be naked; I thought it was only fair.”
“I just meant stop wearing me. Be yourself. But yourself with clothes.”
“These are my clothes. But, if it bothers you.” I melted off him and he grew a few inches. In my place was a teenage guy. Black hair, dark brown eyes, olive skin, and, oh yeah, absolutely gorgeous. Like, belonged on one of the shows I loved so much gorgeous. “Better?” His voice had changed,
deepened, and I wished I was talking with an actual teenage guy.
“Definitely.” I looked closer. Still Lend under there. Even the dark eyes didn’t hide his water-colored ones; I could see him shimmering through.
“This seems to be a popular one.”
“Yeah, I can imagine.” Then I frowned, curious. “What does your real voice sound like?”
“What makes you think this isn’t it?”
“I think it would sound different. Softer. Like water.” I realized how stupid that sounded, but his smile dropped off and he gave me a considering look.
“If you didn’t come here to kill me, why are you here, Evie?”
Awkward. Here I was, no makeup, ratty hair, in front of the hottest teenage guy I’d ever seen, fake or not. Why was I here? “It’s my job.”
His smile returned, this time with the usual ironic twist to his lips. “Oh. Your job. Quite the career for someone your age.”
“You’re not much older than me.” Now that I’d seen him better, I was sure of it. Corrupted mortals like vampires show their real bodies’ ages—old and nasty—underneath. True immortals, like faeries, have eternal youth, but there’s something different in their faces. All those years don’t add lines; they smooth, like a piece of glass turned around forever on the ocean floor. No mortal has that polish. His face was neither old nor ageless.
The shift in his expression confirmed it. “Ha!” I smiled smugly. “I’m guessing … fifteen.” I went low on purpose.
He looked indignant. “Seventeen.”
“See? You told the truth. That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?”
Lend shook his head, then sighed. “Trouble.”
“You bet I’m trouble,” I countered with a smile. Sure, maybe I was flirting, a little. Could you blame me? The only guys I ever met were too old, half monsters, living corpses, or immortal creeps. At least Lend was close to my age, whatever else he was.
“No, you’re in trouble.” He looked and I followed his eyes right to Raquel, who was not happy. At all. She finished crossing the hall and fixed a steely glare on me.
I was about to apologize, but then I rolled my eyes. “What are you going to do, ground me?” Maybe I shouldn’t have been so flip about it, but really. After the night I had, the last thing I wanted was a lecture.
“Out. Now.”
I walked past her, turning my head to glance back at Lend. He winked at me and I couldn’t help but smile.
Instead of going to my room, I made my way to Central Processing. It was still early but that’s another great thing about Lish: she doesn’t sleep. I loved Central Processing. Unlike the rest of the Center, it didn’t look sterile. The entire room was a circle, with desks placed against the wall and everything based around Lish’s gorgeous aquarium. About fifty feet in diameter, it was fifteen feet high and a perfect circle. They even managed to transplant a living coral reef, complete with tropical fish in the crystal blue water. Way better than my unit.
Lish was staring at the series of screens that lined the front of the tank. She was like the ultimate personal assistant. No sick days, no vacations, no sleep, and she wanted to be there. A lot of the paranormals couldn’t be trusted with too much. Even though they’re neutered, most of them harbor a bit of resentment toward IPCA because of the loss of freedom. But Lish loved her job. She was in charge of scheduling, monitoring, transports, you name it. Girl knew everything.
Apparently not today, though. Her green eyes widened with interest when I walked up to the tank. I smiled. “What’s up, Lish?”
“How are you feeling? Are you okay after last night?”
Lish knew me better than anyone else at the Center. Raquel was in charge of me, but she was hard to talk to about feelings. After all, when the main way you communicate is through sighs, it makes it hard to relate to teens. Lish understood how bad a new run-in with Reth would mess me up. I could (and did) talk with her about everything.
“Been
