HEARTS AGLOW

What do you think he meant by that?" Lend asked, frowning. Today he surprised me by wearing a pudgy, acne-​plagued blond boy. It made me laugh; usually he stuck with the whole hot thing. Still, I could see him underneath, so it didn't really matter what he put on the outside.

“I don't know--he's Reth. What does he ever mean by anything?” I had just finished telling him what Reth had said about the poem and needing to finish me.

“Well, as much as I hate the guy, he's probably got resources we don't. What were his exact words about the poem?”

“He said that ending wasn't mine, it was hers. Whoever that is. But that's good, at least, right? I mean, I'd rather not be bringing 'death, death, death, death, death' and so on and so forth.”

Lend laughed. “Yeah, probably not. Death in sparkly platform sandals. It's a nice image, at least.”

I smacked him on the shoulder. “Hey, I'm scary. You thought I was going to kill you, remember?”

“Oh, I remember. Man, that was a stressful day.”

“No kidding. I wonder if things have always been this weird and I just never knew, or if they're getting worse.”

“They're getting worse.”

“Okay, so poetic prophecies and creepy faerie stalkers aside, I've got an important question.”

“What?”

“Do you have a driver's license?”

He laughed. “That's important?”

“Oh yeah! I'd kill for a driver's license! Hey, maybe that's what the poem means! I'm going to go berserk and start attacking people because they won't let me drive....”

“Could be, you never know. But, yes, I have a driver's license.”

I leaned back against the wall, sighing. “Man, that must be so cool.”

“It ranks right up there with lockers. In fact, sometimes I put my license inside my locker, and it's so cool I worry that the whole thing might explode with the sheer coolness of it all.”

I smacked him on the shoulder. Again. I was doing that a lot. “Shut up. You try living your whole life here and then tell me what you think is cool.” He gave me a funny look; he'd been watching me closely this whole time.

“You really don't care about this face, do you?”

“What face?” I asked, confused.

He smiled, showing off braces I hadn't noticed. “This one.”

I laughed. “Why would I care? You wear a lot of different things.”

“Yeah, but this one isn't very cute.”

“Not really, but it's not you.” He got that funny look again. I smiled. “The only thing that bugs me is that your voice is always different. I wish I knew what it really sounded like. Oh, and also I think it's a little creepy when you're a girl, but you haven't done that in a while.”

He shook his head. “You're weird.”

“Says the invisible shape-​shifting boy.”

He laughed a little, then leaned back against the wall like me. “We aren't figuring this out.”

“I know. Sorry.” I had racked my brains but didn't know how to begin to put together all Reth's random tidbits and the stupid poem with what I had seen. And even more bothersome, I couldn't stop wondering what the ending to my poem was, if there even was one. Have I mentioned how much I don't like faeries?

“Evie?” His voice was tentative. “Is there any way you could email someone for me? If I could get this information out, maybe my--my group could help.”

My heart fell. Was Lend just using me? But then I remembered the whole trying-​not-​to-​be-​self-​centered thing. So what if he was? He should be. IPCA wasn't solving this, and they were stopping him from doing anything. Still, I hoped he liked me and wasn't just trying to manipulate me.

“I don't know. I've got a computer, but the only thing I do online is shop and I know IPCA monitors every single thing I click on because they cancel about ninety percent of my purchases. I could try to set up a new email address or use yours or something, but I'm pretty sure they'd catch it immediately. Maybe it would already be sent by then, though.” I bit my lip, nervous.

“What would happen if they caught it?”

I smiled, feigning nonchalance. “Umm, I'd be imprisoned indefinitely for treason. Probably. But you never know--they really like what I can do. And I think Raquel would stick up for me. Maybe I could get out of it.” I'd never been sent to a disciplinary hearing; the idea terrified me.

Lend shook his head. “No, I'm sorry. It's not worth the risk.”

“It really is, if you think any of the information we have will help your group figure it out and stop this thing.” Gosh, was I being brave or what?

“It won't do any good to get us both locked up. I've got another goal besides finding and stopping the killer.”

I frowned. As much as I liked him, if he was asking me to help him take down IPCA I'd have to say no. It wasn't a perfect organization by any means, but they were doing a lot of good. I, for one, thought the world was a much safer place without free-​ranging vamps and hags and all the rest of the nasty creepy-​crawly blood-​sucky flesh-​eating things of legend. “What's your other goal?”

“I want to get you out of here.”

“Don't you mean you want me to get you out of here?”

He took my hand--yeah, my hand again. I was liking this. A lot. “No, I mean I want to get you out. This shouldn't be your life. You deserve a lot more. Like a locker.”

“And a driver's license?”

“Let's not get carried away.”

I smiled. As much as I wanted to get out and live a real life (whatever that was; I didn't pretend like I knew anymore), I didn't think it would ever happen. If I was classified as a paranormal, IPCA had complete jurisdiction over me. Which meant I couldn't exactly turn in my two weeks' notice.

My communicator beeped. I pulled it out with my free hand. I wasn't letting go of Lend's till he let go of mine. His skin was the coolest thing ever. Warm, but perfectly smooth and soft. Not to mention the happy tingles it gave me that had nothing to do with anything paranormal.

I glanced at the screen. It was Lish. “What's up?”

“Come to Central Processing. There is trouble. Raquel is coming back and the Supervisors are following. You should not be caught alone with Lend.”

“I'm leaving right now. Thanks, Lish.” I hooked the communicator back on my belt. Lish always looked out for me. “I don't know what's happening, but Raquel and a bunch of bigwigs are headed to the Center, so I probably shouldn't be here.”

He gave my hand a quick squeeze (which made my heart do all sorts of happy dances in my chest) before letting go. “I'll see you later, then.”

I hurried to Central Processing. Lish looked downright panicked. “What's going on?” I could tell by her expression that something big was up, and it scared me.

“The Birmingham Tracking and Placement Center in England was hit today.”

“Wait, hit? What do you mean hit?”

“Every paranormal there is dead.” That phrase said in the robot voice was so startling and horrible I didn't know how to react.

“It--was it the same thing?”

“Yes. Just dead, no traces of weapons or anything that should have been able to kill them.”

“Did anyone see anything?”

“No. It is a small facility. None of the humans saw anything.”

That was something, at least. Apparently this thing didn't go after humans. I was relieved until I remembered that I might not be quite human. Not very comforting. “Anything else?”

“I do not have any more details right now. We will probably go on lockdown.”

“What's that?”

It took her a minute to respond; I watched as her eyes darted around all the various screens she was managing. I swear she did the work of twenty people. “Lockdown procedure calls for all our assets in the field and satellite buildings to be brought to the Center. When everyone is secure, we go into complete lockdown--no one in, no one out.”

“Oh, wow.” That was a big deal. “How long until that happens?”

“We should be secure in two hours.” Gotta hand it to IPCA--for a government-​type agency, they were efficient.

“And how long is the lockdown in effect?”

“Until they are certain that the risk has passed.”

“So, a long time.”

“No way to tell. The information is coming in; I need to get back to it.” She looked away, focusing on one of her many screens. I wished that Lish wasn't stuck behind the glass. She was my best friend, but sometimes she seemed so inaccessible.

I turned to the side as the brilliant outline of a door formed on the blank wall. Raquel walked out with a faerie. I wondered when the Supervisors would get here. I had seen a few of them before, back when IPCA was officially forming. I didn't remember too much, just a lot of head patting. I hated that.

Raquel looked like she had aged about ten years in the past few days. “Initiate lockdown protocol,” she said, not even bothering to acknowledge Lish with a nod, a hello, or a how's the water this morning.

“Lockdown protocol initiated.” Lish darted her hands around, the movements quick and precise.

“Call the other faeries,” Raquel said to the faerie who had brought her here. Looking annoyed, the faerie opened another door and disappeared through it.

Raquel finally noticed me. “Oh, Evie. You're here. Good. We need to talk.”

“Yeah, we do.” Before I could launch into the speech I'd been mulling over since I decided to stick up for Lend, a brilliant light traced a line through the wall and a whole section opened up into the black. Faeries stepped out--more faeries than I had ever seen before. More than I even knew IPCA had. There were at least a hundred of them.

It was overwhelming. One faerie alone is distractingly beautiful. This many at once and it was like a tidal wave for your eyes--stunning and inescapable. I had a hard time focusing on what Raquel was saying to them. Besides the faerie sensory overload, I noticed something, something I had never seen before.

Faerie clothing is similar to ours, but it always seems older, more refined, and simple at the same time. Many of the male faeries had their shirts unbuttoned and chests bare. (How's this for freaky: no nipples or belly buttons.) Faeries always have a hint of a glow, but now they seemed to have a bright spot--right where I assumed their hearts were. It wasn't dramatic, but there was definitely something extra there. I hoped it didn't have anything to do with my now-​glowing heart.

Then I looked at their faces. A lot of them were just bored and annoyed. Standard faerie. But there were some--and these seemed to be grouped together--that had sly twinkles in their eyes, like something about all this was terribly amusing. That look bothered me; anything that amused a faerie couldn't be a good thing. Then my eyes met Reth's. He wasn't with that group, but his smile was the biggest of all.

I wanted to get out of that room. All those faeries--I felt almost dizzy. I did my best to ignore Reth's stare, waiting until Raquel finished issuing instructions and the faeries started leaving to pick up their assigned groups. “Raquel, we need to talk.”

She turned to me, an intense look on her face. “Yes. I need you to tell me everything you know about Lend.”

“Why?”

“Because the Supervisors are coming, and he's one of our only links to what's happening.”

“That's stupid! That makes it sound like he's connected to it. He's not a link, he's a resource.”

“I'm afraid we see it differently. What has he told you?”

I folded my arms, glaring at her. “What makes you think he's told me anything? And, even if he has, why would I tell you?”

Her voice was flat and a little dangerous. “You'll tell me because it's your job.”

“My job? I'm sixteen! I didn't ask for any of this! Besides, why is it that I can prance around here without an ankle tracker, but you won't even let him out of his cell? Maybe if you'd stop being so scared of him and let him go, we could work with him and his group and actually have a chance at figuring this all out!”

“You know we can't do that. It's against the charter to release a paranormal untagged.”

“What the crap am I, then? Huh? You can't stand here telling me that Lend is automatically an enemy because he's an unknown paranormal when I'm a freaking Level Seven!”

Her expression softened. “Please, don't do this. Not now. I've worked long and hard to make certain that the Supervisors see you not as a paranormal but as a girl who can do something unusual. We can't help Lend, honey, not right now.”

Angry tears pricked my eyes. “Don't call me honey. I'm not your daughter. I'm your employee.”

Her dark eyes went wide with hurt, then her face quickly hardened. “If you won't help us with Lend, you'll be confined to quarters.”

I let out a harsh laugh. “Great, now you're grounding me.” I couldn't believe how stupid I had been, pretending and wishing that Raquel was really my mom. Whatever else she might be, she was always professional. She was not my family.

The room around us had grown noisy, filling up as faeries dropped off more and more paranormals. Werewolf security guards milled around the edges and tried to direct the traffic into an orderly line in front of Lish's tank.

Raquel sighed. “I think it would be best if you went to your room. You're in no state to be around the Supervisors and they'll be here any minute.”

I was about to come up with a snotty retort when shouting distracted both of us.

“I won't!” a vampire screamed, yanking his arm away from one of the guards. “Not here, not this! The tracker is bad enough, I won't be a rat in your lab!” I realized with a shock that it was Steve. It felt like a lifetime since that night in the cemetery.

“Is there a problem?” Raquel asked, stepping forward. “If you'll just be patient, we'll get everyone processed and settled in.”

Steve looked at her, a desperate, manic gleam in his eyes. “I'd rather die,” he whispered. Before anyone could react, he leaped forward, lunging for Raquel's throat.

I screamed as he bit down on her neck. No one else moved. “Do something!” I shouted, fumbling for my Taser. But it wasn't necessary. He jerked away from her neck, a look of--peace?--on his face as his ankle tracker was activated. The glamour faded and in a matter of seconds he was nothing but a corpse crumbling to the floor, unnatural life gone.

We all stared, shocked, at dead undead Steve. Raquel put her hand over her neck to stop the flow of blood. She looked pale and scared.

“Raquel!” I rushed forward, putting my hands on her arms. What if he had killed her? What if those mean things were the last words I ever said to her? “Are you okay? I thought--I was so scared that--”

Another light flashed and five of the Supervisors walked into the room. Raquel straightened and brushed my hands off her arms, her face an emotionless mask as she turned to the group of people. I dropped my hands to my sides, shattered by her rejection. She walked forward to greet the Supervisors, leaving me surrounded by paranormals.

I guess I knew my place.