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But not Reth. Never Reth.
Of course, of the three he was the only one who had never tried to kill me. Whatever, though. At least Vivian and Jack had being crazy and raised by the faeries as an excuse for borderline-homicidal tendencies. Well, Vivian's definitely went past the border and straight into hundreds-of-paranormal-deaths-quite-literally-on-her-hands land.
It was a very complicated land.
"So, we've got a problem," I said.
"What?" Lend yelled.
"We've got a problem!" I shouted.
"No, I heard that. I mean, what's the problem now?"
"I have the solution!" Jack interrupted.
"What?" I sat up, all ears.
"Bells!"
"What?" Lend and I asked at the same time.
"Get her a kitty collar with bells on it. That way you can hear her coming and get someplace where you won't be hurt by collapsing immediately into sleep. "
There was a thumping noise, followed by an indignant "Ow!" from Jack.
"The problem," I said, "is that Raquel is going on trial with IPCA and I am not about to let them lock her up forever. " She was my Raquel. How dare they. My fear was quickly shifting to anger. Tasing me was one thing. But if they thought they could get away with persecuting the very best person they'd ever had working for them, they had another think coming.
"Where?" Jack asked.
"At the Center," David answered, coming down the stairs, but he was
cut off by Lend snapping, "You aren't involved in this, Jack. "
"Oh, I think you want me involved. I believe I'm the only one here who has ever been to a disciplinary hearing. Five, actually. I was shooting for my lucky number seven, but alas, IPCA and I parted ways too soon. "
That settled it. A cheery band we'd make, no doubt. I'd been looking forward to starting some new Christmas traditions this year. Simple things. Reading the Grinch. Decorating a tree. Making cookies. Storming the Center to rescue the closest person I'd ever had to a mom. The usual holiday fare.
Merry freaking Christmas.
Chapter Twenty-Two
IN THE ABSENCE OF RUBY SLIPPERS
This is the worst idea ever," Lend shouted from behind the closed door as Arianna finished pinning my hair under a brunette wig.
"I've been having a lot of those lately, but one of us wouldn't be here if it weren't for my most recent one. "
"Well, you look the part, at least," Arianna said, standing back to admire her handiwork. I was in a fitted, sleek black pantsuit with a blouse underneath. The blouse was white. I hated it already. That, combined with the too-dark hair and colored eyebrows making my tragically pale skin even whiter, and I was not loving life. Still, sacrifices had to be made.
Jack was lying on the bed with his head hanging over the side, his face slowly turning more and more red as the blood rushed to it. He looked phenomenally bored for someone about to break into a secret international high security facility.
I slipped into my favorite stilettos, took one step, and fell over. "Ouch. " Shaking off the shoes, I rubbed at my still-tender feet. The stilettos were so not happening. That did it. If I didn't already want to destroy the Dark Queen, the fact that she had ruined my ability to wear high heels put her at the very top of my hit list. She was so going down.
But not right now. With a longing look at my pile of heels brought over from the apartment by Jack, I instead turned to the other pile and put on plain black ballet flats.
I heard a thunk that sounded like Lend's head against the door. "This is stupid. Let my dad take care of it. He's been contacting everyone he knows who is still with IPCA, and-"
I walked over and put my own head against the door, pretending there wasn't anything between us. "And it doesn't matter. IPCA isn't the same. There are new people in charge, and they aren't messing around. I can help her. Raquel would do the same for me. She has done the same for me. "
