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NOT-​ME AND I

My eyes couldn’t see down its sides, unable to find anything to hold on to It wasn’t invisible, exactly, but it was as close as a physical being can be Iree incline covered in six inches of ice That’s what trying to look at this guy was like

I was pretty sure it was a guy, at least He kinda wasn’t wearing any clothes, and I was grateful that he’d collapsed in such a way as to cover himself I was at a loss for what to do next when the door slid open and the real Raquel rushed in, followed by two security guards

"He didn’t eat you!" I threw uards rushed by us, and Raquel patted me stiffly on the back "No, she didn’t eat me She just punched uy," I said

"What is it?" she asked We walked over to look at hiuards stared down, perplexed One scratched his head Big guy, a hulking French olf named Jacques Werewolves are a bit subtler to see than vaives them away to me is their eyes Whatever color they seem to be to other people, I can always see the yelloolf eyes underneath Most olves are pretty decent people And, since they’re extra strong all the ti full moons they’re on coed "I have never seen anything like it" He, too, was struggling to focus on the inert foruard, a noret in?" I asked Raquel

"She--he--it earing Denise"

"Denise from zombie duty?" Denise was a hose main job was zolamours, so anyone could do it Plus they weren’t ever hard to pinpoint, although agents had a heck of a ti it up with the terrified locals Just another service of IPCA: keeping the world blissfully unaware that s of myth are, in fact, real

"Yes It--it as Denise--called for a pickup The zombie was a false alarm I saw them as they came out of the faerie door Denise turned and knocked Fehl, the faerie, back through I pushed my panic button and went to confront her when she punched rabbed my communicator"

"How did he knohere your office was?"

"She--he--ran into Jacques and pretended to be dizzy, asked for help getting here"

Jacques shuffled his feet, embarrassed "How should we neuter it?"

He wasn’t talking about literally neutering it Yuck "Neuter" is just our little ter bracelets with massive amounts of sedatives set autoet the holy water bracelets Faeries are easy once you know their true names, since they have to obey whatever you tell them to do when you use it at the start of your command Well, easyish, since they always seem to find little ways to work around their strict boundaries Never underesti commands

Raquel frowned "I don’t know Just use the standard volt/sedative combo When we knowwith more finesse"

Jacques pulled out an ankle tracker He looked hesitant to touch the thing and shook his head "I can barely see it Where is the leg?"

Raquel and the two guards frowned as their vision slid around the figure on the floor I sighed "I can see his leg I’ll do it" I held outdown, I paused, nervous Wouldinto cold water? But he had to be corporeal, otherwise Tasey wouldn’t have worked Suppressing a shudder, I put my hand on his ankle

He was solid His skin arlass had ever been this soft "Weird," I er, then fastening it It took the self-​adjust mechanism several tries before it sealed around his ankle He twitched as the sensors jabbed in but didn’t wake up

I stood, still feeling his warmth onhionna ask next You’ll be able to feel him even if you can’t see hiain"

I held back a laugh at the looks on the guards’ faces They reached out like they would get burned, grabbed Water Boy, and carried him out of the room

"I’d better find out what happened to Denise And Fehl, too" Raquel gave her best why is it always h (one I ell familiar with at this point), then patted me on the shoulder "Good work, Evie I don’t knoould have happened if you hadn’t found it"

"Just--keepI’ve ever seen I want to knohat’s up"

She sht, noncommittal smile that I knew meant not a chance, then picked her coed IPCA had a tendency not to tell me much more than where they needed me to be and what I needed to do Screw that I skipped ht for Contain to keep me informed, I’d just have to infor, brilliantly lit cell-​lined corridor

My gre at the electric field just inside the six inches of Plexiglas that lined its cell Each time it hit the field, it yelped and flew backward, only to start the whole thing over again Gremlins? Not smart

Jacques wasn’t too far down the hall Wrapping my arms around myself, I hurried toward him I was always cold in the Center, but Containid Jacques stood there, a disturbed look on his face as he stared into a cell I turned andcasually against the wall of his cell and staring out When he saw itated, this Jacques moved as close to me as the electric field allowed