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DEAD MEAT IN ANY LANGUAGE
I had finally fallen asleep later thatwhen the alar there was yet another break-in or eency Then I realized it wasn’t the Center’s alarms, it was my personal alarm The alarm that meant my tutor, Charlotte, would be here in exactly ten minutes
"Oh, bleep" I hadn’t done any of my homework
The last few years I’d tried to convince Raquel that I really didn’t need to study lish, science, world history, and four--yes, four--foreign languages It wasn’t like I was going to go to college or anything Sure, I wanted to attend real high school, but that hadstuff Besides, I doubted IPCA cared whether or not I had laht it up, Raquel looked at me with those almost-black eyes and heaved her patented I know you think it’s not is but one day you’ll appreciate that I’ve h
I pulled out my Spanish book, pretty sure that’s what I had this ular verb chart for morir, I wrote out example sentences Tu eres muerta carne Scratched that--adjective after the noun Tu eres carnemorir in the verb form anyway Yo soy carne ht on time my unit door beeped and I let Charlotte in She was a pretty woman, looked to be in her late twenties A couple inches shorter than me with shiny brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail and these adorable rectangular glasses over her blue eyes, which were over her bright yelloolf eyes
Charlotte always s had been her life’s passion until she was infected After she realized what she was and what she had done--attacked a family member--she tried to kill herself Fortunately we found her before she could figure out the few things that can bring doolf I could never tell if it was ret about the past that
We sat down on the couch and pulled up a table She glanced over my worksheet and suppressed a save ed
"That’s an A doesn’t translate And you didn’t finish your verb charts or the short story you were assigned" She looked up at me with those sad, sad eyes Those eyes killedmy head "Yesterday was crazy First I had a vamp job, and then there was the break-in, and then Reth paid ht visit, and then I couldn’t sleep"
"It sounds like you had a rough day But you’ve had this assignment for a week Perhaps next tiht before?"
"Hey, now, let’s not start talking crazy, Char" That, at least, got me a less-sad sating (a word that sounds dirty but is, in fact, boring) and conversing in good old espanol She stayed and ate lunch withsession
Bud,to get"Silver knives! Painful and sometimes deadly to nearly all paranormals!"
"Tasey!" I countered "Hot pink and sparkly!"
"You can’t always count on technology" Bud was hues In case you ondering if he was cute, well, o Now, not so u"
I perked up "A present?"
He nodded, an annoyed look on his face Pulling out a cloth-wrapped bundle, he revealed a slender dagger with a bright pink, pearlescent handle "No way!" I yelled, taking it from him
"I can’t believe I made a pink knife"
"It’s so cute! I love it Finally, a cos always freaked poor Bud out, but he was relieved I’d finally agreed to take a knife "Oh, gosh, what should I name her?"
"Whatever it is, please don’t tell me Just keep it sheathed and on your belt"
I took the sheath--which was black "Can you make me one in brown, too? And pink?" You’d think Bud was a olf by the way he growled as he shooedroom
The rest of my afternoon free, I banked on the hope that Raquel would be in h up in IPCA I used to think she was only assigned to me, but it turned out she ran the entire Center and was in charge of all bag-and-tag uess I was just her favorite That, or theabout Lend on and off all day He was the ht now, so I went to Containment I stopped in front of Lend’s cell, then did a double take He wasn’t there And not in an almost-invisible way, in an actually-not-in-the-cell-anymore way Not cool
Jacques was at the very end of the long corridor "Jacques!"
He walked down "You are not supposed to be here, Evie"
"Yeah, yeah Where’s Lend?" What if they had let hiht about it He’d broken into the Center I couldn’t re--ever But what if he was inhim? That idea bothered erous and they’d taken higed "Raquel wanted him moved"
"Why?"