Conjured

Laughing, Aidan climbed out of the car and stretched. Slowly, Eve got out of the car. She trotted to Malcolm’s window. Before he could speak, she said, “You could have warned me.” She meant about everything: Aidan picking her up, whatever relationship she had with him, the fact that Malcolm would be following her.

“You asked to come here,” Malcolm said.

“I did?”

“Lou told you it could help, exposure to others.”

She digested that. “What do you think—” Before she could finish the question, Aidan put his hand on her shoulder.

“One slice of pepperoni,” Malcolm said. “Extra cheese.” He rolled the window back up again.

“Come on, Green Eyes. Garlic knots won’t eat themselves.” Aidan trotted to the door of Mario’s House of Pizza. She glanced beyond Malcolm’s car toward the traffic light and the strips of stores. She had, for an instant in the middle of the chase, touched her past.

Maybe exposure to Aidan would help her remember more.

Eve followed Aidan into the restaurant.

Inside, Mario’s House of Pizza reeked of burned bread, like Aunt Nicki’s toast, but tinged with the faint sting of antiseptic, like the hospital. The floor was sticky, the décor was red and white, and the tables were mostly empty.

“Good,” Aidan said. “They’re still here.”

In one corner, Topher and Victoria had staked out a table. The table was for eight, and three of the empty seats had used paper plates, napkins, and cups in front of them. Topher raised his hand in a half salute, half wave. Victoria looked up from her book and tossed her hair, clearly broadcasting that she’d registered their arrival and was unimpressed.

Aidan curved his arm around Eve’s waist and deliberately patted her butt. Eve froze, unsure if this was a common occurrence or new, and also unsure what reaction was expected.

Topher’s eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. Aidan strolled to the table as if nothing unusual had happened. He parked himself at the table and swept aside the used plates with his arm.

Feeling Victoria and Topher’s eyes on her, Eve approached the table more slowly and slid into a seat next to Victoria. She wondered when and how they’d switched from trying to kill her to wanting to eat with her—and when and how Aidan had started to say “love.”

“Sorry we’re late,” Aidan said to Topher and Victoria.

Victoria studied her. “You missed Nicholas, Melissa, and Emily. But that’s okay—they weren’t worthy of joining us anyway.”

“Oh.” Eve filed those names away in her head as Victoria and Topher exchanged inscrutable looks. Eve wondered how many others like them there were, as well as the wisdom of allowing them to meet. If they were all in WitSec, wouldn’t it be safer to be separated? Again, a question she couldn’t ask.

Aidan smiled broadly, and then he planted a kiss on the top of Eve’s head. “One slice of mushrooms and peppers? Like usual?”

“Like usual,” Eve echoed.

Victoria snapped her book shut. “Well, then.”

Whistling, Aidan sauntered toward the counter. Eve watched him walk away, so sure of himself and who he was. She envied that confidence in a rush of jealousy so acute that it felt like a thumb shoved into her solar plexus. She turned back to Victoria and Topher to find them staring at her.

Both of them plastered smiles on their faces at the exact same time.

Eve twisted the corners of her lips upward in what she hoped resembled a smile. She was grateful that she’d sat on the side of the table closest to the door. She’d only have a few seconds’ head start if she had to run.

“So … how are things with you and Aidan?” Victoria asked. Eve noticed that her eyes looked more human than they did before. The whites were wider, and the pupils were rounder. Her irises were still golden.

Eve shot a look at Aidan. At the counter, he winked at her and blew her a kiss. He then turned and spoke to the man at the cash register. She assumed he was ordering, but she couldn’t hear his words. “Fine,” Eve said vaguely.

“He’s going to be insufferable now,” Topher said to Victoria.

“Only if this works,” Victoria said.

Can I ask what they mean? Eve wondered. Or am I supposed to know?

Topher called to Aidan, “Get an order of garlic knots!” At the counter, Aidan waved. He talked more to the man at the cash register, then pulled out his wallet to pay.

“What made you late?” Victoria asked. “Or am I prying?” Beside her, Topher smirked, and Victoria elbowed him. His smirk half vanished.

“I had work,” Eve said.

“You”—Topher leveled a finger at her nose—“shouldn’t be working so hard at that library. You should be spending time with us instead.”

Eve tried to remember agreeing to spend any time with these people. She couldn’t.

“Besides,” Topher continued, “books lie.”

Victoria whacked his shoulder with her book. “Philistine.”