“Hi,” Nora said tightly, bending down to the cage from a safe distance. “Hi, Jessica. Nice to meet you.” Then back to Charlie, “Let’s go now, please.”
Charlie closed his eyes contemplatively and held a finger up to Nora—whether to tell her to wait or shut up she couldn’t tell.
“Fucking hell, Char—”
Charlie shoved his held-up finger directly into Nora’s face. Nora had to swallow down the urge to bite it.
After a beat, a high-pitched squawk emerged from the cage. “Hi. Hi. Fucking hell.”
Charlie burst out into his snort-laugh.
“It talks.” Nora blinked at the bird. “Perfect. Okay, can we go now?”
Charlie shrugged, but before he could open his mouth, Nora had hooked an arm under his and was hauling him and Jessica towards the car, the open road, and safety.
“So why the kidnapping?” Charlie turned in the passenger seat to face his sister as they crossed through town towards the highway.
Nora kept her eyes on the road. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about how the last time we celebrated a birthday together we had an Elmo cake and you cried because I ate the piece with the balloons on it. So what’s up? Like, actually up.”
Nora let her eyes slip momentarily to her brother. Then to the clock on her dashboard. It was just after nine; only two hours before Charlie Bird was meant to die.
“You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“Charlie.”
“Nora. C’mon. What, you on the run from the law or something?”
A swarm of black-clad S.C.Y.T.H.E. operatives filled Nora’s mind’s eye, their glistening onyx SUVs practically materializing in the rearview mirror. She blinked hard to chase them away. Because S.C.Y.T.H.E. operated outside the laws of society, the company had its own enforcement team ready to crack down on anyone in the organization who played too fast and loose with the laws of mortality. They were rarely used, but there were rumors of some kind of soul-abduction scheme that got dismantled at a S.C.Y.T.H.E. office in a different state last year. And if thoserumors were anything to go by, Nora dreaded being their next target.
“Well…” she said in spite of herself.
Charlie bounced in his seat. “No fuckin’ way, dude.”
“No fuckin’ way,” Jessica added from the back seat.
Nora exhaled through her nose. Her hands were clenched so hard on the steering wheel that they were cold from the lessening circulation and sweating from nerves all at once.
“Nor?” Charlie prodded.
“Okay,” said Nora. “Okay. Look. If I tell you what’s going on, I need you to promise—promise me, Charlie, like, actually promise—that you’re just going to shut up and nod along and not ask any questions. And just…believe me. Okay?”
“This is bad, huh?”
“Charlie. Promise me.”
Charlie sat back in his seat for a moment, contemplating. Finally he swiped his right hand under his left armpit and offered it to Nora. “ ’Kay. Promise.”
“Seriously?” Nora gave the hand a glare.
“Well yeah, duh. It’s how we always promised shit.”
“I’m not shaking that. We aren’t gross kids anymore. I mean, are you even wearing deodorant?”
“Oh sure, I’m supposed to have blind faith in you and you don’t even trust me to wear deodorant.”
