“And what are you planning to do?” Izzy asks. “Mr. Fabulous started all that, and now we’re in the middle of a full-blown coup started by some lunatic general. Barrera something.” She shakes her head. “I’m sure it’ll settle down eventually, and if part of California falls into the Pacific, is it really a big loss?”
I can’t believe what she’s saying. “Izzy Brooks.” I shoot off the sofa and shut off the television. I can’t watch any more.
“We should go see him,” Xolotl says. “Maybe we can fix some of it.”
“Maybe?” I stare into his face. “This isn’t a normal date activity, stabilizing tectonic plates and suppressing coups.” My hands start to shake. “Plus, you aren’t who you were when you started all that.” It’s my fault, too.
He stands. “I kind of assumed, but it’s a mess I made, and while I generally believe that the world will be a better place for enduring this sort of turmoil, your brother Gabe has taught me a few things in the last day and a half.”
“This should be good,” Izzy says.
“If the person you like is upset, you’re supposed to do anything and everything you can to fix it. In this case, I’m quite sure I can stabilize the fault lines. I’m not as sure about my success at pulling back the military—Barrera will only respond to force, and my ability to absorb weapons may no longer exist.”
“No.” I sit down again and pull him back down next to me. “It’s too dangerous. You’re not even bulletproof anymore. What if they start lobbing missiles at you again?” I shake my head. “No way.”
“At least the fault lines,” Izzy says. “You could let him clean that up. I asked Aleksandr if he could help, and he said that’s waaaaay beyond his paygrade.”
“It would be,” Xolotl says. “Though Baba Yaga might be able to help.”
“She’s gone back to Latvia,” Izzy says. “Or maybe Russia. Who knows?”
“Well then, it’s just us.” I huff. “And we’re supposed to be dating, because you retired.” I feel like crying. “But instead, we’re what?”
“Stabilizing the west coast?” Izzy asks. “That sounds like a fun couple’s activity.”
I stand up again, just so I can shove her.
“Hey, we’ve got our hands full out in Russia, too, and there’s an actual horseman working against us.” Izzy points at her bags, and I realize Leonid’s security team has arrived, and they’re pulling up stakes for real.
Man, I’ve been awake for one second, and it’s like everything is just raining down on me. “I didn’t realize you meant that you were leaving right this second.”
“Leonid’s really struggling being here instead of there,” she says. “He promised we could stay until you woke up, but. . .”
“So you were a little nervous that she was sleeping for so long.” Xolotl’s standing now, and he’s annoyed, too. “You lied to me.”
“Not at all,” Izzy says. “Leonid and Alexei weren’t worried, but I was. She’s my sister. My only sister.” She hugs me again.
I find my eyes welling with tears when she steps back. “Be safe out there, with that stupid horseman running amok.”
“You too, stabilizing California and stuff.” She blows me a kiss, and then they walk out the door.
“I better pack a bag,” I say. “It’ll be really neat traveling with stuff—and presumably you won’t short out my phone anymore?”
Xolotl shrugs. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
I roll my eyes. “You need to get a job, if you plan to melt my phone on the regular.”
“A job.” He looks genuinely worried. “What kind of job could I get?”
I drop a hand on his arm. “Don’t stress. There are loads of jobs out there, and I need to find one, too.”
“So you’re also unemployed and pathetic?” His eyebrows rise.
I nod slowly. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you’re secretly a gold-digger, you went for the wrong human.” I whip out the phone Mom left by my bed with a note, and I log in to my bank account. “I have exactly nine-thousand, two hundred and six dollars to my name, and it’s all right here.” I swivel the phone around.
“That seems like a lot of dollars,” he says.
“It’s not,” Gabe says, strolling past. “I have like four times that.”
