“No,” Baz says. “It’s bad enough sharing a bathroom with Snow.”
“Penny, you have a perfectly good room,” I say, ignoring the jab.
“Simon, a perfectly good room wouldn’t have Trixie in it.”
“That’s your roommate?” Baz asks. “The pixie?”
“Yes,” Penelope says.
He curls his lips up and down at the same time. “Imagine you’re a pixie,” he says. “I know it’s distasteful, but imagine—you’re apixie,and you have a daughter, and you name herTrixie.Trixie the pixie.”
“I think it’s kind of cute,” I say.
“You thinkTrixie’skind of cute,” Penny says.
“Trixieiscute.” I shrug.
“Snow,” Baz says. “I’ve just eaten.”
I roll my eyes. He probably thinks pixies are a lesser species. Half-sentient, like gnomes and Internet trolls.
“It’s like being a fairy named Mary,” he goes on.
“Or a vampire named Gampire,” I say.
“Gampire isn’t even a proper name, Snow. You’re terrible at this game.”
“In Trixie’s defence,” Penelope says, and you can tell it pains her to say it, “the pixies probably don’t go around calling themselves ‘pixies.’ I mean, you could be a human named Newman or a boy named Roy, and no one would think twice.”
“I’ll bet your room is covered in pixie dust,” Baz says, shuddering.
“Don’tget her started,” I say. “Good-night, Penny.”
“Fine,” she says, climbing to her feet and picking up the book she was reading. It’s a bound copy ofThe Record;we’ve all taken to reading them straight through, looking for clues. We’re becoming experts in decade-old current events.
It’s all so weird…
Not just to be working with Baz, but to have him around all the time when I’m hanging out with Penny.
He still won’t talk to us outside of the room.
Baz says it would confuse his minions to see him consorting with the enemy. He actually called them that—“my minions.” Maybe he was taking the piss…
I can’t always tell when Baz is mocking me. He’s got a cruel mouth. It looks like he’s sneering even when he’s happy about something. Actually, I don’t know if he everishappy. It’s like he’s got two emotions—pissed off and sadistically amused.
(And plotting, is that an emotion? If so, three.)
(And disgusted. Four.)
Anyway, Penelope and I still don’t tell Baz everything. We never talk about the Mage, for example—it turns immediately into a fight if we do. Plus Penny doesn’t want Baz to know that her family might be on the outs with the Mage. (Even though Baz’d probably sympathize.)
Penny keeps reminding me that Baz is still my enemy. That when the truce ends, he could use everything he’s learned against me.
But I’m not sureI’mthe one who needs reminding. Half the time we’re together, I’m just sitting on my bed reading while Penelope and Baz are comparing their Top 10 favourite spells of the 1800s or debating the magickal worth ofHamletversusMacbeth.
The other day, he walked her over to the Cloisters on his way to the Catacombs. When he came back, he reported that there weren’t any clues about how she gets into Mummers House. The next day, she told me he didn’t acknowledge at all that he was on his way to suck blood out of rodents.
“You going my way?” she says to him now, from the doorway.
