“Imagine my surprise.”
“Mum, that’s not fair.”
“Penelope, you’re so addicted to danger that you manufacture it as soon as things get quiet!”
“I’ve manufactured nothing! I wasn’t responsible for the Mage!”
“No, but you were one of three children in five hundred who couldn’t steer clear of him. You arerecklesslybent on finding trouble.”
“That is an extreme and unfair mischaracterization.”
“Is it?So there’snota demon-cursed, AmericanNormalin my kitchen?”
Shepard is slipping out of our arms. We lower him to the floor. “Mum, he’s my friend.”
“I’m sure he is! I’m sure you befriended him the moment you realized what a hopeless disaster he is!”
“I didn’t know, actually.” I’m making sure Shepard doesn’t hit his head on the tile.
“It’s a sixth sense, then.”
“Your disapproval is well noted, Mother. I feel bad about my actions, and I won’t repeat them. Can you just help him now? He really is in trouble.”
“Penelope . . .no.” She’s standing up, looking down at Shepard with her hands on her hips. “There’s no way to help him without compromising ourselves.”
“He won’t tell anyone about us.”
“Nowhe won’t. He won’t remember you or me or any of it. He’ll spend the rest of his life wondering how drunk he must have been to have forgotten getting such elaborate tattoos. Get him on the next plane home.”
“You want me to abandon him?”
“Yes!”
“He’s my friend.”
“No. Penelope. He’s aNormal.Whom you’ve known for how long—a few days? A week?”
I don’t reply.
We both hear the front door open. My dad’s home, he’s calling up to Premal.
Mum’s face falls even farther, like someone has heaped another trouble on her back. “Wait here,” she says. “I’ve got to deal with this, then I’ll help you send Shepard on his way.”
She walks out of the kitchen.
I lay my right hand on Shepard’s forehead and whisper:“Rise and shine!”
He opens his eyes, then blinks at me. “Penelope?” Amazing. He really is resistant to memory spells. “Come on,” I say, quietly. “Can you walk?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
I pull him up and towards the kitchen door. We run through the back garden and out into the street. I wave down the first taxi we see and shove Shepard in.
He isn’t smiling when he looks at me. “You were right. Your momreallydidn’t like me.”
6
BAZ
