I wasn’t ready to laugh so hard at that. It comes up the back of my nose.
Niamh sighs again and rolls her eyes. “Obviously.”
“Is that why you became a veterinarian? Because you like animals better than people?” That’s why I want to become a veterinarian.
“No,” she says.
I wait for her to expand. Of course she doesn’t.
“Why, then?” I ask.
She glares at me, but eventually answers. “I like the way bodies work.” She takes a second to huff. “And when they’re not working, I like to think about why. I like taking things apart and putting them back together.”
“Why animals, then, instead of people?”
She shrugs. “Variety.”
I laugh up my nose again.
“Stop laughing at me, Agatha.”
I don’t stop laughing. “Variety?” Still laughing. “Oh my words . . . You’re sostrange,Niamh.”
“Fine.” She’s fed up. “Why didyouwant to become a veterinarian, Agatha?”
“Because I like animals more than people! Like a normal person!”
“I also like animals more than people!” she says. “That just wasn’t the deciding factor!”
Still laughing. I can’t help it.
“Agatha.”
“Yes?”
She’s rubbing her forehead. “Do you want to stop and get something to eat?”
“With me, a human being? Won’t you feel like the second wheel?”
“Do you want to go to a pub?”
“Yeah,” I laugh. “All right.”
I really do.
54
SHEPARD
We’ve spent two days reading about mage marriages. Penelope’s dad sent some books over for us. At first she wasn’t going to let me read them. Then she reminded me that I’ve already crossed my heart and hoped to die if I ever tell any of their magical secrets—“which is a one-way ticket to hell for you, buddy-boy”—and handed me a book.
I’m not going to tell their secrets.
I’m not going to do anything else to mess things up with Penelope.
I know that she’s miserable right now. That she’s fighting with her friends, and all broken up over her breakup . . . That she’s on the outs with her mom . . . I know that she’s only putting up with me because I present an interesting problem.
But I am having the time of mylifewith Penelope Bunce.
