Extrait

« Hey, Zuzu—yeah, everything’s good here, what about you? You keeping Cate on her toes? Ah, that’s my girl.” She gives the others a little thumbs-up. “We’ll be back soon. I know, I’m sorry—”

“She’s a friend,” Charlie explains in a low voice. “They have her enrolled in a school pilot program in D.C. We couldn’t take her with us without raising some red flags, and she was not happy.”

“My ears are still blistered,” Liam complains. “The sass. The sass! Too much time with Vi.”

To Vida, who is now smirking, Charlie adds, “Tell her to do her homework!”

“She’s been sassy all along,” Ruby says, rolling her eyes. “You and Chubs just treated her like she was a little angel—”

“Excuse you,” Charlie—do they seriously call this string bean of a boy Chubs?—says, outraged. “She is an angel.”

“Exactly. She wasn’t born, she was found at the end of a rainbow,” Liam agrees.

“Why do you always have to take it to such a weird place?” Charlie complains.

I can’t keep up with this back-and-forth.

Vida hushes them with a wave of her hand. “Yeah, the chatter died,” she says into the phone. “We’ll try to recharge—did you find the present I left for you?”

“Was this present a knife?” Liam asks, sounding legitimately nervous.

“An angel that is now fascinated by weaponry,” Charlie amends, glaring at Vida.

Vida ignores them both. “Can you get Nico for me? Hey, Nico—yeah, no, everything”—her voice pitches several degrees louder—“everything is fine. Are you near a computer—yeah, okay, stupid question. Slow down, Turbo— »