HAVE A BLEEP BLEEP DAY

I--no, that's not what IPCA does,“ I said. ”They don't kill paranormals, they--"

Lend raised a hand to stop me and sat up, large eyes narrowing. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Why would I kill you?”

After a moment he let out a deep breath. “I don't think it's you.”

“What's not me?”

Standing, he stretched. Did I mention how weird it was watching my body do this stuff? He even had the hair right--a little messy this morning, since I hadn't bothered to brush it yet.

“Can you please go back to normal?” I wanted to look at him more now that I could see him better.

He smiled, flashing my perfect teeth at me. I had to go through three years of braces for that smile; no fair that he could copy it in a second. “Normal? What's that?”

“How you really look.”

“Can you take off all your clothes?”

Okay, weirdest thing ever--I just asked myself to take off all my clothes. It doesn't get much creepier. “Why on earth would I do that?”

“You asked me to be naked; I thought it was only fair.”

“I just meant stop wearing me. Be yourself. But yourself with clothes.”

“These are my clothes. But, if it bothers you.” I melted off him and he grew a few inches. In my place was a teenage guy. Black hair, dark brown eyes, olive skin, and, oh yeah, absolutely gorgeous. Like, belonged on one of the shows I loved so much gorgeous. “Better?” His voice had changed, deepened, and I wished I was talking with an actual teenage guy.

“Definitely.” I looked closer. Still Lend under there. Even the dark eyes didn't hide his water-​colored ones; I could see him shimmering through.

“This seems to be a popular one.”

“Yeah, I can imagine.” Then I frowned, curious. “What does your real voice sound like?”

“What makes you think this isn't it?”

“I think it would sound different. Softer. Like water.” I realized how stupid that sounded, but his smile dropped off and he gave me a considering look.

“If you didn't come here to kill me, why are you here, Evie?”

Awkward. Here I was, no makeup, ratty hair, in front of the hottest teenage guy I'd ever seen, fake or not. Why was I here? “It's my job.”

His smile returned, this time with the usual ironic twist to his lips. “Oh. Your job. Quite the career for someone your age.”

“You're not much older than me.” Now that I'd seen him better, I was sure of it. Corrupted mortals like vampires show their real bodies' ages--old and nasty--underneath. True immortals, like faeries, have eternal youth, but there's something different in their faces. All those years don't add lines; they smooth, like a piece of glass turned around forever on the ocean floor. No mortal has that polish. His face was neither old nor ageless.

The shift in his expression confirmed it. “Ha!” I smiled smugly. “I'm guessing...fifteen.” I went low on purpose.

He looked indignant. “Seventeen.”

“See? You told the truth. That wasn't so bad, now, was it?”

Lend shook his head, then sighed. “Trouble.”

“You bet I'm trouble,” I countered with a smile. Sure, maybe I was flirting, a little. Could you blame me? The only guys I ever met were too old, half monsters, living corpses, or immortal creeps. At least Lend was close to my age, whatever else he was.

“No, you're in trouble.” He looked and I followed his eyes right to Raquel, who was not happy. At all. She finished crossing the hall and fixed a steely glare on me.

I was about to apologize, but then I rolled my eyes. “What are you going to do, ground me?” Maybe I shouldn't have been so flip about it, but really. After the night I had, the last thing I wanted was a lecture.

“Out. Now.”

I walked past her, turning my head to glance back at Lend. He winked at me and I couldn't help but smile.

Instead of going to my room, I made my way to Central Processing. It was still early but that's another great thing about Lish: she doesn't sleep. I loved Central Processing. Unlike the rest of the Center, it didn't look sterile. The entire room was a circle, with desks placed against the wall and everything based around Lish's gorgeous aquarium. About fifty feet in diameter, it was fifteen feet high and a perfect circle. They even managed to transplant a living coral reef, complete with tropical fish in the crystal blue water. Way better than my unit.

Lish was staring at the series of screens that lined the front of the tank. She was like the ultimate personal assistant. No sick days, no vacations, no sleep, and she wanted to be there. A lot of the paranormals couldn't be trusted with too much. Even though they're neutered, most of them harbor a bit of resentment toward IPCA because of the loss of freedom. But Lish loved her job. She was in charge of scheduling, monitoring, transports, you name it. Girl knew everything.

Apparently not today, though. Her green eyes widened with interest when I walked up to the tank. I smiled. “What's up, Lish?”

“How are you feeling? Are you okay after last night?”

Lish knew me better than anyone else at the Center. Raquel was in charge of me, but she was hard to talk to about feelings. After all, when the main way you communicate is through sighs, it makes it hard to relate to teens. Lish understood how bad a new run-​in with Reth would mess me up. I could (and did) talk with her about everything.

“Been better. Didn't sleep.”

Lish tried to swear--which is always funny, because the computer won't translate it. It went something like this: “Bleep stupid bleep bleep faeries and their bleep bleep bleep obsessions. He had better stop bleep bleep bleep the bleep bleep rules or I will bleep bleep bleep the little bleeeeeeeeeeep.” All in a completely robotic monotone. Awesome. Lish could really get going sometimes. I loved her for it; she was like the big sister I never had. The big sister who happened to be shiny green and covered in scales, with a long, finned tail and webbed hands. But she was beautiful in her way.

I laughed. The robot voice tirades always cheered me up. “Okay, you bleep bleep do that.” She shook her head, still mad about Reth. Something on one of her screens took her attention and she waved her webbed hands in front of it for a few minutes. I wasn't sure how all the tech worked in there, but it always looked cool.

Once she was done, she looked back at me. “So, tell me about what happened yesterday with the break-​in.”

“What don't you know?” Lish was usually the font of all information. Granted, most of that information was classified, but we were best friends. We told secrets, and kept them, too. Like the time when I was twelve and the Center was processing a load of pixies. Lish knew how badly I wanted to see them and slipped me the when and where information--even though Raquel had grounded me for wandering off on a bag-​and-​tag mission. Too bad pixies turned out to be dirty, ugly little things, even their wings coated with mucous. Yet another cartoon dream shattered.

“They are not releasing much intel. What is it?” She looked worried.

“Don't know. I've never seen anything like him. Neither has Raquel.”

“Why was he here?”

“Don't know again. I caught him in Raquel's office, but he hasn't said why.”

“And he can take the appearance of anyone?”

“Yup. Pretty freaky when you're standing there talking to yourself.”

A small, wheezing laugh sounded. I looked over and noticed one of the office vamps standing close by, listening. “Something funny, Dalv?” I glared at him.

He glared back. “It's Vlad and you know it.”

“You and half the other vamps out there.” Vlad--or Dalv, as I liked to call him just to piss him off--was one of my least favorite parts of the Center. After neutering, IPCA always set the paranormals up with some mandatory job. Werewolves had the most job flexibility, depending on what they were before. Vamps usually worked in the satellite buildings or did cover-​up for sightings using their persuasion skills. Vlad was pretty useless though. I guess I can't blame him for feeling bitter. Going from being the terror of Bulgarian nights to a janitor would kinda suck. And, since I was the one who had done the bag-​and-​tag, he especially hated me.

He shrugged as he swept the already spotless floor. His glamour was less flashy than most; he looked like a forty-​year-​old man, not handsome, not ugly, just thin and slightly balding. Underneath all vamps looked the same. Ugh. “He could be a doppelganger,” he said, a sneer of a smile creeping onto his face.

“What's a doppelganger?” I immediately regretted asking as his smile spread.

“Good news for the rest of us, if he took your form.” Giving another wheezy laugh, he walked out.

I turned to Lish; she was already looking it up on one of her screens. Her eyes narrowed. “What?” The look on her face was making me nervous. “What's a doppelganger?”

“Doppelgangers appear to people as harbingers of--” she paused “--death. The tale was that if you saw yourself, it meant you were going to die. They were also bad spirits who would take your form and destroy your life, again leading to your death.”

I frowned. Not cool. “Wait, spirits?” She nodded. “Nope, dude's corporeal.” I had dealt with a few ghosts and poltergeists in my time. The great thing about them is they can't touch you. Their only power is fear. And there's a whole lot you can do with fear--make people see, hear, and even feel things that aren't there--but if you know that going in, it's a lot easier to see past it. “Besides, if I'm going to die, Raquel, Denise, and Jacques are all going with me.”

She blinked thoughtfully. “And why would a doppelganger want to look through Raquel's files?”

“Exactly. Plus, he's only seventeen.”

Lish tilted her head. “He is not an immortal?”

“Nope. Oh, whoops, probably should have told Raquel that.” I frowned. I'd tell her when she decided to include me. “Listen, don't say anything, okay? I want in on this one, and info's the only leverage I have.”

Lish closed one of her transparent eyelids at me in her best imitation of a wink. “They are not giving me research clearance anyway. I have no reason to tell.”

“You're the best, my fine fishy friend.”

Lish's eyes smiled at me. Different as we were, we were both exactly what the other needed--a friend. As was my custom, started when I first met Lish as a ten-​year-​old, I smashed my face against the glass and blew my cheeks out at her.