Paranormalcy

“Weird,” I muttered, activating the ankle tracker with my finger, then fastening it. It took the selfadjust mechanism several tries before it sealed around his ankle. He twitched as the sensors jabbed in but didn’t wake up.

I stood, still feeling his warmth on my hand. “Well, that’s that. And I’m not carrying him to Containment, if that’s what you were go

I held back a laugh at the looks on the guards’ faces. They reached out like they would get burned, grabbed Water Boy, and carried him out of the room.

“I’d better find out what happened to Denise. And Fehl, too.” Raquel gave her best why is it always me that has to deal with these things sigh (one I was well familiar with at this point), then patted me on the shoulder. “Good work, Evie. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t found it.”

“Just—keep me in the loop on this one, okay? He’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. I want to know what’s up.”

She smiled, a tight, noncommittal smile that I knew meant not a chance, then picked her communicator up off the desk. I walked out, seriously bugged. IPCA had a tendency not to tell me much more than where they needed me to be and what I needed to do. Screw that. I skipped my room and headed straight for Containment. If she wasn’t going to keep me informed, I’d just have to inform myself. I palmed the door and walked into the long, brilliantly lit cell-lined corridor.

My gremlin buddy from before was snarling and jumping at the electric field just inside the six inches of Plexiglas that lined its cell. Each time it hit the field, it yelped and flew backward, only to start the whole thing over again. Gremlins? Not smart.

Jacques wasn’t too far down the hall. Wrapping my arms around myself, I hurried toward him. I was always cold in the Center, but Containment was downright frigid. Jacques stood there, a disturbed look on his face as he stared into a cell. I turned and my jaw dropped in surprise. There was

Jacques again, leaning casually against the wall of his cell and staring out. When he saw me, his expression changed. Agitated, this Jacques moved as close to me as the electric field allowed.

Not Jacques. I walked right up to the glass as well, my eyes narrowed in concentration. There it was —behind Jacques’s square face.

“It woke up right after I sealed the cell and has been doing that ever since,” Jacques whispered, standing next to me.

“Please,” Not-Jacques said, his voice identical. “That monster overpowered me and threw me in here! Let me out so I can help you!”

“Oh, sure,” I said, pleasantly, “because I’m stupid.”

The pleading look on Not-Jacques’s face fell, replaced by an enigmatic smile. He shrugged, putting his hands in his pants pockets.

“How do you do the clothes?” I was genuinely curious. No other glamours I’d seen were anything more than a second skin. Only a few species (like faeries) could put them on and take them off at will, but none could change what the actual glamour looked like.

“How did you know?” His transparent eyes stared intensely at me behind the image of Jacques’s.

Most of the paranormals have no idea what I can do. I like to keep it that way. “Raquel would never say ‘scoot.’”

Not-Jacques shook his head. He leaned even closer; I examined his face, trying to find his real features. The only things I had an easy time focusing on were his eyes. He stood up straight, shocked.

I’ll give him this: He managed to make Jacques’s face more expressive than Jacques ever did.

“You can see me,” he whispered.

“Um, duh? You’re right in front of me. Wearing Jacques. Looks better on you than Raquel did.”

He smiled again. Then his skin rippled like water disturbed by the wind, and Jacques melted away.

Now nearly imperceptible except for the ankle bracelet, he walked to the other side of the cell and, without warning, dropped flat to the ground.

I found his eyes staring right at me and realized too late that he was testing me, seeing if I could follow his movement when he was in invisimode. Color bloomed from his features and in a sudden shift of light I was looking at myself—myself exactly, right down to the bright pink fuzzy robe.

“You can see me,” my voice, tinged with wonder, said from his mouth.

“Evie!” Raquel was booking it toward us in her sensible (read: ugly) black pumps, a frown etching a deep line between her eyebrows. Busted. “You should not be here.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m there, too.” I pointed at the cell. Raquel stopped short, surprise erasing her frown lines as she stared at Not-Me behind the glass.

“Remarkable,” she whispered.

“Lame.” Not-Me yawned and reached up to play with his—my—platinum hair.

“What are you?” Raquel was suddenly all business.

Not-Me gave her an impish grin. Watching myself do all this was really odd. I was getting angles of my face that I had never seen before—way different from looking in a mirror. Not-Me glanced at me again, then shook my—err, his?—head. “I can’t quite get your eye color.” He stood and walked right up to the field, staring at my face. I couldn’t help but check myself out. I was pretty. Too ski

This was freaking me out. I frowned. “Take it off.”

He just stared at me with my face. I was focused on his real eyes when I realized that he was sorting through colors. “Not quite right,” he muttered. “Too silver. Now too dark. They’re so pale.”

It was true. My eyes were such a light gray they barely had any pigment at all.

“What color?” Not-Me mused. His eyes were flickering now, shifting colors like he was on fast-forward. “A cloud with the slightest hint of rain.”

“Streams of melting snow,” I answered without thinking.

He shot straight up and backed into the corner of his cell. I watched an expression of fear and mistrust spread across my features. “Yes, that’s it,” Not-Me whispered.

LEND ME YOUR EARS…AMONG OTHER THINGS

Where’s Denise?” Raquel demanded, glaring at Water Boy in his cell.

I breathed a sigh of relief as my face melted from his, replaced by Denise’s. “Right where I left her,” Not-Denise said. He kept glancing over at me.

“And where was that?”

“In the cemetery. You should be able to find her.”

“Find Denise or find her body?” Raquel’s voice was hard.

Not-Denise rolled his eyes. “She’ll have a headache. Honestly, it’s like you think I’m some sort of a monster.” His mouth twisted in an ironic smile.

“What are you?”

“So rude. We haven’t even been introduced.”

She gave a can I just start shocking him into submission now sort of sigh. I jumped in before he got himself into more trouble. “My name’s Evie. Raquel you already know—punched her and then stole her face, remember?—and Jacques over here is your new best friend, because he’s in charge of the feeding schedule around here. Assuming you eat. And you are?”

“Lend.”

“Lend?” Raquel asked.

“Yes, as in, lend me your self.” He shimmered into Raquel again.

“Why not Borrow?” I asked. “Better yet, Steal?”

“I’ll ask again,” Raquel snapped. “What are you?” Given what this guy had done, I didn’t blame her for being impatient.

“Good question. Maybe you could tell me?”

“Why are you here?”

“I love a nice dose of electric current in my body.”

“What were you looking for?”

“Answers.”

“Well.” Raquel gave him a thin-lipped smile. “So am I.” Her communicator buzzed. Relief flashed across her face as she read the message. Looking up, she nodded at her mirror image. “Tomorrow, then.”

She turned and started down the hall with Jacques. I was still staring at Lend-as-Raquel, watching his real face beneath hers. I could almost pick out features now. He stuck his tongue out at me and, before I could stop myself, I giggled. It was too ridiculous coming from Raquel’s face.