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looked around the window again.
You are not going to kill him! Barnabas said, and she put her camera in her purse, frowning as she zipped it
up.
You have no idea how good I m being, Nakita whispered, watching Shoe hit the print button, then lean to
catch the paper as it shot out. Chronos could have followed us here. If I get one whiff of him, I swear, I m
going to kill him.
Who, Ron or Shoe? I thought, eyeing Shoe. The guy was a total geek, but that didn t make him scythe-worthy.
What the seraphs claimed just didn t fit with what I d seen tonight. I d watched him help his younger brother
with a handheld game earlier, and he hadn t taken it away to show him what to do instead, he walked the ten-
year-old through the problem.
I d like to see you try, Barnabas said, not shifting his gaze from Shoe s room.
Nakita huffed, and I rolled my eyes. Not again& You can t stop me, she said haughtily, a little too loudly for
my liking. This is what we do. Get used to it or leave. You re the new angel here. Not me.
Barnabas turned, his expression peeved. That s a good idea, he said sourly. Kill Shoe and blow to stardust
Madison s chance to do things her way.
Her eyes narrowed. Ron could be watching us right now. I m not going to let him put a guardian angel on
Shoe!
Oh, ma-a-a-an. They were going to make enough noise to bring Shoe to the window. It wasn t the introduction
I really wanted. Actually, I said before Barnabas could come back with anything, Nakita has a valid
concern.
The leaves rustled, and Barnabas turned to me. What?
Not meeting his eyes, I looked up at Nakita. Why don t you make a couple of circles to make sure Ron or Paul
isn t watching us?
Barnabas hid his smile a shade too late. Nakita saw it, and she stiffened. You re getting rid of me, she
accused.
Well, yeah, I said, not wanting to lie to her. She d been lied to enough. But you re right. Someone should
keep watch. I pick you.
Her brow furrowed, and as her eyes shifted to silver for an instant, she said, Fine, and stalked away.
I exhaled, rubbing the back of my neck in a show of nervous relief as she found her wings, and, with a
downward thrust that sent grass clippings flying, she put herself in the air.
Barnabas stood and stretched. Does fine mean the same thing when Nakita says it as when you do?
Yup. Glancing back at Shoe, I felt a moment of uselessness. He s just filling out college applications.
Barnabas, Shoe is as exciting as oatmeal. Are you sure we re watching the right person? Even if he is a
computer genius, he doesn t seem the kind of guy who s after anonymous notoriety by killing people.
Barnabas eased closer, and the scent of the back side of the clouds slid over me. Think so? he whispered.
He s bringing up a hidden folder.
Suddenly a lot more interested, I looked in to find Shoe still sitting at his computer. Squinting, I read, operation
vacation, at the top of the new window. Sounds innocuous enough, I said softly.
Barnabas rumbled deep in his chest, shifting his weight to his other foot. Remember what Grace said? The
school s computer is infected first. Vacation? As in shutting down the school and gaining a day or two off?
Ooooooh, not good. Still, I wasn t convinced, even as Shoe popped one of Ace s decorated CDs into the laptop.
I ve got to talk to him. Now.
Barnabas turned to me with wide eyes. Did you see that? he asked. The disc had a black wing on it!
He looked shocked, and I waved a hand in dismissal. Sorry. I meant to tell you. It s Ace, I said, sending my
gaze back into the gray and white bedroom. He s an artist. Isn t it creepy? He got the idea for the melting crow
from Shoe.
Creepy is not the word I d use, Barnabas grumped, resettling himself.
I watched as Shoe leaned back in his chair as the disc burned. Why he didn t put it on a jump drive escaped me.
Maybe he was going to sneak it into school disguised as music?
Why am I still sitting here? I asked myself suddenly. He was loading the virus. What did I need to see him do?
Plug it in? I m going to talk to him, I said, gathering myself and pushing through the bushes to get to the front
yard.
The branches scraped against my arms, and I halted when a pair of headlights lit the quiet street. They
looked& blue. Not the headlights themselves, but the light.
Hold up, Barnabas whispered as he pushed out to stand beside me, but I felt dizzy and I had already stopped,
squinting when the headlights resolved into Ace s truck parked on the street. His loud music cut off three
seconds after the engine did, and his door made a hard slam of sound. Footsteps soft, his shadowy form came
around the front of the truck and headed for the walk.
Ace, I said, holding my stomach. I felt queasy. We couldn t see the front door from where we were, but it was
easy enough to follow his fast pace up the walk and then hear the cheerful dinging of the doorbell.
From Shoe s room came a muttered curse. Barnabas drew me behind a tree, and together we watched Shoe
fidget, standing before his computer and almost falling when he tried to put on his shoes. Hurry up! he
muttered as the drive still hummed. My eyes weren t working right, and I blinked, trying to get the haze of blue
out of them. Glancing down at my amulet, I wondered if the silver mesh cradling it looked blue, too, or if it was
my imagination.
Barnabas tightened his grip on my arm. We have to go, he said, eyes on the window.
Why? I asked, trying to shake a new buzzing from my ears.
He turned to me, his brown eyes holding a bothered impatience. Because I think Shoe is going to come out the
window as soon as that computer finishes.
Sure enough, Shoe had a black hoodie on, and was standing at the screen and fiddling with the little clips that
held it in place. From outside, I could hear his mom at the door, inviting Ace in. Grimacing, I ducked behind the
tree and out of sight.
The sound of wind among feathers brought our attention up, and I wasn t surprised to see Nakita lightly land on
the roof. Stay there! Barnabas all but hissed at her, and the dark reaper grinned at him, making me shiver at
her fierce expression. My eyes widened when she flipped him off, then jumped back into the air so she could
follow Shoe, who was clearly going to go AWOL.
From inside, I heard Shoe s mom call for him. This was going to get ugly really fast.
Does Nakita even know what that means? I asked, putting a hand to my chest. Why isn t my heart beating? It
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