nod happily. “I did. But that was just for fun. The serious attributes will make you wish you had a whole fleet of them.”
“What’s it do?”
He reached into his back pocket and handed me a container that held fake eyelashes. “Go ahead,” he said eagerly. “Put them on.”
Cassandra dipped her hand into her bag, did a couple of mixing bowl motions, and came out with a compact. “Here, this should help,” she said as she snapped it open and offered me the mirror.
“Thanks.” I stuck the lashes onto my own, reassuring myself that I didn’t suddenly resemble my dad’s sister, Candy, who’d danced her way across the States before the poles got too slick and she decided marrying a rich old coot who could buy her bigger boobs and a cushy retirement home in Orlando might be a better plan.
Vayl asked, “How will the cat help us, Miles?”
“RAFS is a mobile surveillance system with offensive capabilities, in that I gave her claws and teeth. And grenades. But those haven’t been sufficiently tested yet, so…” I looked at the kittybot, trying and failing to figure out just how she would launch a minibomb. “You said… her?”
Bergman shrugged. “RAFS seems female to me.”
I pointed to my lashes. “What are these for?”
Vayl leaned forward, his lips twitching. “They make you look… sooty.” I could tell he wasn’t talking about chimney sweeping. Especially when his eyes dropped first to my neck, then to my chest.
I was glad nobody could hear my heart speed up, although Cassandra’s smirk showed she wasn’t unaware. Still, I tried to keep the conversation on the right track.
“Are they like our party line?” I asked. We hadn’t yet shared out the earpieces and fake moles that would allow us all to talk with each other at a distance of at least two miles, because Bergman had promised an upgrade. Who knew that he’d also bring a cat that somehow connected with me through my blinkers?
Bergman didn’t even try to hide the smug. “Somewhat. You should see them at night. Point a light at them and they glow.”
I threw up my arms. “Great, now I’m gonna
“I like freaks,” said Vayl. His eyes, shining the emerald green he saved just for me, demanded some sort of response. I wished we were still vacationing on his island so I could show him how much his comment meant to me. Instead I scratched a new itch on my shoulder and turned back to Bergman.
“Come on, spill. What do the eye gadgets do?”
He grinned. “RAFS, you are now under Jasmine Parks’s voice command.” He whispered, “Tell her to switch to video mode.”
I looked at the cat, its smooth shell made less foreign by the jet-black color Bergman had chosen for it.
“RAFS, switch to video mode.”
A holographic image of Bergman and Cassandra, as seen through the cat’s eyes, appeared before mine.
“Is it operating?” asked Bergman.
I nodded. “How does it work?” I asked.
“RAFS beams the message to receivers in the lashes, which project an image just far enough from your eyes for you to get a clear view.” I gaped at Bergman. “What?” he asked.
“Dude! You never explain your inventions!” I studied his face. “You didn’t send a clone of yourself or something?”
“No!” He chuckled. “Maybe I’m just trying to impress you with my engineering genius.”
“I’ve known you since I was eighteen. You had me the second you rigged our refrigerator to dispense Diet Coke out the water spigot.”
His smile widened. “Okay, well, maybe I do have ulterior motives. But those can wait until you’ve gotten to know RAFS better.” He nodded at the cat. “She records audio too. And when you’re outfitted with the party line, she can receive that signal. You can also access all of the CIA’s databases through her, as well as Cassandra’s
“No!” Cassandra’s portable library was such a fascinating blend of cinema, history, and magic that I couldn’t imagine an alternative.
Our Seer nodded. “We needed another backup, so when Bergman offered RAFS and said she’d belong to you, it seemed like the perfect plan. Especially when he explained that one of her abilities was inspired by the
“Wait a minute. You’re basically handing me the chance to research any
She nodded. “We’re making you an honorary member of the Guild.”
“But I’m not psychic.”
“Your Spirit Eye qualifies you in most of the Sisters’ minds. The rest are willing to welcome you as long as the title remains honorary. That means you won’t have any voting privileges.” Why was it nobody wanted to give me a say? The Greek werewolves who’d accepted me as a low-level pack member hadn’t forked over any power in their elections either. But to be fair, if I was anybody else, I wouldn’t let an assassin influence my policy either.
“Wow.” I glanced up at Vayl, wondering what he thought of this new development.
“I am fully aware.” He leaned over to whisper, “I have never made love to a Sister of the Second Sight.
Find out if they have a catalog, would you? Perhaps you could order something in the way of a bustier and high
