“Maybe she’s taking him for a test drive.” When both Claire and Dean turned to stare, Austin shrugged. “Well, pardon me for using a euphemism, but didn’t Nalo say that from a block away she thought he was just a guy?”
“Diana wouldn’t…” Claire’s voice trailed off. “Okay, it’s possible,” she admitted after a moment’s thought, “but she says she’s a lesbian.”
“No, she said she was a lesbian back in November. She could easily be a hemocyanin by now.”
“I don’t think that’s…”
“The point is,” Austin interrupted, “is that she’s seventeen and subject to change without notice. And she’s met a young man she can be herself with. Or have you forgotten how seductive that is?”
Claire looked up at Dean, looked past her reflection in his glasses, and sank into the blue of his eyes. “No. I haven’t forgotten.”
He reached out and stroked the back of his hand over her cheek. “I’m sorry I got you into this.”
“We got into this together.”
“Still…”
“Still need to get hold of Diana,” Austin reminded them acerbically.
Claire reluctantly sat back and picked up her cell phone again.
“Yes, okay, I should have thought of how I’d get home before I went into the closet.” Diana held the phone out from her ear, counted to six, then tried again. “Mom…Mom! I’m not being a smart-ass, I’m agreeing with you. And since there was money for a hotel room, not a bus ticket home, I’m obviously supposed to be here—no harm, no foul. Aren’t you the one who always says, nothing happens to a Keeper by chance?” She winced. “Of course I listen to you. Yeah, okay, I didn’t listen to that. Or that. Mom…Mom. Mother! I have to go now. I’ll stay in touch. ’Bye. No. Now. Good-bye.”
She hung up, leaned back, closed her eyes, and began rhythmically beating her head against the wall.
“You didn’t tell your mother I was with you,” Samuel pointed out from the room’s other bed.
“No, I didn’t.”
“A lie of omission is still a lie, and a lie is the destroyer of trust.”
“Why don’t you just let me deal with that?”
“Banging your head isn’t going to do anything but annoy the person in the next room.”
She opened her eyes and glared at him. “There isn’t anyone in the next room.”
“But still…”
“Shut up.”
“The phone’s ringing.”
“I’m beginning to think Claire was right about this whole joining the twenty-first century thing.” Scooping up the receiver, she closed her eyes again. “Sorry, Mom, but nothing’s changed in the last thirty seconds.”
“It’s not Mom. It’s me.”
“Oh, joy.” Straightening, she mouthed, It’s Claire, so no background noise, toward Samuel. “How did you get this number?”
“It’s your cell phone number.”
About to explain that she didn’t have her cell phone with her, Diana decided that might be something she’d be better off keeping to herself. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Diana, that angel you’re hiding is blocking my…our, ability to find the demon that came through at the same time, so you’ve got to stop playing around and send it back.”
“It’s not an it, Claire, it’s a him and…” The rest of the sentence suddenly clicked into place. “Did you say demon?”
“Demon?” Samuel scooted to the edge of the bed, eyes wide.
Diana mouthed a stern, “Shut up!” at him so she could hear Claire’s answer.
“Yes, a demon.”
“That’s so not good.”
“Low-fat cheese is not good, Diana. This is bad. I don’t know what you’re up to with that angel, and I don’t want to know…”
“Come to think of it, how do you know?”
“Nalo saw you with him and mentioned it when I called her, but that’s not important. He’s got to go back right now.”
“No.” Diana shook her head—an unseen emphasis from Claire’s point of view but emphasis just the same. “Sending him back would be the same as killing him.”
“You can’t kill him, there’s nothing to kill. He’s a being of light.”
“He’s more than that.”
“How can he be more than that? He’s already a superior being!”
“Fine. He’s less than that, then. He’s a person, Claire.” Who was attempting to eavesdrop on both sides of the conversation. A vigorously applied elbow solved that distinctly unangelic problem. Flashing him a triumphant smile, as he flopped around gasping for breath, she amended, “Okay, maybe he’s not entirely a person, but there’s a person in there.”
“No.”
“No, what?”
“No, you are not suggesting that a…a penis and a couple of testicles is what makes a man.” Claire’s tone laid a distinctly weird subtext under the words.
Wishing she had time to translate, Diana sighed impatiently. “No, I’m not suggesting that. But they’ve given him access to emotions and experiences genderless angels can’t have.”
“I’m happy for him, but there’s a demon loose we can’t find until the angel goes—therefore the angel has to go. And if he knew what was at stake, I’m sure he’d agree. Is he there with you right now? Let me talk to him.”
“No.”
Samuel poked her in the leg. “Your sister wants to talk to me?”
She couldn’t lie to him. “Yes.”
“So give me the phone.”
“Not happening.” Scooting out from under his arm, she crossed the room and glared at him from beside the bathroom door, the phone cord stretched taut between them. “One step in this direction and I’ll lock myself in.”
“Diana!”
“Claire!” Attention jerked back to her sister, she rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to yell. It doesn’t matter if he agrees with you or not because I’d still have to kill him, and I won’t do it.”
“For the last time, you wouldn’t be killing him!”
“Would.”
“Stop being so childish. Listen, I can’t get there tonight; the OPP have closed the highway north of Barrie because of the storm. But we’ll be leaving first thing in the morning. This is serious. Send the angel back. Remember your responsibili…”
Diana jabbed at the power off button and pitched the phone across the room. “I do not need her to remind me of my responsibilities,” she growled as Samuel rubbed his ear where the phone had clipped him on its way by. “If they knew you, they wouldn’t be
