and decided he wasn’t so bad. Graves muttered something uncomplimentary, but very softly, and

mixed with the smoke besides.

“First, we allow Mr. Graves to extinguish his cigarette.” Hiro didn’t even blink. “Then we will go

over safety rules and take a tour of the school.”

“Great.” I tried to sound excited, failed miserably. And the whole time, I knew Kir was watching

me.

I could feel it.

Jealousy

CHAPTER TEN

“We should go to Nordstroms,”Benjamin muttered for the fiftieth time. Leon’s mouth actually

twitched, like the was holding back a smile. The two blonds were out in the parking lot on a gorgeous spring afternoon, probably both sleepily leaning against the SUV Benjamin had signed out at

the parking garage in the south corner of the Schola’s property.

That was eye-opening, the way Benjamin had just casually said, It’s for the svetocha, and the darkhaired djamphir with the sign-out sheet had stared at me like I had something stuck on my face before he fell all over himself pointing out different cars. Being sandwiched in the back of an Escalade full of pretty djamphir boys and Graves was a new experience, too.

I rolled my eyes. “There’s nothing at a Nordstroms I need or want. Overpriced junk that’ll fall

apart.” I folded up another pair of jeans and stuck them in the red cart. Even under fluorescents the

djamphir boys looked like models gone slumming. It was hard to pick stuff out with them hanging

around looking gorgeous and bored.

When Benjamin said shopping he meant Nordstroms at the very least. I guess he had some weird

idea I wanted couture or something.

When I say shopping, especially for clothes, I mean military surplus first, and Target or Dillard’s to

get soft goods. Like, say, panties and stuff. I’d already made the boys go away while I poked around

in the lingerie section. I mean, come on. I’ve been buying my panties alone since I was nine.

I’m used to this. Dad would just give me plenty of cash and a list. I’ve been doing our shopping,

other than ordnance, for as long as I can remember. Dad had enough to do just buying ammo and

stuff; I took care of clothes, food, all the little things you need when traveling, or to make a house

run. I used to love dawdling in the appliances section at Target no matter where in the country we

were. I would make up little stories in my head about how we really needed a bread maker or a

Foreman grill. Or an espresso machine. I would compare, contrast, and pretend we weren’t moving

in a couple of months anyway so why bother with more weight to lug around?

I saw a display of T-shirts that looked okay and headed for them. Graves had taken over pushing the