“Let me have a guess,” Jordan said. “I do whatever you want for the rest of time, and I get one of these.” She read Fisher’s face. “I get to borrow one of these. And you write me up a little contract on your phone.”

Fisher shrugged again.

Jordan studied her, trying to read her. “Is that why you’re here? For one of these, something like one of these?”

“Nah, some of us choose it.”

“Ah. I reckon this is the part where you tell me I should make a decision soon, ’cause they’re flying out the door each place they go.”

Fisher shrugged yet again. “You make my job easy.”

She watched Jordan very carefully as Jordan walked back along the sweetmetals, feeling everything in her shouting to stay close to them. Probably Fisher thought Jordan was trying to choose which one she’d ask for. Really, Jordan was trying to tell what they had in common. They were all art. Or at least, they were all made by a human. Crafted by a human.

Their secret hummed inside her.

“I was supposed to ask you,” Fisher said as she paused at the end of the sweetmetals, “if you were still in touch with Ronan Lynch.”

Jordan’s heart sailed right up and out of the wine cellar and into the sky.

Right.

She should have known it was coming. Boudicca thought there was just one Jordan Hennessy; somehow she’d managed to forget that. Now it seemed like she had two choices. Make up a reason why she was no longer aware of Ronan’s whereabouts after such a dramatic exit or let loose a story about her being a twin with no knowledge of him at all. It was hard to tell on the fly which was a more dangerous truth.

Or, maybe—

“Do I look like a phone to you?” Jordan asked.

“A phone?”

“If you want to get in touch with someone, that’s the way to do it. A phone, that’s the ticket. I am not a phone. I’m not some white boy’s answering service. Tell me, Fisher, do you like it when people act like you’re the direct line to ol’ Barb?”

This question landed with glorious effect. Fisher’s mouth worked unpleasantly. The subject of Ronan was abandoned.

“Who do I call if I’m interested in these?” Jordan asked. “With follow-up questions. You?”

Fisher looked confused. “You don’t like them?”

“They’re neat.” Please, please, Jordan’s body said.

“Most people would do anything to have one.”

Jordan grinned. “I’m a strange person.”

If Fisher remembered saying it earlier, she didn’t show it. Instead, she said, “Better make up your mind soon. These days, lots of people are trying to stay awake.”

Chapter 12