Sirenz - By Charlotte Bennardo Page 0,54

her chips and tool bag on a filing cabinet, she shooed Shar out of Jeremy’s chair and plunked herself down on it, making the air-cushion seat hiss. We stood behind her as she peered at the monitor. Shar had gotten as far as the password screen, but of course neither of us knew Jeremy’s, or anyone’s, password. Still, Shar had tried typing in something; a string of black dots almost filled the code-box.

Callie grabbed a pencil off the desk and tapped the point against each dot in succession. When she got to the end, she sighed dramatically and shook her head. “Typical!” she spat, disgusted. “You spelled the password wrong! There’s only nine letters in ‘longevity,’ not ten.”

She deleted Shar’s erroneous entry and typed in the password. After a few rapid mouse clicks, up popped Arkady’s schedule.

“Thanks,” I said, maneuvering myself toward the keyboard. “We’re good from here. We just have to print it out …”

Callie raised a hand to stop me. “I’ll do it for you. I don’t need you two messing up my systems!”

A few seconds later, the printer whirred and a sheet slid out.

Shar snatched it up. “If we move the Botox up one hour, we can squeeze that new treatment in, don’t you think?” she said smoothly. I was seeing shades of Hades—having to do all the talking was turning her into a silver-tongued Shar-latan.

I nodded with authority.

Callie eyed us suspiciously as she pushed up her black-framed glasses with a finger. “Are you sure you’re supposed to be in here?”

“Do you think Jeremy can be in two places at once? He had to go out with Mr. Romanov, and he needs us to map out these appointments so he can schedule them when he gets back in tomorrow,” Shar said. “I wouldn’t want to be the one to explain to Mr. Romanov why he’ll have to wait eight weeks for new hair follicles.”

I could add to the conversation, but Shar was doing fine on her own. I gave Callie gave a menacing glare and she backed up a step.

“We have what we need. The room’s all yours,” said Shar. She turned to go, with me following close behind.

Callie watched us closely as we left.

“Mission Impossible?” Shar giggled, when we were safely away.

I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. “I don’t think so!”

This Ain’t No Bed of Roses

With a copy of Arkady’s schedule safely tucked into the tight pocket of my jeans, the rest of the day seemed a breeze. Tonight we would look it over, pick the best spot, and voilà! We’d be back to hum-drum school, prom, and graduation. And my shoes! My two dozen pairs of beloveds were getting dusty waiting for me. I know Meg couldn’t wait either. She was getting close to being completely covered with feathers. If it weren’t winter, she’d be dying of heat stroke, covered in fluff and continually wearing long-sleeved, high-necked sweaters.

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped off at the post office to mail the thank-you cards. Meg stayed outside, iPod in place, while I went in.

Between the dim lighting and my shades, the post office was dark. I bumped into the metal detector by the door. Enough! Frustrated, I pulled off the glasses and made a beeline for the outgoing mail slot. I could see now, but thanks to my monstrous bird feet, I managed to trip over a non-slip rug that had bunched up near the door.

When a nice man grabbed my elbow to steady me, without thinking I smiled at him warmly and gushed, “Thank you so much, you didn’t have to do that!”

He promptly let me go. My head twitched—it had never done that before.

The man was standing next to me, staring at me with glazed eyes. He was enthralled. Damn! My toes were already fused and I sported scaly skin up to my knees. My fingers were curving like those old ladies who tried to look hip with long nails that yellowed and twisted, just like mine were now. The skin around my elbows was scaly and it was working its way down. My head twitched again.

“Ase me isihi! ” I said to him, and he turned and left. I dumped the cards in the box and hurried out, tripping over the stupid rug again.

“What’s the matter with your head?” Meg asked.

“I don’t know. It just started.” My head jerked back and forth, sometimes up and down. I was getting seasick.

“Does anyone in your family have epilepsy?” Meg craned