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freak of a Goody Two-shoes? I don’t know. If she looked scared, maybe she’ll stay home tonight instead of going to the movies to swap spit with David.”
    â€œIt was Dan,” Nakita said, and I rolled my eyes.
    â€œDan then. But if her brother doesn’t die, she won’t run away, right? Problem solved.”
    Nakita, though, didn’t look convinced as she exchanged a worried look with Barnabas. “What?” I asked, thinking they knew something I didn’t.
    Josh turned his cookie around to lick the cream squishing out. He looked happy and content, and I shifted my leg until our knees touched. He smiled as he looked up, making me glad he was here with me. “Don’t you ever stop eating?” Nakita asked him.
    â€œNo.” Josh turned to look at the vending machine. “You chipped your nail polish.”
    Nakita gasped, immediately checking her fingernails, then bending first one sandal up to check her toes, then the other. “I did not!” she exclaimed indignantly.
    Barnabas was smiling, and Josh held the last of his cookie up. “Madison, you want one?”
    I shook my head, and Nakita glared at him. “She doesn’t eat, mortal.”
    â€œIt’s still polite to ask,” Josh said, chewing, and if I was able to blush, I would have. “Barnabas, did they tell you yet that Madison identified Tammy by her aura?”
    A jolt of excitement raced through me, and I sat up, having forgotten my success there. “No,” Barnabas said, looking as happy as I suddenly felt. “Madison, that’s fantastic! How long have you been able to see auras?”
    â€œI can’t,” I said, though I was starting to wonder.
    Nakita, too, was smiling again. “She looked back through at the time line to where she flashed so I could see Tammy’s aura resonance. She’s a fish.”
    â€œGreen with an orange center,” Barnabas said cryptically. “She’s got issues.”
    â€œFish?” I asked, wondering if it was some kind of code.
    â€œMy aura is blue,” Josh said.
    Barnabas looked askance at him. “I know,” he said, then turned to me. “So you talked to her. You scared her. You think it was enough?”
    I shrugged, glancing at Josh’s cookie. “I don’t know. It’s not like I zap back home when reality realigns itself. I want to talk to her again.”
    â€œThere’s a good idea.”
    Ignoring Barnabas, I licked my lips, wishing I was hungry. “That looks good, Josh.”
    Josh beamed as he stood up. “I’ll get you one.”
    â€œShe doesn’t eat . . . Josh,” Nakita said dryly, then took a picture of everyone’s feet and the crumbs he had made.
    I shook my head, and Josh sat back down. “Thanks, anyway,” I said softly. “I’ll be glad when I learn how to look between the now and the next and find my body. I’m tired of not being hungry.”
    Nakita froze, and I looked up to find her staring at me. Her eyes blinked, and in a sudden motion, she shoved her camera into her purse. “I’ll be outside watching the apartment,” she said, then walked quickly to the door, her back stiff and her pace stilted. The door hit the wall, making a bigger dent, and then she was outside, standing with her arms crossed and her head down in the fading sun.
    Bewildered, I looked from Josh, his mouth full and chewing slowly, to Barnabas’s resigned expression. “What did I say?” I asked.
    Josh shrugged, but Barnabas winced. “She’s worried that once you get your body back that you’ll dissociate from your amulet and leave her. So am I.”
    Worried, I looked out the plate-glass windows.
    â€œThose black wings you put in her left some of your memories in her. She knows you better than anyone on heaven or earth, and she’s afraid. I’ll be okay, but Nakita . . . You taught her what