Page 39 of Missiletoe
One of them climbed onto my shoulder and I said, “Hi there, Paris’s friend. I don’t have food right now, but I could probably get you some.”
The mouse squeaked, and Paris said, “He’s already eaten. Do people try to kidnap you often?”
“Um…it depends on what often looks like to you.” When Paris started looking like he might try his own hand at kidnapping in order to foil a future one, I hastened to say, “I’m safe right now, though. I think it’s why everyone in the house lost track of me today. They don’t like to tell me about it much, but I am pretty sure Gareth and Baz were so busy kil—uh, kicking the crap out of kidnappy people that the house schedule got mixed up. But they took care of the problem. Those people won’t be coming around any time soon.”
Or ever. At least, not until Gareth’s old bosses hired new people because the old ones were dead as shit.
Phew.
Being sneaky was hard work, and Paris was obviously smart. I didn’t think I’d be able to keep the family business a secret for very long if Paris figured out the kidnapping thing so quickly.
Paris’s face went grim and serious, like he’d made a decision. “We should go. Trixie?”
Paris’s dog nudged my leg with her nose, and my bracelet fell right through my wrist.
I shit you not. I watched it happen. Then I felt something small hit my shoulder, and I realized one of the sapphire earrings Baz had given me had fallen out of my ear too. Paris shifted me to one arm, took the earring between his fingers, and examined it before tossing it onto my bed.
“Is that all of the trackers, Trix?”
Trixie gave a quick bark, and Paris said, “Thanks, girl. I owe you.”
I was pretty sure it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, and I’d accidentally sucked a dozen or so people into a pocket dimension, so you know that’s saying something.
“Paris, you and your dog need to stay away from Vale. He’ll hook you up to things and test you, and I’ll have to make something to bust you out of his lab. Then Gareth will get mad and disconnect the internet again.”
Paris laughed and said, “Vale could try.” Then he carried me out of my room. When we passed my door, I realized it was stuck half open and that the panel on my wall was open and a bunch of half-chewed wires were sticking out.
Love was going to be so pissed off when she realized. She was probably too busy dealing with the Adam situation right now to worry about my wing of the house, but I knew I’d hear about it later.
Paris took us through the secret passage only Baz and I knew about, through the entrance to the secret tunnel only my housemates knew about, and out the exit disguised as a huge rock. At every door we passed, there were chewed wires all over the place. I guess I knew how Paris got inside.
Mouse friends for the win.
Gareth was going to love Paris once he got over hating him for stealing me.
Chapter8
Vix
We had an adorable mousey entourage all the way back to Paris’s truck.
The thing was huge and looked like it would be able to fit my largest invention in the back of it. But if we did that, we’d probably have to cover it with a tarp because my invention looked exactly like what it was. Actually, even with a tarp, it would still look pretty suspicious, so maybe we wouldn’t put it in Paris’s truck bed.
There’s really no disguising a laser powerful enough to carve into the moon, you know.
But no matter how big and clunky it looked, it was worth making. I knew Baz would love it when I showed him I’d put his name on the moon. It was going to be my birthday gift to him next month. Or was it the month after? Whatever. Baz would tell me when, and then I’d show it to him.
Paris buckled me into my seat after lifting me into the cab. I’d gotten to ride him throughout the entire getaway, and it had been amazing. I finally got to see why Apple made Adam carry him all the time.
Getting dragged places by Baz or getting hauled around like a sack of flour by Vale and Gareth when I went all floppy, wasn’t half as comfortable. Paris treated me like I was made of something precious, like plutonium. Only maybe something less dangerous because he was really nice about it.
Once Paris had me settled, he turned to his mouse army and said, “Thank you.” Then he scattered a bunch of rabbit food all over the grass from a bag he hauled out of the truck bed. The mice went bananas, and Paris left them to it.
When Paris made to get into the driver’s seat, Trixie darted in front of him, scrambled over me, and settled into the seat by the passenger door. Paris had stuffed me into the middle seat so I could sit right next to him, and my insides were glowing so hard I thought I would burst.
Was that what being in love felt like?
I’ve never been able to create a machine that could quantify emotions, but once I do, I’ll tell you all about it. I’ll make even more money than I do right now, and then I’ll build Paris the biggest, most high-tech animal shelter the world has ever seen.
