Borderline (The Arcadia Project, #1)(11)

“Initiated.” I set aside the book and cracked my knuckles one at a time. “Is there chanting involved? Will I be anointed with something?”

“No, but you will be given some additional information and equipment.”

“Equipment? Sexy. I love all this mystery. Are we ghostbusters? Please say we’re ghostbusters.”

“I like the way you think,” she said in her usual bored tone. “Ah, Teo. He is nothing if not punctual.”

I glanced at the nearest clock, which read 9:09. Sarcasm then, probably. Following her gaze to the stairs, I saw that Teo was wearing a different black T-shirt and the same pair of jeans as yesterday. Either he hadn’t washed his hair or he had spent a good deal of time making it look that way.

Teo flopped down on the couch next to Caryl and leaned over as though to kiss her cheek; she just as casually intercepted the gesture with a gloved hand and applied enough force to his jaw to nearly knock him off the couch.

“Morning, ladies,” he said nonchalantly once he’d righted himself. “Time to break in my new partner?” He stretched his arms along the back of the sofa, his left hand resting behind Caryl for just a moment before he yanked it back sharply. Caryl wasn’t even looking at him; she had turned her inscrutable gaze back to me.

“We’re partners?” I asked Teo. “Like on the cop shows?”

“Kind of a cross between that and an AA sponsor,” he replied. “We all need babysitters, and Caryl has us babysit each other.”

I looked at Caryl, but she seemed content to let the two of us talk.

“Are you new too?” I asked Teo.

“Nope,” he said. “Been here since I was twelve.”

“What happened to your old partner?”

“Killed herself, just like the first one.”

I stared at him. “This—seems a less than ideal job for me.”

“It’s not the job,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Caryl just gives me the craziest ones.”

“And how sane are you?”

“I’m the one-eyed man in the land of the blind. Bipolar.”

Caryl interjected quietly, “But he is more reliable than many of our members.”

“So . . . he’s okay?”

Teo gave me a hey, I’m right here sort of wave.

“He’s had mild recent symptoms of mania,” said Caryl. “He may be overconfident and hard to keep on task, so I will need you to watch out for that.”

“Am I invisible?” said Teo. “Or is this a subtle joke about the fact that I don’t exist?”

I blinked at Caryl.

“He’s being melodramatic,” she said. “He means he has no legal identification; his mother didn’t register his birth.”

“Or my existence, really, except for the occasional attempt at an exorcism. So! Is it my turn to talk about people like they can’t hear me? What should I watch out for with her?” He jerked a thumb toward me.

“Sexual advances,” Caryl said. “Paranoia under stress. Also, any criticism you offer, however mild, may be met with verbal abuse or even physical violence.”

He eyed my legs. “I think I can take her.”

I snatched up my cane; I’m not sure whether I intended to prove him wrong or just awkwardly flounce out of the room. Either way, I thought better of it and focused instead on the chill smoothness of the aluminum against my palms. As Dr. Davis had taught me, I filled my mind with the object’s shape and temperature, color and texture. Be one-mindful. Empty your thoughts of the * on the other couch.

“This is perhaps not the ideal pairing,” Caryl said as she watched me. “You are both prone to impulsive behavior, but I prefer not to break up any of the existing partnerships.”

I dragged my eyes away from my cane, feeling calmer. “So what do we need to do?”

“There are some recent local difficulties that only I can address,” Caryl said, “and because of them, I have not been micromanaging schedules and deadlines as well as I ought. I’ll need the two of you to pay a visit to Viscount Rivenholt.”

I glanced at Teo, who looked as bewildered as I felt. He ran a hand through his hair, making a worse mess of it as he eyed Caryl. “What’s the viscount done that requires a visit from the Project?”

“His visa expired two weeks ago, and he has neglected to return home. A gentle reminder is in order.”

“Immigration issues?” I said. “I thought we were an employment agency.”

“It’s complicated,” said Teo. “You’ll figure it out.”

I thumped my cane emphatically on the hardwood floor. “Fuck that. I’m not going to tell some British lord or powerful space dude to pack his bags and go home, not without some idea who I’m speaking for.”

“First off,” said Teo, “‘space dude’? Your second guess after England is outer space? Second off, I’ll be doing the talking. It’s all going to make a lot more sense if you shut up and pay attention.”

I bristled. In the entertainment industry you have to be okay with kids treating you like dirt, but this wasn’t a movie set, and quite frankly, even on set I was used to being top dog. My mounting anger interrupted the fragile connection between mind and mouth, and before I could articulate my feelings, Teo was already flapping his gums again. I breathed slowly and pulled my mouth into a slight smile I most definitely wasn’t feeling.