Waking Gods (Themis Files #2)(61)

—Not all of it. I had to rent a car.

[Whoa.]

—Yep. Here we are! She looks bigger in person, doesn’t she? How’d you like to go inside, Eva?

[Really?]

Yep. For real. Let’s go for a ride.

—Are you sure we can walk Themis away from here? We can’t fight with Eva on board.

—Oh, we’re not walking … There are a few things I need to tell you too. By the way, how could you leave while I was missing?

—I thought she was in danger.

—And not me? I was stuck at the bottom of the ocean!

—Really?

—Yeah, but my point was—

—I didn’t know what to do! All I did was watch other people trying to find you. I was in the way, I felt … Shit!

—What?

—The elevator doesn’t work—

—I was afraid of that. I think the power went out like five minutes ago.

—But the lights are on!

—Yeah. I heard the generator kick in when I walked in the control room. I guess the elevator isn’t on it. You know what that means— —Can you do it?

—We’re about to find out. Every time we go up the elevator, I look at that ladder and I think: “Who would be stupid enough to climb up that thing?”

—Eva, the elevator doesn’t work, so we’ll have to climb up that big ladder. Vincent’ll go first. You follow him.

—Why do I need to go first?

—Trust me, Vincent. If you have someone’s feet too close to your head, you’ll wanna look down, and you don’t wanna look down.

[I’m scared.]

—That makes two of us, Eva.

—Vincent’s afraid of heights. You’ll have to keep him calm. Go Vincent! We don’t have all day! OK, now it’s your turn Eva. Just keep your eyes on Vincent. I’ll be right behind you.

—How high is the hatch again?

—Think about something else. You said you were at the bottom of the ocean?

—I’m not sure if talking about the time I thought I was going to die is the best thing to keep me from thinking about how I’m going to die.

—Never mind then. Are your palms sweaty? Those bars can get slippery when they’re wet.

—Ha! Ha! Very funny. Eva, how do you say asshole in Spanish?

—Don’t answer that, Eva. He just wants some attention. Speaking of assholes, Vincent, you said Mr. Warm and Fuzzy filled you in?

—Yeah he did. I think he felt bad you had to learn of all this from Ryan of all people.

—Fuck him.

—I told him you’d be mad.

—I’m not mad. I just don’t wanna see him again. Ever.

—Good. Glad I was wrong. I hate it when you’re angry.

—You’re not? He lied to you too, you know.

—He didn’t exactly … You know what? We’re being rude. Let’s talk about something else. Eva, I don’t know the first thing about you. Tell me something, anything.

[I don’t—]

Come on! It’ll keep your mind off that ladder. Never mind that, it’ll keep my mind off that ladder. I don’t know about you but I’m scared shitless, in a … really … manly way. Tell me something interesting.

[Hmmm … Do you know who I was named after?]

I’d say Eva Perón.

—Eva’s from Puerto Rico, Vincent, not Argentina.

[I was named after a robot.]

—That is interesting.

—Oh yeah. You have his attention now.

[I was born on the day of the parade when the EDC was created. My parents were the biggest geeks ever, huge science-fiction fans. Themis was the greatest thing they’d ever seen. They wanted to name me after her, but they somehow thought everyone would start naming their kid Themis, so they named me after another big robot.]

A robot?

[Yes. Eva’s a common name in Spanish, but apparently, it’s also the name of a giant robot, from a Japanese anime they really liked. It’s old. I never saw it.]

—Eva is for Evangelion? That is so cool!

—Of course, Vincent knows all about it.

—Yeah! It’s awesome! But ours is bigger.

—Eva, I think you have a fan now.

—I … We have it on DVD, you know.

—Oh, do we?

—Yep.

—OK! OK! If Eva’s never seen it, we can watch it together … He’s smiling, isn’t he?

[Yes. So are you.]

I guess I am—

—Well, it’s not as cool as being named after a giant robot, but I was also named after a TV character.

—Really? Who?

—Ron Perlman, with makeup. My mom told me once how much she liked watching Beauty and the Beast while she was pregnant with me. It was in French, of course, and whoever dubbed Linda Hamilton had a really phony accent, but my mom loved it when she called the Beast by name. Oh Vincent! That’s where she got the name.

—How come you never told me that?

—I kinda forgot, to be honest.

—Your parents named you after the Beast. That’s strange.

—Oh, I said that’s where my mom got the name. I’m sure she never told my dad. He never would have gone along with that. Though I can’t imagine my father spending much time looking for baby names. She was probably on her own for this.