You Owe Me a Murder(15)

I felt a blowtorch of heat all over my body. Then I noticed Connor staring. I thrust my chin into the air and let the weight of Alex’s arm warm my shoulders. That’s right. I don’t need you.

“Would I want to buddy up with someone who basically works with my most favorite band ever?” Alex shook his head in disbelief. “Good luck getting rid of me now.”

His passion for the Ravens was starting to freak me out. He was going to want me to score him tickets or a backstage pass. “My cousin’s not, like, their manager or anything—?he just did some of the travel planning,” I said, trying to ramp back my lie.

Alex misread why I was hedging. “Don’t worry, I won’t hit on you just to get close to them.” He smiled. “I can come up with better reasons to do that.”

My face went stiff. Is he making a joke? He was smiling. A tiny chip out of his front tooth made him seem younger. He shoved his hands into his pockets and didn’t meet my eyes.

“Plus, you solved the great olive loaf mystery, which means you’re also going to be handy to have around on this trip,” Alex added. “Having a partner who’s an excellent problem solver strikes me as a good plan here in a foreign land. But now a serious question that will determine the course of our future relationship: Star Wars or Star Trek?”

I paused to consider the options. “I’m more a Serenity kind of person.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Ah, so you aim to misbehave.”

I found myself smiling back. “I think I do.”

Tasha came into the room, clapping her hands above her head. She’d stripped off her jacket so that she was in just a fitted white T-shirt. Her arms looked as though she belonged in an action movie. “All right, people, put your bums in a chair.”

She waited until we were seated around one of the scarred tables. “I know you went over the ground rules before coming, but let me touch on the most important one.” She paused until we each met her eyes. “This is not a democracy. I’m in charge of the eight of you. Maybe you thought, No parents, no teachers—?that you had it made.” She shook her head. “Forget it. Think of me as your queen while you’re here.” She smiled. Against her dark skin her teeth looked almost fluorescent. “What I say is law.”

“Don’t do what she says and off with your head,” Alex whispered to me out of the side of his mouth.

Tasha swiveled in his direction, her gaze pinning us both into place. “Exactly,” she said.

Alex’s eyes widened. “How—?”

“—?did I hear you?” Tasha said, cutting him off. “I hear everything. I hear things you haven’t even said yet. Things you haven’t even thought—?that’s how good I am. You’re not my first summer scholar group. During the school year I teach kindergarten. If I can keep command of twenty tiny children with marginal bladder control, I can certainly take charge of all of you. We’re going to have fun while you’re here and I’ll make sure you see all the sights and even learn a few things so you can consider this educational. My suggestion is that you don’t test me by breaking the rules. In return, I’ll make sure you have a great trip and get home safely. Deal?”

The eight of us nodded slightly in awe. Sophie took notes in her tidy, almost typewriter-perfect handwriting.

“Great! Then let’s get you moving. I thought we’d take a walk around Kensington Gardens. It’s just a few blocks from here. Get the blood moving, take a gander at the neighborhood so you have your bearings, and we can swing by the Tube stop on the way back and get all of you set up with an Oyster card. That’s like your ticket.” She motioned for all of us to stand. “You’ll need a partner for the next few weeks, so buddy up.”

Alex and I high-fived.

“Okay, let’s stick together. London’s a big city, after all.”

People shuffled to their feet, gathering up their stuff. Jamal stuffed various gadgets into pockets and slung his giant, paparazzi-worthy camera around his neck.

“It’s raining,” Sophie pointed out, peering out the window. Kendra wrinkled up her nose as if personally offended by the weather. That girl was going to have some serious wrinkles by the time she hit thirty. Her whole face was a frown line.

Tasha rolled her eyes. “You call that rain? Love, here in England we call that a healthy mist. Hardly worth getting out the umbrella. Why do you think all the British have such great skin? Moisturizing with Mother Nature.” She patted her cheeks and went over to the library door, opening it wide, gesturing for us to go ahead. The walk was clearly not optional.

Alex cocked his elbow at me. “‘So here is us, on the raggedy edge,’” he said, quoting my favorite movie. “To a new adventure.”

My heart rate accelerated. This was it. Day one, new me. I linked my arm through his.

After we passed Tasha and were out in the hallway, Alex leaned in. “I’m pretty sure she’s ex-military. Possibly a lesser-known Marvel superhero.”

“She can probably kill you with nothing more than a paper clip and her pinkie finger,” I whispered back.

Alex snickered. “She only needs the paper clip for extra style points.”

We stumbled out of the residence and onto the sidewalk. The sound of traffic crashed in on me. A red double-decker bus careened around the corner and every other car seemed to be honking. I looked up and down the street, taking in the stores and restaurants that seemed to be packed in tighter than on the streets at home, as though the city were too large for the space. People of every shape, size, and color wove together on the sidewalk, moving in a coordinated fashion. My heartbeat skipped and I felt as if there were an electrical current in the air.