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Chapter 23

Zora burst into Alex's room, holding something behind her back. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Depends on the secret. Is this about when you followed Marc and Death yesterday? What did you find?" he asked.

"No, I'll tell you about that later," she pulled a black kitten out from behind her.

"I thought Marc told you to deliver all the kittens to the people he had lined up."

"Yes. But I did not do that. Not with Blade, anyway."

"Okay. Care to tell me why?" he asked.

"Because they were going to declaw him! You can't declaw a cat named Blade. Who would he be then? Bladeless?" Zora asked. She set the cat on the dresser and collapsed into a chair.

Alex scooped Blade up from the dresser. "Um, I don't think he can jump that high yet, so how about he just stay on the floor for now?"

"Zora, you can't keep Blade," he said.

"Wow, way to be a kill joy," she said. "You know, I'd expect this from Rodrigo, and who knows what the new girl would do, but I thought you were cool."

"No, I just mean that this is something that can't stay secret forever. They're eventually going to find out. But you've got like a month or two before that to come up with a plan," he said.

"Oh. Okay." Blade started mewing and circling around Zora's feet. She set him on her shoulder, and he purred, rubbing against her cheek.

"I had to tell you so I would have someone to help me out. And if we circulate him between rooms, there is a much smaller chance he'll be found. So thanks," she said.

"That makes sense," Alex said. "Did you find anything out from stalking your boss yesterday?"

"Nothing important. It was sort of creepy, though. Like, I've seen Marc save someone's life and then call us about it so the subject would realize they were saved by a secret agent, even though it wasn't for a mission. I've seen Death make fake meth that incapacitated some thugs so she could have them arrested. But then they go home and get nagged by parents. Death has an aunt who always calls her Meredith and Marc has a full family with like, a zillion siblings and they all pick on each other. It was just weird to see," she said.

"So you learned nothing? Except that they sometimes pretend to be normal people for brief intervals?"

"Well, there was one weird moment," she said. "Nothing was really going on, and then Death just started giggling. She brushed it off until later when she was alone with her aunt. Then they started whispering and laughing, but I know they didn't see me from where I was outside. Then they stayed out of that room for the rest of the night. Every time I found a new position, they moved to another room. They knew exactly where I was at every second," she ranted.

"Maybe they heard you," Alex said.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm a professional," she waved the idea away. "How are they tracking me? Is there a chip that I don't know about? Wou..."

Her eyes widened. She snapped out a compact that didn't have any powder and bared her teeth, squinting at them in the mirror.

"You are checking your teeth for microchips," he said.

"Uh huh," Zora replied.

He thought it over before saying anything. "Well, if you're going to be crazy, at least be smart about it. They would never have put a microchip in your tooth. Too great a chance of you seeing or feeling it, or it falling out in a caramel apple or something. But it would still have to be with you near constantly. Check your shoes and jacket instead."

She snapped her fingers. "Knew there was a reason we kept you around."

She yanked off her worn shoes and pulled her sword out of its sheath, slicing up the soles until there was no possible place for a microchip to be.

"That wasn't your only pair of shoes, right?"

"I've got some heels I use when I need to be fake," she said.

A different method of search was used on the leather jacket and sword hilt. There was no microchip, no evidence of there ever having been a microchip, and no apparent method of tracking.

"I just don't see how they are doing it. How am I supposed to find out anything with them seeing my every move? Whenever I'm investigating something too close to the truth, they'll just send you after me to send a message, like they did at the diner. 'We know exactly where you are and you have x minutes to get back or else'," she griped.

"Is that what happened that day?" Alex asked. "No one ever told me what was going on. You know, I probably would have figured it out if Death hadn't chosen that day to be especially strange."

"She had unusual behavior? How? Describe it," Zora demanded.

"Um, well she told me she wasn't really a doctor."

"Already knew that."

"And then she did something with this measuring tool above my head. I think it was called a micrometer. She wrote a note that didn't make any sense, had me give it to Marc, and that was it. Nothing else happened," he said.

"The note sounds important. Tell me about the note," she said.

"Um, I think it said '37 miles north-northeast' or something like that. And it had some number. It was probably the measurement of whatever the micrometer did," he analyzed.

"Death pulls out a science thing, waves it over your head, and instantly knows where I am," she mused. "Okay. So let's steal the micrometer, see how she functions without it."

"She'll probably just buy a new one," he said.

"Yeah, but we can figure out how it's done. And maybe she will freak out."

"How does that help us?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It would be fun to watch."

"You know how sometimes you do something, and then afterwards you think 'That was such a terrible idea, why did I go through with it?' Yeah. This is one of those ideas. And it's unlikely you could learn anything from the micrometer anyway," he said.

"Sure, whatever," she said. "Let's go steal something."

At that exact moment Rodrigo opened the door with a disappointed expression. Zora tucked Blade behind her back before he could see him.

Rodrigo sighed. "As long as it is not mine, I don't care. We're supposed to be in the lounge. Get together and pool the knowledge to figure it out. Come on."