Nah. I’m a consultant, of course. Everyone’s favorite nondescript yet well-paid white-collar job.

Conversation was irrelevant. Only pie mattered.

He smiled, and it lit up his whole face.

Sydney! Stop. Think of something else. Conjugate Latin verbs. Recite the periodic table.

A strange, warm feeling swirled in my chest, and for a brief moment, when I looked at him, I saw...safety

Why are you hanging around, then? Aren't you worried about getting hit?" "Aw, you'd never hurt me. My face is too pretty.

It was something of a mystery how a couple of teenage girls had managed to escape detection for two years, especially when one of them was a privileged Moroi princess and the other a delinquent dhampir with a disciplinary file so long that it broke school records.