Fierce Lessons (Ghosts & Demons Series Book 3) by Robert Chazz Chute, Holly Pop Page A

friend for approval. You respect Manhattan’s opinion and she trusts your judgment. When you make a decision, she gives an almost imperceptible nod as you speak. She’s not even aware of it but it sets up a positive feedback loop between you two.”
    “What else?”
    “Manhattan is nervous about this mission.”
    I glanced back. Manny was laughing along with Wil. She didn’t look nervous to me.
    “I know your friend is nervous because of how much she’s clinging to Wilmington. This is a new fling, right? Like, within the last day or two?”
    “I think so, yes.”
    “When a guy puts his arm around his girlfriend he’s telling the world, this is my girlfriend and you can’t have her. It’s a possession thing. When a girl touches her hair during a conversation, she’s flirting. The way your friend is touching Wilmington’s hair, she’s looking for reassurance. We touch our own faces in grief. Manny keeps bringing Wilmington’s palm to her face. She’s seeking comfort. It only looks like it’s all foreplay until you look deeper.”
    “You sure?”
    “There isn’t always something deeper, but almost always,” Psymon said. “Wilmington is an imposing figure, walking around with a sword on each hip. Manny’s gestures are of a child and mother. Wilmington may be picking up on it, too. She doesn’t think this relationship will last.”
    At that moment, Wilmington burst into laughter.
    “Maybe it’s just a budding romance that makes her look nervous,” I said.
    Psymon shook his head. “Wilmington is willing to hold hands but she’s self-conscious about the relationship. It’s probably her first relationship with a girl. Manhattan touches Wil’s hair, her cheek, her arm. Manhattan is desperate for connection and protection. She has doubts about this mission.”
    I was beginning to get annoyed with Psymon again.
    He shrugged. “Don’t be mad at me. The book is there. All you have to do is read it.”
    “I’m not absolutely positive you’re wrong,” I said. “It’s just that you sound way too sure of yourself.”
    “You don’t like the way I tell the truth?”
    “How do I know it’s the truth?”
    “You could ask her. I just asked by looking.”
    I looked back at Manny for a moment. It did seem to me that anyone as invested as she was in looking and acting cool at all times was jumping into the deep end of infatuation very quickly. Or maybe it was true love.
    Looking back now, I hope it wasn’t true love. I hope it was Manny’s fear that made her cling to Wil so. If it was true love, that would make what happened later even more tragic. Microscopically more tragic, but we take whatever solace we can find in the face of horror. That’s Lesson 170.
     

14
    N obody got off the plane when we refueled in Utah and I woke up at Moffett Federal Airfield. It was only the airport, but Manny was humming, Do you know the way to San Jose? and wouldn’t stop.
    Wil chose to find Manhattan’s obsession with the song cute. I had a headache. Or maybe the ache came from the horns growing again.
    I thought of them as the horns, not my horns. They were easier to abide that way, as if they were on some ambushed animal, hunted, shot, stuffed and mounted on some guy’s wall.
    The junior sword singers busied themselves with unloading the plane. Four vans with heavily tinted glass were parked on the tarmac when we arrived. There were no drivers and the keys were under the seats. No one watched from the terminal’s big glass windows. There wasn’t even a tech on the airfield anywhere near us. Victor Fuentes had apparently made a call to the Pentagon and our way past security was cleared.
    Beyond the gate, however, I expected a lot of prying eyes and long stares. My left hand went to the left horn. Its surface was smooth to the touch and cool as polished stone.  
    “I suggest you own it,” Psymon said. Apparently, Psymon was rested and back to being Psymon, Psymon.
    “Own it?”
    “You know, like when a guy