I knew I was beaten. If I didn't give in, not only would I have to listen to two children, a hulking disaster, and a dog whining at me all the way to Germany, but once we got there, no one would be able to concentrate on the mission. Plus, I was expecting the Voice to pop in at any second with some sage fortune-cookie advice like, See what Paris has to offer. Or, What's the lesson you could learn from this? Or, Maybe you'll find a bright, shiny clue to something right there at the Arc de Triomphe!
I looked down. Far below us, the millions of lights of Paris were obvious-it was the biggest city in the country and sparkled like a diamond. An expensive, time-consuming, no doubt pointless diamond.
I rubbed my forehead with one hand. "Oh, all right," I muttered. "Fine. We'll spend a couple hours in Paris."
I tried to block out the whoops of joy. Looking at Ari, I realized he hadn't weighed in. In general, he kept his thoughts to himself, as if he didn't deserve to have an opinion. Nudge and Angel still didn't look at him or interact with him. I also knew that Paris would be one of the last fun things he did in this life.
"Let's find someplace to sleep," I said, as we angled downward through the night.
80
Here's the weird thing: We hadn't seen hide nor hair of an Eraser or a whitecoat or a Flyboy chasing us since we'd split from Fang and the others. We still had me, Angel, Total, Ari-all of the "if" factors that could possibly be tracked. And yet the last several days had been one grande vacance, as we say here in gay Paree.
So what was different? Just that Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy weren't here. It was crazy. I wondered what they were doing, if they were, like, on a beach or partying somewhere or whatever. Completely forgetting about us. Not missing us.
Part of me was dying to find an Internet caf #233; and at least read Fang's latest blog entry. Maybe I could get some idea of where they were and what they were doing. But the bigger, self-righteous part of me refused to acknowledge my burning curiosity.
"OMG!" Nudge squealed, putting a filmy, arty scarf around her neck. "This is fabulous!"
And so suitable for an Eraser to grab and yank, thus breaking your neck, I struggled not to say. Instead I nodded unenthusiastically, hoping she would read between the lines.
"This is what I'm talking about," Total said happily. He leaned his front paws on the marble table and pulled his chocolate pastry toward him. "I'm sitting here, I'm eating, and Angel didn't have to control anyone's mind. This is civilization."
Dogs are allowed in most restaurants in Paris, in case you haven't picked up on that. We were sitting at a tiny marble-topped table outside a caf #233;. People streamed past us, not turning into Erasers or whatever would come after Erasers.
"It is really neat," Nudge said, looping her scarf around her neck so it wouldn't dip into her coffee. "How many of these can I have?" She was on her third pastry.
I shrugged. "However many you can eat without barfing." Okay, as a mom I'm unconventional, I admit. Especially since I'm only fourteen and didn't actually give birth to any of these guys.
"I wish-," Angel began, then stopped. She pulled her caf #233; au lait over and took a sip.
I wish everyone was here with us, I heard in my mind, and it wasn't the Voice. I nodded at Angel. Me too, I thought back.
"What are we going to do after this?" Nudge asked. "How about the Loovra?"
I shook my head. "Too enclosed, too much security, too many people. There isn't enough Valium in the world to get me in there."
"The Eiffel Tower is open, and high," said Angel.
I nodded. "It's a possibility." I checked my watch. "You guys have four hours, then we have to bug out of here."
Nudge snapped me a salute. "Jawohl!"
Total started choking with laughter, and Ari and Angel both grinned.
Everyone knows what the Eiffel Tower looks like. But in person, it's so much bigger-all this lacy steel and iron swooping up and up into the sky. It was so tempting to just fly to the top, but instead we waited in an endless line and took a crowded elevator to the top. And you know how much I like being packed into small spaces with other people!
But once we were at the top, the view was magnificent. Right below us was the Seine River, with its houseboats and tour boats. From up there we could see everything, all the major landmarks, like the Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre museum. Paris stretched as far as we could see.
I had to admit, Paris was really beautiful. The buildings all seemed so old and fancy and really pretty in a non-American kind of way. I wished the guys could see it. I hope you guys can see it some day too, if it's still standing after the whitecoats try to destroy the world.
Of course Nudge made us shop. At least street stands weren't as claustrophobia inducing as enclosed stores. All along the Seine were little stalls selling books and flowers, and I felt as if we were in a movie with subtitles. I waited with saintly patience as Nudge and Angel sorted through T-shirts and hats and books in French that we couldn't carry, much less read.
Ari tried on a leather jacket-his old one was shredded and bloodstained. The stall vendor looked at Ari warily, then Angel distracted him and he didn't seem to notice Ari anymore.
"It's you," I said, watching him shrug it on. "Is it comfortable?"
He grimaced. "Nothing's comfortable when you're built like this." He gestured to his hulking, overdeveloped muscles, the lumpy wings that didn't fold in perfectly, neatly, like ours.
I stepped behind him to smooth out the collar, and that's when I saw it again: the expiration date on the back of his neck. His time was coming, very, very soon.
You know what? I was glad I'd shown him Paris.
81
You know the other strange thing about Europe? It's weensy. It was like, oops, I blinked, there goes Belgium! All of Western Europe could fit into America, east of the Mississippi. Flying from England to France took about thirty minutes. Crossing over France took about six hours. It had taken us almost eight hours to cross Texas, back in America.
Anyway. Here's my one-note take on Germans: They're scrubbers. Hoo, boy, we're talking a tidy little country. France? Not so much.
"Okay, no one leave their socks lying around," I instructed, as we drifted to a landing outside a town called Lendeheim. "That would send them right over the edge."
Lendeheim seemed to have been designed by the "Germany" team at Epcot. I kept expecting Bambi to pop out from behind a bush. There was so much carved gingerbread on the houses that my stomach growled.
The one main road through town led uphill to an incredible medieval castle. You guessed it: Itex. Still lording it over the peasants, in their way.
"This is too cute," said Total, hopping down from my arms. "I want to start planting window boxes or something."
"The hiiillls are aliiive," Nudge warbled, spreading her arms wide, "with the sound of-"
"Okay, listen up," I broke in. "The castle is through these trees. Let's do a quick recon and then decide what to do next."
I set off into the woods, pushing aside the picturesque German underbrush. Frankly, I'd expected a German forest to be a little tidier than this.
"Wait, don't tell me," Total said, trotting after me. "We're gonna break in, steal some stuff, break some stuff, almost get caught, and then escape in some dangerous, dramatic way."
I set my jaw, trying to ignore Nudge's giggle. "Maybe," I said tightly. "You got a better plan?"
He was silent for a few moments. "Well, no."
I know you might not believe this, but slogging through a foreign European forest in the dead of night with an ex-Eraser, a talking dog, and two kids who depend on you for their lives-well, not as much fun as you'd think. But maybe that's just my negativity talking.