Walking over to Iggy, he poked him with his shoe. “Does anysing on you vork properly?”
Iggy rubbed his forehead with one hand. “Well, I have a highly developed sense of irony.”
Ter Borcht tsked. “You are a liability to your group. I assume you alvays hold on to someone’s shirt, yes? Following dem closely?”
“Only when I’m trying to steal their dessert,” Iggy said truthfully.
“Write that down,” I told the assistant. “He’s a notorious dessert stealer.”
Ter Borcht moved over to Fang and stood examining him as if he were a zoo exhibit. Fang looked back at him, and probably only I could see his tension, the fury roiling inside him.
“You don’t speak much, do you?” ter Borcht said, circling him slowly.
Fittingly, Fang said nothing.
“Vhy do you let a girl be de leader?” ter Borcht asked, a calculating look in his eye.
“She’s the tough one,” Fang said.
Dang right, I thought proudly.
“Is dere anysing special about you?” asked ter Borcht. “Anysing vorth saving?”
Fang pretended to think, gazing up at the ceiling. “Besides my fashion sense? I play a mean harmonica.”
Ter Borcht locked his gaze on me. “Vhy haf you trained dem to act stupid dis vay?”
They weren’t stupid. They were survivors.
“Why do you still let your mother dress you?” I countered snidely.
The assistant busily started writing that down but froze at a look from ter Borcht.
The scientist stepped closer to me, looking down menacingly. “I created you,” he said softly. “As de saying goes, I brought you into dis world, and I vill take you out of it.”
“I vill now destroy de Snickuhs bahrs!” Gazzy barked. Then the five of us were laughing—literally in the face of death.
48
“Oops,” I said once we were alone again. “Guess they forgot to program us with any respect for authority.”
“Those idiots,” Gazzy said, scuffing his foot against the floor.
We were feeling victorious, but it was still clear: We were captive, and right now they held all the tarot cards.
“I miss Total,” said Nudge.
I sighed. “If he ever existed.”
“We didn’t imagine the hawks...or the bats,” Nudge said.
“Yeah,” said Iggy. “We didn’t imagine those creepy subway tunnels in New York.”
“Or the headhunter, at that school,” said Gazzy.
“I know. I’m sure we didn’t,” I said, though actually I wasn’t, not a hundred percent, anyway.
Ari came and got me again that afternoon. This time I was actually allowed to walk. Wee-hah!