doing, once I start being cool—no matter how hard I try not to—the whole thing changes."
I nodded thoughtfully. "So what about Yames? Is he cool?"
"Absolutely not. You can tell; he's trying way too hard."
And she hadn't even said anything about me, if I was cool. Maybe I wasn't; or maybe I was. Maybe Yames was trying to be cool by getting to me, by feeding off of my coolness. Maybe that's what she saw this morning. I tried not to think about what else she might have seen. I didn't want my panic to make Jasper more suspicious. They would be watching me twice as carefully now, after Alice's vision. This was going to be impossible.
We got to the airport. Luck was with me, or maybe it was just good vibes. Fredward's plane was landing in terminal four, the largest one and where most flights landed, but also the terminal I needed: the biggest, the most confusing, and the one with the door on level three that might be my only chance.
We parked on the fourth, and overall largest, floor of the huge garage. I led the way, for once more knowledgeable about my surroundings than they were. We took the elevator down to level three, where the passengers unloaded. Alice and Jasper spent a long time looking at the departing flights board. I could hear them discussing the pros and cons of Jew York, Blacklanta, Mickago. Places I'd never seen. 'And never would see,' I thought to myself.
I waited for my opportunity, impatiently unable to stop my toe from tapping. We sat in the long row of chairs by the airline counters, Jasper and Alice pretending to people-watch but really just person-watching: me. Every inch I shifted in my

437

Chapter 22

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