Page 62 of Female Fantasy
“Wait a second.” I attempt to steady the panic in my voice. “Nico, my wallet is missing.”
“Okay, let’s not freak out,” he says, swinging his backpack off his shoulder. “You probably just left it in the taxi. Once we get new phones, we can call the motel and ask for the name of the cab company they called.”
Nico yanks open the zipper of his Jansport and begins to throw objects onto the table in front of him, cursing under his breath.
“Shit. Mine’s gone, too.”
I suck in my cheeks. “How is that even possible?”
If neither of us have our wallets, that means we don’t have a photo ID or credit card between us. We won’t be able to check into our hotels, let alone buy new phones. Not to mention that we won’t be able to buy any food or tickets back to Connecticut.
This is a category-four disaster.
“Are we cursed or something?” I wonder out loud.
Then something clicks in the back of my head.
“Holy shit. It was her. The psychic.”
“No way,” Nico counters. “You were across from her the entire time, right? How could she have stolen both our wallets when you were looking at her?”
“Well…” I bite my lip, guilty. “There is a teeny-tiny chance that, um, I closed my eyes for, like, a millisecond. To, you know, focus. On the prophecy. And committing it to memory…”
Nico gawks at me, dumbfounded. “For once, I literally don’t know what to say.”
The train pulls into the station. All at once, passengers get out of their seats, shoving each other aside to grab their overhead luggage and line up by the exit signs. Nico and I remain seated amidst the chaos, both of us in shock. I keep an eye out for a splash of color, the jangle of bangles, in the madness.
But Veda the fortune-teller is gone, and with her, my chance of completing my mission. Of meeting Ryan Mare. Of making it to New York and back safe and sound.
“How is it that two crazy kidnappers weren’t able to take us down, but one crappy con artist was?” Nico asks with a dry laugh. “I have no idea what Nadia’s number or address is. We’re going to have to sleep on this train tonight.”
Nadia.
I try not to let the sound of her name falling from his lips bother me.
Wait. Wasn’t itHannahbefore?
“Unless…”
“Unless?” Nico’s eyes bug out as he waits for me to finish my sentence.
“How much do you trust me?”
“About as far as I can throw you.”
“Well, that tells me nothing. You’re very strong.”
“I trust you, Joon.”
“In that case, there is one address in New York that I have memorized. The apartment of a good friend. I’ve actually always wanted to visit but could never work up the nerve. In fact, I sent a framed fan art print of Rykiah there just last month! But there’s, um, a catch.”
Nico stands up and grabs his backpack, preparing to get off the train. Without asking, he grabs my duffel and throws it over his defined shoulder. The oxygen evacuates my lungs at the show of chivalry, and I attempt to get my feminism in check before it flies out of my body completely.
“Please don’t tell me it’s the home of one of the men you ghosted or something,” he says as I follow him off the train and onto the platform.
A rat runs across the yellow line, barely missing my feet.
“Nope,” I say. “It’s just that we’ve never actually met.”
