Distractions

Twenty-Five: Church One and Church Two

"I'm not a kid," Everest frowned, choosing not to comment on how the girl thought she was going to die.

The stranger raised an eyebrow. "How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"A year younger than me. You're a kid."

Everest rolled her eyes and sat up. The girl didn't offer to help, just watched impassively. "Where am I?"

"Queens."

Everest's jaw dropped with a painful snap. How had she gotten to Queens? Granted, she didn't really know where Valentine's ship was, so maybe Queens wasn't so far away. But still.

"Queens?"

"Queens."

"Oh shit."

"Yup."

Everest and the stranger just stared at each other for a while, Everest trying to process everything and the stranger observing the purple haired girl who still looked like a drowned pompom.

"Why were you in the river?" the girl demanded suddenly.

"I—" Everest didn't know how to answer that. Did she tell the truth about her jumping from her estranged father's ship? Or did she lie and say that she fell out of her friend's party boat?

"The truth."

Well, that settled it. Everest would give the girl the truth, a version of it anyway.

Everest shrugged in what she hoped was an unconcerned way."I fell off my father's boat and I guess I got swept into a current."

The girl's glare lessened and she stopped scowling for the most part. "I'm Blaise. The kid who found you was Peter, my brother." At Everest's questioning look, Blaise continued. "Peter went home for dinner with our aunt."

"Why didn't you go with?" Everest asked.

Blaise scoffed. Or she might have chuckled. Everest wasn't quite sure. "And leave a potentially dead kid around for some creep to find? No thanks, I'd rather go to work in my club clothes."

Everest had to admit, Blaise had a point. "I'm Everest."

Blaise nodded. "Do you need to call someone?"

Blaise changed the subject a lot, Everest noted. There wasn't a lot of unneeded silence or awkward small talk. It was...nice.

Everest thought about Clary, Simon, Jace, Izzy, Magnus, Alec, Luke, Gino, Roslyn—no. Not Roslyn. Roslyn was who knows where in some random country. She couldn't call Roslyn.

"Is that a no then?" Blaise asked when Everest's silence stretched on longer than it should have.

"No, no. I do."

"Here." Blaise handed Everest a phone in a dark red case with black and white doodles inked across the back. "Call whoever you need to. Just make sure I get my phone back in one, functional piece."

Everest smiled gratefully as she began to dial all the numbers she had memorized. She didn't have Jace, Alec, or Magnus's numbers memorized, and Luke had changed his recently so she couldn't call him. Everest tried Clary, Simon, and Izzy's numbers, but they all went to voicemail. She tried Gino's number, but he denied the call. So did Raphael and the Harpers.

"Think, Everest, think. Who can you call that answers random numbers?" Everest muttered, tapping her foot against the metal bench.

Then it hit her. Lily, the vampire in Raphael's clan that she met in a cooking class! Lily always answered random numbers.