Samanda chuckled. “Our society has been a little separated from yours. Modern mortals and their lives are a bit of a mystery, so this has been an indulgence.”

Mallory sighed. Imagine enrolling in high school for fun. Where did they live that they were so out of touch with “modern mortals?” Mallory didn’t want to touch that line of questioning yet, so she went with something much more mundane. “Are the two of you twins or not?” she asked the Sams.

“Not,” they replied in unison.

Sampson grinned at Mallory’s doubting expression. “We’re very close in age, and come from the same… I suppose you’d say tribe? But we’re not family. She’s only about a week older than I am. We’ve spent our entire lives being raised together, for one mission.” He nodded toward Isaac. Samanda’s expression remained carefully neutral as Sampson explained.

“So what now?” Eliza asked.

“Well,” Isaac paused, considering. “We know that you’re the target of this shadow hunter, or at least that it’s very interested in you. I think instead of trying to track it down, we’ll have better luck spending our time watching you.”

“All the time?” Eliza seemed a little alarmed at the thought. Mallory didn’t blame her – they could go invisible. How closely were they planning to watch her?

“Most of the time. We can stay in greyspace and set up a parameter near your home, and we know when you go to school,” Isaac said, not entirely picking up on Eliza’s embarrassment.

“We won’t have to operate out of this dingy motel room at least,” Samanda said.

“Or drive that shitty car,” Sampson added.

“I quite like the car. It has character,” Samanda said.

Sampson groaned. “You weren’t the one driving. That thing barely functions. I was holding it together with magic.”

“If you guys are magical otherworldly beings, how were you even paying for a motel room? Or a car? Or gas?” Eliza asked.

Isaac looked a bit sheepish. “Magic,” he said simply.

“Magic?” Eliza frowned.

Sampson and Samanda exchanged an amused look. “The motel owner keeps the room open for us, acknowledges us when he sees us, and then conveniently forgets to record the room as occupied or collect payment. When we’re gone, he won’t remember us, and it will be like we were never here,” Samanda explained.

“And we just spirited away the car from some hoarder’s yard. It was packed with other vehicles. They probably don’t even know it’s gone,” Sampson said.

“As for gas, technology is a bit difficult to trick with magic. But we can always find a kind person to pay for us,” Samanda said.

“So you’re stealing?” Eliza said, very nearly clicking her tongue in distaste. Mallory grinned.

“Borrowing. Harmlessly,” Samanda said smoothly, grinning.