Free Rampant by Diana Peterfreund Page B

intense, huh?”
    “You have no idea.” I shook the sheets out onto Phil’s bed and started tucking as she opened her suitcase. “She’s not going to appreciate your ‘responsible culling’ theory, I’ll tell you that much. She wants the unicorns extinct.” And she’s only tolerating the two of us because she thinks we’re genetically predisposed to make it happen.
    “We’ll talk her out of that.” Phil’s tone was light as she unpacked yet another adorable little sundress.
    I doubted Cory would be swayed by an environmental treatise. The girl was on a mission. I stuffed a pillow in a purple pillowcase and tossed it at the headboard. “It’s probably a good idea to keep Bonegrinder out of here, though. Cory hates her.”
    “Eh, she can’t say boo if I’ve got her in my own room. Right, doll face?” Phil stuck her tongue out at the unicorn. Bonegrinder bleated happily and pounced on the freshly made bed.
    Great. My one respite from Cory’s unicorn monomania and Phil decided to take a zhi for a roommate. The unicorn pawedat the bedspread and snuggled in. Her horn ripped a long tear in the coverlet.
    I sighed, but Phil merely joined the creature. “Astrid, don’t worry about it. We’re going to have the time of our lives here.”
    “This isn’t a vacation,” I said. “Didn’t my mom tell you anything? We have a duty .”
    “That too,” she replied. “But all work and no play in the city that never sleeps?”
    “That’s New York. Rome is the Eternal City.”
    “Whatever. The point is, they may have been nuns around here in the Middle Ages, but we’re party girls today.”
    “How much can we party in a convent?”
    Phil rolled her eyes. “And who says we have to stay in the convent? I’m sure all that Order of the Lioness stuff is just to keep the rent down. There’s no lock on that door, and I’m fully old enough to come and go as I please…and squire around my impressionable little cousin. Let’s get out of here!”
    Finally, someone who showed interest in actually seeing the city. But…“I don’t know if we’re supposed to leave.” On the one hand, they did let me come in from the airport on my own. But on the other, Cory balked every time I started talking about taking in some of the tourist sites. “We should ask Neil.”
    “That adorable British dude from downstairs?” Phil giggled. “Ten euros says as soon as he’s tucked you girls into bed, he heads out to the clubs himself. That guy is the most gorgeous chaperone I’ve ever given the slip to.”
    Now I laughed for what felt like the first time since Brandt had been attacked.
    “Come on, Cuz. It’s my first night in Rome, and we’re going to see the town. I left you alone for too long back home, andlook what happened. You started dating Brandt, of all people. Have I taught you nothing?” She reached over and fluffed my hair. “Not going to let it happen again. First, we get some quality cappuccinos. Then we hang out with some quality guys. You’ll see. We’re going to have a great time.”
    Looking at Phil’s smiling face, listening to her sunny voice, like a breath from my pre-unicorn past, I could almost believe it.
    Then Bonegrinder burped, and I smelled blood.
     
    It took a bit of maneuvering to escape the Cloisters without alerting Cory to our plans. I felt a little bad about leaving her behind—if anyone needed a night off, it was Cornelia Bartoli—but I also wanted some alone time with Phil. We’d barely seen each other since she went off to college, and I was dying for a chance to talk about something other than unicorns.
    Phil, however, did not share my desire.
    “How crazy was it when you just tackled Bonegrinder like that?” she asked, as we boarded one of the city’s orange public buses and slid into our molded plastic seats. “I’ve never seen you move so fast before. Practically a blur. Did you join the track team or something after I left?”
    I shrugged, because the only answer I could