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I chuckle. “Your English is perfect.” I frown. “I’m surprised.”
“We can talk in Serbian if you prefer.”
I shake my head. “No, I like it. It’s good practice for me.”
“My mother is American. So is our housekeeper.”
My brow lifts. I didn’t know that.
“You’re here with your father?”
I nod.
Annika shrugs. “Wanna play while they talk?”
“I…don’t really play. I’m a soldier.”
She eyes me. “But you’re a kid like me.”
“I’m thirteen.”
“Soldiers aren’t thirteen.”
My skin crawls, and the memories I try not to think about start to creep through my mind.
“I think I’m just going to go wait back at the car with my father’s men?—”
“Do you play Nintendo 64?”
I pause, frowning. “A…little?”
“Do you know Goldeneye?”
“The James Bond movie?”
Annika rolls her eyes. “The video game.”
“Not really.”
“Oh.” Her brows knit in confusion. “But…you’re a soldier.”
I nod.
“So you’re good at shooting stuff?”
From anyone else, anyone older, it would be a tasteless, asshole thing to say. From her, it’s just funny.
“Yeah,” I smile, shrugging. “I guess so.”
“Then you’ll be great. Let’s go.”
I flinch a little when she grabs my hand, but she doesn’t let go, and the strange sensation from her hand in mine goes away. Annika is starting to tug me in the direction of what looks like the pool house when she stops and glances back at the hedges again.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“I’m seeing if maybe next time,” she laughs, “my invisible friend will come play with us too.”
I smile curiously. “What’s your invisible friend’s name?”
