Encore of the Avenging Muse (Sylvia and Rupert)

Without missing a beat, Sylvia blurted out, "Well, handcuffs come in a pair."

The moment the words left her mouth, the shop owner caught on, grabbed another handcuff, and promptly snapped it onto Rupert's wrist.

"There you go, a pair! Now when you two hold hands, it's like wearing handcuffs."

Only then did Sylvia realize that ever since the shooting range, Rupert had been holding her hand the whole time.

She tried to wriggle free, but his grip didn't budge an inch. Frustrated, she glared at him. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Rupert didn't even bother denying it. Still holding her hand, he just said, "This thing's pretty ugly, you know."

Ugly, yet you convinced the shop owner to slap another one on you. Real smooth.

The cheap metal of the handcuff looked even more ridiculous next to his watch, which probably cost as much as a new car.

Sylvia turned around. The group of men who had been tailing her earlier had vanished without a trace.

She shot Rupert a look. "Who were those guys? You definitely know."

Rupert hesitated for a second, his voice dropping cold. "Don't worry about it."

"If I don't worry about myself, who will?" Sylvia snapped back, her patience wearing thin.

His words faded into the background, swallowed up by the noisy crowd.

Sylvia thought she caught what he said, but she couldn't be sure.

By the time she snapped out of it, she found herself standing outside a little diner -the kind of greasy spoon that served the best burgers and fries in town.

an empty table outside, under a plastic canopy that flapped in the

handed her

was exactly the place she'd been hunting for all

"Have you been

think I have that much

her eyes, realizing

looked down at the menu. "Uncle

clearly not in

you're so high and

lighter, and kit up with a practiced flick. Even sitting under a rickety roadside tent, he managed to look annoyingly

he half-lowered his eyes. "Sylvia, I can hear you, you

quickly, and she dug into her

unreadable—intense in a way that

Rupert stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray

earlier, Sylvia had to admit he had a point. She nodded.

but all that was left was an empty

grease, so she started to get up

more napkins. But

a pack of tissues from his pocket-decorated with silly cartoon characters, no

could

already dabbing at the corner of her mouth with the tissue,

in a way

caught her off guard.

noticed people at the next table staring that she

and