“Cool,” I said. “You can IM with the Council from campus. Maybe you can command people to do your homework.”

“How do I know I can trust you?''You can't,' he said bluntly. 'You've got to take it on faith that the enemy of your enemy is your friend.”

“What is it you’re interested in exactly?” the man askedslowly. “Just the color?”“I think we both know,” said Adrian cunningly. “I want thecolor. I want the ‘bonus effects.’ And I want it to lookbadass. You probably can’t even do the design I want.”“That’s the least of your worries,” said the guy. “I’ve beendoing this for years. I can draw anything you want.”“Yeah? Can you draw a skeleton riding a motorcycle withflames coming out of it? And I want a pirate hat on theskeleton. And a parrot on his shoulder. A skeleton parrot.Or maybe a ninja skeleton parrot? No, that would beoverkill. But it’d be cool if the biker skeleton could beshooting some ninja throwing stars. That are on fire.” “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” said thetattooist.“That’s not what the ladies are going to say,” said Adrian”

“Watch it." he said at last. "I can make your life miserable." I gave him an icy smile. "You already have, and that's why i've got the advantage. You've done your worst but you haven't seen what i can do yet.”

“It is terrifying,” said Adrian. “And weird, for lack of a better word. And part of you knows… well, part of you knows something’s not right. That your thinking’s not right. But what do you about that? All we can go on is what we think, how we see the world. If you can’t trust your own mind, what can you trust? What other people tell you?”

“Yeah? Can you draw a skeleton riding a motorcycle with flames coming out of it? And I want a pirate hat on the skeleton. And a parrot on his shoulder. A skeleton parrot. Or maybe a ninja skeleton parrot? No, that would be overkill. But it'd be cool if the biker skeleton could be shooting some ninja throwing stars. That are on fire.”

“Different time, different place,” I said. “Things can change. People can change.”