Troll Tunnels

by Erin M. Hartshorn

  Any lightness I had been feeling vanished instantly. As I currently lived in the building owned by Matt’s parents, it was generally agreed that I was likely to need to move by the time the custody suit for the twins was settled or soon after. Likely? No, necessary. However the case turned out, it would be awkward for me to live there — and unnecessary if I only had the twins on alternate weekends.

  I was big on denial, and had spent months living with this certainty and still not looking for anywhere else to live, probably because my mom kept badgering me to move back in with my own family until I got back on my feet. Her pressure made me want to ignore the whole mess, and I didn’t like being reminded that I hadn’t been very responsible about this, which no doubt is why I snapped at Hsien.

  “Thanks for telling me I should just give up.”

  “As if there is any danger of that happening!”

  The rollicking dance tune came forth again, this time drawing smiles from bystanders, none of whom had any idea what a pointed comment it was — I didn’t know all of his magic, couldn’t hope to, but for people he interacted with regularly, he had tunes imbued with all he felt and thought about them, tunes he could use to draw their attention, tunes that he felt captured their spirit. To him, this lively, upbeat music was me.

  The tune done, he paused, nodding graciously to those who stopped to drop tips into his instrument case. When they had passed, he spoke once more. “It is good to have options. Not just where to live, but in everything. We cannot stop the future; the best we can do is plan for it. Sometimes, we plan far out indeed.”

  “How far out are we talking?” I was pretty sure his lifespan was reckoned in millennia, but I couldn’t imagine him sitting above the Ming court and planning to come to Boston before it was even settled.

  “Generations. Do you know how long I looked for someone like your twins?”

  Good thing the twins’ father couldn’t hear this. He’d be certain it was a direct threat to them. Then again, he was vehemently opposed to them having anything to do with Hsien or magic in general. Hence the custody suit.

  “I’m probably happier not knowing.”

  Laughter like water over stones in a brook. “I don’t believe you’re as fragile as all that. I will tell you that you were a delightful surprise. I was afraid that I was too old to be surprised, and I’m glad that it’s not true.” The bow rippled on the strings, spring green with a breeze over lotus buds. “It gave me fresh life.” Now he nodded to the stairs. “Go. You’ve much to do, and I don’t want to keep you. Do think about what I’ve said, though — I know you have friends in that area, and it would not be so painful. No more painful than it must be.”

  I had friends scattered all over the Greater Boston area, but I knew the ones he meant, sirens I had only recently met. I didn’t know how he knew I had met them, but he was correct. They would protect my family furiously if need be, as I had protected theirs. Still, I pushed the thought aside. I had enough worries for today without adding fears about things that might someday happen to the list.

  Chapter 4

  Life likes to laugh at people. That was the only explanation for me to get home, check on the second floor to pick up the twins from their grandparents’ apartment, and discover that no, they were in our apartment with their dad. So up two more floors I went, to find the door was locked.

  I pulled out my keys, tried not to grip them so tightly that they shook, unlocked both the regular lock and the deadbolt, and pushed open the door.

  Matt looked up from where he sat on the couch. “You could have knocked. I would have let you in.”

  “I don’t have to knock on my own door.” I didn’t bother mentioning that the door usually wasn’t locked when we were home because no one without a key got up here anyway. He knew that. Instead, I glanced around. “Where are the kids?”

  “Oh, Kane came up and wanted to play on his DS with Gavin, so I let them all go down to Vanessa’s.” Vanessa, Matt’s oldest sister, lived on the third floor. She was also the one who I would be leaving the twins with when I went out tonight, so that transition at least had been made easier.

  “So you locked yourself into my apartment why?” I didn’t bother keeping the anger out of my voice, and I could smell some smoldering wiring — a sure sign that my magic was responding to my emotions again — but I didn’t care.

  He shrugged. “It used to be mine. Will be again soon enough.” He narrowed his eyes. “You did get the notice about the court date, right? Or were you planning to give up and let me have them?”

  Locking himself in my apartment was the latest in his invasions of my privacy, and it took a great effort to not lash out at him with more than words. I would not do anything that would make the custody suit harder.

  “Yes, I got the notice about the court date. No, I’m not letting you take the kids away without a protest. That still doesn’t answer why you’re here instead of going back down to your parents’ apartment. You don’t live here now, and without anyone who does live here present, you’re trespassing.”

  “So, you’ll what? Call the cops on me?”

  “No. I’m noting it down in my dated list of your behaviors to present to the court as evidence of your controlling nature and unfitness to serve as sole custodial parent.” I didn’t have such a list. Maybe I should, but aside from his irrational hatred of all things magic, Matt was an exemplary father. His attitude toward me, however, was anything but exemplary, and I really didn’t want the kids growing up thinking that was normal, which meant fighting him every step of the way.

  “You don’t have a list like that!” He sneered. When I didn’t answer, he looked uncertain, but quickly recovered. “Even if you do, it doesn’t matter. No judge is going to give you sole custody. You don’t work consistent hours, you have to cobble together child-sitting from anyone who’s handy, and you think a busker from the T stop is a good music teacher instead of someone from a reputable school or shop.”

  “We both know that’s not why you object to Hsien.”

  He snorted as I named the Lung dragon. “That creature doesn’t have a human name.”

  “He has the right to call himself any name he wants, just as you do.” I stepped to one side, pulling the door open. “You can leave now. You told me where the kids are — I’ll go down and collect them, but I don’t see any reason to leave you here in my home while I do.”

  “Your home? That restaurant downstairs belongs to my family. Everything in this building does. Except you, and you don’t belong at all.”

  “That’s not your call,” I said calmly. If my hand tightened slightly on the doorknob, well, he couldn’t see the white knuckles from where he was.

  Matt finally stood up and crossed the room, but I didn’t relax. I wouldn’t, couldn’t, until he was gone. Sure enough, he stopped right next to me instead of leaving. His voice dropped, softening, becoming more intimate. “Pepper, we don’t have to do this. I hate fighting you. We were good together. We’d be amazing parents if we worked as a couple to raise the children.”

  “I already am an amazing parent.” I didn’t believe it — I’ve never met a decent parent who did. We all have our doubts, sure that we’re completely screwing up the kids and they’ll hate us forever. Still, we keep going, doing our best. “And there’s no way I’m going to be part of a couple with a person who doesn’t trust me to make decisions.” I jerked my head at the open door. “You can leave now. I’ll see you in court. Two weeks, right?”

  Whatever he wanted to say, he decided against it. I followed him out, locking the door behind me and running a trickle of magic into the lock so it would shock anyone but me who tried to open it. I didn’t trust him not to come back.

  “Matt,” I called down the stairs after him. He paused, and I held out my hand. “I want your key. You don’t need a key to my home.”

  “It’s my children’s home!”

  “The judge is really going to love that line of reasoning. Give me the key, Matt.” />
  Glaring at me, he jerked his keyring from his pocket. He looked down long enough to pick out the right one and start twisting it off the loop, then resumed glaring. When it was separated, without even putting his keyring away first, he threw the key at me.

  I don’t know if he meant to hit me or if he meant for me to have to hunt after it on the landing. I didn’t even think about it, just held up my hand and pulsed magic, a magnetic tug that urged the key toward my hand. My fingers closed on it. “Thank you.”

  The flagrant use of my magic was too much for him. He spat at me, then stormed down the stairs. He didn’t bother stopping to say farewell to his parents, just went all the way down to the ground level and slammed the door behind him.

  Perhaps I would have to make time to check out this apartment Hsien had mentioned after all. I would feel a lot safer in a place that Matt couldn’t enter when I wasn’t looking, and I wasn’t convinced that someone in his family wouldn’t let him into my place if he asked. Meanwhile, I’d leave the magic on the lock.

  More slowly than Matt had gone down all the stairs, I went one flight down and tapped on the door. I felt a light breeze of magic approaching, then Vanessa opened the door. “I wasn’t expecting you! I thought you were off to Cambridge tonight.”

  “I am, but I wanted to at least tell the twins goodnight before I went. Wasn’t expecting to find Matt upstairs.”

  She sighed and led me over to sit in one of their chairs. Unlike me, Vanessa and Jeixing had a full seating area in the living room, complete with a coffee table and a few magazines — Money, Inc., and Highlights. “I didn’t realize he stayed after the kids came down. I’m sorry. I love my kid brother, but sometimes, he drives me up a wall.”

  “Family. What you going to do?” I agreed. “How’s Jeixing doing?”

  Her husband had broken his leg a few weeks back while they were in Calgary, and he’d only recently been released to normal activities.

  “Oh, you know — absolutely frustrated at nothing being the way he’s used to it. He hates how long it takes him to go up and down the stairs, even though it’s really not that much different with the walking cast. The doctor suggested he stay home an extra few days, but Jeixing had the worst case of cabin fever I’ve ever seen. Today was his first day back at work, and I couldn’t wait for him to go! He’s staying late today to catch up a bit.”

  “I’m sure he’s happier doing something, rather than just sitting on the couch propping his leg up.” Their couch was nicer than my simple Ikea one, cushiony and covered with leather, with ends that reclined, making it perfect for relaxing with your feet up. Still, bed rest didn’t suit the active Jeixing. “He must have hated being stuck in the hotel room while you and the kids toured Calgary.”

  “Oh, he did. But it means I got to see more of the city than the inside of meeting rooms, so I can’t complain about that. Though I could have done without the flood.”

  “I’ll bet. You had more than your share of bad luck on the trip, for sure.”

  “Freak accidents.” She shrugged. “The hardest part was that Kane wanted to run off and make sure the animals were safe while Aniyah wanted to see if she could swim in the river.”

  I grimaced. I could see my two doing something similar, though it would be Gavin in the river, I was certain. “The excitement never ends.”

  “You’d think at nine, they’d be old enough to understand ‘no.’” She sighed. “Instead, I had to use one of my mother’s tricks, though I don’t think she knows I know it.”

  Given that Vanessa was the only one of the Lius of her generation who had active magic, I could guess what sort of trick it was. “Something you can share? My two are quite the handful.”

  She looked thoughtful, then shook her head. “I might be able to teach you — it’s in the voice, a whisper, a tone — but I don’t think it would work with them. They know too much. It scares me a bit.”

  I glanced nervously off toward the children’s bedrooms — would they hear this discussion? It was bad enough that their father didn’t like magic. I didn’t want them picking up the idea that they were scary to other members of their family.

  Her hand brushed my arm, and my hair raised on end in response. “Not like that! But — no, forget I said anything. They don’t scare me. Being able to protect them, keep them safe — that would. If they had been in Calgary, I don’t know what would have happened.”

  A shiver swept over me. The fear of not keeping children safe — it was universal. And the more powerful the children, the harder it was to prevent them from doing things they shouldn’t. Goodness knows my parents hadn’t had as much control over me as they would have liked. Only trying to be more like my mom, better than my mom, had kept me from using my magic to get into mischief when I was young. Instead, my magic had only been for protection. Gavin and Tina, though? Mischief incarnate.

  “Anyway, I’m glad we got out of Canada when we did. I was worried about a third break, or worse still, a fourth, with death. Everything felt too directed. Here, especially this house, I feel safer.”

  The house was safe — bound in a ward powered by the Lung dragon’s magic, very little inimical could happen here. But Vanessa’s comment about directed breaks — that worried me. It reminded me of accusations that I’d been trying to hurt her, that I’d wanted to kill her, and that was why the freak flood had happened. I’d had nothing to do with it, but if it had been directed, somebody was behind it. Why? I couldn’t imagine anyone other than a rival bank having a grudge against Vanessa, and they were highly unlikely to use magic to try to take her out.

  It also made me wonder whether Calgary was where Russet — no, Sverth — and I were heading in Canada. The flood must have created a huge magic surge. Or been created by one. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that there was a gap there needing repair.

  “I’m glad you all made it back. And not just because you’re willing to watch Tina and Gavin this evening.”

  Her smile was easy. “It makes my two easier to deal with because they have someone to show off to. And later this week, I’m going to ask you to watch Kane and Aniyah so Jeixing and I can slip off for an evening together.”

  “As long as it fits my work schedule, I’d be happy to.” No point in telling her exactly how crowded that schedule was at the moment. I would find a way to make it work. “Meanwhile, I should say hello and goodnight to my monsters before I head out.”

  As if summoned by my words, the twins popped out of the hallway. “We already did our homework,” Gavin said.

  “Did you practice your music?”

  Guilt flashed across his face. Beside him, Tina smirked. Of course she had practiced — as Hsien had said, the trick was getting her not to.

  “I’ll pop up and get his instrument after dinner,” Vanessa said.

  “Don’t bother — the lock’s been sticky lately.” Which sounded much nicer than “magically booby-trapped.”

  “No, it hasn’t,” Tina said. Kids!

  “Trust me,” I said, “It was being balky when I locked it. I’ll deal with it when I get back.” I stood. “Meanwhile, I expect you both to be good for your Aunt Vanessa and your Uncle Jeixing when he gets home.” I hugged them both and dropped kisses on their heads, then hid my smile when Gavin checked to see whether Kane was watching.

  “How late are you coming back? Do we get a sleepover?” Aniyah called from her bedroom.

  “Not on a school night,” Vanessa and I said together. Amid groans and laughter, I slipped out and headed back to the T.

  Chapter 5

  Maggie didn’t live far from the Central T stop over in Cambridge, for which I was glad. As the sun sank and the shadows grew longer, the streets got chillier, and I hadn’t broken out my heavy coat for the winter yet. While I was still half a block away from her home, I was ambushed by her cats, who twined around my ankles, forcing me to stop and pet them if I didn’t want to get tripped.

  “Bast. Sekhmet. You know that if I get hurt, you do too, right?�
�� They ignored my words and butted their heads against my hand for more scritches. After a moment more of this, I stood up and resumed walking. The cats darted ahead of me, looked back, and zigzagged across the path as I progressed.

  When I finally reached Maggie’s narrow home — a spite house, tall and skinny, built on a sliver of property to keep the people to either side from taking it over — she opened the door quickly at my knock. “Figured you were coming, since the cats vanished from my Sight.”

  I chuckled and edged inside, doing my best not to bump into her as I took off my coat and hung it in her closet. “As long as you’ve been hectoring me about showing up, I thought I’d at least have the grace to show up early.”

  “It doesn’t make up for all the weeks you haven’t come.” She slid past me and headed to the kitchen, just as the whistle of a teakettle pierced the air.

  “I know, I know.” I began following her, but she turned to look at me.

  “Stay put out there. The chairs are comfortable, and we’ll all be crowded back here soon enough.”

  Following her orders, I sat down in one of the pair of Queen Anne chairs that took up one side of the front room, flanking a small round carved table. For years, this had been where we sat for tea, and whenever I arrived, Maggie already had it brewed and ready when I reached the door. All that I’d been through this year, though, had stretched my magic and shifted me outside her Sight as well as Carole’s, so now things weren’t quite as tidy and easy.

  Bast, the black cat, sat in the window, watching pedestrians as though trying to decide on the best after-dinner snack. I didn’t see Sekhmet, so I assumed she had stayed outside to greet the other witches as they arrived.

  Maggie came back carrying a tray with a delicate pot and two teacups, one with a chip in the base. A few cookies sat on the tray — gingerbread because Maggie had a sense of humor. She set the tray down on the table and took the other seat. “Do you have a new crisis du jour yet?”