A Local Habitation od-2

by Seanan McGuire

  “But they didn’t,” said Quentin.

  “No. They didn’t. We moved Barbara down here after a week, to keep her cool. We didn’t know how long . . .”

  “How long it would take her to start to rot?”

  She sighed. “Yeah. But she never did.”

  “Well, you don’t need to worry about that.”

  “What?”

  “She’s never going to start to rot.” I rose, crossing to the second cot. Quentin followed. “Is this Yui?” I asked. Jan nodded. “Right,” I said, and pulled back the sheet.

  Yui could have been a normal Japanese woman in her late twenties, if it weren’t for her four tails and her pointed, red-furred ears. Her hair was braided, exposing the puncture wound on her throat. This wasn’t good. Kitsune express their power in the number of tails they have, ranging from the usual one or two up to seven or eight. Keiko Inari, their Firstborn, supposedly has nine. The Duchess of Shadowed Hills only has three, and there’s not much that could take her without a fight . . . but Yui looked as calm as the others. Unless we were dealing with someone the victims knew, we were looking at something big and mean enough to take down a four-tailed Kitsune before she had a chance to get angry.

  I didn’t like that idea one bit. “She didn’t struggle.”

  “Well, why not?” asked Quentin.

  “It’s possible that she was so surprised that she didn’t have time to react. It’s also possible that she knew her killer.” I looked up. “Three weeks between Barbara and Yui. How long between Yui and Colin?”

  “Two weeks,” Jan said.

  “Either somebody’s enjoying themselves, or something’s hungry.”

  She flinched.

  I sighed. “I’m just trying to get the facts straight. We’ll move on, for now. Do you have any paper cups?”

  “What?” It was an odd enough request to make her stop looking upset and start looking confused. It was an improvement.

  “Small cups, made of paper? You’d probably find them in the cafeteria.”

  “Oh. Yes, we do. Why do you—”

  “Great. We’ll need four of them, filled halfway with lukewarm water.” I pulled the sheet back over Yui, saying, “Quentin and I are going to try waking their blood.”

  “Will that work?” Jan asked. Quentin looked at me out of the corner of his eye, expression telegraphing the same question.

  “Probably not, but I don’t have any better ideas,” I said. “Do you?”

  “Guess not. I’ll be back.” Jan turned and walked up the stairs. We watched her go, and then Quentin looked back to me, obviously getting ready to ask what the hell was going on.

  I cut him off. “The bodies aren’t decaying because they’re still fae. The night- haunts haven’t come.”

  “What?” he said, frowning.

  “Do you know why we have the night-haunts?”

  “To keep humanity from finding out about us.”

  “Partially. And partially because fae flesh doesn’t rot.” I shrugged. “Look, purebloods don’t age, right? So why would they decay? I’m not sure what would happen to a changeling body without the night- haunts, but they take the purebloods so they won’t just be lying around for the rest of time.”

  “Oh,” Quentin said, looking toward Barbara. Then, slowly, he asked, “So why haven’t the night- haunts come?”

  “That’s the eight-million-dollar question, kid. I’m hoping these three can tell us,” I indicated the cots, including Colin in the gesture, “because I’m not sure who else can.”

  “Oh,” he said again, and looked away.

  I watched him for a moment. “Beyond the obvious, what’s wrong?” He mumbled something I didn’t quite hear, and I frowned. “Try that again?”

  “I said, I want to stay.” He turned to face me again. “Please?”

  “Really.” I raised an eyebrow. “And what makes you think . . . ?”

  “That’s always what happens. Something happens, and all the kids get sent away.” A sour look crossed his face. “I’ve been here before. I want to stay.”

  He was a foster, after all. Maybe there’d been a reason for his posting at Shadowed Hills. I tilted my head, considering him. “Why should I let you?”

  “Because Sylvester sent me to learn. How am I supposed to do that if you send me away when things get dangerous?” He shook his head. “I’ve never even tried blood magic before—not when it mattered. You have to let me stay. I need to know these things.”

  “You’re just a kid; you don’t have to . . .”

  “If I don’t do it now, I’m going to grow up to be one of those useless courtiers you’re always complaining about,” he countered. “At least this way, you can keep an eye on me.”

  He had a point. “All right. You can stay until it gets too dangerous. But then you go.”

  “Understood.” He grinned, looking very young, and heartbreakingly joyful.

  That sort of look has never led to anything good. I raised a hand, cautioning, “You’re going to do what I tell you to do. No heroics. No investigating strange noises because you think they’ll lead you to something interesting. Got it?”

  “Yes, Toby.”

  “Screw around on me and I’ll send you back to Shadowed Hills so fast you won’t have time to blink.”

  “I’ll do whatever you say.”

  “Damn straight, you will. Now shut up and let me think.” I leaned against the wall, standing quietly as we waited for Jan to return. Quentin did the same, imitating my posture either unconsciously or by design. We’d just had time for me to start becoming really uncomfortable about the bodies when the door at the top of the stairs opened, and Alex stepped uneasily inside.

  “Jan said you wanted these?”

  He was balancing four paper cups on a small tray. He looked understandably unhappy about being there; the basement had become the company morgue, and these had been his friends. His expression of unhappiness deepened when he saw my scowl.

  “Where’s Jan?” I asked.

  “April called her to help Elliot with something. She said I could . . . look, what do you want me to do with these? I can go. I just . . .” He sighed. “I wanted to help.”

  He looked so contrite that I thawed a bit, and motioned for him to come down, ignoring Quentin’s deepening scowl. “Fine. Bring those on over here.”

  “Sure,” Alex said, giving the room another uneasy glance before descending. Quentin met him at the base of the stairs, taking the tray away and leaving him blinking. No one does imperious quite like a Daoine Sidhe. “Is that everything you needed?”

  “For the moment.” I took the first cup from the tray, gesturing for Quentin to follow me over to Barbara’s body. Having Alex there served at least one purpose; Quentin didn’t like him, and that meant he’d be too busy standing on his own dignity to argue when I told him what to do.

  “What are you going to do with the water?”

  “We’re going to try waking the blood.” I started scraping dried blood from Barbara’s wrist and adding it to the water. Quentin stiffened, but as I expected, he didn’t protest. Dignity is a wonderful tool sometimes.

  Alex swallowed, looking sick. “Why?”

  “The blood has to be awake for us to ride it.” The water had taken on a pink tinge. I returned the cup to the tray and picked up the second. “If it works, we may be able to see the killer.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “We try something else.”

  “Why can’t Jan do it?”

  “Because Jan isn’t the daughter of the most powerful blood-worker in Faerie, so she probably couldn’t wake the stuff up in the first place.” I tried to focus on what I was doing. “My mother could do this without breaking a sweat.”

  “Right,” said Alex. “So were you able to . . . get anything . . . from Colin’s blood?”

  “No, because there was nothing for us to ‘get.’ ” I passed the second cup of bloody water to Quentin. “Here.”

  Alex frowned. “
Nothing?”

  “Nothing. The blood was empty.” I grimaced. “And before you ask, no, it’s not supposed to work that way.”

  “So how do you know this time will be any different?”

  “I don’t. I’m a half-blood and Quentin’s untrained, and this blood is old enough that I might not get anything under normal circumstances . . . but it’s worth trying.” Pinching my nose, I gulped down the contents of my cup. Quentin did the same with his.

  All I got was the bitter, watery taste of diluted blood. There wasn’t a flicker of memory.

  Quentin coughed and dropped his cup on the tray. “There’s nothing there.”

  I sighed, putting my cup next to his. “It must have been too old.” He didn’t have to know that I was lying. I crossed to Yui’s cot and folded the sheet back, saying, “Maybe three weeks will make the difference.”

  “You’re going to try again?” Alex asked.

  “Have you got a better idea?” I picked up the third cup, scraping the blood off Yui’s right wrist. “If so, please share. I’m all out of good ideas.”

  “Not really. I just . . . I want this to stop.”

  “Yeah, well, if I were you, I’d have left by now. Gone somewhere safer.” Like the middle of a minefield.

  “I can’t.”

  “Why not?” I handed Quentin his cup, started preparing my own.

  “It’s a little hard to explain.”

  “Doesn’t Terrie want to go?” I asked. Quentin looked up at the mention of Terrie’s name, suddenly interested.

  Alex flinched. “Not really. That’s part of it.”

  “Have you tried explaining that staying here might be fatal?”

  “We don’t see each other much,” he said, uncomfortably. “It makes it hard to explain things.”

  “She works the night shift, and she found the first body, right?”

  “Yes,” he said, sounding startled and a bit wary. Not a good sign. “How did you know?”

  I looked at him blandly. “Jan told me.”

  “Right.” He sighed.

  “If you see her, let her know I want to talk to her.”

  His eyes widened. “Why?”

  I expected his reaction: no one wants to hear that someone wants to talk to their relatives as part of a murder investigation. What I didn’t expect was the expression on Quentin’s face—for a moment, he looked like I’d slapped him.

  “Calm down,” I said, directing the statement to both of them. “I just want to ask her a few questions. I’m not accusing anyone of anything.” Yet.

  Alex calmed marginally, saying, “If I see her, I’ll let her know.”

  “Good.” I sipped the bloody water instead of gulping this time, trying to linger. Quentin saw this and did the same. Not that it did any good; the blood was as empty as Barbara’s. I spat it back into the cup. “Well, that was useless.”

  “Nothing here, either,” said Quentin. He was starting to look green around the edges. The magic wasn’t working, but he was still tasting the blood.

  Alex peered at us. “Are you going to throw your cups at me if I say you look like hell?”

  I considered for a moment, finally saying, “I won’t.”

  “I might,” Quentin said.

  “I’ll risk it. You look like hell. Have you had anything to eat since breakfast?”

  “No,” I admitted, and sighed. “I’m still mad at you.”

  “I know. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to eat.

  Come on. We can hit the cafeteria and get some food into you. The cooks are gone, but the vending machines still work.”

  “That’s probably a good idea,” I said, grudgingly, as I dropped my cup back onto the tray. There wasn’t any blood on my fingers. They just felt that way. I wiped them against the legs of my jeans, trying to be casual about it. “Is there a phone in the cafeteria?”

  “Yes,” said Alex.

  “I’m not hungry,” said Quentin.

  “Is there coffee?” I asked.

  “You can have a pot to yourself.”

  “I’m sold.” I looked toward Quentin. “Come on. I’ll buy you a soda.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “You’re a teenager. You’re always hungry.” I was hungry, whether or not Quentin was, and I’d focus better after a sandwich and some coffee. “Can we get an escort to the cafeteria?”

  Looking amused, he asked, “You two need a native guide?”

  “Please. Unless you think you have enough staff left to send search parties.”

  “The place isn’t that bad.”

  “Uh-huh.” I spread the sheets back over Barbara and Yui. Maybe they wouldn’t care, but I did. Quentin was tossing the cups into the garbage can, not bothering to empty them first. “Have you ever been to Shadowed Hills?”

  “No, I can’t say that I have.”

  “Amateur,” Quentin muttered, and started up the stairs.

  “Quentin . . .” He didn’t stop. Sighing, I followed.

  Alex came along behind me, pausing to close the basement door. It didn’t lock. “So what’s the big deal about Shadowed Hills?”

  He was clearly trying to get back into my good graces. I considered the sincere unhappiness in his expression, and gave in, saying, “Shadowed Hills is just about as bad as this place. I guess the Torquills just have a family grudge against linear space. I’m practically a native, and I still get lost there.”

  “This place is confusing at first, but it gets better. You’ll catch on.”

  “I hope so.” Quentin was ten feet ahead. I called, “If you don’t know where you’re going, stop.” He glared back at me, but stopped, letting us catch up. “That’s better. Come on.”

  Alex led us through the halls, choosing what I assumed was the best route through rooms that connected without attention to the laws of architecture or common sense. I was sure the physical buildings were more sanely constructed, but we weren’t in the physical buildings: we were in the knowe. Quentin walked in sullen silence, but Alex made up for it by chattering wildly, pointing out interesting quirks of the knowe’s construction and cracking bad jokes. I didn’t pay attention to a word. People were dying.

  “Are we there yet?” Quentin demanded.

  “Patience, young one!” Alex said. Quentin glared, and he amended, “Almost. The cafeteria’s just ahead.” Then he turned to wink at me, smiling broadly. I smiled back, almost unintentionally. It was hard to stay mad when he was working so hard at winning my approval.

  “Good,” Quentin said.

  We turned a corner, bringing the cafeteria door into view. Quentin sped up, dashing through, with Alex following at a more sedate pace. When he reached the door, he stopped, opening and holding it for me.

  “After you,” he said, with exaggerated gallantry.

  “After Quentin, you mean.” He was obviously trying to make me feel better. It was almost working. All this would make more sense once I’d eaten. Food would settle the queasiness in my stomach and my head; if it didn’t, it would at least cover up the taste of blood. This looked like it was going to be a long day, and I needed whatever help I could get.

  “Right,” he said, and followed me inside.

  TEN

  AFTER GETTING MYSELF a cup of coffee, I made my way to the pay phone mounted on the wall. There was no dial tone. I frowned at the receiver before remembering what Jan said about outside lines, and dialed “nine.” Success: the familiar buzz began. I punched in the number for the Japanese Tea Gardens, pumped in quarters until the prerecorded operator stopped prompting me, and waited.

  The ringing went long enough that I was starting to lose hope when a soprano voice picked up with a breathless, “Hello?”

  I relaxed. “Hey, Marcia. How far did you have to run?”

  “Other side of the—Toby? Is that you?”

  “That’s me,” I confirmed.

  As a quarter-blooded changeling, Marcia is proof that Lily has a generous soul; most purebloods would never think of employi
ng someone like her. She’s too human to have any real magic, too fae to want to live in the human world, and too flaky to do much beyond sitting around and looking decorative. Still, she’d been nice enough, after we got past the part where I introduced myself by enchanting her into letting me in without paying.

  “Did you want me to get Lily?” she asked.

  “No, actually, I was calling for you. I wanted to ask a favor.”

  Now her tone turned wary. “What kind of favor?”

  “I know the Court of Cats doesn’t have a phone. Can you go find Tybalt and tell him I need him to call me at ALH Computing? I have the main number, and I need to talk to him.”

  “Go find Tybalt? How are you expecting me to do that?”

  “I don’t know. Get a can of tuna and go around the Park calling ‘Here, kitty, kitty’?” I sighed. “Look, you know I wouldn’t ask this if it weren’t important. Please?”

  “All right,” she said, dubiously. “But if he guts me . . .”

  “If he threatens you, tell him to take it out on me instead.”

  “I will.”

  “Good.” We talked for a few minutes, Marcia chattering about the latest gossip while I sipped my coffee and made interested noises at the right places. When she started winding down, I said good-bye and hung up, immediately dialing again. Shadowed Hills, this time; I wanted to keep Sylvester posted.

  My call rang straight to voice mail. I frowned, recorded a quick, curt message, and hung up again, turning to look for Quentin and Alex.

  Quentin was buying bags of chips from a vending machine, while Alex was loading a plate with donuts from the counter. Ah, the eating habits of the young and healthy. Alex had to be an exercise junkie: there was no other way he could maintain his figure, which definitely didn’t betray the fact that he appeared to live on starch and sugar.

  Pulling my attention away from Alex, I surveyed the rest of the cafeteria. There was only one more person present, head bowed over a heap of disorganized-looking notes. I frowned thoughtfully and moved to fill a tray before starting in her direction.

  “Mind if I sit down?”

  Gordan grunted assent, not looking up. Putting down my tray, I sat, taking the opportunity to study her more carefully. I still couldn’t identify her bloodline; her eyes were throwing me. They were dark gray speckled with flecks of muddy red, like rusty iron. There’s no race in Faerie with those eyes. I’d already pegged her as a changeling—more fae than human, but human enough to be mortal—and those eyes confirmed it. The only question was what her bloodline was.