“This way,” she said softly to the slaugh and leapt into the clamshell mirror and into the void.
For a while, it was only her and a single slaugh, and then others joined them. She moved away from them, finding that she could manipulate the direction of her movement in the void. She wasn’t fast or nimble. It was more like moving underwater. But the slaugh were helpless and could barely move at all.
She made a door into Unseelie right beneath them and then tilted it. It was easier to move Doors in the void. She moved it until the slaugh moved slowly into the Unseelie world. But Doors opened in both directions, and now and then, a slaugh or another kind of Unseelie would travel through into the void, hoping to find the human world.
Elliot must have seen the last of the Wild Hunt go through the entrance that she had moved to the second clamshell mirror half and must be holding the two clamshell mirrors together, because the Wild Hunt starting pouring into the Void in much greater numbers. Most of them went straight into Unseelie, but some hesitated.
Backing up, she enlarged the Door, making it easy for each and every Unseelie to pass through. She wished she could move them, but she could not, and some choked in the void until she moved the Door up to them and they slipped through to Unseelie. She would not have been sorry to see them die in the void, but if she could trap them for eternity, then she would do it. Let them tear up their own world if they so chose.
With a little practice, she learned to bend the door into a kind of funnel, pulling the line of slaugh and sending them howling back into their own world. At last, the line ended and after waiting to make sure, she closed the door to Unseelie.
It was done. The Unseelie were back in their own world. She hung in the Void and whispered, “home.” Nothing happened.
The mirrors in the mirror house would be empty now, but each of them was still an open Door without her there to close them. She could not pass through them. She tried again with no success, and then again.
That was it then, she thought. She was trapped here, in the cool and the quiet, with no way home. She hung in the void for a long time, perhaps twenty minutes, perhaps forty. It was quiet here. How odd, that she would enjoy this place.
She caught movement from the corner of her eye, and there was a sound, like a soft thud. Something was with her in the void, something alive. She tried to catch a glimpse of it again, and in the distance was something bluish-white and luminous. Then she made out an eyeless head, serpent-like. The thing was moving toward her.
She fled in the opposite direction, willing a Door home. But there was only the black empty space, stretching on forever.
Home. Home. The human world.
Nothing. Only the black.
She was going to die here, hanging in space, alone.
Home!
And then another flash of something. It was not white on the black, but rather an absence of the void in one particular place, like a tiny pinprick in a piece of black paper. Not a Door exactly, but more of a keyhole. But instead of light coming through, there was a sound, a ringing sound. A bell.
She moved toward the tiny hole. It was as black as the rest of the void, and she was unsure where it led, but it was her only hope. The thing behind her was getting closer, and somehow, she knew it was hungry. She pushed through the keyhole, like pushing through a membrane. Then she willed it to close behind her.
This place was not the regular world. She was in the air, up high over Luna Park, but it was wrong. The ocean was to the east. It was the Atlantic, not the Pacific and she was in New York. She looked down. Coney Island. Luna Park. Another Luna Park in another world, in another place. And then she heard the bell. She followed it through another tiny door and found herself at another park, another instability. It was Luna Park in Rio de Janeiro. And other Luna Parks in Athens, Osaka, Haifa, Sydney. All of them on the coast, the border between land and sea. Others were in other places in other worlds, with languages she did not know.
They were in-between sort of places, and she knew they were other versions of her own Luna Park, spread throughout various times and places, some real and some she had never heard of.
They were the places where people gathered, where real and imagined things met, where couples courted and children were delighted and frightened. All of these places were Doorways, and that, in a way, made them hers. She knew that was not really true, that she was not master of any of them, but she was connected with them all the same.
The bell rang, and she followed. Now she was beside a sleeping woman on a cross-country bus. She heard the bell from inside the woman, and she touched her. Then she was inside, where the woman dreamed, where everyone dreamed. It was all one place. A rabbit warren of people and places and thoughts and dreams.
And she flew, and followed the bell, through swamps and grocery stores, an elderly Korean man, down waterfalls and through hospital corridors, into a dreaming Chilean girl, past classrooms and cemeteries, fog-covered green hilltops and down into the cool depths of a lagoon that existed in the mind of an elderly Japanese pearl diver.
She followed the bell. Through the dreamers and the dying, the comatose and the feverish she hurried, careful not to disturb anything, for she knew that their minds were fragile, that she could harm them. Then there was a boy, age two. He was dozing and she heard the familiar sound of American-accented English in his dream. She entered his mind, slowing, as the bell was stronger here. He dreamed of his house, his enormous fluffy dog that towered over him, and there was more. Now that she could pause inside him, there was so much more. Worlds and more worlds, infinite space, twitching and teeming with thoughts and life, all inside this child. And then she was beside him.
How remarkable.
He was so much bigger on the inside.
His mother was turned away, paying for a smoothie. Astrid backed away, out the glass door and onto the street. She was across from Luna Park. She couldn’t hear the bell from here, but she knew exactly where to go. She ran.
And when she found him, he was kneeling in the pile of salt, holding the clamshell mirrors together, ringing the bell.
Chapter 45
Elliot had missed the moment when Pangur Ban introduced herself to Astrid after the chaos at Luna Park, and for that, he would always feel regret. He wished he could have seen his cousin’s face when her beloved Cinderella spoke to her and revealed that she had been keeping an eye on her for the last decade. But he had missed it. He would miss so many things now.
“How can they have sentenced you to death?” Astrid demanded. She paced back and forth in front of the hearth in the safe house living room. “You’re not sidhe. You’re not Seelie or Unseelie. You’re human. They have no jurisdiction over you.” She paused. “Do they?”
“No, not strictly. But you’re Unseelie. Or you were. And when the Time Corps interfered—when I interfered—in your life, I broke an agreement between our two groups. By watching over you, Pangur Ban interfered. And by placing the bell with you, I did the same. I essentially hijacked you. You would have been theirs.”
“I made the choice to escape, to be human, to defy them.”
“But if I hadn’t put that bell next to your crib, if you never had immunity, things would have been different. And if Pangur Ban hadn’t looked after you, she never would have killed the slaugh mother and child. And if you never had the fairy tale books, would you have known about the ways to ward against the fey?”
“Those were from our grandfather.”
“Our grandfather died before either of us were born.”
“But my mother—”
He explained how he had posed as their grandfather to deliver the bell and how Julius had delivered a fake death notice to both of their mothers a year after Astrid was born.
“But the books and the airline ticket and the sketch book, was that you too?”
“Forget the books and things,” said Astrid. “I’m more concerned about the sidhe sentencing you to death.”
“It’s done. The trial is over, evidence was presented. I’m guilty. I violated our agreement with them and cost them a Door. We’re lucky I was able to convince them that Pangur Ban acted on my orders, or they’d insist on punishing her for killing two slaugh. They don’t know about Huginn and the others. The Seelie knew there was an agent at work, but they had trouble figuring out who it was. But in the end, they found me.”
“Because it was you ringing the bell.”
“Yeah.”
“But we have to do something!” she said.
“There’s nothing we can do. We’re lucky they’re not imprisoning you and taking back Yukiko as a prisoner, let alone executing Pangur Ban next to me. And what about Neil, Seamus, Julius and everyone else who helped? It’s a small price to pay.” How could he make her understand that this was the best possible outcome?
“It’s not! I mean, I don’t want them hurt either. But your life is not a small thing.”
Elliot could tell she was trying hard not to cry, and he felt miserable and helpless in the face of her tears. He tried not to think of what he would miss, the adventures, the Christmases, the hope of finding a nice girl who didn’t mind living asynchronously from her boyfriend.
“Astrid, I’m no one. I’m a beach bum who just happens to have this weird and mostly useless ability to identify time anomalies. No one needs me.”
“You’re not no one. And I need you. You and me, we lived through our family. We kept each other sane. We survived.”
“And you’ll keep on surviving. You’re a Door. You get to discover what exactly that is.”
She was turned away and put her face in her hands. He put his arm around her shoulders and she collapsed into him, sobbing silently.
“I need you to do it for me,” he said into her hair.
“Do what?”
“Open the door to Death.”
“What?” she looked up at him. “I’m not sending you to Death!”
“It’s either that or I have to let them kill me as they see fit. Your way is painless.”
“I can’t do it,” she whispered.
“You have to. Please. For me.”
“Time travel away!” she said. “Go a hundred years back, a thousand. Just run!”
“There are some events that have to occur. Like you being raised with your mother and that bell. And this is one. Julius verified it over and over.”
“But I can’t kill you. We’re family. They have rules about killing family. The furies descend on the killer or something.”
“We’re not really related. Not by blood.”
“That doesn’t matter!”
“Not to us. But to them, it does.”
“I don’t care about them. We’re family and I love you.”
“And that’s why I need you to do it.”
Chapter 46
Yukiko waited. The Lady was coming. Yukiko heated water in the little motel microwave, where it waited, steaming. She opened a box of tea bags from the nearby supermarket.
There was a knock at the door. She opened it, and looked into the face of a middle-aged woman who was thousands of years old. She wore a white silk kimono with gold threads woven throughout and her perfect, delicate hands were clasped one upon the other in front of her. The late afternoon sunlight poured in through the door behind her, casting a shadow on the carpet. The shadow was tall and elegant, slender and beautiful. It had a thousand tails.
“Little one,” The Lady said with a nod.
Yukiko bowed low. “Lady.”
Behind The Lady stood a man, a warrior, wearing ancient Japanese armor. A helmet with a black, red and white mask ended just above his mouth. It was painted to look fearsome, with heavy black eyebrows, red and black striped cheeks and eyeholes that were round and staring. Yukiko was afraid, but not because of the mask. He also wore a katana.
“Please come in,” Yukiko said. She set out three paper cups with tea bags and poured in the hot water. She was ashamed. She had no fine teapot, no delicate tea fit for royalty, no proper table or ceremony. Only paper cups and teabags in a cheap human motel. She deserved no better, but they did.
They drank the tea in silence, sitting on the floor, feet tucked under them. When they were through, Yukiko said, “I am ready.”
“Little one,” said The Lady, her expression full of affection, “you do not have to do this. You can become a Nogitsune. Many others have.”
“With all respect, Lady, I am a Myobu. I will live a Myobu and, if necessary, die a Myobu.”
“We are not here to kill you. You will survive.”
“But it will be a century before I grow another tail.”
The Lady nodded once in assent. “That is true.” She turned to the warrior. “State her crime.”
He spoke without looking at either of them. “Yukiko, a Myobu, has chosen to aid the Seelie rather than die with honor for refusing them. She has used her power without regard for others, taking a human man to be given mind-changing substances and fooling a young woman into entering the sidhe worlds where she was enslaved. She has betrayed the Myobu and their code.”
“I also allowed myself to be robbed of my spirit ball, potentially giving the Seelie a Kitsune slave,” said Yukiko. If her crimes were being recounted, let them be complete.
“That was not your choice, little one,” said The Lady. “You were poisoned.”
“I understand why they poisoned me, but why did they drug Elliot?”
“They knew that a time agent was interfering with their plans, and they supposed it was him because he was close to the Door. He was interfering, but there were others also. The Seelie poisoned him, hoping he would slip through time, go mad and be a lost man. He would not interfere further.”
“What about Iolanthe and Augustus? They have wronged our kind. Will they be punished?”
“I spoke with Mr. Augustus, and he has committed no crimes against us willingly. He poisoned you, but against his will. He has even acted against Seelie orders, though indirectly and in ways they would not suspect. He assigned the Door to a pretzel stand to work, where she would be surrounded by wards. It kept most of the Seelie from getting too close to her most of the time.”
“It didn’t do much good. The Door had a distinct scent and her presence mixed with Iolanthe’s and whatever things are always at that park. It threw off the way our powers work. My illusions broke too quickly, and the place felt strange. Even Coyote felt it. He had called me into town to figure it out.”
“Coyote,” said The Lady with a fond smile. “He still lives?”
“I think he refuses to die. But tell me about Iolanthe. She deserves punishment for taking my spirit ball.”
“I am still in negotiations with the Seelie. I speak to them again in a few days, after the human man is dealt with. She will be punished. I will see to it.”
“So you defend the Kitsune still? Are there others of us left?”
“Not many, but yes. There are others.”
“And Inari, is he still dead?”
“Yes.”
“I will not be able to see my brothers and sisters,” said Yukiko. “Not in my state of disgrace.”
“A hundred years is not long.”
“It is to me.”
The Lady smiled indulgently and kissed her forehead. She smelled of cherry blossoms.
“Are you certain?” The Lady asked.
“I am.” Yukiko knelt and placed her hands, palms down, on her thighs.
She did not cry or let her face or body betray her feelings in any way. She was a My
obu, and she would meet her fate with serenity and strength. She changed.
The katana blade sang as the warrior pulled it from its sheath.
Chapter 47
“I’m not sure what you expect me to do,” Astrid said to Elliot as Neil drove them to Luna Park. “I can only open doors to Seelie, Unseelie, Death and here. If the sidhe of either court get hold of you, they’ll kill you, staying in the human world leads to them killing you and going to Death is, well, death.”
“I’m sure something will come up,” said Elliot.
He was uncomfortably confident, and Astrid knew that she would be expected to do something, just as he and the Time Corps had known that she would be able to send the Wild Hunt back to Unseelie.
It was three o’clock in the morning when they arrived, and Luna Park was officially closed. But the boardwalk was far from empty. Otherkind of all sorts walked in one direction, toward the Chumash Legends stage. Astrid walked beside Elliot with Neil trailing behind them, hands in his pockets, until they reached the performance area. They stood to one side and watched.
They came alone and in groups, Seelie and Unseelie. There were other beings as well, including Santiago, Yukiko and perhaps others. Astrid was not able to discern who was and was not otherkind.
All of the decorations for the Chumash Legends puppet show had been stripped and the stage stood empty and dark. All that remained from the show were the hay bales which filled with chatting otherfolk. Aside from Elliot, Neil and herself, the only humans present were Mr. Augustus and Red Fawn, and Astrid wasn’t sure about them anymore. Some of the other people could have been human. There was no way of knowing.
“How much longer?”asked Elliot under his breath.
“Don’t tell me you want your execution to come sooner?” said Neil.
The Time Corps Chronicles (Complete Series) Page 87