by Anne Bishop
Meg stared at the cards and whispered, “They’re going the wrong way.” Hurrying to the Private doorway, she shouted at Nathan, “Tell Simon he’s going the wrong way!”
The watch Wolf turned toward her, distracted. In that moment, Meg saw a blond-haired man run across the delivery area and head up the access way.
• • •
Simon leaped back to the sidewalk on the Courtyard side of Crowfield Avenue. He tried to grab Vlad’s arm, but the Sanguinati had changed to smoke and started to rise in order to flow across the street above the traffic. The attempted grab was enough to make Vlad stop, and it made Henry hesitate.
“Meg says . . .”
A female screamed.
Simon cocked his head toward the Market Square. He moved toward the customer parking lot, ignoring Montgomery’s fight with that Cyrus. He lengthened his stride to catch up to Henry, who was already turning into the parking lot.
The female screamed again, a sound full of hurt and fear.
Henry pushed open the wooden door leading to the employee parking lot, then stopped. The three of them stared at fog so thick they couldn’t see Henry’s hand when the Grizzly extended his arm.
Another scream, abruptly cut off. Male.
Then an odd and terrible silence filled the area around the Market Square.
Simon and Vlad backed away from the fog. Henry hesitated, then reached in and pulled the door closed before retreating.
That much settled, Simon turned to the next group.
“Mr. Wolfgard?” Ruth stood just inside the glass door that provided street-side access to the efficiency apartments above the seamstress/tailor’s shop.
“You and the pups stay inside,” Simon said at the same time Kowalski, who was across the street, shouted, “Ruthie, get back inside!”
“Wait!” Simon said. He and Vlad, who was still in smoke form, eased past Ruthie and rushed up the stairs, leaving Henry to nudge the female inside and guard the door. As they hurried to the back stairs that gave them access to the area behind Howling Good Reads and A Little Bite, Chris Fallacaro opened the door of his apartment and blinked at them.
“What’s going on?” Chris asked.
They didn’t answer him, but at least another human was accounted for. Nadine was in A Little Bite with Tess, and Eve Denby was across the street in her den. So that left . . .
Theral MacDonald alone in the medical office, since Emily Faire was visiting her family pack this morning and Elizabeth Bennefeld wasn’t scheduled to do any massages.
Vlad flowed partway out of the opening.
Simon hesitated.
If Jenni could see the pavement, the fog was dispersing in the Market Square too. Of course, that didn’t mean it was safe to go out.
Then he heard the clomp, clomp, clomp of pony feet and watched the ponies trot over to the side door of the Liaison’s Office and line up, waiting for Meg to fill their mail baskets.
Simon pulled off his clothes and shifted to Wolf.
Simon dashed down the stairs, with Vlad flowing beside him. In their pony form, the Elementals’ steeds were as vulnerable to teeth and claws—and bullets—as any other creatures. He didn’t think the ponies would have come for the mail and treats if the Elders were still in the Market Square.
Nathan met them at the archway into the square, and the three of them darted across the open space to the spot where Theral sat on the ground with Jenni crouched beside her.
“Jack,” Theral gasped. “It was Jack. He hit me. He said he’d kill me if I didn’t go with him. I still tried to get away. Then it got foggy and Jack screamed and was gone.”
Vlad shifted to human form and helped Theral stand. “You are hurt. Let’s go into the office. We’ll have a bodywalker come to help you.”
After giving Theral a polite sniff for that Jack Fillmore’s scent, Simon and Nathan turned toward the blood nearby. Some was Theral’s; most belonged to another human. They followed the blood trail to within sight of the Green Complex’s garden, where they met Blair, who was sniffing around . . .
Oh no, Simon thought. Meg can’t know about this.
Simon approached the backbone stripped clean of meat, while Nathan pawed the torn clothes and found a wallet and keys. Blair sniffed a foot, still in its shoe, that had a few inches of leg attached to it.
They were shaped differently, but a grown human male would have as much meat as a deer. But that wasn’t much of a meal for any of the Elders’ forms when there were two of them consuming the meat.
The bones—what was left of them—were stripped clean. All the organs were gone, and the long bones of one leg had been cracked for the marrow. The only thing left intact was the foot in the shoe and the . . .
He closed his teeth over the backbone and headed for the bushes. Blair and Nathan followed with the feet, dumped them at the chosen spot, then went back to look for any other bits of bone and meat scraps.
They gathered up everything they could find of the human. Nathan ran to the Green Complex to find a bag to carry the clothes and belongings while Simon and Blair began digging.
“Would the Wolfgard like some help?”
The Wolves looked at Earth, who sat astride a sand-colored steed.
“Quicksand and I can do that.”
The ground
beneath the human remains turned into that deadly kind of sand. When the last bit of bone disappeared, the ground became solid, sandy earth.
Quicksand pawed the ground, momentarily turning a patch of sandy earth back into quicksand.
Earth laughed. “Our Meg is handing out sugar lumps as an extra-special treat. Quicksand wants to get her share.” The Elemental turned her steed, and they galloped toward the Market Square—and the Liaison’s Office.
Nathan said a minute later. He dropped a large paper bag and small blanket near the pile of torn clothes.
They put the jeans, shirt, underwear, and one shoe into the bag, along with a belt and the keys and wallet. That Jack might have carried other things in his pockets, but after a quick search of the area, they didn’t find anything except the other shoe. They put the bag in the blanket and loosely tied the blanket ends to make it easier for the Wolves to hold. Then Simon and Nathan headed back to the Market Square while Blair returned to the Utilities Complex.
They came across several Crowgard, who flew off the moment they were spotted. Since there were a couple of dull coins in the road, Simon figured the Crowgard had made off with any shinies that might have fallen from that Jack’s pockets.
When they passed the ponies carrying full mail baskets, Simon realized how little time had passed. That was good. Meg had been busy. Unfortunately, it also meant that Montgomery and Kowalski were still in the Market Square. The men watched as he and Nathan trotted past with the bag swinging in the blanket between them.
They hustled up the efficiency apartments’ back stairs. Figuring he didn’t have much time before Montgomery came looking for him, Simon shifted his front paws enough to have semi-human digits, then pulled the wallet out of the bag. He removed the money—lots of money—and dropped the wallet back in the bag.
If the police did the fingerprint thing on the wallet, they wouldn’t find anything useful that would identify him.
Not that it would matter if they could identify him.
He set the money aside, shifted all the way to human, and quickly dressed. Stuffing the money into his back pocket, he looked at Nathan. “I’ll deal with Lieutenant Montgomery.” He leaned down and sniffed Nathan’s mouth. “You should eat some grass or something before you go back to the Liaison’s Office. You have human-meat breath.”
Which meant he probably did too. Good thing human noses weren’t sensitive enough to make the distinction. Meg wouldn’t be able to tell either, but with Meg, it didn’t seem polite to breathe on her after munching on one of her species.
Simon grabbed the bag and opened the door. Nathan hurried down the stairs and past Montgomery. Simon came down more slowly and held out the bag.
“That’s what we found.”
Montgomery took the bag and opened it. “Nothing else?”
“There’s nothing left, Lieutenant.” Which didn’t quite answer the question, but it was the truth.
Montgomery nodded. “Katherine Debany is driving Theral to the MacDonalds’ family doctor. Welby Owlgard said he didn’t know human bodies well enough to tell if Theral had a concussion and thought it best for her to see a human healer.”
“That makes sense.”
There were things to be said, questions to be asked. But neither of them wanted to say or ask.
“I’d best get this evidence to the station and fill out a DLU form,” Montgomery said.
Simon nodded. He walked with Montgomery to the access way, then turned left toward the employee parking lot while Montgomery turned right toward Main Street.
He found Kowalski helping Theral into Katherine Debany’s car. His amber eyes met Kowalski’s dark, angry ones. Once Theral was settled, Katherine started her car. But when Kowalski rounded the car and moved toward him, Simon held up a hand, signaling Katherine to wait.
“If he’d gotten Theral out of the Courtyard, we wouldn’t have found her alive,” Kowalski said in a low voice. “It would have been hard on the MacDonald family to lose her at any time, but especially so soon after Lawrence being killed.”
Simon watched the police officer until he was out of sight. Then he pulled the money from his back pocket, removed four fifties, and handed them to Katherine Debany. “For the doctor and whatever medicine Theral needs.”
Katherine Debany studied his face and looked as if she wanted to ask where he’d gotten the money. Then she thanked him and took the bills.
Once she and Theral were gone, he went to the Liaison’s Office to find out what Meg knew.
• • •
Meg heard the chorus of neighs at the sorting room’s outside door. She looked at Merri Lee as she walked over to open it. “The ponies are here for the mail.”
“Does that mean it’s safe to go outside?” Merri Lee asked.
Meg thought about that, then shook her head. The ponies were a form of terra indigene, so their being outside didn’t mean it was safe for humans. She opened the door a few inches. A black nose immediately pushed into the opening.
Thunder, who was always the first pony in line.
She opened the door all the way and tried to lean out to look down the access way, but all she saw were the last wisps of fog and the ponies.
As she turned toward the table to fetch the stacks of mail for Thunder’s baskets, she realized what else should be on the table. Waving at Merri Lee to join her, she whispered, “I didn’t prepare any treats. See what you can find in the back room.”
While Merri Lee rummaged in the under-the-counter fridge and cupboards, Meg filled the baskets with mail going to the different complexes in the Courtyard. She was picking up the stack for the Wolfgard Complex when Merri Lee returned, holding something behind her back.
“All I could find was the box of sugar lumps,” Merri Lee whispered.
“Well, I’ll just make sure everyone knows this is an extra-special treat this week.” “Everyone” would include Jester Coyotegard, just in case the ponies didn’t want to believe her next week when she offered the regular treat of apples or carrots.
When Thunder was first in line again, Meg handed out the sugar lumps, to all the ponies’ delight. Not all. Three of the ponies were missing. The rest of them trotted off to deliver the mail, looking quite pleased with themselves.
As soon as Meg locked the sorting room’s door, she and Merri Lee hurried to the back room and looked out the window.
“Theral is in the Market Square,” Merri Lee said. “Maybe she can see what’s . . .”
“I saw a man running up the access way,” Meg said, rubbing her throat. “Simon was going the wrong way, going to deal with the argument at the apartments.”
The phone rang. They ran into the sorting room. Feeling breathless, Meg grabbed the receiver. “Hello? Vlad! What . . . ?” She braced a hand against the counter. “Is she . . . ? Okay. Yes. Okay.” She hung up and looked at Merri Lee. “A man tried to abduct Theral. She’s hurt, but she’ll be all right. Mrs. Debany is taking her to the doctor’s. Vlad says it’s safe for you to go back to Howling Good Reads—Tess and Nadine are in A Little Bite, so they’re nearby—but you can stay here a while longer if you want to.”
“I want to stay,” Merri Lee said.
Another chorus of neighs outside the sorting room door. Meg found Fog, Quicksand, and Whirlpool standing there, sans baskets. Obviously the other ponies had informed their friends about the special treat.
After handing out sugar lumps and washing her hands, she returned to the sorting room, where Merri Lee studied the cards that were still on the table.
“We still have a lot to learn about interpreting what is seen,” Merri Lee said, “but I think you’re getting better at using the cards to reveal prophecy.”
“I saw death. But Theral will be okay.”
“Did Vlad say anything about the man?”
Meg stared at her friend, but she was thinking about when she had hidden in the Pony Barn with Sam, Skippy, and Jester while Namid’s teeth and claws roamed the city, hidden by the fog. She was thinking about the odd and terrible silence that had filled the Courtyard that day.
“No,” Meg finally said. “No, he didn’t.”
• • •
Simon stared at the three cards on the sorting room table, especially the middle card, the upside-down figure of a person pointing. This explained why Meg had said he was going the wrong way.
Distraction. Diversion. The Humans First and Last movement had used the attacks in Thaisia as a diversion for the war in Cel-Romano. It hadn’t changed the outcome of the war, but it had forced the terra indigene to ignore a distant threat in order to deal with the one right in front of them. Just like what happened in the Courtyard a little while ago.
Damned tethered goat.
A family dispute, no charges filed. As far as Simon was concerned, the fight was overdue. Unfortunately, the trouble in the Market Square stopped the fight between Montgomery and that Cyrus before Montgomery could settle the question of dominance once and for all. Equally unfortunate, Simon thought it likely that Montgomery would receive a thrashing from the leaders of the police pack for fighting where he was seen by all the humans driving by on Crowfield Avenue.
Well, that was Burke’s job.
“You’re all right?” he asked Meg and Merri Lee.
“We’re fine,” Meg replied. “I didn’t see much.”
“Captain Burke might want to talk to you. It’s almost time for the midday break. Why don’t you go over to A Little Bite and eat? Vlad is at HGR now, so I can watch the office here for a few minutes in case there are any last-minute deliveries.”
Meg put the cards back in the box and put the box in the drawer.
“I’ll wait outside,” Merri Lee said.
“Simon?”
Don’t ask, Meg. I won’t lie to you, so don’t ask.