by D. R. Perry
“What is it now?” I glanced between her and where I thought the ghost was.
“Okay. He wants me to tell you that your dad knows what he’s talking about. Your grandpa’s going to get you in trouble. Horace says to remember how strong his influence is. You need to make peace with him, or you might lose part of yourself.”
“What is Horace anyway, a ghostly Precog?” I raised an eyebrow. Precog ghosts were rare. Since most of them saw their own death coming, they’d usually finish any business before death.
“No. He’s a Ghostly Medium, my mentor since I almost died.” Bianca sighed. “Look, all I know myself is, your dad must have been upset. There was worry ectoplasm all around Horace when he came back from the reservoir.”
“This is pretty confusing for me.” I shook my head. “We don’t take anything but Psychic Ways 101 in my major.”
“Sorry, Nox. We tried to make it simple. The main thing I guess is, your dad wants you to be happy. He’s worried you’re about to walk into a situation where that won’t happen if you don’t stand up for yourself. Something about coincidence.”
“Gah, not coincidence again.” I ran my hands through my hair. “At least that’s something I understand, though. Look, Bianca. Thanks for the chat. And thanks, Horace, for the information. I’m just not sure there’s much I can do with it.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured.” Bianca stood up and reached into the hammock-shaped tie-dye bag she always carried. “Have some of these. They’re better than tea when things get really rough.” She dropped a few foil-wrapped packages on the table next to me. Then, she collected her cup. “Come on, Horace. We’ve got library ghosts to check in on.”
“Thanks.” When she turned at the top of the stairs to flap a hand in farewell, I waved back.
The packages were chocolates, so dark milk or cream couldn’t have been within miles of the factory that made them. I bit into one, the bittersweet taste reminding me of my meeting and that load of explaining to do. If only any of this made sense.
Grandpa was always a troublemaker. I’d never realized how much until Dad died protesting water privatization and I inherited the pelt that made me a Kelpie. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand up to Grandpa without Dad’s help. But until his ghost moved on, the part of him that belonged to the pelt was stuck in limbo. I wondered whether helping Dad finish his business would help me with the Old Boy’s Club I had to handle every time I put my pelt on.
But what was Dad’s unfinished business? That’s what I should have asked Horace. I grabbed another chocolate, frowning at my failure to think of such an obvious question. As the candy melted slowly in my mouth, I sighed. I shouldn’t beat myself up over it. I’d had maybe six hours of sleep in as many days. His unfinished business had to have something to do with me. If I really wanted to know, there was one way I might find out.
I pulled my phone from my rucksack, tapped it out of sleep and swiped away the screen-saver. My finger hovered over the dial button next to the entry marked Mom. I hadn’t heard her voice since the middle of summer when she made her annual trip to Block Island. After Dad died and my brother Uri moved out, she’d sold everything and moved to Key West. It was always islands with her. My brother and I had done nothing but disappoint her, neither of us inheriting her Water magic.
She’d never made her feelings secret but didn’t use them against either of us like she could have. Mom was a sour woman, but self-aware. She kept her distance instead of unleashing a torrent of abuse like some other people might have. I tapped the yellow text icon instead of the green call one.
Dad have any unfinished business I should know about? I set the phone next to the last piece of chocolate and got up to fix some coffee instead of the tea Bianca suggested. It looked like I wasn’t going to get that nap after all, so it was caffeine jitters time for me. I tapped one foot, stirring cream in the coffee. I didn’t understand how Maddie could put so much sugar in hers. Light and bitter was my constant coffee order. After one sip, I sat back in the chair to wait. Less than a minute later, I got my mother’s blunt reply.
You. He always wanted to see you happy. Find your mate, and he’ll move on. I waited to reply, absolutely sure I didn’t want to play one of her blame games while sleep-deprived.
Thanks, Mom. It was the only safe reply. Still, she wasn’t about to leave it at that.
Find and accept. Why ask this now? I glared at the words. It’d take too long to tell, and the last thing I wanted was Mom involving herself in this. She’d help, but do it while looking down her nose the entire time. If I didn’t answer, she’d call. I wasn’t sure I could handle that in crisis mode.
Busybody Psychic. It felt wrong to throw Bianca under the bus like that, especially after she’d given me chocolate. I could apologize to her some other time. There was no question it’d get back to her. The skeleton crew loved her, and any of them could read my texts.
Is there a boy? Even though I’d turn twenty-one in the summer, Mom still talked to me about boys instead of men.
Maybe.
Complicated?
A little bit.
You’ll handle it, you’re a big girl. Night, Nox.
I sent back a similar sentiment, glad the conversation was over. I closed out of the messaging screen, revealing the time. Was it really eleven already? I’d have to head out now to make it to Swan Point in time. I pulled the oilcloth bag from my pack, glad I could shift with it. Only magical shifters could take something with them. I chose the woolen blanket in my rucksack, tying it around me in what I hoped was a modest enough fashion. I undressed under it, thankful I had water magic to warm me the whole way. Shoes were out of the question, and I had a long tunnel to traverse before I could shift.
I pressed the pelt against my bare stomach until it melded with the skin there, then tucked the pouch between two of the knots holding my improvised dress together. Why we couldn’t have met on campus had me baffled until I stowed my things in one of the lockers under the emergency sun blankets.
I stared at the Campus Police logo. Who’d been running the department since Josh’s dad had been detained? He must want to keep the details of our conversation out of their ears. I engaged the combination lock, then headed through the underground door, raising a bubble of glamour around myself as I stepped through. Unseelies would be able to see through it, but only a traitor would report me to the Seelies. I let muscle memory and instinct lead me toward fresh water. Then, I settled in for what I hoped would be a productive internal conversation. I sighed, remembering that quote of Albus Dumbledore’s. “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
Grandpa, what’s your problem? He piped up right away.
You know. I expected a boy. Phillips Kelpies are always boys. You make all this more difficult than it should be. I got an impression of shaggy salt-white hair atop a grizzled face, an untidy contrast to the photographs that always showed him clean-shaven. I realized he mustn’t have had time to clean himself up before he died.
So blame Uri for getting Earth magic. I am what I am. Are you sure you’re not the one making this difficult? I can’t change, and it’s either me or get locked up in a vault or a hoard.
We might as well have been stored for the next generation. Everyone behind me thinks you won’t be brave enough to do what has to be done. Images of tall men dying in combat flickered through my mind.
Times are different now. We’re not secret anymore. And how dare you imply I’m not brave? I projected my own image of the morning I removed the Sidhe Queen’s magic from a poor, tormented creature.
You’re admirably defiant, we’ll give you that. But we’re not convinced you’re capable of sacrifice. Your rebellious streak is part of the problem. All you do is fight us when we’re the ones who really know what being a Kelpie is all about. This time, he showed me placid lake shorelines, pristine riversides, ponds kept safe from the ravages of the modern age.
You’re angry t
hat I’m not Greenpeace Eco-Warrior enough? That’s your big issue? I shook my head.
The King gave us our magic so we could protect these places, not so we could anger his Queen. They were in love then, remember? You need to start applying yourself to those ends. Make amends to her. His face in my mind’s eye suddenly looked more tired than I felt. And get rid of the idea I’m so hidebound that I can’t understand modern sacrifice will look different from what it was in my day.
Okay, Grandpa. Can we stop fighting each other so much of the time now? I sighed, startling myself as the sound echoed against water at the end of the tunnel. I’d come to the place where I could shift.
One more thing, and we’ll try to settle down. Your mate.
I don’t have one yet, remember? I stepped to the water’s edge, letting my toes touch the rime of ice where it met the pavement.
Resolve that as soon as you can. This time, the voice coming through my mind was smoother and heavily accented with nasal vowels. Time is short. We need your father here. The impression of this ancestor’s face was bleary with time, but still recognizable as my great-great-great-grandfather. He’d been born a Precognitive psychic.
Working on that. I visualized Josh. Stop fighting me on it. The sounds of eleven different laughs mingled in my mind’s ear, finally resolving into words spoken in near-perfect unison.
Silly girl. We weren’t fighting you. We’ve been testing him. The voices of my ancestors mingled and faded as my arms and legs elongated. My neck thickened and lengthened. The wool blanket became a piebald marking across my back. I stepped into the water, ducking under as I swam out of the tunnel and upstream toward Swan Point Cemetery.
Chapter Seven
Josh
Most of the way to the Ichiro house on Angell Street, Beth stared out the window. I didn’t blame her. The grubbiness of her face, hair, and clothes plus her missing prosthetic equaled neglect wherever she’d been kept. Having to track me on one rickety crutch all the way to her dead mate’s dojo must have made it even worse. And now, she’d have to spend the rest of the time until Monday at his father’s house. This sucked more for her than it did for me.
I watched her for a while, hoping maybe all these straws would break the back of my sister’s depression camel. No such luck, even while riding in a cab next to a Tanuki. They were luck-masters. People had been shocked when Ren Ichiro vanished into Narragansett Bay, never to be seen again. I hadn’t. I’d watched their courtship. Ren hadn’t inherited his dad’s powers. He’d just had a general magic affinity, able to sense and activate devices like a psychic could. Still, people thought he should have lived. He’d been popular in the community, way more so than Beth. The public reactions to his death had been almost as bad for her as losing him. Some people even blamed her.
The old lawyer caught me looking. He gave me a wan smile, shaking his head slightly. I swallowed my sigh. I couldn’t help Beth. All I could do was wish her well and hope she helped herself one of these days.
Mr. Ichiro had painted the house white since the last time I’d been there. The shutters were still the same light gray they’d been when the siding was red. But now, the entire place looked like bleached bone under the orange glare of an old sodium lamp that still hadn’t been replaced with LEDs. Hairs on the back of my neck stood up as we got out of the car. Something wasn’t right at the house.
Mr. Ichiro made me and Beth wait on the sidewalk as the cab pulled away. The way he left us made me think I should be on guard though nothing smelled out of the ordinary for a Tanuki’s house. He pushed the door open without taking his house keys out or even touching the latch. It had been unlocked and ajar already, then.
My nostrils flared, letting me scent the air he stirred as he crossed the threshold. Someone else was in there with him, another Tanuki, female, if my nose hadn’t been too busted up by Nox earlier. A muffled squeal became a hissing rush of whispers. Beth cocked her head, finally interested in what was going on. Good thing, too. Her hearing always was better than mine.
“Help me up those steps.” Beth leaned on the wobbling crutch, and I took her free arm. We went as fast as we could, which meant a regular human pace. In the doorway, the crutch snapped in half. Beth tossed the pieces aside, gripping the door jamb instead.
My sister hopped on one foot through the near pitch-black hallway. I followed along, trailing her by scent through a door at the end. Beth stumbled headfirst into the brightly lit white-tiled kitchen. She caught herself on a long island in the middle, bellying up like it was a bar instead of her dead fiancé’s family gathering place.
“Kim!” I stepped around Beth to see who she was greeting. “Why didn’t you tell me she’d come back to town, Mr. Ichiro?”
“I didn’t know she was here until just a minute ago.” Mr. Ichiro’s mouth was a thin, straight line. His eyes gleamed, but not with any kind of positive emotion. I felt like we’d walked into a shark tank instead of a homey kitchen.
“Nice to see you again, Beth.” Kimiko Ichiro gave her a lopsided grin, then brushed right past my sister. “This is Josh? Why didn’t anyone ever introduce us?” She flipped a lock of platinum-tipped brown hair over one shoulder.
Before I could even flinch, her hands slid under my jacket. I stepped back so fast she got caught by surprise. I tapped my foot, glaring down at her hands. Then, I snatched my wallet and phone away from her, stuffing them back in my pockets.
“That’s why.” I snarled.
“She was just having a little fun, Josh.” Beth rolled her eyes. “It’s what young Tanuki do. Chill out.”
“I’ll chill out when she apologizes for lifting an Alpha’s wallet.”
“Oops.” Kim’s mouth made a little round ‘o’ as she gasped. I did not know whether she was kidding. “Had no idea you leveled up. Sorry.”
“It won’t happen again.” Mr. Ichiro locked gazes with his daughter. She looked away first. “Now, Kimi. You’ll tell me why you broke into the house instead of calling your old father.”
“That’s sort of personal.” Kimiko looked everywhere except at her father. “You know, the kind of private matter a girl wants to keep between herself and her dad. It’s not something a nice girl should discuss in front of a shiny new Alpha.”
“Kimiko.” He stepped closer to her. “Did you get kicked out of the Academy again?”
“I wouldn’t say kicked out, exactly.” She shrugged, then flipped her hair. “It’s just that I came to the understanding with the help of a new friend. I had more important things to do than sit in the same classroom every day doing drills just like everyone else.” The set of her chin hadn’t changed, but the corners of her eyes looked slightly misty. “Also, I can’t stand being stuck there while you’re here all alone.”
“Kimi.” Mr. Ichiro sighed, shaking his head. “You’re at the Academy because you need the discipline.”
“And I can’t learn that at the dojo, why?” She glanced at me, then at Beth. “See? This isn’t the time or place. We’re being the worst hosts in the known universe.”
Beth’s lean had morphed into a slump. She scratched the patch of hair behind her left ear, a clear tell she was exhausted. The juggernaut of a yawn that burst through her lips made that unquestionable. I shook my head, pissed off at myself all over again at letting her get locked up for days in a place where they hadn’t even given her water to wash with.
“Kimiko, help Beth to the back parlor. Then, go upstairs and get her fresh linens and some of your clothes.”
“I can’t give her a Cherry Blossom gi instead?” Kim couldn’t withstand her father’s severe glare. “Fine. I have some pajamas she can wear tonight.” Her sullen pout morphed into a smile, as shiny and brittle as gilt leaf. “But tomorrow, I’m taking you shopping.”
“As long as I can get the apparatus replaced, that sounds awesome.” Beth flapped a hand at her stump, then put her arm over Kimiko’s shoulders, unfazed by the attempted robbery of her brother and the Tanuki’s fickle attitude. All I could do was
watch them go, listening to the sound of three legs walking across the hall outside the kitchen.
“I apologize for my daughter’s behavior.” I turned back to Mr. Ichiro. All the stern tension in his face had melted away, leaving an emptiness I had a hard time looking at.
“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “She apologized. Girls will be girls.”
“She wasn’t like this before her brother vanished.” He sat at the small table next to a bay window. “But then, you know how that sort of thing can change a person.”
“Kind of. I was younger than her when Derek went missing.” I took the seat across from him. Somehow, he looked smaller and older than back at the dojo. It made me feel like an even bigger jerk for what I was about to say to him. “Life gets harder. More pressure from the family. No longer a spare, but a full-on heir.”
“She was always my heir, young one.” His eyes flashed, and he held his head up higher. “Ren was born nearly mundane, just a touch of ability. He took after their mother, you know.”
“Interesting how that goes.” I leaned my head on my hand. “The boys take after Mom and the girls after Dad.”
“You’re just repeating words you’ve heard parents say.” His shoulders rolled back out of their slouch. “They’ll have new meaning for you someday, with luck. Your mother and father must be in such a state, their son and daughter in this on their own.”
“At least we’ve got each other now.” I bowed my head slightly. “And some experienced help.”
“I won’t be able to do much more than offer Beth a place to stay, I’m afraid.” He put his hands flat on the table. “Since I’m representing Miss Phillips once you surrender her to the Sidhe Queen, any assistance I might give you would be a conflict of interest. Yet another thing you have yet to understand fully.”
“Surrender Nox? Never. What kind of Alpha would I be if I did something like that?” I tried to swallow my anger but knew its rising was as obvious as the dawn to someone like Mr. Ichiro.