On the Edge te-1

by Ilona Andrews

  “Elsie Moore? With the tea parties?”

  “Yeah. She shut herself in her room and won’t come out. She’d tied herself to her rocker, and when Amy and I tried to move her, she scratched Amy bloody. So I called Kenny Jo to come undo the knots while we held her down. He got into the room and started screaming. I tried to take him out of the room, but something ripped his clothes. It clawed the T-shirt right off of him and scratched his chest. Elsie says we can’t see it because it’s hiding and our magic isn’t strong enough. But Kenny Jo sees it.”

  “Why come to me?” Rose asked.

  “He was screaming your name.” Leanne swallowed and said in a hoarse voice, “Look, I know I made your life hell in high school. But it’s my kid in there. Please help me save my boy.”

  “You can’t see anything outside of the room?”

  Leanne shook her head. “I felt something. Cold and wet . . .”

  “Like slime down your back?” Rose shivered, recalling the beast that attacked Jack.

  “Yes. Like that.”

  “Wait here for me, please. I’ll be only a minute.”

  ROSE hurried inside the house, dropped the attic’s ladder, and climbed up, flicking on the light. For years the attic had served as the repository of all sorts of junk her father had found in his adventures, and now piles of bizarre objects greeted her: old books, broken weapons, twisted puzzles which, when solved, showed a way to some fabulous non-existent treasure, rolls of fake maps, dime-store antiques . . .

  “Jack!” she called.

  He scrambled up the ladder.

  “I need the see-lantern. Hurry!”

  He breathed in the stale scents of the attic, scrambled up the pile of oddities, and plucked the lantern from the heap. It was an old, beat-up maritime lantern. Discoloration from years in salt water dappled its heavy metal base and ornate top. Rose shook it gently, holding it by the ring in its roof, and a tiny green light flared within the thick ribbed glass.

  “Thank you!”

  She climbed down, reciting instructions on the way. “Stay inside. Don’t let anyone in or out. I’ll be back shortly. If I’m not back by lunch, take the guns and go to Grandma’s.”

  The boys looked at her.

  “Okay?”

  “Okay.” Georgie nodded.

  “Jack?”

  “Okay.”

  “Good.” She headed out of the house. “Declan?”

  Dad’s room was empty, the bed so neatly made, she almost did a double take. She hurried past it and saw him, in his full attire, cloak and everything, standing on the porch. Leanne gaped at him in stunned silence.

  “I’m coming with you,” he declared, punctuating the words with the white frost rolling over his green irises.

  “Why?” Rose raced down the porch steps. Leanne took a moment to snap out of her Declan-induced trance and followed her.

  “The creatures are dangerous,” he said. “And you’re a very stubborn woman. You might decide to get yourself killed just to spite me.”

  There was no way she could keep him from not coming with her. “Suit yourself.”

  She headed down the path, unreasonably irritated because a small part of her was thrilled to have a large, muscular man with a three-foot sword as her backup.

  “Who is he?” Leanne murmured, catching up with her.

  “A man who’ll soon be leaving empty-handed,” Rose said.

  AMY’S house was a large, old affair that had started as an A-frame. Long ago it must’ve had a definite shape, but the Haires were famous for thinking they had carpentering skills, and over the years the house had grown several rooms. It looked like a sprawling mishmash now, sitting in the middle of a wide lawn and bordered by small flower beds, metal junk, and four old rusted cars, none of which had run in the last five or six years. The closer they came to the house, the faster Leanne moved. Rose clenched the lantern to her chest to keep it steady.

  “What’s the purpose of the lantern?” Declan asked. He had no trouble keeping up with them, not with those long legs.

  “It’s a see-lantern,” she said.

  “I realize it’s a sea lantern.”

  “S-e-e, not s-e-a. Sight. It shows magic things to people who don’t have enough magic to see them on their own.” Neither she nor the boys ever had to use it, but her father had needed it once or twice and swore it worked. It would let Leanne see the danger, if there was any.

  Declan frowned. “Everyone can see magic.”

  “Not in the Edge. Some of the people here have more of the Broken in them than of the Weird.”

  They ran up the steps. Leanne swung the door open. Rose paused and gently breathed into the triangular holes cut in the lantern’s top. The pale green spark grew wider and spread, coloring the lamp glass pale emerald.

  Declan snapped his fingers. “I see. It uses an Augustus spiral. The natural exhalation carries residual traces of personal magic, and the coil inside absorbs and amplifies them by cycling them through the loops and then emits the resulting Augustus wave as green light.”

  Envy bit at Rose. She had understood about two words of what he said, and she would’ve liked to know more. She lifted the lantern and peered inside.

  The living room lay empty. Directly opposite her, across the living room floor, was a bedroom. The door stood wide open, and through the doorway Rose saw Kenny Jo standing alone, in a ripped T-shirt. The scratches on his chest looked shallow. To the right of Kenny, Elsie Moore waited, still tied to the rocker, just as Leanne had described. Amy sat between them on the bedroom floor, hugging her knees. All three of her children huddled around her, silent. The floorboards on which they sat were covered with arcane glyphs, written in black permanent marker.

  A creature stuck its head out from behind the couch and peered at Rose with four slanted eyes filled with glowing gray smog. She knew what to expect from the ghostly image Declan had conjured, but seeing it in the flesh nearly made her vomit.

  “Oh God!” Leanne gasped.

  Amy cried out and immediately clamped her mouth shut, pulling the kids closer to her.

  The beast was at least four feet tall. Its skin was dark purple mottled with sickly yellow and pale green, like an old bruise. The creature’s mouth gaped open, exposing a forest of narrow deepwater teeth, scarlet red. A hound, Declan called it. The name fit.

  A movement to the left made Rose turn. Another beast stared at her from behind the love seat. A third darted in the kitchen. She looked up, raising the lantern higher.

  The ceiling teemed with hounds. They shifted along the boards like nightmarish dogs with horse faces and mouths full of dragon teeth.

  God, there must be thirty of them in there. Rose gripped the lantern to keep her hand from shaking.

  Most of the creatures clung to the wall above the door to the bedroom hiding the children, Amy, and Elsie. Their magic dripped down in a thick repulsive wave, over the wall, over the door, and down on the floor below. Rose couldn’t see it, but she felt it, and it felt hungry.

  Only now she noticed that the outer line of glyphs stopped six inches past the door, cut off abruptly as if erased. The flesh on her arms broke out in goose pimples.

  “The hounds’ magic is eating the glyphs. We have to get them out.”

  In the room, Amy clamped her hand across her mouth and sobbed. The children clutched onto her, all except Kenny Jo, who stood by himself, his eyes fixed on the floor. “I told you,” he said with quiet triumph. “I told you.”

  “Okay,” Rose murmured, thinking feverishly. “Okay. We go around back and we try a window.” She knew it was a mistake as soon as she said it. Outside the hounds would mob them. There were simply too many.

  “Won’t work,” Leanne whispered. “The window’s only a foot wide.”

  On the ceiling, a scuffle ensued as the beasts realigned to face them.

  “They see us.” Leanne’s voice snapped like a dry twig.

  “It will be fine,” Rose said firmly. Her mind was spinning a mile a minute, cy
cling through the possibilities, none of which were plausible.

  The hound by the couch lowered its head and started toward her, four eyes fixed on her with predatory intensity.

  “It wants you.” Leanne backed away onto the porch. “It wants your magic.”

  Another beast dropped from the ceiling, flipping in the air and landing on all fours.

  The magic at the door shaved another two inches off the lines of glyphs.

  “Okay.” Rose sucked in a breath. “We’ll use me as bait. I’ll draw them off, and you go and get the kids . . .”

  The first beast was only ten feet away.

  A hard hand gripped her shoulder and thrust her back behind Declan. In the instant of their touch, she glimpsed a tremendous power buckle and surge within him. His eyes blazed white.

  “No, Declan!”

  A phantom wind raised his hair. His eyes shone like two stars.

  The creature leaped.

  A half sphere of blinding white exploded from Declan, roaring like a tornado. Rose’s breath caught in her throat.

  The first hound perished in midair, swallowed by the light. The blast ripped through the furniture, hit the roof, and swept it away with a crunch of shattered wood. Declan snarled, straining. The white glow flared brighter, burned for a long breath, and vanished.

  The roof and the far wall were gone. Rose stared at the sky.

  Above them black dots peppered the clear blue, growing bigger and bigger . . . A shower of broken boards and charred beast carcasses rained on the floor with loud thuds. She blinked, and the next moment Declan’s face blotted out the sky. “Are you hurt?”

  His eyes showed sincere concern. She stepped back, stunned. “No.”

  “Good.” Declan strode through the rain of refuse, unconcerned, crossed the floor to the room, and offered Amy his hand.

  She stared at him in shock and slowly put her hand into his. He helped her to her feet. “You’re safe now.”

  “Who are you . . . ?” Amy blinked.

  “I am Lord Camarine.”

  Rose shook her head. All he was missing was the shiny white armor and unearthly light streaming down on him.

  “Amy,” Elsie Moore said in her crackling voice, her gaze fixed on Declan. “I want you to get me a new bear. A blond one.”

  EIGHT

  BY the time they had calmed down the children and managed to pry Elsie from her chair and force her into the shower, it was well past seven. Rose realized that she wouldn’t be making it to work anytime soon. Her uniform stank of greasy, burned flesh, and she had missed her ride with Latoya. She borrowed Amy’s cell phone and called it in.

  “You better get your ass in here.” Latoya’s voice gained a shrill quality. “Emerson’s being a total dick today. He says either you get in now or he’ll shred your check.”

  “What does he mean, shred my check?”

  “It means he won’t pay you for this week.”

  Rose stiffened. No gas money. Without the truck, she couldn’t exchange Declan’s doubloon for U.S. currency. They had enough groceries to last for three days, four if she was careful. She had no way to pay the electric bill, and it was due in five days. She had to get to work.

  “I still have no gas, and it’ll take me about a half an hour to clean up.”

  “Shit. I can’t leave—I don’t dare piss him off any more.”

  It hit her: the Broemmer account. Broemmer Hotel had fired Clean-n-Bright two weeks ago, because they caught Emerson overcharging them. Losing that account had dropped Emerson’s business by almost a quarter, and he’d been biting at the bit to compensate for his losses somehow. She’d just singled herself out as the perfect scapegoat.

  “Okay, wait, I got it,” Latoya said. “We’ll take an early lunch. Can you get to Burger King?”

  Six miles. She could walk it. “Yes.”

  “Start walking. We’ll head there for lunch and pick you up. Emerson won’t even know when you got in.”

  A huge wave of relief rolled over her. “Thank you.”

  “That’s what friends are for.” Latoya hung up.

  “I’m so sorry about all this,” Amy said.

  Rose forced a smile. “I was glad to help. I’m sorry about your house.”

  Amy paled a bit, glanced at the missing wall and busted roof, and forced a smile, too, plainly trying not to cry. “There was no help for it. At least we’re all in one piece. Even Grandma.”

  Rose looked for Elsie Moore and found her in the yard at a picnic table. Elsie wore a fresh dress. She had braided her thinning hair and was flirting outrageously with Declan.

  “How did it start?” Rose asked.

  “She was having one of her parties, and something had chewed up a teddy bear. One of those things, I guess. Then she wouldn’t come out of the room.” Amy hesitated. “What are they?”

  Rose shook her head. “Nothing I’ve ever seen before. Maybe she knows.”

  Amy sighed. “If she does, you’re welcome to try getting it out of her. She won’t tell me anything. She just calls me stupid.”

  Rose headed to the table. Elsie gave her the evil eye. Rose ignored it. “Hi there, Grandma Elsie,” she said brightly.

  Elsie pursued her lips and glanced at Declan. “We’re having a special time,” she said. “Go away.”

  “Oh, well, in that case, I’ll just ask you a couple of questions and be on my way.” The sooner you answer them, the faster I’ll go away.

  Elsie got the message. “Hurry up, then.”

  Rose crouched by her. “Do you know what those things are?”

  “Evil.”

  “What sort of evil?”

  Elsie shook her head.

  “Have you ever seen one before? Do you know where they came from?”

  “They were after my bears,” Elsie volunteered. “So I cursed them.”

  Pieces clicked together in Rose’s brain. “You made a wold?”

  Elsie nodded. “But it couldn’t kill them.”

  Amy, who had wandered over to the table, gasped. “You made a wold? Jesus!”

  “It’s dead,” Rose told her. “It was after Kenny Jo, and I killed it.”

  “You’ve done lost your mind!” Amy stared at her grandmother. “Sending a wold out into the neighborhood? Who knows what it could’ve killed!”

  Elsie pursed her lips.

  “Honestly!” Amy put her hands on her hips. “What’s next? Are you going to blight East Laporte?”

  Rose sighed. That was the end of that. She wouldn’t get anything out of Elsie now. She got up to her feet and glanced at Declan, standing to the side while Amy continued to chew her grandmother out.

  “Thank you,” Rose said. “You didn’t have to help us, and you did. I’m grateful.”

  Declan’s face thawed a little. “You’re welcome.”

  Rose walked away. If Elsie didn’t know what those things were, perhaps Grandma would. Unfortunately, all the evidence was here. To the left, in the woodshed, an overturned wheelbarrow sat by the log pile. Rose went into the shed, wrestled the wheelbarrow upright, and dragged it to the house. The nearest charred carcass lay only a few feet away. She put the wheelbarrow down and went to pick it up.

  She couldn’t even lift it, let alone carry it. Rose grasped its disgusting legs—the feet looked almost like ape hands—and put her back into it. The carcass slid across the floor. She dragged it to the wheelbarrow.

  Leanne emerged from around the corner. Rose stopped. Leanne walked over. Without a word, she grasped the creature. Magic pulsed in her, and she picked the corpse up and slid it into the wheelbarrow and walked away.

  That same talent—five seconds of incredible strength—had made Leanne the school’s terror. She could only do it once every twenty minutes or so, but once was usually enough to do the job. Rose never thought she’d see it work for her. I guess there’s first time for everything.

  They’d never be bosom buddies, Rose reflected, pushing the wheelbarrow up the path to her house. But at least when Leann
e decided to stab her in the back, she might hesitate for a second or two.

  The house looked undisturbed. Rose maneuvered the wheelbarrow behind Grandpa’s shed. He slammed at the walls and hissed, but she just grunted at him. Later she’d wheel the hound corpse to Grandmother’s for identification, but now she had to get her spare uniform on and start walking. She ran up the stairs to the porch and knocked on the door.

  Georgie opened. “Get ready,” she told him, running to the shower. “I’m taking you to Grandma’s, and then I’ll have to go to work.”

  GEORGIE sat on the porch steps. His overnight bag lay next to him. He always took the overnight bag just in case. Inside was a book about a boy who lived on the edge of the woods, an InuYasha comic book, spare socks, underwear, a T-shirt, and pants. And his toothbrush. Inside, Jack was banging things, looking for his sneakers. Georgie closed his eyes and pictured Jack’s shoes. He felt a slight tug to the left and turned toward it. Not too far. A little more to the left . . . About fifteen feet. He opened his eyes and found himself looking at the kitchen window. Yep. The shoes were under the kitchen table. Jack must’ve pulled them off while he was eating dinner last night and forgotten about them.

  He could go inside and tell Jack where his shoes were. Rose said to get ready quick. She had the look on her face. Georgie knew the look well. When she came out of the shower and saw that Jack didn’t have his shoes, she wouldn’t be happy. He could save Jack from getting in trouble, but those were new shoes, the second pair of new shoes. They cost a lot of money, and Jack had to learn to take care of them.

  It was odd with Jack, Georgie reflected. Sometimes he’d find a piece of green bottle glass and carry it around with him everywhere for days, like it was some great treasure. But something like shoes or clothes, he didn’t care about. They were poor. Rose tried to hide it, but Georgie knew they didn’t have money. Jack needed to learn not to be wasteful.

  Georgie turned his face to the sun and squinted, feeling the warmth on his face. He didn’t mind going to Grandma’s, and he didn’t mind skipping school. Oh no, he didn’t mind that at all. Georgie smiled a private smile to himself. School was boring and tedious, and he didn’t care for it. He studied and made good grades, because it made Rose happy. Sometimes she talked about him getting a good job in the Broken, if his grades were high enough. Georgie didn’t want a job in the Broken. The Broken had no magic.