Under the Bridge

by Dawn, Autumn

  The stuff of dreams was clay to a pooka. Eyrnie changed the scenery to a moonlit plain and ran, fire streaming from his hooves. She had no idea where they were going, but she trusted Eyrnie not to get lost. She let the wind finger through her hair, enjoying the speed. Tomorrow she’d be as tired as if she’d never slept, but this was worth it.

  “How are you going to find him?” she called. All she could see was flat ground from horizon to horizon. Unless the troll was dreaming, she didn’t see how this would help locate him.

  “Watch,” he rumbled, and a staircase of moonlight appeared before them, ascending into the clouds. He surged forward, racing up the stairs until they were among the clouds.

  Billy laughed in delight at the sea of lights below. “This is great! I can see the whole town from here.”

  There was smug joy in his voice as he said, “I can find anyone in the world from the dream realm. A troll in the middle of town will stick out like underwear from a freshman wedgie. There! Look, he’s moving down that alley. Betcha he’s hunting.” Eyrnie angled toward the city, not bothering with the illusion of stairs. Maybe this was his stealth mode.

  Billy didn’t see what he meant at first, but as they got closer, she could see that some of the lights were people. He must be homing in on the troll’s light somehow. “Why are there so many colors?” Some of the lights were quite murky.

  He snorted as his hooves struck sparks from the pavement. “Soul stains darken the light.” He glanced right.

  Billy followed his gaze and screamed. A huge delivery van barreled toward them, too close. It rushed through them without warning, rocking them with the wind of its passage, and sped off.

  Eyrnie rocked with silent laughter.

  “Jerk!” she slapped his shoulder, hurting her hand. “You could have warned me.”

  “We’re not really here, Billy. I’d have come to your bedroom window to fetch your body for that. Quiet. He’s close.” They paced silently down the street, past oblivious pedestrians. Knowing it would bother her, he avoided passing through them. If he were alone, he’d probably take no more notice of them than he would of blades of grass brushing his body.

  “Why are we being quiet if no one else can detect us?” she whispered, leaning close to his ear.

  He flicked it at her, and she subsided. Maybe some fae could detect a pooka in stealth mode. Maybe he just didn’t want to take any chances.

  They stopped in the shadow of an alley and peered across the street. There was a man arguing loudly with a cringing woman. His light was red and black, pulsing. He raised his hand as they watched.

  Billy’s knees automatically squeezed, urging Eyrnie to spring forward. They couldn’t just watch.

  He didn’t move.

  Across the street, Ash came into view. She knew it was Ash, because there could not be two such creatures prowling the city.

  He was enormous, twice the height of a man. His tusks curled up from his lower jaw. One of them nearly pieced his cheek—the other had broken off. Long gray hair the texture of sheep’s wool hung down from his skull, matted with burrs. It had grown past his ankles and brushed the ground. It fell in his big, yellow eyes as he tilted his head to study the man.

  “What’d you want?” the man demanded. “You looking to buy an hour?” he jerked his head, indicating the hooker. It was clear he only saw Ash’s glamour

  Ash smiled his special, scary smile. Billy shuddered. It was a hundred times worse in his true form. “I’m not looking to buy.”

  The man told him what he thought of that in very rude terms. Then he told him to get lost.

  The troll’s chuckle shook his rounded, swollen belly. The hard fat there looked as solid as a bag of cement. He scratched the horns at his temples with cracked, dirty nails. The horns were small, almost delicate, and rose straight up like a young goat’s. In his human glamour, it probably looked like he was rifling his hair. “I like you. I thought the two of us could enjoy a meal.”

  Billy shivered.

  The pimp took Ash’s suggestion the wrong way. He stepped forward, gesturing aggressively. “What, you a homo? Well, I’m not down with that. Tell you what, you want some of that? How about I help you out.” He came at Ash, swinging his fists and running his mouth.

  Ash simply picked him up, opened his mouth, and bit his head off.

  The hooker stared. She stood there frozen, as if unable to take in what had just happened.

  Billy leaned forward and buried her head in Eyrnie’s mane. She concentrated on his clean, horsy smell, trying not to vomit.

  She heard the troll spit, a muffled thump. “Too bony,” he said politely to the woman.

  She began to scream.

  Billy looked up. The troll was sauntering off, the pimp’s body slung over his back. His head lay there on the sidewalk, its sightless eyes focused across the street at her.

  8. Eyrnie approves of the Troll’s Diet

  “It was clearly a case of self-defense,” Eyrnie said calmly as he turned around and walked away, ignoring Billy’s protests. “Besides, he has good tasted in victims.”

  Billy stared at the back of his head. “You sound just like Maura.” She was still shaken by the sudden slaughter. Shedding blood in the heat of battle was one thing, but Ash’s cool killing was another thing.

  She could almost see Eyrnie grimace. “Ordinarily, I’d argue with that. You’ve got to admit that the troll is keeping his bargain…for now.”

  She didn’t have to admit anything. Her mind was still replaying the grisly way the pimp had died.

  “You wouldn’t kick up this much of a fuss if I had killed him,” Eyrnie pointed out. “He had it coming.”

  She didn’t want to think about that. Eyrnie probably would have killed him. He had definite opinions about the right way to treat women, and pooka weren’t above a little slaughter now and then. They were hardwired for it.

  The thing was, Eyrnie was her friend. She understood him. Besides, he didn’t make a habit of snacking on the people; cannibalism really bothered her.

  “Take me home. I don’t want to puke all over your back,” she moaned.

  His tail swished in agitation. “Don’t even think about it!” He took off at a gallop, his legs eating up the distance.

  She woke the next morning tired and out of sorts. She’d had the kind of dreams one would expect after spending half the night riding a nightmare. Sighing, she reached for yesterday’s jeans…and found a white rosebud tucked into her front pocket.

  She stared at the rose and then slowly picked it up. A sniff told her it was from her favorite bush. The hair rose on the back of her neck. Eyrnie paid no attention to flowers. Who could have left it?

  Could her mother have found her way back?

  Billy made her way cautiously down the stairs, dagger in hand. A quick search proved there was no one in the house now, and the yard was empty. Huh.

  She took the rose with her to school, pressing it inside her English Lit book. The sweet fragrance helped to sooth her aching confusion. It also served as a reminder that she had to be cautious. Her dreams had reminded her that the world was full of dangers, not all of them in the form of a stranger.

  The drive to school was hazardous. She probably shouldn’t have mulled over her problems while riding a motorcycle in rush hour traffic, but she wanted a grip on them before she saw the troll.

  The thing was, she was not a blooded warrior. She understood the justice to be found in death for those who deserved it, but was uncomfortable being in the position of judge. Who was she to say who died? Though she’d have hated to admit it, she also suffered from a tender heart. She’d far rather nurture life in her garden than dissect it with her knife.

  Could she kill? Sure. She’d been taught dozens of ways to do just that. Trouble was, she was beginning to think it would be more costly than she’d been taught to believe.

  The ride to school was too short to wrestle more than one issue to the ground. She parked her bike, glad to pull the helmet of
f her aching head.

  Jason was in the parking lot, talking with his friends. He smiled when he saw her and trotted over. The front half of his pale brown hair was braided into fat cornrows, and three earrings dangled from one ear. Thankfully, he eschewed the fashion of sagging, baggy pants, and his somewhat battered jeans showed a body made the better for hours spent on a skateboard.

  He stopped when he saw her and made a frame with his hands. “Nice! That’s my Harley pinup girl.” His nose was slightly crooked, but it lent character to his strong Welsh features.

  “Your girl?” She smiled slightly in spite of herself. His flirting, though uninvited, was an improvement over her tangled thoughts. “Had some magic mushrooms in your scrambled eggs this morning? A little TLC in your OJ?”

  He grinned. “Not today. Say, I was wondering if you’d like to give me a ride home today? It’s on the way.”

  She thought about wandering hands groping her on the highway and frowned. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that level of commitment.”

  He spread his hands. “Hey, it’s just a ride home.”

  “And hell is just a sauna.” She slung her book bag over her shoulder and headed for the school.

  He fell in beside her, waving his friends off. “So…saw you sitting with that exchange student at lunch yesterday. You two got something going?”

  She flicked her bangs out of her eyes, irritated. She needed a haircut. “Definitely not. I don’t date trolls.”

  He liked that. “So, there’s this party this weekend….”

  They’d reached her locker, so she busied herself opening it and riffling through the contents. “Can’t. Working.”

  “All weekend?”

  “Yup.” She popped her lips on the word to lend it emphasis, hoping he’d take the hint. She wasn’t going to lead him on when his chances were zero. She just wasn’t interested enough to take a risk on a relationship she could tell would go nowhere.

  Jason wasn’t the type to give up easily. “Okay, how about we just make out right here?”

  She snorted, ambushed by his directness. She turned to share the smirk he’d inspired, and got ambushed by his kiss.

  Shocked, she stood there and just blinked. She was so surprised, she couldn’t tell if it was nice or not. It wasn’t just that she had nothing to compare it to; her brain was so busy stuttering, it couldn’t wrap around the fact that she was being kissed. Right now, in front of everybody. In front of the flesh-eating troll, in fact.

  Billy’s eyes landed on him, and she jerked back. His amused disdain was enough to pull her to her senses. She focused on Jason, not sure how to rebuke him.

  He gave her a cheeky grin as the bell rang. “Later, babe.” He sauntered off, obviously proud of himself.

  She stared after him, pole-axed. What was that all about?

  “Very impressive—on his part. You need more practice,” Ash observed dryly.

  She started to say something, but lost the thread of her thoughts. Grabbing her books for her first class, she slammed her locker shut. “I wasn’t trying to practice! He surprised me.”

  “So I saw.” Ash fell into step beside her. Casually, he added, “He just won twenty dollars. His friends bet him he couldn’t get away with it.”

  Her lip curled. “I’ll eat his liver!” She glanced swiftly at the troll as she realized what she’d said. “I meant that figuratively.”

  He studied her thoughtfully. “For a girl who has a C in English, you use big words.”

  “How do you know what my grades are?” she demanded. “You haven’t been here a week!”

  “I know all kinds of things,” he said, his voice dark and smooth. “I even know where you sleep.”

  She frowned at the implied threat, even as her mind flashed on the rose. Could he have left it? “It’s not like it’s a secret where I live. Lots of people know that.” Though he was the first troll. Privately, she admitted it wasn’t a happy thought.

  The corner of his mouth curled up in a smile. “You could have simply punched him in the kidneys. He wouldn’t try it twice…at least not without the safety of a dark alley and five or six friends to hide behind.” He looked thoughtful.

  Guessing his thoughts, she said sharply, “It wouldn’t make him fair game, especially since I’d pulverize him for trying it. I don’t need you to eat my enemies for me.”

  Ash gave her bland look, but didn’t comment.

  She saw him again as she slid into her seat in English Lit. Eyrnie had heard what happened and cornered her, demanding to know if she’d lost her mind for kissing a puke like Jason. By the time she’d explained herself to his satisfaction, she was late for class.

  Everyone else was seated by the time Billy entered. Carrie didn’t look up as Billy passed her, to all appearances the dutiful clan member. Maybe they were making progress.

  Ash glanced at Billy as she sat beside him. She didn’t like doing it, but a deal was a deal. It felt somewhat like sitting next to a slumberous polar bear; at any moment he could wake and decide he was hungry. She didn’t want to be near at hand when he gave into the munchies.

  Her whole left side prickled in protest at his proximity, and she had to work not to edge away in her seat. It wouldn’t do any good if she were a mere inch farther away.

  She hadn’t forgotten last night. The boring lecture gave her ample time to brood over it, but too much had happened to reclaim the full horror she’d woken up with. It was difficult to see Ash sitting there, looking human and…well, not harmless, but not8 carnivorous, either.

  She could smell the soothing fragrance of the rosebud, so she turned the page to look at it, holding the book so Ash couldn’t see. She ran a finger over the smooth stem, wondering again who’d left it. If it hadn’t been Gran, then someone had come into her house, into her room. Bypassing all of Gran’s wards and locks was fey work. A human couldn’t have detected most of them, let alone disarmed the wards.

  She glanced at Ash. It would have helped if he hadn’t talked to her this morning, as if he were a normal guy. She’d seen him at his worst and knew him for a monster. In the dream she’d seen his true self, and it was hideous. She tried to picture it now, superimposed on his human form. If she squinted, she could almost see the horns….

  She forced herself to listen to the teacher’s droning. She really hated doing this, being here. Not for the first time, she weighed the pros and cons of paying for four years of stuff like this. She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to do after college. In light of that, her tuition suddenly seemed like an enormous drag. She didn’t want to be a doctor, lawyer or any of those white-collar types. The only reason she was here was because “everybody knew” that education helped people to earn more money.

  Unfortunately, she knew plenty of people who’d graduated college and had to move back in with their parents because they couldn’t find a high-paying job. She’d also read online that most culinary school grads had to start at the bottom and work their way up like everyone else, sometimes making only eight dollars an hour washing dishes. With a student loan to pay off on top of that…well, she’d rather just start with her hands in the dishpan.

  There were other ways to educate oneself other than college. Some jobs paid employees to go to classes, like Ernie’s dad’s mechanic job. Apprenticeships were good, too.

  She didn’t want to go to school; had zero desire, in fact. Where did that leave her? What did she want to do?

  Billy’s hands twitched impatiently. She wanted her hands in the dirt, tending flowers and herbs. It didn’t take much thought to realize it was the only thing she wanted. A full time position at the Flower Pot would give her a comfortable living right now.

  Her hands got cold as she realized how she’d placed herself in artificial poverty by choosing school over work at this juncture of her life. Was she insane?

  Billy was not prone to nerves or panic attacks, so at first she wasn’t sure what was happening to her. Her heart raced, and her breathing became choppy. An overw
helming need to flee possessed her, made her stiffen in her seat. To counter it, she curled her fingers over the edge of her desk…and pushed it all down. Really hard.

  The floor lurched. Startled, still panicky, she would have thought it was her imagination, but others noticed, too. They were looking down, wondering at the source of the quake.

  Another shot of adrenaline-fueled power shot into the earth, making the room quiver. Billy gasped and tried to reel it in, but it was like trying to stop a rainstorm with only bare hands to catch the drops. The energy kept slipping, flowing into the earth in time with her heartbeat.

  Ash reached over and grabbed her arm. “Get your stuff,” he said calmly in her ear. “We need to leave.” People were streaming out of the class already; some cowered under desks. Carrie made for the door without a glance for her aunt.

  Frightened, Billy didn’t argue, blindly following Ash’s lead. He was excellent at pushing through a crowd; far too sturdy to budge, strong enough to plow through a herd of rhino. In moments they were outside, safely parked under a shady oak. Panting, she dropped to the grass, one hand braced against the bark. Crouched between the roots, she closed her eyes and tried to govern the power that buckled and strained within her.

  Such power! It flowed wild and strong, a river she’d never suspected flowing through the deep caverns of her mind. She dipped mental fingers in the current, shuddering at the cold power. It was pure energy, like the sap flowing through the bark under her hand….

  She experimented, channeling the cold, clear light into the tree. It went happily, a torrent directed by the slightest touch of her will. As it flowed into the tree, she felt the change. The tree stretched and grew, sparked with life. She felt its roots grow so deep they anchored in another world entirely.

  She slowly eased the flow of power, and removed her hand. The tree remained changed, a living pillar between the mundane world and…elsewhere.

  She frowned. What had she just done?

  “Hm,” Ash rumbled. “You have some interesting blood, pixie. Blue blood, I think.” He touched the tree briefly. “This is an elven pillar. My home under the bridge is like that, when I have lived there for a very long time.” He saw her blank look and grinned. “You just connected this world and Underhill. Do it enough, and you could make this whole campus a part of our world.”