by Eileen Wilks
The incident didn't seem to have hurt business much, Cynna noted as they passed the fountain—dry now with an Under Repair sign parked in the middle basin. There were plenty of people out spending money or just hanging. She drew some stares, but she was used to that. Tattoos weren't uncommon these days, but Cynna's weren't the usual flowers or whatever. And there were a lot of them.
By the time they passed the escalators, Cynna's hands had almost stopped tingling and her head was back in a normal relationship with her shoulders. Funny, she hadn't realized panic felt so much like helium. "I'm okay."
"Good. Keep walking."
She didn't. She stopped and looked at Lily. "I didn't get you a Christmas present."
"I noticed that, and it was really tacky of you."
"Or Rule. I thought about it, but what do you get someone who has ninety times as much money as you do? Are you okay with this?"
"With Rule having more money than you do?"
"No, with him spending so much on a gift for me." Years ago, Cynna had been involved with Rule. That had caused a few problems when she and Lily first met—mostly, Cynna admitted, because she hadn't wanted to accept that Rule was taken. Who ever heard of a monogamous werewolf, after all? But that's just what Rule was, because of his mate bond with Lily… something Cynna hadn't known existed.
The rest of the world still didn't. Mate bonds were super secret. Cynna knew three things about them: the bond wouldn't let Rule and Lily be too far apart; it gave them a directional bead on each other; and they were rare. Really rare. She wouldn't know that much if the clan's priestess hadn't decided Cynna was her successor. Which was just crazy.
"Of course I'm okay with it. Like I said, he bought… can I say Cullen's name without you freaking?"
"It's not him, it's… well, he's involved, or was involved, but he… it isn't about him."
Lily nodded. "Purple, huh?"
Cynna gulped in a breath, held it, and started walking again without being told. After a moment she said, "They teach you that in cop school? What to do when a witness hyperventilates?"
"No, my sister used to have panic attacks, and of course she didn't want our folks to know, so I'd walk with her. Wonder if she still has them?" Lily tilted her head, considering that. "I haven't walked her through one in years, but maybe her new husband does. It's not easy being perfect."
"That's your older sister, then. The doctor."
"Uh-huh. Maybe I'll ask her about her panic attacks next time she calls."
"That seems like the kind of question a big sister might resent from a younger one."
Lily smiled. "Yeah."
"You're meaner than you look."
"She only calls to tell me to ditto whatever my mother's been saying—now that Mother's speaking to me again, that is. It usually involves a lot of criticism couched as advice. Why am I not married, what am I doing in DC instead of… hey, the food court's up ahead. Are you ready to stop for a minute, grab a Coke?"
That was girl-speak for Are you ready to talk? Cynna walked on in silence for a moment, then stopped and looked right at Lily. "I never boosted pantyhose because I didn't wear them. Copped some lipstick, though. Jewelry. A wallet once."
Lily didn't seem shocked or even surprised by the subject. "So did my cousin Jenny when she was fifteen. Makeup, I mean, not a wallet. I'm not supposed to know about it, but my cousin Freddy told me once when he was proposing."
Ick. "Your cousin proposed!"
"Second cousin, but we all just say cousin."
"You've got a lot of family."
Lily nodded and waited.
"I don't have any sisters or cousins. I had an aunt—she's the reason I'm not more messed up than I am—but she never had kids." Cynna jammed her hands in the pockets of her new coat. "I was pretty much a cliché growing up, you know? Not just poor, but ghetto poor. Funny how they don't call it that anymore. We have 'urban poor' these days."
"I guess some people think if they keep renaming it, maybe it will go away."
"Yeah. Doesn't work, does it? Kids still grow up like I did—absent father, drunk or junkie mother. I dodged some of the clichés, mostly because of Aunt Pat. I didn't drop out of school or do drugs or get… get…" She stopped, swallowed.
"Pregnant?" Lily said gently.
Cynna tipped her head up and stared at the girders crisscrossing the vaulted glass roof. The sky was blue and bright. After a moment she said, "I didn't hyperventilate. I guess that's progress."
"I guess it is. You want to go to the food court?"
Cynna shook her head. "We'd better head back and get Rule's card. I don't trust that clerk."
"Okay." They reversed direction. "Did you mean it about trying on a skirt?"
"No."
Lily grinned. "Temporary insanity does not constitute—oh, my God." She stopped moving. "What's she doing here?"
Cynna couldn't figure out who Lily was talking about. There were a number of "she's" directly ahead—an older woman with a Talbot's bag, a young mom with a toddler, two teens who should have been in school.
All at once a runty bald something was standing ten feet away. It had breasts, orange skin, and pointy teeth. It—she?—wore a tight yellow dress with purple polka dots, and it was grinning at them. "Hi, Lily Yu!"
The teens screamed. A nearby man in a suit gaped, then swung his briefcase at it.
"Hey!" It grabbed the case with both hands. That's when Cynna saw the tail—long and prehensile, it lashed around to grab the man's ankle. "Did you see that? He tried to hit me! Can I—"
"No," Lily said loudly, hurrying forward. "Turn loose of him and give him back his briefcase."
"But he—"
"Wasn't expecting you," Lily said, tugging on the briefcase. "You startled him."
"What in the hell is that thing?" the man demanded.
My words exactly. Cynna didn't say them, though. Lily seemed to have the whatsit situation under control, so she dealt with the teens. One of them was sobbing and clinging to the other, who glared at Cynna suspiciously.
"Great effect, isn't it?" Cynna said cheerfully. "You didn't see… ah, her coming, did you?"
The dark-haired one frowned harder. "No."
"Great! And your name is—?"
"Shauna. And this is Deanna." Shauna was still suspicious, but her friend stopped crying long enough to protest Shauna's making free with their names, which Mom had told them never, ever to do.
Probably Mom had also told them not to cut school, but never mind that. The girls weren't hysterical anymore.
Lily recovered the briefcase and restored it to its owner. "Sorry for the shock, sir."
"But he tried to hit me!" the orange whatsit exclaimed. It was child-size, but built like a squashed sumo wrestler. With breasts. Big breasts. And that tail. "Can't you shoot him or something?"
"No," Lily said shortly. "Gan, what are you doing here?"
Gan? Cynna looked closer. The body had changed the most, but the face was different, too. Same orange skin and bald head, same ridiculously wide eyes with Maybelline lashes, but the rest of the features were… well, you couldn't call them normal, but it was amazing what a difference a nose could make. Cynna would never have recognized the little demon.
Former demon, she supposed. Gan had been staying with the gnomes while she underwent some kind of mysterious transformation. Cynna ought to have recognized the voice, though—high-pitched and squeaky, as if one of those yappy little dogs decided to talk.
A crowd was gathering. "I'm calling the police," Briefcase Man announced.
Gan ignored him. "I'm going with you, of course. Didn't they tell you I was coming?"
"They?" Lily said. "Who?"
Gan looked around, frowning—an interesting sight, given the lack of eyebrows. Then she rolled her eyes. "Great. They got the timing wrong. Wouldn't you know it! They're supposed to be such hotshot gaters, but they couldn't even sync the—"
The screaming interrupted her.
Cynna and Lily locked glanc
es for a split second, then took off running. The screams were coming from back near the fountain.
The China Doll was smart, she was tough, but Cynna's legs were a lot longer and she knew how to run. As Cynna pulled ahead, she heard the little demon piping away—somehow, despite her runty legs, Gan was keeping up with Lily. "Are you going to shoot someone? Who? I want a gun, too."
Gun. Right. Probably a good idea, so Cynna fished in her purse for her weapon without breaking stride. She had only two offensive spells—one that worked only on demons, and one that required physical contact. If whatever was up ahead required subduing, she'd rather not have to waltz with it.
She swerved around two young men running flat out and nearly collided with one of the stroller-mobiles. Damned bloody things were everywhere! She skidded, managed to dodge it and its terrified mom-motor—and stopped dead.
There were three of them. They stood beside the empty fountain, looking around. The short one wore a short green robe and tights. He looked like a gnome—small, wrinkled, long beard, big nose. A pair of oversize ears parted his scraggly hair, their tips covered by the absurd pouf of a hat he wore. The middle size one was the color of wet clay, his skin damp and shiny, as if he was sweating. His lips were the weirdest part of him, being dusky black, and he was as bald as Gan. The effect was different… maybe because he wore only a loincloth and some sort of fancy boots.
Never mind the funny skin. This dude was beefcake.
The third one was gray, tusked, eight or so feet tall, with tight little curls on his head—no, her head. Those were breasts beneath the brown tunic, not just great pecs.
Didn't matter. Not when she was holding a sword big enough to gut an elephant. Cynna slid into firing position. "Put down the sword!"
They all looked at her. The gnomish one smiled and said something, but the syllables did not add up to English.
"Hold your fire," Lily told her as she skidded into place on Cynna's left, weapon ready.
"Hey! You can't shoot them," Gan squeaked, sounding disappointed as she, too, came to a stop. "Harazeed," she called out to the trio—or something along those lines. "Ke antar essy isclaum Lily Yu si Cynna Weaver. Ke relan English, you idiot!"
"Ah!" said the little one in the funny hat, beaming. He put one hand on his chest and bobbed his knees once. "Welcome me-you-us, Lily Yu and Cynna Weaver. Please to take us to your leader."
CHAPTER THREE
Gan liked cars. She'd been in cars a few times back when she'd been sent to this Earth realm to help that idiot Harlowe. That was before Harlowe got himself killed, which had kept Gan from possessing Lily Yu like she was supposed to, and then they'd been dragged off to Dis, where she ended up liking Lily Yu, which made her start growing a soul so she couldn't be a demon anymore.
Things had sure been simpler back then. Simpler, but not as interesting.
Because life was more interesting now, Gan had decided to forgive Harlowe. When she'd told Jenek that, though, he had laughed in that whispery wheeze of his and said that wasn't really forgiveness, oh no. But he wouldn't tell her what forgiveness really was.
Gnomish elders were like that.
Gan had enjoyed the fuss when she blinked out of dashtu and surprised everyone, with people screaming and all. There'd been even more fuss when the three from Edge showed up, but Lily Yu didn't like fuss. She'd called someone on her cell phone—Gan wanted one of those—and a bunch of cops had come, and things were dull for a while. But now they were leaving.
"Where are we going?" Gan asked as she climbed into the back of the police van with Lily Yu and Cynna Weaver and the delegation from Edge. There were benches along the sides, and the delegation from Edge sat on one bench while Gan sat between the two humans on the other. A metal wall divided their sitting place from the driving place.
"To see my leader," Lily Yu said. The other female, Cynna Weaver, snickered.
"Not Rule Turner, though," Gan said. She did not like the wolf. "He's not your leader."
"We're going to see a man called Ruben Brooks." Lily looked at the three beings opposite them. "If I understood you correctly, sir, you're from another realm."
The councilor smiled. "Is so. The our home… English word for realm is Edge. Edge is close many realms, is for trade many realms. Is hub. Many gates in Edge. Many trade."
"You're here for trade?"
"Is for trade, yes. We very good with gates, with the making and maintaining. This for your leader and we to talk of. Many details to agree with, yes? We is also here for the Lily Yu and the Cynna Weaver."
"M-me?" Cynna Weaver stuttered. "You're here for me and Lily?"
The councilor nodded, smiling that stupid smile. He probably wasn't stupid, though. Gan wondered if she should warn Lily Yu about that.
Maybe later. "We don't have any windows," Gan said, frowning as they jolted into motion. The cars she had been in before were called Taxis, and they hadn't gone very fast. She'd hoped the police van would go faster, but even if it did, it wouldn't be much fun without windows. "Do we have a siren?"
"We don't want to draw attention," Lily Yu said.
"Why not?"
"In Dis you knew the dangers and I listened to you. Here, I know the dangers. Drawing attention would be bad." She turned toward the councilor. "Sir—"
"But this is made of metal. Even a Claw would have trouble opening it up, I bet. At least for a minute or two. Not that you have any Claws here."
Lily Yu glanced at Gan. "People can be dangerous, too, especially if they have weapons."
That made sense. Gan had seen some of the human weapons on television, though not lately, because the elders didn't allow television in the underways. "Do you have a television?"
Lily Yu gave her one of those thinking looks, but before she could answer, the councilor spoke. He told Gan to be quiet or he would have the half-half squeeze Gan's throat until her eyes exploded. He used the trade tongue, so Gan understood him but the humans didn't. He smiled the whole time.
Gan stuck her tongue out at him. Humans thought that was very rude, but he might not know that.
"So what did he say?"
That was Cynna Weaver asking, not Lily Yu. Lily Yu was asking the councilor questions, like what his name was. Which was rude, but she didn't know about gnomes. Gan would tell her… oh, the councilor was explaining now. Harazeed gnomes didn't even use call-names except with family. The others did, though, so he introduced them: Wen of Ekiba and Tash.
Then Lily wanted to know how he'd found her and Cynna Weaver at the mall, which was a very good question, but she should have asked Gan, The Councilor just talked nothing-stuff back at her about that.
Gan turned to look at the woman who'd gone to Dis to find Rule Turner but hadn't gotten to keep him or even do sex with him. For some reason lots of human females wanted to do sex with Rule Turner. Gan didn't get it.
Cynna Weaver was interesting to look at with all those patterns on her skin. She wasn't as dense to Gan's üther sense as Lily Yu, but she wasn't thin, either. In fact, now that she looked closely… "Hey, you're pr—"
A flat, human hand clamped Gan's mouth shut. "I'd rather you didn't mention that."
Gan perked up. Secrets were almost always useful. She nodded, and Cynna Weaver removed her hand. "It's secret?"
"For now. Are you going to answer my question?"
Gan shrugged. "He told me to shut up or the half-half would choke me." Cynna Weaver's eyebrows went up. That eyebrow motion could mean all sorts of things, but Gan thought that this time it meant surprise. Gan's gaze drifted. "You've got great breasts. What do you think of mine? Pretty nice, huh? Jenek told me to keep 'em covered out here. He said humans have rules about that, but I see breasts on television sometimes."
"Human sexual customs confuse us, too, but keeping most of your breasts covered is usually best. I notice that you're talking and no one is choking you."
"I'm not talking to Lily Yu." The councilor didn't care if Gan talked to Cynna Weaver, which was interesting. Shoul
dn't he be trying to get Lily Yu on his side? "You're a Finder, right?"
"Right. Is the little guy your boss?"
"Huh! You mean the councilor? He's not in charge of me, but he is in charge of the half-half, who probably isn't strong enough to make my eyes pop out. I'm pretty strong, too. But she does have those tusks."
"Not to mention a great big sword, if we're talking about the same person—the one the councilor called Tash. She's a half-half?"
"Uh-huh. That's what they call them, all the ones who aren't just one thing or another. Half-halfs."
"Who's 'they'?"
"Gnomes. That's who I know about, anyway, but I guess everyone in Edge calls them that. There's a lot of half-halfs in Edge because of all the magic."
"You been to Edge?"
Gan nodded, preening. "I can still cross." That was rare—hardly any demons could cross between realms without being summoned, but Gan could. She hadn't lost the ability when she started growing her soul, either. This made her very special.
Cynna Weaver recognized that. Gan could see the admiration in her face and hear it in her voice. "I wish I could cross like that. Is it harder to do now?"
"Well, I don't have as much juice, but… hey, do you have any candy? Chocolate candy."
"My, you have changed. Not gobbling live bugs these days?"
Gan sighed. "I can't eat ymu anymore, so I have to eat dead things. But chocolate's different. I like chocolate."
"I think I've got some." Cynna Weaver pulled her big bag up into her lap and started digging around in it. "You've been staying with the gnomes."
"Uh-huh. What kind of chocolate?"
"How did you know that the councilor and the others were coming here?" She pulled out a candy bar. Gan tried to grab it, but Cynna Weaver held it up too high. "Answer the question first."
"I'm stronger than you. I can just take it."
"Do you have money?"
Gan's forehead scrunched up. "Huh?"
"If you have money, you can buy your own chocolate. If you don't have money, you'll either have to steal things—which can get you in lots of trouble—or get someone to give you what you want. I might give you more chocolate later if you don't make me mad. If you make me mad," she added, "I might zap you."