Tea before Dying

by Vered Ehsani

  “How many did that fool make?” I asked, trying to stay upright as we sloshed onward.

  “Enough,” Koki said. “Ready?”

  Water and cold became my world as we alternated between swimming under low hanging branches and sloshing through the river. The quaking and shivering in my limbs no longer generated any warmth. The skeletal fingers of my prosthetic hand hung limp as the wolf energy depleted itself to give me life.

  “Where’s a water spirit when you need one,” I mumbled, thinking of Burr.

  “If the tokolosh was here,” Koki said, her shoulders drooping, “she’d have left at the first sight of these beasts.”

  We heard the roar at the same time. Pausing in the center of a section clear of branches, we stared at each other.

  “A metal-eating lion?” I asked hopefully.

  Koki shook her head. “The waterfall is ahead.”

  Frowning, I forced my frozen brain to remember the geography of the forest. “It’s not too big a waterfall, is it?”

  “No,” Koki said, lifting her chin, a ghost of a smile brightening her features, “but big enough that we could escape these creatures. All we have to do is survive the jump.”

  “Is that all?”

  Ignoring me, she pushed forward. “One more swim and then we should be free of them.”

  As if sensing our plan, the automatons surged over the remaining bridge of branches, crawling over each other in their eagerness to find a space. Blades, saws, scissors and a pitchfork reached for us.

  “Past this point, I’ll be able to shift,” Koki explained, raising her voice against the growing rumble of the falls. “Hang on to me and I’ll carry us down. There won’t be an easy path for them and certainly not a dry one.”

  “Hurrah,” I said, my voice lost in the accompanying cough.

  The branches creaked and bent under the weight of the automatons. One arm extended past the others, its spear-like appendage brushing against the river’s surface.

  “And now,” Koki said, her voice a whisper in the cool mist and metallic clacking.

  One last time, we submerged, my dress billowing around me in a dark red cloud. The frothy water muted the cacophony of the automatons and the approaching falls. For a brief moment, suspended between air and silt, the world was at peace. A cold, exhausted peace but nonetheless…

  As we began to swim under the branches, water surged as something heavy glanced past me. Bubbles rushed from my mouth as I instinctively shouted a warning. A skeletal metal hand descended on my shoulder, yanking me back and down.

  I spun around, cursing the heavy folds of the dress and the useless shoe I still clenched in my frozen hand. Two eyes glowed at me through the murky water, silt flowing around the automaton as its backside landed on the riverbed. Even as the eyes flickered and the limbs began to slow, its jaw opened, revealing sharp, metal teeth.

  Before I could stuff the shoe in its mouth, Koki was by my side, yanking the hand off me. As she tugged me away from the automaton, its other arm jerked up, the spear at the end stabbing Koki in the chest. Koki jerked backward, blood blooming from her wound just as the glow in the automaton’s eyes sparked and vanished, submersing us in darkness.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  CLUTCHING THE LIMP she-demon to me was as much as I could manage. I let the current carry us forward until only the roar of the falls filled my senses. Forcing my legs to straighten, I dragged Koki partly into the air.

  “You’d better be alive,” I said, pushing the heel of my palm against the open wound.

  My only reply was a slight movement of her chest as she breathed.

  “Good enough.” I glanced around. The automatons had abandoned the overhanging branches. Their glowing gazes fixed on me, they were standing or squatting along the sides of the river, their lethal appendages clicking and whirring. As I half-dragged, half-floated Koki toward the waterfall’s edge, I expected them to follow but they didn’t.

  “Smart,” I said through clattering teeth, and squinted my eyes against the heavy mist. “Koki, can you shift? Come on, you big insect, you’re not being very cooperative.”

  Not so much as an eyelid flickered.

  Leaning against a boulder near the edge, I peered down to where the heel of my hand pressed against the hole in her chest. The water had washed the area clean, and only a small leak of red continued to dribble out. Thanking whatever god was responsible for the efficiency of demonic healing, I stepped up to the edge of the waterfall.

  “Oh, it’s not that high,” I squeaked after a glimpse down the gushing sheets of water. “It always looks worse from up here, right, Koki? Are you ready?”

  She coughed in response.

  “Good enough.” Clutching her tightly against me and gazing up at the clear patch of sky, I wondered what Simon would have to say on the matter, and if Drew was still in canine form. “I hate weddings,” I declared and jumped.

  The whoosh of watery air flooded every sense for the time it took me to gasp out a scream. Fortunately, I didn’t have time to regret leaving the Hardinge Estate on this mad stroll in the forest. Instead, with my dress billowing around me and a shapeshifting demon pressed against my chest, I plunged into a frothy, cold pool.

  The only benefit of bobbing about in that pool was there were no automatons in there with me. Resolving not to ponder the implications—that the metal men were smarter than I was—I floundered to the shore where I collapsed onto the rocks.

  “See? We survived,” Koki mumbled, her dark lips twitching.

  “Can you shift?” I asked, staring at the automatons as they slipped back into the forest, possibly in search of a path down to the pool.

  “Too tired.” She rolled onto her back, her arms limp on the ground, her lower legs still in the water. Her wound had clotted but there was a grayish hue to her skin. Her eyes rolled under closed lids.

  “Well, I’m not dragging you through the forest,” I said, patting her cold hand. “Nor can we lounge about here all night.”

  Groaning, I pushed myself onto my knees. The world shivered and slanted to one side.

  “Although maybe it’s not such a terrible place,” I added, sinking back on my heels and lowering my head to my hands. “At least I shan’t be scolded here.”

  “Stop worrying. After all, why should Simon be upset over his pregnant wife skipping through the forest and leaping off waterfalls?” Koki said, the smirk returning to her voice.

  Huffing, I peered at her through my fingers. “I was referring to Lilly’s reaction when I tell her I lost both her shoes and made a mess of her dress. Although now you mention it, yes, I probably should be more concerned about Simon.” Slouching until my hands rested against rough pebbles, I added, “And I wasn’t skipping.”

  Before she could add insult to injury, a flutter of large wings caused me to jerk my head back. Wincing at the twinge shooting up my neck, I watched as a large bat circled the clearing before sinking down onto a boulder nearby. His wings stirred up moisture and leafy debris.

  “Oh, look, it’s a Popobawa,” Koki slurred and giggled.

  The bat shifted into Tiberius, his expression unimpressed as he loomed over us, his wings unfurled around him. He looked like an avenging angel. Did angels seek revenge for lost shoes?

  “Lilly must be really mad,” I said before curling up beside Koki and fading into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  I WOKE UP to a she-demon poking my cheek.

  “Good. You’re still alive,” Koki said then called over her shoulder, “Hello, Mr. Timmons, your wife is awake and ready for your angry lecture.”

  “Traitor,” I mumbled as I blinked against the lights.

  Koki smirked and pushed herself up from where she was squatting by the paisley-colored sofa. Staring down at me, she seemed fully recovered from our night’s adventure. I couldn’t say the same for myself.

  Groaning, I tugged at a pillow and attempted to push it under my head.

  “Let me,” Koki cr
ooned as she stuffed the pillow under me.

  My view now elevated, I confirmed it was still night outside, we were in Father’s library, and Simon was standing before the crackling fire, one hand holding a drink, the other gripping the stone mantle. His back was to me.

  Oh, yes: I was in trouble.

  Flicking nonexistent dust off the white sheet she’d draped around her body in lieu of her torn-up, bloody dress, Koki clucked and shook her head. “Miss Knight, what were you thinking, running off into the forest without a weapon—”

  “I had you,” I said, my gaze fixed on Simon’s stiff back.

  “And without informing your family where you were,” Koki continued, waving a hand above her head to encompass the other occupants of the library. “They were somewhat concerned when you didn’t return to the reception party.”

  Tiberius was standing by an open window in a darkened corner of the room, a thin trail of smoke floating out from his cigarette into the night sky. His black pants and dinner jacket blended into the shadows while the red glow of the cigarette winked at me. Lilly sat across from my sofa, her delicate features uncharacteristically strained as she watched Grace chew on the leg of the coffee table between us. Father was holding a book open in his lap but his gaze was on me, lines marring his forehead.

  Koki clutched her hands before her and continued her lecture in a mocking tone. “What were you thinking, or were you? It was most fortunate that your bat brother decided to search for you. Meanwhile, the male human with whom you insist on cohabiting has been the epitome of distress and dissatisfaction, not to mention—”

  “Enough, Koki,” Simon snarled and gulped down his drink.

  Chuckling, Koki sauntered to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and tapped her long fingernails against the book spines as she strolled back and forth. “I was merely saving you the effort of castigating your wife. You should really be thanking me.”

  Setting the glass onto the mantle with a soft clink, Simon half-turned. “As you were right by her side, most probably encouraging her, I think I’ll withhold my expressions of gratitude.”

  Lilly rose and moved to my side. After assisting me to sit upright, she reached for the tea set laid out on the table. Pouring a cup, she handed it to me and waited until I’d slurped some of it down. I felt everyone watching me.

  “Beatrice,” Lilly said, her voice soft, sad. Somehow, that was worse than Simon’s stormy gaze.

  “Dr. Cricket’s made more automatons,” I blurted.

  “What?” Lilly said, all color draining from her cheeks. “Liam?”

  “Not Liam,” I said, gripping one of her hands. “They’re worse. Much worse.”

  “Who’s Liam?” Father asked as he closed his book. The heavy, leather cover thumped over the dusty pages.

  “Not a who but a what,” Simon muttered, his scowl directed to the fire.

  Lilly shuddered, scooped up Grace and clutched the squirming baby to her chest. “She used it,” she whispered, kissing the top of Grace’s head. “Mrs. Cricket used Liam to get to us. To me.”

  There was silence apart from the tapping of Koki’s nails against the book spines. Stubbing out his cigarette, Tiberius strode to Lilly’s side, sat upon the armrest of the sofa and rubbed her shoulders.

  “Liam stands for Life Imitating Automaton Machine,” I told Father. “It was Dr. Cricket’s first successful automaton.”

  “Except it wasn’t really,” Simon picked up the explanation. “The thing only worked because it was possessed by the evil spirit of Dr. Cricket’s deceased wife. Then she invaded Lilly and Beatrice, so I had to absorb her—that is, Mrs. Cricket’s—energy.” He grimaced. “An unappealing experience, I assure you.”

  “Good grief,” Father said and sighed. “You children really do get up to a bit of mischief, don’t you?”

  I didn’t respond as I recalled our misadventure with Liam and Mrs. Cricket. I could still see him—or rather it—lurking in my memories. As beautifully designed as Liam had been, there was something off-putting about its near-human appearance. It had always been impeccably dressed in a dark suit and red cravat. Its face, so delicate and intricately created, could easily pass for a real one, at least at a glance. A faint blush had been painted on its cheeks, and the lips were a tender rose as if ready for a first kiss. Its metal skeleton had been covered in pigskin, so similar to human skin and yet…

  Rubbing the goosebumps on my arms, I tried to brush the memory away. “Well, it’s just a pile of metal bits and bobs in a pigskin sack.”

  “And those things weren’t,” Koki said, her features grim. One of her hands rose to her chest and rubbed where the spear had gouged her.

  “Dr. Cricket didn’t even attempt to make them appear human,” I mused. “They were monstrosities.”

  “A rather impressive feat for a man as timid as the inventor,” Koki said. “They were actually ferocious.”

  “Which brings us back to the point,” Simon growled. In the moment he took to forcibly inhale, firewood crackled. A piece collapsed off the pile in a cloud of glowing sparks. “What were you doing in there? No, wait, don’t answer that,” he said, raising a hand to stop me. “What I really mean is: you have other responsibilities now, Beatrice. You can’t go dashing off into the wilds anytime the whim enters that busy head of yours.”

  “He’s right, dear one,” Father added, his voice tender and concerned. He stroked the cover of his book and fidgeted with a ribbon poking out from the pages. “There’s nothing to be gained from all of it.”

  “Of course there is,” I said, ignoring Simon’s glare. “Or have you forgotten that Grace was almost abducted?”

  Father grimaced. “How could we forget? But to go off on your own—”

  “I wasn’t alone,” I interrupted, a pout in my voice.

  “At night and…” Father stared at me, silently imploring me to grasp the notion that running off into the woods at night was an unsound idea.

  “But nighttime is when things always happen,” I protested, returning his incredulous stare with one of my own. He of all people, and a vampire no less, should understand that. “Why wouldn’t I investigate the situation?”

  Simon stepped closer, his hand finally releasing its death-grip on the mantle, and whisper-yelled, “Because. You. Are. Pregnant!”

  “And you’re male, but we don’t hold that against you,” Koki said and paused in her tapping to extract a book from the shelves. “This could be helpful.”

  She held the book aloft so we could see the cover.

  “Birds of East Africa,” I recited and straightened up. “Of course! That’s how we’ll track the perpetrator and all without entering the proverbial lions’ den.”

  “Birds,” Lilly said and shook her head, her dark curls bouncing around her shoulders. “Beatrice, I do despair of you.”

  Simon muttered something not quite as polite, his hands clenching and unclenching.

  “It’s perfectly safe,” I hastened to add, glancing between Lilly and Simon. “I just need to learn how to tap into the brains of birds, and I can use them to fly through the forests and over the savannah. It’s perfect.”

  “Perfectly ludicrous,” Simon said.

  “Are you sure it’s safe?” Father asked, his brows knitted together.

  “Absolutely,” Koki and I said together.

  I added, “Koki will be with me.”

  “I feel safer already,” Simon said, collapsing into an overstuffed, high-backed chair.

  “What could go wrong?” I asked. Before anyone could think of anything, I said, “This is good for me. I never received the training I should have. Now’s my opportunity.”

  Prof. Runal’s words echoed around my own: You must continue, persevere, until you have mastered your potential.

  Pushing through my own doubts about the impact of spells on unborn babies, I murmured, “It’s just birds, Simon.”

  Leaning back into his chair, Simon glanced at Grace as if to remind himself what was at stake. “I have
a better idea that doesn’t involve bird brains. Why don’t we join the Hardinge family on their upcoming trip to the coast? They’re taking a beach holiday just before they depart East Africa. Cilla and Drew will also be renting a cottage by the seashore.”

  I winced. I’d forgotten entirely about our other dilemma. In a matter of days or, at best, a couple of weeks, we’d be homeless. I hadn’t spared a thought on finding a new place of residence.

  Seeing my almost guilty expression, Simon pressed his advantage. “On second thought, why don’t you go with them and Lilly? The salty air would do you a world of good. Tiberius and I will find us new lodgings. By the time you return, we’ll be making tea in our new home.”

  As appealing as the plan was—particularly the part about making tea—I hesitated. A flicker of movement caused me to glance toward Koki. She was waggling the book in front of her, smirking at my reluctance to take a holiday. Grace gurgled, hungrily eyeing the table’s leg.

  “They’ll come again,” I said, watching my niece stuff her entire fist into her drooling mouth. “Going to the beach won’t stop them, Simon. They’ll keep coming. I have to do this. For Grace. For Emma.”

  I raised my eyes to meet his stormy gaze. “We have to find them and stop them.”

  Placing his elbows on his knees, he rubbed his hands over his face as if attempting to remove his disgruntlement over my decision. He peered over his fingers at me before dropping his arms, his hands dangling between his knees. Sighing in surrender, he asked, “So what do you need me to do?”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  Koki grinned. “Good male human.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  AFTER A RESTLESS night filled with swarms of dream birds snatching away babies from my limp arms, it was a relief to see the first light of day glowing around the edges of the curtains.

  Sitting up, I watched Simon as he continued to sleep, his slumber undisturbed by nightmarish memories and doubts. My fears followed me into wakefulness. What if I couldn’t find the Poacher or the kidnapped shapeshifters? What if using spells adversely impacted Emma? I could never forgive myself.