Kitty Saves the World

by Carrie Vaughn

  “Yeah, down the road in West Yellowstone. Wait just a sec.” She went into a back office.

  She came back with spare set of clothes, sweatpants and a hoodie. “This should be more comfortable than that blanket.”

  I sighed a very heartfelt thanks. “I promise to wash them and get them back to you—”

  “Don’t worry about,” she said. “Just take care of yourself.”

  Yeah, that was me, crazy enough to elicit worry from strangers, but not enough to actually commit. Yet.

  Chapter 17

  WEST YELLOWSTONE, a few miles outside the park’s west gate, was a lot like other wildnerness tourist towns I’d been to, except maybe a little more hopped up on hype and enthusiasm. A lot of one-story motor lodges done up to look like log cabins, a lot of billboards advertising snowmobile tours. They probably offered ATV tours in the summer.

  We pulled up to a rustic diner—fake log cabin siding, murals of moose and bison hung up between picture windows—to wait for the others and come up with the next plan. Maybe Ben and Cormac and the rest had thought of the ultimate Stop Roman Plan, at long last. How hard could this be? Two thousand years, and no one had stopped him yet. That was how hard.

  We’d just closed the truck doors and were standing in the parking lot when the asphalt under our feet shook, just for a couple of seconds. Having felt this a few times now, I knew exactly what it was. I put both hands on the truck’s hood for balance and waited. A car alarm somewhere started wailing, glass in the diner’s windows rattled, then everything fell still. A few people ran out of the diner and surrounding shops and buildings. There was talk and confusion.

  “That’s the kind of thing you’re worried about, isn’t it?” Sun, also leaning on the truck’s hood, asked.

  “If things get really bad, I don’t suppose you can use your divine power to zap us out of here like Ashtoreth does?” I asked.

  His brow wrinkled. “Ashtoreth. That one is bad news. Really annoying. But no, I can’t. Sorry.”

  As other diners wandered back into the building, a pair of calm men in smart business suits came out, apparently unaffected by the tremor. They went to a nondescript white sedan a few parking spots down, and one of them glanced up at me.

  They were my two Men in Black.

  I took a few steps toward them and called, “You!”

  The one at the driver’s side looked up and smiled widely. “Oh! Hello, there.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  They glanced at each other, then back at me. “We thought we’d try a little early season fly-fishing.”

  “Seriously?” I was sounding a little screechy. “You obviously know what’s happening. You have some stake in it, you have … some kind of power. So why don’t you do something? What don’t you stop Roman? Or Lightman?”

  They flinched a little when I said the name.

  “She’s met him,” one of them said to the other.

  “Things really are bad,” his partner answered.

  “Then help me!” I demanded, my fists clenched.

  The pale one looked chagrined. “I’m sorry, Ms. Norville, but we can’t really do anything but watch. Technically, this isn’t our world, so our influence here is limited. A push here, a nudge here—you know?”

  “He knows,” the black-haired one said, indicating Sun.

  “Hi,” Sun said, waving. “Have we met?”

  “No, but I believe Xiwangmu knows us.”

  “Oh, well, okay then.”

  I wanted to pull my hair out. I was very tempted to strip naked and run back to the park, but I had to wait for Ben.

  “Ms. Norville,” the black-haired Man in Black said. “We very much look forward to talking to you when this is all over.”

  I stared. “Should I be encouraged? That you think we’ll be around to talk when this is all over?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Definitely. There’s always hope, don’t ever forget that.”

  “Who the hell are you guys? At least give me a hint.”

  “Good-bye, Ms. Norville.” And just like that, they got into their car and drove away.

  Sun had come up beside me and was also staring.

  “Do you know who they are?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No. But they are totally not human.”

  “What?”

  He crossed his arms, pursed his lips, like he was considering a particularly complicated puzzle. “Don’t know exactly what they are, but they’re definitely not human.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “Since you and I aren’t human, either, I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” he said.

  Oh dear lord, I needed a fucking nap.

  Inside the diner’s front door I used a pay phone and called Ranger Lopez. I absolutely could not wait until I got my phone back, only I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do that, since it was in the pocket of my jeans, which I’d left somewhere outside the Norris Geyser Basin, along with my wedding ring. She’d given me her card in case I needed anything. “Hi, yeah,” I said when she answered. “How’s Old Faithful doing?”

  “I’m sure it’s fine—”

  “Can you just check? Did it go off as scheduled?”

  “Just a minute…” The line clicked as she put me on hold. A minute later, she came back on. “Yes, it went off right on schedule. Nothing to worry about.”

  “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

  “You’re sure everything’s okay?”

  Not really … “There was a little bit of an earthquake a few minutes ago.”

  “Yeah, we felt that one. Seismologists say it was a pretty good one. But you know we get little quakes up here all the time, right?”

  “That was little?”

  “Pretty little, yeah. Try not to worry, Ms. Norville.”

  “Yeah. Okay. Thanks.”

  Try not to worry, ha. Next I called Ben again, to tell him exactly where we were waiting. And to hear his voice. “There’s been an earthquake. A tremor, like in Denver.”

  “That can’t be good.”

  “Apparently earthquakes are pretty common around here.”

  “But still.”

  “I know.”

  “Just hold tight. We’ll be there as fast as we can. I’m glad Sun is there with you.”

  “Yeah, me, too.”

  Staying still means being a target.

  Yeah, it did. “Wolf wants to run.”

  “I know. Soon.”

  A pot of coffee and plate of bacon had already arrived at the booth Sun had claimed. I was starving and hadn’t even realized it. I’d run to get away from Lightman, but I hadn’t hunted.

  Lopez had given me a map of the park, and this was my first chance to spread it out and study it. The Norris Basin was roughly northwest from the middle of the park. The river I’d followed was the Madison. Escaping Lightman, I’d run for some thirty miles. But distance didn’t mean anything to him. He could teleport right into the middle of the diner and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. I wasn’t safe anywhere. Somehow, that was easier—if no place was safe I ought to just stop worrying, right?

  Sun sat with both hands wrapped around his mug, sipping coffee while watching me. On the other hand, I was slumped back, staring into space. This was a marathon with no end in sight. Well, there was always the fiery eruption of a world-shattering supervolcano. That was one sort of end.

  “What are you thinking?” he said. He didn’t seem worried about anything. He never had.

  I sighed, sipped my own coffee because it was there and getting cold. I was still in borrowed sweats and a hoodie. No one seemed to have noticed I was barefoot, because who expected someone to be barefoot in the mountains in spring?

  “I need to get shoes, I think,” I said. “And a copy of Revelation. And Paradise Lost. I mean, now that I met the guy. He’ll be coming after me. He has to, right? He was so pissed off.”

  “So you have to get away,” Sun said. “We can do that.”

 
“No, I have to find Roman.” I set down the mug and leaned my head in my hands. “It’s too much. I’ll never find him.”

  “But you’ve already made it so far,” Sun said. “You’re not giving up now, are you?”

  Figured, the Monkey King would be the one person more cheerful and optimistic than I was. In some stories, the Monkey King was a trickster figure. Of course he’d be enjoying this.

  I turned back to the map. Yellowstone Lake was the park’s most prominent landmark, and you really could roughly follow the shape of the ancient volcanic caldera around much of its edge. When you knew where to look, the caldera was obvious, not just in the lake, but in the ridges and shape of the land around it. It might have been covered with trees and roads, but it was still there. Groups of geysers were clustered around its edge. The lake was large, over 130 square miles, with over a hundred miles of shoreline. That was a lot of ground to cover, searching for Roman. Come nightfall, he’d be out there somewhere, casting the spell. Ashtoreth would be waiting with him, ready to teleport him to safety before the whole thing blew. And Lightman would be in the background, rubbing his hands together gleefully.

  I wasn’t any closer to stopping them than when I’d first heard about the Long Game. We were so far past that.

  “If you were going to trigger an eruption of a supervolcano,” I said, “what would you do?”

  “I’d throw a bomb into the middle of it. You know, like throwing a lighter into a fireworks factory. Kaboom.” He made a bursting motion with his hands. He didn’t even have to think about it, which was vaguely disturbing.

  “You make it sound simple,” I said.

  “Well, yeah.”

  Okay, then. Working on that plan in the absence of any other: what constituted the middle of this volcano? “There’s the lake. There’s Norris Basin—that’s where Lightman was, so there might be some connection. But it’s outside the edge of the caldera. We need to think logically about this—maybe find the lowest spot in the park, in case he needs to be close to the hot spot for the spell to work? I wish I had my books here.”

  Sun slumped back in the booth, hands pillowed behind his head, and closed his eyes. Obviously, this was a good time for a nap.

  I asked the server for a pen and started making notes on a napkin.

  * * *

  WHEN THE pay phone by the front door rang, I jumped from the booth so fast I banged my knees on the table. Didn’t even slow me down.

  “Hello?”

  “Kitty?” It was Ben, and I sighed happily.

  “We’re just about in West Yellowstone. Are you still okay? Where are you?”

  “The Wilderness Diner. It’s on the main drag. Looks like a malnourished log cabin, you can’t miss it. Hurry, if you can.” I glanced out the front doors—the sky had the golden cast of late afternoon. Not much time before nightfall.

  “I’ll see you soon.”

  Back at the booth, Sun really did look like he’d been able to get some sleep. I was jealous. He was sitting up now, and calling for the check and pulling out cash. Which was good, because I didn’t have any money. I needed shoes. I needed Ben.

  Practically bouncing with nerves, I went outside as a familiar Jeep pulled into the parking lot and stopped in a spot in front of me. I almost hugged it. A second later, Ben just about fell out of the passenger seat and came at me. We ran into each other. I jumped at him, and he lifted me off the ground. I pressed my face against his neck and breathed deep. This was home, this was safe.

  “What the hell happened?” he murmured in my ear. “You sure you’re okay?”

  “I think we’re in trouble,” I murmured back. It was too much to explain here.

  He let me slip back to the ground, but I didn’t want to let go. When I let go, I’d have to start moving again. I brushed my hand along his face, which was in the process of graduating from stubble to actual beard. He probably hadn’t shaved in the same amount of time that I hadn’t slept. Pleasantly scratchy. He leaned into the touch and sighed.

  “Hi, guys,” Sun said, waving. “Nice to see you again.”

  Cormac was leaning on the hood of the Jeep. He smirked and shook his head. “This just keeps getting weirder.”

  “Hey,” Ben said. “Let me guess: Anastasia.”

  “Right in one,” Sun said.

  Ben shook his head and chuckled.

  “I have so much to tell you—”

  “Not here,” Cormac said. “Let’s not talk about this in the open with Roman and his crew running around. Tina and the others are getting rooms.” He climbed into the Jeep without waiting for a response.

  “You know how you’re always saying you want a vacation?” Ben said. “Well, I’m ready.”

  I hitched a thumb toward the park. “Top U.S. tourist destination, right over there.”

  “Not the same. Wait a minute—where are your shoes?” His nose wrinkled, as if he was just now noticing my clothes didn’t smell like me.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Did I mention I have a lot to tell you?”

  The four of us got ourselves to our various vehicles and took off to meet the others.

  * * *

  BEN FORCED a detour to a sporting goods store to buy me hiking boots, socks, jeans, and a coat. Made things a little more comfortable. He was coddling me, which was sweet, and I gave into the urge to let him, sitting curled up against him, both of us crammed into one seat in the Jeep, while he glared out at anything that looked like it might touch me.

  The place where we ended up was one of those old-fashioned motor lodges, two stories tall with all the doors and windows overlooking the parking lot. The Pine Tree Inn. Quaint. The parking lot was half filled with cars. We weren’t quite in the tourist season, but the place wasn’t deserted, either. And all I could think was: if the volcano erupts, all these people would die.

  The others had gathered in one room. Tina gave me a giant hug when I appeared. We both winced—she still had broken ribs, and my skin was still tender. Grant nodded solemnly, and Hardin looked relieved, like she hadn’t believed I really was still in one piece. The gang was all here, and I felt a sense of awe at the army I’d gathered.

  I introduced Sun as Sun, and nothing more. He didn’t elaborate, and everyone accepted him without question. Tina narrowed her gaze when they shook hands; her sixth sense was telling her something, but she didn’t say what. We could deal with his identity as a major figure from Chinese folklore later, I figured.

  The eight of us—counting Amelia as eighth—gathered, sitting on the pair of beds and pulling up chairs. I remained standing, and I flashed on an image: that drawing in my office, the memory of a presence behind me, looking over my shoulder. People kept calling me Regina Luporum—people like Anastasia kept calling me that.

  They were all looking at me. Not just waiting for me to explain what had happened to me, but wanting me to say what we needed to do next. It was too big—but they were here because of me. I rolled back my shoulders, settled myself, and told them the story. About Lightman, what he’d told me, our fight among the boiling springs. The powers he’d shown, how I managed to get away, and the dream I’d had—that yes, we had help, at least to a point. And how we had until nightfall to make a plan.

  It took time because it sounded crazy, and there was no way to make it sound less crazy. I rambled a bit. When I finished, everyone stared at me.

  Cormac leaned back in his chair and blew out a breath. “Well, is that all?”

  “I’m not letting you out of my sight ever again,” Ben said, squeezing my hand. That was fine with me.

  “He’s not invincible,” I said. “Or we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”

  The gazes around me did not seem entirely certain. I clung to what momentum I had. Otherwise, it would be too easy to curl up on the bed with Ben and never get up again. Just wait for the inevitable.

  Cormac turned to his canvas bag and started laying out a familiar collection of objects: amulets, demon goggles, and old books. “You said the coin stop
ped Lightman?” He spoke with an intensity that made me think it was Amelia. Magical artifacts were her thing, after all.

  “Yes. He could hurt me, but not kill me.”

  Grant looked up. “So it confers some kind of invulnerability.”

  “No,” I added, wincing, because my brain hurt trying to sort it all out. “Kumarbis was wearing one of these when Ashtoreth killed him. So it may only protect us from Lightman. Is that possible?”

  “It’s magic,” Grant said.

  Cormac pursed his lips. “Lightman is Caesar to Roman’s Dux Bellorum. The coins mark his followers—identifies them not just to Roman, but to Lightman as well. To break the coin, to mark it up, is to disavow them both. And Lightman loses some of his power as a result.” Definitely Amelia.

  “That actually makes sense,” Ben said.

  “Right. Everyone gets a coin.” Cormac started handing them out. We had six of them, counting the one I was already wearing. I could identify them all, remembering where each one came from: the starving vampire we’d tracked down in Dodge City, Kansas; the one Anastasia had worn; Jan, the Master vampire we’d confronted in London; Kumarbis; Mercedes; Angelo. Each one marked out the long road that had brought us here.

  “We’re one short,” Ben said, after everyone had gotten one—except Sun.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I don’t need one.”

  Cormac snorted a chuckle, because he knew. Tina looked worried. “Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely sure,” said Sun, grinning.

  “He’s got a different set of rules,” I said.

  Next, Cormac dug into his collection of amulets and drew out the bronzed Maltese cross. “Kitty, you’re getting this one this time. Put it on.”

  “That’s the one that reflects spells, right? Why do I get it? You’re the one who knows how it works.”

  “You’ve got the biggest target painted on you,” he said.

  Well, shit. Fair enough. Ben took it out of Cormac’s hand and hung the cord over my neck without further discussion.

  Turned out everyone already had crosses on them. Everyone except Sun, who still wasn’t worried.

  I looked down at the Maltese cross lying on my chest, its bronze polished to a mirror shine. I held it up, looked at my reflection. My eyes were shadowed and puffy, my hair an unholy tangle. I wondered what Ben would think if I just shaved it off.