Brenda had no trouble understanding. A few minutes later, fresh from the bathroom, she was back at the table. Using the mah-jong tiles as guides, she colored in the various tiles. The ink flowed easily, creating the irresistible image of blood flowing through veins. By the time she was done, she could sense the dragon and its connection to her.
She could sense something else as well. There was Des’s spell, the winds and dragons creating a mesh that protected the house and its surroundings. Outside the mesh, things swam in the air and through the earth. She sensed no direct menace from them, but rather a peculiar curiosity.
The curiosity reminded Brenda of how she and her brothers would examine boxes at Christmas. She knew without a doubt that if Des hadn’t crafted his protections well, something might decide to lift a corner of the wrapping and take a poke at what was inside. Pokes weren’t meant to hurt the contents, but once she had put a run in a silk blouse. Dylan had chipped a crystal model of a train engine his grandmother had sent him.
Brenda shivered and concentrated harder on feeding the colors into the lines she’d etched into each of the tiles that would make her dragon. She imagined it curving its tail between her and whatever was out there, poured herself into the image, until she knew the dragon would come when she called.
Come. But only once. And judging from what else was out there, once would not be enough.
10
Pearl stood in the aisle where she could watch the activity at the pharmacy counter without being observed herself. Upon her arrival at her hotel in this small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, she had called Nissa Nita’s home. A cheerful female voice—one of Nissa’s many sisters—had informed Pearl that Nissa was at work, and from there she would be going directly to school, but that she’d be home in time to tuck Lani into bed.
“Do you want to leave a message? I could give you her cell.”
Pearl had declined both offers, preferring an opportunity to inspect her subject unseen. As a young woman with fluffy strawberry blond hair moved into view, Pearl had her wish.
Nissa Nita had rosy, lightly freckled skin that went well with her hair. Her figure was rounded, probably overweight by the emaciated standards of current fashion, but pleasant and feminine by those of an earlier day. She wore a white lab coat over a pale blue dress, small sparkling earrings to match, and, from how she moved, what were doubtless sensible shoes.
Nissa was only a few years older than Brenda Morris, but there was a balanced gravity about her as she discussed a prescription with a man old enough to be her grandfather, maybe even her great-grandfather, that made the older man pay attention. He had questions, but they were asked politely, without any sense that he thought he’d better check up on the competence of this young person.
Pretending to inspect an array of toothpastes, Pearl continued to watch as Nissa assisted a middle-aged woman with what was obviously a regular refill, a boy in his teens who was embarrassedly purchasing a prescription acne treatment, and a woman about her own age who wanted advice on what shade to color her hair. This last was obviously a personal friend, and the two chatted for a moment.
At last the pharmacy counter was empty, and Pearl took a tube of toothpaste and a small bottle of aspirin up to the counter. Nissa, her badge giving her first name over the legend “Pharmacy Assistant,” turned from where she was putting tags on a box of gaudy sunglasses.
“May I help …” she began with a warm smile. Then the smile faded and her eyes, a startling turquoise shade, widened. “Oh, it’s you! I mean, Miss Pearl, Miss Bright I mean … I didn’t expect you to come all this way.”
Nissa Nita had a touch of a Southern accent, something musical, rather than drawling, as if adding an extra syllable to the words only contributed to the pleasure of speech.
At Nissa’s exclamation, a dark-haired man whose badge read “Bob” over the legend “Pharmacist” turned from where he had been counting out pills. His eyes widened when he saw Pearl.
“Pearl Bright!” he exclaimed, carefully setting down the bottle he’d been holding and hurrying over to the counter. “As I live and breathe! I love your movies. I have all the recordings. I even have a first-edition copy of that children’s book you did. What a great pleasure!”
Pearl shook the hand he extended to her, and smiled, saying all the right polite things.
Nissa beamed. “Pearl’s a longtime friend of my family, Bob. She knew my mama, and my grandmama, and even my great-grandmama, although you’d never know it to look at her. I told you that.”
“I know, I know … I know you even said you could get me her autograph if I wanted, but meeting her face-to-face. What a tremendous honor! What will Maddie say when I tell her?”
His face, ordinary before, was suddenly handsome in his pleasure. Pearl, accustomed to California where she was a very, very minor celebrity, if one at all, realized she was actually blushing.
Thankfully, after the busyness a short while before, almost no one was in the store, and Bob, obviously a courteous man, dampened his enthusiasm to appropriate levels.
“Ms. Bright,” he said, “would you mind if I took your picture—I mean, if Nissa took your picture with me? I don’t have a camera, but I could run to the photo counter and get one.”
Pearl, who realized that having Nissa’s immediate supervisor’s cooperation would be very helpful, agreed, although she did reach up and touch her hair.
“I don’t look my best,” she said. “I only arrived in Virginia a few hours ago, and decided to surprise Nissa.”
Bob assured Pearl that she looked radiant, and bounded away to acquire a camera. Nissa smiled, moved back a few steps, and shook the pills out of the bottle Bob had been filling.
“He’d better start over,” she said. “He won’t know his right hand from his left, he’s so excited. Well, now, you said you’d meant to surprise me, and you’ve done that.”
Nissa’s tone was serious now, her initial astonishment damped beneath a hint of fear. “Is this about what you told me on the phone a couple days back?”
“It is,” Pearl said. “There have been developments that I didn’t want to discuss over the phone. Yesterday, I was able to get a flight from New Mexico to D.C. I hired a car this morning, and drove here. Do you have a break coming up?”
“Not really,” Nissa said. “I don’t usually take a long break when I’m leaving early for class, and I can’t cut, not tonight. We’re having a question-and-answer session to prepare for finals.”
“I thought exams would be over,” Pearl said.
“We’re on a different schedule,” Nissa said. “The college survives by catering to nontraditional students, people like me who need to work.”
“Can I take you to dinner?”
“I have to go home right after class and tuck Lani in,” Nissa said. “She’s having trouble getting used to the fact that Mommy isn’t around all the time. I could meet you after that, probably about seven-thirty.”
Bob returned then, bearing a camera he must have purchased on the spot, and trailed by a handful of people who had heard there was a real, live movie star in the drugstore.
Pearl posed for pictures and signed autographs, amused despite herself at this momentary return to the limelight. Then she drew Nissa aside.
“It is possible that my coming here may have increased the danger I spoke with you about over the phone. Will you promise to continue to take care?”
“Only if you do yourself,” Nissa said. “I’ve got a funny feeling about all of this—and it’s not from watching Bob turn starstruck.”
“I’ll go back to my hotel and get some rest,” Pearl said. “Then I may go over and visit with your sisters. It would look strange if I only looked in on you.”
“They’d love to see you,” Nissa said, “and that will make it easier for us to go out to dinner alone. I can make them understand. Somehow.”
“I’ll help,” Pearl said. “After all, by then you’ll be the only one I haven’t spent ti
me with.”
“Sounds good,” Nissa said. “And take care.”
Pearl did, although it seemed impossible that anything could happen on this small town’s main street in broad daylight. Still, she wasn’t about to overlook the younger woman’s caution. Whoever had attacked Gaheris Morris had been very confident that he would not be seen. Such confidence might lead to anything.
She napped, and then, as promised, visited with Nissa’s sisters. There were several at home, watching over a brood of children, some their own, some in day care for other working mothers. The Nita sisters followed a similar template: fair, with eyes of various shades of blue, and hair ranging from dubiously natural blond to undoubtedly natural flame red. They were cheerful and intense, their intensity of the kind that invigorates rather than drains.
Wanting to assure herself of time alone with Nissa, Pearl left, rather reluctantly, when the children were settled to dinner. Later, Nissa came over to Pearl’s hotel and the two walked over to have dinner at a “home style” restaurant a few blocks away.
“The food at the hotel,” Nissa said apologetically, as if she herself was somehow to blame, “isn’t very good. They can get away with it because they’re the only place in town that rents rooms.”
“Did you have any problems with your sisters?”
“None. They were in heaven because you stayed so long, and the kids were so good. They kept going on and on about how you had them all charmed.”
“Well,” Pearl said with a dry smile. “I did spend a lot of time with children, both when I was one myself and later. Maybe because I was expected to be a professional as well as a child, I’ve never made the mistake so many adults do of underestimating just how smart and curious even a very little child can be.”
When they arrived at the restaurant, it was clear that the small-town grapevine had been at work, and that the owners knew exactly who their guest was. However, rather than exploiting this, they seemed prepared to bend over backward to assure that Pearl and Nissa would not be troubled by the other patrons. They were put in a booth near the back, and waited on by the owner himself.
“His wife is the head cook,” Nissa said, “and everything here is delicious.”
Pearl ordered free-range grouse with homemade bread stuffing, and was told that the birds were raised by a relative of Nissa’s. So, it turned out, were the salad greens. Another relative made the cheese and butter.
“Post-hippie commune,” Nissa said. “The commune part didn’t stick, but the interest in organic food and not working for ‘the Man’ did. Now, tell me what brought you here all the way from California.”
“Via Santa Fe,” Pearl amended, and launched into an unedited account of the events of the last several days.
There was a great deal to tell, and they had finished slices of strawberry pie and were sipping cups of some exotic blend of herbal tea when Pearl finished.
“So,” Nissa said, “of the Thirteen Orphans, only four seem untouched: you, me, the Dog, and the Rooster. The Rat is taken, but his heir apparent seems to be shaping up into someone who will be a help. Have you gone to visit any of the other heir apparents?”
“I haven’t,” Pearl admitted. “Only a few might prove useful. I know the Dragon did not leave his son untutored, but, frankly, most of those who knew of their heritage did not cultivate the skills that went with it.”
“Why should they?” Nissa said reasonably. “I’m the fourth generation since the first Rabbit—or Hare—or whatever. Nothing has happened to any of us since my grandmother’s day, and I’m not sure I really ever believed any of the stories I was told by Grandma.”
“But you believe what I’ve just told you,” Pearl said, hating the pleading note that crept into her voice.
“I believe it,” Nissa replied firmly. “My ears are twitching and my nose is wiggling. I can scent the hawk on the wing. And I’m a mama, too, and I don’t want anything coming after me or my baby. I believe you with my gut, and my brain is going to have to take second place until it catches up.”
“I cannot express with sufficient eloquence how relieved that makes me,” Pearl admitted. “Are you willing to accept further training?”
“Training, yes,” Nissa said, “but I’m not in a position to drop everything like you say young Brenda and Riprap have done.”
“Riprap,” Pearl objected mildly, “is older than you are.”
“Older in years, maybe,” Nissa said, “but I’m old in living. I’ve got a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter to care for, and she’s having a tough enough time dealing with me being away at work and school. I’m not packing up and leaving her.”
“Fair enough,” Pearl said. “We’ll do what we can to work something out. Maybe I can stay a few days, teach you a few tricks. Tonight I am too tired to begin.”
“Let me walk you back to your hotel,” Nissa said. “My car’s there anyhow.”
“Good. Maybe you can stop up in my room. I made some notes for you that should give you a start on your studies. When you get a moment, you can review them.”
Although Pearl’s room was only on the third floor, they took the elevator. Nissa admitted that being on her feet for hours at a time took away most of her extra energy. They discussed exercise and diets as they walked down the hall toward Pearl’s room.
“Funny, isn’t it?” Nissa said. “Despite my title, ‘rabbit food’ just isn’t enough to keep me going.”
Pearl had been digging out her key card, preparatory to sliding it into the electronic lock, but now she paused and raised one hand, holding her index finger to her lips. Nissa froze. Pearl swore she could almost see rabbit ears twitching.
“Something is not right,” Pearl said, not so much whispering as moving her lips so that the younger woman could read them. “Talk normally. I’m going ahead.”
Nissa blinked at her, but obediently started chattering again. “I mean, my sister grows these fantastic vegetables, but I want to coat them in butter. Nancy is always swearing if I’d just give myself a chance to learn …”
Pearl whispered to her wind—the wind of the east-northeast, which ruled her sign. They had been friends a long, long time, and the wind flicked obediently ahead. As Pearl requested, it slid beneath the door, touched what was within, and came back to her. It was agitated, so much so that Pearl had to frame its report as words in order to understand.
“You were there already?” she asked. “How is that possible?”
The wind insisted that it had gone through the door and sensed no one but itself. Pearl felt a prickling along her back and she paced closer.
“I can’t find my key card,” Pearl said aloud. “I prefer good, old-fashioned metal keys. These cards may be more secure, but I don’t trust them.”
“Give me your purse,” Nissa said. “You check your pockets.”
Pearl appreciated the young woman’s facility for deception. Because she would need her hands free, she gave over the tidy black leather bag she’d carried to dinner, then dropped one hand to cover the doorknob.
A long, long time ago she’d learned a charm for opening locks. Now she visualized the appropriate sequence in her mind, touching each shape with her paws. She felt the lock release and, without delay, pushed open the door.
Nissa came after, closer behind her than Pearl would have liked, but then the Hare had always followed close on the Tiger’s heels.
Standing across the hotel room, wrapped in wind, stood a young man dressed in full, long-sleeved robes after the Chinese fashion, the green fabric embroidered with stylized animal figures. Pearl registered two things about the intruder at once: he was very handsome, and he reminded her of someone, someone her mind told her she knew very well, and yet had never seen.
The young man moved with fluid grace as Pearl and Nissa crossed the threshold, two long strips of paper held between the fingers of his left hand. Both pieces of paper were green, the writing on them in a green ink so dark it was almost black. He grabbed the first strip of paper in
his right hand, and threw it like a dagger, directly at Pearl.
She, however, was ready for him. Her wind was waiting, and she used it to divert the paper dagger from her. She snatched it from the air, noting that it was inscribed on one side with the character for “Tiger.”
The young man was already throwing the second piece of paper, but Nissa, quick as a Rabbit must be, had darted back into the hallway. The paper hit the doorframe, then clattered to the floor as if it was, at least at that moment, something far more solid than a sheet of paper.
The young man cursed, not at them, but at himself. He spoke a peculiar form of Chinese Pearl had never heard spoken by a stranger.
However, unlike when he had failed in the parking garage, the young man—for this must be the same as had attacked Brenda, Riprap, and Gaheris—did not flee. Instead, he drew a long slim sword, its blade inscribed with many characters, from a sheath worn close to his side. With the same motion, he released the winds that had hidden him, commanding them to seal this area so that no one would hear noise and be tempted to interfere.
Pearl felt a growl low in her throat. Perhaps this young sorcerer/warrior did not fear two women—one of them bearing quite a number of years on her slim shoulders—as he had two men. Perhaps he was unwilling to fail again. Whatever the reason, he was coming at them, his dark brown eyes narrowed, bright with intensity.
Hearing Nissa reenter the room, Pearl knew she must protect this untutored young woman. Pearl had been a young woman of attractive appearance, and long ago she had committed to memory those spells that would permit her to get the upper hand over impulsive young men, especially if they would be left in a position that would not lead them to talk about the situation later.
Many years had passed since she had needed such a spell, but Pearl remembered well the sequence that culminated in releasing the Winding Snake. Stepping back as if in retreat, she released the spell. The young man must have had very good training, for he saw the snake coming for him as none of her would-be swains had ever done.
Thirteen Orphans Page 15
