I sighed.
“Don’t worry, Wings,” she added. “You’ll get the hang of it. Maybe the trip to Raishana will be good for you.” She grasped my hand. She was strong force for such a petite woman. “Who knows. Maybe the trip will be relaxing.”
“Relaxing? I’m going to a place I’ve never been with a woman I don’t think we should trust. I don’t think that qualifies as relaxing.”
“Good point,” she said. “At least it’ll be distracting.”
My smile wobbled. “Thanks.”
“I’ll take payment in free, on-demand baby cuddles once it gets here.” She wagged her eyebrows.
“Deal.” I rummaged through the grocery bag and found a small container of fresh eggrolls on top. Fortune cookies had been tossed into the top of the bag. “Decide you wanted a late-night heart-to-heart?”
“I brought that case of the fizz-tonic for your trip. I noticed your fridge last time I was here, so I brought a few groceries.”
“Thanks.”
I stuffed the end of a hot egg roll in my mouth then mumbled, “I think the morning sickness is getting better.”
Vic swiped a fortune cookie and broke it open. “I think I got yours.”
I took the cookie and slip of paper from her. It read, ““You will be going on an unexpected journey.”
Vic broke open another cookie. “Maybe you won’t need the fizz-tonic soon.” She kicked the corner of the case at her feet. Rectangular, it was about two feet long by three feet wide and reinforced by metal at the corner.
“Isn’t that a bit overkill?”
She laughed. “It’s the only case I had. I bought a few extra after my last job.”
“Fair enough,” I said.
She went on, “But we have to keep that fizz-tonic safe. Can’t have you throwing up underwater. It could devastate Mer/Mortal relations for hundreds of years.”
My jaw slacked. I hadn’t even considered the customs of the world we were headed to. Maybe they didn’t have morning sickness. Perhaps I shouldn’t go.
“Hey, stop.” Vic dropped her hands on my shoulders. “I was joking. You’re not going to ruin anything if you have to puke behind the corral. Lev will cover for you.”
Relief hit me all at once, and I sagged.
“All packed?” she asked.
“Mostly.” Bits of my earlier hesitations about Mara drifted back to me. I still didn’t remember the dream. “What are your thoughts on Mara?”
Vic glanced past me. “I couldn’t get her anklet off, but she asked me to. She let me tear the mechanics inside it to shreds. She was willing to chance that to make you three safer on your trip.”
“For what reason? Why would she risk that?” It could have been a ruse on her part.
Vic shrugged, setting several items in the cabinet and others inside the fridge. “Who knows why? I’m not a mind-reader, and you’re not either. Our only in-house mind-reader ‘went west, young man.’ We had to resort to the peacock shifter to get at what we needed. She put up with that, too.”
We stared at one another for a moment.
Vic went on, “I think I got the anklet turned off, but I couldn’t figure out how the locking mechanism worked, so it’s still on her leg.”
I snorted. “Is that all you think about here?”
She crossed her arms, her tone matter of fact. “I like to dwell on my failures, talking about them until disappointment eats me up inside.”
“Vic. Be serious.”
“I am serious.”
“What do you think of Mara?” I enunciated each syllable. I had to travel with her, and I trusted Vic’s opinion more than I trusted my own, hormone-soaked one.
“Lev likes her. My opinion wasn’t really solicited beyond that.”
I gestured in the air. “But you have an opinion, don’t you?”
Vic had an opinion on everything and everyone.
She studied the wall behind me, as though carefully choosing her words. “I think caution is good, but if I were in Mara’s shoes, I’d be cautious, too. Neither of us is certain of the other’s intentions. It makes the whole thing harder.”
“Have you run any scans of her? Tested her at all?”
Vic shook her head. “I try not to do that sort of thing without express consent.” She studied her fingernails. “Has she given you a reason to be suspicious?”
“No, not exactly.”
“Then, what is it?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Woe,” she said, “I need more to go on than that.”
I bit the already too-short nail on my index finger. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Yes, I won’t begrudge Lev his fling. He’s never judged me for mine.”
“He’s not a ‘fling’ sort of guy.” I moved into the bedroom and Vic followed.
“True, but I wouldn’t mind if he married her. She’s nice enough.” She unzipped my bag and rifled through it. Looking satisfied, she refastened it and set it outside the entrance beside the case of fizz-tonic.
I caught a glimpse of my figure in a mirror and smoothed my hand over my belly. “Can you tell?” I could.
She contemplated my reflection. “Only if somebody knows you or knows to look. Otherwise, I don’t think so.”
Growing another being was such a remarkable feat. I wondered what the coming months would bring. Nobody knew how long the pregnancy would be. It could be short like the Fae pregnancies or long like the mortal’s or some length in between.
I expected it to be the in-between kind that surprised everybody.
“Lev and Mara will be here any minute,” Vic said.
“Was I out that long?”
“I guess.” Vic tugged on my wrist. “Do me a favor?”
“Sure.”
“Let them take care of you?” She turned her intent gaze on me.
“I’ll try, but I’m not sure I can promise.” I had to trust the people that were taking care of me. I trusted Lev. I didn’t know how to evaluate Mara.
“Fair enough,” she said, echoing my earlier sentiment. She released my arm, and I followed her out into the living area. “I’m going to get out of here. I can’t stand messy goodbyes.” She gave me a side hug and hurried to the door.
“Me either.” I tapped the hard case with my foot. “Thanks for this.”
At the threshold, she glanced over her shoulder. “Sure. See you soon, Wings.”
“Take care, Vic.” I stared at the door, pondering my friend long after she’d gone.
An hour later, I finished packing, my thoughts still on Vic as I moved to the balcony.
The temperate night was perfect for flying, and a little girl needed to know about my impending trip. If she put a note in her window and I didn’t come right away, she would do something dangerous. She’d already proven that.
I gained altitude, putting enough vertical distance between my wings and the inhabitants of New Haven City that most wouldn’t notice my silhouette against the sky. Then I charted the quickest course toward Ziva.
Outside her decrepit apartment, I landed on the fire escape as quiet as I possibly could. I didn’t want to wake her mother, but Ziva already waited at the window, a frown on her face as she peered through the glass.
I hooked my fingernails beneath the window frame and yanked upward. It creaked open, the loud squeak reverberating up and down the side street. Somewhere below us, a cat hissed at the intrusion.
Ziva squinted at me. “You’re leaving?”
Of course she knew. “Only for a little while,” I said.
Her frown deepened. “It’s a dangerous trip.”
“But one I have to take.”
“When you come back, I want to come live with you.”
I froze. “What about your mom?”
A tear slid down her cheek. “If you asked her, I think she would let me go with you. I don’t like her new boss.”
I wiped it from her cheek. “Why not?”
“He wears ugly things that frighten
me.”
“Like… his clothes?”
“No, he wears them here.” She laid a hand over her heart.
Of course. Ziva wouldn’t see the outside. She had seen the inside.
I reached for her other hand. “When I come back, I will come see you, so I can tell you about my adventure.”
She threw her arms around me, and I wrapped my wings around her. “Promise you’ll come back,” she said, her voice muffled by my clothes.
I stroked her hair. ”I promise, Ziva. I’ll come back, and I’ll do everything I can.”
“Your baby is happy, Woe. I love her already. I can’t wait for you to get back.”
I sniffed back the tears. Ziva said the darnedest things.
Not long after I returned, Lev and Mara arrived, each with their own cases in tow. They didn’t come in, but waited for me to pick up my two bags and meet them at the elevator.
The sound of Arún’s apartment door clicking closed behind me brought me up short. It seemed so final. The end of something I had loved more than I knew possible. He had been the reward after a mortal curse, offering the love of a hero that I could never equal.
I had chosen Arún over Jason. My wings had been returned by the Fae healers in accordance with Arún’s last will and testament. Now my Fae prince was gone off to the West Coast, looking for an elusive octopus, and I was off on my first adventure as a pregnant mortal. So much could change in a months or two.
Willing my feet to move, I joined them on the elevator. “How do we get to Raishana?”
“There’s a paranormal train station.”
I tilted my head. In my time as an angel, I’d never come across it. “Really?”
“The platform is on Unseen Street.”
“What’s Unseen Street?” I stumbled on the simple words.
“A hidden place,” Mara said.
“Indeed.” Lev tugged his earlobe.
“Is it a long walk?”
“Not so long.”
Between two columns, we stepped through some sort of hidden portal and into a different world. The same but hidden.
Two gigantic, bipedal jackals greeted us and introduced themselves as Trylon and Perisphere. Lev moved cautiously around them, and Mara did, too. It set me on edge.
One of them asked, “Business or pleasure?”
“Business,” Lev said.
“Staying long?”
“Only long enough to take the train to Raishana.”
“Ah,” said the other giant. “It’s lovely this time of year.”
They processed us as visitors to Unseen Street and handed each of us a badge. I’d never met their kind before.
The brothers were nice enough. Trylon even cracked a joke about the last Pharaoh he had worked for. The highlight, he said, had been escorting Moses to an Egyptian dinner and watching his eyes bug out at the opulence.
They gave us directions to the train station at the other end of the neighborhood, and Mara led the way with Lev close behind her. I brought up the rear, overwhelmed with the newness of Unseen Street.
It must have been off-limits from Jason. As an angel, I lived in a need-to-know world, and I had never been sent to deliver messages to this paranormal realm. Jason had been the only mortal receiving most of my messages. Otherwise, I spent my time helping protect people. Knocking them back before they stepped into the street, helping them try harder or hope a little longer.
I had no idea that Unseen Street even existed, and I wanted to take it all in.
The structures were just like the mortal part of New Haven City: apartment buildings, skyscrapers, and shops at street level. It was as though they’d commandeered a borough and, once it had disappeared, everyone had forgotten it had ever existed. It was strange to see aliens and paranormal creatures mingling together.
A lizard-like couple pushed a stroller and stopped to speak to a harpy holding hands with a pixie and a redcap. Farther down the street, a dragon called back a greeting to the dinosaur that followed. A pig man mowed his front lawn. Next door, talking bear cubs played with wood nymph offspring while a vampire watched over them from an apartment window. The sheer number of species I saw as we made our way to the train station overwhelmed me.
Mara kept a brisk pace, ducking down alleyways, and around corners. We didn’t know which trains ran when and Trylon and Perisphere hadn’t been much help on that count. I hoped we wouldn’t experience much of a delay.
The platform teemed with creatures of all kinds. Mingor Monks took up several benches; the gyrating swirls on their robes made my head spin. More Jaru Jumpers leaned on swords that were taller than me. One lady looked completely normal. At least until she opened her mouth and three forked tongues stroked her lips, her eyes, and her bangs simultaneously.
Mara dropped back. “How are you holding up?”
“Decent,” I said, still wide-eyed at the sheer number of beings that were coming and going. “Anklet bother you at all?”
She shrugged. “It’s done nothing since Vic messed with it. I assume she turned it off.”
Lev waved from across the platform and then disappeared inside.
“We’ll board the next train,” she said. “Lev’s off to purchase tickets.”
“What do they take for money down here?” I frowned. I should have thought to ask before now.
“Blood,” she said.
I laughed at her joke, but she neither smiled nor flinched. “Blood? Really? Why?”
“They keep a bank of blood for medical emergencies. They portion out the excess to those that require it as a needs-based service. It keeps attacks to a minimum.”
Vampires existed, but I hadn’t run into one yet in New Haven City. Angels and vampires were rarely in the same place at the same time. But as a mortal…
Maybe it was time to start meeting people on Jason’s list.
“It’s hard to have every kind stocked, so you can purchase tickets by donating a bit of blood. They probably don’t have any whale shifter blood.”
“He told you?”
She froze as though she’d been caught. “Yes. Over dinner.”
Vic wasn’t kidding. Lev liked the woman. “Did you tell him what you were?”
“I did.”
“Well?” I crossed my arms. “What are you?”
“I’m a Mer.”
That explained a lot. It didn’t explain everything, but it explained the trip to Raishana and why Lev liked her.
I uncrossed my arms. It probably wouldn’t be best to begin our trip with an interrogation. “Do you know where all this train goes? Is it fast to get to Raishana?”
Mara shook her head. “No, the next stop is Eilean Ren and then Raishana. We should be there in three or four hours.”
“Eilean Ren?” I whispered.
She scowled and leaned closer. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. I’ve never heard of Eilean Ren.” Not true, but that wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with Mara.
I hoped she hadn’t seen the shock that registered on my face at the mention of Eilean Ren, and I prayed no one would recognize me when stopped there. They’d plastered my face all over their periodicals when I returned Arún’s body for his funeral. None of them knew he was still alive. Except Ishka. She helped copy his soul into a crystal and then him back into his body after the funeral. It was like something out a movie Vic made me watch once. Yet not even Ishka had been told about our baby. Arún wanted to keep it that way, and I did, too.
Lev strolled back, his jacket tucked over one arm, shirtsleeve rolled up, and free hand clutching the crook of his exposed elbow, his arm bent at a ninety-degree angle. I pointed him out to Mara, and she bounded away to meet him. I’m not sure I could have paid in blood. I followed at a slower pace.
When I was close enough to the couple to be heard over the din, I asked Lev, “Do I need to add anything to the contribution?”
He pressed his lips together and tilted his head as Mara hovered over him. “I don’t think so, but you
shouldn’t give them your blood. They wouldn’t have your kind of blood before, so they’d run tests on it. Maybe find out all your secrets.”
“Ah,” I said. “And maybe tell the Boss?”
He dabbed at the wound in his elbow. “Exactly.”
“Not to worry. I won’t let a drop of your blood be wasted.” Though I meant the statement as a promise, my attempt at humor earned little response, and Lev didn’t mention it again.
A silver train whooshed into the station. The engine was a cylinder and looked to be made from one piece of chrome. Buffed to a bright shine, it reflected the clear sky on its top half and the train station on the bottom.
As it pulled to a complete stop, a pantless, eight-armed figure stepped out of a little green door behind the engine, squeezing through the space like a determined octopus. The creature’s kaleidoscope skin glistened as though wet, catching the sunlight and scattering it over the pavement. With one hand, it doffed a porter cap, and with another it tugged a pocket watch out of its vest pocket and checked the time.
“All aboard!” it gurgled.
As we approached the conductor, I peered into the windows of the cars we passed. Passengers were disembarking, while others hurried aboard. Lev and Mara scooped up their bags while I grabbed my two. Lev placed the tickets in one of the arms of the conductor. He used his suction cups to punch our slips, and then directed us to our assigned seats in the first car.
“I’m glad we’re at the front of this ride,” I said, settling in a blue upholstered seat nearest the window, with armrests. The lead passenger car had fewer seats and large bay windows on either side. A pristine skylight ran the length of the car. It didn’t feel as claustrophobic as I imagined the others probably did. After my last panic attack, I didn’t want anything to set me over the edge again.
“Paid extra,” Lev said, dramatically rubbing his arm. He directed Mara into the seat opposite mine. Then, he winked at me as he took the aisle seat. “We can always use more leg room.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but I appreciated the thoughtfulness. He’d waited through panic attacks with me a time or two. They weren’t easy on anybody involved and it would be embarrassing to work through one on the train.
Every five minutes, the conductor reminded all passengers to board. Then, he stepped inside the compartment, and the carriage hummed as the engine powered on. It hissed as it expelled a cloud of something that looked like steam. Since it was my first time on Unseen Street, I wasn’t sure how things worked.
Leviathan's Rise Page 17
