Claws (9780545469678)

by Grinti, Mike; Grinti, Rachel

  Emma felt Jack shift in the handbag, felt his low growl.

  “Can you see the others, too?” Nissa whispered. “You can, can’t you?” She chuckled through her thorny teeth. “Corbin always gets the best toys. He’ll never appreciate you the way I would. I’d never try to turn you at all, oh no! What a waste of wonderful, wondrous eyes!”

  Emma wasn’t sure what the faerie was talking about, but none of it sounded very good, for herself or for Helena. The faeries treated Helena like a toy? And turn her into what? But she couldn’t ask, because the real Helena would already know. She stood. “I really should go find Corbin, I think. Maybe someone can take me to him?”

  “No. I want you to stay,” Nissa said. “You won’t be any good after tonight, so I’ll have to borrow your eyes until then.”

  The girl with the glasses glanced at the faerie. “Lady Nissa, you know Lord Corbin hates it when you —”

  “Hush,” Nissa said. “This is too good a chance to pass up. He’s the one that’s let her wander around on her own, after all.”

  The girl stopped talking, though her mouth tightened and her eyes narrowed with jealousy as she stared at Emma.

  But Emma forgot about her a moment later as an itching sensation began building at the back of her eyes. For a second the room seemed to brighten, everything glowing with light and color. It was like she’d been plunged into the faeries’ magic, surrounded by it and filled with it.

  Nissa was using her eyes, disrupting her cat magic.

  She hissed, and then her claws were out. Instantly, the itching sensation disappeared and the room no longer glowed. Her stomach dropped to the floor as she realized Helena’s appearance had melted away, along with her black-and-purple dress. She was Emma once more, dressed in her old jeans and T-shirt.

  Behind her glasses, the human girl’s eyes widened.

  “She’s that cat! Corbin warned us about her!” Nissa cried out, her voice a mix of fear and excitement.

  All around her the faeries started, but there was a moment’s pause before their human eye-puppets thought to turn and look at her. It was the only moment Emma was going to get. She grabbed the handbag, ran up to the edge of the platform, and jumped onto the railing. At least that’s what she’d meant to do. But something snatched at her ankle as she jumped, breaking her momentum. She fell hard, and her stomach slammed into the railing.

  The bag flew from her arm, spilling Jack onto the floor amid the crowd.

  Hanging there, half off the platform, Emma could see all the way to the other end of the club. Time seemed to slow as a door opened and a couple stepped out.

  A faerie, short and round like a toad. He had green-brown skin. Moss covered the top of his head, and tendrils of what looked like seaweed hung in a long mustache from his face. Where Emma thought his eyes should be were lily pads. And beside him stood a girl in a dress that sparkled red and blue. She had streaked hair and a quick smile. An easy, unstoppable walk.

  Helena.

  Emma tried to shout her sister’s name, but she had no breath. Instead, she watched, unable to move. But Jack had seen Helena, too, had recognized her from the illusion at the Red Caboose. He darted through the crowd toward her.

  Nissa’s girl was gazing after him. The faerie mustn’t realize what Jack was doing. Emma had to use her magic. For an instant she panicked. Then a fly flew past her nose and she knew what to do. She focused on the girl, just like she had with the troll. She saw the nightclub with her cat-human double vision. She reached out for the girl as if she were right beside her. And then it was done.

  Nissa and the girl in glasses screamed, and the girl fell back onto the platform, covering her eyes with her arm. “My eyes! There’s something wrong with my eyes!” she shrieked.

  Emma had given her the eyes of a fly, eyes that showed a thousand different versions of the scene around them. They would take a while to get used to, Emma thought. She’d change them back later, but right now she didn’t have time for sympathy. She had to be like a cat.

  Emma pushed herself off the platform, forcing herself to breathe as she hit the floor on all fours, crouching.

  Behind and above her, the faeries began shouting, and she heard Nissa’s voice. “That girl, the one with the claws! A cat-girl! She’s dangerous to all faeries. If you ever loved us, you’ll bring her to me!”

  Emma retracted her claws as people turned to her. The two guards that had been standing at the platform each drew thin green wands from their belts and started toward her, pushing aside anyone that got in their way. A man in a biker’s jacket pushed back, and one of the wands shot out, smacking him in the head. The man crumpled to the ground, twitching. Wisps of blue smoke poured out of his nose and ears.

  They were coming for her, and if they got her, she would lose Helena forever.

  Then Emma felt a tugging inside her and the pull of magic from all around her. The pride. Her cats were here and they wanted magic. She gave them what they needed.

  Deep, chest-rumbling roars exploded from all around the club. The music was cut off entirely, and then the only other sounds were shouts and screams as huge cats leaped among the crowd. They batted people aside with their giant paws, eyes shining in the nightclub lights.

  “Be careful! Don’t hurt anyone!” Emma shouted. Everywhere people were running, yelling, screaming. At this rate someone was going to get trampled. But she had to keep going, had to try and find Helena while she still had a chance.

  Before she could do anything she felt strong hands grip her shoulder, spinning her around. Then there was a flash of golden fur and Cricket had one of the hands in her mouth and was shaking the guard attached to it back and forth. She was going to kill him.

  “Stop it!” Emma yelled. “He’s just doing what they told him. He can’t help it!”

  Cricket dropped the man and looked up at Emma. Blood flecked the white fur around her mouth. “But this is a hunt,” she said. “If no one gets hurt, what’s the point?”

  Emma hesitated, not sure what to say, and in that moment the second guard lunged forward, jabbing at Cricket’s neck with her thin green wand. Cricket twitched and yowled pitifully, shrinking down to a ginger cat again, her eyes rolling up to the back of her head. Emma started forward. Without thinking she slashed viciously at the guard. The guard cried out, clutching her arm to her chest. Cricket lay still and smoking, but she was alive. Emma picked her up by the scruff of her neck and ran.

  She found the Toe-Chewer a few yards away. He had feathers and a pair of enormous wings, which he was flapping frantically.

  “I’m a harpy!” he yelled. “Isn’t it great?”

  “You have to get Cricket out of here,” Emma cried. “Then find the others, tell them to run — and not to hurt anyone else!”

  “But we’re supposed to protect you,” he said.

  “You’re supposed to do what I say,” Emma snapped.

  The Toe-Chewer nodded at Cricket. “Is she supposed to be smoking like that?”

  “She’ll be fine,” Emma said. “I hope. Now get out of here! I have to find Helena!”

  The Tow-Chewer held Cricket in his mouth and waddled through the ballroom, bashing the screaming crowd as he went. Emma could see the other cats starting to follow. She turned and ran toward the door where she’d seen Helena and Jack. But when she reached it, neither of them was there.

  Emma stared around, feeling suddenly hopeless and angry. What had she been expecting? For Helena and that faerie to wait around while huge cats rampaged through the club? He probably took Helena away as soon as the screaming started. If that had been Helena at all. Emma couldn’t help doubting herself now, doubting everything she’d done. It had all gone wrong, and a part of her wanted to turn back, to stay with her pride.

  Whatever choice she made, it felt like she was abandoning someone.

  Then Jack appeared at the door. “Are you coming or not?” he called. “She went this way. Hurry!”

  CRAG FACT OF THE DAY:

  “The 1997
film Under the Titanic, which tells the story of a band of merfolk smugglers who become heroes when they risk their lives to save the men and women of the sinking Titanic, featured real merfolk in the lead roles.”

  CragWiki.org

  Emma burst through the door and ran down the hallway, with Jack a little in front of her, leading the way. There were a few people in the hall, but no sign of either Helena or the toad faerie. Was that faerie Corbin? Was he using Helena as his own eye-puppet?

  Emma felt sick at the thought, but didn’t stop running. “Where did they go?” she yelled to Jack.

  “I only saw her for a minute,” Jack said. “She was with a faerie and —”

  “He took her somewhere, I know it,” Emma interrupted.

  “Do you want to hear what they said or not?”

  “Sorry.”

  “That’s better,” Jack said. “He told her the ceremony was going to take a few hours. That they didn’t have much time to spend here, but he wanted to see it all with her one last time.”

  “That other faerie, Nissa, she said something like that, too,” Emma said. “When she thought I was Helena, she said soon it would be too late to see through my eyes and I was family, and something about Corbin turning me.” Emma stopped. “It almost sounds like —”

  “Like they’re going to turn your sister into one of them?”

  Emma nodded. “But how can they? I thought only cat magic could actually change things. That faerie magic was just an illusion.”

  “Maybe they’re using some other kind of magic,” Jack said. “If there’s enough of it in the Deep Forest to overrun a city, maybe there’s enough to turn a human into a faerie.”

  Emma caught her breath. “I heard one of the girls on the platform say something about the twenty-seventh floor, that there’s a way into the Deep Forest from it. That might be where they went. Help me look for an elevator!”

  Emma and Jack darted around corners, but there were no signs anywhere. If you were here, you were supposed to know where you were going.

  She slowed, listening carefully. She heard the distant chaos from the ballroom. Then the faint ding of an elevator and the scraping of metal as a set of doors slid open.

  “This way!” Emma cried, then turned and ran down the hallway toward the sound. There it was, an elevator. Empty. The doors started to close and Emma flung out her arm to stop them, slipping into the compartment with Jack hot on her heels.

  Inside there was a panel of numbered buttons. They went from one to twenty-six, but there was no twenty-seven.

  “What now?” she asked Jack.

  “Now you think of something sneaky and smart,” Jack said.

  Emma stared at the buttons a moment longer, then reached out and pressed twenty-six. “Maybe I can find some stairs at the top,” she said, but without much confidence. They probably didn’t want just anyone strolling right into the middle of their secret ceremony. Still, there had to be a way to get there.

  The button flashed at her and the elevator started moving. Emma watched the digital display change as they passed each floor.

  4 . . . 5 . . . 6 . . .

  “If we do find her,” Emma said, hesitating, “how am I supposed to get her out again? How are we getting out again?”

  10 . . . 11 . . . 12 . . .

  “With difficulty,” Jack said. “And magic.”

  “Thanks. You’re a ton of help.”

  16 . . . 17 . . . 18 . . .

  “This might be a good time for lesson four,” Jack said. “Remember how I said cat magic doesn’t work on faeries?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That might only be true for actual cats. For a human Pride-Heart . . . well, that’s different.”

  21 . . . 22 . . . 23 . . .

  “What? Why didn’t you tell me before?” Emma said.

  “You weren’t ready,” Jack said. He glanced up at her. “You’re probably not ready now. But it sounds like your sister’s out of time, so you need to use whatever you’ve got.”

  The elevator dinged, and the doors swung open. Jack leaped out, and Emma followed.

  The twenty-sixth floor turned out to be the zoo the bouncer had mentioned. Emma stopped and stared. Paths wound their way between floor-to-ceiling Plexiglas cages. Small trees and bushes were set into pots along the path, and somewhere Emma heard the sound of running water.

  But the animals inside the cages weren’t animals at all. They were crags. She saw five ratters with their tails tied together. They sniffed at her as she walked past, and chattered excitedly. There was a troll sitting among a bunch of rocks and bushes, so still she wasn’t sure he was actually alive until he turned his head to follow her with his stony eyes. A large gray wolf paced back and forth, and a lone dwarf reclined in a hammock, counting gold coins. Two merfolk floated in a small pool.

  Jack padded beside her, his tail bristling.

  “Should we help them?” Emma said.

  “And how do you think you can do that?” Jack asked impatiently.

  “We can let them out at least.”

  Jack spat. “You think they’re locked in? The only thing keeping them here is their love for faeries, or gold, or whatever it is the faeries make them see. These crags are just as tied to faeries as humans. The faeries don’t need locks. Their pets are happy to stay in their cages. Come on, before someone finds us. Look, there’s a door.”

  In front of them was a narrow door with a crescent moon painted on it. Emma threw the door open and found herself looking into a small stairwell — with stairs leading up.

  She dashed through the door and took the stairs two at a time.

  At the top there was another door. She turned the knob without bothering to slow down, slamming the door open with her shoulder — and tumbling out into an open space. The night sky glowed above her and she could see the lights of the city spread all around, blotted out by the darkness of the forest in the distance.

  They were on the roof of the high-rise. There was no twenty-seventh floor.

  And in front of them stood Nissa and the girl with insect eyes.

  “Hello, little cat,” said the faerie. “I wondered how long it would take you to get here. I wanted to thank you for the improvements you made to Jen. She had interesting eyes before, but now they’re absolutely fabulous. What other kinds of eyes could you make for Nissa if you stayed here? Since you’re not Helena after all, Corbin can’t complain if I keep you for myself.”

  The door behind Emma slammed shut. Emma spun around and pulled on the handle, but it wouldn’t move. Her heart sank.

  Jack hissed and spat. “She’s my Pride-Heart, faerie. And you’re going to tell us where to find Helena and the ceremony.”

  “Tsk, tsk,” Nissa said. “Little cats aren’t supposed to know about such things.”

  Emma looked at the girl. “I’m sorry about your eyes. I’ll fix them. I just needed to get away.”

  “No!” Jen said. Her hands flew to her face, as though she was shielding herself from Emma. “No, please don’t. I want to keep them.”

  “But if I don’t, you’ll be stuck like that forever. You can’t really want to live like that for the rest of your life. It’s crazy!”

  “You don’t understand,” Jen said. “I want Lady Nissa to be happy.” She glanced at the faerie and smiled, then fixed her eyes on Emma again just as quickly.

  Nissa bared her thorn-teeth at Emma. “I’d rather you didn’t ruin her, cat-girl. Unless, of course, you want to take her place . . .”

  “You heard Jack,” said Emma to the faerie. “Where’s Helena?”

  “Oh, no.” Nissa shook her head. “I can’t tell you that, I’m afraid. You’re going to have to miss the ceremony. I wanted to make sure I found you first. But everyone’s looking for you. They’ll put you in a nice cage. Or maybe they’ll just have you quietly killed. Such a waste! Stay with Nissa. Let Nissa have your eyes. Let yourself love Nissa like a sister. Better than a sister. You can turn yourself into so many wondrous creatures. Bird
, fish, cat. You can give me so many ways to see the world.”

  “If she’s not going to tell you anything, turn her into a mouse,” Jack spat. “Then we can throw her off the roof, or leave her for the others to find. Maybe they’ll put her in a nice cage, too.”

  Nissa laughed. “You know cats can’t change faeries. That’s a law almost as old as the forests.”

  “Oh, you’re right, of course,” Jack purred, his eye half closed. “But she’s a Pride-Heart and a human, too. I don’t think the same rules apply to her.”

  Nissa turned back to Emma. “Corbin told us there was a human Pride-Heart. He’s afraid of you, but the others are too wrapped up in their own games to care much,” she said. “But you don’t want to fight, do you? I see that in you, cat-girl. Stay with Nissa. You’ll be Nissa’s favorite.”

  Emma saw Jen flinch at that, though the girl didn’t take her creepy eyes off Emma. Who was she? Emma wondered. She didn’t look much older than Helena. Did she have a family out there somewhere, looking for her? What would they think to see her now, begging Emma not to take away her insect eyes?

  “Jen, you don’t have to stay here,” she said. “Come back with me. After I find my sister, I’ll help you get home.”

  “I don’t want to! I’m happy here!” Jen screamed, her eyes filling with tears.

  Emma stepped toward her, and took her by the arm. “You don’t have to do what she says.”

  Jen screamed again, and only then did Emma really focus on the girl’s face — twisted up with fear and loss and hatred. Too late.

  Before Emma could react, Jen barreled into her, crying and hitting and pushing her back — until suddenly there was no more roof under Emma’s feet, and she fell from the high-rise, too surprised even to yell out.

  CRAG FACT OF THE DAY:

  “The crag rock band Crowfood reached new levels of loud by having a harpy as their lead vocalist. Their concerts have been banned in twelve states so far.”

  CragWiki.org

  Emma opened her eyes to darkness. She was lying flat on her back, staring up at the night sky. Wet grass brushed her neck, and something small and furry was sitting on her stomach. Emma lifted her head and saw the Toe-Chewer staring back at her, his big bright eyes glinting in the dark.