“Astrid.”
“Santiago,” he took her hand and kissed the back of it. She pulled it back, uncomfortable. But she had liked it too.
Then people started screaming. The sound of people having fun on rides is very different than the sound of those in fear, thought Astrid, though she had never thought of it before this moment.
The Sea Swings were spinning as usual, but one of them was askew. Each swing was secured by four metal cables, one on each corner of the chair. The riders were strapped in by seatbelts and a metal bar crossed in front of them with a connector attaching to the chair between their legs. The crooked swing held a man, and though people on the ground were screaming, he was silent as he sailed in a circle, clinging for his life. Two of the cables, the ones toward the inside of the ride, had snapped. Or had been cut. The man hung onto the two remaining cables as his inertia pulled his body outward, toward the ocean, then toward the buildings, then toward the ocean again. Any direction would be deadly if he fell.
Elliot leapt forward and yelled something at the ride operator, but the Sea Swings were already slowing.
“That’s a tidy little lawsuit he’ll have,” said Santiago. “Loose cables coming off, two at once. Awful coincidence.”
The swings slowed and the man was taken from the ride, shaken but safe.
“Can you tell where it is?” Red Fawn asked Santiago.
“There,” he said, pointing. There was a bird, a pigeon, sitting on the top of a light post. It was as ordinary as any of the hundreds of its kind scavenging the boardwalk.
“You sure?”
“Yes,” he said, without explanation.
Well, thought Astrid, if Red Fawn could feel Doors, maybe this guy could feel evil creatures. Slaugh, he had called it.
“Can you catch it?” asked Red Fawn.
“Probably. Slaugh are clever though. Did you know there’s a Kitsune around here?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen her.”
“This place is just full of awful strange folk,” he said. “It’s like the Grand Central Station of the weird.”
“You ought to talk,” said Red Fawn. “But could the Kitsune help you?”
“I’m not sure. Some Kitsune were tricksters back in their country. This one clings to an old code, but others of her kind were not much different than that slaugh there. Between the two of us old dogs, I think we can take care of it.”
Chapter 18
Yukiko held the chubby infant against her body. He was as bright-eyed, smooth-cheeked and black-haired as the perfect child of her imagination. But that was intentional. He was a flawless specimen. He even had the milky sweet scent of a baby. He reached up a chubby hand and patted her breast.
“Quit it,” Yukiko muttered under her breath and repositioned his hand on top of the fleecy blanket that she had wrapped around him.
“Gah.” He grabbed a tiny handful of breast and squeezed.
She slapped his hand away, harder than she should have, and a middle-aged woman gave her a sharp and disapproving look.
“You stop it now,” she whispered.
“Pah,” he said with a toothless grin.
She couldn’t believe she had agreed to team up with Santiago, but if they didn’t catch the slaugh, she would be in worse trouble than she already was. Mr. Augustus had told her to get that girl, Astrid, into the mirror maze and had told her how it was to be done. Then, the Seelie were supposed to handle the girl. He had not said anything about any slaugh. And if Augustus was working for the Seelie, she could bet her hind leg that letting a slaugh, an Unseelie, into the park was not part of their plan. Not to mention the judgment she might incur from the other Myobu, or worse yet, The Lady, for allowing an evil spirit to harm anyone.
Yukiko detected the scent of the slaugh. It was in the arcade, and had been for some time. She shifted Santiago, and he made a little squeak of objection as she pulled him away from her chest and propped him up on her hip. She should have carried him like that before, but she could have sworn his neck had been too weak to hold up his head before. Now he appeared to be about six or eight months old. The little fiend had aged himself.
From his place on her hip, Santiago looked around the arcade with her, sniffing. Yukiko entered the arcade. The games were loud, with distorted recordings of cartoon men shouting while performing martial arts moves, race car motors roaring, and other beeping and screeching. It was horrible. So was the scent. To one side of the arcade stretched the prize counter, where children could bring tickets that some of the games dispensed and trade them for cheap prizes. Lanes of skee-ball were at the far end of the arcade next to a basketball toss. There were driving games and dancing games, shooting games and games with puzzles involving geometric shapes. The whole place was overwhelming.
The arcade was close to empty. About a third of the game screens were black, and she could make a guess why. A line of children stood at the prize desk. Yukiko figured that some of the children were asking for refunds for lost tokens or were just cashing in their tickets. Good. The fewer people here, the better.
“Up,” said Santiago, very softly. He did not point.
“Got it,” she said. The slaugh was in the shape of a pigeon and perched on one of the wooden rafters.
The pigeon flew toward them and landed directly overhead. Yukiko knew he was taking a look at her and the baby. The creature would be able to sense them as easily as they could sense it. And the more intrigued it was the better. She walked over to the prize counter and pointed to a few toys, talking softly to Santiago as if he were a real baby.
“See the little spider?” she said, pointing to a plastic spider ring.
The slaugh moved. It was very close, completely focused on them. Now, time to get it somewhere away from the people. She moved Santiago so he was looking over her shoulder. He could talk to her that way, and see behind her. She forced herself to move slowly, knowing the thing was behind her and could attack at any moment. She had no spirit ball, very limited power, and the only person on her side would just as soon leave her to die as get himself hurt. At least, she thought so. Coyote was unpredictable, so he could just as well stand and fight to help her. There was no telling.
“Look at the balls,” she said to Santiago, pointing to a girl playing skee-ball.
“Bah,” said Santiago.
“I like your baby,” said a deep voice.
“Thank you,” she said and looked up. She didn’t have to pretend to be afraid. This creature was dangerous, more than the humans like Red Fawn seemed to realize. Santiago squirmed in her arms, and she realized she was clutching him too tightly.
“I like him very much.” The pigeon alighted on the top of a video game and cocked its head to one side, then turned to look at her from the other eye.
“Leave us alone.” She turned to leave.
“I will play you for him. Name the game.”
“He’s not for wager. I didn’t know you were here. We’ll just leave you alone.” She hurried toward the door.
“For sale? Can I buy him?”
“Not for any price.” She kept going.
“Play for him or I will take him.”
“Just try it,” she said. She imagined she had her full powers and glared at him.
“I will have him. A Kitsune, yes?” he said.
“We are.”
“I can raise the little fox as my mount and ride him in the Hunt. What a fine thing, to have such a servant.”
“You cannot take him. I refuse to wager him, and he cannot be bought.”
“If the mother will not wager or sell, there is always theft.”
So the vile creature did not know the rules of this world governing infants. An infant could be bartered, sold or wagered, but not stolen. Not by his kind anyway. Humans, of course, could steal their
own kind.
“I can take him right now,” he said.
“You can’t steal him. Not here. It doesn’t work that way,” she said. “You can only buy or wager.”
“Or kill. I can kill.” Its voice was so hungry, so full of longing for death that she took a step backwards. This creature was one of the beings her kind existed to fight. And here she was, helpless, powerless.
Santiago was not acting as a normal baby would but was giving the situation his full concentration. She hoped the slaugh would not notice the pleased gleam in his eye. She was terrified, and here Santiago was, having a grand time.
“I shall kill him,” the slaugh growled. “I shall dash his little round head on the concrete. His brains will stick in his fine black hair.”
The pigeon fluttered to the ground, and an instant later, in its place was a middle-aged man. He was dressed like a tourist, no doubt modeled on some of the men the slaugh had seen at the boardwalk. But his eyes were off. They were a normal brown, but the pupils felt wrong, as if they pulled at something inside her. And his eyes did not move much in their sockets. He had to turn his head a fraction to look from the baby to her face. She tried not to look directly into his eyes, but focused on a spot on his forehead. He licked his thick lips, giving them a glisten of saliva.
“Death or a wager,” he said. “I can kill him before you know it.”
He was correct. He could kill the baby in an instant. If it had been a baby.
“No! No, please,” she begged. “I’ll wager. Just don’t hurt him.”
“Better,” said the slaugh. “A game then?”
“Sure, a game. Whatever you want. Just leave us alone.”
“A game. A game of skill. Not of chance. Your kind cheat.”
That was rich, coming from this vile creature. Yukiko knew better than to think that the slaugh wouldn’t cheat to win.
“First, the terms,” she said. “I win, and you leave us alone. Me and my descendants, forever.”
“And if I win, I take the boy for my slave.”
“Very well,” she said. “It is agreed.”
“It is agreed,” he said.
Now it was sealed. She had to repress a smile. Santiago grinned and made a bubbly, happy gurgle.
“We will choose a game,” said the slaugh.
They needed a game of skill, not of chance. She didn’t want the slaugh to go out on the midway for a ring toss or shooting game. There were too many people out there. They needed something close by.
“How about that?” Yukiko pointed toward the skee-ball ramps.
“Throwing balls,” the slaugh said. “That is skill.” It turned, its motions slow and alien and walked away from her. It assessed the basketball and the skee-ball games.
“That one,” he said, pointing to the basketball game.
Interesting. It was the easier of the two games, at least to her way of thinking. Was the slaugh picking it because he had trouble coordinating a human body? Or could it not understand the numbers on each of the skee-ball holes, and that some holes were worth more than others? No matter, the basketball game would do.
“You can go first,” she said. “I’ll hold my baby while you play.”
“No, fox spirit. The child will wait there.” He pointed to a spot on the floor. He was technically correct. She could not hold on to the prize of the wager during play. She set Santiago on the floor, where he looked around with round, wondering eyes. Cute. Now just hold still for a few minutes, she thought.
“Now, we play.” The slaugh looked the game up and down. Did it not know that it needed tokens? Yukiko was about to dig in her purse.
“Bah!” Santiago slapped his chubby thighs. Three balls rolled down and bumped up against end of the chute, ready for the slaugh to toss them. The slaugh missed his first shot, but then the second and third ball went into the basket. He was more able to control his body than she had thought.
Then three more balls came down the chute. The slaugh didn’t seem to notice how strange that was. Perhaps he thought she was using her magic. She wished Santiago had let her pay tokens for playing so they didn’t arouse the slaugh’s suspicions. But this would make a better story later, when he would regale others with it for a glass of whiskey. To have him sitting there as a useless baby would not. He was showing off.
Yukiko tossed the first ball, holding her breath as it bounced against the rim and fell outside the basket. The second ball went in. The third ball was the key. She threw it and it went wide, bouncing off the backboard.
“I win,” crowed the slaugh and grabbed Santiago. The baby whimpered.
“Wait, please!” cried Yukiko. “Give me another chance!”
The slaugh pulled something thin and silver from the air, fastened it around his own wrist and around Santiago’s little ankle. He then turned to leave.
What was Santiago waiting for? She had no magic of her own, not even enough to affect a stupid basketball machine. And now Santiago was sitting placidly in the slaugh’s arms, sucking his fingers as the monster carried him off.
She trailed behind, and just as the pair crossed the threshold of the arcade, Santiago reverted to his true form. The slaugh dropped him and Santiago looked up at him with a canine grin.
“Hello, friend,” Santiago said.
“What manner of fox are you?” the slaugh said.
Yukiko had forgotten how small coyotes really were. Of course, her form was even smaller, but Santiago looked almost tiny compared to the slaugh in man’s form.
“Not a fox, you halfwit. I am Coyote.”
Santiago was an egomaniac. He couldn’t be satisfied to catch the slaugh, but had to revel in doing it, making sure his name would be remembered and cursed by the creature forever.
“You tricked me!” the slaugh cried, turning on Yukiko.
“Your argument is with me,” said Santiago. His tawny fur was bristling all up along his back.
But the slaugh grabbed Yukiko by the elbow and put its hand around her throat. The hand was cold and reptilian, not soft and warm as it appeared. She clawed at it. He put the other hand around her waist and squeezed, lifting her. By the gods, the thing was strong. Yukiko ripped at the hand choking her, and then her old lessons returned to her. The thing’s hands were busy, leaving its vile face unprotected. She went for its eyes.
The hands jerked away, clawing the skin of her throat, and Yukiko fell to her knees when it dropped her. Santiago was a snarling, insane creature. The thin silver chain wrapped around Santiago’s hind foot tied him to the slaugh’s wrist. Coyote yanked it, pulling the slaugh’s arm backwards. He clamped his jaws around its wrist and savaged it, snarling in fury. The slaugh kicked at him.
Yukiko did not waste any time, but dashed for the pretzel cart. Astrid was there, as planned, and was waiting with a metal box, filled with salt. Yukiko was about to take it, but Astrid rushed forward. Yukiko stopped her.
“You have to wait,” Yukiko said. “It’s still a man.”
Coyote and the slaugh were still fighting, and the slaugh was mostly staying as a man, beating Coyote about the head. Now and then, it changed into a bird to fly away and Coyote jerked it back by the chain. They had gotten lucky. A slaugh that could become a bear or a tiger would have been impossible to subdue.
“Let me do it,” said Yukiko. “If it hurts me, it won’t be so bad.”
“Thanks,” said Astrid, and Yukiko heard the note of surprise in it. She supposed after the leaf incident that the girl had no reason to like her. Fair enough. She took the box of salt and the matching metal lid.
The slaugh was a man again, but it was tiring from changing back and forth. It turned into a bird, and then the chain slid from its body. Ah, so it had caught on that it could release its prisoner, but too late. Coyote grabbed it by the neck and shook it sens
eless. Yukiko slid onto the ground in front of him and Santiago dropped the slaugh into the box. She smashed the lid down and put all her weight on it. The slaugh inside screamed in an incomprehensible language and bashed its body against the sides of the box.
“Here,” said Santiago, slipping the chain from his foot. Yukiko took it and tied it around the box four ways, like a ribbon on a Christmas present.
“Astrid, grab a couple magnets!” called Santiago.
The girl stood confused for a moment, but thankfully, she obeyed. She pulled some magnets from the wall of the prize counter where they advertised Luna Park, Los Angeles and the Golden State. She slapped them onto the outside of the box.
“Will that help keep it in?” Astrid asked Santiago.
“It’ll help. They hate cold iron and magnets.”
The slaugh was quieter now, but Yukiko could feel it moving in the box. Santiago panted, his pink ribbon of a tongue lolling out of his mouth. He was happier than she had seen him in years.
Astrid glanced around nervously. “I think you should become human. You don’t exactly look like a normal dog.” There were only a few people, and Santiago must be doing something, because they were passing as if nothing had happened.
“He won’t have clothes if he changes,” Yukiko said. “So no, he really shouldn’t.”
Yukiko watched Astrid’s cheeks turn a little pink. Poor girl. Santiago was handsome, if erratic, and had been charming ladies since before Astrid’s grandmother was born.
“Go find Red Fawn,” said Yukiko. “We’ll need to get rid of this thing.”
Astrid left and Yukiko brushed herself off with one hand while holding the box.
“I heard something about your spirit ball,” said Coyote.
“Why didn’t you say something before?”
“What, and ruin our fun time?” He scratched his ear with his hind foot. “One of the seabirds said something about dark water.”
The Time Corps Chronicles (Complete Series) Page 68
