“Sign it.”
“Nope,” I said, folding my arms. “We’re gunna renegotiate properly. You’re the one who declared the first contract over, so I have the right to set the terms on a second one.”
Zero’s eyes flitted over Athelas and then rested on me. “How did you know that, Pet?”
“Been studying. Anyway, I’ve got some terms to add before I go signing anything.”
“What terms?”
“Lots of stuff,” I said. “I’ll obey you unless you tell me to do the wrong thing. Then I’ll stop. You have to do any jobs I bring to you, but I’ll only bring you jobs if it’s humans who’re in danger from something to do with Behindkind.”
“I see,” said Zero; a heavy, but not necessarily forbidding couple of words. “Go on.”
“I help out on those jobs—and you share info with me like you would with Athelas and JinYeong. If it’s your own stuff, you make the decision about whether to share or not.”
“Go on.” His voice was very nearly a rumble, but still not as forbidding as I had expected.
“And,” I added, tipping my chin at JinYeong as he came back into the living-room, “I’m not gunna be his pet.”
JinYeong’s brows went up, but to my surprise, he seemed amused instead of annoyed.
No, not amused. He was smugly, purringly pleased.
Heck. What had I done that I didn’t know about?
“Kurae, johah,” he said exultantly. And then, very clearly, he told me, “I don’t want you as a pet.”
“Rude!” I said. “I’ve been a good pet. You’re just biased.”
“Anin ko,” said JinYeong. “You: from now on I will be very annoying, because you have annoyed me.”
“I didn’t blow holes in your coat! I didn’t go around pretending to be your friend!”
Athelas gave vent to a low, soft laugh, as if he could no longer contain it, but when I turned to him, he asked only, “And what of me, Pet?”
“Haven’t decided yet,” I said, glaring at JinYeong before I turned my attention fully on Athelas. “I’ll let you know.”
I still wasn’t sure he hadn’t given me the knowledge of how to renegotiate on purpose, though I didn’t know why he’d given it to me if he had.
There was a sigh from Zero: huge and slightly frustrated and somehow amused, too. “Bring me the contract,” he said. “I’ll sign it.”
“That’s brave,” I said. I’d expected him to want to read it over very carefully first. “Haven’t written it yet. Gotta get some help.”
“I’ll be very glad to assist, Pet,” Athelas said.
“Not from you!” I said firmly. “You’d probably write yourself in as chief beneficiary.”
“It would be highly unusual in a contract, I believe.”
“Yeah, but you’re highly unusual, too,” I pointed out. “I’ve got someone else who can help.”
I was pretty sure North would help, when she had a bit of breathing space. She hadn’t paid me yet, so maybe that’s what I’d ask for when the question came up.
“Bring it to me when you’ve finalised it,” Zero said. “Until then, I’ll consider you my pet again. Decisions will be mutually agreed upon, and we’ll assist humans at your request if the attacker is Behindkind.”
I caught myself up just before I said, “Deal!” and agreed verbally to something that I wanted to be very sure was in black and white, and above all, detail, before I did.
Instead, I said, “That’ll do for now.”
Maybe it was a dream I had that night when I fell asleep on the couch. I mean, I doubt it, but it could have been. Annoyingly, I’d fallen asleep with my back against JinYeong, which meant I was going to smell like his cologne for another couple of hours when I went up to my own bed. He seemed to be asleep, or as close as he usually gets to it, so that couldn’t be what had woken me.
I wasn’t even sure, with the fuzziness of the dark room around me, that I was awake.
Then someone knocked at the linen closet door, and a huge shadow moved silently across the room.
Zero opened the door while I was gummily blinking my eyes and wondering why the world smelled so overwhelmingly of JinYeong and coffee, and I saw a fractured version of the golden fae I’d met a few times before.
I gave up trying to blink and just gazed blankly through my slit eyes.
“I’ll take the job,” Zero said.
I saw victory flash across the golden fae’s face as my eyes inevitably shut again. “I will be sure to—”
“But I have my own terms, and I’ll write the charter myself. Any attempt to work around the conditions this time, and I’ll not bother to bring it to a Behindkind court: I’ll carry out the sentence myself. You can tell my father that.”
I could have visited Morgana any time over the following week. She messaged me every day, but I didn’t dare answer because I knew if I did, I’d go around to see her. Then I would have to talk about why I was back with my psychos, because she was concerned and would ask, and I didn’t know how I could answer because I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about it myself. There was a perilous sense of freedom to it: there was no contract yet, and for the first time I felt as though I was nearly on the same level as everyone in the house. Or maybe just that it was close to being acknowledged. It was probably wishful thinking. I’d just got used to being treated like an equal by Morgana and Daniel—and even, to some extent, by JinYeong’s lying little carcass. Now that I could understand him most of the time, he was mostly grumpy and annoyed rather than superior. Sort of like an old human man stuck in a ridiculously pretty body.
A lying, manipulative old man stuck in a ridiculously pretty body.
Or maybe just a lying manipulative teenager who never grew up.
I was definitely going to start calling him ahjussi. It wouldn’t change much, but it would make me feel a lot better. And at least now that we both knew where we stood, there was a kind of evenness to our relationship: I disliked him and he disliked me, but at least he wasn’t coldly supercilious like Athelas or ruthlessly condescending like Zero.
Nope. JinYeong was just a liar.
I wasn’t sure about how it was all going to work from now on, but I was sure about one thing: I was glad to be back. There was a slightly different edge to everything, but it still felt like home. And there was a hopeful sort of feeling to that edge of difference, if you didn’t count the fact that JinYeong had gone back to smouldering at Zero again.
It was enough for now.
But I still missed the human interaction with Morgana, and to a certain extent, the slightly-less-human interaction with Daniel that felt like family anyway. When I woke up to another message from Morgana one morning about a week after I’d left her house, it put me out of synch with the Between-laced world around me.
“I’m going shopping!” I yelled to the house in general, making myself coffee. It would be good to get out for a walk—away from all the Betweenness of this world. The patch of Zero-tinted space upstairs shifted a bit, and JinYeong’s shadow flitted past in the kitchen, where the percolator was doing its good work. “I’ll make breakfast when I get back.”
I started off in the right direction; heading for the grocery store. Despite that, I soon found myself drifting in the direction of Morgana’s building when I left the house. It took me longer than the halfway point before I realised it was because I’d wanted to talk to her.
That realisation made me stop dead in my tracks. It was bad enough that I was visiting her at all—if anyone had been following me, I would be leading them right to her. I couldn’t keep going to see her just because I felt the urge to talk to her. It wasn’t fair to her—it wasn’t safe for her, not if people like the Sandman were going to start following me as a normal thing now.
A feeling of unease settled in my stomach. Oh yeah. I should probably swing by anyway—check that she was all right. I didn’t need to go in and see her; I would just pass by and make sure there was nothing weird about the building. Noth
ing Between lingering around the corners of it or anything.
Yep. That’s what I would do. No need to speak to Morgana at all. Maybe just pop up the stairs to make sure there was nothing weird hanging around her room. Make sure Daniel had been keeping up with feeding the kids.
I was still debating on whether or not to go inside when I turned down the street that Morgana’s building was on. My first feeling was relief, because I could see the building, and there wasn’t anything Between about it. My second wasn’t so comforting.
There was something different about the building.
Fear pierced me in a single, cold shock. Someone had already found Morgana. What had they done? I ran the last ten metres until I stood, panting, at the front gate.
In the coldness of my fear, it took me far too long to see the huge shadow by the corner of the building. I didn’t see it until, dashing forward to find out what had happened to the house, a huge hand grabbed me by the collar and effortlessly reefed me backwards.
“Strike a light!” I panted. “Why can’t you call when you want me instead of popping out of nowhere?”
“Didn’t I tell you to pay attention when you’re out by yourself?” said Zero coldly, one white brow twitched up in disapproval.
“Yeah, you say that,” I began, on the attack because I was still too startled and too relieved to think better of it, “but you’re the one who made the building hard to see, aren’t you?”
“It’s hard to see; not impossible. And those who are used to seeing it shouldn’t have any difficulty.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I don’t think that’s the question that’s important right now,” Zero said dryly. “Stop flailing, Pet.”
“If you don’t want me to flail you shouldn’t scare the spit outta me!” I said indignantly.
“I’m referring to your verbal flailing.”
“Oh. Well, if you hadn’t scared the spit outta me—”
“Why are you here, Pet?”
“That’s what I keep asking myself. Out of all the places in the world, why am I here with three non-human psychos? Just down to flamin’ bad life choices, I reckon.”
“Pet,” said Zero, ducking his head down to my level and pinioning me with a blue look. “I am willing to talk all morning and into the night, if that’s what it takes.”
“Can’t,” I said. “Gotta get home and cook breakfast, and it’s JinYeong’s turn to pick dinner tonight, so—”
“JinYeong can wait,” said Zero; and usually, I would have approved of this attitude.
“Yeah,” I protested, “but—”
“Keep going,” he said, tilting his head at the entrance. “You’re visiting someone, I believe.”
I cleared my throat. Was that all he knew? Was that what he thought? That I was visiting someone as a friend? Not that I was going back to the place where I’d spent the last couple of weeks?
I said slowly, “Yeeah. Okay.”
But as I stepped through the entrance, a huge shadow followed me.
I turned around and put my hands on my hips. “What?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“What?”
“I’m coming with you.”
I sighed. “When did that little rat tell you?”
“He told me where you were staying the first night when he came back.”
“Wait until I see him!” I muttered. “I’ll soak his ties in so much holy water that he sneezes himself out of his socks!”
I stopped, dithering in my indecision. It was bad enough that Morgana had seen JinYeong and Daniel; I wasn’t going to bring more Behindkind into her life, even if that Behindkind was Zero. I didn’t want to put her in that kind of danger.
Zero waited for me, his eyes lightest blue, and it occurred to me that he was smiling. Actually smiling, and not just with his eyes. Fine time for him to show that he could display emotions. I said crossly, “Forget about it! I’m going home!”
Zero, still smiling, followed me out the door. I knew he was still smiling because I could see his face reflected in the mirror. I wondered if Morgana had seen a reflection of us coming and going, too, and felt a pang of regret. I really wouldn’t be able to see her much from now on. It wasn’t until I realised as much, that I could acknowledge the fact that I’d been planning, somehow, on still going to see her.
The heaviness of regret in me grew. I stomped ahead of Zero, who didn’t try to catch up or call me back but opened Between ahead of me and followed me as I stumped into it without looking around.
It was a short distance through Between, but I wasn’t paying attention to it as much as I should have been, and when the smudgy edges of somewhere damp grew solid and turned into carpet and a familiar staircase, I was surprised to find myself back in the house.
Zero shouldered past me, and he was no longer smiling. For once, I didn’t care. I was just cranky enough to not worry that he now looked annoyed.
Athelas looked up as we came into the room, and if I’d wondered whether or not he already knew about Morgana, his amused glance left me in no doubt. JinYeong was smirking, too, so I stuck out my tongue at him.
“I understand that you’ve made a new friend, Pet!” said Athelas, and his voice was mildly congratulatory. “Well done!”
“She’s not Behindkind,” I said. “Just a human. She’s not important.”
“Ah, but if she’s your friend, naturally she’s important,” said Athelas, and there were layers of meaning to his voice that I had already spoken to myself.
“Yeah,” I said flatly. “I’m not gunna keep visiting her, so you don’t have to worry.”
“I’ve already put protections around her building,” Zero said abruptly. “There’s no need to avoid it. I didn’t go to the trouble for nothing.”
I blinked at him and felt a lightening of my heaviness. I didn’t mean to smile at him, but I did, and I saw his smile come out again for the briefest moment before he turned away to his bookcase. Choosing a book or avoiding emotion, who knew? I decided to leave my thanks at a smile instead of confusing him by saying it aloud.
Behind me, Athelas said, “However, if what JinYeong told us is right, it might behove him to pay her a visit and give her protection of a more…permanent kind. Give her the ability to take care of herself, so to speak.”
I turned sharply.
“Ne,” said JinYeong, looking pleased with himself. It had probably been his idea. “Hae bolkka?”
“Don’t you lay a tooth on her!” I said furiously. “She’s human and she’s going to stay human!”
JinYeong, offended, said, “Wae?”
“Really, Pet,” said Athelas placidly, “you might consider that your little human is quite unwell and might like to be turned.”
“She’s not my little human! She’s a human girl, and she doesn’t need Behindkind shoving their noses in her life!”
I took in a deep breath; trying to calm down, trying to remember that Athelas had once had a little worm chewing away in his brain. That the people he took care of usually only had one fate.
Remembering that even if he had a twisted way of expressing it, he was trying to suggest something helpful; maybe even something he thought was kind.
My anger dissipated into the heaviness of regret again. No good would come of me continuing to visit Morgana, not now that I was back with my psychos. She had Daniel now, and she would always have the kids. It would be far better if I didn’t go back to see her.
“You lot leave her alone,” I said to them, more calmly. “She doesn’t need you hanging around. I’ll stay away, too.”
I would go back once to see her, make sure she was okay—to let her know I wouldn’t see much of her anymore. And then her life would stay as it was, unlike the Palmers’ lives.
I put a pot of chilli mince on to simmer, because that felt a little bit normal and life was a bit too much up and down these days. When I came back out from the kitchen again, feeling familiar and weird and sad all at the
same time, it was as though nothing had ever happened. Zero sat by himself, sharpening knives, a crease between his brows, Athelas sat elegantly in his favourite chair alternately smiling at the ceiling and gazing quietly around the room, and JinYeong, eyes dark and stormy, glared at the world around him as he sucked on a blood bag.
I went and sat down on Zero’s desk, crossing my legs beneath me. Usually there were books out on it, but today he was just sharpening knives, slow and steady and mindless.
I said, “Thanks.”
Zero looked up briefly. “For what?”
“Whatever thing you put on Morgana’s house. And for listening to my terms, I s’pose.”
“Sarah Palmer and her family are still in danger,” he said. “Don’t expect me to do anything more for them.”
“I don’t,” I said. “North will take care of it. I’d be surprised if she didn’t already have terms in mind. She’ll get the Palmers through it.”
“You trust too easily,” said Zero. “She’s the North Wind.”
“Incarnation of,” I told him. “I know. But I know she’s not going to hurt them.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yeah, I do,” I said. If there was one thing I was sure about when it came to North, it was that she’d do everything up to the point of death and probably beyond, to look after human children in general and Sarah Palmer in particular. “She knows what it’s like. She knows what it’s like to have human warmth and love, and lose it all. She can’t do anything like that to anyone else.”
“I had all of that,” Zero said, his voice quiet. Across the room, JinYeong looked up, his eyes dark and narrow, and Zero’s voice sank a little further. “I had it all and lost it. And I could still allow it to happen to someone else. So don’t trust too much.”
“I saw you,” I said, my voice low to match his. “I saw you find the USB, and I saw you put it back. Don’t pretend you couldn’t have had everything you wanted much earlier.”
There was a silence long enough to make me look up at Zero; and having done so, to find that he was staring at me, his ice-blue eyes for once dazed instead of icy.
Between Homes (The City Between Book 5) Page 23
