by Anne Bishop
Once she and Sam were settled in the BOW, Meg let out a gusty sigh. It wasn’t easy dealing with the Others, but at least she had shown the Crows that she wasn’t a pushover.
* * *
The Crows might have learned she wasn’t a pushover, but that particular lesson had been lost on the puppy. When she parked at the Green Complex, Sam wouldn’t get out of the BOW.
“Sam,” Meg said sternly. “I have deliveries to make before we can play. You have to wait for me at home.”
He talked back, and she didn’t need to speak Wolf to know he wanted to come with her and wasn’t agreeing with anything she said about him staying home by himself.
Until a few days ago, he’d been home by himself all the time. Apparently, he didn’t like it anymore.
Meg stared at the defiant pup and considered the problem. She could pick him up, but he was fast enough to bounce all over the inside of the BOW, and there was the possibility of him smashing a package that held something breakable. She could try to grab the harness, but he might forget they were friends and bite her. Or she could grab the leash and haul him out of the vehicle. But she had spent a lifetime of being controlled and held by one kind of a leash or another, and she didn’t want Sam thinking that he should let someone control him without fighting that person all the way.
A human someone, anyway, since Simon Wolfgard controlled pretty much everything and everyone in the Courtyard. Which didn’t help her now, as he was still out of town.
Leaning into the BOW, she shook her finger at Sam, bopping him on the nose a couple of times.
“All right,” she said. “You can come with me. But, Sam, you have to mind me, or we’ll both get in trouble. Do you understand?”
He licked her finger and wagged his tail. Once she was sure feet, tail, and leash were safely inside, she closed the door and went around to her side.
After starting the BOW, she considered her delivery route. She wasn’t going near the Wolfgard Complex while Sam was with her. That would be asking for trouble. She had a box for Jester. The Pony Barn was safe enough. The Utilities Complex? Trickier if Blair and Ferus were there, but she had sent a note along with the mail telling Blair she would deliver his boxes when she made her afternoon rounds, and she didn’t think it was a good idea to break a promise to the Courtyard’s enforcer.
“I’m going to get bitten one way or the other,” she muttered as she headed for the Pony Barn. When she pulled up in front, she counted four Owls perched on a decorative piece of wooden fence. Three Hawks claimed a similar bit of fence on the other side of the barn. And the trees around the barn held a dozen Crows. Apparently, she was still entertaining enough for the Others to watch her activities.
Jester walked over to the BOW, glanced in the passenger’s window, and grinned. Coming around to Meg’s side, he waited until she rolled down her window and blocked Sam’s attempt to climb in her lap and poke his head out.
“Got a helper today?” Jester asked.
“I’ve got something,” she replied. Then, “Sam! Stop it! You promised to behave.”
“If you had a better sense of smell, you’d want to sniff around too,” Jester said. He looked at her face and let out his yipping laugh. “I’ll get my own box out of the back.”
“Thank you.” She grabbed Sam before he climbed in the back with the packages, but she couldn’t stop him from howling to let the whole Courtyard know he was there. And the whole Courtyard would know, because the Crows cawed, the Hawks screamed, the Owls hooted, and the ponies neighed. And the damn Coyote raised his voice along with the rest of them, despite being in human form.
“Drive carefully,” Jester said. “Got some snow coming.” He closed the BOW’s back door and headed for the barn.
As she drove off, several ponies, including Thunder, Lightning, and old Hurricane, left the barn and trotted along behind her, turning off on one of the unmarked tracks while she continued to the Utilities Complex.
Blair was there, waiting for his delivery. So was Ferus. When she pulled up, both of them were focused on her passenger.
“You have to stay inside,” Meg said quietly. “Big Wolves don’t like the safety line.” She got out of the BOW and had the back door open before the two Wolves approached.
There were flickers of red in Ferus’s eyes. He snarled at her. Blair immediately turned and snarled at him until Ferus lowered his eyes and took a step back. And Sam, poking his head between the seats to watch the Wolves, vocalized opinions to everyone.
Blair studied the pup. Then he studied Meg. Finally, he said, “You have any packages for the Wolfgard Complex?”
“Yes.”
“You leave those here. I’ll take them with me when I go home.”
Relieved, she hauled out boxes and packages, which Blair handed to Ferus to take into the Utilities building.
“Simon will be home tonight,” Blair said as he took the last box.
“Oh. That’s good.” It was good. It also meant she needed to have Sam tucked at home before Simon arrived.
Having sufficiently expressed his opinion, Sam was curled up in the passenger’s seat, napping, when she got back into the BOW and headed for the Chambers.
Her hands shook a little as the BOW chugged up the road and snow swiftly covered the pavement. She wanted to finish her deliveries and get home before the snowfall surpassed her driving skills—and it wouldn’t take much snow on the roads to do that.
Sam didn’t stir when she stopped at the first set of delivery boxes for the Chambers, but he woke up when she rummaged through the BOW to find the snow brush and clean off the windows before she could drive to the next group of mausoleums the Sanguinati called home.
By the time she pulled up in front of Erebus’s home, Sam was almost bouncing with excitement, pawing at the passenger’s window and then at the door handle.
“Come out this way,” Meg said, holding her own door open.
He leaped out of the BOW and dodged across the road to explore as far as the leash allowed.
“Over here, Sam.” Meg breathed a sigh of relief when he immediately obeyed. Crouching, she put a hand on his head. “We must never run across a road without looking in both directions. There could be other vehicles on the road, and the drivers might not see us in time to stop. That would be very bad, especially if anyone got hurt. So you don’t run across the road like that. All right?”
He licked her chin, which she took as agreement.
When they went to the back of the BOW and she began gathering the packages, she noticed the way the pup stared at the wrought-iron fence, and thought of what Jester had told her about the Chambers.
Getting Sam’s attention again, she said, “This is also a very important rule that we all have to follow. No one is allowed to go inside the fence unless Mr. Erebus gives his permission. Even Simon doesn’t enter the Chambers without permission. So we stay on this side of the fence and don’t even poke our noses between the bars.”
Sam sighed.
“I know,” she said as she opened a couple of the delivery boxes and began filling them. “There are a lot of rules to remember when you go beyond the Green Complex—and even more rules when traveling outside the Courtyard. If you had let me take you home, you could have been in a warm house, watching a movie, instead of being out here in the snow.”
“Do you like movies, little Wolf?”
Meg jumped and let out a squeak. Sam responded by making puppy growls and snarls—which would have sounded more impressive if he hadn’t leaped behind her and then poked his head between her knees to voice those opinions.
She looked at the old man standing at the gate, smiling gently at her. “Mr. Erebus.”
“I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“I know. I just didn’t see you.” She glanced at his mausoleum. The door was open, but there were no footprints marring the fresh snow on the walk. She had gotten so used to seeing smoke drifting over the snow, she hadn’t even noticed it this time.
Ereb
us didn’t comment. He just stood there, smiling gently.
“Sam does like movies,” Meg said to fill the silence. She closed the full delivery boxes, then went back to the BOW for another group of packages. “But I don’t think he watches the same kind of movies that you do.”
“I like many kinds of movies,” Erebus replied, looking at Sam. “Have you seen the movies called cartoons? I especially enjoy the ones where the animals or people do the most foolish things and still survive.”
Sam stayed close to her while she filled the boxes, but when she went back to the BOW for the final packages—the ones addressed to Erebus—Sam eased up to the gate to study the vampire patriarch.
Erebus opened the gate, crouched down, and extended one hand beyond the Chambers boundary. Sam sniffed the hand, licked a finger, and wagged his tail.
Erebus laughed softly as he petted the pup. “You’re a delightful boy. I’m glad you’re looking after our Meg.”
“Looks like you have another movie,” Meg said. When Erebus rose, she expected him to tell her to put it in the delivery box. Even when she had gone up the walk and delivered his packages at the door and he was watching, she had set them on the stoop per his instructions. But he had petted Sam, and she had a feeling that meant something. So she held out the package.
He hesitated. Erebus actually hesitated before he took the package from her hand.
“Namid is full of many things, some wondrous and some terrible,” he said softly. “And some of her creations are both. Thank you for bringing my movies, Meg. I do like my old movies.”
She opened the passenger’s door, made sure the towel was on the seat, and let Sam jump in. Once he was settled, she got in, waved at Erebus, and drove off.
Why had he always hesitated to take a package from her until now? Was there some taboo about Sanguinati touching cassandra sangue? Did he even know what she was? And why had he looked at her when he said some of the world’s creations were both terrible and wondrous? Yes, prophecies could be either and sometimes both, but she didn’t think Erebus had been talking about prophecies.
Which made her wonder what he knew about her kind that she didn’t.
The snow was falling faster. Meg stopped the BOW and took out the copy of the Courtyard map that she tucked into her purse each time she went out to make deliveries. She wasn’t ignoring the danger of taking a map out of the Liaison’s Office, but she was careful to keep it out of sight. And while it did show where each gard lived within the Courtyard, the map didn’t show any roads except the paved ones that were suitable for vehicles. It wasn’t anywhere near as detailed as the map of Lakeside that she had found in the Courtyard’s library.
The Controller would have paid a lot of money for even this much information about the interior of a Courtyard.
After studying the map for a minute, she tucked it back in her purse, put the BOW in gear, and turned onto an interior road. She’d make the other deliveries tomorrow if the roads in the Courtyard were passable. Right now, she wanted to get back to the Green Complex while she could.
By the time the BOW slid across Ripple Bridge, Meg was gripping the steering wheel and hardly daring to breathe. Even with the wipers going and the heater switched to blow on the front window, it was getting harder and harder to see.
The white horse standing at the edge of the road blended in with the swirling snow, and she wouldn’t have seen him on his own, but the black horse and his rider stood in the road, waiting for her.
She stopped the BOW and put it in park, afraid that if she shut it off, she would never clear the snow off the windows enough to drive home. Rolling down her window, she peered at the riders who came up alongside the vehicle. Not girls. Closer to adult women, but still looking a bit too young to be considered mature.
Their faces—eerie, seductive, and compelling—looked even less human than their child faces, but the green scarf confirmed the identity of the black horse’s rider.
“Winter?”
Winter laughed, and the snow swirled around them. “Yes, it’s me. Thunder and Lightning wanted to stretch their legs, so Air and I are out riding.” Her smile was chilling.
Meg stared at the horses—beautiful, otherworldly creatures with flowing manes and tails, who, except for their color, didn’t look anything like the chubby ponies who delivered the mail.
Then Thunder lightly stamped a foot, and sound rolled softly through the Courtyard.
“Be patient,” Winter scolded mildly. “This is our Meg.”
Thunder tossed his head as if agreeing. Then the horse poked his nose in the window at the same moment Sam clambered into Meg’s lap. The two breathed in each other’s scent and seemed satisfied.
“More snow is coming,” Winter said once Thunder pulled his head back. “You should go home.”
“I have the library books you requested.” Nudging Sam back into the passenger’s seat, she started to twist around to find the carry bag.
“Leave it with Jester,” Winter said. “We’ll fetch it on the way back.” She studied the BOW, then exchanged a look with Air. “And we can give you a little help getting home.”
“You don’t have to do that.” Meg wasn’t sure what they were offering, but she didn’t want to face Thunder and Lightning anytime soon if they ended up hitched to the front of the BOW to pull her back to the Green Complex.
“No, we don’t. But it will be amusing,” Winter replied.
“Do you think the storm will hold off long enough for Simon to get home?” Meg asked. It was more thinking out loud than an actual question.
Another look between Winter and Air. “The Wolfgard will be able to get home tonight. Follow us.”
Turning, they cantered down the road.
Rolling up her window, Meg put the BOW in gear and followed.
Snow blew off the road in front of her, leaving the pavement clear so the BOW could keep up with the horses, and filling back in moments after Meg drove past. It was like driving through a snow-shaped tunnel that was lit up by flickers of lightning and trembled with the thunder that followed. It should have been frightening, but she felt oddly safe in the cocoon of weather the Elementals were shaping around her. A few flakes drifted down and were cleared by the wipers, but she could see the road and the horses up ahead, and that’s all she really needed.
As they neared the Pony Barn, she spotted another rider heading out on a brown horse—and noticed the funnel of snow that followed Tornado.
They stopped at the Pony Barn long enough for Jester to run out and fetch the bag of library books. After that, Winter and Air escorted Meg and Sam all the way back to the Green Complex’s garage.
“Thank you,” Meg said, grabbing her own carry bag and Sam’s towel as the pup jumped out of the BOW.
With a nod of their heads, Winter and Air turned the horses and rode off.
Meg paused long enough to check that she’d shut off the lights. She couldn’t remember what the power gauge read, but she shook her head and closed the garage door. There should be enough power for her to get to the office, and she could charge the BOW in the garage there. Besides, the snow was coming down harder now, and it was lung-biting cold outside.
Sam didn’t have any trouble running in snow, but after Meg skidded a couple of times and almost landed on her butt, he slowed down to accommodate human legs. Pausing at the bottom of her stairs to catch her breath, she noticed the black sedan idling at the side of the road.
“What does he want?” she muttered uneasily as she looked around. No lights on in Henry’s apartment. Most likely he was still working in his studio. She paused a moment longer, then climbed the stairs to her apartment.
“Come on, Sam. You can stay up here with me until Simon gets home.” She’d spent so much time in Simon’s apartment these past few days, she hadn’t had a chance to settle into her own place.
“Meg!”
Meg opened her door, tossed the towel on the floor near the boot mat, and told Sam to stay on the towel. Then she gre
eted Tess as the other woman bounded up the stairs.
“Here,” Tess said, holding out a bakery tin. “Chocolate chip cookies, still warm from the oven. I booted everyone out and closed A Little Bite early, but after I got home, I felt restless and decided to bake.”
Meg took the tin. “Thanks, Tess. Do you want to come in?”
“No. I’ve got a casserole in the oven now. You’re shivering. You should get inside.”
Tess wasn’t shivering—yet—but she wasn’t dressed for being outside for long.
Meg stepped inside.
Tess’s hair began to streak with green. She shook her head, but the hair continued to change to green and started to curl. “It’s this storm,” she explained. “Everyone will be edgy if the Wolfgard gets stranded tonight.”
“Winter said the storm will hold off and Simon will be able to get home,” Meg said.
Tess gave her an odd look. “Did she? Well, she would know.”
Bounding down the stairs, Tess ran back to her own apartment. Meg closed her door and set down the tin with the rest of her things as she took off her boots and hung up her coat.
Sam immediately began sniffing at the bakery tin. When he couldn’t nose it open, he sat and grabbed it between his front paws, trying to hook his claws under the lid to pull it open.
“No,” Meg said, taking it from him. Going into the kitchen with him bouncing beside her, she set the tin in the middle of her table, opened it, and recalled everything she could about cookies and animals.
The chocolate chip cookies smelled delicious, and she wanted to bite into one. But she looked at Sam, balanced on his hind legs with his front paws resting on the table’s edge, and closed the tin.
“I’m sorry, Sam, but I don’t know if Wolves can eat these cookies. I remember that chocolate is bad for dogs—” She held up a hand to stop him when he began vocalizing. “Yes, I know you’re not a dog, and maybe since you can change shape you’d be fine eating chocolate even when you’re furry, but I can’t take the chance of you getting sick, especially tonight, when it would be hard to get help. So no people cookies. And I won’t have any either.” At least, not until you go home.
