Ironside mtof-3

by Holly Black

"Why aren't they following us?" Luis asked, looking back over his shoulder.

  "They are," said a voice.

  Kaye shrieked, raising the blade automatically.

  Sorrowsap stepped out onto the road, black clothes loose and boots crunching on the gravel as he strode toward them. "My Lord Roiben was displeased with me for letting you go across the water." There was a threat in his voice. "He will be even more displeased if you do not depart immediately. Go. I will hold whatever comes. When you cross the border into the Unseelie Court, you will be safe.”

  "You must see that it would be madness to keep me against my will," Ethine said, touching Kaye's arm. "You are away from the court. Allow me to return and I will speak on your behalf. I will swear to it.”

  Luis shook his head. "What is going to keep them from hurting my brother if we let you go? I'm sorry. We can't. We all have people we love that we have to protect.”

  "Do not let them take me," Ethine said, throwing herself to her knees and taking Sorrowsap's bony hand. "My brother would want me returned to my people. He seeks me, even now. If you are loyal to him, you will give me succor.”

  "So I guess Roiben's not such a villain anymore?" Kaye asked her. "Now he's your loving brother?”

  Ethine pressed her mouth into a thin line.

  "I have no orders to help you," Sorrowsap said, pulling his fingers from Ethine's grip. "And little desire to help anyone. I do as I am commanded.”

  Ethine rose slowly and Luis grabbed her arm. "I know that you are a great lady and all that, but you have to get in the car now.”

  "My brother will hate you if you hurt me," she told Kaye, her eyes narrowed.

  Kaye felt sick, thinking of the last, terrible look he had given her. "Come on, we're just going on a road trip. We can play I Spy.”

  "In. Now," Luis told her.

  Ethine climbed into the backseat and skooched over the cracked vinyl and the crumbling foam. Her face was stiff with fear and fury.

  Corny drew a swirl along the hood that turned almost immediately to rust. He didn't seem to notice that he was standing barefoot on snow. "I'm a murderer.”

  "No, you're not," said Luis.

  "If I'm not a murderer," asked Corny, "how come I keep killing people?”

  "There's plastic bags here," said Kaye. She reached into the well of the backseat and fished them out from the piles of empty cola cans and fast-food wrappers. "Put these on until we get gloves.”

  "Oh, very well," Corny said with a lunatic half smile. "Don't want to wither the steering wheel.”

  "You're not driving," Luis said.

  Kaye wrapped Corny's hands in the bags and steered him to the passenger side. She jumped into the back, beside Ethine.

  Luis started the car and, finally, they were moving. Kaye looked through the rear window, but no faeries seemed to follow. They did not fly overhead, did not swarm down and stop the car.

  The hot, iron-soaked air of the heater dulled Kaye's thoughts, but she forced her eyes open. Each time dizzy slumber threatened to overtake her, terror that the host were almost upon them startled her awake. She kept her eyes on the windows, but it seemed to her that the clouds were dark with wings and all the woods they passed were full of hungry wet mouths.

  "What are we going to do now?" Luis asked.

  Kaye thought of Roiben's long fingers knotted in Silarial's red hair, his hands pulling her down to him.

  "Where are we even going?" Corny asked. "Where's this safe place that we're in such a rush to get to? I mean, I guess we have a better chance with Roiben than Silarial, but what happens when we give Ethine back? Do you really think Silarial's going to leave us alone? I killed Adair. I killed him.”

  Kaye paused. The enormity of how isolated and helpless they were settled into her bones. They had taken a hostage that both of the courts wanted back, and Silarial needed something that only Kaye knew. There was no secret weapon this time, no mysterious faerie knight to keep her safe. There was only a crappy old car and two humans who hadn't deserved to get dragged into this. "I don't know," she said.

  "No such thing as safe," said Corny. "Just like I said. Not for us. Not ever.”

  "There's no safe for anyone," Luis said. Kaye was surprised at how calm he sounded.

  Ethine moaned in the backseat.

  Luis glanced at her in the rearview mirror.

  "It's the iron," said Corny.

  Luis nodded uncomfortably. "I knew it bothered them.”

  Corny smirked. "Yeah, watch out. She might puke on you.”

  "Shut up," Kaye said. "She's sick. She's not even as used to it as I am.”

  "'Welcome to New Jersey,'" Corny read off the sign. "I guess we can pull over at the next rest stop. Get her some air. We should be in Unseelie land by now. “

  Kaye scanned the skies behind them, but there was still no sign that they were being followed. Were they going to be bargained with? Shot with arrows that would burrow into their hearts? Were Silarial and Roiben working together to get Ethine back? They had left the map of what Kaye knew, and she felt as though they were about to fall off the edge of the world.

  A gust of fresh, icy wind woke her from her reverie.

  They had pulled into a gas station and Luis was getting out. He headed toward the station while Corny started filling the tank. His bag-covered hands slipped, thin plastic tearing. He staggered back in surprise, gasoline splashing the side of the car.

  Kaye stumbled out. The air was heady with vapors.

  "What happened back there?" she asked him quietly. "You killed Adair? Why?”

  "You don't think I just did it because I could? I killed Nephamael, didn't I?" Corny shoved the nozzle back into the car.

  "Nephamael was already dying," Kaye said. Her head hurt.

  He pushed bag-covered fingers through his hair, hard, like he wanted to tear it out. Then he held his hand out in front of him. "It all happened so fast. Adair was talking to me, being scary, and I was trying to be scary back. Then Luis walked up. Adair grabbed him—he was going on about how Silarial made no promise about Luis being unharmed. He said he should put out Luis's other eye, and he put his thumb right up against it. And I just—I just grabbed his wrist and shoved him. Then I grabbed his throat. Kaye, when I was in middle school, I got my ass kicked pretty regularly. But the curse—I didn't have to press very hard. I just held on to him and then he was dead.”

  "I'm so—," Kaye started.

  Corny shook his head. "Don't say you're sorry. I'm not sorry.”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder, breathing in the smell of his familiar sweat. "Then I'm not sorry either," she said.

  Luis walked back from the small store with a pair of lemon yellow dishwashing gloves and flip-flops. Kaye looked down and realized that Corny's feet were still bare.

  "Put these on," Luis told him, avoiding looking either of them in the face. "There's a diner across the street. We could get something to eat. I called Dave and he's going to hide out with a friend in Jersey. I told him to get out of Seelie territory— even if the city is mostly just full of exiles.”

  "You should call your mom," said Corny, pulling out his cell. "Battery's dead. I can charge it in the diner.”

  "We have to get some other clothes at least," said Kaye. "We're all dressed crazy. We're going to stand out.”

  Luis peered into the car. Ethine watched him with her knife gray eyes.

  "Can't you guys use glamour?" he asked.

  Kaye shook her head. The world swam a little. "I feel like shit. Maybe a little.”

  "I don't think some T-shirts are going to make up for the fact that you're green," Luis said, turning around. "Get her out. We'll take our chances with the diner crowd.”

  "Do not presume that you may give orders." Ethine stepped carefully onto the asphalt and immediately turned to vomit on the wheels. Corny grinned.

  "Watch her—she could try to run," Luis said.

  "I don't know." Corny frowned. "She looks pretty sick.”

  "Wait
a minute," Kaye said. She leaned over to Luis and reached into the pocket of the purple plaid coat he wore—her coat. She pulled out handcuffs lined in fur. After slapping one on Ethine's wrist, she clasped the other one onto her own.

  "What is this?" Ethine objected.

  Luis laughed out loud. "You do not." He looked at Corny. "She does not have a pair of handcuffs handy in case she happens to take a prisoner.”

  "What can I say?" Corny asked.

  Ethine shivered. "Everything reeks of filth and iron and rot.”

  Corny shouldered off his leather jacket and Ethine took it gratefully, sliding it on over her free arm. "Yeah, Jersey pretty much blows," he said.

  Kaye concentrated, hiding her wings, changing her eyes and the color of her skin. That was all she had energy for. The car ride and the Queen's ripping off of the human glamour had left her sapped. Ethine had not even bothered to make her own ears less pointed or her features less elegant or inhuman. As they climbed the steps, Kaye considered saying something, but bit her tongue when Ethine shrunk back from the metal on the door. If Kaye felt bad, Ethine probably felt worse.

  The outside of the diner was faux stone and beige stucco with a sign on the door proclaiming truckers welcome. Someone had sloppily painted the windows with reindeer, Santa’s, and large wreaths. Inside, they were seated without a second glance by a stout older woman with carefully groomed white hair. Ethine stared at her lined face with undisguised fascination.

  Kaye slid into the booth, letting the familiar smell of brewed coffee wash over her. She didn't care that it stank of iron. This was the world she knew. It almost made her feel safe.

  A cute Latino boy handed them their laminated menus and poured their water.

  Luis drank it gratefully. "I'm starving. I pretty much finished all my protein bars yesterday.”

  "Do you really have more power over us if we eat your food?" Corny asked Ethine.

  "We do," Ethine said.

  Luis gave her a dark look.

  "So I—," Corny started, but then he opened his menu, hid his face, and didn't finish.

  "It fades," Ethine said. "Eat something else. That helps.”

  "I have to make a call," Kaye told Corny.

  Corny leaned down to plug the cord into an outlet sitting underneath a painting of happy trees and a moose. He sat back up and handed the slim phone to Kaye. "As long as you don't jerk it out of the wall, you can use it while it's charging.”

  She dialed her mother's number, but the phone just rang and rang. No voice mail. No answering machine. Ellen didn't believe in recorded messages that she would forget to check.

  "Mom's not home," Kaye said. "We need a plan.”

  Corny put his menu down. "How can we make a plan when we don't know what Silarial's going to do?”

  "We need to do something," Kaye said. "First. Now.”

  "Why?" Luis asked.

  "The reason that Silarial wanted me to come to the Seelie Court is because I know Roiben's true name.”

  Ethine looked over at Kaye, eyes wide.

  "Oh," Corny said. "Right. Shit.”

  "I managed to deceive her about what his name is for a while, but now she knows I played her.”

  "What a typical pixie you are," Ethine said.

  She might have said more, but at that moment the waitress walked over, taking her pen and pad out of her apron. "What can I get you kids? We have an eggnog pancake special still going.”

  "Coffee, coffee, coffee, and coffee," Corny said, pointing around the table.

  "A strawberry milkshake," said Luis. "Mozzarella sticks and a deluxe cheeseburger.”

  "How would you like that cooked?" the waitress asked.

  Luis looked at her strangely. "Whatever. Just cook it.”

  "Steak and eggs," Corny said. "Meat, burnt. Eggs, over easy. Dry rye toast.”

  "Chicken souvlaki on a pita," Kaye said. "Extra tzatziki sauce for my fries, please.”

  Ethine looked at them all blankly and then looked at the menu in front of her. "Blueberry pie," she said finally.

  "You kids been to that Renaissance Faire up in Tuxedo?" the woman asked.

  "You guessed it," said Corny.

  "Well, you all look real cute." She smiled as she gathered their menus.

  "How horrible to be dying all your life," Ethine said with a shudder as the waitress walked away.

  "You're closer to death than she is," Luis told her. He poured a line of sugar on the table, licked his finger, and ran it through the powder.

  "You're not going to kill me." Ethine lifted her cuffed hand. "You don't know what to do. You're all just frightened children.”

  Kaye tugged abruptly against the other end of the cuff, pulling Ethine's hand back down to the vinyl-covered booth seat. "I heard something about a duel. Silarial agreed to give you her kingdom if Roiben won. What's up with that?”

  Ethine turned to look at Kaye in confusion. "She agreed?”

  "Well, maybe she got distracted during all the kissing that preceded it.”

  "Whoa," Corny said. "What?”

  Kaye nodded. "It wasn't like he threw it in her, but there was some definite pitching and catching of woo." Her voice sounded rough.

  Ethine smiled down at the table. "He kissed her. That pleases me. He does have feelings for her, even still.”

  Kaye frowned. She tried to think of an excuse to tug on the cuff again.

  "Back to what you know about the duel," prompted Luis.

  Ethine shrugged. "It is to take place in neutral territory—Hart Island off of New York—a day from tonight. At best, my brother could win the Unseelie Court a few years of peace, perhaps long enough to build up a larger legion of fey or a better strategy. At worst, he could lose his lands and his life.”

  "Doesn't sound worth it," Corny said.

  "No, wait," said Kaye, shaking her head. "The problem is that it sounds totally worth it. It sounds possible for him to win. I bet Roiben thinks he can beat Talathain. Silarial didn't want them to go at it today, but Roiben didn't seem to mind. Why would she give him even a chance to win?”

  Luis shrugged. "Maybe it's no fun if it's too easy to take over the Unseelie Court?”

  "Maybe she's got some other plan," Kaye said. "Some way to give Talathain an advantage.”

  "What about cold iron bullets?" Corny said. "Fits in with her use of that big rig. She's on a whole mortal tech kick.”

  "Is any bullet really more terrible than an arrowhead that burrows through your skin to strike your heart?" Ethine asked. "No mortal weapon will kill him.”

  Luis nodded. "Then Roiben's name. That's the most obvious, right? Then the whole duel becomes a smoke screen because she can force him to lose.”

  "Whatever my Queen's plan, I imagine it is beyond your ken," said Ethine.

  The waitress came and poured coffee into their cups. Corny raised his in one yellow-gloved hand. "Here's to us." He looked at Ethine. "Brought to this table by friendship or fate—or because you're a prisoner—and here's to the sweet balm of coffee, by the grace of which we shall accomplish the task before us and ken what we need to ken. Okay?”

  The three of them lifted their cups of coffee and clinked them together. Kaye clinked her cup against Ethine's.

  Corny closed his eyes in bliss as he took his first sip. Then he sighed and looked over at them. "Okay, so what were we talking about?”

  "The plan," Kaye said. "The plan we don't have.”

  "It's hard to come up with a scheme to thwart some other scheme you don't even know about," Luis said.

  "This is what I think we should do," said Corny. "Lay low until after the duel. We surround ourselves with iron and keep her for insurance." He gestured toward Ethine with his coffee spoon, and a few drops spattered on the table. One hit the faerie woman's gown, soaking into the strange fabric. "So, Kaye, if you're the linchpin of Silarial's plan, the plan won't happen. The duel will go fairly. May the best monster win.”

  "I don't know," said Kaye. The waitress set a steaming pla
te in front of her. Her mouth watered at the smell of the cooked onions. Across the table, Luis picked up a mozzarella stick and dredged it through a dish of sauce. "I feel like we should be doing something more. Something important.”

  "Do you know what fairy chess is?" Corny asked.

  Kaye shook her head.

  "It's what they call it when you change the rules of the game. Usually it's just a single variation.”

  "They really call it that?" Kaye asked. "Like in chess club?”

  He nodded. "And I should know.”

  "There were absolutely no blueberries in that pie, were there?" Ethine asked as she climbed into the car beside Kaye, the handcuffs taut.

  "Dunno," said Corny. "How was it?”

  "Barely edible," said Ethine.

  "Right there, that is the great thing about diners. The food is much tastier than you would think. Like those mozzarella sticks.”

  "My mozzarella sticks," Luis said as he started the car.

  Corny shrugged, a wicked grin spreading across his features. "Worried about getting my germs?”

  Luis looked panicked, then abruptly angry. "Shut it.”

  Kaye poked Corny in the back of his neck, but when he turned to her, his expression was hard to decipher. She tried to mouth a question. He shook his head and turned back to the road, leaving her more puzzled than before.

  She leaned against the cushions of the seat, letting her glamour slip away with relief. She was coming to hate the weight of it.

  "One more time, I say you ought to release me," said Ethine. "We're well away from the court, and my continued captivity will only draw them to you.”

  "No one likes being a hostage," said Luis, and there was some satisfaction in his voice. "But I think they're coming whether you're tagging along or not. And we're safer with you here.”

  Ethine turned to Kaye. "And you are going to let the humans speak for you? Will you side against your people?”

  "I would think you'd be glad you're here," Kaye said. "At least you don't have to watch your beloved Queen kill your beloved brother. Who she's probably in love with." As she said it, her stomach clenched. The words echoed in her ears, as if she'd doomed him.

  Ethine pressed her mouth into a thin, pale line.

  "Not to mention the pie," said Corny.