A Monster's Paradise (Away From Whipplethorn Book Three)

by A W Hartoin

  “Some wore red caps,” I said as if I had no idea what a red cap might mean.

  “The red caps are the Jacobins. They hate seers. Never reveal that you’re seen to one of them.”

  I swallowed and thought back. Did I tell Camille that Iris and I were seen? I didn’t remember. I might’ve.

  Hortense put her heavy hand on my shoulder. “Who have you been talking to?”

  “We were at Notre Dame yesterday and—”

  “You were at the massacre? Mon dieu.”

  “It was a nightmare. They killed children.”

  “The red caps?”

  “The royal guard.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. I saw it.”

  Hortense went to a wicker chair and dropped into it so heavily that the sides bowed out. “So the rumors are true. I’d hoped that it was just propaganda. Did you tell anyone who you were?”

  “I don’t remember. There were these crazy phalanx. I might’ve mentioned it.”

  “Ah, Camille. If you had to talk to anyone, at least it was him. Camille is seen, but on the side of the revolution.”

  “How does that work?” I asked.

  “Well, so far. He is an ardent revolutionary.” Hortense got up and packed an assortment of crumbs and my seed in a bag. “Here.”

  “But I don’t have any money,” I said.

  “We must make it look like you do.”

  Hortense led me out between the baskets and made a great show of giving me change. I put the heavy coins in my pockets and tried not to look for Marie and Tess. It was so automatic, I kept trying to spot them.

  “Merci.” Hortense gave me a little wave and then spoke close to my face. “Go home and stay there.”

  I nodded and spread my wings. Marie and Tess were by the door. I forced myself not to look at them as I flew over the heads of the humans. There were even more fairies in the shop than before. It felt like a thousand eyes were on me. I smiled and flew past a man with a dark purple dragon on his shoulder. The dragon hissed and a line of neon green liquid ran over the man’s shoulder, pooling in his silk pocket square. The human made a face and sniffed. The dragon opened its mouth and threw its head side-to-side, laughing. Dragons really were disgusting.

  Tess waved at me with a big grin. I ignored her and darted out the door as soon as another human opened it. A fairy with a red cap noted my bag and greeted me in passing. “Bon jour.”

  “Bon jour,” I replied, hoping my accent wasn’t a dead giveaway.

  I glanced back. The red cap had flown inside, so I guess it passed. Marie and Tess rushed out the door.

  “Matilda!” said Tess.

  I shot down the street at my top speed and turned the corner, nearly bumping into the policemen who’d shoved the woman under attack into the police car. A shiver passed through me as a pair of large hazel eyes fixed on me for a second. He saw me. I almost dropped my bag. Being seen wasn’t an easy feat, unless the human had already seen fairies. This French policeman definitely had. He looked upwards in an attitude of exasperation and said, “Fées.” I’d never been seen with less interest and wanted to question him, but since it might cause him to be attacked I flitted away toward the apartment building.

  The street was quiet, unlike the shopping district. But halfway down, a couple had stopped and were looking at our apartment building. I didn’t blame them. What other building had such a cool facade? Another man walked up to the couple and they pointed at the building. The woman put a cell phone to her ear and threw up her other hand. I flew to their side of the street and flitted from doorstep to doorstep, sticking close to the building. It didn’t seem a good idea to be out in the open. As I got close I saw the tip of a shoe, lying on the bottom step. A few more wingbeats and the shoe extended to a pair of legs sprawled out on the steps. The railing blocked the view of the whole body. Who was it? Another attack?

  I held my bag tighter and glided behind the humans’ heads. I saw what they saw. A pair of bodies laying on the stairs, arms and legs going every which way. I clamped my hand over my mouth.

  It was Earl and Stanley.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  MARIE AND TESS turned the corner, walking briskly toward the building. I didn’t think about who might be watching. I zoomed to them and stopped at the tip of Marie’s powdered nose.

  “Stop,” I said. “You can’t take Tess up there.”

  “So you’re talking to us again, I see,” said Marie.

  “I’ll explain that later. Just leave Tess here.”

  Tess went up on her tiptoes. “I want to see. What is it?”

  “You don’t want to see. It’s Earl and Stanley. They—”

  “Those louts,” said Marie. “About time they got back.”

  Marie went around me, followed by Tess, and practically jogged to the steps, despite all my protests. Marie arrived at the bottom set of feet and surveyed the scene. I expected a look of horror, but I didn’t get it. She rolled her eyes and Tess actually laughed. I flew up to her shoulder ready for the worst. Through squinted eyes, there were Earl and Stanley sprawled on the steps…snoring.

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked.

  Marie kicked Earl’s foot. He snuffled and a fresh line of drool dripped off his lip.

  I flew up to the door and concealed myself between a stone fairy and a rose. “What’s wrong with them?”

  “Nothing, technically. These two can sleep anywhere at any time. You’d think they’d been through a war,” said Marie with another kick to Earl’s other foot. “Wake up before someone calls the cops, you layabouts!”

  At the word ‘cops’, Earl sat up and yawned. “Where you been?”

  “Out getting bread and marveling at dragons.”

  “I seen them dragons. They’re disgusting.”

  You know it’s bad when Earl thinks something is disgusting.

  “Wake up your partner in crime,” said Marie. “I’ve got a dinner to put on the table.”

  Earl smacked Stanley. “Are we coming?”

  “Of course you are. I can’t have you starving, can I?”

  Earl and Stanley stood up and eyed the small crowd across the street. “What’s up with them?”

  Marie sighed. “They’ve probably never seen anyone sleep on stone stairs before. Obviously, they don’t know you. I’ll take care of it.”

  Marie handed the key to Tess and marched across the street to explain things, while we slipped inside the cool foyer. I flew straight to the elevator and tried to find a way inside before anyone saw me. There wasn’t one and the door to the stairs didn’t have a keyhole. Tess walked up to the elevator and pressed the up button. “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to hide,” I said.

  “From us?” asked Stanley.

  “From everybody else.”

  “Well, you’re doing a terrible job,” said Tess. “Your wings glow. You can’t hide that.”

  Crap!

  The elevator doors opened and I zipped inside, hovering in the back trying to look inconspicuous. I’ve never been inconspicuous in my life, so it probably didn’t work.

  Marie squeezed in. She never would’ve fit if Earl and Stanley hadn’t been so skinny. I hovered in back and watched the elevator doors close. Just before they came together, a red cap flew up to the glass front doors and cupped his hands around his eyes, peering into the interior. I jutted sideways out of sight.

  “What’s wrong with you, Matilda?” asked Earl.

  “Yeah. You’re nervous as a cat,” said Stanley.

  “Good question,” Marie looked up at me with steely eyes.

  I floated down between their faces and said what I had to say. “There have been attacks on seers all over the city. No one can know that you see me or any of us. It’s too dangerous.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” said Marie. “Fairies are too small to hurt us. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  Earl and Stanley exchanged a look.

  “Well, now, there was an accident by
the dentist office,” said Stanley. “We wasn’t gonna mention it, but seeing as how we don’t want to get killed.”

  “No one is going to kill you,” said Marie.

  “Bet that’s what that guy in the car thought. He sure looked dead, though.”

  The elevator doors opened and Marie pressed the stop button. “Who was dead?”

  “You see there was this car accident next to the dentist office when we got there. Huge crowd. People yelling. All kinds of crazy,” said Earl.

  “Get to the dead part,” I said.

  “This guy hit a pole. His head was all bloody. Cuts all over his face.”

  “What’s this got to do with fairies?” asked Marie.

  “They was in the car with him,” said Stanley. “Like twenty or thirty. Got swords and sticks.”

  “What were they doing?” I asked.

  “Nothing. Just a hovering. Then someone opened the door and they all flew out. Looked happy as hell, they did.”

  “Did they have red caps?”

  Stanley scratched his head. “I think so. Some of them anyway.”

  “We better get in the apartment.” I flew down the hall and through the keyhole into the warm apartment with its good smells and safety. Rebecca sat at the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around a coffee cup. She had purple bags under her eyes and her hair lay in snarls on her shoulders. She usually reserved that awesome look for illnesses. Evan and Judd were on their hands and knees, looking in a hole in the kitchen baseboard.

  “Judd!” I yelled.

  His head popped up. “What?”

  Rebecca stared at him bleary-eyed. “Huh?”

  Judd saw me, but he couldn’t exactly say he was talking to a fairy. “Sorry, Mom. I thought you said something.”

  “I might’ve. I’ve never been this tired in my whole life,” she said.

  Evan sat back on his heels. “You’ll feel better once we get this taken care of.”

  “If you say so.”

  “It has to be rats.”

  Rebecca wrinkled her nose. “There shouldn’t be rats in beautiful Paris apartments. It’s just wrong.”

  “I don’t think it’s rats,” said Judd, creeping towards the hall.

  “What do you think all these holes are?” asked Evan.

  “Why would rats only stink when you and Mom are asleep?”

  Rebecca threw back the rest of her coffee and plunked the cup on the table. “Are you saying we’re crazy?”

  “Well…”

  Evan grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him gently. “Boy, never tell severely jet-lagged parents they’re crazy. It’s just not a good idea.”

  Marie and Tess walked in, followed by Earl and Stanley. Marie put her basket on the table and eyed Rebecca’s coffee cup.

  “Still feeling rotten?” she asked.

  “Like a truck hit me,” said Rebecca.

  Evan held up a box with a dead rat on the side. “It’s all under control. Those rats’ll be goners by tomorrow.” He got a couple of chunks of yellow and pink poison out of the box and handed them to Judd. “Better put a couple more in, just to make sure.”

  Judd dropped to his knees and pushed two squares inside the hole with a butter knife. The dogs ran in with their noses pressed against the wall.

  Rebecca slapped her forehead. “For heaven’s sake. They’ve left snot trails all over every wall in the apartment.”

  “Sniffing for rats, I assume,” said Marie.

  The dogs snuffled at the hole for a minute and then made their nose trails across the wall and went into the living room.

  “It’s too disgusting,” said Rebecca.

  “I seen more disgusting stuff,” said Earl.

  “Like what?”

  Stanley elbowed Earl and they ambled into the living room after the dogs.

  “Tess wants to show me her room,” said Marie. “Come on, Judd.”

  “I’ve seen it,” he said, reaching for the bread.

  Rebecca snatched it away. “Go wash your hands.”

  Marie took him by the elbow. “Yes, let’s wash those hands.”

  I followed them to Tess’s room pretty slowly, I admit. I didn’t want to tell them things were worse. But the second I got into the room, I saw that they were worse than even I thought. Miss Penrose lay on her pallet. Her lips were blue on the edges and her thin chest went up and down in tiny shallow breaths.

  Mom flew up to me, wringing her hands. “What took so long?”

  I was at a loss. We couldn’t have been gone for more than a half hour.

  “Do something?”

  I flew around Mom and landed next to Miss Penrose. I took her pulse; slow, but steady. She should’ve had a heartbeat like a hummingbird, since she was winged. But I’ve never been able to get her past three quarters of a normal rate.

  “Lucrece?” I asked.

  Lucrece stepped out from behind the packing boxes, holding Horc. He had a biting stick in each hand and was gnawing furiously.

  “I didn’t dose her,” she said.

  “Why ever not?”

  “She’s already over the dosing limit for the day.” Lucrece watched me closely, waiting for me to decide what to do. That was always happening. Someone was always looking at me.

  “Right,” I said. “I need Grandma’s bag.”

  Dad ran over with it and telescoped the drawers out like a ladder. “What else?”

  “Bandages. Mom, do you know where those bandages are that I made?” I asked.

  Mom looked at the top of the window for a second, thinking. “I used them to pack my teacups.”

  She rushed over and, with Iris’s help, unpacked the teacups and a pile of white linen bandages I’d made when Mom wouldn’t let me out of her sight right after the horen got me. Sometimes good things come from utter boredom. When Mom was freaking out about my adventures in the antique mall, I had plenty of time to read and prepare for things I didn’t think would happen.

  I crawled to Miss Penrose’s feet and lifted the blankets. Just as I feared. Her legs were purplish and swollen, not to the point that they’d been on the day I’d discovered her disease but bad nonetheless.

  “Dad, we’re going to bandage her legs and elevate them. Can you find a stool or something to put her legs above her heart?”

  A ruddy pink finger touched my wrist and I jumped. Lrag wavered next to Miss Penrose in a seated position. He was so pale, he looked like another species entirely.

  “My stool is in with Ambrose’s tools. It should be the right height,” he said.

  His lips barely moved and I had to think for a moment to comprehend him.

  “Lrag’s stool is perfect.” I started to ask Dad to get it, but he was already shifting boxes around.

  I slipped off Miss Penrose’s socks and began wrapping her feet tightly. Her eyes fluttered open.

  “What are you doing? That hurts,” she said.

  Lrag took her hand and kissed it. “Matilda is helping you. Try to relax.”

  Mom kneeled beside me and put her hands over mine. “If it hurts her, you shouldn’t do it.”

  “I know what I’m doing. This helps in cases of poor circulation and injuries.”

  “But not in congestive heart failure. Stick with what you know for sure,” said Mom.

  I took Mom’s hands and put them in her lap. “If I’d done that, she’d have been dead two months ago.”

  “Let her, Adele,” said Lrag. He couldn’t say more. He fell back against his pillows and passed out.

  A line of sweat ran down my nose and I wiped it away, while weaving the bandage around Miss Penrose’s poor leg. “Lucrece, I saw a mention of a rejuvenation spell in Great Grandma Emerald’s notes. Can you look that up?”

  Lucrece plunked Horc down, causing him to wave a stick at her. “That spell is for blood loss, not for blood pooling.”

  We stopped and looked at the little spriggan, who resumed gnawing like he hadn’t said anything at all.

  “How do you know that?” I asked.r />
  “I can read. The spell isn’t appropriate for Miss Penrose or do you doubt me?”

  “The spell is for Lrag. Help Lucrece, if you know so much.”

  He heaved himself up on his stumpy legs and waddled off to the books. He and his grandmother immediately started fighting about where the spell should’ve been categorized. I finished Miss Penrose’s leg and moved to her left. Dad put Lrag’s stool under her right calf. “Now what?”

  “She needs three drops of meadowsweet and ma huang. Drop it under her tongue for better absorption,” I said.

  “I’ll do it.” Mom measured out the tinctures and dropped them in. Nothing happened for a second. I finished her left leg and propped it up.

  “Maybe we should lower the legs,” said Mom.

  “Give it a second,” I answered.

  Miss Penrose heaved a deep breath and then her breathing slowed to somewhere close to normal. I took her pulse again and it had sped up to only the low scary range. I tucked Miss Penrose’s cold hand under the blanket and pulled it up to her chin.

  “Better?” asked Bentha.

  “Yes.” What I didn’t say was that she was better for now. The periods of good were getting shorter and shorter.

  Dad helped me to my feet and I faced the humans with their huge worried faces looming over me. “Marie, can you email Thaddeus for me? I need to get in touch with the galens.”

  “Is it as bad as all that?” she asked.

  It was. Thaddeus was the seer at the museum where Lucien Galen lived. The galens were healing fairies and Lucien was the father of the Great Healer, Jacqueline. Thaddeus was our one way of contacting him. Even though I couldn’t hear Mom, Dad, the others behind me, I was keenly aware of their rapt attention. I couldn’t say the truth. I needed Lucien’s help. Hope was so important. It was best that they felt good about Miss Penrose’s prospects. Their optimism would bolster her and she badly needed it.

  “I just want to consult. Maybe we should steep the kaki persimmon root a different way.”

  Marie got her phone out of her purse and began texting. “Oh, yes. Perhaps a cold steep would be a better method.” A quick glance at me said everything she and I couldn’t say out loud. It was nice to be understood.

  “Matilda, your face,” said Dad. “You’ve gone all pale. How’s your leg?”