Fury Convergence

by Chrysoula Tzavelas

  AT remained fixed on the sitting demon, her hands on her hips in a way that made her look like Jennifer. “He only smells delicious. There’s nothing else at all.”

  “She?” Amber hesitantly suggested. It was so hard to tell. Even visually, all it took was looking at the demon to start instantly imagining the many potential ways to enjoy that deliciousness. It had been a really long time between meals of that sort.

  AT shrugged. “Delicious doesn’t have a pronoun.” She glared at the demon.

  Capricorn wasn’t exactly struggling against Yejun’s arm twist. Instead the demon gazed up at them with those animated eyes and a small, friendly smile. “He or she, whichever you prefer. Thank you for the compliment.”

  AT crouched down. “Listen, you, whoever you are. Stop trying to wake up this haunt, or I’m going to rip your head off.”

  Yejun grumbled, “Why would you even do something like feeding the haunt?”

  Capricorn tilted her head to one side as if Yejun’s question surprised her. “Well, one of my cousins had a very important decision stolen from him here, and I wanted to honor that choice by doing what he would have done. I thought it might kick off something interesting.”

  “Are you going to keep doing it if I let you go?” Yejun asked.

  The demon’s expression became pensive. “Technically, I should. I claimed this scene, so I have responsibilities.”

  AT’s shadow, already unusually dark under the nightmare world’s overcast sky, sharpened and changed, long claws extending from her fingers

  “Wait!” said Amber, before AT got too caught up in the moment. “No, we need to do something to stop more of them from showing up.”

  “Oh my god,” said AT, swinging around to stare at her. “What do you mean, more of them?”

  Impatiently, Amber said, “We’ve already had four celestials show up to see this haunt. That’s four more than we’ve had on any other call.”

  Incredulously, Yejun said, “It’s a tourist attraction?” In the distance, Imani started singing, and he scowled.

  “You’re not wrong,” said Capricorn ruefully. “This is a significant event. There’s a lot of interest. Shatiel really sprang something on everybody when he unveiled it.” She tilted her head. “I do wonder if there’s a message in it.”

  “How do we stop more of you pests from showing up?” demanded Amber.

  Capricorn shrugged awkwardly. “End it.” Her eyes flicked toward Yejun. “All right, my friend. If I promise to at least warn you before I start undoing your work, can I have my arm back?”

  Yejun released Capricorn to throw up his hands in frustration. “I’m not exactly the muscle anyhow. End it?”

  “Well, sure. You barely got started last night cleaning up, and then you stopped and found some way to create this stasis instead. Finish the job, and there will be nothing left for anybody to come and see.”

  AT said, “Another way.” Her head was low and her arms now crossed, but in her shadow the claws were still out. Possibly it might look scary to Capricorn, but it made Amber want to scruffle her curls, because even high school graduation hadn’t done much to change AT’s cartoon-cuteness.

  Capricorn sat up straight, crossing her legs tailor-style, and put her index fingers together in front of her mouth. “Another way? Let me see… I could pull some strings, I suppose.” Her eyes went to AT, and she smiled. “But not if it’s just going to lead to my head getting ripped off.”

  AT’s shadow flexed as she said, “Right, back to plan A—”

  “—oh, come on, Capris,” said Amber hurriedly. “Everybody is stressed enough. If you really want to support that psychopath’s cause, hang around until he gets back and work with him then.” She narrowed her eyes. “I bet you don’t, though. I bet this is just some demon philosophy thing.”

  Capricorn sprang suddenly to her feet and brushed herself off. “You’re not wrong,” she said again. “Tell you what. I’ll go spread a rumor that the main event doesn’t start until next week. Then I’ll pop back and we can discuss how I can philosophically support my oppressed cousin while preserving my own neck.” She looked between Amber and AT inquisitively

  Amber said, “Right. You do that,” and waved. Capricorn gave her that sweet smile and vanished.

  AT’s shadow lost its unusual qualities, and she exhaled heavily. “Now can we please, please start helping Imani? We finally have a chance.” She looked around. “Where’s Cat and Jen? And Brynn?”

  Brynn stood anxiously near Cat and Jen as they stared at each other in the rose house. Jen had followed Cat over and said, “What’s wrong?” and Cat had only shrugged, which was so unlike him. And then Jen had said sharply, “Cat?” and that was when the horses of the Wild Hunt, resting on her arms, had started whispering in Brynn’s head. When Yejun had blared a message through the horn demanding AT respond to actual trouble, the horses said, stay, this is important too.

  So Brynn watched as Jen put out a hand to Cat as he sat on the cot, before pulling it back and looking away. She watched as Cat looked up at Jen with an intensity that always made Brynn feel like an intruder even at a family dinner.

  “Is it… Do you remember Haliel?” asked Jen, still staring at a rosebush.

  “I have never met her,” said Cat slowly. “I’m sure Ettoriel knew her, though.”

  “She’s not doing any harm,” Brynn offered. “We could get to work?”

  “That’s a good idea, Brynn,” said Cat. “Here’s my notebook. If you find the others, you can get started. I just need to… take a few minutes.” He flexed one hand and looked down at it.

  Brynn accepted the notebook skeptically and silently addressed the herd psychically watching over her shoulder. They seem fine. They’ve been fine since last year. They’re coworkers, nothing else. This is the same as always.

  I’ll bite you, warned Silver Horse, her own mount. They’ll get romantic if we leave them alone.

  Except for Jen chasing Cat instead of vice versa, and Cat giving me his precious notebook, and everything else going weird around here. Brynn sighed. ‘No office romances’ was practically the first rule the horses had laid down for the new Wild Hunt, at least for those with tendencies in that direction. Brynn, more interested in the girls at school, only knew because Brynn heard all the herd gossip.

  Jen said anxiously, “Cat, I don’t—”

  He lifted the hand he’d been staring at and held it out to Jen, though he remained looking at the ground. Jen swayed and took a step forward so he could just touch her.

  As his fingers brushed her long hair, Cat looked up sharply, his eyes blazing.

  GIDDY-UP! shouted Silver Horse. Go, go, go!

  Brynn shot into the air and came down saying, “Um hey so guys!” as Cat stood up, clearly about to gather Jennifer to him. Jennifer, startled by Brynn, twisted, catching and releasing Cat’s hand in a firm leaderly reassuring squeeze.

  Brynn crossed her horse-inked arms over her chest, making sure to grind her thumb in the rough location of Silver Horse’s head. Staring at the dark ground herself, she said, “So, the horses have already told me more than I wanted to know about your private lives. They’ve, uh, deputized me to stand in for them while we’re on this call. Literally. Except I don’t think I can block line of sight between you two and I don’t think it would matter if I did.”

  Jen’s mouth became that worried line it had been since they’d arrived at this haunt. “Thank you for telling me of their concern. I’ll… I’ll be better.”

  “No,” said Cat quietly, his gaze faraway. Brynn and Jen both stared at him in surprise, and he added, looking at Jen, “Brynn, I’m going to need you to exercise a little control over the horses for a few days.”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” said Brynn angrily. Cat had always had the most trouble working with the horses as partners rather than rider and beast, but he’d been getting along fine with Sunset Horse for months. “How can you still think like that?”

  Cat gave her a sideways gla
nce. “Yes, that is a problem, isn’t it?”

  From above came Haliel’s narration. “And thus, despite the ticking down of the ingenious clock they’d worked onto their own skin, the Wild Hunt…”

  “Haliel,” said Cat, his voice the crack of a whip. “Shut up.”

  Haliel, drifting overhead, stopped mid-word. She peeked over the book at those below and gave Cat a lazy half-smile. “You’re not my boss now, remember?”

  Jen looked jerkily back at the rosebush again, and said, “Cat, take the time you need. Brynn and I will leave you alone.” Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Brynn by the sleeve and hauled her out of the rose house.

  Just outside the perimeter, Jen said loudly, while still pulling Brynn with her, “I hope you understand how unlikely we are to pull this off, Brynn.”

  “I’d like to at least try,” Brynn said, annoyed by the discussion topic but not the plan to retreat, because it made the horses relax.

  “I mean, this is progress.” Jen released Brynn to spread her arms wide. “This haunt stasis is… Sen would have been amazed. If Yejun can duplicate what Branwyn did, I think we’ll eventually get there.” She glanced at Brynn with a light in her eyes. “But haunts aren’t simple. The emotions behind them aren’t easily resolved.”

  Brynn squinted at Jen. “But they can be fixed. We know that now.”

  Jen said gently, “We’ve been lucky. Three successes in eighteen calls.”

  “We barely tried for some of those.” Brynn kicked a phantasmal stone and sent it tumbling.

  “We’ll try here,” Jen said. “But this is far too dangerous for us to hesitate on once the stasis ends.” She sighed. “And I do need to call your mom again.”

  Brynn hesitated. Explaining Brynn’s role in the Hunt to her family had been an unpleasant experience, but she and Jen had both agreed it had to happen. Holly had been distressed by the news, but had eventually framed it for herself as Brynn being in a special club, with Jen acting as the club’s responsible advisor.

  Brynn would much rather have been considered responsible for herself, but pretty much everybody else, even Branwyn, had told her not to push that on her mom yet. She was the only one Jen was officially responsible for, but Jen made herself responsible for the rest of them, too: feeding them, reminding them about bedtimes when they had early mornings, assigning chores at her farmhouse. AT and Amber and Yejun all accepted it unquestioningly. Sometimes they even seemed to welcome it.

  But it bothered Brynn. She could see unexpected elements of her own mother in Jen, something more than the mother-henning. She wished Jen could see them, too. “Why don’t you ever accept any of mom’s coffee invites?”

  Jen gave her a startled glance. “She’s just being polite. I’m sure she doesn’t want to spend time with the woman who lured her daughter into the Wild Hunt.”

  Brynn stopped pacing. “I joined before you.”

  “I don’t think that matters. She doesn’t approve of me. But I have to call her, all the same.”

  “She doesn’t know you,” said Brynn hotly. “But she’d like to.”

  Jen put her hand to her temple. “Just… leave it for now? Go through Cat’s notebook while I tell Holly I’m stealing you for a few days this time.”

  Grumbling, Brynn looked around and up. The others were still out of sight but the barking had stopped. The recording angel Haliel drifted overhead, her head on her hands as she stared down at the ruins with a dreamy expression.

  Brynn set her jaw and headed back to the rose house, where Cat was kicking back on the cot, his hands under his head. She tossed his notebook at him. “Get up. I don’t know what’s going on with you and that angel and Jen, but as the lady said, I’m a clock ticking down and that’s not stopping while you angst.”

  Cat caught the notebook and sat up. “Have the horses demanded interference from you before, Brynn?”

  “I said no angst!” said Brynn, ready to take it up a notch if she had to. Then she paused. Cat wasn’t wearing or holding his glasses. Instinctively she glanced around and saw them, crushed, under the cot. She glanced up at Cat again, met his intense blue gaze, and said, “Not since last year, when I first took them to the farm.”

  Of course, there was the herd gossip. None of the herd seemed to consider it problematic to include Brynn in their conversations about their riders. Earth Horse and Sunset Horse had discussed the Situation Between Jen And Cat extensively more than once while Brynn found out how little putting a pillow over her head did to block their voices.

  “She isn’t happy, you know,” Cat said. His hand moved as if to push up his glasses, and then he dropped it again.

  Brynn lowered her gaze. “I do know. But I don’t know what to do about it.”

  “I have some ideas,” said Cat. “But you’re right that we need to deal with the haunt first.”

  Looking sideways at him, Brynn said, “Is Haliel going to upset you more?”

  Cat flipped pages in his notebook. “Possibly. She triggers strong emotions. I haven’t yet managed what she raises for me. When this is over, if we make it that far, I’ll resolve it. Gather everybody up, please, and I’ll present my report.”

  Brynn bit her tongue and went to do her part.

  22

  Index

  “From my observations, Imani has three issues she needs to resolve before this haunt unravels—and that’s assuming Branwyn and Rhianna bring back the daughter.” Cat’s gaze swept the other five Huntsfolk.

  “They will,” Brynn assured him. It had been odd watching them vanish into the darkness. She’d had the awful feeling they were going beyond her reach. It had been hard not to run after them. But when she’d called Marley, Marley had said she was sitting on Corbin and felt like Branwyn would probably survive the next few days. Brynn wasn’t sure why the TMI about Corbin was relevant, but believed Marley was more trustworthy than her own ungrounded fears. And if Branwyn survived, she’d bring the kid back. Simple as that.

  “First, she’s upset that the fire destroyed the research she was doing in Tucker. Second, she’s displeased with her lover, and the punishment they’ve put together isn’t helping her resolve that. And third, she was murdered; binding the souls of an entire town to her hasn’t helped her resolve that.” Cat presented his list in a cool, clinical tone.

  “I wish it hadn’t been fire,” said Jen distantly.

  Something squirmed in Brynn’s stomach. Jennifer had all but died in the fire that had killed her lover and mentor Sen. “Don’t worry about the fire-related ones.”

  Jen gave her a wry look. “I’ll focus on the murder instead?”

  “Haunts are never happy things,” muttered Brynn, and wished she hadn’t said anything.

  AT heard her. “This one is. I mean, not when you remember how it happened. But parts of this haunt feel like a ghost-themed Disneyland now. It doesn’t want to eat people. It wants to jump out and say boo!”

  “That won’t last,” said Yejun. “Brynn’s got all the depth on her skin.”

  “Maybe we can use that in the meantime,” suggested Amber. Everybody looked at her and she waved her hands. “Look, if everything’s simplified, maybe what she needs will be simple, too. Like, instead of needing somebody to take over her work and continue it for the next thirty years or whatever, we just need to show her a journal with IMANI’S WORK written on it.”

  “Are you suggesting we trick her?” Brynn demanded.

  Amber looked annoyed. “I’m saying that if homegirl didn’t have internet backups in this day and age, this is useless, and if she did, she’s being irrational and we’re not going to be able to reason her down.”

  “Ghosts aren’t usually rational,” AT protested.

  “Well, Cat’s talking about this like they are. Like we can just give her some talk therapy and it’ll all be better. You’ve been acting like that, too, AT. I watched you following her around talking to her.”

  AT looked down. “It’s all I know how to do.”

  “B
ullshit,” said Amber. “You were just telling a demon you’d rip her head off.”

  AT’s head jerked up and her eyes narrowed. “You want me to rip a ghost’s head off?”

  “Sure, why not? Maybe that’s what Imani needs. Maybe her whole problem is that nobody else ripped some heads off. Are you saying you wouldn’t do it if it would help?”

  Jen’s voice cut through the growing argument. “You have good ideas, Amber. Go see if you can put them into action with Imani. Focus on the research for now. Cat can give you a journal if you think it will help.” Her gaze shifted to Cat, and then Brynn. “You two go talk to Gale. See if you can bring back his wits. I suspect Imani’s unsatisfied by his capitulation because he’s refusing to face her as he was.”

  “Why us?” Brynn asked. She didn’t want to talk to Gale. Gale was more of a monster than Severin. She didn’t want to hear his excuses or justifications or whatever other vileness drove him.

  “Because then your skin won’t make things more complicated elsewhere.” Jen’s gaze moved back to Cat. “And because I think Cat might be able to reach him.” She pressed her lips together. “AT and I will see what we can get from the other ghosts around town. I’d prefer to start that while they’re simplified and easily engaged.”

  “What about me?” asked Yejun. “Want me to keep Amber on track?”

  “Amber will stay on track just fine,” snapped Amber, and turned to stalk away.

  “Help her, don’t agitate her, Yejun,” said Jen softly.

  “Their perfunctory planning session completed, the members of the self-sabotaging Wild Hunt split up to attend to the duties assigned by their… what’s the opposite of intrepid? I’ll come back to it… leader,” came Haliel’s voice.

  Jen squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, then said, “Come on, AT.”

  Brynn glared up at Haliel, who now had the book propped up on her knees. She couldn’t decide if it annoyed her or pleased her that the so-called Angel of Joy didn’t pursue one of the other pairs. On the one hand, she was really annoying. On the other hand, if she was annoying Brynn, she wasn’t annoying Amber or Jen or AT. Brynn was certain she was better than everybody else at toughing out annoying people she couldn’t punch, because she had three older brothers and the only one she could ever land a hit on was Howl, the least of them.