“Did he trick you?” Amber demanded. “Did he lie his way into your bed?”
Imani’s smile faded, and she hesitated. “He sneered at me, at first. Looked down on me. Demanded my help. I surprised him. He said he fell in love. He said he loved me! We spent days… he said he loved me. And then he abandoned me and burned Charlie!” She sobbed, and Amber found herself in the uncomfortable situation of wishing Severin was there.
But it was only her. She started humming: not her usual lullaby, but a tiny variation, created on the spot and intended to soothe pain rather than hunger. Imani kept sobbing, but she grew quieter, and the flames around her faded to embers.
“And here comes Slick with the man of the hour,” announced Haliel. “Maybe now we can get some of the sordid details.”
Amber, still humming, circled Imani so she could see both the ghost and the others. Gale staggered between AT and Cat, looking dazed. The moment he saw Imani, his expression twisted in agony and he lunged toward Amber, only to fall on his face as Cat tripped him.
As he lifted his head from the ground, he saw the ark. “Oh,” he said. “You found that.”
“Why don’t you tell us about it, Gale?” said Cat.
Gale pushed himself up to a seated position and looked up at Cat. “It’s… it’s why I came here? I knew it was here somewhere, but I couldn’t find it.” He looked between them. “All right, all right, storytime. She… she laughed at me when I found her. Me! Her! Wasn’t frightened at all. Wasn’t impressed. Not like the other mortals. She’d been here a year reading about this evil town. Didn’t know what she’d found until I made her help me. She was so beautiful when she helped me trace it… she laughed.”
Cat crouched beside Gale and grabbed his hair. “Honeychord made a promise and sent you? What was the promise?”
With a drunken giggle, Gale said, “Twelve dancing princesses, promised brides. My lord and my brothers swore to turn them into changelings once we were free.” He closed one eye. “But things got very strange with these mortals. Corrupted. Broken. Banes. But that’s all right…” He trailed off and closed his eyes.
Cat’s fingers tightened. “Why is it all right?”
“Ouch!” Gale’s eyes remained closed. “‘Cause it doesn’t matter anymore. ‘Cause Imani’s dead. ‘Cause I fed the princesses and all the other souls the box had caught to Imani, and Shatiel incubated her and all we need is Severin to come back and do his thing and crack goes the egg.”
Imani stopped crying during this monologue, raising her head. The flames faded from her dark, brilliant eyes. “And all I wanted you to do was protect my daughter.”
“Oops,” said Gale. “You were too beautiful. I loved you too much. Dangerous for my kind to love… somebody must have warned you.”
Suddenly Imani was incandescent. “You are a coward. You give me roses and blood and souls and power but you’re hiding from me. But I’ll find you eventually, my love. That proud face! I’ll tear it off. Those elegant hands! I’ll break them. Your cock, so long and thick—”
Amber realized she’d stopped her song and picked it up again hastily, while AT announced, “Imani, I think I hear Severin near the church!”
Imani’s rant faltered and she glared at everybody. Then she pushed an ice-cold hand against Amber’s mouth and soared into the sky, once again singing her own song.
“Augh! What is wrong with you people?” shouted Haliel, her gorgeous hair in slight disarray. “The kid with three brothers isn’t even here! It was just getting good!”
“Why don’t you make it up like you usually do?” asked Cat, without even looking at her.
Haliel threw her quill at his head. It passed right through him before shimmering and reappearing in her hand. “I’m going after her. Maybe I can get an exclusive interview. And if I do, you can bet I’m not sharing the secrets I uncover with any of you losers.” She flew off in the same direction as Imani.
Yejun blew out his breath. “That was terrifying.”
“Was it?” said Amber distantly. “I was kind of cheering her on. We’ve really got to get Gale here back to his old self. We can give him to her wrapped with a bow.”
“I think now’s the time to bring in Brynn and Jen, AT,” said Cat, still holding Gale by the hair. “I’d like to see what Brynn brings out.” He paused. “AT?”
AT jerked and woke up from a reverie, staring in the direction Imani had gone. “Right. I’ll go get them.” She dashed off.
Brynn slept and dreamt of the horses. It wasn’t the first time she’d dreamt of the horses, not by any means. Silver Horse, irritated by her ignorance, had given her extra riding lessons in her dreams, and sometimes she dozed through their late-night gossip sessions. It was hard to ride all day and not ride in her dreams, in any case.
This dream wasn’t like any of those. She sat at one of the big tables in a diner, with six other people. She knew them instinctively: Gold Horse, lightly built but all corded muscle, with amber eyes and white hair; Black Horse, with skin that matched the dark hair waving down to her hips and huge brown eyes; Silver Horse, with pale skin, shaggy black hair, blue eyes, and an ice cream sundae in front of her; Red Horse, tall and lanky, with spiky red hair and darkly tanned skin. Sunset Horse beside him looked like his sister, with cropped auburn hair, freckled lighter skin and fierce eyes. And then there was Earth Horse, with his chocolate skin and flaxen hair as long as Black Horse’s. Other than Silver Horse, he was the only one who’d ordered more than a drink at this dream diner: he had a stack of peanut butter sandwiches sliced in triangles. He winked at her as he took a big bite.
“Why… why are you all humans?” Brynn asked weakly.
“Why are you a horse?” countered Silver Horse and ate a big spoonful of sundae.
Brynn brightened. “Oh, cool! Am I a pretty horse?”
Silver Horse snorted. “You’re a shrimpy little filly with wild hair. You make a much better human.” She scooped syrup off the side of her dish and licked her finger.
“This is your dream, Brynn,” said Earth Horse. “Why did you make us human?”
Brynn looked at them, puzzled. “I don’t really understand.”
Gold Horse said, “If you did, would you be having this dream?”
That was when Heart, Brynn’s favorite dog, started licking her face. Brynn tried to brush Heart away, tried to roll over and go back to the strange dream, but she didn’t have any blankets to pull over her head and another pair of paws were on her hip and AT was saying, “Come on, wake up, Brynn.”
“Nooo,” groaned Brynn. “That was important…”
AT, looming over the cot, paused, then asked, “What was?”
“Talking to the horses!”
We haven’t gone anywhere, Brynn, said Earth Horse.
Brynn blinked and finished waking up. “I—oh. I was having a dream.”
Not much of one, said Silver Horse with a silent chortle.
Leave her alone, said Red Horse. She has other work to do.
The other horses went silent, just as surprised as Brynn was. While Red Horse had no hesitations about dominating Amber ruthlessly, he usually stayed out of casual herd chatter and deferred to both Earth Horse and Silver Horse.
“Will you bring the horses out before the day is done?” asked Capricorn hopefully. He was standing behind AT, with Jen kneeling at work nearby.
Brynn glanced up at the sky; it was once again full dark. “Uh, I don’t know. How long was I asleep?”
“Oh, that was hyperbole. Yesterday is over already.” Capricorn bounced on his toes. “I suppose I meant, ‘before this adventure is over.’ I’d quite like to see them!”
Feel free to let us out at any time, said Silver Horse sweetly, and then Ouch!
Could they genuinely fight each other while patches of magical ink on her arms? Brynn would have to ask later. “Did you solve the labyrinth already, AT?”
“Yeah. And we found what was at its heart. And now you and Jen need to come and see. Uh. I take it you
don’t want to ride?”
Brynn stood up and stretched. “I’d love to ride, but, uh, there’s herd strife at the moment and I’d rather not bring it into the real world.”
“I can imagine. This must be boring for them,” commented AT. “Jen, are you ready?”
Jen finished something she was doing beside a tent and stood up. She tucked a small bag into her pocket and gave Brynn a crooked smile. “I think you’re going through a growth spurt, Brynn. You slept like a rock. Are you hungry? I’ve got freeze-dried beef stew ready to go.” She opened another, larger plastic bag, and a savory scent wafted out.
Brynn was a little hungry, but judging from the way AT winced, not nearly as much as her friend. “I’m okay. I think the Hunt magic is tiding me over. Give it to AT?”
Worriedly, AT said, “Oh no, I already had some.”
“Yeah, but you need more than some, AT…”
Jen looked exasperated and closed the bag again. “I’ll leave it here. Somebody will eat it eventually.”
“Me!” suggested Capricorn. “My goodness, field rations have come a long way. That smells so good!”
Graciously, Jen said, “Yes, you, if nobody else wants it.”
AT stared at Jen and Capricorn and then gave Brynn an incredulous glance. Brynn shrugged as Jen continued, “I’m going back to the post office now. AT, stay with Brynn until she’s ready to go. Coming, Capricorn?”
“Thank you, I will,” said Capricorn brightly, and they set off side by side.
“Ready to go?” muttered AT, confused. “Are you not ready to go?”
Brynn bit her lip. “We might as well let them get ahead. I think Jen might be mad at me?”
AT shook her head slowly. “No. She doesn’t smell angry at all. She… she’s more relaxed than she’s been in a long time.”
Prickles ran down Brynn’s spine. “Capricorn. When I fell asleep, she was talking to Capricorn about magic.” Urgently, she asked, “AT, can you tell if she thinks Capricorn is… delicious-looking too?”
AT’s nose twitched, and then Heart dashed after Jen, falling into step between her and Capricorn. “Uh. She likes him, for sure. I don’t know if it’s, uh… sexual. Jen doesn’t react like that unless she’s touched.”
Brynn blinked. “You just know that?”
Defensively, AT said, “I can’t turn off my nose, all right? And it’s awfully hard to miss when Jen and Cat brush hands while passing the rolls at a family dinner. Anyhow, are we going over there or what?”
Guiltily fascinated, Brynn lingered. “What happens, exactly?”
“Brynn…” AT shook her head again.
“You want to tell me it’s none of my business,” countered Brynn. “But it is. The horses have made it my business.”
“It’s not their business, either,” muttered AT, looking down.
“Are you happy with Yejun right now?” Brynn demanded.
“What? Yes! Why are you asking?” AT was so startled she took a step away from Brynn.
“No suppressed longings? No resentment, no regrets about joining the Hunt?” Brynn persisted.
“What?” AT repeated. “No! I like Yejun a lot, and I know he likes me, but I think things are good right now.” Her dark skin took on a hint of red. “It’s hard to get seriously interested in any of the local guys, but I’ve gone on a few dates as practice and Yejun introduced me both times.” She frowned. “I told you about them, too.”
“Yeah, and I wondered about it then, too,” said Brynn. “But I didn’t want to complicate anything by asking nosy questions.”
“So why are you asking now? Sheesh, Brynn—”
“Because…” Brynn closed her eyes, thought of Cat’s broken glasses, and opened her eyes again. “Because Cat and Jen aren’t happy and if I can’t sort it out, we might all pay for that. And Capricorn may have just really complicated things. Actually, yeah, let’s go. Let’s go fast.”
AT’s brows lowered as Brynn walked past her, and she fell into step. “This is what the horses were worried about.”
“Yeah and look how well their meddling has worked. Jen doesn’t even seem to know how she feels anymore. Which is, by the way, why I’d still love that blow-by-blow description of the roll-passing hand-touching scentfest.”
AT sighed. “She’s a mess.”
Sorry… said Earth Horse, very quietly. Brynn clenched her jaw and said nothing as AT continued.
“She wants to touch him more, and she’s guilty and ashamed about it. It’s a lot like Branwyn and Severin, really. Like, she’s hungry, but she’s trying to be this image she’s built up and just by being hungry she’s failing.”
Brynn tripped over her own feet and AT caught her arm, looking at her in concern, and asked, “You’re surprised?”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” Brynn said hastily. “Uh… is it the same for both of the other sides?”
AT pursed her lips. “Severin’s hard to read, but he likes Bran a lot. He reacts to her, which is more than he does to anybody else. It was creepy how he gave Amber that look but scentwise he was totally inert. And when he was pissing off my father, he might have been feeding birds in the park.”
Brynn filed this away without letting herself think about it too much. “And Cat?”
“Cat could be hard to read, if he wanted to. But he doesn’t care. He’s tuned to Radio Jen all day, every day. He’s not as calm as he likes us to believe, though.” AT hesitated. “I don’t know how to describe his reaction. It’s not like Jen’s hunger. I’m not even sure it’s human. It’s big, though. I think he acts calm because that other feeling takes up all the rest of the space in him.”
Brynn bit her thumbnail. “This is not as helpful as I hoped it would be.”
“Sorry,” said AT, not particularly sincerely. “What were you hoping for?”
Floundering for the right word, Brynn waved her hands and said, “Equity? No, that’s not right. Balance? It was when you said It’s not like Jen’s hunger that I started worrying.”
“You wanted me to tell you they both felt the same way?” AT guessed. “But I don’t know how they could. Jen’s got a whole life of memories behind her, and Cat is… Cat.”
“And I’m fifteen.” Brynn sighed.
“They can probably work it out on their own…. Maybe?” AT suggested.
“You missed out on middle school, didn’t you?” asked Brynn darkly.
“Yeah, pretty much,” said AT, a bleak note entering her voice.
“Do you think there’s room in Cat’s big vast whatever for jealousy?” Brynn eyed how close the post office was and said, “No, I’m gonna ask more pertinent questions before we get there. Do you think Cat, tuned to Radio Jen, is going to notice what you did about how much more relaxed she is after a long chat with Capricorn? And have you noticed that Cat seems a little more… on edge lately?”
“Yes, absolutely, and yes, I have. It’s Haliel.” AT answered briskly, without even needing to think. Then she stopped walking and took Brynn’s elbow. “What aren’t you telling me, Brynn? You’re making me nervous.”
Brynn tried to work out how to explain her worries to AT. Finally, she said, “As I see it, the best possible scenario is that Jen has found a friend who will help her with some chill, Cat will feel better about the new chill Jen without caring how she got that way, the horses will also acquire chill because Cat and Jen are so chill, and the Hunt won’t explode.” She nodded firmly. “That would be ideal. And I wouldn’t have to do a thing.”
Sunset Horse said Or I could kick Capricorn into next week.
Brynn put her hands over her ears. You don’t want them to be together! What’s wrong with you?
I don’t want to lose my rider, either. I’ve worked far too hard training him.
Brynn sighed. “And Sunset Horse doesn’t think that’s very likely. How about you, AT?”
Slowly, AT said, “I wasn’t entirely honest earlier. Yejun’s actually been a little jealous of my dates. I… I haven’t been jealous
of the girls he’s flirted with because I’ve got something with him they can’t replace, and that’s what jealousy is, right? When you’re upset about being replaced? I’m not worried about somebody replacing me, but I guess Yejun does worry. I haven’t asked him about it because he hasn’t told me and it’s not… eating him alive or anything. I can just smell it sometimes, under his smile.” AT let out a long breath. “I don’t know if Cat will be jealous the same way as Yejun. If he makes her unhappy and Capricorn makes her happy, what is he losing?”
Brynn stared at AT. What she’d said was so… rational that Brynn had trouble believing it, just because… since when were emotions rational?
Then AT’s gaze turned inward, and she said, “Uh… or maybe I’m… uh, let’s run the rest of the way.”
Brynn ran.
26
Triangles
When Brynn and AT skidded to a halt near the modernizing post office, Jen was looking at Cat with a sad little smile, while Cat looked blankly at the space between Jen and Capricorn. Amber and Yejun were standing close together on the far side of a stone box, Yejun holding a yellowed binder.
“Good. You’re here,” he said to Brynn, and pivoted toward the opened stone box behind him. Brynn could sense the bound souls, although they now wandered freely through Imani’s haunt. “Although nothing has changed with the ark. Apparently I’ve wasted your time, Brynn.”
“Uh, no. I was only sleeping,” said Brynn. “What is that box?”
Yejun cleared his throat and rushed through a description of the binder contents, along with the red light of the bane that had escaped when they’d completed the labyrinth. Brynn tried to focus on Yejun, but she couldn’t stop watching Cat.
He kept staring at nothing, his hands twitching occasionally. When Yejun wound down, Amber said without any attempt to disguise her naked anxiety, “Cat?”
“Yes?” He glanced up. “You’ve been doing so well, Amber. Don’t turn to me now.”
Jen said quietly, “We’ll have to extract Gale. Yejun—?”
Fury Convergence Page 34
