by Cutter, Leah
Kai nodded. “Gisa’s in the city. She was taken by Taoist priests.” She was determined to leave Mama out of it if she could.
“The Floating Court?” Rilke guessed.
“Yes.” It didn’t surprise Kai that the siren knew about the court. It seemed like the kind of place Rilke would hang out.
But it raised another question. “Since you know about the court, why did you ask me to find your sister? Not the court? Or the…” Kai paused, then added, “fox fairies?”
“I was told you were the best,” Rilke said coolly. “Which you have yet to prove. But also—no one likes to owe the court a favor. It could get…complicated.”
Kai could well imagine that. While she hadn’t been frightened by the king, she knew he’d drive a hard bargain, press every advantage.
“So what about your third sister?” Kai asked casually.
Rilke sat back as if stung. “What do you mean?”
“Sirens are always born as triplets,” Kai said smugly, certain in her knowledge.
“Clara is dead,” Rilke said flatly.
“What?” Kai asked, shocked.
“There was a storm—not natural.” Rilke shuddered. “We lost her to the waves, something that should be impossible. Like you getting lost in this city.”
Kai nodded, giving Rilke space for her grief, before gently asking, “Could it have been the Taoists?”
“The priests?” Rilke shrugged. “They’re just old men, searching for immortality.”
Kai remembered Mama proclaiming that the priests had changed. And also, Bao Deng hadn’t been a powerless old man. She shivered once, chills running up her spine.
“When Clara died, Gisa—she was always wild. But the grief drove her mad, made her take risks. Do stupid things,” Rilke said, angry.
“Is it possible she met the Taoists in Germany?” Kai asked, still tracking a scent that lay hidden here.
“Maybe. Maybe they promised her immortality. She was foolish, not thinking straight.”
Kai shook her head. Gisa was powerful and wild, but Kai hadn’t gotten the impression of thoughtlessness.
“Maybe,” Kai said, feeling her way around her thought carefully, the trail spiderweb thin. “Maybe it wasn’t herself that she went looking for immortality for. Maybe she went looking so she could save you. So she’d never have to grieve like that again.”
The stricken look Rilke gave Kai made the bottom of Kai’s stomach settle at her feet. “I’m sorry—” she rushed to say.
“No,” Rilke said forcefully. She paused, then gave a small bark of a laugh. “You are probably right. That sounds exactly like my sister.”
They sat for a moment in the peaceful courtyard, sipping their drinks, drowning in their thoughts.
For the first time, Kai felt sorry for Rilke. Now, Kai had to find Gisa, not just for New Orleans, but for her sister, as well.
“You know,” Rilke said casually. “The people at court—your mother, I believe. That’s who told me you were the best.”
“Really?” Kai asked. Had Mama sent Rilke to her? So that, in turn, Kai would reach out to the court and find Mama?
“She was right. You have talent. Not just with finding things, but the true meaning as well. Thank you,” Rilke said stiffly, as if the words were strange to her.
“You’re welcome,” Kai said. She paused, then asked, “Any ideas where Taoist priests might hang out in the city? Where they might try to hide your sister?”
“Check the monasteries and cathedrals,” Rilke said decisively. “Holy ground.”
Kai contained her shiver.
God had never been part of her life.
But it appeared that now, the places where He supposedly dwelled were.
* * *
Not for the first time, Kai decided there were too many damn churches in New Orleans. There were at least half a dozen in the small neighborhood of the Quarter. They’d multiplied faster than water roaches in the spring after Katrina.
It wasn’t that Kai had anything against God or religion—just that none of it had spoken to her. She’d grown up Catholic, taken First Communion, and gone to confession.
But churches—particularly the old cathedrals—bothered her. She knew there were things beyond the human realm, creatures and xita. She always expected something more from what was supposed to be Holy Ground.
All she found were buildings of men.
Kai couldn’t go to Papa to ask about church. Likely he’d only been to St. Peter’s, where he went every Sunday, before he drove up to Baton Rouge to see his sisters.
There was always the professor, but Kai already felt too much in his debt.
Which left Caleb. It wasn’t that Kai didn’t want to call him…she did. She knew she should.
But what was he gonna say to her?
After a leisurely lunch uptown, and exploring three of the big churches there, Kai dug up the courage to call Caleb. She ducked behind an old wood building that had blue paint peeling in large curls, up off the wooden siding, and a huge “For Sale—Your Business Here” sign. Traffic crawled up and down the narrow street in front of her, but it was a constant, quiet wave of noise.
Caleb answered after the first ring. “Hello?”
“Hey Caleb,” Kai said. “How you doin’?”
“Fine, darling. Good to hear from you.”
Awkward silence washed between them, then they both spoke at once.
“I was wondering—”
“Say, could you—”
“Go ahead,” Caleb said when the silence came again.
“No. I—”
“Ladies first,” Caleb insisted.
“Wanna go out for coffee? Or something?” Kai asked all in a rush.
“Coffee sounds nice. The ‘or something’ is gonna have to wait, though,” Caleb said, flirting.
Relieved, Kai found herself smiling. “CCs?” she asked. She didn’t want to put in another appearance at Henry’s: She was certain Caleb wouldn’t impress Henry enough for them to snag one of the reserved tables.
“In the Quarter. Sure.”
“See you in an hour,” Kai said.
After she hung up, Kai took another deep breath, ignoring the stench of the buses and cars choking the street in front of her and the rot from the old building sinking into itself next to her.
It was going to be all right.
* * *
Of course, the next bus didn’t show up for damn near an hour, then there was an accident with a semi on Canal Street, which snarled traffic for miles.
Caleb was waiting for Kai when she finally arrived at the coffeehouse. The AC was sheer heaven, as was the prospect of a cool drink.
“Sorry, hon,” Kai said, going over to Caleb immediately and kissing his cheek.
Despite his dark skin, Caleb still looked pale, almost ashy-gray. He wore a crisp, yellow cotton shirt, and his usual shorts and high top sneakers.
“Not a problem,” he said with an easy smile that made Kai’s heart skip a beat.
“What can I get you?” Kai asked, drawing back from him, not willing to stay close and show too much, ready to race to the counter.
Caleb just looked at her. “Don’t,” he said sharply.
“What—”
“It was an accident. Not a setup. I know that, and so do you, so just stop it with the guilt.”
Kai bit her lips together, thinking, before she answered honestly. “I’m not sure I can just quit feeling guilty, just like that.” She’d hurt Caleb, and he mattered, more than she’d probably ever be willing to admit.
“How about I let you make it up to me later?” Caleb said with a deliberate leer.
Kai rolled her eyes. “I suppose.”
“Now, what am I getting you? Your usual?” Caleb said, slowly getting off the stool he’d been sitting on.
No matter what Caleb said, guilt washed over Kai. He was obviously still in pain, and it was all her fault.
“Don’t be a macho idiot,” Kai said. “Sit back do
wn. I’ll get the drinks.”
“But—”
“Sit.”
That Caleb sat back down without more protest worried Kai.
Amita wasn’t behind the counter, but Marcus was—tall, smelly, and obnoxious as ever. Fortunately, Caleb intimidated him, so he only made a show of verifying her cash. Luckily, he wasn’t making the drinks; it was someone new who Kai didn’t know, so she didn’t have to worry about them shorting her caffeine or giving her only a half pull.
Carefully balancing Caleb’s iced mocha with her own iced coffee and shots, Kai made her way back to the far side of the coffee shop.
Caleb had moved from the counter stool he’d been sitting on to one of the secondhand chairs in the corner where it was quieter and they could talk without being overheard.
Kai wanted to ask Caleb how he was doing, but she knew he’d just lie and say he was fine. He’d never tell her the extent of his injuries, and because he was xita, he’d heal in a matter of days, not weeks or months.
“I met my mama,” Kai started out with instead.
Caleb nearly snorted out his mouthful of drink. “You could warn a body first, you know?” he said, coughing and clearing his throat after his hasty swallow. When he’d recovered, Caleb asked, “What happened?”
“I found the Floating Court,” Kai said.
“One of the entrances? Good,” Caleb said, nodding.
That confirmed what Kai had thought—Caleb and his family were well aware of the court. And it hadn’t occurred to her that there was more than one entrance. She’d have to find the others, sometime.
“Got presented to the king. And the prince. Zhing—Zhi—Jimmy.”
Caleb gave a low whistle. “Your Mama’s high placed, ain’t she?”
Kai hadn’t considered that. “Isn’t everybody presented?”
“Hell no,” Caleb said. “I’m not sure even Pop could get an appointment to see the king.”
“Huh. The king wants to have tea with me,” Kai said, teasing.
“Go for it, darlin’,” Caleb replied seriously. “That’s a good connection.”
Kai blinked, surprised. “All right. I will.” She paused, glancing around to make sure no one was paying any attention to them, then leaned forward and said, “I found who took the woman I’m looking for.”
“Someone at court?”
Kai nodded.
Caleb didn’t look happy. “That sure complicates things.”
“Worse than that,” Kai said with a grimace.
“Is the prince involved?” Caleb asked, worried.
“No, I don’t think so. It’s the priests. The Taoists.”
Caleb’s face went blank. “Really?”
“Yeah. The Taoist priests. They’ve kidnapped this woman, and, well, their plan’s pretty diabolical.” Kai paused, taking a deep breath. She hadn’t wanted to tell Caleb before that she was searching for a siren—now, she felt like she had no choice.
But before she could tell him more, Caleb said, “Of course it is. That’s because they’re demons. Some of ’em. Others are just, ah, associates.” He said it like the words tasted bad.
“What?” Kai asked, surprised. Xita she was used to. But demons? Good and evil?
Then again, the creature she’d met, he hadn’t been on the side of the light. Not ever.
“The Taoists at the court. They used to be men. They were always concerned with long life.”
“Yeah,” Kai said. Mama had told her that, and so had Rilke.
“But they made a pact or something. In exchange for long life, they work with demons. The really nasty, red-faced ones. They feed off death and despair.”
“I know.” Kai leaned even closer and whispered, “They want to drown the city. Again.”
“We gotta tell people,” Caleb said.
Finally! Someone who agreed with her. “I’ve got to find the woman they’ve kidnapped. She’s a siren.” Kai pushed down on her feeling of triumph at Caleb’s blank face. She knew something about the xita that he didn’t. “She’s being held on dry ground. She needs water, and eventually, she’ll call it to her.”
“The storm,” Caleb said. “Ingrid. It’ll get worse ’cause of her, right?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
Caleb sat quiet for a moment, biting his bottom lip. Despite the frigid AC in the coffee shop, sweat beaded his forehead. He needed to go back to bed, lay down and rest. She shouldn’t have asked him to come and meet her.
“I can’t help you,” Caleb said after another long moment.
“What?” Kai asked, her stomach sinking. “Because you’re hurt or—”
“Those priests. Those demons,” he spat. “My brothers would disown me if I went after them with you. They’re powerful, Kai. Rich and protected by the court. If you mess with them, your Mama could lose all her standing at the court, could lose everything.”
“They’re gonna drown New Orleans,” Kai hissed. “It’ll be worse than Katrina.”
“So get your family out,” Caleb said harshly. “I’ll see to mine.”
“But—”
“No, Kai. I can’t help. Don’t ask me again.”
Kai sat there, feeling as if she’d just been punched in the stomach. How could Caleb say no?
Caleb stood up. He opened his mouth to say something more, closed it again, then leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Goodbye, Kai,” he said softly, then he turned and walked out of the coffee shop.
Ice plunged through Kai’s chest. What the hell had just happened? Had they just broken up? She’d been thinking about it, but no. Not like that. Not over this.
She shivered. Everything was upside down. Caleb wouldn’t help her. Caleb. He loved this city more than anything, yet he would rather let it drown than take on these priests. Were they really that powerful? That well connected?
Kai had known that Caleb and his family had strong ties to the community of xita here in the city.
Would confronting these priests ruin his family’s standing there as well?
Shit. What was she going to do now?
Kai didn’t want to go to Orlan. But he could help her at least find the churches; there had to be databases or something he could look through. Maybe he could even help her look—though what would one of those Taoist priests look like to someone who was fully human?
After another sigh, Kai stood slowly. The tug to just drift, flow through the city with no purpose or plan was tempting. Let this be someone else’s problem.
But she had to find Gisa. She had to stop Tropical Storm Ingrid from hitting her city. And right now, someone purely human was her best bet.
* * *
Orlan seemed surprised to see Kai again so soon. “Hey, darlin’,” he said, getting up from his artistic chair in front of all the screens. Live video played on a couple, while another ran lines of code, and the one directly in front of Orlan had three different windows open, in which he appeared to be editing more code and chatting with someone. He wore his usual white T-shirt and jeans, his waist-long dreads hanging loosely around his shoulders. He took one look at Kai and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Everything. Nothing. I don’t know,” Kai said. The walk to the Marigny had frazzled her. She felt like Pontchartrain bridge, long and narrow, but with only one or two supports left to hold her out of the water, and the wind was blowing hard.
Orlan took Kai’s hand and led her over to the bed, the only other place to sit in the room. “How can I help?” Orlan asked, his blue eyes wide and sincere and oh-so-human.
Kai sighed. “I need to find all the churches in New Orleans. Particularly old ones.” It made sense to her that the priests would prefer something old to something modern. “Oh, and all the Buddhist churches, too.” Because Buddhist was something like Taoist, right?
“Temples,” Orlan corrected gently. “Buddhists have temples. Why? That’s a lot of places.”
“I can’t tell you,” Kai said. She couldn’t. She’d already driven Caleb away. She couldn’t just kic
k out one of her few remaining supports.
“Okay,” Orlan said slowly. He got up and walked to his computer. “How do you want ’em ordered?” he asked, his tone all business-like.
“I don’t know,” Kai sighed. “Age maybe? Then size?” Would the Taoists want a big old place? Or a small modern one? She suspected the former—a bigger place, just for show.
“Orlan,” Kai said as his fingers flew over the keyboard, their clicking the only sound in the room. “You’ve got a place to go, right? If this storm turns nasty?”
The clicking stopped and Orlan spun around to face Kai. “What do you mean?” he asked, his face blank.
Crap. She was going to lose him, too, if she wasn’t careful. “It’s just—I got a bad feeling about this Ingrid.”
“You had a feeling about Katrina, too, didn’t you?” Orlan asked, almost accusing her. “Got your family out.”
“Yes,” Kai said. “So you’ll go, if I say you should?”
Orlan sat blinking for a moment before his shook his head, causing his dreads to fall over his shoulders and down his chest. “Got no place to go.”
That surprised Kai. “This is home? New Orleans?” She’d thought he’d grown up somewhere else, and just moved here, following the sun and the other gutter kids.
All she got was a cold smile. “I grew up in these streets. Doesn’t matter if they’re flooded or dry. I stay here.”
“You stayed. During Katrina,” Kai said, suddenly understanding.
“Yep,” Orlan said, still with that cold smile. “Didn’t leave then. Not leaving now.”
“But it’ll be worse,” Kai said.
“What do you mean? How do you know?” Orlan challenged.
“I don’t know. Not for sure,” Kai said. God, why were they having this argument? Everything was going wrong today. “But if it comes, it’ll be bad.”
“Why are you looking at churches?” Orlan asked again. “It’s something to do with the storm, isn’t it?”
“No, why would you say that?” Kai asked. Despite the cool AC, sweat started dripping down her back. “I gotta find some priests. They maybe did some things.”
“Do you know the priests? Can’t you just go to the cops?” Orlan asked reasonably.
“No, I don’t know them. Or their names. I still have to find them.”
