Coy wolves came up to him, tongues lolling. One of them sniffed his knee, whining, its tail flicking. One of the women pulled zip ties out of her purse and he wanted to make a Fifty Shades quip, but he sat very still. Her brown hair with streaked blond chunks waved down her back. Wiry went to stand behind his father. The coy wolf who’d sniffed Jared nipped at his leg and Daddy Coy Wolf mimed smacking it, so it slunk back to lurk near the wall.
“He don’t look like much,” Zip Tie said.
“Granny G wants him,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “So he’s here. Why didn’t any of you tell me he had a pack?”
The men remained silent.
“That why you didn’t bring more hostages?” Zip Tie said. “Gutless much?”
“They were armed and there were three witches.”
“You know she wants more hostages.”
“Put your own ass on the line.”
Zip Tie put her hands on her hips. “Maybe give that skin to someone with balls enough to get shit done.”
“Did you see the shithole portables she had her pack living in? She’s stinking rich, but she hasn’t paid me a cent. This is all on my own dime and my own time. You want this skin, you come take it.”
“It’s not about the money,” Zip Tie said.
“If she hadn’t got her pack killed, she wouldn’t deign to talk to us mutts. Ask yourself why no one is willing to help Granny G but us.”
Whispering through the room. Zip Tie took a seat again, staring down Daddy Coy Wolf, who studied the men then Zip Tie, who glanced back at the men uneasily.
“You’re free to leave,” she said.
“And you’re free to face the thing that killed most of her pack all by your glorious selves.”
Another strained silence. Jared shifted in his chair and everyone stopped to watch him. He froze.
“I want to see Mom,” Jared said.
“We’re not allowed to bring you near her,” the woman said.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Daddy Coy Wolf said, pulling out his phone. He tapped the screen and the call went to speakerphone, each number he hit loud in the quiet room.
“Problems?” another voice said, young and male.
“We got the Trickster,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “Bring the witch.”
“Got it,” the other voice said.
Daddy Coy Wolf picked up a matching captain’s chair and placed it near the fireplace. A few minutes later two men dragged his mother through the French doors. Her head lolled. Her blood-matted hair hung over her face, but he could see that her eyes were swollen shut and turning black. Cuts and rips and bites.
“Mom?” Jared said. “Mom?”
When she didn’t respond, someone kicked her and she moaned.
“No!” Jared said. “Mom?”
“Mom?” someone in the room imitated.
“Shut it,” Daddy Coy Wolf said to the anonymous mocker. He walked over and zip-tied her good wrist to the arm of the chair.
“I’m here,” Jared said. “Mom?”
“You dumb shit,” his mom said, her voice hoarse.
The door opened behind Jared and he heard footsteps coming towards him.
“Miss me?” Mallory said, pecking his cheek. She grabbed a chair and dragged it close to him so their knees touched when she sat. She spread his legs so she could get closer, stroking his thigh. She smiled as if this was the most normal thing in the world, as if they’d known each other forever. She leaned in close.
“You reek of fear,” she whispered. “Mmm.”
“Did the raven spot you?” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
“No,” one of his sons said. “We made sure.”
“We drove around and around,” Mallory said. “It was boring.”
“Stop touching me,” Jared said.
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “We need some pet names for each other. Let’s call you my Puppy. My sweet, sweet Puppy.”
“Get off me.”
“Puppy sounds hungry. Does Puppy want a snack?”
“We need him,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “We don’t need you, Mallory. Back off.”
“He’s mine,” Mallory said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Daddy Coy Wolf grabbed her chair and dragged it noisily back to the table. Mallory hopped off and gave him a roundhouse kick. He backhanded her. She touched the place he’d hit her, smiling.
“You hit me. Me, the mother of Tricksters who will bring us to new worlds.”
“I’m done with you,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “The only protection you have is Granny G. Keep pushing and watch how fast I cross that line.”
Mallory smiled and smiled, her smile never faltering as she pulled a Glock out from under her leather jacket, a Glock 19 with the telltale gold magazine well that meant it was his mom’s. Rage surged through him, although he had to ask why he was feeling it now, when he could do absolutely nothing. Daddy Coy Wolf stared her down, but Jared heard metal whispering against clothes as his sons drew their guns and then the other coy wolves in human form drew their guns, one of them waving an AK-15, probably his mom’s as well.
“Aim your weapons at the Trickster’s head,” Daddy Coy Wolf said to his boys.
Show no fear, show no fear, make everything flat, give them nothing to feed on, he told himself, but his shaking betrayed him, even though he willed himself to not shake. Mallory lowered his mom’s Glock and then everyone else lowered theirs.
“So that’s how it’s going to be,” Daddy Coy Wolf said to them all. “You’re going to dance to her tune.”
The other coy wolves said nothing.
“Good to know,” he said. “I like it when things are clear.”
* * *
—
Daddy Coy Wolf’s sons formed a ring around him, weapons lowered, heads swivelling. Their father found a grimy first aid kit and brought it over to Maggie. He popped some pills in her mouth and held a water bottle up so she could swallow. He wrapped the bloody stump in fresh compression bandages.
“Nothing personal,” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
“You ate my boyfriend. It doesn’t get more personal.”
“Yeah,” he said. “I told Granny G it was overkill. She’s pissed and grieving and not thinking clearly. To be fair, you and your son did get her pack slaughtered.”
“You can’t trust the ogress,” Jared said.
Daddy Coy Wolf turned to him. “I know you’re new to being one of us, so maybe you can’t feel it yet. The end of us all. Like a wildfire on the horizon. We can see the end glowing brighter every day. We can hear other voices going silent. I just want to keep my pack alive. I don’t know how to do that. I’m doing my best with what I’ve got.”
Mallory came back into the room carrying a tray of sandwiches, and headed towards them. The boys all raised their guns, pointing at Jared’s head. Daddy Coy Wolf straightened.
“Stop,” he said.
“He needs to eat,” she said.
“Let’s see you take a bite,” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
Mallory smiled sweetly. “I’d never hurt my Puppy.”
“Did anyone watch her make the food?” he said. “Anyone care to sample the sandwiches?”
The other coy wolves didn’t move or say a word.
“I can smell the chemicals from here,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “What the hell are you thinking?”
“Puppy’s upset. We need to calm Puppy down.”
“You don’t make that call.”
Mallory dropped the tray. It clattered and the plate cracked as it hit the floor. Mallory stomped away, slamming the door behind her.
“Come on, Granny G,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “What’s taking you so fucking long?”
* * *
—
Jared quietly tested the zip ties. He couldn’t pull his arm back far enough to w
iggle out of them. His body was stiffening from sitting in the same position. He closed his eyes and tried to reach his mother, but he was alone in his head. Wiry stood behind him, sighing. Nervous tick? Boredom? Irritation? Zip Tie sat in her chair near the table, studying Jared. Daddy Coy Wolf had left the building. The other coy wolves had positioned themselves at the other side of the living room, and watched.
Everyone suddenly tensed, their eyes unfocusing. Someone was speaking to all of them at once, and it could only be Georgina, Jwasins, the ogress. Jared swallowed. Zip Tie stood and came towards him, but Wiry pressed a gun against Jared’s temple.
“Dad says no,” Wiry said.
Headlights pierced the dining room window, making everyone wince. The truck’s engine rumbled just outside. Daddy Coy Wolf returned, armed with a machete. He held it to Jared’s neck.
“Don’t give me that garbage, Granny G,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “You are going to give me one of your offshore bank account numbers sooner or later. I’ve got all the time in this world. Do you?”
Mallory casually wandered closer to Maggie. She smiled at Jared and gave him a wave. Thinking she’s cute, as his mother would say.
“No,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “Your goodwill means squat. Show me the money or I’m going to take the head off your Trickster and you can go find someone to resurrect him.”
They all waited for the verdict.
“Depends,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “If it’s a real account.”
“You made her mad,” Mallory said.
“I’m not following this jumped-up human’s orders,” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
“He says bad things about you, Jwasins,” Mallory said. “He’s trying to turn them against you.”
More silence. Jared wished he could hear them.
One of the boys came to the doorway and said, excited, “One point three million dollars, Dad.”
“Good,” Daddy Coy Wolf said, lowering the machete. “That makes us even, Granny G. I’m saying this now in front of everyone so we’re crystal clear: when you stop paying us, we’ll stop working for you. You are not my Colonel Kurtz. I am not following you up the river for sick kicks.”
Another long moment of everyone standing around, and Jared could see why Mave was frustrated when they left her out.
“You can all make the same deal,” Daddy Coy Wolf said to the others. “I’m guessing she’s secretly promised you all the moon and the stars. Did she say who’s in charge? Did she tell you it was you and only you?”
“See?” Mallory said. “Look how he’s playing them.”
“We’re a pack,” Zip Tie said.
“We’re a replacement pack,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “We’re a distant plan B. For fuck’s sake, get your head out of your ass or you’re going to get your pack killed.”
Zip Tie looked back at the other coy wolves then crossed her arms over her chest. “We’re ready.”
“Don’t say I never warned you,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “Okay, Trickster, you’re up. Bring Granny G home.”
Jared cleared his throat. “You’ve got to take the charm off my neck.”
“Seriously?” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
“Seriously,” Jared said. “I’m tapped. I used everything to take her there. I can’t bring her back by myself. I need my familiars to help and I can’t join them with the charm on.”
More silence.
“Obviously,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “He’s a Trickster. It’s all in the name.”
“We’ll bring you juice, Trickster,” Zip Tie said. She nodded to her people.
“I can’t just join with anyone,” Jared said. “That’s not how this works.”
“How does it work?” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
“You can’t travel to other universes with your body. You have to disintegrate to move through dimensions.”
“Yeah, that sounds made up,” he said. “Try again.”
“If this universe is one mountain and the other universe is a different mountain, then imagine they are separated by a hole that is so deep it never ends. You can’t walk to the other mountain. I have to go to her and move her between them like a bridge. It is hard. It costs a lot. If you don’t believe me, try to do it yourself.”
“We can eat your mother piece by piece,” Zip Tie said.
“Do it,” Jared said. “And I won’t do sweet fuck all for you. Granny G will starve to death. We all lose. Yay.”
“Puppy,” Mallory said. “Be good.”
“I want her out of here,” Jared said.
“Go,” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
“Jwasins!” Mallory protested, but the ogress was clearly not having any. “Fine,” she said, pouting. “I’ll be right outside, Puppy.”
Mallory paused at the doorway, stepping back as the coy wolves in human form dragged two teenagers, a girl and a boy, to Jared’s feet. They were both missing their right arms. They flopped to the ground when they were released. He felt his organs stirring, upset, ready to run.
“First of all, ew,” Jared said. “And second, I’m tapped and I need real juice. You’re asking me to run a marathon and then trying to feed me Tic Tacs.”
“Fussy, fussy, fussy,” Mallory called. “If you’d listened to me, he’d be a good Puppy by now.”
“Out,” Daddy Coy Wolf said.
She left, smugly smiling.
Everyone stood around for a while looking unfocused. Jared tried not to wonder where Sophia was or what she was doing that was more important than killing Georgina. He didn’t know how long he could stall them before they started cutting his mother apart.
Then he felt a crackle of power, like a zip of static electricity. What they dragged through the door next was utterly gutted, dirty from head to toe, a corpse, but still he recognized it as one of the Tricksters from his dream, the Bear that had shrugged off his fur to become a man. They dumped him at Jared’s feet so he had a close-up view of his future.
Time. Time shifted. But it didn’t. Jared couldn’t grasp what had changed with the arrival of the bear Trickster. He felt it, but he didn’t understand what it meant.
“You’re eating Tricksters now?” Daddy Coy Wolf said, talking to the ogress he called grandmother. “That’s severely stupid.”
“She uses our organs to make your skins,” Jared said.
Daddy Coy Wolf stared at Jared, and then at the bear Trickster.
“I’m out and so are my sons,” Daddy Coy Wolf said. “I’ll drive my boys to safety, then, and leave this abomination of a skin at the hotel. If the rest of you stay, you deserve what you get.”
Daddy Coy Wolf’s sons put their hands on either side of their mouths and ripped open their human skins, shedding them. They loped out the door, followed by Daddy Coy Wolf. The truck’s engine revved and then backed away, the disappearing headlights leaving the room in dimness again.
30
KILONOVA
We are together—the bitter remains of two monumental stars locked in a gravitational death spiral.
(God, save my daughter and my grandson. I’m begging you, Jesus, have mercy.)
Richie’s bedraggled spirit bear wanders through the apartment wall, growling. We see what it wants us to see: Tricksters buried alive in a field, a cacophony of voices we can’t understand, pleading, shouting. The firefly descends from the ceiling to join the bear and shows you the hexes in the Tricksters’ hearts that hold them prisoner.
You sense Sarah as she rockets towards Jared in a rusty minivan driven by an otter in human form. The Wild Man of the Woods is with her, as are his friends, who don’t bother with human forms. They’re too far away, the firefly tells you. They’re not going to get there in time.
(Burn the hexes from their hearts, oh Lord. Free them.)
(Free them. Free all of them.)
We don’t have enough power between us. We burn, we bu
rn. The bear fades first, groaning as the last energy it has joins theirs, and then he’s gone. The firefly pulls away.
(Anita’s heart, Anita’s heart, you want her to stop before her heart stops.)
(I want my grandson safe.)
(A final surge of her power and then her heart spasms.)
You are alone. You want to live. You have always wanted to live. Anita leaves her body in a burst of gold light, a halo.
You can live or you can follow her.
All the things you wanted to do, all the plans you had—they’re empty because you’re alone, you’ve been alone all your life except for those brief years with her. You thought you had known love, but you’d never known it until she held you in her arms.
The fear, your fear, this cowardice that’s always held you back, you push through it, you keep pouring yourself against the hexes, and you feel yourself going past the point where you can sustain your own life. You push.
Anita wears a blue sundress, her long hair in a single black braid. She holds a basket of freshly picked salmonberries, laughing as she waits for you.
31
THE GENERAL FEATURES OF A SYSTEMS COLLAPSE
Zip Tie grabbed one of the shed human skins and ran, raising her gun as she turned to back out the front door. The other coy wolves began fighting each other over the other one, the humans fighting the humans and the wolves snarling and rolling together on the floor.
A tiny blob, no bigger than a pea, left Bear Trickster’s nose and rolled up Jared’s shoe. It slithered up his pant leg and under his shirt. He clenched his mouth shut as it climbed up his neck. He shook his head to try to get it off but felt it crawling into his nose, moist and smelling like blood. He fought against the zip ties. He felt the blob oozing through his sinuses and tried to sneeze it out, but it wiggled so deep he could feel it touching his brain.
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