Trickster's Girl (The Raven Duet)

by Hilari Bell

  He must have read the determination on her face, for his shoulders sagged.

  "All right. You deserve the truth. I was trying to put it off until you were really committed, because I was afraid it might ... ah, discourage you."

  "What truth?" Kelsa demanded.

  Raven grimaced. "The truth is, not everyone approves of what I'm, we're, doing. I have enemies among my ... fellow spirits, I guess you'd call them. They—"

  "Let me guess," Kelsa cut in. "They're trying to stop the quest! How terrible. How romantic. I bet that'll suck her in. How stupid do you think I am?"

  "I think you're quite bright, for a human," Raven said cautiously. "That's one of the reasons I picked you. And I really haven't lied—"

  "What about—"

  "I just haven't told you the whole truth," he went on. "Once you blew open that nexus at TuTimbaba my enemies knew I'd found someone. They'll have assumed we'd go on to Glacier National Park and do an ice calling there, but there are plenty of glaciers down the ley, and I thought—"

  "So this isn't even the next nexus? You lied about that too?"

  "I thought that if they wasted their time setting up a trap for you in Glacier, maybe we could get far enough to keep ahead of them for a while. In this world they have to use their physical forms, as I do, and only a few of them can fly."

  He sounded so serious that doubts began to rise in Kelsa. If he wasn't lying...

  "Setting a trap for me? What does that mean?"

  "Nothing fatal," he said hastily. "At least, not yet. The same rules that bind me also bind them. Just as I can only guide and coach you, they aren't allowed to simply kill you or attack you and take the pouch away. And all of us are forbidden to work magic that violates the physical laws of this world. If nothing else it would weaken the leys too much, and they're weak enough already."

  "Go back to the part where your enemies are setting a trap for me," Kelsa told him. "Why would they want to stop me? And if they can't kill or attack me, why should I worry about them?"

  "I said they couldn't attack you. Themselves. There are plenty of ways they can interfere with the quest. And with any luck they're still lurking around the glaciers setting them up, and just beginning to wonder why we haven't arrived there yet."

  "But if that's where the nexus is..."

  Raven made a helpless, groping gesture. "A nexus isn't a fixed point, it's a process. A place in the ley where power is pushed forward and amplified. Some places lend themselves to power more willingly than others—we're on the outskirts of the ley here, not in the center. But almost any point the ley touches is, or can become, a nexus. It depends a lot on you. I was thinking we could go past Glacier and then veer back to the deeper parts of the ley, maybe ride up to Crowsnest Pass. If you can pull the power from there, drag it past any lag points by calling it to you, that will work fine. And it will catch the doubters flat-footed, because they'd never believe you could pull power that far! I wouldn't have believed it till I felt what you did in that cave. Before that"—he offered her a tentative version of the charming smile—"we were all underestimating you. Now they're not, and that makes them far more dangerous. Whatever else you think I'm lying about, you'd better believe that. Do you?"

  "I'll think about it."

  Kelsa picked up the remains of her lunch and walked away. For once, he had enough sense not to follow her.

  ***

  Kelsa spent the rest of the day thinking about what Raven had said, and what she concluded was ... she didn't need him.

  Oh, if she chose to go on she'd need him to tell her where the ley was. She wasn't even sure those convenient enemies existed. When she'd asked Raven why anyone would want to keep her from healing the leys, he hadn't answered. And even if these so-called enemies did exist, he'd admitted that they couldn't attack her.

  Any point the ley touches can become a nexus. If she performed the healing magic here, using this glorious lake, and it worked ... If she felt the same thing she had in the cave, or a tidal wave swept over the town she'd passed through at the lake head the moment she spoke, then she'd know he was telling the truth about her working some sort of magic.

  She had only his word for what it did. For all she knew, she could be summoning the tree plague instead of immunizing these forests against it.

  Yet ... In most of those old myths, despite his lies and trickery, Raven had been one of the sprits that helped humanity. Though not necessarily the individual human he was dealing with.

  Of course, she also had only his word for his identity in the first place.

  When Kelsa went to bed that night, lake incantations seeped into her dreams.

  ***

  Kelsa was camped in the lakeshore forest, so the sun didn't hit her tent to wake her at dawn. It was past eight when she emerged, but that worked in her favor. The fishermen had all gone out, and the campground was quiet.

  The stretchie she slept in was long enough for decency without her jeans on, and she topped it with not only her therma knit, but a jacket as well. She'd splashed in enough mountain lakes to know what the temperature of the water would be.

  She ran through possible incantations in her head while she dressed. None of the lines that had come to her while she was riding beside the river worked now, which made her angry with Raven all over again.

  Kelsa hadn't brought water shoes, since they weren't part of her camping or biking gear, so she'd either have to go barefoot or get her shoes wet. It would depend on what the lake bottom looked like.

  By the time she'd walked down to the shore, the chill morning air was nipping her bare legs. If her torso hadn't been warm she'd have been shivering.

  The water was clear as glass; the rippling waves distorted her view of the bottom without concealing it: jagged rocks with a coating of silt. Slippery silt, no doubt. Better to cope with wet shoes for a day than to break a toe if she slipped, or cut her foot on some sharp-edged, hidden bit of trash.

  Kelsa looked around. No late-rising fishermen. No dark-haired boys watching from a distance. No giant black bird perched in the nearby trees.

  She'd seen a number of real ravens, or maybe crows, on the road over the last few days, but none of them was half Raven's size.

  Unless he could make himself even smaller?

  The hell with him. She had a test to run.

  After a moment's hesitation—the mind was willing, but her feet still shrank from it—Kelsa took her first step into the icy water. Because she was braced for it, she didn't yelp, but she had to grit her teeth against the sound as freezing meltwater poured into her shoes.

  What part of "glacial lake" didn't you understand? She'd been seven or eight when her father had spoken those words, attempting to go for a swim after a long hot ride. How he'd laughed...

  Kelsa stopped, the icy water momentarily forgotten. This was the first memory of her father, untainted by his illness, that had come to her in ... she could barely remember back that far. Was she beginning to heal, the way everyone said she would?

  But for now, she had another act of healing to perform.

  As always, the first step had been the hardest. With only a few gasps for the temperature, Kelsa waded out till the rippling water almost reached the bottom of her stretchie. She looked back at the shore, thirty or forty feet away. If she wasn't "surrounded" by the lake now, she'd have to be scuba diving to make it work.

  She tried to put the cold out of her mind as she reached out to the lake with her senses, but the cold was part of it, the heart of its icy crystal depths. Sunlight danced on the surface and the small waves rocked her body. It seemed precarious on the slippery stones.

  It was freezing and perfect and beautiful; she felt so alive she could hardly bear the joy of it. Kelsa untied the medicine bag. The words came to her, simpler than she'd expected. Powerful only in their truth.

  "Water, mother of life, cold and clear. Run clear and strong, healing all you touch."

  She cast a pinch of sand into the waves, and a sudden gust
of wind sent waves slapping against the shore.

  "Forgive us, please, and heal. Heal and be strong!"

  This time she was braced for it. This time she felt the power run through the lake, through her own body, in a great shimmering wave.

  She was laughing in delight when the sudden swell knocked her off her feet, and shrieking from the cold when she splashed back to the surface. She'd barely managed to keep her grip on the medicine bag.

  She waded back to the shore, dripping and swearing. She was soaked. The medicine bag was soaked.

  She'd done it.

  Raven stood on the shore, waiting for her, a disapproving frown on his face. "I didn't know you were going to do that. You should have consulted me."

  "Th-that's what makes it a valid test." Kelsa's teeth had begun to chatter.

  "I intended for you to call on water somewhere in Canada. There are plenty of lakes there."

  "Not like th-th-this one," Kelsa told him. The morning air on her cold wet skin was warmer than the lake, though not by much. She squeezed some of the water out of her dripping hair and glared back at him.

  The scowl vanished, and a searching look took its place. "For you, was this the lake that holds the spirit of all lakes? The perfect, ideal lake?"

  "I guess." But it was. She'd known that from the moment she saw it, even if she wouldn't have put it in quite those words.

  "Then that's why you could ... Do you have any idea what you've done?"

  "If I don't, it's because you never tell me anything. I came to heal the ley. Did I heal it?"

  "Heal ... You did more than just heal it. You dragged the main current of the ley into a new channel! You opened a brand-new nexus where none had ever existed! Every shifter on the planet will have felt that, and my enemies—"

  "Your so-called enemies," Kelsa scoffed.

  "—will be on our trail like a wolf pack. You were in danger before, but now—"

  "Now they'll know that humans can heal your precious leys, so they'll have no reason to stop me!"

  "Ahh!" Raven buried both hands in his thick black hair and pulled. Kelsa had heard of people tearing at their hair in exasperation, but she'd never seen anyone do it. Another habit from the time when people said "tarnation"?

  "If you don't believe anything I tell you," Raven said, "then why have you come this far? Why are you doing this? And if you do believe me about the leys, then why—"

  "I didn't come because of you," Kelsa told him. "I came because of my father. Because we didn't try everything."

  For the first time since their argument began, Raven actually looked at her. "What do you mean, you didn't try everything?"

  Kelsa's eyes burned. It wasn't any of his business, but the words spilled over anyway. "My mother wanted my father to go to a retreat. To try faith healing. That's where—"

  "I know what faith healing is," Raven said.

  "Dad didn't believe in it. He wanted to stay home. To spend whatever time he had left with us." The tears were falling again. Kelsa didn't care. "I sided with him. But now ... All this..." She gestured to the sun-drenched lake, the magic it implied. "Would it have worked?" she whispered. "Could that kind of magic have cured him?"

  She hoped Raven would deny it. Instead he frowned thoughtfully. "Where was this retreat?"

  "In Minnesota. Not far from Minneapolis."

  "Then no," said Raven. "It wouldn't have worked."

  "How can you be sure?" Kelsa demanded. Was he lying to her again?

  "Because Minnesota is too far from a major ley for any human to tap it," Raven said. "That's what your faith healing is. Humans, however clumsily, tapping into the power of a major ley. Even if the leys weren't so damaged ... No. Going to this faith retreat in Minnesota wouldn't have saved him. I'm certain of that."

  The rush of relief was so great, Kelsa's knees weakened. She'd been right. Her father had been right. She hadn't prevented him from trying something that might have worked.

  She scrubbed a hand across her cheeks, though the water dripping from her hair was enough to conceal her tears. "Anyway, that's why I'm going on. I couldn't save him. So I have to save what I can."

  "I suppose that'll do."

  Raven stepped forward and laid a hand on Kelsa's head. She was about to pull away when she felt the water retreat from his touch, as if repelled by some antiwater magnetic charge. Drops fell faster from the hem of her shirt as dryness crept down from the top of her head. At last it poured out of her shoes, leaving her with puddles around her feet and completely dry clothing, though the flesh beneath it was still chilled.

  "Thanks." It was the only word her stunned brain could produce.

  "It's nothing. Or at least, it didn't take much. We'd better get on the road. Our enemies certainly know where we are, and the road from Glacier connects with ours up ahead. I'll ride with you today."

  "All right." If they rode together, maybe she could get him to answer some questions. Like why the shapeshifters hadn't—

  "Wait a minute. If humans can use the leys for healing, why didn't you tell us about this? Centuries ago? My father could have been cured!"

  CHAPTER 6

  KELSA TOOK THE ROAD NORTH by herself, fuming.

  How dare they keep the power of the leys a secret when it could have saved not only her father, but hundreds, thousands, millions of human lives?

  Raven had finally snapped that if his people had told humans about the leys, they would probably have treated them like the rest of this world's resources, and the leys would have been damaged beyond repair long since!

  That was when Kelsa had mounted her bike and sped off without him. She was too angry to bother with breakfast. When she saw the sign for the Woodland Café, it was past lunchtime and she was starving. The café was one of those rambling log-built structures that were still common in the mountains, despite the energy efficiency of plasticrete.

  The dining room held the usual booths and an old-fashioned counter for people who didn't mind eating in front of the waitress. Kelsa took the Seat Yourself sign at its word and claimed a booth next to one of the windows. It wasn't as if the place was full. The only other customers were a pair of senior citizens, who'd doubtless come from the motor home Kelsa had parked next to, and a burly man at the counter who probably drove one of the trucks that were parked on the shoulder of the road.

  She would go on healing the ley, Kelsa decided. But she was doing it to stop the tree plague and save her own planet. To hell with the shapeshifters!

  One of the two waitresses offered Kelsa a bright smile and a menu, and she recovered her temper enough to smile back. She might be planning how to use that Raven creep for her own purposes—even more than he was using her!—but she still had to eat.

  She was weighing the merits of a superburrito against a double-lean cheeseburger and salad when the bikers pulled up and parked outside.

  There were five of them, all dressed in the dark, fiber-reinforced jackets and pants that serious bikers wore. Much the same pants Kelsa was wearing, though she'd left her jacket strapped on the back of the bike.

  Some college kids, out for a summer adventure, assumed the same dark clothes and ragged-cut hair as the legally homeless biker gangs. They hoped to be mistaken for kids who were tough and lawless, though they didn't do tough, lawless things like fight for routes with rival gangs and buy and distribute illegal drugs.

  The elderly couple with the motor home might well be legally homeless too. It was a class of citizens that lumped together everyone who didn't pay taxes from a fixed place of residence. The majority of the legally homeless were either retired travelers or college-age kids taking a year or two off to have fun before settling into a job.

  But something about the young men who strode into the café made the back of Kelsa's neck prickle in primitive warning.

  One of them, a boy with reddish brown hair and freckles who was probably only a few years older than she was, met her eyes. Kelsa looked down and away.

  She'd just eat lunch a
nd ignore them. It wasn't necessary to suddenly regret that Raven wasn't with her—though if he had been, she could have told him what she thought of people who held back vital information! Information that could save...

  The bikers seated themselves at another booth, between Kelsa and the door. The waitress brought them menus and water before coming to take Kelsa's order.

  She wasn't as hungry now, but that was foolish. She was in a restaurant full of people. She ordered the burger.

  The bikers placed their order shortly before she was served. Since Kelsa was facing them, she could see that they cast several glances in her direction, distracting her from her angry thoughts. Another retired couple parked a motor home and came in. After a single glance at the four bikers, they took a table on the other side of the room. The first couple ordered dessert.

  Kelsa finished her burger, took two bites of the salad, and decided she was ready to move on. The bikers had been served only a few minutes ago. She had to pass them on her way to the register.

  "That your bike?" the redhead asked as she went by.

  "Yes." Kelsa kept walking. She could feel the bikers' eyes on her back.

  The redhead stood and followed her.

  Her heart beat faster. She wouldn't have minded seeing Raven walk through the café door. Anytime now.

  "It's a nice little bike," the young man told her. "We were thinking you might want to ride with us for a while."

  Kelsa's hands were cold, her shoulders knotted with tension. "I can't. I'm meeting up with my father and some of his friends. They should be here any minute."

  She approached the register and handed her receipt to the waitress.

  "You should come a ways with us, anyway," the biker said. "We'd give you one hell of a ride." His eyes moved over her like hands.

  Two of the others had risen as well, moving behind him to stand in the doorway. Raven wasn't coming.

  "I'd like to speak to the manager, please," Kelsa told the waitress.

  "Was everything all right with your meal?" the woman asked.