Guardian Hound

by Cutter, Leah

Peter opened his mouth and shut it again. He knew Lukas needed him for something, that there must be some sort of special ability that only he had.

  But he had no idea what it could be.

  # # #

  Dozens of ravens cawed greetings to them from the numerous balconies and ledges of Raven Hall. The white brick glittered in the high noon light, jutting out from the white cliff behind it, looking as if it had sprung from it. Peter looked up and smiled, his raven soul tempted to caw back—this was home now, a school he could reform, a place where he and Sally could do good work.

  Ariel stood with her fists on her waist, staring intently at the building.

  “Pretty cool, huh?” Peter asked.

  Ariel looked askance at him. “Yeah. That’s one way of putting it.”

  Kyle came rushing out of the tall wooden doors before Peter could ask Ariel what she meant.

  “Prefect Peter! I am so sorry. I just—” Kyle cut himself off when he saw Ariel. “Oh, geez. Look. Miss. I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. There was just—”

  “It’s okay,” Ariel said grudgingly.

  Kyle tumbled on. “Are y’all hurt? I could—”

  “Yes,” Peter interrupted. “Go get Prefect Kitridge. And make sure Dr. Elrah’s in the infirmary.”

  “But—” Kyle hesitated.

  “Go,” Peter directed. Though he was only in his mid-twenties, Kyle made him feel like a wise old bird. “Sorry about that,” Peter said, turning to Ariel after Kyle had dashed off. “He’s just, uhm, excitable, I guess.”

  Ariel gave a brief chuckle that she cut off abruptly.

  How badly hurt was she?

  “Naw, I get it,” Ariel said, dismissing his apology with a wave of her hand.

  “Please, let us help you,” Peter said insistently as they approached the building.

  “Why do you care?” Ariel asked bluntly. “I mean, I ain’t about to sue your ass or anything. Plus, you’re a raven.”

  “It’s the right thing to do,” Peter insisted. Though not all the training he’d received at Ravens’ Hall had been good, and despite Prefect Aaron’s flawed ideas about discipline, he’d still been raised to be a gentleman and to do the right thing.

  Prefect Kitridge met them at the door. She wore her usual white tank top to show off the muscles in her arms as well as the vibrant red-and-blue tattoos that went from her shoulders to mid-forearms. Her hair was still short and spiked, the tips bright green. She’d replaced the plain metal balls of her nose and lip piercings with dark green stones.

  “What’s up, boss?” Kitridge asked.

  “Don’t call me that,” Peter sighed. Kitridge was at least ten years older than he was, and had been one of his teachers. It made him uncomfortable to suddenly be in a position of authority above her.

  “Anything you say, boss,” Kitridge said with a grin and a broad wink.

  Not like she recognized his authority.

  “Prefect Kitridge, this is Ariel,” Peter said. “She’s been in an accident.”

  “Bike?” Kitridge asked, taking in Ariel’s leathers.

  “Harley Fatboy,” Ariel replied.

  “Sweet ride. Bit of a hog, though,” Kitridge said. “Let’s go do what we can to patch you up. Give you something for the bruises.”

  “You’re raven clan,” Ariel said after she looked at Kitridge for a moment.

  “Yep. One of the two female prefects here.”

  “Doesn’t it drive you crazy?” Ariel asked as she turned to follow Kitridge.

  “You do what you can. Boys. I teach ‘em how to fight,” Kitridge explained.

  Peter rolled his eyes. At least he’d made the right decision, asking for Kitridge to meet them. She was one of the few prefects he trusted.

  “Uhm, Prefect Peter?” came Kyle’s voice from behind him.

  Peter made himself maintain his smile as he turned around. “Yes?”

  “Is she gonna be okay? Miss Ariel?” Kyle asked, still nervous.

  A laugh from the two women echoed down the hall. “I think so,” Peter said.

  Kyle stood there, nervously biting his lips, staring over Peter’s shoulder.

  “Did you need something else?” Peter quietly prompted.

  “Oh! Yes! Your wife, Miss Sally, would like to see you.”

  “Good. I was just going to find her,” Peter said, brushing past Kyle and heading to the southern wing of Ravens’ Hall, where the prefects were housed.

  As a student, Peter had never been in this part of the building. Wood paneling—some of it very old, brought from the ancient halls in Wales; some of it cheap 1950s knockoffs—dominated the common areas. Was all that wood supposed to make their raven souls more comfortable? It felt like an exclusive club for rich white men. Peter planned on replacing the heavy, carved chairs and couches with something more modern, as well as replacing the dark green wallpaper with something brighter and softer.

  Peter’s raven soul, Cai, didn’t care much for human spaces. But he didn’t seem to mind these rooms, particularly after all the charms and cameras had been removed.

  Why had the elders felt they needed to watch and control all of the raven clan who lived here to such a degree? Peter still hadn’t gotten a good answer to that. Had it been an unconscious response to the shadows? But he hadn’t found any lurking here, and Cai hadn’t seen any, either.

  Then again, Lukas has warned that their sight could be fooled. Peter mainly detected the shadows by scent, and only with Cai’s help, when there were a lot of them. He didn’t have as good a nose as the members of the hound clan, and so he’d never detected the one that had attached itself to Sally.

  After Peter had vanquished Prefect Aaron, the elders had assumed Peter would take Aaron’s quarters—the spoils of war. But Aaron’s rooms had creeped Peter out, so he and Sally had moved another prefect there, taking a smaller suite on the far southern edge of the building.

  No matter how cold the temperature was outside, the sunshine made their apartment warm. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked their own private garden. Brown brick made up the floor just in front of the windows and acted as passive solar: Once the sun warmed the bricks, they kept the rest of the rooms warm, too.

  Much of the furniture had been scrounged from empty prefect apartments or the big storage locker the clan kept in town. It was a soothing mismatch of overstuffed 1980s couches done in dark purple velvet; ultra sleek, Danish-modern wooden tables; and two sturdy antique red-painted rocking chairs with brand new cushions that were surprisingly comfortable.

  Sally sat in one next to the bright sunlight, her legs tucked in under her and an ancient book in her lap. Peter had overridden the objections of the prefects and pulled out all the old books, wanting to learn not just about the other clans and the actual history of his own, but also to see if there was some mention of the shadows.

  “Hey, you,” Sally said with a bright smile. She wore a soft green hoodie over jeans.

  “Hey,” Peter said, his heart full to bursting with so many emotions at seeing her: Love, devotion, fierce protection, and joy. His raven soul sent the image of a fully lined nest, set high on a tree branch, an image of home. Peter leaned over and collected a soft kiss. “What’s up?”

  “I think I found something,” Sally said, excited. “Here, look at this.”

  The pages of the book were onion-skin thin and had gone brown with age. The text was handwritten in black ink, the letters harshly upright, looking stenciled in.

  Sally pointed to an ancient recitation. According to tradition since the time of Adwar the betrayer, who sold out the clan to save his family, all recitations were given orally. Yet, some books had survived the various strictures and purges.

  Do not suffer the half-breed—they bring the shadows.

  Peter shivered. The recitation lesson about half-breeds had been brutal. The prefect had killed a bird in front of the class to prove his point. A half-breed wasn’t fully human or raven—half here, half there, and never truly whole or aligned.r />
  Cai stirred, uneasy.

  “I would bet that there’s more than one reason behind the prohibition of the half-breeds,” Peter said slowly. There was always more than a single cause for every recitation, more than one story. “But this is really interesting. When’s it from?”

  Sally gently took the book back and put it down on the table. “The book’s about four hundred years old,” she said. “This section is all the things you can’t do.” She paused and looked up at Peter. “Was this what you had to learn as a boy?”

  Peter couldn’t lie to her, as much as he knew he should. “Yes,” he croaked, surprised at how close Cai had drawn near.

  “Then it’s good we can change some of this for the other boys,” Sally said firmly. She reached out and took Peter’s hands in hers. “Have you had lunch?”

  “No, there was an accident.” Peter quickly filled her in. He’d have to go and check on Ariel soon.

  “You should call Lukas,” Sally told him.

  Peter nodded, then paused, squeezing their intertwined fingers. “Ariel…she asked me something. And, well, I feel really stupid asking you.”

  “But you’re going to anyway because there are no secrets between us,” Sally said, quietly encouraging him.

  “Right.” Peter took a deep breath. “So you’re the heart of the knight. And Mei Ling’s the scale or armor or something like that. Virmal has some magic that works against the shadows, and I think Ariel’s naturally immune—she said the shadows couldn’t confuse her.”

  “Yes,” Sally said, nodding.

  “So what am I?” Peter asked, trying not to whine. He wasn’t some twelve-year-old boy, lost and alone.

  Sally disengaged their hands and took Peter’s head, her warm palms against his cheeks, her fingers wrapping around the base of his skull. Then she pulled him forward for a soft kiss. “Thank you for trusting me to answer,” she said.

  “When Lukas says I’m the heart, he really means more like grit. Determination. I’ll make sure we all make it through.”

  “You’re the stubborn one,” Peter said, teasing.

  “Damn straight,” Sally said. “But you, you’re the real heart. You care about Lukas, and Ariel, and even Mei Ling, though she scares you. I’ll bring us through, but you’ll make us a team, as well as help us heal, afterward.”

  Peter wanted to shake his head and deny Sally’s words. Everyone else who made up the knight was more special than he was. They didn’t really need him.

  But Lukas had insisted, along with the strange viper in Tulum.

  Maybe Peter did have a part to play, as important as the others.

  # # #

  Peter had never been to the hotel in Seattle where Mei Ling was staying. It was on the far side of Pike’s Place Market. She had a fantastic view of the Sound. Gauze curtains filtered the bright sunlight, and the glass door leading onto the outdoor patio was open just a few inches, bringing in the fresh smells of baking bread from the market.

  Mei Ling had rented an entire suite. The living room was as large as Peter’s old apartment, the walls painted a cool green with a fireplace mantel painted white and a gas fire. She’d provided a tray of vegetables on one of the fine wooden tables, alone with another tray of meats and cheeses, all beautifully displayed.

  Peter led Sally to one of the off-white couches, setting his plate carefully on the glass-covered coffee table in front of him. He suddenly missed the wood-paneled rooms of Ravens’ Hall.

  Virmal and Harita looked perfectly comfortable in the rich surroundings. They were both dressed in fine red silk. She wore a fancy sari, while he wore a tunic and trousers. They laughed with Mei Ling, who wore a sleek black dress that draped to the floor. Ariel wore jeans, a black-and-white Harley Davidson T-shirt, and a new black leather jacket that Peter (and the raven clan) had bought her.

  Lukas seemed too nervous to pay any attention to the surroundings. He sat down, stood up and looked outside next to Ariel, then stood next to Mei Ling before circling the couch as if he was herding them all together before he went and sat back down again.

  Rudi sat down next to Lukas and put a hand on his arm before Lukas jumped back up again. “Should we get started?” Rudi asked quietly.

  “Yes! Yes,” Lukas said.

  Peter cringed. Had he ever been that excitable as a boy?

  Cai showed him the pair of them tumbling and cawing, high in the air above the hills west of Seattle.

  All right, so maybe sometimes he had been.

  “Let’s get started. Can everyone sit down?” Lukas asked.

  The twins sat down on the other couch while Mei Ling and Ariel perched on chairs.

  What would he see if the raven clan hadn’t been cursed? How would Mei Ling show signs of her crocodile soul? A long snout, or maybe golden eyes? Would he be able to see the shadows of Ariel’s tusks?

  Peter hadn’t found an account from the raven’s perspective of their great betrayal. He hoped that one of the old books would have a clue. Not what had happened—but why.

  Lukas stood and moved behind the couch he’d been sitting on. He stood taller as he looked at them. “I started having nightmares, premonitions, about the end of the world when I was five. So believe me when I tell you, I know the horrors we face.”

  Was Lukas’ hound soul close to him? It was the only reason Peter could think of for the change in Lukas—how he’d suddenly gone from puppyish excitement to calm leadership.

  “The consequences, however—the complete annihilation of this world and possibly others—is worth the risk.

  “You are all here because you’re special. There’s something in you, native to you, that we can use in the coming battle.

  “Sally, you’re the brave heart, while Peter, you’re the healing one. Virmal, your magic and calm are the opposite of the shadows’. Mei Ling, your ferocity and strong scales are the armor we need. And Ariel, you can see through the shadows’ lies.

  “Together, we can defeat them.”

  “How?” Virmal asked. “What are we supposed to do tonight?”

  “I—I don’t know,” Lukas admitted. “I just know that together, all of you form the knight.”

  “Is it a literal knight?” Mei Ling asked. “Or metaphysical?”

  “Do we transform somehow, into this knight?” Ariel asked. “‘Cause, I’m sure y’all are nice, but I don’t want to get that close.”

  “When I was a boy, I thought there was a knight. Now, I don’t know. You all make up his scent. From you comes his essence,” Lukas explained.

  “Foretellings are not always clear,” Mei Ling said. “Even the best—and I have known many—cannot tell you directly what will be.”

  Why did Mei Ling have such regret in her voice? Just listening to her made Peter sad. Who had she lost recently?

  “Will the shadows come?” Harita asked. “Once we’re assembled?”

  “I believe so, yes. In all my dreams, the knight is the only one who can defeat them. If the shadows can destroy him, nothing will stand in their way. So they will come. They’ll be drawn irresistibly to our gathering. And then, we will fight.”

  “Then why aren’t they here now?” Ariel asked. “It ain’t because it’s day out—they attacked me in broad daylight that second time.”

  “I’ve encircled the room with my special brine,” Virmal explained. “It won’t defeat the shadows, but it makes them uninterested.”

  Peter sniffed, finally detecting the faint smell of vinegar and mint.

  “You’ll each get a jar before you go,” Lukas told them. “The shadows may attack us individually, before we gather.”

  “Great,” Ariel muttered. “That’s all I need. Another damn attack.”

  Peter squeezed Sally’s hand. They’d walked downtown from her place and had planned on walking back up the hill. They’d both been alert and watching the traffic, just in case the shadows tried to confuse a driver and send him or her careening onto the sidewalk and after them.

  “We know how impor
tant this is,” Virmal said. “But if Harita and I are hurt…well, the tiger clan may seek retribution from the hound clan.”

  “Yeah, the boars may come riding for your ass,” Ariel added.

  “The raven clan…” Peter stopped, considering. “I don’t know if they’d be more pissed or relieved if I’m gone. Sorry. I’ve upset them recently.” More than upset them, really. One of the elders would probably challenge him in the next couple of weeks.

  “I doubt the crocodile clan will care about my death,” Mei Ling stated bluntly. “I was born outside the families.”

  Peter blinked. He’d never heard of such a thing.

  Of course, under Prefect Aaron’s rule, if the raven clan discovered someone born out of the families, they probably would have declared him a half-breed and killed him.

  Rudi sat up abruptly. “You’re a wild one?” he asked.

  Mei Ling gave a toothy smile. “I am. I believe, in some way, we are all outcasts from our clan—different, yes?”

  “I’m not,” Ariel declared. “But the boar clan families ain’t as closely knit together as y’all to start with.”

  Peter slowly nodded. He hadn’t started out different, but somewhere along the line, he’d changed. Maybe that had been Jesse’s influence—the closest thing he’d had to a best friend growing up.

  “If we get through tonight, what happens then?” Peter asked.

  Lukas shrugged. “Go back to your lives?”

  Cai shook himself at that. No, there would need to be more. More healing.

  Maybe Sally and Lukas were right about Peter. The battle would leave scars—both externally and ones that didn’t show, he knew.

  “I say, brunch tomorrow afternoon, here,” Sally declared cheerily.

  “Yes, eat and celebrate,” Harita exclaimed.

  Peter wanted to join in their optimism and good cheer, but he didn’t trust what the night would bring.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Seattle, Present Day

  Lukas

  Lukas blinked hard and tried to clear his vision when Rudi flicked on the large spotlights over the field. The green grass sparkled in the bright, false daylight. The ground, saturated from the spring rain, squished under his new hiking boots.