by D. R. Perry
We pounded up the stairs. I smirked at the irony of the old superstition about opening umbrellas indoors. Doing it now felt like good luck. Everything was turned on its head, by a kindly Professor who’d inexplicably turned murderer, to Seelie creatures spying and hunting us down. The street door pushed open under my hand.
The faintest hint of light tinged the horizon, its glow bloodying the sky. I went west, as Olivia advised. We’d be moving toward Brodsky’s apartment, and the police were still investigating. Maybe they had emergency sun-proof blankets or light-free transport.
Henry scooped me up once we got out the door and ran as fast as he could. I heard the scrabble of broken brick and mortar behind us. Over Henry’s shoulder, I saw the Spite begin their pursuit slower than I’d be at a dead sprint or even a jog. Their belly was distended, probably from eating the concrete that made up the building’s foundation.
The distance between us and the creature increased as they stopped to regurgitate amalgamated stone. I wasn’t sure whether Spites could digest it eventually, but this one didn’t want to try. I looked away, not wanting to watch any creature throw something up. At least we’d get a better lead while they purged.
Henry’s feet carried us down Brown Street until it became Camp Street. After that, his pace slowed. I tapped his shoulder, and he put me down. Behind us, the sky was a cloudy light yellow, like a week-old bruise. The sidewalk under our feet was dark with morning dew. I linked my free arm in Henry’s, and we jogged ahead. We’d lose our lead at this pace, so we’d have to stop and make a stand at some point.
When we passed Doyle Avenue, I knew there was no way we’d make it to Brodsky’s building before the Spite caught up. The only park we passed had no cover at all. Everything else was closed. Even Holy Name Church was locked up like Fort Knox. Too bad. pure Faeries of any type couldn’t get into churches, temples, mosques, or synagogues without an invitation from the presiding clergy.
We were on borrowed time. We’d have to buy as much more as we could. At least I knew help was coming.
Chapter Seventeen
Henry
I put one foot in front of the other as fast as possible. The sun about to rise behind me was pure terror compared to any fire I’d seen in my unlife. It was the difference between starting at a fish jumping and having your boat capsized by a great white shark. No contest in the fear factor department.
If Maddie hadn’t kept going, I might have just given up. She’d shown me more kindness, treated me more like a normal person than anyone had since the battle that claimed my humanity. Being with her felt like peace and plenty in a constant state of skirmish and scavenge. This short time with her was precious. I couldn’t let the Spite take her powers. She wouldn’t lose half of herself on my watch. I was ready to make a stand.
I realized she’d already been looking for a defensible place. Nothing on Camp Street would give us the advantage in a direct confrontation with a Spite. I almost wished the Grim was chasing us. At least then, Maddie’s magic wouldn’t be at stake. But, of course, the fact that she’d been helping me was the reason Brodsky sent a Spite this time.
Billy Taylor Park was the only choice for a battleground. The paved basketball court gave no cover, but we’d have a clear line of sight and room to run it in circles. I nudged Maddie, indicating the park. She frowned at the open area but crossed and hopped the fence all the same.
I saw an added benefit: two buildings east of the park were tall enough to cast shadows for a few minutes. This would let me fight the Spite far enough away from Maddie to make a difference. I had to stay in the shadows or fall back to the umbrella. Vampires could drink Spite blood. I could grapple them into the regular shade and not worry about getting hungry. I’d need to bite fast so it couldn’t drag me into the sun, but even if it did that, Maddie could still get away.
We ran to the west end of the paved-over park and waited. The Spite climbed the fence with some difficulty. Their back had been broken multiple times to deform it for eternity and cause them to walk on all fours. They’d been changed cruelly, robbed of intelligence and autonomy. I couldn’t help but pity them. Their limpid eyes rolled, looking at us. Once they got to our side of the fence, they sighed. I got the idea the Spite didn’t want to fight. I glanced at the lightening sky, sending out a prayer for them even though my old church had denied the existence of my soul.
Something white bobbed in the new light, hurtling toward us. It swam on air, but that was all I could make out with the sun behind it. I pointed. Maddie and the Spite peered at what I’d singled out in the sky.
“Olivia!” Maddie let go of my arm, waving as she called out. “Down here!”
The owl shifter folded her wings to dive. Something draped in fabric hung from her talons. She banked, dropping the item in a shadow on the other side of the basketball court. Then, she ran straight into a window, knocking herself out. She looked like a little white pile of snow on the ground by the building’s back stairs. Maddie and I ran for the object she’d dropped and I pulled off the cloth. A shiny purple glass paperweight rested in my hand. I had no idea why Maddie squealed and jumped up and down.
“Give it here!” She held out her hand, and I placed the paperweight in it. She curled her fingers around the dark glass, then took a deep breath and let it out. The shield got stronger and more light-resistant as purple-black energy swirled up from the object in her hand.
The Spite paused, one foreleg in the air as hesitated. Their eyes focused on Maddie, terror as vast as mine for the sun in their gaze. I finally understood what she’d done. She’d plugged into the Grim’s Anchor, tapping it like a battery. The shield would last longer, but we still had a stalemate on our hands.
I peered at the bottom of the building to check on Olivia, but she was gone. When I looked up, Josh and Nox had hopped the fence. Nox wore a pair of elbow-length dishwashing gloves. She held a shimmering sphere, her hand as far from her body as she could get it. Golden sparks whirled and pooled on its surface, sparkling in the new morning light like flying fish. Luck. Blaine’s glass float.
“Stop, Spite!” Nox called to the Seelie hound as though they would listen to an Unseelie shifter. They clacked their spikes against the ground, whining eagerly like she’d brought salvation instead of demise. Beside me, Maddie gasped.
“That fishing float.” She elbowed me. “It has Seelie Water magic. That’s the only thing that breaks Seelie enchantments.”
The Spite turned their back on us, taking slow, steady steps like a fly fisherman wading against a strong current. They got within three feet of Nox, the closest a pure Seelie could get to anything Unseelie without instinctively attacking. Nox gazed down at them, nose red and cheeks streaked with tears. She pitied the Spite, too.
Josh’s jaw dropped so far he could have caught every fly on the east side of Providence. He stared at Nox with a mixture of envy and admiration. I understood that as a young Alpha wolf, he’d wanted to save the literal and figurative day. He was about to be upstaged by a Kelpie, of all things.
Nox pursed her lips and blew a kiss at the glass float. It sailed like a soap bubble toward the Spite, drifting until it burst, spraying gold-tinged glass shards and seafoam all over the creature. They whimpered, shivers claiming their entire body. Their spikes drooped and their hunchback straightened.
That whimper became a series of screams as bone broke and reformed. Stripy scars melted, leaving smooth oatmeal-pale skin behind. A thick mane of white hair sprouted from the back of their head. Their fingers lengthened, along with arms and legs. The creature stood on two legs now, facing Nox. I watched them stretch each limb one at a time, examining them. They bowed to her, then turned toward Maddie and me y. They weren’t a Spite anymore. The sea float had undone all their deformities. Well, almost all of them.
Wing bones lifted tattered strips of iridescent gossamer. This Sprite was flightless now, but at least they wouldn’t live forever in pain and on their knees.
“I’m sorry for attacking. I wa
s enslaved, but now I’m free. I owe you each a great debt, but the only thing I have to give is information.” They stepped to the edge of Maddie’s Umbral shield. “The Summoner is also the summoned, his will controlled by a more powerful Magus.”
“Who?” Josh shook off his shock and awe, stepping forward to question the creature. Since the Sprite had agreed to pay us with information, he could do that without risk.
“I do not know, but I see that you will find out. Once enough of you turn coincidence in your favor, you will find him. Each of you four has earned three questions. The Son of Dennis has two left.”
“I’ll want to ask mine at some point in the future,” Nox said.
“That is your right, Kelpie. But know that the Sidhe Queen will track me down at some point. Do not wait too long.”
“Understood.”
“I think I’ll wait, too.” Maddie had pocketed the Grim Anchor. “If you need to hide, find me, and I’ll do what I can.”
“Thank you, Shadowmistress.”
“I want to use one of mine.” I stepped to the edge of the shield. “The Summoner’s Brownie. What’s his Anchor?”
“The vampire inquires wisely.” The Sprite smiled. Had I thought them so terrifying just minutes ago? “A wood cane of birch. The Summoner kept it on the floor under his bed.”
“Thanks. I’ll wait to ask the rest of mine if you don’t mind.”
“Very well.” The Sprite turned back to look at Josh. “Son of Dennis?”
“I have one question no one will have the answer to yet. I want you to answer me when you’ve discovered it.”
“Very well. Ask, and I will deliver your answer when the time comes.” The Sprite gave him a pointed look. “Know that coincidence prevents me from answering a question you’ve already asked.”
“Who will the Summoner attack after me?” Josh’s jaw clenched, his eyes unblinking and intense.
I nodded. Of course. Josh had done a lot to help Maddie and me, so he had to be next on the Extramagus’s list.
“Understood. I’ll bring your answer when it exists and falls into the scope of my knowledge.”
“I’m going to get Henry somewhere safe now.” Maddie beckoned to the Sprite. “I’ll hide your trail until it parts from ours.”
“Thank you, Shadowmistress.” It bowed at her. “I’m sorry his home isn’t safe anymore.”
“The basement Lounge has everything you could want.” Tony leaned against the chain-link fence near where Olivia had fallen. “Go there. The Sprite can get to a bunch of hiding places from the old trolley tunnel on the way.”
The Sprite froze when Tony spoke. They didn’t turn around, just stood there with their back to Tony. Their facial expression was inscrutable, but their eyes held fear. When I looked again for the cat shifter, he’d gone. One white feather settled to the ground where he’d been. The Sprite finally turned their head, gazing at Maddie expectantly.
“You have to invite pure Faeries under a ward, Maddie.” Nox’s tone was gentle, although a little hoarse. Ha.
“Oh, right. You can come under here. You have my permission.” Maddie beckoned the Sprite. They took one long step, placing themselves at my side under the Umbral sun shield. I wondered what it looked like from outside. I’d ask Josh later. There was no way I’d dare try to find out first-hand.
Our motley group made its way back to PPC on Camp Street. It had gotten late enough for the church to open. A man in a deacon’s habit blinked from the steps as we walked by Holy Name. I wasn’t sure whether I was the first vampire to take a shielded stroll outside during the day, but I was definitely the only one that particular deacon had seen. I smiled and waved, unsure of whether he could see me clearly or not. He rewarded me with one briefly upraised hand, then dropped into a slow-mo genuflection.
Faces peeped between blinds and curtains all along the street. Josh took point and Nox brought up the rear, making us an intimidating spectacle. One old man, bald under his black Greek fisherman’s cap, stepped out the door to stand on his stoop. The slow clap of his hands as I approached accented his genuine smile. He was missing his two front teeth and seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place him.
We made it to the trolley tunnel without further incident. The Sprite left so silently I couldn’t imagine how anything but the Queen herself might track them. Nox went upstairs, mumbling something about helping Lynn. Josh watched her go, then shook his head like he’d been in a daze. Maybe he had. Kelpies were known for their ability to mesmerize. Once we got into the basement stairwell, Maddie dropped the shield.
“I guess this is where I say good day?” I smiled full-on, finally comfortable with that expression.
“No way.” Maddie brushed past me, heading down the stairs. “Come on.”
“Huh?” I followed her, even though I wasn’t sure why she didn’t go back to her room where she’d be comfortable.
When she opened the door to the lounge, I understood why she’d messaged Lynn and Bobby. While I’d been thinking about turning to dust, she’d been preparing for my survival. An air mattress sat in the corner farthest from the door. A mini-fridge with a Shifter Fighting League sticker on the side held a few days’ worth of animal blood. There was even an electric kettle, cups and saucers, and tea. It was only bagged Bigelow Earl Grey from the dining hall, but that little touch broke me. I sat in one of the chairs and set my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. It was all I could do to keep from crying.
“Henry, what’s wrong?” I could feel the warmth of Maddie’s hand through the thick leather of my jacket. I took a few deep breaths I didn’t physically need before speaking.
“Nothing.” I met her concerned gaze with the full force of the hope surging in my heart. “Finally, nothing. I don’t feel like I’m all wrong just for being me.”
“I hope you get to keep that feeling for a long time.”
“As long as you’re around, I think I can.” I stood up, tilting my head so I wouldn’t break eye contact with her. “You make me feel normal, Maddie May. I love you.”
She didn’t say a word, just flung her arms around my neck. Her lips met mine with no hesitation or fear.
As we headed together to my temporary bed, I realized that Maddie accepted me for who I was, knowing what that meant for me and anyone close. I used to find the night magically fascinating until I got confined to it. Since then, I’d gone through the motions and just existed. Maddie brought me back to life that morning in more ways than one.
I’d lived in a cold gray fog since I’d turned. In Maddie’s arms, the color came back into everything. Drab hues brightened until I could begin appreciating the light again. Without it, darkness was stark instead of lush. I’d lost my balance, but that morning with the woman I loved, I took the first steps toward regaining it.
All it had taken was coincidence, convergence, and a little golden sliver of Luck.
Chapter Eighteen
Maddie
We came together at the intersection of hope and despair. In the moments after, when I fell back breathing as he lay still, I remembered what Mom couldn’t tell me. Convergence. I wondered whether this was it. My eyes slipped closed like a canoe slips into a creek. I drifted on sleep’s current, Henry’s cool hands soothing my overheated ones.
When I woke, I knew it’d be obvious that I wasn’t really asleep. Still, I kept my eyes closed. The room would be pitch black, and even though I could technically see in the dark if I focused, it wasn’t the same. Everything was green and gray when I did that, and I wanted to remember how Henry looked in something other than monochrome. Vampires were lucky; they saw muted colors when it got dark.
I heard the sharp click of the light switch and the soft rush of the heating electric kettle. After I rolled over and opened my eyes, I saw Henry placing teabags in the cups. I sat up, pulling my comforter around me.
“It’s three in the afternoon already.” He smirked. “Even Tony doesn’t sleep that late.”
“Well, I stayed up all night
and most of the morning.” I grinned, and my stomach rumbled.
“You need food.” He shrugged. “No one thought I’d have a guest, I guess.”
“I don’t want to leave you here alone after all that.” I shuddered.
“I’ll be fine.” He grinned.
“Hey, is that Djinn lamp still in here?” I peered at the bookshelf where I’d found it before.
“No, it’s gone. I have no idea where it went.” He glanced over his shoulder at the shelf, too. “We all agreed to just leave it here, right?”
“Yeah. I wonder whether one of us came back for it without telling the others, or if Brodsky came and got it after he realized we’d found it.”
“What makes you think it was Brodsky’s?” Henry raised an eyebrow. "It could belong to anyone."
“Aren’t Djinn summoned creatures?” I sipped from my cup.
“Not exactly.” Henry breathed in the scent of tea. “They’re tithed Faeries, bound to serve a purpose.”
“More like Fred’s dad than that poor Sprite?”
“Sort of. Djinns are like magical hermit crabs—they need a home. They all got bound when the King and Queen split. It’s a cool story. I wish I remembered who my Psychic mentor was. He’s the one who told it to me.”
“Why don’t you remember him?” I couldn’t imagine not being able to remember someone so important.
“I must have taken those memories out, put them away.” Henry leaned his head on his hand. “The only reason I can think of is he went into hiding.”
“That’s sad. Maybe we’ll work on finding him some time.”
“Maybe. I have to go through some of my old amulets.” Henry sighed. “There might be something in there. A clue. I also think it’ll help with Blaine’s tinfoil hat theory.”
