Authors: Kaye Thornbrugh
“Not on me. But if you come upstairs, I can probably find a few—”
“Oh, no,” Alice said hastily. “It’s fine. You don’t have to do that.”
They sat in silence for several minutes, Lee sketching, Alice folding. Lee’s mind raced. She didn’t know what had brought Alice this way, but she knew that she didn’t want her to leave. At least, not before Lee had a chance to speak with her.
Before Lee could think of an innocent way to open the conversation, Alice spoke.
“I’m starving,” Alice announced. “You wanna get something to eat?”
“I don’t have any money.”
“My treat
. There’s a
great
little restaurant not too far from here.”
“Well
…
” Lee di
dn’t want to leave without telling Nasser and Jason, but was hesitant
to run upstairs and tell them, for fear that Alice would be gone when she came back.
It wasn’t as if she’d be going off without any protection. There were some supplies in her backpack left over from
Samhain
. She was wearing her necklace, after all. Byrony couldn’t possibly sneak up on her, not if she kept her wits about her. She made a split-second decision that she hoped she wouldn’t regret.
“All right,” she agreed finally. “Just give me a second.” Lee tore a page from her sketchbook, scribbled a hasty note of explanation and an apology, and shoved it under the front door. Then she gathered up her things and went to join Alice.
* * *
Looking up suddenly, Nasser blinked against the buzzing in his head. This whole room was vibrating with negative energies. He headed down the stairs into the shop. Maybe Lee could use some company.
But when he reached the front of the shop and peered through the front window, no one was there. For a moment, he just stared, like she would materialize before his eyes. Then, a stray sheet of paper tearing beneath his heel, Nasser turned and rushed back up to the apartment.
He banged on the bedro
om door, calling, “Jason! Open up. I think something happened.
”
No answer. Of course. Jason either figured this was just a ploy to get him to come out, or he’d actually set up a minor magical barrier to block out any noise from the other side of the door. He suspected the latter.
“Crap, crap, crap,” Nasser
chanted
as he grabbed his coat and t
hundered back down
stairs. He didn’t know where Lee was. But he intended to find out.
* * *
When the two girls arrived at the restaurant—a quaint, homey little
place
called Algernon’s—Lee found
it
to be delightfully warm and inviting after the cold march from Flicker. It was only a few blocks away from the shop, but the weather made the distance seem longer.
Lee and Alice sat near the back of the restaurant, in a booth with worn wooden seats. For a while, Lee felt som
ewhat wary. The low lighting
reminded her of Ladders, and when the waiter came to take their order, she found herself looking him up and down—not because he had pretty
brown
eyes, which he did, but because she was certain he had to have a tail or spines protruding from his back or
something
that wasn’t right
.
When the food arrived
,
Alice tore into her hamburger, which looked like it could feed several people, while Lee ate slowly, savoring her meal. It was nice to eat something that didn’t come out of a packet or can.
“So where’d you learn to do that?” Lee asked, after a while. “Your origami, I mean. I could never manage anything more complicated than a fortune-teller.”
Alice laughed. “Where did you learn to draw?”
“I don’t know. I just sort of
…
do.”
“Exactly.”
Then the two of them smiled at each other, and Lee felt like maybe they were going to be friends. Her chest ached suddenly as she
thought of Kendall, remembering
how much she had missed having a girlfriend.
“Where are you from?” Alice asked conversationally, her mouth partially full. She ate like Filo: elbows on the table, mouth usually open while chewing.
“Bluewood.”
“What brings you to Bridgestone?”
At that, Lee could only shrug. “It’s a long story.”
“How long have you been in the city?”
That seemed a harmless enough question. “About two weeks.”
“So you’re working in the city?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, you were in front of Flicker,” Alice pointed out.
“Nobody just hangs out in front of it like that, so you’re probably staying there. And from what I know about that place, you either pull your weight, or you’re gone like that.” She snapped her fingers.
“I guess you know a lot about it, then.”
It
was Alice’s turn to shrug. “I
know
someone who works there.”
“
Filo?” It seemed to Lee that they were trying to get a feel for each other now, testing the waters.
For a second,
Alice
was
thrown by the question. S
he admitted, “Yeah.
Filo.”
“Is that why you were so interested in that sketch?”
Alice stiffened. “That’s none of your business.” She pressed her lips together, then asked warily, “And how exactly do
you
know Filo?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, eithe
r.
”
By that time, they had both finished eating. Alice counted out enough money to pay and laid it on the table. Lee slid out of the booth and followed Alice into the mist.
“Why are you following me?” Alice asked, rather sharply.
“I have to. I don’t know my way back.”
Alice snorted. “All right then. I’ll take you back the short way. Come on.”
Lee had to concentrate to keep up with her; though Alice’s legs were short, they made up for
it by working at double-speed.
Alice kept glancing around, almost nervously. When Lee shifted her gaze from Alice’s back to her surroundings, she discovered there were faeries everywhere. Maybe not
everywhere
. But more than she would’ve anticipated, scattered about in the streets. People with green skin. Wings. Beaks and horns and animal heads.
Alice was dodging them, Lee realized. She was looking without looking, subtly steering Lee out of their paths. She must’ve figured Lee wasn’t Sighted.
“Hey.”
Lee jogged forward and touched Alice’s arm. “You can See them, too?”
“
Wha
t?
” Alice’s arm jerked. She whirled toward Lee.
“The—” She almost said
faeries
, but bit down on the word. She lowered her voice so that her words were barely a whisper. “The
…
Good Neighbors.”
With an expression of pure surprise, Alice spun around and started
walking again
. “So what are you?” she demanded. “My
replacemen
t?
Is Filo having auditions? Did you have to fill out an application
to be his assistant
?” Her words were hard and angry, like verbal punches.
“Or are you just shacking up with him?”
“No,” Lee
protested
. “You don’t understand. I’m not anybody’s replacement. I’m not even Sighted! I’m just—”
“Will you stop talking?” Alice snapped, her whole face worked into a scowl. “You can explain yourself later, when I’ve had a chance to ask Filo what the hell is going on in his shop. Salt and
sage
, what’s gotten a hold of him? Letting
strangers
into the
apartment
.”
They were standing in a large, seemingly abandoned playground, set between rows of boarded-up tenement houses. All the playground equipment was rusty and old. What ground was not choked by thick brown weeds was merely sticky mud. A few scrawny trees hunched along the edges of the playground.
Drawing her coat closer around her, Lee shivered and moved to follow Alice
as she cut across the playground
. But something stopped her. She stood frozen, her sneakers sinking into the mud, as chills rolled over her skin.
“Mortal girl,” said a cool voice. “I had hoped we would meet again soon.”
Bonds
Ambling through the cold, wet streets had numbed Filo’s injured hand to the point that he could almost ignore it. Though he was less than eager to return to Flicker, Filo knew he couldn’t skulk around in this weather all day. The last thing he needed was a cold.
As he turned a corner, he looked up and barely managed to skip out of the way of a tall figure rounding the corner from the opposite side.
“It’s Lee,” Nasser told him breathlessly
, by way of greeting
, as soon as they recognized each other
. “She went outside after you left, to keep an eye out for you. But when I went out to check on her, she was gone. I have no idea where she is.”
Instantly alert, Filo asked,
“Where’s Jason? Shouldn’t he be helping you look?”
Nasser shook his head. “He’s pissed at me again. He barricaded himself in the bedroom. Won’t even talk to me.”
“Figures.” Filo ran his good hand through his hair, thinking. “I don’t think we should split up. If there’s trouble, I’d rathe
r we both be there
.” Filo tugged on his
jacket and turned to Nasser. “Which way should we go?”
* * *
Not again,
Lee pleaded silently as she turned to face the voice.
Not here.
Byrony stood several yards behind her: winged, willowy and barefoot, seemingly unaware of the cold
mud covering
her feet. Any injuries the dryad sustained had disappeared. She looked fresh and healthy. Her eyes, though, were exactly as Lee remembered them. Cold and hard as glass.
“Will yo
u come along like a good girl
this time?” Byrony asked.
Shaking her head silently, Lee dropped her backpack at her feet. Then, as quickly as she could, she stooped, unzipped the pack and grabbed the first useful-looking item she touched: some sort of hard metal medallion, which she stuffed into her coat pocket. It would have to be good enough. The backpack was mostly filled with sketchpads and pencils right now, anyway.
“You should go now, Alice,” Lee whispered.
“Why? Who is this, Lee?”
“Just go! It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
“A bit late for that,” Byrony crooned. “Anyone you associate with is involved.”
“Involved in
wha
t?
” Alice demanded.
“Alice!” Lee shouted, her voice carrying across the playground.
For a moment, her voice was firm. Commanding.
“Just go!”
But Alice didn’t move. She just shifted her posture again, like a fierce little cat raising her hackles and extending her claws. Alice didn’t know who Byrony was, what she wanted, or what she would do to get it. But she recognized trouble when she saw it.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Alice
said
, though her eyes never left Byrony. “You don’t know me that well.” She dipped her hands into her coat pockets and withdrew two light bulbs.
Byrony
scowled
. She raised one hand—a knot of nearby weeds stirred sleepily—
The light bulb in Alice’s hand flared a brilliant white as she flung it toward the dryad.
It shattered at Byrony’s feet, light and heat exploding outward. Byrony yelped, stumbled backward and threw her arms up to shield her face. Before she could recover, Alice hurled the second light bulb, which burst with enough force to knock the dryad over.
Lee was still stunned by the sudden flashes of light. She nearly lost her balance when Alice shoved past her, holding her own open backpack, heading for Byrony.
But before Alice reached her, Byrony had already rolled over and sent a tangle of weeds shooting toward Alice’s feet. Surprised, Alice tripped and fell to her knees. As she staggered to her feet, she opened her backpack and began dumping its contents—b
ottles, amulets, wadded-up
clothing—onto the ground. Then she gripped the sides of her pack and held it wide open. Something stirred within.
The rustling of paper reached Lee’s ears as a blast of color erupted from Alice’s open backpack and hovered around her like a cloud.