Tyger Tyger (28 page)

"Dad," Teagan said as it rang, "I want you to take Aiden and go to St. Drogo's. The rest of us will meet you there."

"Where's your mother?" Mr. Wylltson put his hand to his head and winced. "Is she there already? Ah..." He winced and his face went ashen. "I'm..." He looked around wildly. "Where are we?"

"It's the library, Dad." Aiden sounded as if he was about to start crying again. "Don't you know?"

Abby's voicemail clicked on. "This is Abby Gagliano," she purred. "What can I do for ya?"

"Abby, it's Tea. Call me!" Teagan flipped her phone shut.

Mr. Wylltson had both of his hands to his head now. "Confused," he said. "I don't ... understand. Where's your mother, Tea? What's going on here?"

"Hey!" Aiden pointed. "It's Mr. Schein."

Raynor Schein's '57 Chevy was parked by the curb, and the gangly man, dressed as a city worker, was making a huge pile of leaves with an old rake. He set the rake carefully in the truck and started toward them.

"I didn't expect extras," he said, stooping beside Thomas. "What do we have here?"

Thomas opened his eyes. "
Raynor. Conas ata tu?
"

"Speak English, Thomas," Raynor said. "This is Chicago, not Éireann. What are you doing here?"

I DON'T expect you to help me, Raynor." Thomas drew a ragged breath. "But help the others. Hellhounds ... coming."

Raynor was suddenly in motion. "Everyone in the truck." He scooped Thomas up, none too gently. "Move!"

Teagan pushed her father toward the Chevy. He managed to get in, and Aiden scrambled up onto his lap as Raynor dumped Thomas into the bed of the truck. Teagan tried to pull Roisin toward the cab, but the girl started shouting and pointing toward Thomas. Raynor scooped her up, Grendal and all, and tossed her into the truck bed, too. She collapsed on Thomas's chest.

"In the cab," Raynor barked at Teagan as he ran to the driver's side.

"Finn!" Teagan shouted. He was squeezing out from behind the gate, knife in hand.

"He'll get here," Raynor said as the engine roared to life. He shoved the truck into second gear and slammed the gas pedal to the floor, clutch still down.

"Run, Finn!" Aiden shouted as the hellhounds came through the gate. Finn vaulted into the truck bed, and Raynor popped the clutch. The truck leaped forward, tires screaming on the asphalt. The acceleration slammed Finn against the tailgate and banged Teagan's head against the rear window. She grabbed the sissy strap hanging above her and looked back again. Roisin was lying over Thomas, either holding him down or shielding him. Grendal cowered against the tailgate. Finn had his knife in his hand and was trying to hold himself in the truck bed as he turned to face the hounds.

The beasts were running down the center of the street, and people clearly didn't need second sight to see them. Cars were swerving around them and blowing their horns. Pedestrians were screaming.

"They're gaining," Teagan said.

"Not for long. Sing to me, Brynhild baby." Raynor tipped his head, listening to the engine's whine. "There it is." He shifted again.

"Stoplight coming up," Mr. Wylltson said. Raynor wasn't slowing down. "Stoplight, stoplight, STOPLIGHT!" Mr. Wylltson shouted.

"Go to sleep, John," Raynor said. Mr. Wylltson's head slumped forward onto Aiden.

They blew through the light, swerving to miss a gray Toyota Prius. Teagan glanced in the side mirror. The hellhounds were still coming.

"What are those things?" she asked.

"Hybrids," Raynor said. "Strange, aren't they? Half combustion, half battery powered. I think I might like to drive one. We all have to do our part for the planet. But I'm not quite decided..." He glanced at her. "Oh, you meant the hellhounds. I thought you were talking about the Toyota."

"Yes, the hellhounds," Teagan said before he could start in on cars again.

"You've heard of
evolution
, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, with the modern educational system, you never know." He shrugged. "Hellhounds are the product of—"

"Devolution!" Teagan said.

"That's right. They let hunger consume everything they once were. What you see is all that's left."

"What were they before they devolved?"

"The Dark Man's brothers," Raynor said simply.

"His
brothers?
"

"We're in big trouble," Aiden shouted. "They're catching up."

"We're not in trouble," Raynor said. "I told you—they can't outrun Brynhild. You just take care of your daddy, Aiden. Don't let his head bounce too much. It will give him a sore neck."

"When's he going to wake up?" Aiden asked.

"Not for a couple of days, but he'll be a little better when he does."

Teagan checked the mirror again. The hounds were falling behind.

Raynor made a sharp left without slowing down at all, and Teagan lost sight of them. He turned left again almost immediately, and left again, shooting across the street the hounds had been on. There was no sign of them.

"That was too easy." Raynor was frowning.

"Thomas said they would follow us forever, once they got our scent," Teagan said.

"That's true." Raynor checked the rearview mirror again. "They're messing up plan A."

"What's plan A?" Aiden had turned around so that he could hold his dad's head with both hands.

"Run them in circles until I can figure out a plan B. I'm tending toward getting on the nearest freeway and running their legs off. If I didn't have the lot of you to watch over, I might be able to take care of them."

"You could 'take care of' hellhounds?" Teagan groped in the crack of the seat searching in vain for a seat belt.

"One at a time. I'll have to separate them, of course."

"Who
are
you?"

"Raynor Schein." He glanced at her. "Did you hit your head that hard? We've met before."

"I mean...
what
are you?"

"A
caomhnóir aingeal,
" Raynor said.

"
Aingeal
...an angel? What does
caomhnóir
mean?"

"'Guardian,'" Raynor said. "I'm Finn Mac Cumhaill's guardian angel." He checked the rearview mirror for hellhounds—they still weren't in sight—then gave her a disapproving look. "He never caused me any trouble until he met you."

"I don't believe it," Teagan said.

"
Aingeal
don't lie," Raynor assured her. "Well,
caomhnóir
don't, anyway."

"Finn lived on the street," Teagan said. "He got into fights!"

"You remember that, huh? That's the first time I ever had to intervene in person. Ever. And since then, he's been trying to fight the whole goblin world with his own two fists. As if that would work."

"It worked on Fear Doirich," Aiden said.

"What?"

"Finn beat that bad guy up," Aiden explained. "I stopped Kyle by singing."

"My little boy ... beat up that
creature?
" Raynor grinned. "Where am I taking you kids this time, by the way? Gary again? Gary would be good, because the freeway entrance is right ahead."

"Mamieo is waiting at our house," Teagan said.

"Crap!" Raynor hit the brakes, throwing Teagan and Aiden against the dashboard and slumping Mr. Wylltson forward. The driver of the SUV that had to swerve around them made a rude gesture as he went past.

"Where are the seat belts?" Teagan pushed her dad upright again.

"They weren't standard on a '57," Raynor said. "Sorry about that. But we need to get back there fast. You three were with Ida. She's going to reek of you, and Mag Mell, too, if she's been using her dust. No wonder they haven't caught up with us yet. They're confused."

"They're after Mamieo?" Aiden's voice squeaked.

"
Might
be." Raynor was breaking the speed limit and blowing through lights again. "They might be after Ida, or they might be running in circles trying to find us."

"I don't want them to get my Mamieo!" Aiden sounded really worried.

"We'll get there as fast as we can. Why don't you tell me about Finn beating Fear Doirich while I drive, Aiden?"

"He tried to hit me on the head," Aiden said. "But Finn caught his stick. It was hurting Finn's hand, so I started to sing, but Fear was sucking up my words. Then Finn hit him, and he couldn't talk right. He couldn't sing."

"I'll bet it was an uppercut," Raynor said. "Finn's got a great uppercut. God, I wish I could have seen it." He glanced up. "I mean that."

"Why didn't you, then?" Teagan was looking down every side street they passed and trying to keep an eye on the side-view mirror. Not knowing where the hellhounds were was worse than knowing they were right behind you. "If you're his guardian angel, shouldn't you have been there, taking care of him?"

"I would have if I could. The last time I was in Mag Mell, it was with Pádraig."

"Saint Patrick?" Teagan said. "You were one of the two angels Mamieo talked about?"

Raynor nodded. "Pádraig was trying to raise a revolt against Fear Doirich. That fellow you dragged along with you—Thomas—was a captain in the Dark Man's guard. He pretended that he wanted to hear what Pádraig said, then captured and tortured him."

"And you were just standing there?"

"No," Raynor said softly. "We were not. The Stormriders are a powerful people."

Riders on the storm, into this house we're born.
Raynor had sung it with Aiden the last time they'd ridden in his truck.

"You knew we were goblins," Teagan said. "When you picked us up on the tracks."

"Oh, I knew you were
Sídhe
the first time I set eyes on you," Raynor said. "But goblins? That's a choice."

"What do you mean?"

"The Creator gave us all gifts. Me, my gift is being in the right place at the right time. The Stormriders have the gifts of—"

"War," Aiden said.

"That's right. But what you choose to fight is up to you. Thomas was fighting for Fear Doirich when he killed my brother Geert. I might not have gotten Pádraig out if Fear Doirich hadn't summoned Thomas before he got to me."

"Thomas
killed an angel?
" Aiden asked.

"Yes," Raynor said. "Then the Dark Man used the Highborn Sídhe's magic to lock Mag Mell up tight, so no other
aingeal
can get in. Only those who were there already can come out."

"There are angels in Mag Mell?" Teagan asked.

"Fear Doirich is an
aingeal
himself," Raynor replied. "And his brothers are, too. How could you have met him and not known that? He's fallen, of course. He was a
caomhnóir aingeal
to earthly kings in the time before time. Now goblinkind worships him as a god. I must say, though"—he glanced sideways at Teagan again—"you are more...
goblin
than you were the last time I saw you."

"I just know it now," Teagan said. "I didn't before."

"No." Raynor touched the brake as the traffic slowed still further. "That's not it. What did you do in Mag Mell?"

"Survived," Teagan said.

"Do goblins really have to do what Fear Doirich tells them to?" Aiden asked. "Because Kyle said we did."

"I know of three who didn't follow the Dark Man," Raynor said. "Your mother, your grandmother, and Drogo."

"Drogo was a bilocate, like Kyle!" Teagan slapped her knee. "Dad was right. He
was
sleeping in church!"

"He was still a saint—" Raynor was saying when Roisin screamed. The hellhounds had come around a corner right behind them, and they were close. Too close.

Raynor hit the accelerator, and Teagan saw Roisin tumble to the back of the truck. Finn caught her before she hit the tailgate.

Raynor swerved around a small blue Honda. The hellhounds came right over the top of it. Teagan could see the panic on the driver's face as their claws ripped open the metal.

Raynor was weaving through traffic like an Indy driver, gaining distance with each block. Roisin was lying on top of Thomas again, as if she could protect him, and Finn had turned to face the hounds.

"Traffic jam," Raynor shouted. "Hold on!" He spun the wheel, and Brynhild's tires complained as they went around a corner and into an alley. It was so narrow Brynhild's side-view mirrors practically scraped the brick walls on each side. The first pothole bounced Teagan's head against the top of the cab. She braced herself before they hit the second.

"Hold on," Raynor said again. "It's not too far to the next street, and we should be free and clear."

"Finn bounced out!" Aiden said.

Teagan put her hand on the ceiling to try to hold herself in place, and twisted to look at the bed of the truck. Thomas, Roisin, and Grendal were lying flat in the truck bed, but Finn was gone.

"Shit," Raynor said, looking in the rearview mirror. "Now we're in trouble."

He hit the gas pedal, and the truck jumped forward. They came out onto a side street, and Raynor slammed a rumrunner's turn. "Roll down your window," he said.

"What?"

"Roll down your window. I want Finn to hear us coming. Play
our song,
" Raynor said. Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" blared from Brynhild's speakers.

"Louder," Raynor commanded. The Chevy blazed back down the alley, the music bouncing off the brick walls and rattling the windows.

Finn was running down the alley toward them. Teagan could see the hellhounds behind him, their necks stretched out like greyhounds chasing a rabbit.

"Slow down," Teagan said.

"Nope." Raynor leaned forward.

"You're going to hit Finn!"

The hellhounds had realized that the truck wasn't stopping. They turned to run, but Finn didn't. Aiden screamed and covered his eyes.

Finn jumped, catching a fire escape ladder that dangled from the back of a building. He swung his legs up and, as Brynhild roared under him, dropped onto the hood and bounced against the windshield like a giant bug.

"What are you doing?" Teagan shouted.

"Flesh and blood," Raynor shouted back over the blaring Wagner. "Hellhounds are flesh and blood in this creation, just like me. I can run them down." There was a sickening crunch, and Brynhild lurched as her tires bounced over what had been the slower hound. The side-view mirror on the driver's side threw sparks as it scraped against the building.