Chapter Eighteen

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Waking up the next time was much more pleasant. I didn’t appear to have been moved, though the room was a little different. Capinera had laid a blanket on the floor in the corner, and was lying down asleep. I felt a little bad about putting her out of her bed, but she did seem to be able to sleep like that. A fox was curled up in that bed next to me, also asleep. Kitsune seemed to be unlike werewolves in this, and unlike me for that matter. Saori looked exactly like an ordinary red fox, with red-orange fur, a white tip on her tail, nothing unusual at all. She only had the one tail, too, suggesting she was young and fairly limited in her power; kitsune grew more as they aged. It was only context that told me who this was, that and the feeling of smoke-laughter-fox-spice in her aura.

More surprising to me was the person sitting in the chair. There were a lot of people whom I could have imagined that being, under the circumstances, but Andrew would have been a ways down the list. The werewolf was doing something on his phone, and he still seemed tense, but it was a different tension now, hungry and eager.

“Hey,” I said, quietly so as not to wake the sleepers. “How’d it go?”

He looked up, and set his phone down. “Pretty well,” he said, at similar volume. “You want the details now?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But let’s step out for it. Don’t want to wake Capinera.”

I did wake Saori, though. Andrew hadn’t been there for some of the things I wanted to know about. The kitsune woke up much the same way as a fox that she did in skin; physically languid, stretching and pressing her head into my hand to solicit ear scritches, but mentally alert immediately.

“You mind waking up and chatting?” I asked her quietly. “Sounds like some things happened last night I should hear about.”

Rather than answer overtly, she just walked over to the corner where she’d left her clothes, and changed back to human form to put them on. Like mine, her shapeshifting was instant and painless, the only sensation a sort of paresthesia. Her whole body tingled, from what she’d said, like returning sensation to a limb after it had been without circulation for a while.

I almost felt bad for doing this in front of Andrew. I’d seen werewolves changing. It was slow, messy, and apparently every bit as painful as it looked. Flaunting how comparatively effortless our experience was seemed a bit rude.

Saori got dressed quickly. She had no particular evidence of embarrassment about doing so in front of him. Shapeshifters of any kind, I had found, tended to get over any taboos about nudity they might have had pretty fast. I generally remained bipedal enough to change while wearing clothing, but that was decidedly unusual.

I grabbed my stuff while she got dressed, putting the hoodie on. I doubted it was cold enough out to need it, but something about it felt comforting at the moment. Andrew was on his phone again, presumably finishing whatever he’d been doing. Capinera did not stir as we left the room.

“Alright,” I said once the three of us were outside the Blackbird Cabaret. It was late morning, and the weather was nice, overcast and a little breezy without being actually cold. “So, uh, fill me in?”

“How much do you remember?” Saori asked.

I shrugged. “Getting here is fine. I remember going inside, but things started getting really intense at that point, and my memories are…vivid but disjointed. I remember getting a clear look at a Sidhe noble, not recommending that by the way. And then by the end of the first line of the song, everything was insane and I think I collapsed.”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Saori said. “You got really weird, I could barely understand you. Cassie said that it sounded like you were having a stroke; you kinda made sense, like I could make out the words and sort of get the meaning, but it was disjointed. You staggered towards the Sidhe a little, then fell down. At first, that was all; you were just lying there, twitching a bit but you seemed fine.”

I nodded. That mostly fit with what I’d experienced. “What next?”

Saori shifted her weight a bit, looking uncomfortable. “After maybe thirty seconds, you got…weird. The twitching got a lot more intense, convulsive. Cassie said to keep you from hitting your head, but otherwise not try to stop you.”

Apparently Cassie knew what she was doing, because that was the right advice. I made a mental note to thank the werewolf later. Honestly, she’d handled this whole situation well enough that I was starting to feel distinctly impressed by her. I also recalled that she had been the one waiting at Mike’s house with Andrew when I first got dragged into their part of this mess. I suspected she, too, had the kind of power and experience that carried weight.

There was a long pause before Saori continued. I didn’t like that. “Jack felt some kind of resonance as this started. I felt it too, but not as clearly; he’s better with that kind of thing. He said it felt strange, and very strong; I think he was actually kinda scared. Then you started talking, and this part of it was…really fucking creepy, honestly.”

I nodded again. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been told. Hasn’t happened many times at all, but…yeah.”

“Right,” the kitsune said. “Well, you were kinda babbling nonstop for about five minutes, it was very stream-of-consciousness. You were fading between English, Japanese, German, Icelandic, and Welsh without pausing, just kinda switching mid-sentence. At least one other language none of us could recognize, too, and it seemed like you were saying different things in each.”

I was fluent in English and Japanese, and I knew a very small amount of German. The others were completely foreign to me. I added speaking in tongues to the list of things to worry about later. I had an actual written list of those which I’d add it to soon, but for now a mental note was enough. “Could you understand what I was saying?”

She shrugged. “Sorta? Between us, yeah, mostly. Audgrim got the Icelandic, and Cassie was able to understand the German part. Jack and I got the Japanese. Welsh…I don’t know what you said, but it brought that Sidhe lord over real quick, and he definitely understood it. It was a little incoherent, though. Really hard to tell what some of it meant.”

“Do you have any examples?”

“Yeah, one sec. Cassie took notes.” Saori fished in her pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. “Alright, here we go. In English you were mostly asking questions, things like ‛Why are we here?’ and ‛When is now not like tomorrow?’, or at one point ‛What is the purpose of weeping?’”

I blinked at that. Saori must have noticed, because she grinned a little. “Yeah, uh, like I said, you got really fucking weird. Okay. Then in Japanese you kept mentioning storms, you mentioned falling petals repeatedly, and there was a lot of stuff about revenge. You also mentioned ‛the black moon ascendant’ and ‛a song from the dying’ twice each, and the holiness of scavengers once. In Icelandic it was bloody axes, wolves howling at dusk, black fires, and some guy named Amleth. That freaked Audgrim right the hell out, which was kinda funny. German was entirely about hunting. And then Welsh we didn’t get the translation, and there was one that nobody even recognized the language, so…yeah.”

I absorbed that for a moment. “Well then. That…wow.”

“Yup. And then, uh, this was the part that pushed it from ‛freaky’ to ‛scary’. See, the thing is, Capinera was singing this entire time. Apparently it was a longer version of the song than normal or something, I don’t know, but she was still singing. I don’t think most of the people there even realized this was happening; you were surprisingly quiet, and we were at the back of the room. Don’t think anyone else heard you, just us and the fae. But then she finished the song.”

Saori paused, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Hell, even Andrew looked uncomfortable, and he hadn’t even been there. I really did not think I was going to like this.

“Almost exactly as the song finished,” Saori said eventually, “you stopped convulsing. And I don’t know if it was just that the song was over and they weren’t fixated on it or what, but that’s when practically everyone noticed that we were back there freaking out, and the whole room turned to look. And then you sat up, totally casual. It seemed like you were wide awake, eyes were open, you looked at the crowd in a really strange way, I don’t know how to describe it. Then you said, and this part is an exact quote, uh. ‛If you were not all here tonight, you would all be somewhere else, wouldn’t you? Maybe you would have been better off doing that instead.’ Totally clear voice, silent room, everyone heard you. And then you fainted again.”

I was correct. I did not like this at all. “Fuck shit,” I said. “That’s. Uh. Wow. Okay then. I assume that’s why you were in a hurry?”

Saori shrugged. “Kind of? I mean, like I said, the other stuff you were saying got a reaction. Audgrim was freaking out, and the Sidhe was…I don’t think I ever want to see a Sidhe lord that kind of angry again. And then Jack was still spooked by whatever he felt when this was starting. So things were already pretty up there, I think they only stuck around in case you said more things they would find important. Soon as you were done they were out the door. Crowd was leaving too; I don’t really know why. I mean, the show was supposed to be going on for hours still. I guess you freaked them out too at the end. I stuck around to explain because I drive fast enough to catch those losers any day of the week.”

I had no difficulty believing that. But I was still just…slightly stunned. “Um. Okay. And then?”

Andrew cleared his throat. “That’s where I come in. This fae, from what Jack told me, is known for being in his home a lot. And between the various things you said, I think he concluded very strongly that he should be there again, posthaste. Cassie called me and told me there was an emergency as soon as you started talking, and his place is out in the forest. I know this forest. And I’m pretty fast on four legs. So I ran out there, the kitsune drives like a maniac, and I don’t know how the fae traveled but it was pretty damn fast too, so the three of us all got there around the same time.”

“What happened?” The tension in my spine was deeply uncomfortable.

“We found them,” Andrew said simply. “Group of four people, in the middle of breaking into the place. It was a mess; this guy’s manor is a fucking fortress. They’d already gotten through the defenses, we caught them on the way out. Three of them bolted, and apparently they already had an Otherside portal open and waiting, because they got out of there before we could catch up. The fourth…well. I’m with Saori on this one. If I never see a Sidhe that pissed again, I will be very happy. I don’t know what he did, but I think the largest piece of this girl afterwards was a finger.”

I let out a heavy breath. “Oh thank fuck,” I said. “You might have been in time. I really, really hope you were in time.”

Saori looked at me oddly again. “In time for what?” she asked. “And how did you even know this shit?”

“I don’t know,” I said, and I was pretty sure I did sound as exhausted as I felt this time, because for a moment the kitsune seemed concerned. “I don’t…look, I don’t know how this works. But this is only the fourth time this has happened to me. The like…oracular, talking while seizing stuff, I mean. And the last three…did not go so great.”

“What do you mean?” Andrew sounded worried now.

I shrugged. “First was four days before the sarin attack in Tokyo a few decades ago. Second was about eight hours before an earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed a few hundred thousand people. By the third I was living in a small town in New York, and by this point I’d figured out that I should probably take this shit seriously. Fortunately, the guy who basically owns the town knows me, and he knew better than to ignore this. So he actually was on time to prevent some vampire from killing a couple people and starting a conflict between him and a different vampire a few hours’ drive away.”

They were staring at me. Andrew, in particular, seemed to be suddenly looking at me in a very different way. “Small town in New York,” he said. “Wait a second. You mean Ashland?”

“Yeah, that’s the one.”

“That was you?”

“I take it you heard about that,” I said dryly.

He was still staring. “You basically stopped a small war from breaking out between one of the stronger werewolves on the continent and a vampire scary enough to rule the city of Albany with an iron fist. Of course I heard about it. I don’t think there are many werewolves in this region who didn’t hear about it when that happened. No names associated, but when some girl has a prophetic insight and keeps that from happening, it’s the kind of story that circulates.” He shook his head. “Jesus. This…shit. Not liking the idea that this is something similar to that.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Pretty much. It’s kinda…I don’t know the rules. Couldn’t even guess at why those things prompted this shit when others didn’t. It’s not always actionable or local. And the third would have been bad, but it wouldn’t have been, like, global news or anything. So it’s not scale. The time delay doesn’t seem consistent. The third and then this one I could theoretically have known about without the oracular bullshit, but the first two were totally outside my understanding. All I’ve really figured out is that it’s probably not a good idea to ignore this kind of thing.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Saori said. “Note to self, Kyoko collapses and starts babbling insanity, pay attention. ’Kay.”

I laughed a bit at that. “Yeah, uh. Didn’t think to tell you about it, sorry. I figured there were good odds I’d end up having a seizure or whatever the hell these episodes are, don’t know if there’s even a word for it. Concerts can be rough on me, usually just unpleasant, sometimes worse, but. Yeah. Didn’t expect this.”

“It’s fine, not your fault.” Saori hugged me tight enough that I squeaked. She giggled.

“What do you think we were interrupting?” Andrew asked me. “I mean, we know to a degree. Cassie and I both recognized the scent, it was definitely the same crew we’ve been dealing with. But that’s all I’ve really got.”

“I don’t know exactly, but it’s….” I frowned. Most of the stuff I’d apparently been ranting about was out of my understanding. But I’d put enough together that even if I’d been sane, I would have been telling them to get the hell out to that faerie’s estate. “The Sidhe. You said he was an actual lord?”

“Yeah.” Saori sounded…spooked. “High ranking with Midnight. I don’t know their hierarchy or details or anything, but he’s the kind of Sidhe that tells other nobility to sit down and shut up.”

I shivered, and nodded. I hadn’t ever interacted with the Sidhe, certainly not with highly placed members of the Courts. But I’d read my fairy tales. I’d heard stories from people in the supernatural community about things they had done. The fae in general scared me a bit, and the Sidhe were their upper caste, the kind of faerie that did things like curse someone’s entire bloodline to the nth generation, or put someone into a coma for a hundred years. Someone who was considered scary even by their upper ranks was…distressing to think too hard about.

“Right,” I said. “So, uh, I don’t know motives or anything, I don’t know details. But when I think about it, it’s a bit…you said the manor was a fortress. And he deleted one of these assholes in a couple seconds, yes? How do you think they’d have done trying to get into that place if he were there?”

Saori went very quiet for a moment. “I think some of them might have lived long enough to regret it,” she said after that pause.

“Pretty much,” I agreed. “And he hardly ever leaves. I don’t know why they wanted in there, but I can tell you they wanted him gone. And I don’t know shit about him, but like, think about it. He showed up to a performance by this half-fae virtuoso—pretty sure she is, haven’t asked for details but I’m reasonably confident—performing an ancient song in Welsh. A song that was announced in advance, and that she would not normally sing at all.”

“It was bait,” Andrew said quietly. “For him. And for us too, I suppose. Like you were saying at the end, we’d all have been somewhere else otherwise, and instead everyone’s attention was here.”

“Right. And you know who asked her to sing that song, specifically, last night, also specifically? Steven. One of yours.” I paused. “I don’t know why the Sidhe came. But my guess is that he’s old enough to have been around when that song was first written, and it matters to him, enough that when he heard about this, he had to show up, he had to.”

“Oh fuck,” Saori said. Her eyes were wide. “Oh, that’s. Not great.”

“It would have meant war,” Andrew said simply. His eyes in that moment were so much older than his body would ever look. I’d gotten good at recognizing it in people, the distance, the weight of years. I was willing to bet he’d seen more than one century, just from that look, that moment. “The Sidhe place high value on artistry. To take a song that means that much to him, and twist it into a weapon?”

“Worse,” Saori said grimly. “They manipulated someone he respected into doing so. He vouched for Capinera, was willing to stake his own honor on her being trustworthy. I don’t know why, but…the fae don’t do that lightly. That’s why we felt it was safe to leave you here.”

“So he respects her enough to ask her why she was singing it. It would have meant war,” Andrew said again. “Against a nobleman of the Midnight Court. The sorcerers would have gotten what they wanted from his home, and set him against us in the process.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “That’s my conclusion, too.”

“We were in time for that much, though,” Saori said. She was grinning like a lunatic, and the grim, slightly frightened look in her eyes had been replaced by a wild, vicious glee. “He asked me to tell you, actually. He wants to talk to you, tomorrow. The phrasing he used was that he wanted to thank you for preventing him from making a grave mistake. Whatever the hell you told him, it was convincing, and he was calm enough to talk to us after this happened. Killed one of the bastards for us, too.”

I realized I was grinning too. “Yeah,” I said. “I think I’m willing to call that a win. Partial win, at minimum. Dunno what they got away with, but I’m pretty fucking sure they didn’t want him to be this pissed at them about this stunt. You said you got a scent off them, too, yeah?”

Andrew wasn’t grinning. He was showing teeth, but not even a vanilla human would have mistaken that look for a smile. “Yes, we did. Cassie, Bryan, and Robert are out checking other locations now that we have a clear sample. Jack, last I knew, was doing some kind of inspection of the magic they used out there. Don’t know what the dwarf is doing. Not perfect, but I’m feeling a hell of a lot better about things than I was this time yesterday.”

I smiled, and I hugged Saori, and I tried to pretend I wasn’t still scared as hell. I wasn’t sure how convincing it was, but I felt I should at least make the effort.
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