Seanan McGuire - An Artificial Night

“Lily, what—” Tybalt began. Lily shot him a sharp look and he quieted.

“You have business to conduct, both of you, although the weight of it stands on Amandine’s daughter,” she said. “You must speak to the moon, October. Leave the girl in my keeping. Perhaps I can wake her, perhaps not, but she’ll be safer with me than she could be on the road with you.”

“But—”

This time the sharp look was for me. “You know there are things I can’t discuss. I’m sorry they touch on your affairs. I can tell you this much only: you must ask the moon, for you’ll find no answers here, and you must leave the girl behind.”

“I can’t just leave her!” I protested. “Her parents trusted me with her.”

“Have you had an unexpected visitor?” she asked. I froze. She continued, “One who belongs to your line even as mistletoe belongs to the oak? You can’t lie to me. I know you.”

“How … ?” I whispered. Tybalt was frowning, but I didn’t care. If Lily knew about my Fetch, what else did she know?

Her smile was sad. “There are always ripples on the water. Some of us just watch them more closely. Leave the child and go. You have miles yet to travel on this road.”

“Lily, I—”

“There’s nothing else to say. You will go on your errand, and Tybalt’s, and all the others who haven’t time to reach you. You will go, because you must. Go now, October.” She looked at the mess on the table. “You have little enough time to find your way. Go.”

I stood. “You’re not telling me anything else, are you?”

“There’s nothing else to tell.” She crossed to Karen, picked up my clothes, and offered them to me. “You may keep the gown. It suits you.”

“Guess I don’t have time to change.” I took the bundle. “How do we get out of here?”

“Leave the pavilion and turn right.”

“Got it.” I turned to walk away. Spike leaped off of Karen, following at my heels, with Tybalt just a few feet behind, his footsteps silent on the pavilion floor. It was oddly comforting not to be leaving alone.

There was a moment of disorientation as we stepped down from the pavilion to the mossy ground. The landscape fell into place around us and we were back in the Japanese Tea Gardens, standing outside a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. There was a tingle in the air and the smell of jasmine tea. I reached up and touched one ear, feeling the illusion-rounded angle of it.

“Isn’t this fun,” I said, darkly. I realize most purebloods have absolute control within their knowes, but that doesn’t mean I need illustrated examples. I can’t stand other people throwing my illusions on for me. It makes my ears itch. Area illusions like Tybalt’s don’tlook-here were annoying enough, and they didn’t actually touch my skin.

“You look very nice,” said Tybalt.

I eyed him, unwrapping his jacket—unwrapping my jacket—from around the bundle of clothes and shrugging it on. The battered leather made an odd contrast against the formal silk gown. I didn’t much care. “I look like a geisha.”

A small smile tugged at his lips. “As I said, you look very nice.”

“Uh-huh.” I snorted and turned to head for the exit. Looking amused, Tybalt followed. The second time I tripped on the hem of my dress, he reached over and took the bundle of clothes from my hands. I blinked, but didn’t say anything.

Neither did he, until we were almost to my car. When he did speak, his voice was uncharacteristically soft. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“What?” I glanced toward him.

“I said, I didn’t mean to upset you. I didn’t realize my absence would be a problem.” His smile widened slightly. “It seemed you were eternally trying to be rid of me.”

“Yeah, well.” I stopped next to the car, taking my clothes out of his hands. “I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be quite that abrupt. Did I piss you off?”

“Piss me off? No. You didn’t. I’ve been …” He paused, sighing. “I’ve been looking for someone. There are questions that trouble me and I’d like to find some answers.”

“Anything I can help with?”

The question was casual; his response was anything but. Going still as a cat stalking a mouse, he studied my face, eyes darting back and forth as he considered me. Finally, almost wonderingly, he said, “No. No, I don’t think it is.” He looked oddly relieved. “My apologies for my absence. Clearly, you’ve been lost without me.”

I blinked, digging my keys out of the pocket of my jeans and checking the backseat for intruders before unlocking the car door. “You’re very strange, Tybalt,” I said. “But I guess I knew that. Do you need a lift anywhere?”

He paused, looking thoughtful. “What did Lily mean? The mistletoe and the oak?”

In for a penny, in for a pound. If he was trusting me to find his Court’s missing children, I might as well trust him with the realities of the situation. Squaring my shoulders, I met his eyes and said, “My Fetch showed up this morning.”

“Ah,” he said, softly. “I should have known it would be something of the sort.” Before I had a chance to react, he stepped forward, kissing me on the forehead. “I have to return to my Court and let the parents of the missing ones know that you’ve agreed. I’ll come to you later.”

I stared at him, stunned. “What … ?”

“Open roads, Toby. Find our children.” He hesitated like he was about to say something else, but he didn’t; he just turned and walked to the edge of the parking lot.

“What … ?” I repeated, standing there with my keys dangling in my hand.

Looking back over his shoulder, he smiled, almost shyly, stepped into the shadows, and was gone.

“This is officially getting strange,” I said, as much to hear my own voice as anything else. Missing children, a Fetch on my doorstep, Lily being freaky, and now Tybalt was deciding to redefine “acting weird”? The day wasn’t getting any better. I got into the car and started the engine.

I needed coffee, and I needed it now.

IARRIVED HOME HALF AN HOUR and a McDonald’s drive-through later, with most of an extra-large coffee doing its best to settle my stomach. It was failing. The failure became more profound as I approached the apartment and got my first look at the front porch. Quentin was sitting there with his arms wrapped around his legs and his chin resting on his knees, looking for all the world like an enormous kicked puppy.

At least he’d had the sense to put on a human disguise, blunting the points of his ears and making his features a little more believably attractive. Daoine Sidhe are gorgeous, but it’s not a human beauty. With the disguise, he could have been a teen idol; without it, he would have started riots. He was wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt that proclaimed YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE THE VOICES TALK TO ME. It didn’t look like his corn silk-blond hair had been combed in days, and one of his sneakers was untied.

The only time I’d ever seen him look that untidy was right after he’d been shot. Something was wrong.

He scrambled to his feet when he saw me, almost stumbling over his shoelaces. “Toby,” he said, voice cracking. “I—”

Loose lips sink ships and panicked kids say things they shouldn’t. I live in a decent area, but I have neighbors and neighbors hear things. “Wait until we’re inside. You want to get the door?” I tossed him the house keys, getting a better grip on both my bundle of clothes and my skirt in the process. “I do not like walking in this thing.”

“So why are you wearing it?” He caught the keys, frowning quizzically.

“It’s a long story.” I snapped my fingers, muttering a quick snatch of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The wards around the doorframe flared red and released. “Just open the door.”