Etched in Bone

CHAPTER 12

Moonsday, Messis 13

As he started up the stairs to Sissy’s apartment, Monty nodded to the Sanguinati who stood watch in the building’s front hall.

Yesterday his mother had shown up early, asking him to take her to the neighborhood Universal Temple, saying they should all spend a little time on Earthday thanking the guardian spirits for their blessings and asking them for the strength to meet coming challenges. When he suggested they take Sissy and the girls with them, Twyla told him to let Sierra have some room to think. She’d been a bit sharp with him, which had made him wonder if she’d spoken to Sissy that morning and already knew the response to that suggestion.

After visiting the temple, he had taken Twyla and Lizzy out for lunch. They met up with the Denbys, who also wanted a day away from the Courtyard. All of them went to a beach on Lake Etu where the children could look for shells and play at the water’s edge. They picked up pizzas from Hot Crust on the way home and spent the evening at the Denby residence playing board games.

There were no lights on in Sissy’s apartment when Monty watched Twyla cross Crowfield Avenue and go up to her efficiency apartment above the seamstress/tailor’s shop. He heard no footsteps overhead while Lizzy got ready for bed. But he hadn’t thought much about it since it was the girls’ bedtime and Sissy might have turned in early too. His mama had told him that morning that Sissy didn’t need anything. He had taken that to mean she had come to some arrangement with Tess and Nadine to supply Sissy and the girls with some food before all the Courtyard shops closed for Earthday.

But this was a new week, a new beginning. He had followed Simon’s orders and not given Sissy any food on Watersday, and he’d stayed away from the Courtyard most of yesterday. But the “no food” command didn’t apply now, so there was no reason he couldn’t buy breakfast for Sissy and his nieces before he went to work. Maybe, having been given a day to herself to consider her actions and the serious consequences, Sissy would really talk to him about what kept happening between her and Jimmy. Or if she wouldn’t talk to him, maybe he could convince her to talk to Theral MacDonald, who had gotten away from an abusive relationship.

He raised his hand to knock on Sissy’s door, then realized the door was ajar, as if someone had stepped out for a moment.

Monty pushed the door open a little ways. “Sissy?”

No answer. No sounds.

Monty pushed the door open all the way and wished he had his gun. He stepped inside, cautious, listening. “Sissy?”

No sign of struggle. What was left of a package of crackers sat on the kitchen table, along with an open jar of peanut butter. Crumbs on the dishes, milk residue in the glasses. Was this from last night or early this morning? Had he misunderstood and Sissy had been left for a whole day without food?

He looked in the bedrooms. No one there. He checked the bathroom. Then he checked closets and drawers and the medicine chest.

And then he rushed back down the stairs.

“My sister,” he said, wondering if the Sanguinati could sense how fast his heart was beating. “Did you see her last night or this morning?”

“I saw her just after daybreak on Earthday,” the Sanguinati replied. “She and her young left in a yellow taxi. They had luggage.”

“Didn’t you try to stop her?”

“Why would I?”

A grown woman leaving with her own children. No reason for anyone to stop her. After all, the Sanguinati was there to prevent anyone who wasn’t authorized from entering the building, not to detain someone who lived there. “I don’t suppose she said anything about where she was going?”

“No, but you could ask Vlad or Simon. They kept watch that night. They might know more.”

“Thank you. I will.” Monty returned to his apartment. Pulling aside the sheer curtains, he studied the Courtyard stores across the street. No lights on in Howling Good Reads. No lights in the front part of A Little Bite, but Nadine would be there by now, making the breads and pastries that would be offered for breakfast.

He checked his watch, then pulled out his mobile phone. He would call Captain Burke and . . . tell him what? This wasn’t a manhunt where every minute counted. No crime had been committed—at least none he knew about.

But his sister had packed up and left without a word to anyone.

He looked across the street to the efficiency apartment his mother had chosen to make her home.

Maybe Sissy had told someone. Maybe that explained his mama’s sharpness until they were away from the Courtyard—until he wouldn’t have reason to notice Sissy’s absence for a full day.

Monty reined in his impatience when he saw the untouched food on Lizzy’s plate. Breakfast had turned into a weird little power struggle, with Lizzy dawdling and dawdling until he pushed back hard because being late meant missing the bus and having to spend money on a taxi in order to get to the station reasonably close to the start of his shift. Burke was willing to give him more leeway than other officers because the constant interaction with the Courtyard was like being on call 24/7, but it wasn’t fair to other officers and certainly wasn’t fair to Kowalski, who was his partner and would wait for him.

He didn’t have time for power struggles this morning. Lizzy hadn’t touched the two slices of the peach he’d cut up to share between them, and the half slice of toast had a single bite out of the soft middle.

This morning he wasn’t going to cajole or scold.

He picked up Lizzy’s dish, put the peach slices into a container, which went in the fridge, and dumped the toast into the sealed bucket that held scraps that would be used as food for the critters the terra indigene ate.

He poured the rest of her milk down the drain and heard her shocked “Daddy!” as he rinsed the dishes and left them in the sink—and was glad his mother wouldn’t see them.

He fetched his service weapon from the gun safe in his bedroom. Lizzy was still sitting at the table. At least she was dressed for the day. “Let’s go. You need to stay with Miss Eve until it’s time for school.”

“I have to brush my teeth,” Lizzy protested.

“You’re out of time, so you’ll just have to go to school with stinky breath and fuzzy teeth.” Monty walked to the door and opened it. “Let’s go.”

Lizzy slid off the chair and clutched Grr Bear as a column of smoke flowed through the open door. The Sanguinati’s head, chest, and arms shifted to human form; the rest of him remained smoke.

“Do you want me to stay with the young one until an appropriate human comes to fetch her?” he asked.

“Appropriate human” meaning someone who wasn’t Jimmy or Sandee.

No reason to think the Sanguinati would hurt Lizzy—or feed on her. He wouldn’t have hesitated if Vlad had made the offer, but he didn’t feel comfortable leaving his girl alone with someone he didn’t know well, human or not.

Lizzy settled things by rushing over to him and grabbing his hand. “Grr Bear and I want to go with Daddy.”

The Sanguinati nodded, shifted back into a column of smoke, and returned to his position at the foot of the stairs, guarding nothing.

Monty locked the door but left the screened windows open. Providing intruders with easy access to one’s residence was not what the police department recommended, but he knew the Hawkgard and Crowgard made use of the porch railings and the shade as they kept an eye on the activity in the Courtyard apartments—and watched for small furry meals.

He hustled Lizzy across the yards and up the porch steps. Pete Denby met him at the door, a question in his eyes.

“Hi, Monty,” Eve said too brightly as she joined her husband. “Lizzy, Miss Ruth hasn’t gone to the schoolroom yet, so why don’t you come in? Sarah is just finishing her breakfast.”

“Daddy poured my milk down the drain,” Lizzy announced as she and Grr Bear went inside.

“I should put a sign around my neck,” Monty muttered.

Pete forced a smile. “Don’t bother.”

They both heard the caws as Crows winged back to the Courtyard.

Kowalski came around the side of the two-family house, dressed for work. “Lieutenant?”

“Call me if I can help,” Pete said.

“I will.”

Unspoken warnings from Pete and Eve. Did they know something about Sierra’s disappearance, or had they observed something this morning that made them cautious? Monty went down the steps and met Kowalski on the walkway. “Karl, you should go to the station, see if there is anything we need to know before we start the day’s shift.”

“Should I look for anything in particular?”

Monty hesitated, but only for a moment. “A yellow taxi picked up my sister and her girls around daybreak on Earthday. I might need to talk to the driver after I speak to my mother.”

“I can make some calls, but you might want to ask Simon first. I didn’t see the taxi, but I saw him in the customer parking lot that morning. He might have seen something.” Kowalski hesitated. “If Sierra had been coerced in any way, I think the whole neighborhood would have known about it.”

“I know.” Simon might be upset with Sissy, but he wouldn’t have allowed her to be taken against her will.

“I’d better get moving if I’m going to catch the bus,” Kowalski said.

Monty saw the lights go on in Howling Good Reads and A Little Bite. “Tell Captain Burke I’ll be in after I see a Wolf about a girl.”

Simon didn’t flip the Closed sign, but he unlocked HGR’s front door before returning to the counter where he’d begun sorting the book requests from the terra indigene settlements the Courtyard supplied with human goods. According to Toland publishers, an entire warehouse of stock had been destroyed in the storm, and shipments of paper had been reduced by half.

No reason to doubt the statements, and he wasn’t about to accept damaged goods. Which meant he really needed to see what Intuit and terra indigene publishing companies might have available. He looked up as Lieutenant Montgomery walked into the store.

Before he dealt with books, he had to deal with Montgomery’s pack.

“My sister left yesterday morning,” Montgomery said. The hand he set on the counter kept trying to curl into a fist.

Tension, not aggression, Simon decided. “Yes. She and her pups left in a taxi.”

“Did you notice the license plate by any chance? Did anyone overhear where she was going?”

“She bought tickets for a bus that was going east.”

“Do you know where?”

“Not yet.” Simon studied Montgomery, who looked a bit . . . trampled. “Meg was itchy because of the Sierra, so we kept watch on Watersday night. I asked Air and her kin to follow the Sierra and let me know where she makes a new den.”

“Thank you.” Montgomery breathed out a sigh. “I worry about her.”

“She is pack.” Simon fiddled with the stack of requests. “But if her pups are going to survive, she needs a new pack now. One that doesn’t include that Cyrus.”

“I know.”

Montgomery sounded sad, so Simon added, “I will tell you where she dens.”

The human shook his head. “No. Jimmy will ask. If I know and tell him I don’t, the lie will cause hard feelings between us—more than there are now. If I or my mother know how to find her, it’s possible something will be said that will give away Sissy’s new location. Maybe something Lizzy overhears and repeats without realizing the significance. And then Jimmy is on Sissy’s doorstep again.” He rubbed his forehead. “But she’ll need to have the ration books forwarded to her new address, and that will leave a paper trail.”

“Should I tell Air to stop following?” He was having trouble tracking this human logic. Montgomery wanted to know and didn’t want to know. Well, he wouldn’t ask the Elementals to stop following, because, no matter what Montgomery wanted, Meg needed to know what happened to the Sierra.

“No.” Montgomery gave him a strained smile. “I would feel easier if someone I trust knows where she is.”

It pleased him to know he was trusted with helping Montgomery look after the human’s family.

“Well,” Montgomery said. “I need to talk to my mama.”

Simon nodded. “She was awake around the time the taxi left. She might already know about the Sierra.”

“Look, bitch.” Jimmy used the voice and attitude that cowed just about everyone—especially women he wasn’t trying to charm into bed or out of some money. “I’m here to see my mama, so get your skanky ass out of my way.”

The woman, wearing a black dress that looked like a costume out of a creepy movie, continued to block his ability to get more than a step inside the consulate. Then she smiled, revealing fangs, and the lower half of her body, dress and all, changed to smoke.

Fuck! One of those vampires.

“Mama!” Jimmy shouted. “Mama!”

His mother didn’t come rushing to see what he wanted, but the fucking ITF agent, who had been sitting at a desk at the other end of the room, talking on the phone, suddenly hung up and came toward him while some middle-aged woman picked up the phone at another desk and punched in numbers, all the while keeping track of him.

“Something I can do for you, Mr. Montgomery?” the agent said.

He knew that tone when it came from a Government Man. “Not a damn fucking thing,” he snapped.

“You don’t have permission to be here,” the vampire said. Her smile widened. “Unless you’d like to stay for breakfast.”

A chill went through Jimmy when the Government Man looked surprised but didn’t object to the idea that she might sink those fangs into his throat and suck him dry.

Although . . . He’d heard stories about female vamps being able to give you a suck that blow jobs couldn’t match.

He eyed the vamp and was about to say something, just to see how she would respond, when Twyla came down the stairs, followed by a man with thinning hair, amber eyes, and a suit that must have cost enough to buy a month’s worth of mellow weed.

“You’ve got no business being in the consulate, Cyrus,” Twyla said quietly but firmly. “This isn’t one of the stores where you have permission to shop.”

“We need to talk,” Jimmy said. “Can we sit down for a minute?” He gestured to the desks. He might find all kinds of things of interest if he had a few minutes to look around. After all, information was a valuable commodity, and you could take it without anyone being the wiser.

“You can’t come in. You can say what you want to say right here or we can step outside.”

Stone bitch. Couldn’t give in even a little bit.

Looking at the freaks and the Government Man, he realized they weren’t going to step back and give even the illusion of privacy. “Outside, then.”

The middle-aged bitch was still on the phone, still watching him, still reporting to somebody. CJ? That Wolf who gave orders?

Jimmy stepped outside, forgetting to play the caring son by holding the door for his mama.

“What’s this about Sissy hightailing it out of here?” he demanded.

“She left on Earthday at first light,” Twyla replied.

“Going where?”

“I don’t know, Cyrus. She didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t leave a note. She just packed up her things and left with the girls.”

“She must have said something.” Shit. He’d counted on being able to tap Sissy for money or information or even getting her to make extra purchases of some of the soaps and things Sandee had said cost twice as much in high-end stores, which were the only places humans could purchase them.

Twyla shook her head. “She said nothing. She just left.”

He didn’t believe her words, but he believed the sadness in her eyes. Sissy had bolted with her brats. That meant his kids could tug the strings on Grandma’s heart a little harder to get more treats.

But that wasn’t going to fatten his wallet.

“Her choice,” Jimmy said. Sissy had stopped being useful, so there was no point thinking about her unless things soured so much here that he really needed to find her. As he walked away, he added, “She was never family anyway.”

Meg locked the Liaison’s Office and strolled to the Market Square to spend her midday break with Sam. She wanted to hear about what he’d learned in school and about the new Wolf Team book. She wanted to think about something besides Sierra Montgomery and how everyone was stirred up over her departure.

The prophecy cards she’d selected that morning hadn’t told her much—bus, east, and the third card, the result, was a picture of a village. And Simon didn’t have anything to add when he came into the office minutes after she’d turned the cards. He just confirmed what she already knew. And neither of them had any thoughts about the village because the village card didn’t indicate if the place was human, Intuit, or Other.

All the prickling and buzzing and reading of prophecy cards hadn’t ended in a big dramatic moment or some significant event. Sierra had made her choice and left quietly—and yet that choice had negated the prophecies Meg had seen about Sierra and her children.

Sierra was free, and Meg could enjoy her time with Sam.

As she reached the archways that formed one side of the square, the Courtyard bus stopped. She recognized several of the Hawks and Crows who got off the bus. Some were reporting for work in the stores; others were there to do a bit of shopping in human form. The last ones off the bus were Jane Wolfgard, Sam . . . and Skippy.

Since Jane carried a mesh bag full of books, it was easy to guess she was heading for the library.

“We almost missed the bus,” Sam said, rushing up to greet her.

“It would have been a long walk from the Wolfgard Complex if you had,” Meg replied.

“It’s a long walk for human legs,” Sam agreed. He looked at her through his lashes. “But not so long for Wolf legs.”

He was fishing for something, and she had a good idea what it was. “If you came to the Market Square in Wolf form, you wouldn’t be able to shift and look human because you wouldn’t have your clothes, and you can’t shop in the stores if you’re naked.”

“You could carry the clothes for me.”

She braced her hands on her thighs so they were eye to eye. “Do I look like a packhorse?” Seeing the spark of mischief in Sam’s eyes, she added, “Before you answer, remember I’m the one who has money to buy a treat.”

“Roooooooooo.” Skippy gave Sam a pleading look followed by a hard nudge, making it clear he understood the connection between Meg, money, and treat.

Sam returned Skippy’s nudge and grinned at Meg.

“I have to pick up a couple of things at the general store,” she said, leading the way. “Then we can go to Meat-n-Greens for something to eat.”

“I like looking in the general store.” Sam slipped his hand into hers. “There’s a lot of stuff in there that we can buy. But not as much stuff as the Crows have in Sparkles and Junk.”

Thank goodness for that. For someone like her, the Crows’ shop was a visual explosion. At least the shelves in the general store, which was run by Hawks and Owls, were organized and orderly. Even so, she’d learned to limit herself to one or two aisles during each visit to avoid being overwhelmed by all the different things that could be purchased.

Meg stopped at the door of the general store and looked back at Skippy. “Lots of stuff but no food.”

The juvenile Wolf stared at her for a moment, then moved off to explore all the scents left by the Courtyard’s other residents—and look for anything edible that someone might have dropped or left on a table unguarded.

“We’re not allowed to pee in the square, remember?” Sam said when Skippy sniffed around a large flowerpot and started to lift a leg.

Skippy looked like he really wanted to leave a “Skippy was here” mark on the flowerpot, but he obeyed Sam and moved on.

Meg couldn’t say why it pleased her so much that Sam was the leader of the puppy pack—which included Skippy as well as the human children—but it filled her with pride. Sam and Robert had had a couple of scraps in order to settle who was leader, but now they were friends who often went off to explore on their own—at least as far as they were permitted to go in the Courtyard—leaving the girls to play games that didn’t include mud, dirt, climbing trees, or examining partially eaten remains of various kinds of prey.

Meg wished she’d been there when Simon and Pete Denby had laid down the rule that no one who was in human form could eat raw scraps of prey—and no puppy of any kind could try to light a fire like humans did in frontier stories in order to cook meat scraps that had been out in the hot sun for who knew how many days and were not fit to be eaten by human or Wolf.

Of course, the terra indigene had never interacted with human children until now, so Robert’s “interest in the icky” and his somewhat faulty knowledge of frontier living were an education for everyone. Which was why Ruth was researching frontier life as depicted in nonfiction accounts rather than the admittedly more fun fiction that was written about a time that was long gone. Well, maybe not that long gone if you were among the people who were resettling Bennett or the other towns in the Midwest Region.

“I’ll be over here,” Meg said, releasing Sam’s hand as she headed for the aisle that carried the soap and shampoo. None of the personal items sold in the Courtyard were scented—at least not enough for a human nose to detect—but they were made with different ingredients. Now, in the heat of summer, she preferred the yellow soap and shampoo because it felt more invigorating and left the lightest scent of lemon on warm skin. Or maybe she just imagined the scent because of the association of lemon and yellow.

She had picked up what she needed and was walking along the far end of the store, looking at a couple of endcaps that displayed different items each week—an exercise that allowed her to see other things the store offered without seeing too much—when she spotted two youngsters she didn’t know. Must be Cyrus Montgomery’s children. But what were they doing in the Courtyard unsupervised?

The boy was touching things on the shelves. The girl stood next to him, looking up and down the aisle. When she saw Meg watching them, she whispered to the boy, who slipped something into his pocket before they hurried toward the door—and toward Sam, who had been standing at the other end of the aisle, also watching the strangers.

The boy looked older and bigger than Sam, but the leader of the puppy pack stepped in front of the door, blocking it in what was a clear challenge.

The pins-and-needles feeling filled Meg’s lower lip. She hurried to the checkout counter near the front of the store and dumped the soap and shampoo. The Hawk behind the counter ignored her, his eyes fixed on the two boys squaring off at the door.

“You didn’t pay for that,” Sam said. “You can’t take things from the store until you pay for them.”

“Get outta my way, freak,” the boy said.

Sam bared his teeth and growled. “Nobody steals from us.”

“Boys,” Meg began.

“Fucking freak!” The boy gave Sam a hard shove and bolted outside.

Sam went after him, grabbed the back of the boy’s shirt.

The next thing Meg knew, they were rolling around outside, punching each other. She rushed to the door, but the girl was there, pushing at her, getting in the way while she tried to get outside and stop the fight.

“No!” she shouted, finally getting out the door. “Boys! Stop this!”

Adults were coming out of the shops around the square, but none of them seemed to be in a hurry to reach the fight. The Hawk from the general store had the girl by the arm, preventing her from running away or helping the boy.

Sam ducked quickly enough to avoid a fist in the face, but he took a hard blow to the side of his head.

“Enough!” Meg shouted. Couldn’t anyone else see this wasn’t a little scrap about dominance? That older boy really wanted to hurt Sam!

She saw a glint of metal on a couple of the boy’s fingers right before he hit Sam again, splitting the skin along Sam’s cheek.

Oh gods, Meg thought, seeing the blood on Sam’s face. We need to find a doctor.

She didn’t think, didn’t wait for help from the other adults. She just waded in, intending to grab an arm, a shirt, anything to pull the boys apart and stop this. As she reached for them, Sam grabbed the boy’s wrist and bit the meaty part of his adversary’s hand before jumping out of reach, ready to attack again.

Screaming, the boy stumbled away from Sam and flailed his arms.

Meg didn’t feel the blow, didn’t even know she’d been hit as she staggered back and sank to her knees. Then she tasted blood, felt the agony that was the prelude to prophecy. She didn’t want to swallow the words, didn’t want to swallow the pain.

“Our Meg! Our Meg!” Jenni Crowgard knelt in front of her.

Shouts. Snarls. Motion all around her now. But all she really saw was Jenni, who took her hand and said, “Starr has chalk. Speak. We will listen.”

So she spoke, describing the visions. And as she spoke, she drifted on the euphoria that came from speaking prophecy, veiled from the visions she had seen . . . and the turmoil that surrounded her.

Blair growled.

Blessed Thaisia, Simon thought as he shelved stock. Did they have to misbehave today? he asked, because it suddenly occurred to him that Robert was at home, being fed the midday meal.

But Sam was with . . . “Meg.” He hurried out the back door of Howling Good Reads, followed by Vlad, who had also heard the warning and flowed out the window of HGR’s office.

By the time Simon reached the Market Square, adult terra indigene were converging on the youngsters and Meg was way too close to the fight—because even from a distance he could tell this was a real fight, not a scrap or rough play.

He ran toward the boys. So did Blair, in Wolf form, and Nathan, who was wearing swim trunks—probably the first piece of clothing he could grab when he shifted to human. Vlad veered off to intercept Skippy before the juvenile Wolf joined the fight.

They were Wolves, and they were fast. But not fast enough.

The human boy hit Sam and broke skin. Sam grabbed the boy’s wrist and sank his teeth into the boy’s hand—a punishing bite, even if delivered with human teeth.

Mostly human teeth, Simon amended, seeing Wolf fangs when Sam leaped away and snarled.

The boy screamed, flailed—and hit Meg on the mouth.

“Meg!” Sam howled as fur suddenly covered his face and limbs and his head began to change to accommodate a Wolf’s jaws and teeth. He leaped on the boy, and Simon, feeling the same fury as he caught the scent of Meg’s blood, knew what would happen if Sam managed to get his teeth into the boy’s throat.

He grabbed Sam and hauled him away from the boy. “Enough, Sam. Enough!”

Sam snapped and clawed at Simon, trying to get away and reach his enemy. Sam howled.

Simon wrapped a hand around Sam’s throat, a loose collar to prevent the pup from biting him. He snarled, “Stop. Now.”

Then Blair was in Sam’s face, snarling his own warning. The leader and the dominant enforcer had both given the order to stop. If the pup disobeyed now, he would be punished.

Sam sagged in Simon’s arms, panting.

Simon released his hold on Sam’s throat but kept his other arm around the pup. Nathan held on to the human boy, who was wailing as if he’d received more than a bite bruise and a bit of a tear in his skin.

Now that the combatants were secured, Simon looked for Meg, who was sitting on the pavement a few feet away. Blood dribbled from her split lip, staining her summer top. Her lips moved. He couldn’t hear her, but he knew what was happening because Starr wrote on the pavement while Jenni held Meg’s hand and stared at her face.

Emily Faire ran out of the medical office. Her eyes went from Sam, who was still in a between form, to Meg, to the boy. Then she looked at Simon, and he understood: who should she help first?

Seeing Jane Wolfgard running toward them, Simon tipped his head to indicate the boy. “Deal with him.”

The girl broke away from the Hawk and tried to run. Blair leaped in pursuit, then stopped when the girl was suddenly buried under several feet of fluffy snow.

Simon stared at the white pony who was standing near the snow. Avalanche stared back and snorted.

Could have been worse, he thought. The girls at the lake could have sent Quicksand to find out what was going on. But he found it reassuring that the Elementals were keeping their promise to watch the Market Square while the Elders observed that Cyrus and the other humans.

Simon said. No telling what would have happened if the juvenile Wolf had thrown himself into the fight. Now he seemed intent on licking Meg’s wound and snarling at Vlad, who kept dragging him away from where Meg now lay on the pavement.

Theral finally appeared in the office doorway. She, too, hesitated a moment before going over to help Emily Faire deal with the boy.

No need to call the humans, Simon thought as he watched that Cyrus run toward them, shouting. Montgomery and Kowalski were a step behind him, and Debany was doing his best to hold back the human females who were standing at the other end of the Market Square.

Henry said as he moved to intercept the human males.

He didn’t need the warning. He felt the odd silence that suddenly filled the Market Square. And he saw the columns of smoke filling one of the archways—and would bet one of those columns was Erebus Sanguinati.

he told Jane Wolfgard.

She nodded and half carried Meg into the building with Jenni providing additional support.

Nathan released the human boy, who was making enough noise to attract the attention of every predator in the Courtyard, grabbed Sam, and took the pup into the office.

Blair, having uncovered the girl and provided a way out of the snow pile, stepped back, alert and wary but not sure which attack he might need to meet—human, Sanguinati, Elemental . . . or Elder.

Montgomery and Kowalski grabbed that Cyrus’s arms as Simon turned to face the human.

“Look what that fucking freak did to my boy!” that Cyrus screamed at Montgomery. “You gotta shoot that fucker!”

“Jimmy,” Montgomery said. “Stop. You’re in the Courtyard.”

“Who gives a fuck where I am? Did you see that thing? You gotta shoot it for what it did to my boy!”

“He received a bite,” Simon growled. “He deserved it.”

“The boy stole from the general store,” the Hawk said. “He should forfeit a hand.”

That silenced that Cyrus, but only for a moment. “What the fuck you talking about?”

“He stole from the store,” the Hawk repeated. “If you steal from us, you lose a hand.”

“Nailed him good,” Emily Faire said loudly as she examined the teeth marks in the boy’s hand. “Lost a little skin, and he’s going to have a beaut of a bruise, but I don’t see anything to worry about.”

“Need to get my boy to the hospital,” that Cyrus said.

Simon stared in disbelief. Hospital? It was a bite. From a puppy using mostly human teeth. You just licked it clean and let it heal.

Emily snorted. “I used to get harder bites from my little brother.”

He wanted to object. Even in human form, a Wolf’s jaw had more power than an ordinary human’s, so Emily’s brother couldn’t bite harder than Sam. Then he realized that, as an Intuit, Emily was trying to defuse the anger in the Market Square. She might not be able to tell where all the anger was coming from, but she probably had a feeling that human emotions weren’t that important right now compared to the rest of the beings who were involved in, or observing, this ruckus.

She looked at that Cyrus. “I can take him inside the office, wash his hand with soap and water, and put some healing ointment on the scraped skin, or you can go to the emergency room, wait your turn, and then pay lots of money to have a doctor do the same thing.”

“You should pay for the hospital,” that Cyrus said, glaring at Simon.

“Shut up,” Simon snarled, “or we’ll take the pup’s hand as punishment for stealing and be done with it.”

“Simon,” Montgomery said, sounding courteous but weary.

But Montgomery didn’t hear the odd silence, didn’t realize the Elders were in the Market Square right now watching all of them—didn’t know this was exactly the kind of clash that would get humans killed in other parts of Thaisia where the Elders were the only ones deciding who lived and who died.

Simon focused on that Cyrus. “Your pups are banned from the Courtyard. We will permit them to go into A Little Bite or Meat-n-Greens for food, but only with an adult. If we find them anywhere else or on their own, we’ll take more than a hand.”

That Cyrus stared at him. “You can’t.”

“Yes, they can,” Montgomery said. “Come on, Jimmy. I have first-aid supplies at my place. We’ll take care of Clarence’s hand.”

That Cyrus didn’t move, and the boy looked like he wanted to start another fight when Kowalski tried to lead him away.

“Jimmy,” Montgomery warned. “Let’s go.”

Simon studied the hatred in that Cyrus’s eyes. Hatred, yes, but fear too. And no concern at all about the wailing female pup who had been buried under snow—and who had run to the female pack at the other end of the square instead of seeking comfort from her sire.

When the police and that Cyrus were gone, Simon turned to Emily Faire. “Your brother can’t bite as hard as a Wolf.”

She shrugged. “I’m going to take care of my other patients now.”

Meg. He had taken a step toward the medical office when Vlad called him. He hesitated, but Jane knew about not licking Meg’s blood and she knew how to care for Sam. And Theral and Jenni were inside to help as well. So Emily Faire didn’t need anyone else crowding the office.

He walked over to where Vlad and Henry stood next to Starr Crowgard. Henry pointed to the words chalked on the pavement.

White car. Man. Pain face. Bullet. Numbers and letters that Simon realized must be a license plate.

Those images were the answer, but what had been the question?

“The police pack is dealing with that Cyrus and his pup,” Henry said.

“Shall I call Captain Burke?” Vlad asked.

Simon nodded. “And we’ll show this to Agent O’Sullivan as well.”

Burke swore under his breath when he saw Agent O’Sullivan waiting for him outside the consulate. “I heard about the fight. A tempest in a teapot.”

“If Cyrus Montgomery gets his hands on a weapon, it will become a lot more than that,” O’Sullivan said, reaching for the door.

Burke shot out a hand, stopping the other man. “What do you know that I didn’t hear?” Had Monty downplayed the severity of the collision between Sam Wolfgard and Clarence Montgomery? Or was Monty, caught between loyalties, unwilling to consider the worst about his brother?

“I think Cyrus is a bully who uses charm or belligerence to get what he wants, depending on the situation. I had the impression that he thinks shoplifting is an insignificant act when his children do it, and he becomes resentful when they’re caught and held accountable. Seeing Sam Wolfgard in a form that wasn’t completely human freaked him out, and he’ll use ‘he’s not human’ as a justification for any harm he does to the youngster—or anyone else in the Courtyard.” O’Sullivan hesitated. “I didn’t see anything, but there was something in the Market Square that seriously spooked Simon Wolfgard and the rest of the shifters.”

Elders. Gods above and below. “Anything else?”

“I don’t know if he understood the significance of her bleeding, but Cyrus did see Meg.”

Not a cut with a razor, but that didn’t make any difference for a blood prophet. If they were all lucky, Cyrus wouldn’t have noticed the evenly spaced scars. But he didn’t think they were going to be that lucky.

O’Sullivan opened the door. “None of which is what Simon wants to talk to us about.”

When they walked into the consulate’s meeting room, Simon didn’t give him a chance to say anything about the altercation or inquire about Meg and Sam. He held out a piece of paper.

Burke looked at the words and sucked in a breath.

Simon touched the paper. “Meg said she saw Sam get hit and thought about needing a doctor. When she was hit and her lip split, she saw this.”

“Dominic Lorenzo drives a white car,” Burke said. “I don’t remember the license plate, but that information is easy enough to find.”

“The doctor was supposed to spend some time in our medical office every week, but he hasn’t been here in a while,” Simon said. “That’s why we hired Emily Faire to be the human bodywalker in the Courtyard.”

“Isn’t Dr. Lorenzo part of the task force that was checking on the blood prophets?” O’Sullivan asked.

“He is,” Burke replied. And the last time I saw him, he’d expressed concern that members of the Humans First and Last movement might waylay him on a stretch of empty road and interrogate him for the hidden locations of the blood prophets. The Others put an end to the HFL movement, but greed could motivate men as much as a political agenda, and those girls could make some men very powerful and very rich.

An uncomfortable beat of silence before O’Sullivan said, “I’ll call the governor’s office and make some inquiries, see if they’ve heard from Dr. Lorenzo recently.”

“And I’ll do what I can to locate him.” Burke folded the paper and put it in his pocket. Since prophecy was about the future, maybe they could find Lorenzo in time to stop the pain and the bullet. Maybe Steve Ferryman could help with that, since most of the girls who had been freed from the compounds were hiding in Intuit communities. “Are your nephew and Ms. Corbyn all right?” he asked Simon.

“They will be.” Simon pulled another piece of paper out of the back pocket of his jeans and handed it to Burke.

“Ravendell on Senneca Lake? What’s this?” Senneca was one of the Finger Lakes, but he wasn’t familiar with Ravendell.

“That’s where the Sierra and her pups are now,” Simon replied. “Ravendell is a human village within settled terra indigene land.”

Not land leased and under human control, which meant there were no boundaries, no delineation between what was human and what was Other.

“Not on the rail line from Lakeside to Hubb NE,” O’Sullivan commented. “Is it on a bus route?”

“Not on a route between human cities,” Simon replied. “There is a bus that travels around the lake. It is considered local, the way the buses in Lakeside are local. Lieutenant Montgomery thought it safer for the Sierra if he and Miss Twyla didn’t know where to find her, but I thought you should know this much.”

“I will be officially relocating to Lakeside, but for now I still have a residence in Hubbney and try to get back there a couple of times each month,” O’Sullivan said. “I could find an excuse to visit the Senneca Lake area if anyone wanted to send something to Ms. Montgomery.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Burke said. With nothing left to communicate, O’Sullivan left, but Burke held back. “If Clarence was shoplifting, why didn’t the shopkeeper stop him?”

“The Hawk would have let him get outside, so he couldn’t claim he meant to pay.” Simon shrugged. “Like all the terra indigene, the Hawkgard are larger than ordinary hawks. Not large enough to lift a human child that size, but the talons would have done a lot of damage. That’s what would have happened, except Sam, and Meg, intervened.”

“Clarence was wearing a couple of rings—a kid’s version of brass knuckles. He could have caused some serious hurt on another child.”

“Sam had one cut that bled.” Simon smiled dryly. “A few months ago, I would have licked the cut clean and that would have been that. Today, Sam’s cut cheek and Meg’s split lip justify coming to the Market Square after dinner for ice cream, followed by a Wolf Team movie marathon.”

“I’m surprised Sam and Meg didn’t campaign to have ice cream for dinner as well as dessert,” Burke said.

“They did. But Katherine Debany put on her mother hat and said ice cream wasn’t enough for dinner and recommended scrambled eggs because they would be soft to eat. Everyone in the female pack is bringing an egg to A Little Bite for me to take home.”

Sounded like Simon was still trying to figure out the pack status of Officer Debany’s mother. Fortunately the Wolf didn’t ask for a description of a mother hat. “Could be worse.”

Simon nodded. “We could be eating yogurt.”

Burke chuckled, but his amusement faded quickly. “How much longer is the tethered goat going to stay in Lakeside?”

“I don’t know. If it were up to me, that Cyrus would have been gone the day he arrived.”

“So they’re still interested in Cyrus Montgomery?”

Simon looked thoughtful. “That Cyrus is not the kind of human who normally would go near the wild country.”

WE LERNED FROM YU. The Elders had posted those signs, luring television and newspaper reporters to towns like Bennett to see for themselves what the primal forms of terra indigene in the Midwest and Northwest regions had learned about what it meant to be human. Whole towns were slaughtered in retaliation for the slaughter of the Wolfgard in those areas.

That had been terrible enough and gave him sleepless nights—something he would never admit to his men or his superiors—but with the Humans First and Last movement shattered, it wasn’t likely that anyone would be able to rally humans to another all-out attack on the Others. At least, not for another generation or two. No, the next threat to humans could be more subtle and more terrible if it was a reflection of Cyrus Montgomery’s more unsavory traits.

“He’s not the kind of human anyone would want the Elders to imitate,” Burke said.

“Well,” Simon replied after a moment. “He’s just the tethered goat. I don’t think the Elders are that interested in him anymore.”

Jimmy sat at the bar in the Stag and Hare, nursing a drink. Sandee was boohooing about Clarence’s hand and how dangerous it was to be around the Courtyard. And the kids were boohooing about every damn thing. A man couldn’t get any peace.

Had to make some connections. Had to find something he could turn into cash. He’d sold the extra package of lasagna easily enough, and the men he’d approached were interested in anything else he might have to sell. But with restrictions on how much of everything humans could buy at the Courtyard, and the freaks getting riled up about Clarence palming a couple of stupid things that weren’t anything, he didn’t think he’d be able to get enough food to sell—unless he sold half of what he could squeeze out of the Courtyard and told Sandee to pay for her food some other way.

Too bad the freaks didn’t seem interested in humping. Sandee might be worth her keep if they were.

The blond-haired man he’d seen before sat on the stool next to his and gave him a smile that lacked sincerity and held a hint of mean. “Buy you a drink?”

Jimmy was inclined to like the man for the smile alone. The offer of a drink just added weight. “Appreciate it.”

“You have some kind of hook into the Courtyard,” the man said.

Feeling cautious, Jimmy sipped his drink. “I know people who have a hook.”

“But you can get inside the Courtyard and walk around without raising any alarms.”

“True, but humans are watched all the time.”

The man downed his drink and ordered another round. “Not all the time. A distraction can have them focused on one part of the Courtyard, leaving another part . . . exposed.” He turned his glass. Turned it and turned it. “They’ve got something that belongs to me. I haven’t been able to reach it, but I know where it is. I need access to the Market Square for a few minutes. Just long enough to grab what’s mine and get out again. And if I can’t take it with me, I’m going to make sure it’s of no use to anyone.”

The man pulled some money out of his pocket and fanned the bills on the bar. Ten fifty-dollar bills.

“Just a distraction that would draw attention away from the Market Square,” the man said. “Enough commotion and noise to let me get in and out. What do you think?”

Five hundred dollars to make some noise and cause some trouble for the freaks?

The man left one fifty on the bar and pocketed the rest. “Just for listening.”

“If you need to move in a hurry, how am I going to get the rest?”

There was more than a hint of mean in the man’s smile now—and in his blue eyes. “I’ll make sure the money gets to you.”

Jimmy licked his lips. Five hundred dollars would set him up for a little while, especially if Sandee didn’t know he had the money. “When?”

“Tomorrow.” The man held out a hand. “Do we have a deal?”

Jimmy didn’t hesitate. He clasped the man’s hand. “I’m Jimmy.”

The man squeezed Jimmy’s hand just a little too hard. “I’m Jack.”