It was worse when it didn’t last. The next day was Sunday, and I got my homework done before heading out into the street. I didn’t have anything to do but wander aimlessly, which seemed to be the story of my life.

At least the shoot had taken up a day I hadn’t been sure what else to do with. I wanted Thea to come back. I was also itching for a fight, if I was honest about it.

Maybe that was the worst problem I was having. I was the kind of person to get almost addicted to violence, and part of me hated myself for it. A pretty big part of me. I wasn’t sure I was a very nice person.

But, about it not lasting. I turned down a street close to Capitol Hill and got jumped. Rolling to the side, I managed to avoid being pinned down by the guy who had jumped me. Yeah, I mean jumped literally. Springing back to my feet, I aimed my fist at his sensitive parts.

He oofed, but not as loudly as he should. Bastard was wearing an athletic protector. So, instead, I went for twisting my leg around his and forcing him to the ground. “Tell me you’re just after my wallet.”

“Bitch,” he snarled back.

“Tell me what you want.”

I was really hoping it was my wallet. Then I could just…do something superheroish and tie him up and call the cops.

“I want to find Thea.”

Now, that was a switch. “She’s out of town. And clearly you aren’t her friend or you would have just, you know, asked.”

“I figured she’d come back if you were threatened.”

I slowly let him up, ready to put him on the ground again. “Well, you’ve just made sure that I won’t tell you where she went.” Nope. He’d definitely ensured that I had no intention of telling him.

“Fine,” he snapped. “I’ll get you another time.” He headed off, limping. I felt gratified by the limp and hoped I’d done enough damage that he’d end up needing to, at least, walk with a bandage for a while.

Then I took stock of any damage he had done to me. Minimal. Now to find Thea and warn her. Or not. If he had any sense, he’d expect me to do just that.

Where was she, anyway? I wanted to know as badly as he did, but I wasn’t going to let him know that.

Him or anyone else who might be looking for her. Unless it was her dad. Him I’d talk to.

But I hadn’t seen him since he’d gone after Loki over Sif’s bracelet, so…I didn’t think he was about to show up.

I did wonder how many of them would before this was over, if it ever was.

Photo shoots are, by the way boring. And exhausting. And hot. Nobody had really warned me just how hot they were. The only thing I wanted afterwards was ice cream, and it wasn’t even really summer any more.

The other girls…and boys…involved struck me as people I wouldn’t want to know in any other context. They were very focused on the work, but afterwards they seemed very unfocused.

Or maybe they were just as tired and hot as I was. I hadn’t even got paid yet. In the interim I didn’t have money for the ice cream I was so badly craving. I’d have to look into getting a bank account too. Or maybe getting Thea to help me, because I sure as heck didn’t want a social worker co-signing it.

I didn’t want to admit to the others that I was broke, so I just headed out, the lightweight jacket I’d needed that morning tucked over my arm. I told myself at length that I would get used to it, knowing it was true.

I’d build stamina, just as I had for fighting. But it didn’t need the same kind of stamina. Maybe I should ask Thea for tips when she came back. If she came back. I hadn’t seen her in, now, several weeks.

It was close to Halloween, which I knew some people believed meant the veils between worlds thinned. If they got any thinner for me, I thought, I’d accidentally step through. I checked my cash. Nope. Not enough for ice cream, not enough for dinner unless I cooked it myself, which I really didn’t feel like doing.

No choice. Once I had the money I’d set some aside for exactly this. Shouldn’t be hard. I was used to not having any, so I could handle not spending what I had until I needed to. Right?

Yeah. I was honestly worried. I knew people who got windfalls and just spent the lot of it quickly and until I was getting regular work, I couldn’t do that. I headed straight home to get some food.

And checked the freezer. Ice cream with Kanesha’s name on it. “Kanesha?” I called up to her room.

“What?” came a muffled response.

“Can I please, please, please have a scoop of your ice cream?”

“Go ahead. Just remember you owe me.”

I served myself a scoop, enough to cool me down, not enough to interfere with my appetite, and searched through common stores. Salad.
Salad would work. I wasn’t that hungry anyway, so I put myself together a bowl, found some croutons, and then Kanesha was coming downstairs.

“How did it go?”

“Nobody tried to kill me.”

It was bad when that was the standard applied to a good day.

I’d already put the incident mostly from my mind by the next day. I’d got the picture – Mr. Otter was an inveterate prankster and that was why nobody liked him. Oh, and a thief. He’d stolen the horn, too. Its owner, though, hadn’t come looking for it like that.

Maybe the horn had been part of an overall plan, not just a random theft. Thea’s father.

Thea wasn’t her real name.

I did say mostly, right? But I had to be an ordinary girl for now. I had to go to school, watch out for fairies, and try to get the right level of grades – not too good, not too bad. That was enough to be worrying about.

As I’ve said before, people in fiction never seem to care about these things. People in fiction wander around with guns even where it’s illegal, shoot places up, never get arrested, never have to hide from the cops.

People in fiction have it easy. In reality? I had so many secrets inside me at this point that some of them were bound to get out.

Which was why I sat next to Kanesha. “Bumped into Thea’s old man yesterday.”

“She has one?”

I laughed a bit. “She does seem rather like somebody you’d expect to spring full grown from somebody’s forehead, doesn’t she. But yeah. Mr. Otter stole some of his wife’s jewelry, apparently as a joke.”

“Mr. Otter’s going to end up…”

“Shoved into the reflecting pool, if that guy catches him. Otters swim, though, so I’m not too worried.”

“Sounds like they secretly get on.”

“Maybe.” I considered that. “I think there’s a very complex network of relationships I’m not seeing.

“Was Thea’s old man a really big guy with red hair?”

“You’ve met him too?”

“…oh crap. Look. I’ve been doing some reading, and I think we need to talk out of school.”

I nodded. “I’m working every night this week, though. I don’t get off until 8:30.”

“Right. And home isn’t a good place for it either. Uh…there’s the community center.”

I’d already trusted her friends once, so I nodded. “Does it stay open that late?”

“Stays open until 10. Gives everyone a chance to get home before curfew.”

I made a face, thinking about how many times I’d violated curfew this summer and got away with it. Of course, curfew was later in summer. Of course, people had just assumed that Thea was a relative.

Which she might be. Otter and Big Guy being related would explain that affectionate exasperation. Not brothers, no. I got the feeling Otter was older…in reality as well as appearance, and with the bike, I wasn’t sure I trusted appearance any more.

“Okay. I’ll go there after work tonight.” It should give us enough time and we could also walk home together, but she seemed not to want to talk about this in public.

What on earth had she worked out?

I had to work that evening. I saved the second brownie for right before my shift, but made sure nobody else saw me eat it.

Prue had agreed, after all, that they were good, but said they needed something else. She’d suggested cinnamon, and I figured if I could manage another batch.

If. Brownie mix wasn’t exactly something that only cost a few pennies and I did have other things I needed to spend money on.

I did notice a couple of guys who looked familiar come into the store. One of them nodded to me in a respectful manner, though, and they didn’t cause any trouble, so I was happy to have them stick around.

The truce was holding. I just hoped that fairy wouldn’t show up again, but it was apparently taking some time to think about its next trick. I was contemplating mine, but no immediate ideas came to mind. So, I just endured my shift.

I’d probably be working retail or waiting tables to cover cash most of my life, I figured. I was doing better in school, but not as well as I could. I was still trying to moderate it so people wouldn’t wonder why I’d improved.

Or ask me if I had my memories back. That wasn’t a question I wanted asked. I’d answer with the truth, of course, but I didn’t want people being suspicious that something else was going on.

And then there was Prue. What did she know? Maybe she would have an idea for another prank if the fairy came back. It might not. Retaliation might not have been in its plans.

Then another guy came in. I noticed him immediately because he was simply too big to fit indoors without looking ridiculous. And looked a lot like Thea except for being red haired where she was blonde.

Our eyes met, and I knew this was another person I knew. He came up to the counter and tried to whisper, “There you are.”

I say tried because he was one of those guys with a booming voice, so his whisper was anyone else’s indoor voice. That I could tell immediately. “I’m on shift until 8:30,” I informed him.

“Alright. Then you can make me a meat lovers’ sub.”

I moved to do just that, noticing that the two cultists had their eyes on him too. They knew him as well, but I wasn’t about to go over and ask. So, I made him his sandwich like he was anyone else, some random guy off the street.

Which he wasn’t. And he clearly wanted to talk to me, but it wasn’t that urgent, or he’d have interrupted my shift. Which would be bad. I needed this job. Had to have a job, anyway, or the social workers would disapprove of me and I’d have to get my clothes from Goodwill.

The social workers disapproving of me I didn’t care so much about. They’d do that anyway. He took his sandwich, paid, and headed off to a corner booth (which he took up most of) to eat it. Guy had to be six six at least and built like a pro wrestler.

When I clocked out, he got up and followed me outside.

“Thanks for not, uh, interfering with my work.”

“Do you know where Mr. Otter is?”

“No. I haven’t seen him in a couple of days.” So that was why he was in a good mood. “He pranked you, didn’t he.”

That resulted in a bit of a growl.

“He does that, doesn’t he.”

The redhead let out his breath. “He…yes, yes he does. And he’s going to give me that bracelet back or he’s going to get a better one.”

“Bracelet?”

“My wife’s.”

I nodded. Then, quiet, “Is Thea your daughter?”

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation, and with a certain amount of pride. “You…”

“I don’t remember. It was a lucky guess.”

“You will,” he promised. “I’m going to go find Mr. Otter and push him in the reflecting pool if he doesn’t hand it over.” That threat delivered, he stomped off.

He left me standing in the street trying my best not to laugh. Not that Mr. Otter didn’t deserve being pushed in the water but, well.

Otters swim.

“I think I’m attracting stuff.”

Thea nodded, leaning against her bike. “You are.”

“And it’s because I know more of what’s going on, isn’t it.” It wasn’t a question. “And if this goes on I’m going to become a danger to this entire city.”

“Nah. That’s an exaggeration. But you’ll need to learn how to convince things to go away. You did a great job with the fyrhund.”

“This is smarter, I think. And annoying.”

“Fairy again. Pretty typical of the smaller and less powerful ones. They can’t resist being annoying.”

I let out a breath. “Sometimes…eh. So, what? Maybe I should get some cold iron and wave it at it?” If I wasn’t human, I wasn’t a fairy either. I didn’t have any problem with ferrous metals.

“Hrm. Might work, might make it try something more subtle next time.”

“I think I know where I can find a crowbar, but I’ll try and look for something smaller.”

Subtle was good. I thought I was better at it than Thea, but I also didn’t have some of her advantages. “Thanks.” As I left, I sneaked close enough to pat the bike on the handlebars. Thea gave me a wry grin.

I glanced back over my shoulder as I walked away and was pretty sure I saw a dark gray horse overlaid on the bike, like an aura. With a suggestion of wings.

I didn’t spare too much thought on it, though, because I’d had an idea on how to scare off the mischievous fae if it came back. Which would mean begging a little bit of one of my other housemates. Hopefully they’d cooperate.

The house was, though, completely quiet. Everyone was off somewhere, I supposed, but it felt ominous somehow. Ominous and as if I had been abandoned. Which was stupid. Except for Kanesha, I didn’t really care for them as individuals or they for me. I wouldn’t want them to be hurt, of course, but that didn’t mean I had to like them or want to hang out with them.

Still, I was suddenly uncomfortable, as if a weight had come down on me. Mischievous fae were one thing, but I felt almost as if I was being watched.

Monitored.

And ordinary people would squirm away from such a feeling. I made a perfunctory search of the living room, kitchen, bathrooms, and found nothing. My room, still nothing. If there was anything visible, it was in somebody else’s room, and we all kept our rooms locked.

None of us quite trusted each other, I supposed. Or, more like, we didn’t trust the social workers who dropped by to check on us. They all seemed to come from the same mold – thin-lipped spinsters in wire-framed glasses who cared more about our morals than our wellbeing. ‘You haven’t had any boys in here, right?’ I remembered the explosion when Alisha had been caught with condoms.

Like it wasn’t better to use them if you were going to than to go without and get pregnant or worse.

Nope. Nothing. But if it was something magical, I might not be able to see it. My senses on the matter were horribly unreliable, possibly because of…

…of the memory loss, which I was now sure was somebody’s deliberate act. Some kind of spell, no doubt. But then Alisha came wandering in. From the way she was dressed, she’d been using those condoms again. I didn’t quite get why so many girls around were like that. But then, they probably weren’t as confused as I was about what they wanted.

“Alisha.”

She turned, a little surprised to actually be greeted by me. She was made up, her hair neat, and her garb something those social workers would have tut tutted at. Was that a skirt or a belt?

“Oh, hi, Jane.”

“Have you seen Pauline around?”

She shook her head. “Ain’t seen nobody.” Then, without any word, including goodbye, she headed up the stairs.

Probably to stash ill-gotten gains. I couldn’t prove she’d gone professional, but I was pretty sure of it.

Her funeral, I suppose. For right now, I settled down to stake out the place for Pauline.

As over-dramatic as that thought was, it made too much sense. I’d moderated how much better I was doing in school, I thought successfully. I also thought I was successfully avoiding Barry.

Well, mostly. I was heading to launch when I caught him looking at me, then away. I wasn’t sure whether this was some hero worship induced crush or whether he’d have started to develop feelings for me anyway.

Ones I might have returned, otherwise, although he could definitely have done better. Now? I was also trying to avoid Kanesha. That was more half-hearted, though. She could manage as long as it wasn’t another kelpie or something. I could hope she’d be oblivious and thus overlooked by anything more serious.

Like another of those fireshadow hellhound things. I was pretty sure I could deal with them as easily as I had with the first, but… To others, they were really dangerous.

Who was I? Something that was a danger…and it occurred to me for the first time that the prophecy might somehow have been planted by somebody who wanted me dead.

Or on their side. I was determined to be on no side but what I thought was right. So anyone who wanted to recruit me would have some convincing to do. Convincing. Persuasion.

Not shooting at me would be a good start. Trusting Her Ladyship, for example, was not going to happen any time soon. The truce we’d agreed to wasn’t going to be broken by me, but I wasn’t trusting her.

So, yeah. Mr. Otter was ahead on that front, but I’d be surprised if he trusted himself. I thought of the horn again.

Then I thought that trust was something I needed to be willing to demonstrate and not try to force.

It didn’t take long to get a reaction, like poking a bear. It wasn’t the reaction I expected.

I’d expected them to try to kill me again. I hadn’t expected an invitation to afternoon tea. Her Ladyship, apparently, was in town.

Maybe she didn’t have any more control over them than Ivory Cane did. That would certainly explain the peaceable approach. I wasn’t about to turn it down.

I wasn’t about to go alone, and the idea of taking Thea to afeternoon tea? I’d rather take Mr. Otter – he had that slight hint of refinement to him, despite everything else but, as usual when I actually wanted the guy to show up, he was nowhere to be found.

So I took Kanesha. The tea was at a high falutin hotel and we swung by the house to get the best clothes we had.

Which were still not great. Maybe I should go on a Goodwill hunt, try to find something better than a plain, but clean, set of slacks and a polo shirt. At least we found something to wear other than jeans – which would have undoubtedly got us thrown out of the place. Still, I felt very shabby as we climbed the steps into the lobby.

The dining room was already set up and a few groups had gathered. A string quartet was warming up at one end. I winced a bit at an off note – there was nothing uglier than an out of key violin, but it was corrected quickly.

A freaking string quartet. “This place is like a billion dollars,” I whispered to Kanesha.

“Just walk like we belong here. Pretend you’re the Queen of England.”

I laughed nervously but wasn’t surprised that she knew how to handle this, somehow. Or maybe she had to walk like she belonged there more than I did. I didn’t really know what it was like to be her or her me. Nobody did. Even a telepath wouldn’t, I thought.

Her Ladyship waited at a table. I was not surprised to see that she was old. Not frail needs a walker old, but that sort of lit from within old that comes from a life well and long lived. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d already hit triple digits.

“Jane,” she greeted. “And your friend?”
“Kanesha.” Not giving a last name, which I thought was smart of her.

I pulled out a chair and sat down, feeling very uncouth and barbarian and out of place.

“I’m glad you came to meet me. I thought it best to meet somewhere…that you might not believe I would let get shot up.” Her accent was upper class British. Maybe she was, quite literally, a lady.

“I appreciate it…” I glanced around. No, this would not be a place for random violence. The quartet had stopped tuning and started playing.

“Debussy, G Minor,” her Ladyship supplied. “It will do. So.” Her gaze fixed on me, blue eyes in parchment crinkled face.

I know the parchment thing is cliched, but that was really what it looked like in that moment. “So. What would it take to convince you to call off the hounds?”

She did not answer, but that might have had something to do with the tuxedoed waiter who poured our tea and then set out a variety of tiny sandwiches with the crust cut off. Had to be something British. I waited until he was gone, keeping an expectant gaze on her. Kanesha seemed to be watching the rest of the room.

For trouble, no doubt. Finally, she spoke, “Some of them have a habit of slipping their leashes.”

“I might point out that if you’re wrong about letting me live, you can always kill me later.”

She laughed at that, a tinkling laugh. “Maybe.”

I leaned across the table slightly. “Give me the prophecy. The actual wording. I want it.”

Stand off. If I headed anywhere with fewer witnesses and cameras, they’d shoot at me. They’d do so faster than I would, although I did have my gun. It was loaded.

Maybe if I timed it right – but then somebody might see me trying to kill another human being. Somebody might see me succeeding.

“So. What exactly is it that I do? And don’t give me that bull that it’s breathing.”

“You’re part of the end. You’re going to be on the wrong side, that’s all, because if you aren’t, you’ll…your honor’s going to require it.”

Finally something of an explanation. “My family honor.”

He nodded.

“Screw that. I have a choice. Everyone has a choice.” I believed that. Whatever my absent parents might demand of me…well. They weren’t here.

“Not the likes of you.”

“I’m a girl. Not a monster, not a demon. And I won’t destroy the world.”

“Even if not doing so means dying?”

I considered that. “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. But I…won’t be part of the world ending.”

But what if I really didn’t have the choice? Or what if I changed my mind once I got my memories back? Maybe I was one of the bad guys.

Maybe my parents were rat bastards and I loved them anyway. This wasn’t about magic, though. It was about relationships, and I knew relationships. “You could try trusting me.”

“How can I?”

“You could try telling me the truth?” I knew as soon as I asked that I wouldn’t get any of that. Truth was a precious commodity, and everyone, on all sides, seemed determined to protect me from it.

“The second I do that, you’ll know why you’re part of it.” He let out a breath.

“We’re at a stalemate. This isn’t a good place to sort this out. You could…you could give me a chance.”

Tap. Tap. A cane on the floor. Ivory cane.

“Stand down.”

“I’m not…”

Tap! The cane was brought down with force. “None of you want to listen to me. You will now. Or I will call her Ladyship.”

That brought silence.

“I will tell her that you aren’t considering any alternatives for dealing with the problem this girl represents other than main force. I will tell her that you’re jeopardizing everything in your determination to ensure she won’t be a problem…even though you have no true evidence that she will.”

“The prophecy…”

“Is ambiguous.” He offered me his arm. “Come on. I’ll escort you to safety.”

Not knowing quite what else to do, I acquiesced.

I couldn’t risk leading them back to the safe house. I glanced over my shoulder. They were, indeed, following, and one of the two looked vaguely familiar.

I headed for the nearest mall. I might be able to lose them in the crowds, and they really wouldn’t try to kill me there.

Maybe I could even corner them for conversation. It wasn’t much of a mall – one of those small strip arcades – but it had cameras and security, and that was what I was looking for right at that moment.

Cameras. Security. Crowds. Not so much of the latter. I stopped, looking through the window of a beauty salon. Posters of sample hairstyles hung in the window, and I pretended to be considering one of them.

Nah. I’d look awful in it. I turned and then, and only then, met their eyes. One of them looked away. The other seemed quite determined to turn this into a staring match. I indulged him. Backing down would make me look like prey, and they were already hunting me. “Gentlemen.”

He stepped backwards.

“Come on. There are surveillance cameras. You aren’t going to try anything. I’m not going to try anything. We can talk.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. You know we don’t want to do this.”

“Then don’t. I don’t intend to destroy the world and maybe we can work out what I do and make sure I don’t do it.”

“You…don’t need to do anything. You’re a monster.”

My lips quirked. “I refuse to believe that. If I did, then I might as well kill myself, but I’m not going to.”

He came closer, presumably so as not to shout. His friend stayed back, covering him. I had no doubt but that they’d defend themselves if they had to.

We were at a stalemate, though, neither side willing to fire the first shot.

“Hold still,” Thea said, prying the bullet out of my arm. “You’ll be fine…pretty much a flesh wound.”

I let out my breath as she moved to bandage the wound. A hospital would ask too many questions, but I could tell she knew what she was doing.

Kanesha was sat on the bed, her knees drawn to her chest, studiously not watching what was going on. I couldn’t blame her. I didn’t want to think about it either. “Thanks,” I managed, then went over to her.

I didn’t ask if she was okay, the way most people probably would have. She clearly wasn’t okay, any more than I was, really. I’d be okay, but I wasn’t okay right now. Instead, I sat down next to her. “I’m…sorry.”

“What, that you have enemies?”

“That they got to you.” I was determined, now, to stop these people in their tracks. To stop them before they tried anything else.

Before somebody got killed, most especially somebody who wasn’t me. I didn’t want to die. I wanted somebody else to die even less.

Okay, that wasn’t true. I’d cheerfully kill the lot of them.

“So. What is really going on?” She turned towards me, unhooking her arms, curling her legs under her. She’d removed her shoes. “Other than…this is crazy, Jane.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to believe in magic.” She shivered, glancing at Thea. “But you can’t tell me that was a bike.”

“No. I can’t. Look…”

“Look what? I can’t leave the city…I’d end up on the streets. You know what I’d end up doing.”

I wished I could say otherwise, but I did know. “We’ll…we’ll work something out.”

“So, the only choice I have is to help you kick these people’s butts. Next time, they won’t catch me by surprise.”

“Kanesha…” I didn’t want her involved, black belt or no black belt. I didn’t want her part of this. “You’ll get…”

“Kidnapped? Hurt? I walk out of here they’ll just grab me again, now they know I’m usable bait.”

I frowned. I hadn’t thought of that. Maybe if I’d ignored the entire thing they’d have let her go as useless. And gone for somebody else, like Barry again.

“They’re going down,” I said, finally. “I’m not putting up with this crap any more.” I glanced at Thea. No. If she’d thought it was that much of a screwup, she’d have stopped me. “Thea? We need a plan. How many of your sisters are available?”

“Four, right now.” She stretched a little bit. Then she turned to Kanesha. “You could get hurt or killed. We can probably get you to safety.”

“I’m staying.”

The insistence in her voice was not something I wanted to argue with.