That evening, we secured what I could not help but think of as our lair properly and went out. Out meant a ramen house, of all things, near Chinatown.
The food was good, but the place was too noisy to really talk. Perhaps that was what she wanted, but it made me a little frustrated. Ramen, tea, and decibels. Wasn’t that restaurant critic always complaining that everywhere was too loud these days? What was his name?
Yeah. This was definitely too loud, even rowdy, precluding conversation. I wanted to ask her about the bird, and I still sort of sensed it. Still knew it was around. Maybe it was a roc? Some kind of mythical thing, and dangerous. I could tell that much. Finally, the volume died down slightly. “There was something flying above the city.”
“I know. Could you see it?”
“No. I just knew it was there.” I let out a breath. “Is it dangerous?”
“It could be.” She studied me for a moment. “It’s probably an Each Uisge. An Irish…a kind of fairy that likes that form, amongst others. But if you can’t see it, you can’t do anything about it.”
There was an unspoken yet in there. But I also suspected she could do something about it, if she needed to. “Then I won’t worry about it for now.”
“Good girl. Let’s worry about the cultists who think you’re the anti-Christ first.”
I laughed. “That does seem to be the idea, doesn’t it? So. How do we convince them I’m not?”
“I haven’t worked that one out yet.”
I didn’t respond to her, though, because there was somebody familiar in the doorway. Somebody I didn’t want to bump into. My stomach clenched a little and I really hoped she couldn’t see me from this angle.
It was Kanesha, and she was heading for the counter – this was an order at the counter type of place. If she saw me and said hi…I could say Thea was the friend I was staying with, I supposed.
We didn’t look related. For some reason, that thought became uppermost in my mind. Were we?
Or was there something else going on that made her inclined to look after me. I didn’t know, but it was too late. Kanesha had definitely seen me.