“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.