AS IF NICO had seen them coming, the door opened and he stood there, barefoot and sleepy-eyed. "Hey."
"Nico, Phoebe. Phoebe, Nico." Z.J. slid past Nico with Phoebe and, as Nico bemusedly shut the door, Z.J. glimpsed the horned shadow standing across the street.
"Hey, Phoebe." Nico smiled suavely.
"Your gran home, Nico?" Z.J. backed toward the china cabinet.
"No. she's playing bocci ball with her friends at Crew's Bar--what are you doing?"
"This is real silver, right?"
"Uh . . . I'm supposing."
Phoebe snatched a butter knife from Z.J. and checked it. "It's real silver."
Something struck the door. Nico whirled. "What--"
"Nico." Z.J. dumped two drawers of silverware on the table. "I need you to take some forks and knives and just hold onto them."
Nico turned and stared at him. "Z.J. . . what's going on? Are you messing with me?"
"This is real." Phoebe grabbed a handful of forks and glanced at Z.J. "Does silver really work?"
"Put it at every window and door--"
Something shattered in the kitchen. Nico swore.
Z.J. and Phoebe turned to stare into the kitchen.
"They can't get in unless they're invited, right?" Phoebe whispered.
"Hey." Nico's voice was weak. "Are you guys being chased by, like, a werewolf?"
The front door flew open, slamming against the wall behind it.
The man who stood in the doorway was young despite the white hair pouring over his shoulders. He was also a giant. He wore jeans and a T-shirt. A belt of what looked like teeth draped his hips. His eyes flashed silver as his gaze drifted from Nico, to Z.J., to Phoebe. He pointed at Phoebe with one sharp silver fingernail. "I want her."
Nico panicked and flung a handful of silver spoons at the intruder.
The intruder stumbled back from the threshold. Z.J. saw a crevice open up across his face and the shadow of a horn twist from the white hair.
Z.J. lunged with a silver fork in each hand and slammed them into the Fata's chest. The white-haired man shoved him back and Z.J. fell back into the house. He saw the Fata gripping the forks in his chest and yanking them out. Z.J. kicked the door shut.
There were eight windows and two entrances to the house. The three of them scrambled to set handfuls of silver at each.
When they were done, they slouched on the sofa together, staring blankly at the wide screen TV which was set to HGTV.
"Was that the Devil?" Nico asked.
Z.J. exchanged a look with Phoebe, who sat between them. She said, "Why isn't he trying to get back in?"
"Probably licking his wounds." Z.J. had peered out the windows and seen no sign of the Fata.
"You asshole." Nico took a deep breath and twisted to glare at Z.J. "How long you've known about things like that monster?"
"Since I was sixteen." Z.J. was surprised it didn't hut anymore, that memory of the dark, and the terror, and the blood . . . Anger surged though him. He stood and faced Phoebe. "Why is it chasing you?"
"I don't know. I thought she sent him."
"No." Z.J. rubbed his head. "No."
"How do you know/' Phoebe demanded. "How long have you known her, this Clementine? She's one of their queens--"
"She doesn't have the vibe." Z.J. narrowed his eyes at Phoebe. "She asked me to find you, to help you."
With Nico open-mouthed and Phoebe sitting up straight, Z.J. told them about the Black Scissors, who was a witch doctor, Shaman, and spiritualist, and cursed with immortality by a Fata queen. He told them how the Black Scissors had come to him one night, after Z.J. had encountered a bad Fata.
He didn't tell them about the hospital, about the terrible scars on his back that Nico thought were from a car accident, about what he'd lost that night, two years ago. He told them what the Fats were, the children of Night and Nothing and all the tribal names given them around the world.
Nico called his grandmother and asked her to stay overnight at a friend's. Z.J. could hear her demanding to know why.
"Just do me a favor and stay at Mimi's, okay? No. No. I don't have a girl here." He sighed. "Okay, I had a party and I've got to clean up."
Nico set down his cell and gazed resignedly at Z.J. "So what's out there? What kind of demon or fairy spirit or whatever?"
"It's the minotaur," Phoebe spoke up at the same time that Z.J. said, "It's a minotaur."
The minotaur didn't attack again. They huddled on the sofa, taking turns sleeping, until daylight cast the darkness away.
***
No comments:
Post a Comment