The Future Falls (32 page)

Her mother was in the boys' room on an air mattress on the floor, the twins piled around her like puppies, spending as much time with her grandchildren as she could. She'd have to go back today. Given how close they were to ritual and the pull of David's power, this visit had been a stupid risk. Still, if the end of the world didn't encourage stupid risks, what did?

She glanced at Jack again. Wondered where Charlie was.

With the kettle filled and plugged in for tea, she opened one of the blinds on the windows facing the road. The sun wasn't quite up, but the light promised a nice day. No rain. No snow. The sort of day they wouldn't have after the asteroid, even if the family survi . . .

Shadow.

Big shadow.

Big fast-moving shadow.

Too big. Too fast.

Familiar.

She looked at Jack.

Familiar, but clearly not Jack.

She leaned forward and looked back out the window. The pigeons weren't crammed under the newspaper box. They dipped and wove pigeon patterns on the sidewalk outside the bank, apparently unconcerned.

Allie and Jack were sitting together at one end of the big table when Charlie eased the apartment door open. They didn't look happy. On the bright side, her ears weren't burning, so at least they weren't unhappy about her. Setting down her guitar case, she shrugged out of her jacket, and headed for the kitchen. She'd already greeted the morning with four cups of coffee strong enough to neutralize the night's half bottle of whiskey, and now she needed to clear the taste of caffeinated diesel from her mouth.

Snagging the last piece of apple pie from the fridge, she grabbed a fork and dropped into the chair next to Allie. “Okay, spill.”

“One of my uncles is visiting. Allie saw him fly over.”

“But the only dragon I can sense in the city is Jack. And I didn't feel a gate open.”

Charlie chewed and swallowed. “So he came through a gate outside the
city limits, flew over to give you a thrill, and landed back outside the city limits. Gone before you thought to search for him.”

“As simple as that?”

She shrugged, making a half-hearted swipe at Jack's hand with her fork as he broke off a chunk of crust. “Probably.”

“Why is he here?”

“How the hell should I know, Allie-cat?”

“It was more of a rhetorical question,” she muttered. “And you smell like a bar.”

“Someone dumped a beer in my lap. Accidentally,” Charlie added, as Jack started to growl. “I charmed it dry, but the smell lingers. And if you want to know why a Dragon Lord is visiting, you're going to have to ask him.”

Allie drummed her fingernails against a mug holding—Charlie wrinkled her nose at the smell—herbal tea. “Last time they were here, they came to us . . .”

“This time, we don't wait for them.” Jack shoved his chair out and surged up onto his feet. “I'll go find him.”

“How?”

And there were suddenly way too many teeth for a Human mouth. “I'll pretend I have a broken wing.”

“Be careful,” Allie called after him. Then added as the door closed, “Aren't you worried about him.”

Charlie pushed the empty plate away and sighed. “All the time; not only when he's off to attract the attention of the slightly more violent side of his family. It's pretty much a given.”

“You didn't say . . .”

“He knows.”

“Charlie.”

Charlie waited. Gathered up the crumbs on her thumb, made a face because her skin tasted like guitar strings and bacon fat. When Allie only shook her head, unable or unwilling to continue, she stood. “I'm going to shower and change before taking Auntie Mary home.”

“She's not even up yet. And she'll need breakfast first.”

Bending to kiss the top of Allie's head as she passed, Charlie murmured, “Don't worry, Allie-cat. It'll be a long shower.”

It was a very long shower. It was the kind of shower that, had she the
time, Charlie would write songs about. The water was the perfect temperature. The pressure was exactly right. It pounded the knots out of her shoulders and sluiced the combined bar/diner patina off her skin. By the time she stepped out of the bathroom, towel snugged tight around her hair, she felt good.

As much as she'd needed that shower, she'd needed the night out more. A few hours immersed in music, not thinking about the end of the world or Jack or the upcoming ritual or Jack at the upcoming ritual had given her the strength to go on. The universe adjusted itself for Gales. There was still plenty of time for a jump to the left.

Or even a step to the right.

Her mood held through getting dry, and getting dressed, and getting back to the kitchen in time for the last blueberry pancake. Chewing, she watched Auntie Mary helping the twins eat, but stopped her on the way to the sink, hands full of dirty dishes.

“We should go.”

“After I help clean up.”

“We're stretching the parameters of safe, Auntie Mary. You need . . .” The theme from the
Big Bang Theory
blasting out of the drawer by her hip, cut her off.

Auntie Mary smiled. “You need to answer your phone. And turn the volume down a little.”

“It's as loud as it needs to be,” Charlie sighed, opening the junk drawer. “Jack dropped it in here when I gave it to him last night,” she explained before anyone could ask. Well, before Auntie Mary and Allie could ask. The twins probably didn't care.

“Ring!”

“Ring, Cha Cha.”

Or maybe they did. “Melissa. What can I do for you?”

“Funny thing, Charlie, I got stopped on my way to class by a really pissed-off member of the Courts in a U of C basketball jacket. She said, and I quote, Gale girl, tell the Bard the glorious game can't be saved. End quote. Do you know what she's talking about?”

The apartment door opened before Charlie could answer.

Auntie Gwen locked dark eyes on Auntie Mary, licked swollen lips, and said, “You're still here.”

“We're just leaving, Auntie Gwen.”

Auntie Mary snapped her mouth shut with enough force Charlie heard the impact of her teeth.

“Good.” Auntie Gwen shifted her gaze to Charlie. “David's finally exhausted; get out of here now and you won't be fighting his power trying to hold her in place.”

“We need more than four aunties,” Allie muttered, as she lifted Evan out of his high chair.

Auntie Gwen shot her a look that said
tell me about it
so loudly even Melissa heard it on the other end of the phone.

“What was that?”

“Auntie stuff.” Charlie mouthed
Melissa
at the room and turned to face the windows.

“Yeah, whatever. Did you do something to screw up the basketball season?”

“Why would I do that?” Not a statement. Not a lie.

“No idea, but we're winning and we'd like to continue winning.”

“You don't play.”

“What?”

“You said we. Twice. But you don't play basketball so
they
would be more accurate. They're winning. They'd like to continue winning. Words are important.”

“Sure they are. You sound like an auntie.”

“Ouch. Low blow, Mel.”

“My point is,” Melissa sighed, “she didn't look like she had her head in the game, you know?”

“No, I don't.” Charlie sagged forward and rested her forehead against the glass. “But I expect someone will tell me.”

Jack's uncles were old and clever and vicious, but they weren't sorcerers and they weren't Gales and they shouldn't have been able to hide from him. Not here in the MidRealm.

He swept the borders of the city, looking for the break where his uncle had crossed the border of Allie's influence. He couldn't find it. Not flying
high at full size. Not flying low, shifted as small as possible, hiding his true appearance behind a hawk-shaped glamour. He crossed his own path a couple of times, but found no trace of another dragon.

Whatever his uncle was up to—and that could range from nasty to fatal depending on which of the twelve Dragon Lords had come through—he'd found a way to hide his tracks. Since that wasn't possible, he had to be getting help.

Alice was behind the counter when Jack entered the Silvan Diner, but except for Alice, the place was empty.

“Game night,” she told him, glancing up from her magazine. “They're never here on game night.” Her
duh
was heavily implied. She straightened and stretched her back, pushing her breasts deliberately against her uniform shirt. Without the scent of the full-bloods filling his nose, Jack could smell Nymph. He wasn't sure what kind. “You are here to talk to them, right?”

“I think they're helping to hide someone from me.”

“Yeah, right.” She snorted. “They don't help anyone. Although when they were in last night, they were pretty pissed about something you did.”

Jack spun one of the counter stools. “I didn't do anything.”

“Uh-huh. Then it was probably another big lizard they were all
fucking dragon
about.”

The Courts might be hiding one of his uncles to get back at him. He didn't have the skill to break through that kind of casting. Spinning the stool in the other direction, he muttered, “Great.”

“Probably not. You want something to eat? They said you guys are always hungry. Of course there's no guarantee they meant you're hungry for pie, is there?” Her smile turned speculative. After four years around Gale girls, Jack knew speculative. “So, how dangerous would it be to fuck you? Go out in a blaze of glory or just . . .” Her voice dropped to a heated purr. “. . . blaze of glory, no out?”

Great. A bored Nymph. The vinyl on the stool began to melt. Jack snatched his hand away before it stuck to his fingers. “No idea.”

Her eyes widened. They were the same brilliant green as Joe's, but nothing about her said Leprechaun. “No shit? You haven't cashed in your V-card? What, are the Gales saving you for something special?”

“No. Not that I know of,” he amended after a moment's consideration. “It's complicated.”

Her face slid into stronger angles, the curve of her breasts diminishing as her body adapted to her belief. “You're gay?”

“Not Facebook complicated, real world complicated.”

“And?”

Jack had no idea why he was still a part of this conversation. “She's older.”

“So? You're a dragon.”

“And a Gale. Complicated.”

“Well, when you get tired of complications, macking on the elderly, and pies that tell you how to wipe your ass, come back.” Visibly female again, Alice tucked her hair behind her ear, exposing the tattoo on her neck. A new leaf had budded since Jack had seen it last. “I'm not complicated at all.”

Somehow, he doubted that.

Figuring anything was better than being roped into adjusting the Calgary real estate market in advance of the expected influx of Gales, Charlie'd left Auntie Mary at the farmhouse and dropped in to see her mother, remembering too late that the news of her and Jack had spread.