The Changeling (21 page)

They stared and I felt awkward. “I’m happy to meet all of you.” The words came out of my mouth bright and silly. They exchanged looks—I sounded like an idiot and I knew it.

“Even me?” Wakinyan asked loudly with an ornery grin spreading across his face.

I composed myself. “Yes,
even
you—but take it easy with the tire throwing…please.” I felt the smile return to my face when Wakinyan grinned.

He laughed and said, “I will consider that.”

They simply looked at me, not speaking, so I assumed the floor was mine. I was curious why they’d brought me to Thorncrown. “I have a question. You’ll probably think it’s silly.”

Wakinyan murmured, “Undoubtedly,” under his breath, raising an eyebrow.

He was fierce and a smart ass.

“Why bring me here?”

Tse-xo-be spoke. “The Ohanzee are not fond of human structures—no Fae is. With the beauty of the world and so much to experience with your physical eyes, why humans spend their lives behind walls is confounding. This building is an unequivocal exception, and I thought you might prefer this to standing in the rain.”

With one glance around the peaceful room, I understood what he meant. Thorncrown was built with glass walls, and the wood used in the structure seemed to emulate the trees covering the hillside, almost disappearing into the surrounding forest. I thought of Aunt May telling Mom about this place more than a year ago, and I wish we’d stopped that day to experience it with her. The tiny chapel was singularly beautiful—the first building I’d ever experienced in which the surrounding landscape, trees densely dotting the sloped hillside and worn slabs of stone, melded seamlessly and uninterruptedly into the interior.

Before I could continue asking questions, I sensed Billy approaching from the north. He transitioned into his familiar human form and I immediately felt more relaxed. He entered the door and smiled at me, his icy gray eyes full of relief. The Ohanzee all stood, so I did, too.

“Where’s the attendant?” Billy said, looking at the empty seat near the door.

“Bob, I believe is his name, is
entertaining
a couple of ladies from Kansas.” Wakinyan smirked.

Billy grinned. He found it entertaining—I thought it was awful.

“I bet you didn’t bother to ask them to leave. Will they be safe?”

Wakinyan formed an exaggerated look of innocence on his face. “We do not always compel people to do bad things.” Wakinyan laughed again.

“What did you do?”

“I sent them away for the time being. They’ll be back in an hour. That’s all you need to know
.” Wakinyan had a look of satisfaction on his face.

He and Nodin laughed.

Billy gave me a sympathetic look just before he gripped Wakinyan’s arm at the elbow, and vice versa, in a handshake of sorts. I’d never seen the Seelie or Unseelie make physical contact with one another, not even during battle. The Ohanzee were very different—they had physically grappled with the wolf-bear hybrids. They were also very tall. Wakinyan towered over Billy, at nearly seven feet in height. At six feet or above, all of them were taller than Billy.

As they took seats again, I whispered, “Billy, where have you been?”

“You know the answer already and I hope you’re still following my advice—all of it.”

I nodded. He was right, of course. He was avoiding Ozara to protect me, and he was also telling me to keep my mouth shut. Not because he distrusted them, I figured, but because Ozara could compel the Ohanzee as well.

Tse-xo-be nodded in my direction. “You have more questions?”

Under his breath, Billy said, “Of course she does.”

I ignored him, and looked directly at Tse-xo-be. “So, the Bigfoot thing, what’s the deal with that?”

“I never use it. I prefer the wild boar, but the form, Bigfoot as you call it, is more rugged than these,” Tse-xo-be said, gesturing at his body. “The senses of sight and smell are stronger, and hearing more acute. The sense of taste is compromised, but the form is a unique way to experience the physical world.”

“It’s terrifying, you know.”

In the corner of my eye I saw Wakinyan nod. “Yes, we know.”

When I laughed, so did he. I glanced over and briefly caught a genuine smile on his face.

“It is a superior choice for physical combat,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Okay, why physical battle? I mean you can attack with the elements.”

“Physical contact is sometimes necessary. It is much easier to pierce an enemy’s barrier with direct contact.”

Tse-xo-be raised his hands, palms down, and Wakinyan settled back.

“We try to avoid human contact when we use that form, at least the eldest among us do,” Tse-xo-be said, looking beyond me to Pavati.

They avoided human contact?
Yeah, right.
“I’m just lucky, I guess.”

Tse-xo-be smiled. “Unique situation.”

“So, I’ve always wanted to know: the video of the Bigfoot in the river bed, was that real?”

They were all silent, but each turned to Pavati, who arched her eyebrows.

“That was you?” I asked.

She turned to me and nodded her head. “Call it a lapse of judgment. Two men on horses, a camera, I was bored. Tse-xo-be is still unhappy with me about that.” The look of satisfaction spread across her face.

“Tse-xo-be, why do you choose the giant boar?” I asked.

“Why not?” he replied.

I laughed.

“Who are all of you? The clan I mean—what does Ohanzee mean?”

He looked at Billy, “You were correct, she asks many questions.”

Billy sighed. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Ohanzee is a Sioux word meaning shadow.” Tse-xo-be’s voice took on a story telling tone. “For millennia we took no name, as there was no need. Several centuries ago, a Sioux warrior, with the ability to sense me in my natural form, gave me the name because, to him, I was a shadow cast without a physical body. I thought it interesting and not completely inaccurate. But we have been called many things by many different tribes of first people. Some Cherokee used the word Adahy, a name that means
lives in the woods.
In the Algonquin tongue, we are Chepi, and the Omaha called us Nadawi. Both are names that translate, roughly, into
fairy
.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I clearly saw Billy wince.

Tse-xo-be continued. “We prefer Ohanzee.”

“So, the Ohanzee are a clan of independent Fae in North America?”

“Maggie, the Ohanzee
are
the original clan. I was the second Fae to achieve existence and the second to take physical form. Only Bastien is older. You know of Bastien?”

“Yes, Billy and Sara told me.”

He continued. “I dwelled here for thousands of millennia before the next came along.” He looked to Wakinyan. “Then there were others, among them Ozara and Zarkus, as well as many around you now.”

“Are there only eight of you?”

“No, there are many more Ohanzee, but we were the first ten, the elders. The other two, Ozara and Zarkus as they now call themselves, were once on this council.”

“If you were the second Fae ever, couldn’t you have destroyed Cassandra today?”

Tse-xo-be grinned, his huge brown eyes locked on my face. “With less effort than it takes for you to breathe, I could have extinguished her. She is young, foolish. Today was not her day to die.”

His voice was so calm, so confident, that I shuddered and decided to change the subject.

“So when you say you were here first, do you actually mean here? Arkansas?”

“Yes. Although there are many places in the physical world I appreciate, this is my place. All Fae find a place, Amadahy the east coast, Wakinyan the plains, and Pavati, the rivers of the northwest. Each a place. All have experienced the world, but each Fae develops a preference. As more Fae learned of the physical world, the Ohanzee formed this Clan to protect
talemn álainn
, the beautiful land in
our
language, North America in yours. We were Ohanzee long before there was a Seelie clan, before the Sidhe, the Olympians, the Jinn, the Ancient Ones, before any clan,” he explained proudly.

“North America was our region, our land, just as Sidhe, Sara and Devon’s original clan, claimed what is now known as Ireland. Sherman, Victoria, and Billy are all from clans of ancient Europe. There are clans in every corner of the physical world and each existed before the Seelie and Unseelie clans formed.”

“What about Gavin, what clan did he belong to?”

“Gavin, as he is known now, was an Olympian, a powerful clan that claimed the Mediterranean.”

“Olympian?” I felt my mouth go slack after I said it. I was insanely curious about his former name. I knew Billy once went by Sarin—he changed his name after the last Fae war. Gavin was more of a mystery. He told me he’d taken other names, but never told me what they were. “What name did he use before Gavin?”

Tadewi laughed and the rest exchanged amused looks. Billy was staring at the floor, shaking his head, also trying to keep from laughing.

“What? What’s so funny? Gavin told me about them, the Olympians, and said they were incredibly narcissistic.”

Tse-xo-be maintained his composure, but the rest of them burst into laughter.

“What?” I protested.

“Narcissistic, you say?” Nodin choked the words out amidst their laughter.

“Yes. What am I missing?”

Pavati looked at Billy. “This is rich. She actually does not know?” He returned her look and shook his head, avoiding eye contact with me.

“Tell me?” I asked, triggering another round of laughter.

Wakinyan cleared his throat. “Allow me.”

Great.

He managed to wipe the smile off his face for a moment, but began laughing between words when he said, “Adonis…perhaps you have heard of him.”

“What? No, really, what was his name?” I asked, growing perturbed that I didn’t get the joke.

Laughter erupted again, and even Tse-xo-be laughed this time. “It is true, Maggie. He was known as Adonis.”

I’m sure I looked silly, standing there with my mouth open, because all of them were laughing louder now than they had before.

“He told me—the way he looks—that was his natural human form,” I protested.

They laughed again. “Oh, but of course,” Wakinyan said rolling his eyes.

“Oh my god, I fell for Adonis?”

Their laughter continued and I felt my face blush.

“Maggie,” Tadewi said, “ignore us. I apologize. Thousands have fallen under Gavin’s spell, but you’re the one
he
fell for.”

I exhaled slowly. “Adonis? Somehow that makes sense, I guess.”

“The
god
of male beauty calling others narcissistic? That is the funniest thing I have heard in, perhaps, a thousand years.” Nodin said, still laughing with the others.

“Well, he is the most beautiful…man…being…whatever… that I’ve ever seen,” I said defensively, my temper flashing.

“Indeed, he is,” Wakinyan said. “He is beautiful.”

“And?” I said testily.

“And nothing,” Tadewi said in a soothing tone. “Even in his natural form, Gavin is unique in that regard. His physical form pales compared to his natural beauty. We mean no disrespect.” They all nodded their heads in agreement.

“Gavin is beautiful, and courageous, but he is not humble,” Wakinyan added.

“Well, no, he isn’t,” I said, smiling. “I suppose he’s the opposite of humble, but he’s in trouble and laughing at him isn’t right.”

“Do not worry about Gavin,” Wakinyan said.

“Why?” I snapped.

“Besides his beauty, he is also unusually powerful for his age. Like Pavati, he rivals Fae who are several times older, and there are very few of us that old. He is also quite clever.”

Tse-xo-be’s face relaxed and he spoke softly to the others. “Please, leave us. Cassandra has had time to inform Zarkus. The Unseelie may already be searching for our location, and more troubling, the Seelie might be as well.”

They each took their natural form and departed, Amadahy first, Tadewi last. Before she did, she took my hand and smiled, saying, “I hope we meet again, very soon.” Then she was gone.

“Why did that sound like a goodbye?”

Tse-xo-be nodded. “If my suspicions are correct, it will not be safe for any of us to remain here, though I did enjoy being back.”

“What does your name mean?”

“Have you ever heard the story of the Osage Chief and the spider?”

“No.”

“It happened not far from here. You should find it on, I think the term is, Google.”

I was confused and I knew it showed on my face.

“Tse-xo-be is the Osage word for spider. It will all make sense to you in time, but for now, there are things I must tell you.”

“Okay, but why leave so soon?”

“We have done what we came here to do.”

I thought about it for a minute, and it clicked. “Billy knew I needed to get into the cottage at the Seoladán. He couldn’t risk telling me because Ozara would know.”