Tyger Tyger (14 page)

Teagan caught a movement from the corner of her eye and jumped before she realized it was her own reflection pacing her in the window.

Finn laughed. "You've got to keep your eyes open. If that had been a goblin, now, it would have had you."

"Shut up." Teagan turned away from him just in time to see a carpet knife in the hand of a man walking toward them flick, cutting the purse strap of the woman ahead of her.

The thief had the purse, and was walking past Finn as the woman started to scream. Finn backhanded the purse snatcher hard with one hand and retrieved the purse with the other. His movements were almost too fast for Teagan to follow.

The thief seemed more confused than she was. He just kept walking, rubbing his jaw. Finn handed the woman her purse.

"Thank you," she said, clutching it to her chest. "I don't know what I would have done—"

"No problem." Finn flashed a smile so bright, Teagan was sure it contributed a full degree to global warming.

"Oh, my." The woman fanned herself, then dug into her purse and pulled out a five-dollar bill. "I don't carry much cash, but please ... you deserve something for saving my purse."

"Oh, we could never—" Teagan began as Finn took the bill from the woman's hand.

"I could," he said. "It would be a great help. Thank you." Finn smiled again, with not quite so many megawatts.

Aiden gaped at Finn as the woman walked away. "Did the Boy Scouts teach you that?"

"Well"—Finn winked—"they did tell me to look out for the ladies."

"I can't believe you took her money," Teagan said.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Finn held up the five. "You're looking at a bus ride across town. I told you something would turn up."

"You
hustled
her."

"Hustled?" Finn looked wounded. "I did nothing of the sort. I saved the lady's purse, and she was thankful for that. We've got a way to go before sunset, Tea. So are we riding the bus, or no?"

***

Aiden insisted on sitting by Finn, so Teagan took the seat across the aisle from them. She could even take two seats. The bus was empty except for a few commuters and a group in the back who looked like tourists from Japan.

"What happened to the Fir Bolg," Aiden asked when they were settled, "when the Dark Man and his bad guys showed up?"

"They fought against him," Finn said. "Fought with all their strength and all their courage. But Fear Doirich was not a man, or a Fir Bolg. He was a god, and an evil one at that."

"The good guys didn't win?" Aiden looked worried.

"No," Finn said. "The goblins were too strong. They ran the Fir Bolg out of Éireann and chased them back into Mag Mell. For hundreds of years, the goblins and their evil god ruled the land. And then the sons of men, the Milesians, came over the sea.

"Fear Doirich's magic was in his mouth, and he sang up a storm to smash their ships on the rocks and drown the Milesians before they could set foot on Éireann, but a bard named Amergin calmed the sea and the wind with a new song of his own.

"The Milesians were not fighters, not the way the savage Sídhe were. They were lovers of knowledge and poetry. They would have fallen if the Fir Bolg had not come out of Mag Mell to fight beside them."

The bus stopped, and the tourists all stood up. Finn waited until the crowd had passed before he continued.

"That day, though the Fir Bolg turned the tide of battle, Fear Doirich tricked them. When he knew at last that he couldn't win, he took his armies and fled into Mag Mell, locking the pathways behind them. The Milesians had won the home that had been created for them, and there was great rejoicing, but the Fir Bolg could not join in it. They had lost their home. They set out to wander the Earth forever, with no place to name their own."

"What happened to them?" Aiden asked.

"They became the Irish Travelers, of course," Finn said. "I thought you knew that."

"Wait." Teagan leaned across the aisle. "Are you saying Travelers aren't ... human?"

Finn looked over the three other people left on the bus. "There's human and then there's human, isn't there? Some Fir Bolg married Milesians and became rooters. Some Milesians married Fir Bolg and became Travelers.

"It's the Fir Bolg blood that gives you second sight, and most Travelers have very little of it in their veins. They see otherworld creatures just as flickers in the corners of their vision."

"How about you?"

"I bleed like the next guy. I know that much is true."

"What happened to Amergin?" Aiden asked.

"Mab sent her sister, Maeve, to seduce the man," Finn said. "But the Sídhe princess heard him singing and fell in love instead. They ran away together."

"Did they live happily ever after?" Aiden asked.

"I doubt it," Finn said. "How could he be happy, married to a goblin?"

"It's an Irish story," Aiden said sadly. "We don't do happy endings."

"That's a fact," Finn agreed. He stretched out his long legs, leaned back, and closed his eyes. Teagan could see Aiden's face reflected in the tinted window above him. He didn't look like he would ever smile again.

 

"Are you sure this is where we want to get off the bus?" Teagan had driven though the South Side with her dad a couple of times, but she had never ridden the bus there, and certainly never walked through the neighborhoods.

The buildings were farther apart. Weeds grew up through cracks in the sidewalk, and graffiti shouted from fences and buildings. Aiden was half stumbling with fatigue. Teagan fingered the cell phone in her pocket. She'd decided to keep it turned off to save the battery for emergencies. Maybe she should have let Abby call someone to give them a ride. Aiden certainly couldn't walk all the way to Gary.

"Stop worrying," Finn said. "I've spent some time here. There's a place we will be safe tonight. We'll get there before sundown."

"A house?" Teagan put a hand on Aiden's shoulder when he started to wander into the street.

"Sort of." Finn gave Teagan a worried look. "Maybe not the sort of house you're used to, though. It's dry enough, unless it rains. Are you hungry, boyo?"

"No," Aiden said. "I'm thinking."

"Well, I'm thinking, too," Finn said. "I'm thinking we haven't eaten since breakfast."

They stopped at a convenience store, and Finn used the money Abby had given them to buy a foot-long hot dog. They squatted on the sunny side of the building against the red brick wall as Finn divided it into thirds. It must have been in the case all day, because the bun was wizened and crunchy.

A pigeon landed a few feet away, hopped once, wobbled, and almost fell over. It was dragging a string from one leg.

Teagan tore off a piece of the crusty bun and tossed it to the bird. The pigeon snatched it up. She tossed another piece and it came closer, close enough that Teagan could see the raw flesh where the string was attached. No wonder it was wobbling. If the string weren't cut off, the bird would lose its leg.

"Will you let me help you?" Teagan asked softly. The pigeon turned a beady eye toward her. She tossed it another breadcrumb. It gobbled it up, but fluttered a few feet away when she held the bread out with her hand.

"You want me to catch that creature for you?" Finn had finished his portion of the hot dog.

"Without hurting it?"

He rubbed his jaw. "I think so."

"You can't catch pigeons," Aiden said. "It's impossible. Lennie told me, and he tries all the time."

"Is that so?"

Finn peeled off his shirt and lay down in the dirt about six feet from Teagan. He spread the shirt over his chest, but held the edges. " Toss some bread on my shirt, boyo."

Aiden tossed a piece of bread, but it hit Finn in the face, then bounced toward the pigeon. The bird hopped toward the food, giving Finn the beady eye. It snatched it up, and Finn didn't move.

Teagan tossed a piece onto Finn's chest. The pigeon eyed it. Finn was so still, Teagan wasn't sure he was breathing. She tossed another piece, and it landed by the first. The pigeon spread its wings just enough to lift itself onto Finn's chest. As its feet touched the shirt, Finn sat up fast, wrapping the fabric around it.

"There you go." He bounced to his feet and held the bundled bird out to Teagan.

"Have you ever caught a pigeon like that before?" Aiden asked as Teagan unwrapped the pigeon, holding its wings together so it couldn't flap.

"I have." Finn shook out his shirt and pulled it back over his head. "The Boy Scouts taught me how it's done. They'd toss the crumbs and I'd catch the bird."

Teagan tucked the pigeon under her arm and pulled the leg out so she could examine it. It wasn't string at all. It was dental floss. No wonder it was biting into the flesh. "Do you have something I can cut this with?"

He took a small folding knife out of his pocket. "You want me to hold the bird for you?"

"That would be helpful."

Finn held the pigeon belly up while Teagan worked. It craned its neck, trying to see what she was doing. She managed to use the tip of the blade to cut the string, then pulled it out of the wound. "Aiden, I need the antibiotic out of Finn's kit."

Aiden dug through the kit, and when he had found it, Teagan smeared some on the bird's leg.

"That's the best I can do. You can let it go."

The pigeon flew up over the rooftop and disappeared.

"Why did the Boy Scouts want you to catch pigeons?" Aiden asked.

"Because they taste like chicken," Finn said. "A little, anyway."

"That's gross," Aiden said.

"Not as gross as starving, boyo. You should wash your hands, Tea." Finn found a piece of soap in his kit and poured water over her hands while she washed them, then washed his own.

"Finn," Aiden said suddenly, "did
anyone
ever beat a goblin?"

"Yes," Finn said. "Fionn Mac Cumhaill beat the son of Fear Doirich himself. I'll tell you about it while we walk."

"Why do we have to keep walking?" Aiden asked. "I'm tired of it."

"The
cat-sídhe
are less likely to find us if we keep moving."

"What's a
cat-sídhe
?" Aiden asked.

Teagan shivered, remembering the laughing cat face.

"Spies," Finn said. "They walk in the sunlight where shadows can't go, and send word back to their masters. Come on, I'll give you a ride, if you're tired. We've a ways to go still."

"Can I still hear the story?"

"You can." Finn squatted down and Teagan lifted Aiden onto his back.

Aiden wrapped his arms around Finn's neck. "Was Fionn the baby from the book Dad read?"

"You remember that?"

"I remember everything," Aiden said. "I just don't like to tell my teachers. How did he beat the bad guys?"

"Fear Doirich had one son, and Mab was his mother." Finn bounced to settle Aiden's weight, then started walking.

"Mab was Maeve's big sister?"

"The very one," Finn said. "Their son's name was Aillen, Aillen the Burner. The Dark Man would send him out to take a tithe of the bravest of the young warriors in Éireann.

"On Samhain's Eve, Aillen would come walking in the night, lulling the warriors to sleep with his music, stealing their minds with his words. When they were senseless, he would gather his tithe—the youngest and fairest, the boldest and bravest—heap them still sleeping into a pile, and then burn them to ash. No warrior was strong enough to stop him, though many tried."

Walking in the night
...Teagan glanced at the sun. They still had some time before sunset. Before dark, when the shadows came hunting.

"When Fionn Mac Cumhaill had grown to a man, he came to join the warriors of Éireann," Finn continued. "On Samhain's Eve he sat with the tip of his stepmother's magic spear pressed against his own flesh, so that if he nodded off it would pierce him. When Aillen arrived, he found everyone asleep. Everyone but Fionn Mac Cumhaill. You're choking me, boyo."

"Sorry," Aiden said. "I was thinking about goblins."

"When morning came, they found Fionn stretched out on the ground fast asleep, the dead Sídhe prince beside him. Fionn had carried the goblin's curse from before he was born, but now there was war between the Mac Cumhaills and all goblinkind. In every generation since, there is one Mac Cumhaill who is born to fight the goblins."

"And that's you," Aiden said. "The Mac Cumhaill."

"A beast of burden, more like," Finn said. "You're choking me again, boyo."

I'M
thirsty.
" Aiden slumped dramatically. "But my water's all gone."

"We'll fill all our bottles up," Finn said. "There's a shop a few blocks down that has a water fountain."

Teagan tried not to look as uncomfortable as she felt. The way people looked at her as they passed made her feel that her clothes were wrong, her hair was wrong, her
skin
was wrong. No one was unfriendly. They just stared, as if an alien creature were walking down their street.

An old lady shook her head and said, "What are you children doing here?" Finn smiled and winked at her, and she said, "Well, that's all right, then. Behave yourselves."

"Here it is." Finn stopped outside a corner store with bars on its windows and blinking neon signs advertising several kinds of beer. "I'll fill the bottles and be right back."

"Why can't we go in with you?" Aiden asked.

"Security cameras," Finn said. "The cops are looking for two missing kids and a Traveler. I don't want them seeing our pictures." Finn went inside the shop with the water bottles.

Three teenagers were walking down the opposite side of the street. They wore their pants halfway down their butts, and the white boxer shorts beneath were dingy and so thin that skin showed through. Teagan leaned against the wall and tried to be invisible. It didn't work. One of them whistled, and they crossed the street.

"Hey, babe."

"Are you gang-bangers?" Aiden asked.

"Listen to the white boy talk! My name's Josiah, and we are friendly gentlemen. I've never seen you around here before. What are you doing in our neighborhood?"

"Walking," Aiden said.

"Like I said, I'm Josiah. This is Rondell, and Manuel." He flashed two gold teeth. "What are your names?"