Tyger Tyger (16 page)

"I don't hear them when I sing."

"Good." Finn gave him a thumbs-up. He pulled a hoodie out of his bag. "This'll do to bundle the both of you." Teagan put it on and zipped Aiden in with her. It was warm enough to make her sleepy, even with the
cat-sídhe
only a few feet away.

"You're next, then." Finn made another set of earplugs and handed them to Teagan. She put them in her ears, and the yowling and hissing was almost gone. When she put her chin on top of Aiden's head, she was close enough that his song drowned them out completely.

She watched Finn roll his own earplugs, the flame of the candle bending and dancing in the drafts, making crazy shadows on the walls.

Before he put them in, he turned and said something to the cats. They bared their fangs and narrowed their eyes.

Teagan pulled one earplug out.

"What did you say to them?"

"Nothing I'd repeat in front of a lady. What would your da say?"

"You remember that?" Teagan laughed.

"I'm no human recorder, like your brother," Finn said. "But I remember the important things." The candlelight flickered on his face. "There were things I said to you the last time we met that never should have been said. I'm hoping they caused you no grief. I'm a wiser man now."

"Finn..." Teagan started, but stopped when the cats leaned closer to the bars.

"Finn," Maggot Cat mimicked.

She'd given them his name.

"Did you say something to her once, Finn? Did you
do
something to her?"

"Do you
want
to do something?" a second cat asked. "Go ahead. Do it, Finn. We won't tell."

"Yessss," the cats hissed. "Do it!"

Finn backed away from her, all the way to the other side of the culvert.

"Good night." He twisted his earplugs in, turned his back to her, and stretched out on the cold cement.

Teagan blew out the candle.

Finn lay very still, but she could feel his presence in the darkness, an electric silhouette more distracting than the voices of the
cat-sídhe,
so bright she was sure there would be fireworks if she moved toward him.

Can I kiss you, girl?
The memory was so clear she almost thought Finn had spoken from the darkness where he lay.

"We can make him do things," Maggot Cat said. "You know we can."

"I know you are liars."

"Give us your brother, Teagan," the cat said slyly. "Then you can have Finn. We really, really want Aiden."

Teagan put her earplug back in. Finn seemed sure the cats couldn't find a way into the culvert, but Teagan could see them in the moonlight, scratching as they dug at the dirt banks, trying to find a way past the bars. She pulled both arms inside the hoodie and wrapped them tight around Aiden. She was exhausted, but she couldn't let herself sleep. She wouldn't. Not until Aiden was safe.

FINN rolled over when the first light crept into the culvert. He sat up and pointed at Teagan's ears. Teagan started to reach for her earplugs and realized that both arms were still inside the hoodie. She fumbled, trying to find a sleeve, until Finn reached over and unzipped her cocoon for her. She took her earplugs out, waking Aiden as she moved.

"Good morning." Finn's breath made tiny clouds in the air.

The sun was up, if just barely. The
cat-sídhe
stood guard outside the grate on both sides of the culvert, their unblinking eyes fixed on Teagan.

"It's chilly!" Teagan said.

"It is," Finn agreed. His lips were blue from cold, and his bare arms had a bluish tinge as well.

He smoothed the dust on the cement floor and wrote, Follow
me.

Teagan nodded, and signed to Aiden. He scowled. Aiden was usually grumpy in the mornings.

"Those ugly cats are still here?" He frowned as he took out his earplugs.

"Ah, ah ... dibs!" the
cat-sídhe
that had seen them first the night before said. "The little one's mine. I called dibs on him last night."

"I thought they'd be gone in the morning, like the shadows."

"Shadows, shadows!" the cats yowled.

"We called the shadows." Maggot Cat scratched at the wounds on its belly again. "They're coming."

Aiden looked at Finn, but he just shrugged.

"They can't come out in daylight, boyo. The cats are talking trash."

"Highborn Sídhe are coming, too," a second cat said. "More than I can count."

"Would that be two or three of them, then?" Finn asked. The cat hissed. "They won't come around until noon at any rate. I've never known them to be early risers." He rolled up the hoodie and put it in his kit while Teagan folded the blanket and put it back in the hole in the wall. The candle, flashlight, and matches went back into the ammo box, and Finn slid it into its hiding place. He nodded at Teagan and started toward the grate.

"Ah, ah..." the
cat-sídhe
said as he came closer. "I'm going to bite you. I want to taste your blood."

Finn pulled his knife from his boot.

" Uh-oh," the
cat-sídhe
said, backing away, but Finn just slit the duct tape holding the door closed, then sheathed the knife.

"Keeee-yill, keeee-yill, keeee-yowll," Maggot Cat started yowling. The others picked up. "Keee-yill, keee-yill, keeee-yoherk." The one nearest the grate doubled over and coughed up a hairball.

"They're really pathetic in the daytime." Teagan moved closer to the grate to study them. "They look like they're diseased. It's not logical that any healthy living thing would look like that."

"It's their lifestyle, no doubt." Finn put the strap of his bag over his shoulder. "Don't feel sorry for goblinkind, Tea, not even the little ones like these. They will do us all the harm they can. Ready, Aiden?" Aiden nodded. Finn swung him up onto his back.

"They can't run fast," he said.

"Ye-hiss we can!" screeched the cats.

Finn shook his head.

"But they keep coming, and they never get tired. Don't listen to them, and don't stop, no matter what."

Teagan nodded, and Finn kicked the grate open. The
cat-sídhe
screamed as they tumbled out of the way. Finn ran right through the middle of them, kicking as he went. Teagan followed him. A small
cat-sídhe,
hardly bigger than a kitten, wrapped itself around her leg the moment she was outside. She kicked, but it dug its claws into her calf through the denim of her jeans and smiled up at her. She couldn't shake it, so she kept running.

"Keeee-yill!" it howled, digging its needle-like claws in deeper.

Finn glanced back once to make sure she was behind him as he scrambled out of the ditch. They ran across the weed field, the
cat-sídhe
pouring out of the ditch after them. The traffic was heavier this morning than it had been the night before. Finn turned and raced along the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians and watching for a break in the cars. People shouted at them as they passed. They made it to the corner just before the light changed.

"Keep going," Finn said. A car honked as they dashed across the street. The driver gunned his engine and plowed into the pack of
cat-sídhe
that tried to cross behind them.

"He can't see them," Finn explained.

The
cat-sídhe
hopped in place, not wanting to risk the tires and bumpers.

Teagan slowed, kicking to try to dislodge the
cat-sídhe
that still clung to her leg. She could feel the claws as it worked its way up the back of her thigh.

"Wait, Finn!" Teagan called. She twisted, trying to grab the creature.

A woman standing at the bus stop with her daughter said, "Are you all right, young lady?"

"No," Teagan said. "Get it off of me, please!"

"Get what off of you?"

"The cat, the cat!" She still couldn't reach it, so she sat down hard on the bus-stop bench, trying to smash it loose.

"What's wrong with that lady?" The little girl pressed up against her mother. "What cat is she talking about?"

"Don't look at her," her mother said.

Teagan bounced up and down until the
cat-sídhe
came loose. She grabbed it before it could sink its claws into her jeans again, and shook it at the woman. "This thing was clawing my butt."

The woman pulled her daughter away.

"Leave us alone," she said. "I ... I'll call the police."

"Tea!" Finn had come back. He grabbed the
cat-sídhe
from her and flung it across the street. "Stop frightening the citizens. Let's go."

"What was wrong with that woman?" Teagan asked as she ran. "Couldn't she see I needed help?"

"No, she couldn't," Finn said. "She can't see the
cat-sídhe.
You were spinning and shouting at thin air. What was she supposed to think?"

Two sets of railroad tracks cut across the street, making a barrier of iron almost twelve feet wide. As soon as he was over it, Finn stopped running. The
cat-sídhe
had been gaining on them, but now they gathered, yowling and hissing along the tracks. None of them tried to cross.

"That's it, then." Finn let Aiden slide to the ground. "They can't follow us, at least not directly. We'll cut through the railyard, but they'll have to go the long way 'round. It's about thirty miles to Gary, along the tracks. The cats will come after us before we get there, of course, but we'll have a head start. When they catch up we can just walk between the rails."

The
cat-sídhe
had figured it out as well. They raced off down the street, looking for a bridge over the tracks.

"What will we do when a train comes?" Aiden asked.

"We'll figure something out. We're all right for the moment, though. Time for breakfast."

He took the bagels and remaining strawberry cream cheese from his bag, and they ate as they walked.

Turning and spinning and punching at thin air
... That's what they had said her mom was doing when she'd had her breakdown. But if her mom had seen
cat-sídhe,
why hadn't she said so?

Hallucinations, delusional beliefs. Total break with reality.
Maybe she had, and no one had believed her. They'd said she'd been babbling, too. Babbling like she had just before she collapsed?

"Aiden," Teagan said, "do you remember the words Mom said before she fell down?"

"The funny ones?" Aiden asked. "Like 'Tá me
tuirseach'?
"

"It's the language of the old country," Finn said. "She said, 'I'm tired.'"

"After that," Aiden went on, "she said, 'Tá
áthas fearg,
Roisin,
tá áthas fearg.'
"

"'I'm sorry, Roisin, I'm sorry,'" Finn translated.

"Do you know anyone named Roisin?" Teagan asked. "A Traveler maybe?"

Finn shook his head. "Never heard the name before."

"If the
cat-sídhe
follow your family, wouldn't Mom have seen them?"

"Mamieo told me Aunt Aileen could never see them, even in the old country. She didn't have the second sight. I didn't know, or I'd never have come. When I had to leave you—" Finn glanced at Teagan and then quickly looked away.

Teagan felt the heat creep through her.

"—I mean, leave your family ... it was the first time I knew what it really meant to be the Mac Cumhaill."

"What does it mean?" Aiden asked.

"That I can never have anybody of my own." Finn looked straight ahead.

"You mean like a girlfriend?" Aiden asked.

"I do," Finn said.

"You could get a big scary one," Aiden suggested. "Lennie said his dad married his mom because she was scary. Even the Mob was scared of her."

"Aiden!" Teagan said, but Finn was laughing.

"I could. But if she was so terrible the goblins themselves fled at the sight of her, don't you think I'd be afraid, too? How could I kiss the girl?"

"Maybe you wouldn't have to kiss her," Aiden said.

"It's expected, though."

"You could always shut your eyes." Aiden demonstrated, scrunching his face. "That's what I do when I see monsters."

"That might work, then," Finn said, his voice suddenly more serious. "But I'd never ask a girl to walk the roads I walk. The Mac Cumhaill never dies old and gray, my man. Not one ever has. I'll not be leaving broken hearts behind me when I go."

"Like that pretty lady with the purse?" Aiden asked.

"A smile or two never broke a woman's heart, boyo. It just warms their cockles is all. You'll find that most ladies appreciate—"

"There's something I've been wondering about," Teagan interrupted.

"Cockles?" Aiden asked. "Because that's what I'm wondering about."

"Not cockles," Teagan said. "We've got to figure out—"

"But what
are
cockles?"

"Mollusks," Teagan explained. "But in this case, it probably refers to
cochleae cordis,
which is Latin for the ventricles of the heart."

"I never knew that," Finn said. "You must inherit that brain from your da. It's impressive."

Teagan stopped. "Why are we talking about heart ventricles? We need to figure out what's going on. It doesn't add up."

"She didn't like the purse lady," Aiden said in a stage whisper.

"This has nothing to do with the purse lady," Teagan said. "Think about it. Both Aiden and I can see the
cat-sídhe
and the shadow men. I think my mom saw them at least once, no matter what Mamieo says. And Kyle said you could only get into Mag Mell if it 'remembered you,' but Dad walked in Mag Mell, and we did, too. How could Mag Mell remember any of us?"

"I've been puzzling over it myself," Finn said. "The only one I know with any answers is Mamieo."

"Why did Mamieo want Mom's ashes?"

"She didn't say why she wanted them. Just to go and fetch them, and fast."

"Here come those cats," Aiden said. The
cat-sídhe
had gone the long way around, but they were running full out along the outside of the railyard to catch up.

"We'll talk about it later, then," Finn said. "When the cats aren't about. Let's go." They walked on the ties between the rails.

"Yee-eww can't lose us," Maggot Cat yowled when it caught up. "We called others."