Tyger Tyger (29 page)

Teagan was sure Finn was going to be thrown against the wall, but he kicked at the hood, went over the top of the cab, and landed in the truck bed. Teagan twisted to see what he was doing. He grabbed up the old rake, and Raynor winced as he slammed it against the side of the truck, breaking the head off.

"It's coming back," Aiden screamed. Teagan turned back just in time to see the other hellhound jump.

Its feet hit the hood as it launched itself over the cab. Finn was on one knee, holding the rake handle under his arm, the sharp point up and the end braced against the pickup bed.

The splintered wood pierced the hound's chest, and Finn heaved hard, vaulting it over the tailgate. It turned like a cat in the air, landing on its feet, but the impact shoved the rake handle completely through its body. Still, it dragged itself after them until it collapsed.

"Play artist James Taylor," Raynor shouted, "softly." Brynhild switched from "Ride of the Valkyries" to "Handy Man."

"Those were fallen angels?" Teagan turned for one last look before they left the alley.

"What else would they be?" Raynor said. "Only Aingeal, Highborn, and Fir Bolg are fully present in any and all dimensions. It's what we're made for—walking between the worlds. Your dad was dragged physically to Mag Mell, but his mind never left Chicago."

"So if you are fully present in this dimension, then anybody can see you?" Teagan asked.

"It would be hard to get a driver's license if they couldn't. And I've had one since 1903. I was driving before that of course, but—"

"What about Kyle, when he bilocates?" Teagan asked before he could start on the invention of the automobile.

"It's like astral projection, only with more mass."

"And the shadows? They can sort of touch things here."

"Those abominations are part
aingeal
and part something so foul I won't name it. Fear's own children." Raynor pulled into a parking space. "They've got just enough substance to make them useful to their father, but not enough to make them fully present in any dimension. Time for me to have a talk with Finn. You two wait here and listen to some music."

"I want to talk to Finn, too," Aiden said.

"Nope," Raynor said. "You stay here and take care of Teagan and your dad. I think they got a little banged up."

"You seriously need to install seat belts," Teagan said as Raynor got out. "It's the law, you know." He waved at her over his shoulder.

"I'm tired of holding Dad up," Aiden said.

Teagan was leaning her dad's head gently against the back window when her phone vibrated.

"Tea." Abby clearly wasn't happy. "Where have you been? I've been trying to call you for two days. If that street bum has done anything to you or Aiden—"

"He saved our lives a couple of times." She reached out the window and turned the mirror until she could see Finn. He was sitting with his back to the tailgate, listening to Raynor, his brows knit. Teagan tried to imagine the conversation.

Hello,
Finn. I'm your guardian angel.

Finn didn't look surprised. Just tired. He turned and looked directly at Teagan in the mirror, and she felt a shock when their eyes met.

"—are you even listening to me?" Abby was saying.

"Sorry." Finn wasn't looking away. Teagan bumped the mirror so he couldn't see her. "I'm back now."

"I
said
I went back to my apartment to feed the fish," Abby said. "Some bastard had pinned my babies to the ceiling with toothpicks. They'd slashed all of my canvases, too. What kind of a sick person does something like that?"

"The kind I've been telling you about," Teagan said.

"You're saying it was a goblin?" Abby asked.

Teagan rubbed her temple. "I need you to pick up some stuff for me, okay? I need some Pedialyte, superglue, and duct tape. Can you get those and bring them to my house? It's really important."

"I'll get them," Abby said.

"He's ba-ack," Aiden said as Raynor opened the driver-side door.

"Will more ... things ... be coming out of Mag Mell?" Teagan asked.

"I'm an
aingeal,
not a psychic," Raynor said. "Speaking of which, I need to ask a favor. I would appreciate it if we kept the
aingeal
thing quiet. People just go nuts over that stuff, and it makes me very uncomfortable. We like to keep a low profile. Except for the fallen, of course. They all think they're rock stars."

"All right," Teagan said.

"And one other thing," Raynor said. "I wouldn't tell Mamieo what they"—he nodded toward the back of the truck—"are. Not yet."

"You want us to lie?" Aiden folded his arms.

"Never," Raynor said. "But there are two ways into a person's life: through their head or through their heart. Mamieo's heart is closer to her Creator than her head is. Let her take care of them and mend their hurts. If she's tended him with her own hands, her mother's heart will straighten out her Irish head when the time comes. I don't think Thomas is going to be talking much, and Finn is discussing the situation with Roisin."

"
Wait a minute,
" Aiden said. "We're goblins, too. Will Mamieo still like us?"

"We'll see," Raynor said. He didn't sound too optimistic about it.

Teagan picked a stray beetle leg and a small twig that Lucy had left behind out of Aiden's hair and tossed them out the window.
What would Mamieo think?

"Stop it!" Aiden wiggled as she finger-combed out the last trace of the sprite's nest. "Lucy won't like it! When are you going to fix her?"

"As soon as Abby brings what I need." Teagan hoped the sprite was still alive in Finn's kit.
One problem at a time.
"First we need to explain things to Mamieo."

"How long will that take?" Aiden asked when he'd stopped wiggling.

"I'm not sure," Teagan said.

"I think I'll stick around after I drop you off," Raynor said. "Just for a little bit."

MAMIEO was sitting on the couch when Teagan came through the front door. The old woman was clearly expecting company. She was dusted with glamour and shimmered with
draíocht.

To a normal person she would be very appealing. To someone with second sight, Mamieo glowed like a painting of a medieval saint, halo and all.

The saint jumped up as Finn staggered in behind Teagan, Thomas's arm around his shoulders. Finn was half dragging the Highborn, who managed to move one of his feet about one step out of three.

"You're alive, then!" Mamieo said.

"I am," Finn agreed. "And Teagan as well, as you see, and Aiden's coming along." Teagan stepped aside to let them through.

Aiden and Roisin came through the door next, and then Raynor with Mr. Wylltson slung over his shoulder.

"John Paul
Wylltson.
" Mamieo had grabbed Aiden in a hug, but she released him when she saw his father. "Is the man..."

"Just sleeping," Raynor assured her. "I'll tuck him into bed."

"And who would you be?"

"He's an old friend," Finn said, "and he's right about John. This is the one who needs your help now. We found him in the garden of Fear Doirich himself, no more than half alive. He still tried to help us, and the Dark Man struck him down for it."

Mamieo's eyes skipped over Thomas and went to Roisin, taking in her long hair and medieval dress. The girl shrank back against Teagan. Whatever Finn had told her about Mamieo, it had clearly frightened her.

"It's okay." Teagan patted her arm. "Mamieo is going to help Thomas."

"Show the man where to put your father, Aiden," Mamieo said, still looking at Roisin. Thomas chose that moment to pass out. Roisin jumped to help as his eyes rolled up in his head and he went limp.

"So that's how it is, then," Mamieo said as Roisin ducked under Thomas's other arm to help support him. "Let's take him in the kitchen. He can't be lolling about in the parlor. We're expecting company."

"Who—"

"Ms. Skinner," Mamieo said before Teagan could finish the question. "And it won't do to have her walk in on this, will it?"

"The Skinner's coming?" Aiden squeaked.

"I didn't know you were on your way, did I?" Mamieo said. "But don't you worry, pratie." Mamieo's voice was gentle. "She won't be here for an hour yet. When she comes, I'll set her right. Now, help get your father upstairs."

Teagan ran ahead of Finn to hold open the kitchen door. The room was spotless. Mamieo had scrubbed every speck of Kyle's blood from the wall.

Finn lifted Thomas onto the table, and Mamieo pulled his shirt open. When she saw the thorn wound, she sucked in her breath. It was green-blue and festering, weeping pus.

"Hold him tight, dearie," Mamieo told Roisin. "Hold him so he don't dare be slipping away from you."

She turned to Teagan. "Dial a number for me on that phone of yours, girl." When the phone connected to a Dr. Gorman's office, Teagan handed it to Mamieo.

"It's Ida Mac Cumhaill calling," she said. "Let me talk to Danny." Mamieo frowned. "Of course I mean Dr. Gorman, girl. How many Dannys are you keeping there? Just tell him it's Ida."

She pressed her hand against Thomas's forehead as she waited, feeling for a fever, and then against the side of his neck, checking for a pulse.

"Danny! I've a job for you, and it's urgent. I need you here
right now.
Teagan will tell you what you need to know."

Mamieo handed the phone back, and went to the sink for a clean cloth.

Dr. Gorman didn't sound as grumpy as Jackie the cabby had. He asked a few questions about the condition of the patient, then said he would be right over.

"Now, tell me what's going on," Mamieo said when Teagan flipped the phone shut. "It's sure these two never came from Chicago. Tell me everything."

Finn started with stepping into Mag Mell, and the paths that opened when Aiden sang, and about Lucy. Mamieo worked while he talked, washing Thomas's face and, with Roisin's help, getting his shirt off far enough to clean around the wound.

She said something Teagan was sure was an Irish curse word when Finn reached the part about Ginny Greenteeth. She stopped moving when he reached the part about finding Roisin in Yggdrasil's hands, and just listened.

Finn told her about the Dark Man's plans for Roisin and how Yggdrasil had kept her safe. He told how Thomas had fallen in love with the girl and sworn to love her as long as his heart beat.

"Didn't my Rory say the same to me?" Mamieo whispered, wiping Thomas's face again. "And wasn't he true to his word, just like this boy?"

Aiden and Raynor came into the kitchen.

"Did you tell Mamieo—"

Shut it!
Teagan flashed in sign language.

Aiden's mouth snapped shut.

"Tell me what?" Mamieo turned to Finn. "What are you hiding from me, boyo?"

Finn wrapped his arms around her, lifting her in a bear hug.

"And what do you think you are about?" she said. "Put me down!"

"I'll do that," Finn assured her. "Just as soon as I finish my story. Time can run different in Mag Mell, as you've told me many a time."

"And what of it?"

"Aileen was Roisin's sister," Finn said. "Their father was Amergin the bard. Her
máthair
was Maeve, Queen Mab's sister."

Mamieo froze.

"My Aileen?"

"Yes," Finn said.

"The child of a goblin." Her eyes went to Roisin, where the girl stood protectively over Thomas. "And this boy on my table?"

"He's a gob—" Finn glanced at Teagan. "A Highborn Sídhe."

Mamieo went ashen. Even her
draíocht
halo dimmed. "One of those that took my Rory from me. One of the very creatures. Let me go, boy."

"The story isn't done yet," Finn said. "This one helped us in Mag Mell. He told us where to find water. If he hadn't warned us that the hellhounds were coming, the soul eaters would have had us."

"It's hellhounds, now, is it? And where are those creatures?"

"Raynor dealt with one, and I dealt with the other," Finn said. "It's over now, Mamieo. It's over. There's no more killing to be done."

"Put
me down
" Mamieo said, and this time Finn did. She walked over to the table and, after looking down at Thomas, turned and walked out the back door.

"What do you think?" Teagan asked.

Finn shook his head.

Mamieo was pacing in the backyard. Twice she stopped and shook her fist at the sky.

"That doesn't look good," Raynor said.

Thomas moaned and started to thrash. Teagan put her hand on his shoulder to hold him down. He was weak enough that it didn't take much. Roisin shushed him, touching her fingers to his lips and speaking softly in her own language.

When Teagan looked up again, Mamieo was standing very still. Finally she turned and came back inside.

"Are you going to throw us away?" Aiden asked.

"Your
máthair
was mine," Mamieo said fiercely, wiping tears from her face. "I'll not give you up, pratie, not to the devil himself."

"What about these two?" Finn asked, nodding toward Thomas and Roisin.

"He could be one of the very creatures that butchered my Rory. Even if it wasn't himself that did it, I know he's done other vile things."

Like killing an angel.
Teagan glanced at Raynor, who was leaning against the wall, his arms folded.

"How could the Almighty ask it?" Mamieo whispered.

"What did he ask?" Aiden took her hand.

Mamieo looked down at him.

"'Who
are you, Ida?'
That's what he asked. ' I'm Ida Mac Cumhaill,' I told him. 'The widow of Rory Mac Cumhaill, the best man that ever lived. Done to death by goblins, as you remember.'

"But didn't he ask me again?" Mamieo said. "'Who
are you, Ida?'
'I'm Ida Mac Cumhaill,' I told him. ' Daughter of the Fir Bolg, kicked out of their home by goblinkind, with every right to hate the bastards, as you well know,' I says. I thought I was done, but, 'Who
are you, Ida?'
the Almighty asks a third time. 'I'm Ida Mac Cumhaill, fashioned by your own hand to mend and tend your creation, and don't you know it already?' I told him.