Tyger Tyger (30 page)

"'Then tend my
creature,'
he says. And isn't that what I'm going to do? Why hasn't someone put a pillow under the boy's head?"

"I'm going to check on Brynhild," Raynor said. Teagan went with him. Now that Mamieo knew the truth, there was no reason to leave Grendal outside, and she needed to check on Lucy.

A taxi pulled up as they stepped onto the porch, and a round-faced young man jumped out. He was carrying an old-fashioned black doctor's bag in one hand and a collapsible IV pole in the other.

"I'm Dr. Gorman," the man said. "Ida called?" Teagan let him in, then followed Raynor to the truck.

"I think that went pretty well," Teagan said as she lifted Finn's kit out of the truck bed.

"Maybe," Raynor said.

"Maybe?"

"I told you her mother's heart was closer to the Creator than her Irish head. She's listening with her heart right now. But I wouldn't spring any more surprises on her. Her head just might take over."

 

"You're not going to take that guy to the hospital?" Abby whispered.

Thomas lay on a mattress in the corner of the kitchen, an IV needle in his arm and antibiotics dripping into his veins. Roisin was sitting beside him, holding his hand.

"We can't." Teagan sorted through the bag Abby had brought.

"Why not? Because you don't want Skinner to know about those two? That's why we're whispering, right?"

"You're the only one who's whispering." Teagan pulled out the superglue. They'd explained to Roisin that she had to keep Thomas quiet. Mamieo was in the living room talking to Ms. Skinner and Officer O'Malley, the cop Ms. Skinner had brought with her.

Dr. Gorman had been explaining his version of the situation to the social worker and policeman when Abby arrived: Mr. Wylltson had sustained some kind of brain injury while walking in the park. He was now under Dr. Gorman's professional care and would be up and about soon.

Officer O'Malley seemed happy to drop the matter. Ms. Skinner was not as happy, but there was nothing she could do.

"So, why
aren't
you taking him to the hospital?" Abby asked. "He looks really sick."

"It's complicated."

"You're talking to an Italian about complicated?" Abby snorted. "There's ways to do these things. I keep telling you I got people I can call."

"Mamieo called people, or he wouldn't have an IV in his arm."

"The Travelers are like the Mob?" Abby asked. "They got people?"

"Sort of."

"So, you needed the superglue to save an invisible bug." Abby squinted at the paper towel on the counter.

"She's only invisible to you," Aiden said. "We can all see her."

"And why's that?"

"Because your brain isn't wired to see creatures from other dimensions," Teagan explained.

"Like it's not wired for calculus."

"Something like that," Teagan agreed.

Abby walked over and pushed the kitchen door open a crack.

"Eavesdropping is bad," Aiden said. Abby ignored him.

Teagan made a careful line down the crack in Lucy's exoskeleton, pressed it together, and then wiped the excess glue away.

Abby pulled the door shut. "They're leaving. But that cop was totally flirting."

"With Skinner?"

"With your grandma. She's one gorgeous old lady."

"It's magic," Teagan said. "D
raiocht.
"

"Magic," Abby repeated. "And the invisible she-cat that I keep tripping over is—"

"A
cat-sídhe.
" Teagan didn't look up.

"—and the guy outside crying over the scratches in his nice, shiny truck is...?"

"A mechanic," Teagan said.

"And a freegan," Aiden added. "He wants to save the planet."

Lucy's eyes glowed faintly, and she turned her head toward the sound of Aiden's voice.

"She's alive!" Aiden shouted, then clapped his hand over his mouth.

"They're already out the door," Abby said. "You don't have to be quiet anymore."

The sprite moved her arms and legs weakly. Her exoskeleton seemed to be working again.

"She's going to need food, Aiden," Teagan said.

"There's always flies by the garbage." Aiden jumped down from the bench. "I'll get some."

Teagan gave the sprite a drop of Pedialyte on the tip of a swizzle stick. Do
sprites even have electrolytes?
She had no idea. Lucy sucked the moisture up.

"I saw that!" Abby gasped.

"You saw Lucy?"

"No. I saw the drop disappear."

The sprite refused the second drop Teagan offered her.

"So the invisible bug's gonna live?" Abby asked.

"I think so." Thomas and Roisin seemed to be doing all right as well. "Let's go keep an eye on Aiden." It was uncomfortable having him out of her sight, even if she knew Raynor would be watching over him.

"Wait up." Abby pulled her sketchpad out of her purse. "I'll come, too. I've got a bunch of character studies due in art class. I swear I haven't been able to draw a thing while you were gone. And I couldn't sleep, either. Too many nightmares."

Mamieo wasn't in the living room when they went through. She had probably gone upstairs to talk to Finn. Abby flipped open her sketchpad as they sat down on the steps.

"You're coming back to school Monday, right?"

"I don't know. It might be best if we get out of here. Get as far from Chicago as we can."

"Because there are goblins in the park?"

"Yeah," Teagan said.

"Bullshit." Abby sharpened her charcoal. "Dumpster boy's convinced you to drop out of school, that's what's going on. I'm not going to let that happen, Tea. I got a responsibility to the universe, ya know? Keeping you in school is part of it."

"You're not my mom, Abby."

"Yeah? Well, when's your dad going to wake up? I can't wait to hear what he thinks about this."

"Raynor said he should wake up in a couple of days."

"The mechanic guy?" Abby looked over at Raynor, who was working on Brynhild's side-view mirror. "What, is he a doctor in his spare time or something?" She started drawing.

"I've been thinking," Teagan said, ignoring her question. "If we do leave Chicago, you should come with us. Pack up and move to another town where they can't find you. Like ... like your uncle Joe did when he went into witness protection."

"Joey the Squealer?" Abby said. "Not gonna happen. I got responsibilities."

"Like what?"

"Aunt Sophia and Lennie, for one thing. You and Aiden for the other thing. I know these goblin things are bad, Tea. They killed my babies, remember? My apartment felt"—she shuddered—"
evil
after they'd been there. Like walking into a remake of The
Exorcist
or something. I think their freaking filthy thoughts soaked into my walls, you know? But I don't run from bad stuff. And I don't leave my friends when they're in trouble. I get the superglue and the Pedialyte now, but duct tape? What's that about?"

"It's for Finn," Teagan said. "I used up the last of his tape in Mag Mell when we tied up Fear Doirich."

"I'm gonna clobber him if he touches you," Abby said. "Just so you know."

"Who? Fear Doirich?"

"Finn."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"Oh, my god."

"What?" Teagan looked around, half expecting a dog-headed man, but Abby was staring at her.

"That
sound
in your voice."

"There was no
sound
in my voice," Teagan said.

"Yes, there was. Say it again."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about?"

"Oh. My. God. You're totally in love with Dumpster boy!" "You can hear that in my voice?" She hated it when Abby jumped to crazy conclusions. Especially when she might be right.

"You know I got powers." Abby shrugged. "So is he in love with you?"

Aiden raced up to them holding a buzzing horsefly by its wings. He shoved it at Abby's face. "I got a fly for Lucy!"

"Eww." Abby leaned back. "Don't let it touch me!" "Hey," Aiden said. "You're drawing Mr. Schein!" "Yeah." Abby held up the quick charcoal study. "An artist has to go with her gut. I got instinct, you know? My angel phase is over. I'm drawing mechanics now."

Aiden blinked. "Gotta feed Lucy," he said, and ran up the steps.

WATCH." Dr. Max tossed Cindy an apple.

"What am I watching for?" Teagan asked. "I mean, other than the fact that she isn't mad at me for standing next to you?"

"You'll see."

Teagan had been afraid she wouldn't get to come back, would never get to work in the clinic again, never even say goodbye to Cindy.

But when her dad had woken up still confused and missing memories, Dr. Gorman and Mamieo had agreed with Abby—they had to stay. Mr. Wylltson needed familiar surroundings to mend his mind. So Raynor had taken up residence in the library park like a homeless person. He wasn't letting anything nasty out.

"What am I watching for?" Teagan asked again.

"Shhh," Dr. Max said.

Cindy took a bite of the apple. Suddenly, the bamboo in front of her sleeping hole shook, and a short, dark, and hairy chimpanzee came out.

"Oscar?" Teagan guessed. "I thought you were going to keep them separate until they were ready to meet each other."

"It wasn't necessary." Dr. Max was beaming like a proud papa.

Oscar clapped his hands, then held them edge to edge, fingers together. He slid one across the other, as if he were chopping an imaginary apple, then clapped his hands again.

"
Share,
" Teagan translated.

"It was love at first sight." Dr. Max chortled. "She forgot all about me the minute she set eyes on him."

"So you don't need me to play with Cindy anymore?"

"I still need you to observe them. You understand Cindy better than anyone else. And you need to get to know Oscar."

Hello,
Oscar,
Teagan signed.

My
boy,
Cindy signed back, and glared at Teagan.

"I'll leave you to it, then," Dr. Max said happily as he went out the door. Teagan walked to the far end of the enclosure, where the rail met the wall. She needed something to lean against.

Love at first sight. So it happens to Travelers
and
chimpanzees.

But not to goblin girls.

It hadn't been love that had made her throw up the first time she'd seen Finn; she was sure of that. So what was it? The self-preservation instinct, maybe. Goblin, meet goblin hunter. It took goblin girls at least a week to fall in love, even if the guy was totally awesome.

Teagan groaned. She
hated
it when Abby was right. And boy, was she right this time. Teagan was totally in love with Finn Mac Cumhaill. And it wasn't because he was hot, or even because of the sizzles. It was because he was some kind of wonderful she'd never met before.

The kind of wonderful who hadn't hesitated to go into Mag Mell to help find her dad, even though he knew what was waiting there. The kind of wonderful who had dived into the pool to save Aiden, even though he couldn't swim himself.

The kind of wonderful who had moved to the other side of a dark culvert even though she was sure he'd wanted to hold her then as badly as she wanted to hold him now. But he hadn't. Because he didn't want to leave her with a broken heart when the goblins finally killed him.

She'd managed to avoid being alone with him so far. It wasn't hard with Mamieo living in the guest room; Roisin and Abby—who refused to go home because she was still having nightmares—in Teagan's room; Tea's father in his own room; Thomas on a cot in the alcove; and Finn sharing Aiden's room.

She didn't want to talk to Finn until she'd had a chance to think. And to cry. Because she didn't want to cry in front of him when she explained that Raynor was right. She was more goblin than she had been before they went back to Mag Mell.

"Focus," Teagan told herself. "You've got a job here." After an hour of being a fifth wheel while Cindy and Oscar groomed each other, Teagan was glad to head to the clinic.

"Tea!" Agnes looked up from the computer. "We were so worried about you! Dr. Max told me all about it. How's your dad?"

"Still confused. The doctor is not sure what happened to him, or when he'll get better. My grandmother's come to help take care of him and Aiden." She leaned on the desk. "Debunked any crypto-creatures lately?"

"I'm working on it. Check this out." Agnes was studying blurry photos of the two dead hellhounds. One still had the rake handle through its chest. "A Department of Streets and Sanitation worker claims to have taken these with his cell phone. He and his buddy were sent to pick up the roadkill."

"You have any idea what they are?" Teagan asked.

"Bears with mange?" Agnes leaned closer to the screen. "No, the snouts are all wrong. The crypto-nuts are going crazy over this one."

I'll
bet they are.
"Has anyone examined the bodies?"

"Nobody can track them down, as usual with this sort of sighting. Sanitation guys say they took them to the landfill. My theory is that they were sold to a dog food factory. Witnesses said they saw these things chasing a truck. There's even a video on YouTube." Agnes clicked from the photo to the video. It was Brynhild, all right. Fortunately the truck was too far away to identify any faces.

"They can't find the truck, either," Agnes said when the clip finished.

Abby had finally gotten to call her people. Raynor had cried when he turned over the keys to Leo, but he couldn't exactly park the truck in front of the Wylltsons' house after the show they'd put on up and down the streets of Chicago. It was Brynhild or Finn.

Angel and Donnie had assured the
aingeal
that they'd keep her safe. Rafe, in a dark blue suit that looked like he'd borrowed it from a teenage Michael Corleone, had punched Raynor's arm in a comforting way.

And then the Turtles had "disappeared" Brynhild, to somewhere they could get her a new paint job and some body work, and a new, untraceable license plate, just in case.

"It's a hoax, of course," Agnes said. "One I've been spending way too many hours on. You need the computer?"