Tyger Tyger (32 page)

Teagan, Finn, and Aiden have made it out of Mag Mell alive, but the Dark Man's forces are hot on their heels. Back in Chicago, Tea's goblin cousins show up at her school, sure she will come back to Mag Mell, as goblin blood is never passive once awoken. Soon she will belong to Fear Doirich and join them. In the meantime, they are happy to entertain themselves by trying to seduce, kidnap, or kill Tea's family and friends.

Tea knows she doesn't have much time left, and she refuses to leave Finn or her family to be tortured and killed. A wild Stormrider, born to rule and reign, is growing stronger inside her. But as long as she can hold on, she's still Teagan Wylltson, who plans to be a veterinarian and who heals the sick and hurting. The disease that's destroying her—that's destroying them all—has a name: Fear Doirich. And Teagan Wylltson is not going to let him win.

Turn the page for a sneak peak at
I
N THE
F
ORESTS OF THE
N
IGHT
.

TEAGAN Wylltson blinked and tried to focus on her five-year-old brother. His best friend, Lennie—a pudgy, pimpled eighteen-year-old—was holding Aiden up so that he could see Teagan's perch on the roof of the porch. Lucy, the sprite who had taken up residence in her brother's hair, was zipping excitedly around his head.

"Come quick!" Aiden yelled again. "Thomas is growing feathers!"

"The man's shape-shifting," Finn said. He had taken her hand to pull her to her feet, and he hadn't let go. Every molecule in her was suddenly vibrating at a higher rate, and webs of electricity spread over her entire body. It felt good.
Really
good. But it did make it hard to focus.

"Where's Mamieo, then?" Finn asked.

"She was sitting beside him when I went through the living room," Teagan said, dropping his hand and stepping away.

Focusing would be a good thing right now. Finn's grandmother hadn't been happy when they'd dragged a wounded shape shifter out of Mag Mell, but she'd promised not to harm the creature—so long as he didn't do anything unnatural.

"Do you think she'll consider this—"

"Unnatural? I'm sure of it."

"She wouldn't—"

"Do away with the creature?" Finn rubbed his chin with the two good fingers of his wounded hand. "I doubt it. But I'd best go check on them just the same. Thomas might be needing some help."

"Finn," Teagan said, as he turned away. She glanced over to make sure Lennie had put Aiden down. He had. "I do love you."

Finn turned back, grinning. "I know it."

"But I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it, either. I meant it when I said that I'm still headed for Cornell. I'm not giving that up."

"You didn't think I'd go along with you? That's why you were crying."

Teagan shook her head. "I didn't believe you could love me. I was going to get over it, and get on with my plans."

"That's just like you. Sticking to the plan."

"Not this time. You turned my world upside down, Finn Mac Cumhaill. If Cindy hadn't fallen for Oscar at first sight, I wouldn't have been thinking about—"

"Why are you guys still talking?" Aiden yelled.

"Just one more minute, boyo," Finn called over the edge, then turned back to Teagan.

"Cindy and Oscar? Your monkeys?"

"Chimpanzees are apes," Teagan said automatically. "And they don't belong to me, I just work with them. They shouldn't belong to the zoo, either. They should belong to themselves. That's what I'm working for. That's why it's important that I go to Cornell. So maybe you and I
should
wait until things settle down a bit—"

"Tea." Finn looked grim. "Things are not going to settle. Your relations have come calling."

"You mean the goblins."

"And the Travelers. There's never going to be peace between them. And your family's in the middle of it."

"Are you guys
kissing?
" Aiden shouted.

"Not yet." Finn cocked an eyebrow and lowered his voice so only Teagan could hear. "But I can't wait to get to it."

"'Cause Mamieo said to hurry!"

Finn touched Teagan's face, then turned and jumped, catching the lamppost next to the house with his good hand. She stepped to the roof's edge to watch him swing around it as he dropped. She'd been coming out onto the porch roof since she was little, but her stomach still felt tight if she stepped too close to the edge. She would never just throw herself off it like that. Finn landed lightly in the patch of frost-yellowed grass between the sidewalk and the street, then looked up at her and lifted his arms.

Kissing.
Teagan pressed her hands into her stomach to stop the trembling, which was threatening to spread to her knees.

"Come on, girl." Finn lifted his arms. "Jump down. You're just the right size for catching."

"Uh-uh." Teagan took a step back. "Not while you have a hurt hand."

"Well, then, could you bring my duct tape down with you?"

"Sure."

Aiden started for the door.

"Finn—" Teagan began, but he had already caught her brother by the collar.

"Not so fast, there," Finn said as Aiden tried to wiggle away.

"I want to know what's happening," Aiden said.

"Thomas is growing feathers." Lennie sounded worried. "Like a bird. That's what."

Lennie couldn't see Lucy and the other the creatures of Mag Mell who were only half present in this creation. But there were some unearthly creatures that were fully present in any of the worlds of the multiverse—angels, Highborn, and Fir Bolg—that even people without second sight could see. And watching a shape shifter transform would give Lennie nightmares.

"I'll take care of it," Finn assured him. "But I'll be needing two brave men to stand guard out here. Do you know where I might find them?"

"We're brave." Aiden stopped wiggling, and tipped his head as if he were listening. "Yep," he said. "There're bad guys coming. We'll fight them!"

Finn glanced up at Teagan, and she shrugged. Aiden had been saving the world from imaginary bad guys daily since they escaped from Mag Mell, sometimes by singing them away, and sometimes defeating them with stick swords and rocks.

"We will?" Lennie looked worried.

"I fought bad guys before," Aiden assured him. "I'll show you how." Lucy had decided the show was over and had settled into his hair again. She always played along with Aiden's imaginary battles.

"All right," Lennie agreed.

Finn looked at Teagan again, and she nodded.

"You two stay right here, then," he said, "until Teagan can walk you across the street to Lennie's house. Got it?"

Finn disappeared onto the porch beneath her, leaving both Aiden and Lennie looking up at her expectantly.

"Jump, Tea-gan," Lennie said. "I can catch you. I don't have a hurt hand."

"Thank you, Lennie," Teagan said. "But I'm going back in through the window. You wait there like Finn said." She wiped her tears on the back of her sleeve. Her eyes were swollen, and her nose felt like a blob. She picked up the roll of tape.

"
Aiden. Come to us.
"

Teagan froze. She knew that voice, and it made her hair stand on end. She stepped as close to the edge of the roof as she dared.

"Lennie!" Aiden said. "The
cat-sídhe
are here!"

"What's a
cat-sídhe?
" Lennie looked around. "Are they the bad guys?"

"Yep," Aiden said. "They're the kind you can't see."

"I hate that kind." Lennie picked up a stick and swung at the air.

Teagan was glad Lennie couldn't see the creatures on the far side of the street. He would have had nightmares for months. At first glance, they looked like large housecats. Dirty, diseased housecats that stood upright. But if you looked closer, you'd notice that their mouths and hands were almost human. Bare skin showed in mangy patches through their filthy fur. The bigger one's ears hung in tatters. Maggot Cat. The last time she'd seen him he'd flicked maggots picked from his rotting flesh at her. The wound on his stomach didn't seem to be open, but even from this distance his bare abdomen still looked swollen. The
cat-sídhe
beside him was younger, and Teagan had seen it before, too. The half-grown
cat-sídhe
looked like it had been sleeping in an oil pan. Both of them had hunted Teagan, Aiden, and Finn through the streets of Chicago.

"Aiden, is Finn already inside?" Teagan asked.

"Ah, ah!" The smaller
cat-sídhe
pointed up at her. "Teagan!"

"Teagan!" Maggot Cat commanded. "Step down."

Her left foot moved a half an inch closer to the roof's edge.

"No!" Teagan said, as much to her own leg as to the goblin.

"Yessssss!" Maggot Cat said.

They can do that,
Finn had told her, the first time the goblin creatures had tried to control her body. The
cat-sídhe
could move some people's muscles just for a second—long enough for a car to swerve into a pedestrian if you were driving, or for you to step in front of a train. Long enough to ruin your life. But you could learn to resist them, if you focused.

"Bones," the smaller
cat-sídhe
yowled. "Marr-ow! Marr-ow!"

"I heard something scary," Lennie said. "Like a whisper in my head."

"That's their voices," Aiden explained. "Don't listen."
cat-sídhe
voices had never had any effect at all on Aiden, but Lennie was a different matter.

"Lennie." Maggot Cat tipped his head, looking at Lennie. "We know your name."

"Shut up!" Aiden said.

Teagan flinched.
Sídhe
creatures had more power to bend you to their will if they knew your name.

Lennie looked around wildly. "Where are they, little guy?"

"Leave him alone," Teagan said.

"Step down now!" Maggot Cat focused on her again. Her right foot moved a fraction of an inch, despite her focus.

"Let my sister alone!" Aiden yelled, and Lucy came out of his hair like an angry hummingbird.

"Ssssprite!" Maggot Cat hissed.

Sprites were
cat-sídhe's
favorite food—at least in Mag Mell. Lucy zipped toward them. Though Teagan was too far away to see it, she was sure the sprite had pulled her tiny bone knife out of the sheath on her thigh.

"Ah! Dibs!" The smaller one leaped into the air, trying to catch her. "Dibs!"

"Let my Lucy alone, too!" Aiden started after her.

"No!" Lennie caught his collar. "We're not supposed to cross the street without permission, little guy!"

"Hold on to him, Lennie," Teagan called. Lucy was fluttering too close to the
cat-sídhe
's claws.

She hefted the roll of duct tape. All she needed was a distraction until she could get off the roof.
cat-sídhe
were not particularly brave. If she threw it hard enough to hit the wall above them, it might do the trick. The sprite could avoid the tape; she was designed for aerial combat.

A minivan blocked her line of sight for a moment, but as soon as it passed, Teagan threw the roll hard, aiming at the brick wall above the
cat-sídhe.
Lucy saw the tape coming and banked to the left, through the path of the tape. Maggot Cat twisted in the air, trying to follow her.

"No!" Teagan gasped as the tape hit him, knocking him head over tail.

"Yes!" Aiden cheered. "You got him!"

Teagan reached the drainpipe before Maggot Cat could catch his breath, grabbed onto the cold metal, and kicked the toes of her tennis shoes into the trumpet vine that wound around it.

"Ah, ah, let go, Teagan," the smaller
cat-sídhe
called.

"Get 'em, Lucy!" Aiden shouted.

Whatever the sprite did stopped the second
cat-sídhe
in mid-yowl. Teagan scrambled halfway down the pipe, then jumped to the sidewalk.

"I'm down, Lucy!" she called. The sprite zipped back to Aiden.

Blood dripped from the smaller creature's arm and shoulder where Lucy's blade had connected. It licked at it, trying to stop the bleeding. Maggot Cat leaned against the brick wall, panting. The duct tape had hit him hard enough to burst the swelling on his stomach. He pressed his hands against it, but pus oozed over his stubby fingers.

"You better run," Aiden said as Lucy settled into his hair, her eyes still flashing. "My sister's going to get you." Maggot Cat flattened his ears and hissed.

"Who is Tea-gan going to get?" Lennie's eyes were wild.

Teagan glanced at her front door. There was no screaming, so she assumed Finn had the situation under control. But she still couldn't send Lennie inside without knowing what was happening in there. She was going to have to take him to his own house—across the street, where the
cat-sídhe
were.

"You need to go play at Lennie's house, Aiden," Teagan said, taking the stick from Lennie.

"But I want to—"

Teagan gave him
the look.

"Okay."

"Wait. Shake the candy out of your hair. Like you're putting in shampoo." Lucy had peeled M&M's in her nest on Aiden's head. Lennie might believe it was the work of Aiden's own personal tooth fairy, but Mrs. Santini certainly wouldn't.

Tea kept an eye on the
cat-sídhe
while Aiden leaned over and ruffled his hair with both hands. Red, green, and yellow bits of candy shell fell like confetti onto the sidewalk. When it either was gone or had settled to his scalp, Aiden took Lennie's hand, and Teagan walked them across the street, staying between them and the goblin cats, who were edging closer. She waited until the boys were safely inside and the Santinis' door was shut.

"I'm sorry," Teagan said to the
cat-sídhe.
"I was aiming for the wall."

"You missed," the small
cat-sídhe
pointed out.

Maggot Cat flattened his ears and hissed.

Their voices had less power over her when she wasn't in a situation where one move could be fatal. It was as if fear gave them that tiny bit of control they needed to cause a disaster. If she hadn't already been afraid of the drop, they wouldn't have been able to move her toward the edge of the roof.

"You're sick." Teagan took a step toward them. "I'll help you if you'll let me. I've had a lot of experience with sick or injured"—she almost said animals—"creatures. If you come with me to the clinic..."