“Radiation?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something like radiation,” Rose said. “There has to be a reason people don’t use Corvidae to hook them up with their crushes and unattainable loves. Besides, I don’t think anyone owns Laird, and it’s a transfer of ownership, even with loved ones.”
I nodded. No using the magpie man to trade one hostage for another.
“I’m glad you’re thinking, Blake,” Rose said, “But I don’t think the answer is as easy as that.”
I nodded.
“We have the Hyena,” Maggie said.
“If I release it, I think Evan will have command of it,” I said.
“I know how goblins operate,” Maggie said. “Asking me to be your champion and then giving the goblin beast to Evan isn’t good strategy.”
“Let me rephrase. If I release it, Evan will have command of it, circumstances allowing,” I told her.
“Cold,” Maggie said.
“I made promises,” I said.
“Still cold. You sortaowe me one, after I’ve come all this way.”
“Maybe,” I said. “If I was certain I knew who you were.”
She snapped her head around, staring at me. “Huh?”
I met her eye, the other one covered by her hand, blood leaking down her arm. It looked like it hurt.
I could have asked her to lower her hand, to give me a better look at her eye, where Duncan had clocked her, but there was a very good chance that doing so might mean I had one less ally here and one more enemy.
“Nevermind. I’m getting distracted from the subject at hand,” I said. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No kidding,” Maggie said. “Are you losing it?”
The question sounded so natural, but the fact that it was a question and not a statement only added to my doubt.
“You’re only now starting to doubt him?” Duncan asked.
“Hush,” Maggie said. She rested the tip of the sword on Duncan’s collarbone, the sword’s point pushing against his skin to create a faint depression. The smallest push could break the skin and a more serious push could slide the blade right into windpipe, artery or jugular.
“Laird’s an augur,” I said. “He can see the future. Now that we know the time magic is mostly bullshit and bullshitting, I’m suspicious that the ‘seeing the future’ thing is one of their more costly activities. I’m not sure how it works, but he might be working out the best plans of attack.”
I watched Duncan as I said it, and I saw his expression change just a bit. Not a smile, not a frown, but a very neutral tug of the corner of the lips, out to either side.
I wished I knew why, but it was good to know that I’d provoked some reaction from him. I made a mental note.
“While I’m brainstorming, we have another option,” Rose said. “Well, we have two, but one you’re more likely to consider.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“June. We can use June.”
“How?”
“Let her go. It’s her medium.”
“You mean we…”
“Same we did with Leonard. One last expenditure of power.”
“Leaves Blake unarmed,” Maggie commented.
“Yeah,” I said. “But I see where Rose is coming from. If we don’t get out of this in one piece, then there’s no point to holding on to June.”
I felt the weight of June in my hand.
Neither Rose nor Maggie said anything.
Out there, in the midst of the snow, I heard Laird talking. From the one-sided nature of the conversation, I suspected he was on the phone.
“What’s the second idea?” I asked.
“We let Pauz free.”
I didn’t move.
“No objection?”
“I’m waiting for you to elaborate,” I said. “You wouldn’t just suggest this out of nowhere. You probably considered the objections I’d raise and came up with answers. What’s-”
Music.
Loud, throbbing music cutting through the whistle of the wind. The bass was turned up too high, the entire thing undercut by the hiss of static, a radio station that was tuned slightly off.
“Car stereo,” I said.
We’d taken too long to deliberate, and they were making their first move.
The music stopped. It was only eerie silence.
I glanced over my shoulder, and saw the same scene as before, but Laird wasn’t there, and the car on the street had its headlights on.
“Maggie, draw the gun,” I said. “I need the Hyena.”
“It’s just over there. Pass it to me,” she said, “Take the sword.”
I glanced over my shoulder again, making sure I wasn’t putting myself in the line of fire, then hurried over.
I grabbed the gun from the ground and reversed it for her, as was my habit, learned over many hours of handyman work. Our attention split between Duncan and the possible threat outside, we fumbled a bit, but Duncan didn’t try anything.
Then Laird’s soundtrack started playing.
Words in Arabic, punctuated by a soundtrack of ticks, tocks, and audible gear shifts.
“Fucker,” I said. I raised my voice to be heard. “Laird!”
He didn’t respond.
“Laird, you fucker! This isn’t in Duncan’s interests!”
“You said it yourself,” Rose commented. “The Behaim family peeks at the future. You’re dealing with a hostage negotiator who can see the outcomes of his actions.”
“Or make an educated guess, at the very least,” Duncan said.
“Quiet,” Maggie said.
“Or what? You can cut me a little with the sword, but the gun is either fired or it isn’t. There isn’t a lot of middle ground.”
Maggie kicked him in the head. Duncan toppled from his kneeling position, hard.
“Or that,” she said.
Duncan didn’t move, hand to his mouth.
The music was ongoing, building in tempo.
I covered my ears with one hand and the wrist of the hand that held June.
As defenses went, it was weak.
“Rose,” I said. “Let the Hyena loose. Order it to obey Evan and us. Hit the car.”
“Hyena!” Rose raised her voice. “The seventh-youngest Thorburn bound you, and the seventh-youngest Thorburn bids you to listen! Accept our order, obey Evan Matthieu, the ghost and the bird, agree to do us no harm. Do this and you may step forth, wreak havoc, strike down our enemies!”
The sword began to come undone, twisting in my grip.
I heaved it through the window, spinning hilt over blade.
I could only see bits in my peripheral vision as I ducked back behind cover. I could see the lighting in the living room change, as though a heavy cloud had passed over the sun on a sunny day, but it was overcast, and the shadow was thicker, deeper, and harbored a fair bit of darkness inside it.
“Corvidae,” I said. “Stall for now, try to find a good opportunity to use him if you can.”
Rose didn’t respond. She shouted something I couldn’t make out. A line in another language.
Glass broke somewhere upstairs.
A body landed in the front yard. Corvidae, almost the same as I’d seen him earlier, but he wore a coat.
“Corvidae, guard us!” Rose ordered.
“Not where my talents lie,” Corvidae commented.
“Deal with it!” Rose called out.
The Sister’s dolls advanced across the front yard. I saw a glimpse of the Hyena assaulting them, biting and tossing them free, before he changed direction, moving for another target.