“I’m not sure that’s entirely reassuring,” said Mom. “He’ll bring you straight home?”
“Yes,” I said, wondering what was going on besides Mom being a mom. She shouldn’t be home now, Mongo shouldn’t be out roaming the streets—and I would be totally freaked about this on any other day that I hadn’t almost been disappeared by a cobey—and this conversation should sound more like the standard mom-teenage-daughter face-off and it didn’t. It sounded like we were both really worried and not telling each other about it. I had my mouth open to ask questions and realized I didn’t want to know any sooner than I had to. I looked across the street at the long-legged army things. The human shapes standing stiffly beside them looked more like upright gizmos than like people, and everything looked worse and worse as the light faded toward sunset. In the leaf-shadowy twilight the tank was a monster out of a fairy tale. “See you,” was all I said, and clicked off.
The big army guy who had almost busted us had long since disappeared into the park, but there were still a lot of other guys milling around. I hoped our reinforcement gruuaa could keep us hidden. If Hix had held onto both Casimir and me by herself, surely this gang could disguise half of Station? But that was before these great icky, woozy, loopy weird-air waves had started.
I took my belt off so I had something to use as a leash—fortunately Mongo was still wearing his collar. The little broken cog rubbed at my hand as I fumbled my belt under the collar. You’re working, right? I thought at it. You’re making us safe and—normal. I thought my hands were maybe shaking a little. Casimir picked up my knapsack again. I had Mongo in one hand and my algebra book in the other, but Casimir stayed really close to me—because of the gruuaa of course. He even slid his free arm around my waist again. Because of the gruuaa. Of course. He wasn’t stupidly tall like Takahiro. When he turned his head to look up the street, the end of his ponytail brushed across my cheek. Odorokubeki. Amazing.
CHAPTER 7
HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT HIS CAR NOT BEING A GOOD car, but I was used to the skanky cars Jill’s brothers let her borrow. This one ran. Mongo insisted on staying in my lap (which is majorly illegal so I hoped the gruuaa would disguise this from any ordinary traffic cops) and when we got to my house he still wouldn’t move and I couldn’t open the door or get out. Casimir came around and opened the door for me. “Get down,” I said, and heaved Mongo onto the drive.
I looked at the house. It looked totally normal. No—shimatta—there were gruuaa, trying to look like standard shadows, lined out under the rosebushes along the front of the house. They looked eerily like some kind of fortification. They also looked smushed and unhappy, if shadows that aren’t really shadows can look smushed and unhappy. There was an odd little hum, almost a moan, from Hix. The rest of the gruuaa that had come with us washed across the lawn like a tide, and thickened—reinforced—the ones under the rosebushes.
It might have been the armydar. It was making me feel pretty moany. It was just as bad here as it was in the center of town.
“Do you want to come in?” I said. I didn’t know what I was leading him into but I was feeling that I could use all the friends I could get, even ones who thought I was some weird mythic thing and not just a clueless seventeen-year-old girl. I looked over my shoulder like I was expecting a column of soldiers to be trotting along Ramage Avenue and across the mouth of our little street. Not yet. “I can probably give you that cup of coffee we didn’t have downtown.”
Casimir tried not to brighten, but he did. That’ll be the thought of meeting Val, I thought drearily. Never mind. I got to look at him a little longer. The line of his throat when he turned his head . . . and that dimple when he smiled. “Thank you,” he said.
It also meant he carried my knapsack up the walk to the door. Some of the gruuaa peeled off from under the rosebushes and joined us. Mom opened the door before I got my hand on the knob: she must have been looking out for us. Her face was all pinched up with worry. She shouldn’t be worried and at home in the middle of the afternoon. Ran—no, if it had been something about my accident-prone little brother, she’d’ve told me. She was immediately distracted when I introduced her to Casimir, however. Her expression struggled between amusement and “wow.” When she turned away to lead us into the kitchen and the coffee machine she shot me a look that said, “Yup. Gorgeous.” Some other day this might have annoyed me. Not today. Besides, he was gorgeous. Even your mom could see it.
I noticed there were a couple of new little origami critters on the windowsill (not that there was room. One of them was arched over an African violet like a dragon protecting his princess) and a third on the kitchen table. I had known Takahiro was going to be taking some kind of gizmohead science tutorial with Val, and I hadn’t liked the idea at all. When he’d told me I’d wanted to say, hey, whose friend are you? but I hadn’t. Staring at the little creature on the table now I had this dumb spasm of feeling that Taks’ origami made everything all right. I was sure it had been my new mascot that had taught me (somehow) to do whatever it was I had just done as Hands Folding Paper in the park. The throb of the armydar almost faltered.
This didn’t last even as long as it took Mom to bring the mugs of coffee out of the kitchen. I looked into her face: she was really frightened. “Maggie,” she said in this unnaturally calm voice, “would you take a mug out to Val? He’s in his office.” Which was what we called the shed when anyone else was around.
I couldn’t very well ask her what was going on with Casimir sitting there, or why she was sending me instead of going herself and leaving me to entertain my guest. I flashed an “it’s okay, Mom’s harmless” smile at Casimir and picked up the mug, telling myself that whatever happened it was not going to freak me out like it had the last time something weird had happened out there.
I let myself out the back door, Mongo plunging through before I could decide whether I wanted him or not, and a lot of gruuaa with him. I didn’t think they had to wait for someone to open a door, but maybe they were being polite. As I walked the few yards to the shed door it got harder and harder to put my feet down and go that way. It was so peculiar a sensation I couldn’t decide if I was just feeling reluctant—which I was, although I wouldn’t have said it was strong enough to glue my feet to the path—or whether there was something really trying to stop me getting to the shed. Hix patted my face. It felt like, Go on, I’m here.
If there was something trying to stop me, it failed. I knocked. “Val? Mom sent me out with some coffee for you.”
There was movement that didn’t sound like someone walking to the door—but it sounded like it had something to do with something large. Then the ordinary sound of footsteps, and the door opened. A crack. “Maggie,” said Val.
I held the mug out. Whatever was going on, I was happy to stay out of it. The day had been dreepy enough already.
“I would like you—I would ask you to come in,” said Val carefully. “But—please prepare yourself.”
Prepare myself for what? Hix was silent and motionless. I looked down. Mongo was wagging his tail. It was a happy, hopeful wag. Well, so it couldn’t be too bad—could it? Huh. Mongo was an optimist.