Law and Alton had gone to high school together and been in the same clubs. Ecology. Rifle team. It made them friends of sorts.
“Hey.” Alton put out his fist to bump hers. “Where do you stand in all this? You do know it’d be bad if the oni came out on top in this?”
The oni were the least of their problems but Law kept her secrets to herself. “I’m with the elves in this.” By that she meant the elves that could be trusted. The secret traitors among the elves were their biggest problem. Who were these incoming Stone Clan domana really?
Alton nodded as if it was what he expected her to say. “Look, we’re trying to get everyone that we can trust in on this. Tinker domi’s cousin, Oilcan, was taken, we think by his elf grandfather. Tinker domi is freaking out over this. We’re going to find Oilcan, even if we have to tear the city apart to find him.”
“Who exactly is ‘we’?” Law asked since Alton was the last person she expected to call Tinker by her correct title. The Kryskills were a wild and woolly bunch, even for Pittsburgh. Someone had been drilling protocol into Alton. If Law weren’t living with an elf, she wouldn’t have picked up the difference. Most humans in Pittsburgh called the girl Princess Tinker even though it wasn’t her title.
“Team Tinker. My cousin is the team’s business manager. We only want people we can trust looking for Oilcan; people we know are human and aren’t working with the oni.”
That did narrow the field down to kids that they went to school with. Assuming that the Kryskills could actually be trusted. The question remained why Alton was being all so proper.
“I’ll keep my eyes open.” Law waved toward the bed of her Dodge. “I’ve got to stop at Station Square. A bunch of friends called needing help with their booths at Oktoberfest. I promised them I’d gather stuff for them.”
“They’re still holding Oktoberfest?” Alton pointed toward the crowded airfield. “With all that going on?”
“They moved the location because of the war, but yeah, the shrine gets installed today.”
Alton nodded his understanding. He held out his phone. “Here’s my number. Call me if you find anything. Be careful. The oni might be behind Oilcan’s kidnapping but just the same, his grandfather and great uncle are serious heavy hitters.”
Law was weaned on videos of what Windwolf could do if pissed off. “Just your family and Team Tinker against two domana and how many sekasha?”
Alton dropped his voice to a whisper. “Jin is flying into the city to personally supervise the search. If you spot them, call me, and the tengu will have our back.”
The Kryskills were allied with the tengu. That was an interesting piece of information. How did that happen?
“Will do,” Law promised.
The wild boar had been carried off.
Chili Pepper made shooing motions at Alton. “Go! Go! Make room for Law! Bring more tomorrow. As much as possible.”
Alton waved as he pulled out, making room for her Dodge. Law backed into the motor court thinking about Oilcan’s kidnapping. Bare Snow had told her about Forge and his missing son and beloved dead wife. Rumor had it that Forge planned to stay in Pittsburgh for Oilcan’s entire life, however long that may be. It didn’t make sense that Forge would take Oilcan to harm him. The kidnapping had all the fingerprints of the Skin Clan; they most likely wanted a war between the Wind Clan and Stone Clan. Oilcan was merely a pawn in a hidden game.
It was her experience that grandfathers couldn’t be reasoned with; that part of their brains had atrophied from disuse. Someone could use their prejudice to manipulate them into stupidity; Law’s Aunt Rosie excelled at that. Admit that they were wrong? No, grandfathers didn’t do that. At least, neither one of hers would.
Having Team Tinker tracking down Forge might be a bad thing. If Tinker refused to take the bait, the Skin Clan might settle for a war between the elves and the humans.
“Forgiveness.” Chili Pepper interrupted Law’s thought. “I need to ask you about the mutt.”
“Who?”
“The half-breed with the ill-omened name. The female child you found at midsummer’s eve.” He meant Bare Snow. “I don’t remember her name exactly. Something about death.”
“What about her?” Law struggled to keep her voice level.
“Tinker-domi exiled one of Steam Vent’s household. He was in charge of the Union Station since the disguised oni were discovered working on the trains. Domi was quite angry with him for allowing harm to come to the Stone Clan children. She has made it clear that anyone that allows a child to be hurt will be exiled from Pittsburgh.”
Technically, Bare Snow was still a child, since she was a few years shy of her majority. It made her approximately seventeen. She had begged all the enclaves to take her in and they’d turned her away. Nor had anyone bothered to find out if she found a safe place to stay. Heads would roll if Tinker found out.
“I found her someplace to live,” Law said vaguely.
“Alone?” Chili Pepper’s tone indicated that wasn’t acceptable.
“No, it’s a human household.”
Chili Pepper’s eyes narrowed as he considered the ramifications. “Can they be trusted? They are not abusing her?”
As if anyone could abuse Bare Snow without getting a knife to the throat.
“They can be trusted,” Law said.
“They are not using her for sex?”
Law blushed, thinking of last night. “What—what do you mean?”
“How do you say—pimping her?”
Obviously Chili Pepper had not a clue that Bare Snow had been trained to be an assassin. “No! Nothing like that! She seems very happy. She picks apples and such.”
“Ah! Good. Good. Domi would be pleased.” Apparently that was all that mattered in his mind as he focused on more pressing matters, like the incoming Harbingers.
“Ok-to-ber-fest,” Bare Snow chanted in English, as she pulled on her panties. She’d slipped into the Dodge’s passenger window just as Law had pulled away from Caraway’s. The spell tattooed on her torso required her to be naked in order to be invisible. “Oktoberfest. At Oktoberfest, we will drink bear.”
“Beer,” Law corrected her. It earned her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. For a trained assassin, Bare Snow loved to cuddle. It was distracting when she did it mostly naked.
“At Oktoberfest, we will drink beer and eat pierogies,” Bare Snow stated firmly despite the fact that she couldn’t stand the taste of beer. There would be plenty for elves to drink; all sold under their Elvish names.
“Yes.”
The female pulled on her blue sundress that covered all her tattoos but not much else. Law rarely could get her to wear much more; the elf liked the ease of undressing. Law wasn’t sure what they were going to do come winter.
Bare Snow dropped back to Elvish. “What are pierogies again?”
“Potato and cheese dumplings.” The elves didn’t have potatoes, as keva beans were firmly established as their main starch crop before potatoes were introduced in Europe on Earth. Nor did they have peanuts, which probably explained their fixation with peanut butter.
“Ah, yes, pierogies are good.” Bare Snow unbraided her long blue-black hair, taking out long sharp ironwood needles as she did. They were going to see Usagi’s kids, who loved to play with Bare Snow’s hair.