Dark Matter (23 page)

“
I’m not really sure I have
an exact house.”

Her eyes flew wide and a sick
expression covered her face. “You aren’t her, are you?”

I shrugged. “Heck if I
know.”

Chapter Sixteen

Lily gasped. “You tricked me. This
can’t count. I’m not really here.” She started to fade.

“
Wait! I need to ask you
more.”

She shook her head, scowling at me then
vanished.

I sat on the bed and gazed out the
window. Taker of life, indeed, no wonder people wouldn’t tell me
anything. Maybe I could at least find out who made the prophecy. I
was pretty sure it was Tabitha, but I couldn’t be
certain.

I wanted to write down what she had
said, but it wasn’t as if I would ever forget the lines. How could
I?

I found Gibbit in the kitchen. He was
making something that smelled divine. He ladled the concoction into
a bowl before handing it to me. I gave him an affectionate nod and
sat at the table. He waddled over with his own supper. The chairs
were absolutely too tall for him, but I didn’t think he would like
it if I tried to help him, so I sat there and let him lumber up
into one.

I smiled at him then focused on
stuffing my face. The soup was delicious. It filled me up pretty
fast, but I decided to finish what he had given me anyway. I had no
idea how long we were going to be here or where my next fae meal
was going to come from.

He kept a steady gaze on my face. I
tried to ignore it, but I flinched. The only thing I could think to
do was cover it up with a cough. I was pretty sure he was on to me.
I literally felt the weight of the world on my shoulders and
wouldn’t be surprised at all to find out that it showed on my face.
I was starting to wish that Lily hadn’t told me
anything.

“
Okay, what’s wrong, miss.
You ain’t said one word to me besides thanks, and I’d a thought
you’d be brimming with questions about now.”

I shook my head and heaped another
spoonful of soup into my mouth. He reached a hand across the table,
touching my forearm. “Can’t be that bad.”

I stared into his strange beady eyes.
The orange changed with the light. Right now they were bright as a
poppy. “I think it might actually be worse than what I
thought.”

He got a funny look on his face. “What
happened?”

That was all it took for me to blurt
out, “Lily said I could destroy the world.” Well, she hadn’t said
that exactly, but it’s how she’d acted.

He jumped out of his seat faster than I
thought possible. “Who’s this Lily? Where is she?”

I waved a hand. “Relax. She’s
gone.”

His face sunk inward and his eyes
bulged. I wished he wouldn’t do that. It was a really strange
effect that was freaky.

“
Relax, you says. Someone
was just in my house and you tells me to relax?” He glared at me.
“Where is she?”

I reached for his arm, but he pulled
away. “Not here. Sit down and I’ll explain.”

He eyed me warily but did as I told
him. I wasn’t sure it was wise for me to tell him everything, so I
gave him most of it.

“
I never heard of someone
doing that before. How’d she manage it?”

I shrugged. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t
be here.” As I saw it, being able to go somewhere without having to
worry about being caught sounded great about now.

His mouth turned in a frown, his eyes
locked on me. “Oh, yeah, what’s so much more important for you to
be doing?”

“
Zach needs my—”

“
No he don’t.”

“
Doesn’t.”

“
What?”

“
The proper phrase is: no he
doesn’t.”

He rested his hand under his chin with
his pinky held out in what was supposed to be a dainty gesture. On
him, it was more than a little comical. I giggled then he stuck his
tongue out at me. “I talk how I want, not how you or anyone else
tells me to.”

His eyes were shifting around so fast
that I was surprised he hadn’t fallen from dizziness. He finally
looked at me and that was when I realized. “It’s an act.” I laughed
out a scoff. “You want people to underestimate you.”

He started grumbling incoherent words
before he said, “You don’t know nothing about me.”

I folded my arms.
“Whatever.”

He shook his head and pointed to my
bowl. “Are you done with that?”

“
Let me,” I said and took
his dish with me to the sink.

His beady eyes flew wide, well as wide
as they could, and he gave me a small smile. “Thanks,” he
said.

I glanced at him and nodded. He seemed
genuinely surprised that I would clean his dish. I finished up and
looked in the cupboards to find a container for the soup. The only
things in them were a few bowls, plates and cups. I gave up after I
realized he didn’t even have a refrigerator. “What should we do
with this?”

“
The pups will like it.” He
gave me a razor sharp grin. “You want to feed them?”

He was calling hellhounds pups? “You’ve
got to be joking.”

“
They ain’t as bad as you’re
thinking. Come on and see for yourself.”

I followed him out the back door. The
lawn was empty now, but I could feel the overwhelming presence of
eyes watching me. I heard a few howls and then a low growl. With
ginger steps, I backed up to the door and fingered the
knob.

Gibbit turned around. “Get out here,
chicken. They won’t hurt you.”

“
I like the view from here,
thank you very much.”

He shook his head and whistled. They
came out of the shadows on tentative paws, seeming almost as afraid
of me as I was of them. Their yellow pupils still freaked me out,
but I tried to keep an open mind. Maybe they were
friendly.

Gibbit took the kettle to the middle of
the lawn and set it down, scurrying away. The pack pounced on the
food, fighting each other for access. I watched the frenzy in
fascination. It wasn’t always the biggest one that got the goods.
The little things had a way of inching in just close enough that
when a couple of the bigger ones fought, they claimed a
share.

Movement at the edge of the forest
caught my attention. Half the size of even the smallest of the
others, it was the only hellhound I had ever seen that I would dare
to call a pup. His foot was bleeding, his eyes strained. He avoided
the rest of the group and ambled up to Gibbit.

“
What’d you go and do now?”
he asked in soothing tones.

The hound was more the size
of a cat than a dog, especially the few we had at home. They
ate
a lot
of mice.
I couldn’t tell if it was a newborn or what. “Is he a
puppy?”

“
Naw. He just didn’t get
much when they were handing out size. Get’s picked on something
fierce too.”

I sat on my haunches and held a fist
out for the creature to smell. He gave me a sniff then slid his
gooey tongue along my knuckle before he laid down in a heap at my
feet. His blood was as black as his coat. It oozed onto the planks
of the porch, plopping onto the ground below in a slow drip. I
touched his head between the ears and Gibbit smiled at
me.

His tone held anger behind it, but I
knew it wasn’t for me. “Most find us, creatures, disgusting.’ He
turned toward me and smiled. “Not so with you, I think.”

I was uncomfortable, so I didn’t say
anything. I shifted slightly and picked up the hound, trying my
best to avoid his spiky tail. The thing was practically bones
beneath fur. He almost smelled worse than Gibbit. I ignored that
and rose to my feet, carrying him into the house. I took him to my
room and lowered him onto my bed.

Gibbit stood at the doorway just
watching me. His face held an absurd expression of shock. I
disregarded it and ordered him to get some towels, soap and water.
It took him long enough. Somehow I had expected him to make what I
needed materialize in front of me. I waited impatiently for him to
come back, soothing the hound as best I could. When he finally
walked through the door, he carried a small bowl and a few rags
that I wasn’t really sure were sanitary, but what other option did
I have?

I wet the cloth, but the little thing
wouldn’t let me get anywhere near his paw. He growled at me a
couple of times, but I just kept petting him, hoping he would trust
me at some point.

I brought the bowl of water under the
hound’s nose. He sniffed then struggled to get up. I let him drink
a little before I tried again. This time he let me stroke his
belly. I spoke to him in soft tones, telling him I was going to
help him. His bright pupils fixed on my eyes, and I swallowed. Even
at this size I was sure he could hurt me. I brought the towel to
his paw without taking my gaze from his. I swiped at the fur again
and again. He didn’t move. When I was sure he wasn’t going to bite
me I picked his paw up gingerly. He had a large gash in between his
toes. I cleaned it up as best I could, all the while wondering how
I was going to really help him. “Do you have any antibiotic cream?”
I asked.

Gibbit looked at me as if I were crazy,
shaking his head. I ran my finger over the top of the hound’s paw.
“Does he have a name?”

He laughed ironically. “Why would I be
naming an animal? Names only get you into trouble
anyway.”

I nodded, feeling absolutely useless. I
stroked the dog’s head and hummed a song Aunt Grace used to sing to
me when I was little. I didn’t remember the words, but the tune had
always comforted me. The animal fell asleep within a few
minutes.

“
What can we do for him?” I
asked.

Gibbit just shrugged again. That wasn’t
good enough for me. I had to be able to do something. I could go to
the dorms to see what I could pilfer, but I couldn’t risk that much
for a dog. There had to be people after me now, and as ashamed as I
felt, I didn’t want to run into Heath ever again.

I laid down by the thing and drifted in
and out of sleep with my hand covering his paw. At least it wasn’t
bleeding now.

I woke to something wet lapping at my
face. I tried to push it away, not opening my eyes. An excited bark
filled the space. I groaned, curling protectively around my middle
when something huge hit into my stomach.

I sat upright and gasped. The little
dog was gone and a giant had claimed his place. He panted happily
then licked the side of my face again. I tried not to cringe. I
didn’t want to upset the beast. Was this supposed to be a joke?
“Very funny, Gibbit. What did you do with the other
one?”

The thing standing in front of me was
similar to the tiny pup that had been curled beside me, but it
couldn’t be the same animal. Could it? I stared at it some more. It
had the same bark only louder, the same eyes, the same little white
spot behind its left ear.

I shook my head in absolute shock.
Gibbit came bounding into the room and jumped sideways.

“
What happened?” he
asked.

“
No clue,” I
replied.

The hound had to be the biggest I had
ever seen. I stood up. His head was level with mine. I could have
ridden him if he would let me, as if I would ever want to. I
lowered to the floor and tried to lift his paw. I couldn’t budge
it. I looked over at Gibbit. “A little help would be
nice.”

“
What do you need help with?
Anyone looking at that creature can see he’s fine. I don’t know
what you did to him, but I could use some of it.”

I stood up, tempted to ignore his
comment. “That’s the point. I didn’t do anything to
him.”

“
I think you
did.”

I glared down at the troll. “Is that
so?”

“
Don’t matter now. Deed’s
done.” He walked up to the beast and patted its knee. He couldn’t
reach any higher. “Come,” he called, but the animal stayed where it
was.

Gibbit gave me an angry expression. I
pointed at him and said, “Go with Gibbit.” The dog just looked at
me with its tongue hanging out. A slow string of saliva crept
toward the floor. I got up and went down the hall with it on my
heels. When I stopped, it stopped. Uh-oh.

Gibbit groaned. “What did you have to
go and do a thing like that for?”

“
I just fell asleep. I
promise. I am as shocked by this as you are.”

“
I doubt that. I ain’t never
seen nothing like this happen and I’ve been around longer than you
can imagine. Hellhounds don’t just hit a growth spurt.”

I frowned. “I don’t know what to tell
you.”

Gibbit eyed me warily before he
shrugged his boxy shoulders. “I guess you’ve gone and got yourself
a pet. Might as well give him a name.”

I bit back a curse and smiled at the
creature. What exactly did one call a giant dog that could
literally bite your head off? I didn’t want to name it, but its
eyes were focused on mine and its tail was marking up the floor
with every exaggerated wag. “How about Cerberus?” He didn’t exactly
have three heads, but he could definitely do a fine job of guarding
the gates of hell or an average sized Elemental for that matter. He
just might come in handy one of these days.