Downside Rain: Downside book one (13 page)

“Right.
Did, didn’t I.” He fingers his jaw and grins. “So you’re following in the
master’s footsteps. Does that mean later you’ll mentor him in other ways?” And
there go his eyebrows again, wiggling up and down like hairy caterpillars.

“This
conversation is over.” I change the subject. “Can River see you?”

“I
don’t know and don’t want to find out. We should keep this to ourselves.”

The
shower turns off. “Then you’d better scram.”

I
take my clothes into the bathroom as River comes out with his hair damp and
messy. After dressing, I bring him my spare comb.

What
to do with River? Help him find a job, I suppose. And I can give him money when
Alain pays me; he earned it. He can get new clothes and whatever else he needs.
He’ll have to stay until he can afford his own place. But the apartment is too
small, he’ll get on my nerves. I may end up throwing him out.

Except
I can’t, damn it. He has to be established before I cut the ties.

If
I cut the ties.

“Listen,
I’m going out, find us some breakfast. I’m sure you want to get up close and
personal with Downside but it’ll be better if we go over a few things first.”

“I’m
going to have to go outside sometime,” he says with an obstinate set to his
mouth.

“Sure
you are, and you will.” I want him prepared, not learn by trial and error. “Trust
me on this, okay?”

“All
right.” He doesn’t look happy.

“I
won’t be long.”

He
watches curiously as I slip a slim steel blade in the pocket in my right boot,
fit one in each wrist sheath and put on my old denim jacket.

“You’re
just going for breakfast, right?”

“I
said so, didn’t I?” I straighten up. “I always go out armed.”

I
don’t shop in any of my usual haunts on the off-chance the proprietors or other
customers ask about Castle. Do the locals know he’s dead? They will want to know
the gruesome details but I can’t deal with it yet. I walk a block north to
Clancy and Sons, not a favorite of mine but they will do, and I shouldn’t be absent
too long in case River takes it into his head to explore.

“You
can’t avoid it forever.” Castle startles me. “And you definitely can’t give up
Popkin’s lattes.”

“You’re
a dead mind reader?”

“Nope.
A good guesser. So, how’s it going with your new guy?”

“
My
new guy? About what you’d expect. Asking questions, driving me crazy.”

Castle
is all sympathy. “You’ll get over it.”

“That,
or hurt him.”

“You
said he can fight - you should partner with him.”

“He
did good with the Greché, doesn’t mean we can work together.”

“True.
And perhaps he won’t want to.”

River
was good Upside, he hammered those vampires, though he fought them as if they
were humans. What would he say to killing monsters?

Asking
River to work with me won’t be disloyal to Castle, and after all, he suggested
it. No one can replace Castle, but a partner will make continuing in this
business easier. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I barely know River, definitely
not enough to trust him with my life.

I
return to the apartment with warm croissants stuffed with golden raisins and
honey, oranges, tea, sugar and milk.

I
often forgo china and eat over the sink, but company in my home instigates an
effort to appear civilized. River eyes the pastries with something like lust as
I put them on a plate. I dump the kettle on the burner and turn on the stove.

Looking
at the plate, he hangs over the counter.

“They’re
better warm.” I break off a sugary morsel. The pastry goes down like warm buttery
gold. “You never forget your first meal. Enjoy.”

We
sit facing, cross-legged on the floor. River touches the plate with two
fingers. “I’m afraid to try.”

I
grin through a mouthful. “I told you, you’re a regular person. You need food as
much as sleep. And if you don’t dig in, I’ll eat the lot.”

He
picks up a pastry and holds it a fraction from his lips. Pleasure frissons in my
breast as he takes the first bite and slowly chews, stopping to smile widely
through a mouthful of crumbs.

He
exaggerates a moan deep in his throat. “If nothing else,
this
makes
coming here worthwhile.”

I
admire his restraint as he takes another nibble. Castle had to virtually
wrestle me from the table when I first ate, I would have ended up with a killer
stomachache.

Using
a serrated kitchen knife on the orange sends a burst of citrus mist into the
air. We almost bang noses leaning in to inhale, and smile before taking half an
orange and chewing out the juicy pulp.

River’s
questions can be irritating, because he wants reasons and I don’t always have
them. I expected that. I didn’t expect to enjoy his company. I resented having
to mentor him and cursed myself for acting the Good Samaritan when I brought
him Downside. But now his smile, his awe, his sheer
newness
, secretly
delights me. Every response to something new makes
me
look at it with different
eyes.

We
cover a lot of ground by sitting at the window and watching the goings-on in
the street. Which entities to avoid, who you can look in the eye and those you
should not, how you address different people, if you must. What to watch out
for.

“What’s
that?”

A
naked brown figure lumbers along the sidewalk. “A mud man, a rudimentary form
of golem, created to perform simple tasks.”

“He
hasn’t got any. . . .”

“It’s
not really a he, and it doesn’t need them. Golems don’t experience pleasure, or
any emotion for that matter, and they don’t procreate.”

“Ah.”
River pushes hair out of his eyes. “I still feel like I’m watching a fantasy
movie.”

“You
ever watch a movie?”

He
frowns at the street. “Don’t remember it, but my mind. . . .”

“I
know. Don’t tear yourself up about it. You just have - ”

“-
to accept,” he finishes for me.

“Don’t
imagine they’re fantasy come to life.” I jab my thumb at the street. “Upside
tales made them pretty and ennobled some. Fairies control the black market for
jewelry and amulets carved from human bones. Elves are pimps, thieves,
assassins. Werekin are animals trapped in human skin. And a damsel in distress
had better know how to slay the dragon ‘cause no knight in shining armor’s
going to do it for her.”

“And
vampires?”

I
fold my arms on my chest. “Oh, Upside didn’t get that entirely right, either.”

I
can’t
tell
River how to use his body. Necessity triggers a change and
after that it happens when needed. He holds the ability inside, he just needs a
nudge in the right direction.

“Let’s
go for a walk,” I suggest.

I
take him five miles to Foley Park. He’s tiring when we arrive. Good.

The
gravel path erodes as we near the west quadrant. Soon, we walk up a hill where
dirt trails crisscross. The quiet cool area is favored by walkers and joggers
but not at this time of day. As far as I can see, we have the place to ourselves.

I
stop walking and smile sweetly at River. “Tag, you’re it.”

And
I take off.

I
run, hurdling thick roots which snake over the path, through stands of tall
shrubbery, and duck under low branches. Although I weigh little, my feet propel
me along and my heels leave prints in the damp soil. I laugh with the sheer joy
of running, not toward trouble, not away from danger, not from necessity. Just
running. River’s footfalls thunder behind as I shoot over a wooden bridge which
spans a narrow stream.

I
slow down, turn and jog backward. “Is that your best? What have you got in your
veins - lead?”

His
mouth crunches. Sweat slicks his face and his breath comes out in puffs.

I
about-face and continue on, but not as fast. Up a hill mainly soil and gravel with
a few grass tussocks, down the other side.

River
hits me from behind. We go down and roll in a tangle of limbs. River’s arms are
around my hips, both of us full flesh and heavy. He hauls himself on top of me
and pins me to the ground.

I
hump my back to push him off. With arms and legs splayed, we lie near the same
stream we crossed earlier. The sound of water burbling over rocks and
shushing
on the bank is barely audible over our heavy panting.

“You
did it.” He must have lost flesh to gain on me.

“Do
I get a reward?”

“Sure.”
I roll my head to face the stream and grin. “You get to learn how much weight
you need to lift one of those big rocks.”

River
chuckles to himself as we walk home.

“What’s
funny?”

“Every
time you talk about dropping flesh, I half-expect to see little meaty gobbets
on the ground.”

I
honk through my nose. “You’re joking, right?”

“Yeah,”
he admits with a sly smile.

Calming,
I say, “What we can do is remarkable by Upside reckoning. Here, we’re just
another kind of person.” I remember the early sense of incredulity. “You’ll be
surprised how quickly you take it for granted.”

“I
don’t know if I ever will. I feel pretty amazing right now.”

“Think
you’re special, huh?” I picture Castle’s squirming eyebrows. “Consider the
humble caterpillar which becomes a butterfly.”

“But
a butterfly can’t change back into a caterpillar.”

“Hm,
you’re right. What about shapeshifters? They transform their bodies back and
forth between beast and human forms.”

“There
are shapeshifters here? They’re real?” Awe rocks him on his feet, then he curls
his shoulders and smiles sheepishly. “You’re kidding.”

I
give him a deliberately blank look. “Does this face look like I’m kidding? Remember
what you’ve already seen. You
fought
vampires. Why do shapeshifters blow
your mind?”

“They
actually change from people . . .
humans
, into animals?”

“Faster
than the eye can follow. But strictly speaking they’re not humans who turn into
animals, or animals which turn into humans. They’re dual-natured beings who can
assume either form.”

River’s
face contorts into thoughtful lines. “It must happen on a molecular level. After
all, everything’s made of atoms and plasma, right? They alter their molecules
or cells or whatever.”

 “While
we kind of separate ours and push them away, pull them back in,” I reply
thoughtfully. “Perhaps our bodies operate on a similar principle. But shifters
can control their bodies Upside as well as here, while we can’t.” I squinch a
shoulder. “Downside magic makes us what we are, River. It lets us disperse our
body’s tissues and bring it back together again.”

“Scientists
would go crazy trying to make sense of us.”

“I’d
say their absence is a good thing. I don’t want to be a subject of scientific
research. Do you?”

River
tries to lose flesh entirely. He can’t. “Like I’m draining away. I feel sick.”

I
remember the first time. “I know. But you’re trying to force it. Don’t. It’ll
happen when you need it, as you lost and gained when we were in the park when
you got mad enough.” And that’s what did it for him; his inability made him angry.
“It’s as if once your body learns a new ability, it links to your mind and
after that
you’re
in control,
you
make it happen.”

But
he doesn’t give up. Gritted teeth and a face going puce reflect his struggle. I
roll my eyes. “Anyway, you want to be in motion.”

He’ll
get it eventually.

The
doorbell rings and River studies the door with a frown as though it has
sprouted wings.

Clide
peers through the peephole. I open the door a crack.

“Rain,”
the big vampire says. His gaze flits past me to River. “Howdy. You must be the
new boy. The name’s Clide.”

My
gaze shifts from Clide to River. “He and Verity work for Alain Sauvageau.”

Clide
waves two envelopes, but whips them away when I try to take them. “He wants to
see you.”

My
jaw sets. “Again? Another job?”

Clide
grins lazily. “He didn’t confide in me.” He hands over an envelope. “From the
boss.”

“Thanks.”
He passes the other. “What’s this?”

“From
Miss Verity. To show her appreciation.”

He
steps back. “Are you coming or do I have to wrassle you from the street again?”

“I’ll
be there.” I lift one hand and flicker the fingers. “Bye-bye.”