Fey 02 - Changeling (96 page)

"Light comes from the sky, and sometimes water does too," Adrian said.
 
"Then there is darkness like there was last night.
 
That's how we determine days.
 
We don't do it because the Domestics keep us on a schedule.
 
We mimic the schedule of the outside world, of this world."

"The sounds," Coulter whispered.
 
"I've never heard so many sounds."

The chirping birds, the rushing of the river, the wind in the trees.
 
Even after his years in Shadowlands, Adrian knew what those sounds were.
 
Coulter didn't.

The smells were probably equally terrifying.
 
Shadowlands had a distinct odor, that of woodsmoke and slow-moving air.
 
It didn't even have cooking smells because the Domestics made most of the food using their magic skills.
 
Fey soldiers, apparently, never cooked while on a mission, and Rugar still considered the Fey on the battlefield.

"There are many other sounds as well," Adrian said.
 
"I'll help you learn them.
 
Once you know what they are, you won't be as frightened."

Coulter swallowed, clearly unbelieving, but willing to understand.
 
"The squeaking?" he asked. "What's that?"

Adrian had to listen a moment before he even knew what Coulter meant by squeaking.
 
"Chirping," he said.
 
"Birds."
 

Coulter blinked at him, still confused.
 
Adrian's heart pounded.
 
This task would take a long time.
 
The boy hadn't seen any creatures except Fey in all his years in Shadowlands.

"You mean like Gull Riders?" he asked finally.

Adrian nodded, trying to keep the pity out of his eyes.
 
"Gull Riders are Fey who look like a bird called a gull.
 
I'll show you some when I can."

"It's so bright here," Coulter said.
 
"My eyes hurt."

"And they will for a while."
 
The voice belonged to Scavenger.
 
He was leaning against the door.
 
He had a plate in one hand, a mug of water in the other.
 
"From what Adrian said you were a baby when you came to Shadowlands.
 
Your eyes learned about this stuff but you don't remember it.
 
But that means you can get used to it again."

Like a baby.
 
Adrian said nothing but smiled over Coulter's head at Scavenger.
 
The little man was right.
 
Babies went through this transition.
 
They spent the first weeks of their life adjusting to the new environment.

Scavenger knelt on the mattress and extended the plate to Coulter.
 
Coulter had to reach into the sunlight in order to get the food.

"What's that?" Coulter asked.

"A roll," Scavenger said.
 
"I made it myself."

"You're a Domestic?"

Scavenger shook his head. "I'm a Red Cap."

"But Red Caps have no magic."

"People can make food without magic," Adrian said softly.
 
"That's how Islanders have survived for generations."

"But Islanders have magic."

Scavenger suppressed a smile.
 
Adrian was silently thankful that Coulter had said Islanders instead of referring to himself.

"Most of them don't," Adrian said.
 
"And they take care of themselves just fine.
 
Maybe when you're ready, you can ask Scavenger to teach you how to make rolls."

"We'll be gone before that," Coulter said.

Adrian patted him on the back, and pushed him away just a little.
 
"Why don't you eat?" he said.

Coulter glanced at him, knowing that something had shifted, but not knowing what.
 
Adrian wasn't going to tell him.
 
Not yet.

Scavenger shook the plate a little.
 
The pastry looked warm and tempting on the plate's rough brown surface.
 

"It won't hurt me?" Coulter asked.

Adrian wasn't certain if he was referring to the pastry or to the sunlight.
 
"No," he said, "it won't."

Coulter gingerly extended his right hand, slowing the movement when it approached the light.
 
Light had a different meaning for magical creatures.
 
Adrian was just beginning to understand that.
 
The light that Coulter had wrapped him in the day before had been a live thing, a wall between them and the rest of the Fey in that room.
 
Perhaps Coulter expected the same thing from this light.

"It's all right," Adrian said softly.

Coulter nodded, then plunged his hand into the stream of sunlight.
 
He moved with such force he almost knocked the plate out of Scavenger's hand.

"Hey!" Scavenger said.
 
"It's no barrier!
 
It's sunlight."

As if Coulter would know the difference.
 
He put his fingers on the plate.
 
"It's warm," he said to Adrian.

"That happens sometimes when something's been in the sun," he said.

Coulter nodded and pulled the plate toward him.
 
Then he moved away from Adrian, set the plate on his lap, and picked up the pastry.
 
He picked at an edge with his fingernail, then pulled off a piece and bit it.

"It's good," he said with surprise.

Adrian grinned.
 
The boy had to learn that some of these new things were enjoyable.

Coulter ate quickly, then took the water cup from Scavenger and drank.
 
He looked up, again with surprise.
 
"It's sweet."

"It's fresh," Scavenger said.
 
"Unlike water in Shadowlands."

Coulter bent over his food again.
 
Scavenger watched him for a moment, then sighed.
 
"You know," he said to Adrian, "you'll have to keep him here for a while."

"I don't think we should," Adrian said.
 
"We're not very far from Shadowlands.
 
I'm not sure how safe we are."

"Safer than you'd be if you go out again.
 
This boy has the Overs.
 
If you take him into the woods again, then to the city, you'll rob him of his mind."

Coulter had stopped eating.
 
He set the plate down.
 
"The Overs?"

Scavenger nodded.
 
"It happens to people who've spent a long time in Shadowlands.
 
Mostly Fey saw it in prisoners before we came to Blue Isle.
 
It means that you're used to seeing gray everywhere, that colors and scents and temperatures overstimulate you.
 
It can drive some people insane."

"I don't think you need to tell the boy this," Adrian said.
 
The last thing he wanted Coulter to know was the dangers of being away from Shadowlands.

"I think he needs to know. Then he won't feel so alone."

"I don't want to go crazy," Coulter said in a small voice.

"You won't," Scavenger said.
 
"If you get used to things gradually."

Adrian crossed his arms.
 
"I think you're just lonely.
 
You want us to stay."

"You remember the boy's terror last night.
 
It'll only get worse.
 
He's never seen bugs or birds or fish.
 
Everything will frighten him unless we introduce him to it in the right way."

"How come you're talking like I'm not here, then," Coulter said.

Scavenger looked at him.
 
"Sorry," he said softly.
 
"I didn't mean that.
 
I just want your — father? —"

Adrian nodded before Coulter could say anything.

"— to do the right thing."
 
Scavenger picked up the dishes with shaking hands.
 
"And, yes," he said without looking at Adrian.
 
"I am lonely."

Scavenger managed to say the words without making Adrian pity him.
  
The little man had an amazing amount of dignity for someone brought up with none.

Adrian glanced out the window.
 
The leaves were blowing in the light breeze.
 
The birds had stopped, but the rustling sounds moving vegetation continued.
 
A fly floated in and landed on some crumbs beside Coulter.

He squeaked and moved away, backing into Adrian.
 
"Souls," he muttered in Fey.

Scavenger shook his head.
 
"No," he said.
 
"Sometimes the beings in Fey lamps look that way, but no.
 
That is a bug.
 
A fly."
 
Then he looked up at Adrian.
 
"See?"

Adrian did see.
 
But his responsibility to Coulter and his responsibility to himself left him torn.
 
He had to take care of Coulter, but he also wanted to find Luke and see if his son was all right.

Coulter must have sensed the thought, because he clasped Adrian's hand hard.
 
"Let's stay, please?
 
I don't want to go crazy."

Scavenger was watching him.
 

"How far is Jahn from here?" Adrian asked.

"A day's hard walk," Scavenger said.

Coulter's grip tightened.
 
"Don't leave me," he said.

"I won't," Adrian said, although he had been thinking about it, if only for a few days.
  
Both of the boys needed him equally.
 
But he could do less for Luke than he could for Coulter.
 

"They'll be looking for you," Scavenger said.
 
"They'll watch all the ways into Jahn.
 
They'll probably be watching all your friends and family, if you're that important to them."

"I'm not," Adrian said.

"But they kept you for years.
 
You know more than they want the enemy to know," Scavenger said.
 
"They'll look for you."

Coulter held on so tight he twisted the bones in Adrian's hand.
 
"Don't go."

"I'm not going to," Adrian said and tried to keep the resignation out of his voice.
 
He wouldn't leave.
 
Not yet anyway.
 
Maybe Coulter with his magic and his quick mind would get used to the strangeness of his new world faster than most.
 
Maybe they'd be able to leave in a few days.
 
"You really think they'd find me that easily?"

Scavenger nodded.

"Then why haven't they found you?"

"Because I know how to hide from them," Scavenger said.
 
"I was doing it all my life."

"Can you teach us?" Adrian asked.

"If you're willing to listen," Scavenger said.