Queen of the Dark Things (21 page)

She nodded. “Amazing show. Your boy really had it in him.”

“So you were there when—”

“He got jumped? Yeah.”

“And you didn't . . .”

“What? Intervene? Why? He handled that himself. He made his own choice.”

“But that led to—”

“A dozen different decisions that were all his own. And your own. I'll step in when it protects my city, but I'm not its mother. I don't protect the people from themselves. It's not my way.”

“And what is your way?”

She thought hard for a moment, her eyes steeled on his, her gaze fierce, intimidating. Colby couldn't help but hold his breath at the way she looked mulling over his question, the slope of her neck, the cut of her chin, the light sprinkle of freckles across her cheek. “Well,” she said. “When someone gets into trouble, if they don't deserve it, I like to see what I can do to help them out. But when they bring trouble upon themselves, when, say, two greater demons of the worst kind show up for them—”

Colby's head fell into his free hand while the other gripped his drink tightly. “Oh God, you're here to bust my balls again. Didn't we just do this last night?”

“Last night I didn't know the trouble you would be in by morning. You really work fast, Colby Stevens.”

“I had nothing to do with that.”

“Oh, so this has nothing to do with you?”

Colby hesitated, flustered. “Not directly, no.”

“Not directly?”

“No.”

“So this girl who's coming for you, she's not super pissed at you or dangerous or anything?”

Yashar shook his head. “This isn't about him.”

“It's all about him.
Entirely
about him.”

“So you're here to scold me again.”

Austin sipped her beer, swallowed, shaking her head. “I don't know what I'm here to do. I think I'm here for the beer, mostly.”

Colby looked over at her, baffled. “I don't get you.”

“Not much to get. I'm just a girl, Colby. I'm a lot like you. Someone extraordinary on the outside, but ordinary on the inside. This is Austin, and I'm just its reflection. I don't owe this city anything. What I give it I give because I love it. I love what this city has made me, and I watch out for it. Aside from that, I'm as normal as the next girl.”

“You interfered with me but not Ewan?”

“You're really hung up on that, aren't you? Ewan wasn't threatening my city. You on the other hand want to choke the magic out. You want to make it mundane. Safe. Unremarkable. And then you bring a bunch of baddies like Amy and Oro—”

“Stop saying their names!”

Austin looked quizzically across the bar at Yashar. “Is there something I missed?”

Yashar nodded. “He thinks if he doesn't say their names—”

“That's not what I think,” said Colby. “I just don't need to draw any more attention to myself.”

“If they're watching you, Colby,” said Austin, “then they're watching you. You can't hide. Not here anyway.”

“I wasn't, I mean . . .” Colby paused and took a big sip of whiskey. “I'm not trying to choke the magic out. I just wanted to . . .”

“Wanted to what?”

“To . . . protect children.”

“I know,” she said. “And that's why I like you.”

“You like me?”

“Sure,” she said playfully, the twinkle returning to her eye. “I get it. You want to feel like you've done something. Like you've left something behind. You're not alone. You're idealistic. Like a politician.” She looked at him sternly. “Except that you weren't elected.”

“Neither were you.”

“Touché.” She smiled. That thought hadn't dawned on her. “Well, I mean I was, but I wasn't.” She thought some more, trying to find the right words. “I just want what's best for everyone, but I don't know the future. I see what's happening here. I see what you're getting into. And I'm worried about you.”

“There's nothing to worry about.”

Austin looked at him longingly, her pretenses dropped, face awash in worry. “Please,” she said. “Don't get involved in this.”

Colby leaned back on his stool, confused. “I don't understand.”

“Whatever they're asking you to do, don't do it.”

“I don't know what they're asking me to do. All I know is that she's coming.”

“The girl?”

“The girl.”

“Whatever they need you to go do with her, you can't go. I need you here.”

Colby grew cold. “Need me for what?”

“Don't make me say it.”

“Need me for what?”

“I just—” She stammered a little, trying to keep cool. “I need you here.”

“Need. Me. For—”

Austin stroked the top of Colby's hand with her fingertips, setting his arm ablaze with tingles, then folded her fingers into his. She stroked his hair back over his ear with her free hand, running a single finger down along it to the lobe. “Don't. Do. This,” she whispered. Then she batted her eyelashes ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, her eyes large and pleading. “Please.”

Colby squeezed her hand tight, his chest caving in on itself. “I don't even know what they want me to do.”

“Austin,” said Yashar, paternally. “Please don't mess with Colby like that.”

She slipped her hand away from Colby's. “Would you rather I do this the other way?”

“Which way would that be?”

She scowled, spoke with bass in her voice. “The fire and brimstone don't-make-me-kick-your-ass-and-rain-a-world-of-shit-down-on-you way.”

Yashar put both hands up. “Okay, the first way was fine.”

Colby shook his head. “I didn't do anything. Why are you doing this?”

“Someone died today, Colby. A demon took one of my people.”

“You act as if that doesn't happen every day in this city, in one way or another.”

“Not for show,” she said, bitterly. “Never for show! That demon killed someone just to fuck with you. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let him get what he came for.”

“Is that what this is about? Making a point?”

Austin teared up, just a little, the slight glisten making her eyes bluer, glassier, more like the open sea. “His name was Ernesto. He had two kids, Julian and Selena. He met his wife bagging groceries when they were seventeen. She was a cashier. The first day they worked the same line together was like . . . well, you could have powered the whole building with the sparks those two were giving off. He loved his wife and kids as much as anyone I've ever known and he never hurt anyone.

“I had a beer with him once. He sat there the whole time nervous that I was going to hit on him. Nervous. Most guys, especially the married ones, they have a beer with a girl, they
hope
she flirts. Even if they haven't the faintest inclination to cheat. Makes 'em feel good. Like they're
still a man
. Not Ernesto. He was terrified of his wife thinking he might be flirting with another girl. Didn't want her to think for a second that he might find another woman in the world to be as pretty as her. Because he didn't. So we talked about the Spurs and about his kids and then his kids some more.” She giggled, her eyes smiling for a second as she thought back, before darkening all at once atop a sneer. “So fuck Asmodeus. And I don't care if he hears me.” She looked up at the ceiling. “You hear me, asshole? Asmodeus! Come on down here and look me in the eyes, you little bitch!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” yelled Yashar, waving his hands. “There's no need for that.”

“Oh sure,” said Colby. “Now you're not cool with invoking them by name.”

“He won't come,” she said, before yelling at the ceiling again. “He's a FUCKING PUSSY!”

“Jesus,” said Colby. “You
are
still drunk from last night.”

“I lied about that,” she said, taking another sip of her beer. “I started drinking again this morning.”

Austin stood up, slammed the rest of her beer, then tossed the bottle to Yashar, pointing at him. Yashar caught it single-handedly, a little pissed at the disrespect, but not wanting to offend his guest.

“Make sure he doesn't get any deeper in this,” she said, before turning to Colby. “Let them sort out their mess themselves.” Then she walked out of the bar, muttering to herself about goddamned demons.

C
HAPTER
28

T
HE
O
RPHAN
S
TORY

T
he Clever Man, the pretty little girl in the purple pajamas, and the boy Colby sat around the fire, Mandu once again blowing his didgeridoo. The night was alive, the fire crackling with hints of stories, the flames momentary spirits that whispered secrets before fluttering away toward the stars. The pretty little girl huddled closer to the fire than the others, her arms crossed, rubbing her hands up and down, trying to warm herself through her pajamas, shivering slightly.

Mandu looked over the fire at the two. “Once, very long ago,” he began, “there was an orphan boy whose mother and father had both died in terrible ways. The mother had been careless, wandering too close to the water's edge during the rainy season, while not paying enough attention to the crocs swimming in the river. The father had been loud and boisterous and picked one too many fights with other fellas. Neither died particularly well. So it was very sad for the boy, who now lived with his grandmother.

“The grandmother took good care of him. Fed him, taught him, treated him in all ways like a son. But the other children of the camp were cruel to him. Having no one to teach him how to hunt or properly throw a spear, he fell out of favor with them, and they taunted him for being an orphan. One day he went to his grandmother, saying, ‘Grandmother, they won't play with me or share their food.' His grandmother asked, ‘Who won't?' To which he replied, ‘The other children.'

“Grandmother understood. She handed him a snack of honey and cakes and said, ‘Don't you concern yourself with them. They are greedy, terrible children, and one day their bellies will ache with hunger and they will know of their cruelty.' But the boy wasn't comforted. He refused to eat and only cried louder.

“His crying grew so loud that it awoke the Rainbow Serpent from his dreaming. He uncoiled himself from under the earth and followed the crying to the village. He burrowed his way under and into the hut where the orphan was crying and swallowed both him and his grandmother whole. The serpent was so large that as he emerged, the hut lodged on its head like a hat. Hungry from his long slumber, he began eating villagers, swallowing families one by one.

“The people ran, terrified by the Rainbow Serpent trying to end the world. Soon the village was completely empty, but the Rainbow Serpent, he was still hungry. So he moved along the earth, his body weighed down by all the people in his belly, carving a groove in it. Finally, he came upon another village and set about eating it as well.

“By this time, he had swallowed so many warriors, all of whom poked the serpent from the inside with their spears, that he looked like he was covered in a thousand thorns. As he ate, he grew slower and slower, and finally a few warriors were able to climb upon his head and deliver the deathblow, killing the Rainbow Serpent for good and for all. Then they cut open its belly and set free all the people.”

“What happened next?” asked Colby.

“Nothing,” said Mandu. “That's the end of the story.”

“I don't get it.”

“Neither do I,” said the girl.

“The Rainbow Serpent helped dream the world into existence. He was one of the most powerful creatures in history. But he was woken from his sleep by the tiniest, most insignificant of people. And he was killed by mere men who possessed nothing more than spears and bravery. Normal men. Great and terrible things can come about because of a single person wanting nothing more than attention. And the end of the world can be stopped by men brave enough to try. No one is too big or too small to change the world, for better or for worse. That's the lesson.”

“Oh,” said Colby. “I get it now.”

“I hope so,” said Mandu. “That story will mean more to you than most.” Mandu put the didgeridoo back to his lips, playing again, letting Colby meditate for a moment on his words.

“Can I ask you something, boy?” said the pretty little girl in the purple pajamas, still trying to warm herself.

“My name is Colby.”

“I don't care what your name is.”

“I do. And I don't like being called
boy
. What's your deal with names?”

“My
deal
?”

“Yeah, your
deal
. What is it?”

“Names don't mean anything out here. Who we were doesn't mean anything out here. All that matters out here is who we
are
. Out here I am who I
want
to be, not what anyone tells me I
have
to be.”

“Everything out here has a name, you know,” said Colby.

The pretty little girl in the purple pajamas gave him a dirty look, her face pinched and puckered as if to say,
I know that
. “I don't have a name out here yet.”

“Why not?”

“No one has given me one.”

“I'll give you one.”

She shook her head. “No. It doesn't work that way. You have to earn it.”

“What's your question?”

“What?”

Colby leaned forward. “Your question. The one you wanted to ask me.”

“What are you doing out here? I mean, you clearly aren't, you know . . . indigenous.”

“Indigiwhat?”

“Aboriginal.”

“I don't understand.”