Year of the Tiger (Changeling Sisters) (7 page)

“This was his daughter.” The finger moved to the girl who was my age. “Brought up to be tough as gingko bark. During the war, we began to lose focus on who the real enemy was. The young were very angry when the North invaded, killing their brothers and sisters. The jun-nim’s daughter urged him to spend more of our energy helping the Southern army. With our shape-shifting ability, the Northern soldiers never saw us coming. The juin-nim began to listen to his daughter more and more. However, she was inexperienced, and other voices rose up in the pack. The juin-nim tried to keep us together by listening to them all. Everyone was allowed to do what they wanted. When we divided, we became weak. And the vampyres were waiting.”

He passed me another photograph. This was a color picture from the present. All of the familiar faces of the current pack toasted with their soju glasses. I didn’t recognize anyone from the Korean War days.

“They are all dead now. I am the only one left now.” Jaehoon pulled my hands close to his chest, where I could feel his old heart thudding on slowly, like a hollow drumbeat.

“A leader makes decisions that everyone may not like. But he does keep everyone together,” Jaehoon told me. “I am sorry for what I had to do to Rafael. The juin-nim’s daughter was much like him. Passionate. Inspiring. Do you know who her older pack brother was? It was me. I allowed her anger to burn free like a wildfire. I didn’t teach her how to cool it, how to reach peace of mind. And she died because of me. This cannot happen with you and Rafael, or else I will banish you from the pack. Don’t you understand? I don’t have just your sister’s life to think about. I have theirs’.” He nudged the present-day photo forward again.

“I understand.” I swallowed back my tears.

“Perhaps this is my fault,” Jaehoon murmured. “You have demonstrated an Alpha temperament from the moment you came here, and I have burdened you with small duties like baby-sitting and shopping. Of course you would never be satisfied with that. Your Wolf is so…unusual. We shall have to take a different teaching path with you. I am worried that even you do not fully understand what sleeps within you.”

I shuddered, thinking of how Wolf had seized control of my mind against my will. “I’m scared.”

“And what to do about the Vampyre Queen’s false invitation.” Jaehoon released me and leaned back thoughtfully. “Maybe you know what she wants with you?”

“I think it has to do with souls,” I began, and then related everything I’d gleaned from Raina’s dreams.

When I’d finished, Jaehoon looked at me with fresh, sharp eyes—the eyes of an old war dog. “Maya is playing a most dangerous game if the Dark Spirits are involved,” he said. “And if she plays a dangerous game, then we cannot afford to play a safe one.”

My head shot up. I placed the invitation on the table between us. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”

Chapter 9: Careful, the Floors Are Wet

The soft swish of wings cut through the air, alighting on the windowsill. I rolled over from my tight curl and strained my eyes hard, oh-so-hard, to see. “Khyber?”

The figure said nothing. Against the moonlight, I could make out an outline of broad shoulders and wavy hair. I fumbled for his hand. “Khyber? Is that you?”

“May I come in?”

My fingers froze in his. It was Donovan.

He gave a deep velveteen laugh, squeezing my hand painfully hard. “I only ask out of courtesy. Of course I can come in

“So this is where she keeps you.” Donovan waved a hand in front of my face. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Your middle finger.”

“See? You aren’t that blind.” Donovan smoothed the hair back from my face. I felt his cold lips scrape my forehead. “It hurts me to see you this way. Such a pretty face, staring off sightlessly. Hopelessly. If you were mine, I would have ordered my mother to release you in an instant. Not have marathons of sex with her, as my eldest brother has.”

“You’re all prisoners of Maya,” I echoed Colleen’s weak excuse for hope. “You all have to do what Maya says.”

“I don’t.” Donovan hoisted me up against the wall and stuck a knee between my legs. “In the past, Mommy dearest pointed me toward certain girls. Prettier, more obedient girls than you. I played with them and they weren’t to my liking. Goes to show she doesn’t know anything when it comes to fucking. I take my own advice. And you,
mademoiselle
,” he said, walking his long fingers up my breasts to my lips, “are fast losing the race to spark life in my oh-so-cold, dead heart.”

He caressed my face, and then kissed me lightly on the lips. My mind was numb with shock. I vaguely remembered Khyber ordering me to seduce Donovan so I could find the whereabouts of his soul. The thought had seemed outrageous at the time. It seemed downright impossible now.

“I can’t see,” I mumbled lamely.

He lifted his shadowy head from where it rested on my chest. “All the better. Then you can only
feel
.”

The sliding door creaked open. I was so happy I didn’t care if it was a freakin’ Dark Dog.

“Prince Donovan!” Colleen’s voice squeaked. Even better.

“Duck Young’s favorite.” Donovan looked her up and down. “Would you care to join us? For someone named after the rain, this girl always feels as dry as a desert.”

“I—we—it’s our time at the baths, my Prince,” Colleen managed, and I’d never felt prouder of her. “We must go now. Erm, it’s women only.”

“Ah, the women’s bathhouse. A fantasy all of its own.” Donovan pressed my face to his.

“I’ll see what I can do for your eyes and ears,” he promised in a whisper, and then he was gone.

Colleen hovered in the doorway, a halo of gray candlelight flickering around her feet. “I was right to interrupt that, wasn’t I?”

“More than right.”

“But really, Raina. He’s so handsome! Much more charming than Khyber.”

“Most rapists are,” I retorted. But I couldn’t judge her too harshly. Hadn’t I fallen under the same swoon-worthy spell after Khyber’s bite? He had done something unforgiveable to me, and no matter how much my body whined otherwise, I couldn’t overlook it. He’d taken my freewill.

We made our way down to the baths. I felt my way along tub rims and hot pools to the shower stall. Colleen led my hands over the faucet and the soap.

“I’m so happy to be able to wash my hair again,” she gushed. It had begun to grow back after her deal with the Madame of Memories. However, every time it touched her shoulders, it fell out like clockwork. The Madame’s price.

“I’ll be right down this way,” Colleen promised, and secured the thin shower stall door. Water dripped on my head, but I made no move to pick up the soap.

I felt for the shower wall, slid down it until the water pounded in my ears like a waterfall, drowning out everything else. I buried my head in my knees. It was okay. I was in the water again. Everything would be okay. I just had to stay above the vampyres’ twisted games, hover in the wings, away from the carnage, until Citlalli found me. Until she came, I couldn’t change. I had to remember myself. Raina. The quiet sister who swam in the Rio Hondo river when no one was looking, who ran to comfort my sisters when they were sad, who kept Papi’s secret from everyone, even Citlalli.

I curled up further, dreaming myself away to a place I could still escape to: the past.

***

I skipped home early from my piano lesson, crunching yellow leaves underfoot. Usually I moved quickly through this neighborhood, but my mind was lost in the twinkling of keys and the thrill of the damper pedal, which would sustain notes on and on, until my piano teacher would tell me to quit being so over-dramatic.

I barged through the screen door, and Papi and a stranger jumped as a squeal of tires followed me in.

They made a brief exchange in Spanish, too quick for me to follow. Papi had tried to read Spanish bedtime stories to Citlalli and me when we were younger, but Mami had berated him for it.

“We’re in America now,” she’d scolded. “Why do they need to know
español
? You’re just confusing them.”

In a show of rare rebellion, Papi continued to speak to us in Spanish whenever she wasn’t around. But then I began to pick it up much faster than Citlalli, and he grew discouraged.

“Raina,
mija
.” Papi clutched my shoulders, looking at me directly for the first time. “I need you to do something for me.”

When the knock came at the door, I stood up and marched woodenly over to answer it, like a good little soldier.

Three officers stood in the doorway, wearing matching black vests and sunglasses that hid their faces.

“Hi, sweetie,” one said. “Is your father home?”

I shook my head.

“Is an adult in the house with you?”

“No. I came back early from my piano lesson.”

“You shouldn’t be home alone.”

“I’m old enough to look after myself,” I blurted, before adding, “And my neighbor, Mr. Lee, checks in on me.” My palm was sweaty on the door handle.
“Keep it short and sweet,
mija
,”
Papi’s voice ran through my head, filled with urgency.

“When will your father be back?”

“After my bedtime.”

Two of the officers chuckled. One didn’t.

“Have you seen this man?” he suddenly said, thrusting forth a photo of the stranger in the kitchen.

I shook my head swiftly

“Or any of these men?” Another photo was pressed into my hands. I recognized all of the men in the picture. Papi’s friends. After they finished their day jobs, they’d catch a drink together at the bar downtown.

“No.” My lower lip began to quiver.

“Quit scaring her, Bill. Thank you, honey.” The other two smiled at me and pulled their partner away. They marched back to a black van, thumbs sticking out of their bulletproof vest pockets.

Later, Papi took me out to the Ribs Rodeo Diner—just me, and only me. He laughed when I asked if I could have a virgin strawberry daiquiri, and said he could go for one, too. They came with squishy strawberries and pink umbrellas.

“Papi, you’re not breaking the law, are you?” I concentrated hard on sucking a strawberry up through the straw, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer.

“My daughter, sometimes, there are higher laws.” He leaned across the table and squeezed my hand. “Ernesto and Virgilio have little daughters here, too. It’s not fair to separate them, is it?”

I considered. “Yeah. They can’t go back to Mexico. Mexico’s hell. That’s what Mami says.”

“Bad things happened to your mother in México, that’s true,” Papi said, holding the tiny umbrella under his index finger and flicking it, so it spun like a pink ballerina in the center of the table. “I’m sorry that’s all she knew. But really, México is a beautiful place. I think back fondly on our village tucked away in the bean fields. Everybody cared for one another there. We were all one big family. One year, however, a horrible drought took its toll on the farmland. My brother and I drove to the next town to bring back clean drinking water. We were coming back in the dead of night when our truck broke down.

“It was then that my brother and I heard rustling in the trees above. We looked up to see a pair of big golden eyes staring back. My brother swears it was a jaguar. Whatever it was, it was good luck. That night, it rained so heavily, the waters rose and carried our old truck all the way back to the village.”

He began laughing at my star-struck expression.

“You’re making that up!” I accused.

“I’m not!” He chuckled again. “Water is life, Raina. Water is life.”

The pink umbrella hadn’t stopped spinning.

***

His affectionate rumble faded, and I came to in the shower, tears lost in the pounding water.

“Papi,” I cried. I missed my father. Why had I forgotten that day? Why had we all forgotten the man before the casinos, the drinking, the women? He’d been so brave. He’d worked so hard to keep families together. Why had we left him all alone?

I thought I heard someone enter the baths. Suddenly, the water turned ice-bitingly, bone-numbingly cold. I groped for the shower door, but it was frozen shut. The water continued to pound my head like a downpour of icicles. Frost collected on my skin, turning it an awful, bruise-dark purple. It spread down my arms, my belly, my legs. I couldn’t move. I was a statue, my body frozen solid.

Surprised murmurs. A girl’s scream. I heard a thud, which sounded awfully enough like a body. Someone was in danger. I had to go to Colleen! How dare water be used against me? I shuddered, my anger bubbling up, and then I shattered the glacial waterfall.

I crashed to the wet bathroom floor, legs and arms shaking. My fingers slipped on tile—tile damp with watery blood. My breath came out in short gasps, still shocked by the cold. But it didn’t matter. I blinked in disbelief. I could see again. I could hear.

A girl lay very still, facing the opposite way. I slipped, my purple feet too clumsy to move properly. There was only girl in the palace with flame-red hair. Only one girl who had kindly guided me to the shower, who had risked her life for me the past week…

My eldest sister, Marisol, appeared in a bathrobe. “What’s going on?” She looked from my purple face to the fallen girl. “Oh my God, Raina!”

“S-s-sh-he,” I tried, teeth chattering.

Marisol looked toward Colleen in amazement. “She’s dead! I mean, really dead!”

I crawled to Colleen’s side. No. Marisol had never liked Colleen. She didn’t know what she was talking about. I had been in the room with her. There was no way Colleen could be—

Empty eyes. They didn’t belong to a fourteen-year-old girl. They didn’t belong to anyone.

“Where is the butterfly knife?” I said. My dark, hateful eyes rose to meet Mari’s. “The butterfly knife! Colleen always carried it with her.”

Marisol searched the pile of clothes. “It’s not here.”

“Bitch,” I whispered. “Some
bitch
killed a fourteen-year-old girl just to even the odds for herself. Or some jealous
bride
. Maya really did choose well, didn’t she?”

“Raina, I didn’t have anything to do with this!” Marisol cried.