Page 85 of That Ain’t Witchcraft

“I think she needs a target for her pent-up aggressions,” I said, and ate a bite of waffle paired with chicken nugget. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great, either, but my culinary preferences have always been more about convenience than quality. “If it’s James’ dad again, he’s never coming back.”

“If she scares him off the property, I’m moving in with you,” said James.

I laughed, and was still laughing when Cylia returned, now trailed by a ruffled-looking Leonard Cunningham. He fixed me with a steely-eyed gaze that was probably meant to be impressive, but really made him look like he’d eaten something unpleasant.

“Want some waffles?” I asked.

Whatever he’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. He paused, blinking at me.

“Yes, please,” he finally said. “I’m starving.”

“They’re on the table, help yourself,” I said. “We’re carb-loading before we head for the crossroads. Everything go okay?”

“He’s not inside out, so I’m assuming yes,” said Sam.

“Everything went … reasonably well,” said Leonard. “I feel the need for a stiff drink, or perhaps five, but no one died, and I was not badgered into accepting any bargains.”

For the first time, I noticed how pale he was, and the faint tremor in his hands. He had been genuinely shaken by the encounter. I set my plate aside and stood.

“Drinking is probably a bad idea right now,” I said. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” Leonard shook his head. “I’d heard stories, but I always assumed … I thought the people who let themselves be taken advantage of were weak, somehow. That they’d earned the fates the crossroads cast for them. But I …”

He stopped, waving his hands for a moment before he looked at me helplessly.

“I could have fallen to temptation,” he said. “You are my enemy. I know that. I may never convince you that my side is the right one. But with God as my witness, it is my duty to help you stop this thing. This is an abomination. It should never have been.”

I smiled and extended one hand. After a beat, he took it, expression turning quizzical.

“All right,” I said. “Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s get this party started.”

Twenty-two

“Nothing is too much to pay to bring the ones you love safely home. Remember that when the time comes to pay the last thing you wanted to lose.”

–Alice Healy

Crossing New Gravesend, moving toward a confrontation

IT TURNED OUT LEONARD didn’t have an American driver’s license: he’d been getting around town via a local taxi service. Good for the economy, not so great for the part where we had one car and six people. Cylia’s fondness for ridiculously roomy classics meant we could cram five people into the car we had, as long as the folks in the back didn’t mind getting real friendly, but six was a step too far. Worse, we were hoping to come back from the crossroads with seven. The laws of physics said cramming Sally in with the rest of us wasn’t going to happen.

When in doubt, remember that there’s more than one way to get anywhere. James had his bike. He was the one who knew the way, which made it important for him to stay in the car with Cylia, but I, in addition to never learning how to drive, had been riding my own bike since I was nine years old.

“You’re sure you’re okay with this,” said James, for the fifth time. “I could write the directions down, and you could ride with Cylia.”

“I’m fine.” I checked the strap on my helmet. Roller derby safety gear and bicycle safety gear are basically identical, at least for our current needs. “Just make sure she goes slow, and I’ll be able to keep up without crashing. We get there, we get Sally back, everything is awesome, we all go out for donuts.”

“I like donuts,” said Fern, stepping up next to me with her own helmet in her hand.

I raised an eyebrow. “Am I missing something?”

“Only the part where we’re riding doubles to the hanging tree,” she said and dimpled. “I’m the lightest, remember? I don’t want to be squished in with a Covenant boy. And you’re stupid if you think we’re letting you out there alone. There’s too much that could go wrong.”

“Did Sam put you up to this?”

Fern’s smile lost a few watts, dimming into something more reasonable. “Sam’s not the only one allowed to worry about you. I was here before he was, and with the way you humans date, I’ll probably be here when he’s gone.”

She wasn’t trying to be hurtful. Sylphs have a different approach to relationships, prizing friendship over romance. Whether they operated that way before humans killed off so many of them that being willing to live alone became a survival strategy is anyone’s guess. We’ve left a permanent mark on this planet, and not only because of our fondness for digging holes.