She was dressed rather differently from the previous evening, in an elaborately jeweled green gown that trailed after her. Her short blond hair was tousled and adorned with a flower garland that tumbled down her back. Her feet, padding nimbly away, were dirty and bare. She looked eerie and slightly crazy.
“Just a minute, young lady!”
Tanya’s head snapped back to the disgruntled, red-faced woman who emerged from the tent.
“You can’t just leave it there. That brooch is my inheritance—” The woman stopped abruptly, realizing she now had an audience, and that she was its sole focus. Suki was gone. A few seconds of craning her neck and one undignified huff later, the woman stalked away. As the line resumed its whispering over the exchange, Tanya watched a thin, surly-looking man come over to the tent and turn the wooden sign around. FORTUNE TELLING CLOSED, it said. BACK LATER.
As the crowd finally dispersed, Tanya stared at the sign. Tonight she had seen a different side of Suki. Her psychic ability was not only being used in the Coven, but also as an act in the circus. And “act,” Tanya thought, was a good way to describe it, for although Suki had certainly touched a nerve with an accurate reading for the woman, Tanya knew with conviction that Suki’s claims of feeling faint had been a convenient excuse to get away to Tino’s meeting.
Brooding, she wandered off to the Curiosity Cabinet and stepped inside, wondering what was happening in Tino’s caravan. Before long, as she wandered among stuffed creatures, ancient runes, and Egyptian death masks, her own heated exchange with Gredin also played on her mind. Her thoughts shifted to exactly how and when she would be able to broach the subject of guardians with her grandmother—and whether Florence would be willing to provide the answers.
When Rowan and Fabian arrived at Tino’s caravan, the door opened before they’d even finished knocking. Tino beckoned them inside and pointed them past racks of glittering costumes into the kitchenette, where there were a small table with a brightly colored mosaic top and a few chairs.
Tino joined them. He had changed what he was wearing, his performance clothes from the ring replaced by a loose tunic and dark brown trousers. His blond hair fell about his face, no longer tied back as it had been earlier.
“Where’s the other girl?” he asked, with a cursory glance at Fabian.
Rowan pulled out a chair to sit down. There was a grunt and a scrabble of claws, and Tino’s huge, shaggy wolfhound, which had been lying under the table, got up and flopped down on the mat by the door.
“The girl?” Tino repeated, after Rowan had sat down.
“There was a complication,” she said, glancing at Fabian. His eyes were huge behind his glasses, and he looked as though he didn’t know whether he was excited or afraid. “She’s here with us, but she couldn’t… come.”
“Why not? I told you to bring her. Go and get her if she’s here, and be quick about it. The others will be arriving any minute.”
“I can’t,” Rowan repeated. “Her guardian turned up unexpectedly. He told her she wasn’t to come and threatened to punish her if she disobeyed.”
Tino’s face darkened. “What? If he forbade her then he must know something about us! What have you told him? What does he know?”
“Nothing!” Rowan insisted. “I never told him anything, and neither did she. He doesn’t know any details, or who’s involved, I swear.”
Tino pushed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets and groaned.
“This is a disaster. Already they’ve brought trouble upon us. You should have made sure you weren’t being followed!”
“Just hold on,” Rowan snapped. “You were the one who insisted they be here tonight! I wanted to leave them out of it.”
Tino ignored the comment. “How do we know this guardian will keep quiet?”
“Because he doesn’t know anything. And because he was there, in the fairy realm, helping me when I was looking for James. He led me to the courts.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Tino muttered. “Damn guardians are more hassle than they’re worth, sometimes.”
“But surely the human members of the Coven have guardians too?” Fabian asked timidly. “Do they know about the Coven? And do they try to stop it somehow?”
A scowl marred Tino’s face. “Not all of the human members had guardians. Crooks didn’t, obviously, as he’s not second-sighted. Suki insists she never knew of having one. As for the rest, arrangements were made for them to be relieved of their duties, to a greater or lesser extent.”
“What do you mean, ‘relieved of their duties’?” Rowan asked, her tone sharp.
Tino shrugged. “Nothing sinister—just kept out of the way. The Coven used to incorporate the guardians in the past, but things got too messy. No guardian wants their human exposed to unnecessary risk. So any ties with guardians are quickly… dismissed.”
“Dismissed how?” Rowan asked. “And how come I knew nothing of this?”
“You didn’t need to know,” Tino replied. “Your guardian was already dead, killed in the accident that killed your aunt and uncle. And I’m guessing you were so wrapped up in getting James back that you never gave a thought to whether the rest of the Coven had guardians, or indeed, what had happened to them.” He waved his hand in the air. “I didn’t need you distracted by unnecessary information. If you’d needed to know, then you would have. And if you’d wanted to know, you’d have asked—but you didn’t. All you cared about was yourself, and finding your brother. And as for how—”
A light tapping on the door interrupted them. Tino got up to answer it. He came back with Suki, Sparrow, and a small boy. It was the same boy Tanya had pointed out in the audience. His forehead was creased and damp with worry, his light brown hair curling over and sticking to it.
“We haven’t got long,” said Sparrow, sitting next to Rowan. He was more disheveled than usual. As he scratched at his head with long, dirty fingernails, the smell of greasy hair hit Rowan’s nose. He must have noticed her expression, for he gave an embarrassed smile and moved away a little. She felt mean then. Sparrow was her friend, and she was judging him for things that were out of his control.
Suki sat on Rowan’s other side, still wearing her fortune-telling garb.
“What?” she demanded of Fabian, who was ogling her curiously. “Let’s get on with it, shall we?”
Everyone turned to look at the boy seated between Suki and Tino. He cringed under their scrutiny, his eyes darting from side to side like those of a trapped animal.
“I can’t stay long,” he said in a voice that was little more than a whisper. “I left my dad in the Curiosity Cabinet. Said I was going to look for the toilets.”
“You can tell him you got lost on the way back,” said Suki in a honeyed voice Rowan had never heard her use before. “That’ll buy you some more time. Now, Jack. Did you manage to get anything that belongs to your mother, like I asked you to?”
The boy called Jack nodded and reached into his pocket. From it he withdrew a small, round object and placed it on the table.
“It’s her engagement ring,” he said. “One of the stones came loose, and she’s been meaning to get it fixed. I managed to sneak it out of her jewelry box last night.”
“Perfect,” said Suki, reaching for it.
“What’s it for?” Rowan asked.
“I’m going to see if I can pick anything up, anything at all about where Jack’s mother might be,” said Suki. “Sometimes an object belonging to a person can help me.”
“Can you sense anything now?” Jack asked, his dark eyes hopeful.
“It’s best if I do it later on, alone,” Suki answered, not meeting his eyes. “I can focus better. Can you leave it with me for tonight?”
Jack nodded, dismal.
“Good.” Suki pocketed the ring. “Now tell these people what you told me before, about your mother.”
Jack looked hesitantly around the table.
“It’s all right,” Suki coaxed. “We can help you.”
&
nbsp; Jack gulped. “She started acting… funny about two weeks ago. Her voice sounded different sometimes. Sort of… scratchy, and deeper. She said she wasn’t feeling well, but she wouldn’t go to the doctor. I never see her eat anything. She says she’s lost her appetite. And she started forgetting to get me up in the mornings for school, so my teacher said I needed a note to explain why I kept coming in late. When she wrote it, she used her left hand… and that’s when I knew something was really wrong, because she’s right-handed. In fact, she’s been using only her left hand, and holding her other hand in a weird way sometimes… when she thinks no one’s looking. Like it’s hurting her.”
“Odd,” Tino said. “Did you make any sign that you’d noticed?”
Jack shook his head. “No.”
“What else?” Suki prompted.
“Scrounger—that’s our cat—won’t go near her anymore,” said Jack, sounding close to tears. “Her fur goes on end whenever they’re in the same room together.”
“And since you told me what was happening, have you noticed anything else?” asked Suki. “Anything different from what you’ve told us already?”
Jack nodded, his eyes downcast. “I started looking out for other things, like you said. I’ve noticed that every couple of days she keeps locking herself in the bathroom first thing in the morning. So three days ago I crept outside the door and listened. I could hear a snipping sound, like scissors. When she came out, I went in and looked in the trash. It was full of her hair—but when I went downstairs her hair didn’t look any shorter. This morning the same thing happened—her hair is growing fast. Really fast. But she’s cutting it so nobody notices.”
“How is she acting around the rest of the family?” asked Suki. “Have you noticed anything unusual?”
A tear rolled down Jack’s nose and dripped onto the table. He wiped his face quickly and took a deep, gulping breath.
“Until you told me to look out for it, I hadn’t noticed. But she seems more interested in Lucy, my little sister, than anyone else. She doesn’t like anyone picking her up, or taking her anywhere. Tonight, my dad had an awful row with her. She didn’t want Lucy to come.”
“What made her change her mind?” asked Fabian. Jack looked at him in surprise. “We noticed you in the audience,” Fabian explained quickly. “You looked worried, and we saw you were with your dad and a little girl—was that Lucy?”
Jack nodded. “She only let Lucy come after my dad got cross and asked her why she was being so possessive of her. She let him take her but after… after he’d left the room…”
“Yes?” said Tino.
“Dad went into the living room and started to put Lucy’s shoes on. Mum… she… was in the kitchen. I was in the hallway and I heard this weird crunching noise. I looked through the gap in the door and she was standing by the sink, grinding her teeth. She had a glass in her hand. Her knuckles turned white because she was gripping the glass so tightly. It broke in her hand and cut her. Dad offered to sweep it up and put a bandage on, but she just screamed at him to go. So we left.” Another tear slid down his face. “Now I’m scared to go home.” He looked up at Tino. “Can you help? Can you get my real mum back?”
Tino’s hands were pressed together over the lower part of his face. He regarded Jack over the top of them for a moment, then lowered them to speak. “I’m not going to lie to you. Whatever it is that’s switched places with your mother is dangerous. And it sounds like your sister caught its attention, which is why it’s moved in on your family. Whatever we do next has to be handled with extreme care, and you’re going to have to be brave, and continue to act normally. Do you think you can do that?”
Jack paled slightly. “I think so. I take drama class. My teacher says I’m good.”
Tino nodded. “Then there’s no time to waste. We need to act as soon as possible to try and get this thing out of your household.” He looked up at Suki. “You know where the boy lives and how to contact him?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Take him back to his father. We’ll start working on the plan tonight.” He looked at Jack again. “Once it’s finalized, Suki will be in touch. Until then, remember: act normally and be careful around her.”
Suki rose from the table and motioned for Jack to follow. He got up, wiping his tearstained face, and then the two of them left Tino’s caravan.
“What do you think?” Sparrow asked Tino, once the door had closed.
Tino got up and set a pan of water to boil on the stove. He picked some leaves off a green plant in a pot on his windowsill and threw them into the water.
“I think Suki’s right,” he said. “The boy’s clear about what he saw, and the signs aren’t good. It sounds like a genuine case, and a serious one. We must act tomorrow. It’s a risk even sending him back there tonight.”
“Why?” asked Fabian worriedly. “What could happen?”
“If the fairy is determined to have the child, the little girl, all to herself, there’s no telling what she might be capable of,” Tino said darkly. “In cases like these, if the fairy impostor cannot adapt into the family, which is looking less and less likely, the impostor will often leave, taking the family member they’ve been drawn to with them. That’s the most likely scenario.”
“So she could take Lucy away?” Fabian said.
“It’s possible,” said Sparrow. “But there are other outcomes that could be much, much worse.”
“Like what?” Fabian asked.
“Ever heard of a woman named Bridget Cleary?” Sparrow said softly.
“No,” said Fabian. “Should I have?”
“Depends on how much fairy lore you read,” Sparrow answered. “Bridget Cleary was a woman who lived just over a hundred years ago. She’d been ill for a while, but her husband became convinced she was a fairy changeling. In them days, people didn’t have to be second-sighted to believe in fairies. Many of the beliefs of the Middle Ages were still strong. Together with his brother, her husband came up with a plan to drive the changeling away, like. They burned her and beat her. Starved her.” Sparrow’s eyes were sad through his shaggy hair. “But they went too far. They killed her. Went to trial for it and even insisted to the court that she’d been a changeling.”
“And was she?” Fabian whispered.
“No one knows for sure,” Tino said. “But it’s an example of how humans can react to a changeling, or someone they believe to be one.” He poured some of the boiling infusion into a glass and gestured for the others to help themselves. Only Sparrow did. “Other possibilities are even worse.”
“How can it get worse than that?” Fabian said incredulously.
Tino and Sparrow shared a look. Rowan sat up straighter in her seat, sensing that whatever was about to be shared was something new to her.
“You remember that I told you that Suki was one of the stolen children I recovered?” Tino said. He took a mouthful of his drink, and for the first time since Rowan had known him, he looked uncomfortable.
“I remember,” she said.
“When we found her, Suki was being well cared for. She was even happy. For the briefest moment, I actually hesitated. I considered leaving her there. But the rules are the rules, no exceptions,” he said, almost as though to enforce the thought. “And I had to be quick. Whoever had taken Suki had left her in her cot, unwatched for just a few moments. It was all I had, and so I took her.
“After we brought her home, a few of us took turns to watch her house—and the culprit’s—from afar for a few nights. Just in case a repeat attempt was made to snatch her, as sometimes happens. There were some strange comings and goings from the culprit’s house, but a week passed and no one came, and the woman who we’d taken her back from in the fairy realm made no attempt to take her again, or any other child.
“We stopped watching, and in time forgot all about Suki. She was just another case, after all. Then in June last year, Peg heard of an incident in which a second-sighted teenage girl had been orphaned. When Peg mentione
d the town it sounded familiar, but I didn’t think much of it. But then she said the girl’s name. And I knew.
“The case was big news, in both the fairy realm and the mortal world. Suki was the sole survivor in her household. Her mother and stepfather were dead, strangled in their beds. Suki witnessed the entire thing. She’d seen a fey woman commit the murders and managed to fight her off—”
“She tried to kill Suki too?” said Rowan.
“No,” said Sparrow quietly. “She was trying to take Suki away with her. Somehow Suki managed to fend her off. She was covered in scratches and bites when they found her, and she didn’t speak for a month afterward. Neighbors had seen someone running away before Suki was found but it was later put down to a robbery in the same street. The whole thing remains an unsolved murder case in the human world, and in the fairy realm too. There’s no trace of the fey woman who took Suki all those years ago.
“Suki was placed in a foster home for two months, until she turned eighteen,” said Tino. “By then I’d already contacted her, asking her to join us once she’d come of age, and she’d agreed. I’d never intended to ask her to be part of the Coven, not after all she’d been through—but I felt responsible for her. Then Cassandra went dark, and some of the things Suki was saying about revenge against the changeling trade, not to mention her obvious psychic ability… well, it was like it was meant to be. She became Cassandra’s replacement.”
“Poor Suki,” Rowan murmured. She thought back to how harshly she had judged her when they first met, and she regretted it. Suki had been through things, terrible things, that Rowan did not even want to start imagining.
“What about ‘poor Suki’?” a cool voice inquired.
Rowan jumped and twisted around in her seat. Suki stood behind them, having quietly let herself back into Tino’s caravan unnoticed.
“I…” Rowan faltered, but then Tino cut in.
“I was telling them about you,” he said gravely. “Not to gossip, but to give an example of what can happen in these circumstances.”
Suki walked wordlessly to the stove and helped herself to a glass of the cooling drink Tino had brewed. She stood sipping at it with her back to them, and when she turned to look at them her face was impassive.