Claws (9780545469678) (19 page)

The crowd reluctantly parted to allow an older boy through. He stared, bewildered, at the faeries. The spiderweb faerie motioned for him to come closer, and he did, though the guards didn't let him up onto the platform itself.

“The game is very simple,” the spiderweb faerie explained. “You must pick which one of us you prefer. Me?”

“Or me?” the honeysuckle faerie said.

“This is boring,” the faerie with the willow-leaf hair complained, though even complaining her voice sounded like wind chimes and soft woodwind pipes. “Do I have to sit here and watch these two show off?” She spoke to the human next to her, a girl in a long ruffled skirt and glasses.

“Well, have you decided?” the spiderweb faerie said, her glamour grinning mischievously.

“I pick you, of course,” the boy said, his voice hoarse.

“Are you sure?” the honeysuckle faerie said, a teasing sort of pout in his voice.

“No! No, of course not,” the boy said as soon as he looked over at the other faerie. “I only have eyes for you.”

“What a perfect phrase,” the spiderweb faerie whispered. “It makes me sad to hear you say so to another.”

“I'm sorry! I don't know why I said it. I was a fool, I —”

Emma realized the boy had tears running down his face, and a sheen of sweat made his forehead glisten. She wondered if she should do something, if she could help him somehow. It was like watching one of her own cats playing with some small rodent they happened to find.

“Helena?” said the willow-leaf faerie then.

Her human companion with the glasses was staring right at Emma.

“What are you doing down there?” said the faerie. “And where did you get that dress? Has Corbin seen it yet? I can't wait to see his face when he finds out you didn't wear the one he got you.” The girl with the glasses nodded slightly, as if this had been an order. “Join us! This is your special day. You should see and be seen — and enjoy it all while you can.”

Emma started to shake her head, then realized that would be a mistake. No one here would ever refuse a faerie request. Maybe she'd have been better off disguised as no one in particular and just waiting for Helena to show up. But she wouldn't have got into the place then. Anyway, it was too late now.

“Come on, you're almost family now,” the willow-leaf faerie said. “You're allowed to sit with us even if Corbin is taking forever. Let her through, please!”

“Nissa, hush,” the spiderweb faerie said, before turning back to her game.

So Emma found herself pushed out of the crowd, past the miserable boy still trying to decide which faerie he preferred, past the guards, and up the short spiral stairs to the platform. She clutched the handbag close to her side.

“Are you okay in there?” she hissed into it.

“I would be if you'd stop squashing me,” Jack said. “What's going on? I can hear that faerie. Be careful.”

She didn't have time to reply. Two of the human girls on the platform stole quick glances at her as she walked past.

“I heard Corbin's in love with her, and that's why he's taking her to the twenty-seventh floor,” one of them whispered.

“I wish Corbin was in love with me,” one of the girls sighed. “She hasn't even been here that long, it's not fair. What does she have that I don't?”

“Maybe she's not as lucky as you think. I've heard stories about the twenty-seventh floor. Jen says that there's a way into the Deep Forest from it, and that they do all sorts of magic there, magic no one's supposed to know about.”

The Deep Forest? Emma had never heard anyone refer to Old Downtown that way. But maybe she was talking about something else, some kind of faerie place.

“Well, if no one's supposed to know about it, how does Jen know?” the other girl whispered. “She's such a liar.”

“You weren't here this time last year. It's always the same day. High Spring, of course. Or Ostara, or whatever they call it. Hilary went up, and Liz and Greg. Where are they now?”

“How should I know? I'm not them. They get bored with people, you know they do. Sometimes I worry Miv is getting bored with me . . . I don't even think he's looking through me right now.” She gazed longingly at the dark-skinned faerie.

“Come, sit here,” the willow-leaf faerie called Nissa said, motioning at Emma with hands of reed and bramble while her beautiful illusory self waved elegantly at a spot on the floor beside her.

Emma sat, not sure what was expected of her, and balanced Jack-in-the-bag on her knees. Did Helena stay quiet like all the other humans here? She had a hard time believing that. Helena had never been one to sit quiet for anything.

“So how are you feeling?” Nissa said. “Not frightened, I hope? There's nothing to be frightened of, you'll do just fine.”

“I'm sure it'll be great,” Emma said nervously. The girl with the glasses was staring at her intently.

Nissa leaned closer and grinned. Not with the version of herself Emma was supposed to see, but with her real mouth, a mouth filled with glistening rose thorns.

Emma recoiled. She couldn't help it.

The girl with the glasses frowned, but the faerie only grinned wider.

“I knew there was something wrong with you!” Nissa hissed, and the sound was like a distant waterfall. “You can see me, can't you? I thought I felt something strange about you. Ha! Just wait until Corbin finds out . . . oh, this is going to be fun, I think.”

Emma felt Jack shift in the handbag, felt his low growl.

“Can you see the others, too?” Nissa whispered. “You can, can't you?” She chuckled through her thorny teeth. “Corbin always gets the best toys. He'll never appreciate you the way I would. I'd never try to turn you at all, oh no! What a waste of wonderful, wondrous eyes!”

Emma wasn't sure what the faerie was talking about, but none of it sounded very good, for herself or for Helena. The faeries treated Helena like a toy? And turn her into what? But she couldn't ask, because the real Helena would already know. She stood. “I really should go find Corbin, I think. Maybe someone can take me to him?”

“No. I want you to stay,” Nissa said. “You won't be any good after tonight, so I'll have to borrow your eyes until then.”

The girl with the glasses glanced at the faerie. “Lady Nissa, you know Lord Corbin hates it when you —”

“Hush,” Nissa said. “This is too good a chance to pass up. He's the one that's let her wander around on her own, after all.”

The girl stopped talking, though her mouth tightened and her eyes narrowed with jealousy as she stared at Emma.

But Emma forgot about her a moment later as an itching sensation began building at the back of her eyes. For a second the room seemed to brighten, everything glowing with light and color. It was like she'd been plunged into the faeries' magic, surrounded by it and filled with it.

Nissa was using her eyes, disrupting her cat magic.

She hissed, and then her claws were out. Instantly, the itching sensation disappeared and the room no longer glowed. Her stomach dropped to the floor as she realized Helena's appearance had melted away, along with her black-and-purple dress. She was Emma once more, dressed in her old jeans and T-shirt.

Behind her glasses, the human girl's eyes widened.

“She's that cat! Corbin warned us about her!” Nissa cried out, her voice a mix of fear and excitement.

All around her the faeries started, but there was a moment's pause before their human eye-puppets thought to turn and look at her. It was the only moment Emma was going to get. She grabbed the handbag, ran up to the edge of the platform, and jumped onto the railing. At least that's what she'd meant to do. But something snatched at her ankle as she jumped, breaking her momentum. She fell hard, and her stomach slammed into the railing.

The bag flew from her arm, spilling Jack onto the floor amid the crowd.

Hanging there, half off the platform, Emma could see all the way to the other end of the club. Time seemed to slow as a door opened and a couple stepped out.

A faerie, short and round like a toad. He had green-brown skin. Moss covered the top of his head, and tendrils of what looked like seaweed hung in a long mustache from his face. Where Emma thought his eyes should be were lily pads. And beside him stood a girl in a dress that sparkled red and blue. She had streaked hair and a quick smile. An easy, unstoppable walk.

Helena.

Emma tried to shout her sister's name, but she had no breath. Instead, she watched, unable to move. But Jack had seen Helena, too, had recognized her from the illusion at the Red Caboose. He darted through the crowd toward her.

Nissa's girl was gazing after him. The faerie mustn't realize what Jack was doing. Emma had to use her magic. For an instant she panicked. Then a fly flew past her nose and she knew what to do. She focused on the girl, just like she had with the troll. She saw the nightclub with her cat-human double vision. She reached out for the girl as if she were right beside her. And then it was done.

Nissa and the girl in glasses screamed, and the girl fell back onto the platform, covering her eyes with her arm. “My eyes! There's something wrong with my eyes!” she shrieked.

Emma had given her the eyes of a fly, eyes that showed a thousand different versions of the scene around them. They would take a while to get used to, Emma thought. She'd change them back later, but right now she didn't have time for sympathy. She had to be like a cat.

Emma pushed herself off the platform, forcing herself to breathe as she hit the floor on all fours, crouching.

Behind and above her, the faeries began shouting, and she heard Nissa's voice. “That girl, the one with the claws! A cat-girl! She's dangerous to all faeries. If you ever loved us, you'll bring her to me!”

Emma retracted her claws as people turned to her. The two guards that had been standing at the platform each drew thin green wands from their belts and started toward her, pushing aside anyone that got in their way. A man in a biker's jacket pushed back, and one of the wands shot out, smacking him in the head. The man crumpled to the ground, twitching. Wisps of blue smoke poured out of his nose and ears.

They were coming for her, and if they got her, she would lose Helena forever.

Then Emma felt a tugging inside her and the pull of magic from all around her. The pride. Her cats were here and they wanted magic. She gave them what they needed.

Deep, chest-rumbling roars exploded from all around the club. The music was cut off entirely, and then the only other sounds were shouts and screams as huge cats leaped among the crowd. They batted people aside with their giant paws, eyes shining in the nightclub lights.

“Be careful! Don't hurt anyone!” Emma shouted. Everywhere people were running, yelling, screaming. At this rate someone was going to get trampled. But she had to keep going, had to try and find Helena while she still had a chance.

Before she could do anything she felt strong hands grip her shoulder, spinning her around. Then there was a flash of golden fur and Cricket had one of the hands in her mouth and was shaking the guard attached to it back and forth. She was going to kill him.

“Stop it!” Emma yelled. “He's just doing what they told him. He can't help it!”

Cricket dropped the man and looked up at Emma. Blood flecked the white fur around her mouth. “But this is a hunt,” she said. “If no one gets hurt, what's the point?”

Emma hesitated, not sure what to say, and in that moment the second guard lunged forward, jabbing at Cricket's neck with her thin green wand. Cricket twitched and yowled pitifully, shrinking down to a ginger cat again, her eyes rolling up to the back of her head. Emma started forward. Without thinking she slashed viciously at the guard. The guard cried out, clutching her arm to her chest. Cricket lay still and smoking, but she was alive. Emma picked her up by the scruff of her neck and ran.

She found the Toe-Chewer a few yards away. He had feathers and a pair of enormous wings, which he was flapping frantically.

“I'm a harpy!” he yelled. “Isn't it great?”

“You have to get Cricket out of here,” Emma cried. “Then find the others, tell them to run — and not to hurt anyone else!”

“But we're supposed to protect you,” he said.

“You're supposed to do what I say,” Emma snapped.

The Toe-Chewer nodded at Cricket. “Is she supposed to be smoking like that?”

“She'll be fine,” Emma said. “I hope. Now get out of here! I have to find Helena!”

The Tow-Chewer held Cricket in his mouth and waddled through the ballroom, bashing the screaming crowd as he went. Emma could see the other cats starting to follow. She turned and ran toward the door where she'd seen Helena and Jack. But when she reached it, neither of them was there.

Emma stared around, feeling suddenly hopeless and angry. What had she been expecting? For Helena and that faerie to wait around while huge cats rampaged through the club? He probably took Helena away as soon as the screaming started. If that had been Helena at all. Emma couldn't help doubting herself now, doubting everything she'd done. It had all gone wrong, and a part of her wanted to turn back, to stay with her pride.

Whatever choice she made, it felt like she was abandoning someone.

Then Jack appeared at the door. “Are you coming or not?” he called. “She went this way. Hurry!”

CRAG FACT OF THE DAY:

“The 1997 film
Under the Titanic
, which tells the story of a band of merfolk smugglers who become heroes when they risk their lives to save the men and women of the sinking
Titanic
, featured real merfolk in the lead roles.”

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