Wings (26 page)

“Who was that?” Tamisin whispered to Lurinda.

“That was Targin, Jak’s uncle.”

“But isn’t he the one I need to talk to?” asked Tamisin.

“He’ll talk to you when he wants to, and not before.”

“I thought we hurried to get here so I
could
talk to him.”

“That’s true,” said Lurinda, then she, too, turned to walk away.

“Wait!” Tamisin put her hand on the woman’s arm, inadvertently pulling up her long sleeve. “I need to…” Tamisin’s voice trailed off when she glanced down at Lurinda’s hand. The goblin woman’s long, thin fingers had a dusting of white fur on the back and bore a single ring. Although the ring was unfamiliar, Tamisin had seen those hands before. “I know you!” Tamisin said, looking up into Lurinda’s eyes. “You were there when that goblin woman bit me. I was just a baby, but I’ve had the dream so many times … It was you, wasn’t it? You tucked my blanket around me. It was a kind act after those women were so cruel.”

“I’m surprised you remember,” Lurinda said, shaking off Tamisin’s hand. “I was certain the old crone’s magic didn’t work when I heard that you had come back. Yes, it
was me. I was your mother’s favorite handmaiden. She came to me when she knew that she was pregnant and I helped her hide it from the court. I was there at your birth and I saw how difficult you were going to make your mother’s life. I loved her then; she was my queen and I wanted only what was best for her.”

“What about the goblin woman who bit me?” Tamisin asked.

“When I knew that you were going to be taken away, I paid her to use her magic on you. I thought she could keep you from coming back. Unfortunately for you, her magic wasn’t strong enough.”

“What about Jak? Where does he fit in all this?”

“Nowhere now. The boy was a useful tool, but he isn’t smart enough to get out of the way when his betters want to take over. The boy doesn’t know his place. The stories Nihlo has told me about Jak are disgraceful. Targin should never have let his sister leave her halfling here. I wouldn’t have been so charitable.”

The goblin woman’s words made Tamisin feel sick to her stomach. When Lurinda turned on her heel and strode off down the hall, Tamisin had to swallow hard before calling after her, “Can I see Jak?”

“If you can find him!” Lurinda replied without looking back.

Tamisin wasn’t sure what to do. It was obvious that neither Lurinda nor Targin had any intention of helping her and could probably be very nasty if they chose to be. Tamisin could only assume that Jak really was there somewhere, but she had no clue where she should start
looking. A long corridor stretched before her with doors leading off on either side. She was debating whether or not she should start opening doors in the hope that she would find the right one when she realized that many of them were open just enough that the goblins inside could peek out. As a door clicked shut behind Lurinda, the goblins began to emerge from the rooms until a crowd had gathered around Tamisin. Some looked as if they might be members of the cat-goblin clan, but the rest looked like humans who had been given features from other animals. Tamisin saw long doglike faces, the tusks of wild boars, short, sharp beaks, and long bushy tails.

While she stared at the goblins, they were just as interested in her, acting as if they had never seen anything quite like her before. She put up with their poking and prodding, but when one with a snout pinched her arm, Tamisin slapped the goblin, making it squeal and back away. The rest of the goblins were grumbling when a tiny woman with long gray and white hair, catlike eyes and a kindly, wrinkled face pushed through the crowd, knocking goblins with her cane when they didn’t move.

Reaching Tamisin’s side, she smiled up at her, saying, “Don’t you remember me? I’m Jak’s grandmother Gammi. We met at the Halloween party.”

Tamisin nodded slowly. She had seen Jak’s grandmother only briefly, but this could be that woman.

“Don’t pay them any mind,” Gammi said, jerking her thumb at the goblins. “They don’t mean anything by it. Come with me. I’ve got a nice cozy room where we can
sit and visit. I can’t believe she brought you here, then left you to your own devices.”

“Do you know where Jak is?” asked Tamisin.

“Of course not,” Gammi said in an overly loud voice. “But come with me anyway.”

Puzzled, Tamisin followed the old goblin woman down the hall to a room that was indeed cozy. Although it was only one room, it had been set up as two with shelves down the middle separating a bed on one side and a small table on the other. So many colorful pillows were piled on the bed that Tamisin didn’t see any space to lie down, but the chairs next to the table were big and cushy, just right for curling up in for a nap. Even the floor was padded with a thick rug that sank beneath her feet when she walked.

Once Tamisin looked at the walls, she didn’t notice anything else. Every inch from the ceiling to the floor was covered with pictures. Some were paintings, some were sketches, some were little photographs like the ones shot in photo booths. Most of them were goblins, although there were also fairies, gnomes, humans, and at least two trolls. Tamisin saw a photograph of a little boy who might have been Jak alongside a beautiful woman of the cat clan. She had the same dark hair as Jak, but her eyes were more slanted and her cheekbones more prominent.

“That’s his mother,” said Gammi. “My youngest daughter and the most headstrong. Takes after her aunt Lurinda that way. Jak was just a kitten when I took that picture with his father’s camera. I was visiting them in the human world at the time. I liked his father, but don’t
tell Targin I said that. Jak’s father was a good human, and my daughter loved him to distraction. Then he disappeared and she went crazy looking for him. He was gone for a year before she got any clue as to where he might be, so she brought Jak here and left him with Targin. She thought it was better if her brother believed that she was out wasting her life on frivolous things, but she went looking for her husband. She still is as far as I know. I haven’t heard from her in years.”

“Does Jak know all this?” asked Tamisin.

“He has no idea,” said Gammi. “I didn’t want him to think he should go looking for them. It’s bad enough that I lost his mother that way; I didn’t want to lose him, too. That sounds selfish of me, I know, but that boy means a lot to me. And that’s why I’m going to tell you where you can find him.”

“So you
do
know!”

“Of course I know! There’s very little that goes on around here that I don’t know. Jak is down with his hipporines. Targin locked him down there, thinking that he’d be as scared of those monsters as the rest of them are. But I know better. My Jak is the bravest one here, though there’s many that are too foolish to see it. Now, what we’re going to do is sit here and have a nice cup of catmint tea while you tell me all that you and Jak have done since the night of his Halloween party. Then, after everyone has quieted down for the night, I’ll show you where he is.”

“What time is it now?” asked Tamisin. “It was after midnight when Lurinda took me from the fairies’
forest, then daytime when we cut through the human world.”

“It’s night now, just past supper, and I daresay it’s a few days later than you remember. Now, you have a nice rest and I’ll get that tea, and maybe some supper for you besides. I doubt you’ve eaten … Uh-huh, I thought not. Lurinda isn’t the type to think of such things. Go ahead—you sit in that chair. It’s the softest.”

After Gammi left the room, Tamisin curled up in the chair, sitting so she could see the pictures on the walls. Her head was nodding when Gammi returned, but she jumped up to help the old woman set the tray on the table. During the next few hours while Tamisin ate berries in cream and drank tea, they talked about all sorts of things, including Jak’s parents, Gammi’s other children, Tamisin’s human family, the friends Gammi had made in the human world, Tamisin’s visit with the fairy queen, and how much Tamisin wanted to go home. After a while Tamisin started yawning, but she sat up straight when Gammi mentioned Lurinda.

“She was the firebrand of the family, always ready to fight for a cause. Then the fairy queen’s people came to get her and we didn’t see hide or hair of her for years. We did get letters though, and at first she sounded truly happy. It seems she was the queen’s favorite, not surprising considering how beautiful she was and how sweet she could be when she was getting her way. Then something happened, she never did tell us what, and Lurinda fell from the queen’s favor. Her letters changed after that. She still said she was happy, but I could tell the
difference. It wasn’t until she came home that I learned how bitter she’d become. She felt as if she’d been wronged. Now it seems she has a new cause, though she won’t tell me what it is. I hear things though, so I know it involves your mother.”

“What do you think she intends to do?” asked Tamisin.

“I’m not sure, but I have a good idea. She and Targin have both been brimming with secrets lately. I think she’s the one who told him about you. It was after she returned home that Targin came up with his grand plan for Jak to go to the human world. Bert and I went along to help, but Jak probably would have done fine on his own. None of us had any notion that Titania was your mother. My Jak is a good boy and never meant you any harm.”

“I know that,” said Tamisin.

“There are some of us who wouldn’t care that the fairy queen has a half-breed daughter, but there’s others who would get all riled at the notion. I think Lurinda and Targin are betting on that to stir up support for a revolt, though they each have their own reasons. My son thinks he’s helping our people, whereas Lurinda … Let’s just say that my sister is a bad person to cross. I’ve known her to bear a grudge for years. I bet kidnapping you was her idea, too. She was the one who planned all our escapades when we were young. This whole thing is right up her alley.”

Gammi glanced at the pictures on the wall and sighed. “It’s been bothering me no end that members of
my own family are causing all this trouble, so I decided it was up to me to stop it. I think my son wants to be king of the goblins, a noble enough cause if it didn’t mean that so many people would have to die to get him there. But Lurinda … I think she has her sights set on something grander, although what it is I just don’t know. She always did want to be at the top of the heap. Whatever they’re planning is going to happen in the next few days. This place is crawling with goblins, with more coming all the time. So now that I’ve talked your ear off, I’m going to tell you what you really want to know. In just a few minutes I’m going to walk you down that hallway and show you a door, but there can’t be a peep out of you or Lurinda will stop us. When she brought you here, she never intended for you to see Jak again. She told you all that fiddle-faddle just to get you here so they’d have a hold over your mama.”

“My mother warned me that might happen. I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been!”

“You haven’t been stupid. Lurinda’s good at what she does. She can persuade a bird to fly upside down if she’s got a mind to. I should know. I’m her little sister and she talked me into doing more addlepated things when we were girls than I care to remember.

“Hand me my cane and we can get started,” said Gammi as she struggled to her feet. “That’s it. Now I’ll just wrap this cloth around the bottom to muffle the noise. There we go. Wouldn’t want my tap tapping to tell everybody what we’re doing. Here, put on this cape so
they’ll think you’re a goblin if anyone does see you. Now follow me and don’t make a sound. If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask them.”

Tamisin was so confused that she just shook her head.

“No? All right then. I’ll unlock the door, and I’ll leave it that way. Here, take this torch.” Gammi handed Tamisin a short stick with wooden prongs at the top. The prongs held a transparent cube that glowed with an inner fire. “Don’t worry, it won’t burn you. The gnomes make these things and you won’t find any better. It doesn’t look very bright now, but it’ll work just fine in the dark. Once you’re in the hipporines’ cave, find Jak and bring him back here. I would have gone myself before this, but there are some things these old bones can’t do. Come first light I’ll let you both out the front door before anyone else is stirring. You’ll have to find your own way after that, but Jak’s a smart boy and will figure something out.”

“Thank you, Gammi,” Tamisin said, kissing the old woman’s cheek. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

“Neither do I,” chuckled Gammi. “Now be off with you, and take care of my grandson!”

After sticking her head out of her room and looking both ways, Gammi led Tamisin down the hall. It was much longer than Tamisin had thought, and she kept expecting someone to pop out of one of the rooms and catch them. Nothing happened, however, and when Gammi opened the door at the end and stepped aside to let her pass, Tamisin mouthed the words “thank you.”
Then, stepping into the darkness beyond the door, she held up the torch and tried to see.

Jak was delighted when his uncle threw him in the cave, although he was careful not to let it show, which was easy because he was still sluggish from the antidote to the poison. Knowing how the animals would react when they saw him, he kept his distance until he was sure his uncle and the other goblins were gone.