“Oh, I dunno,” Puck remarked, grinning. “Grimalkin’s Travel Services has a certain ring to it, don’t you think?”
The cait sidhe thumped his tail on the seat cushion, and did not deign to answer.
12
INSITE
I had been to the capital city only once, many years ago, and it was a completely different place back then. For one, I didn’t remember the enormous cemetery with the thousands of white graves that greeted us when we stepped out of the trod.
“Arlington National Cemetery,” Meghan murmured, gazing around. Her voice was hushed, reverent, as she took in the endless rows of headstones, situated in perfectly straight lines to the edge of the field. Directly behind us stood a small marble structure, white pillars forming the archway we had emerged from, and the air between them shimmered as the trod faded from sight. “Well, we are definitely close to DC.” She glanced down at the paper Kenzie had given her, then looked at Grimalkin. “I don’t suppose you could’ve gotten us a little closer?”
The feline sniffed. “Grimalkin’s Travel Services does not take responsibility for lost or damaged mortals,” he said in a voice of complete seriousness. “Please refer to the ‘paid services’ section if one wishes to purchase extra amenities like transportation and shorter travel time.”
“Holy crap, the cat just grew a sense of humor,” Puck gasped, one hand flying to his heart. “The world must be ending.”
* * *
Walking around a human city was very different than walking around the wyldwood, or even the fey cities of Mag Tuiredh and Touchstone. In Faery, you didn’t have to worry about things like traffic lights, taxis, or bicycles. Or the throngs of mortals passing each other on the street, each lost in their own world. I lost count of the times I had to dodge a human who had their eyes glued to their phone, or was just oblivious to their surroundings. Normally the obtuseness of mortals amused me, but today I found myself sorely tempted to let a collision happen just for the chance to lash out. Having grown up in the Winter Court, I found it difficult to comprehend the complete lack of awareness to one’s surroundings. These mortals wouldn’t last a single afternoon in the wyldwood.
Following our navigator Grimalkin, who thankfully did not have to worry about things like phones and internet service, we walked down the streets of the nation’s capital as evening fell and the streetlamps flickered to life. And, as we left the cemetery and ventured deeper into civilization, I began to realize how serious the threat actually was.
We weren’t the only faeries wandering the streets this night. On nearly every corner, I saw flashes of movement, heard the buzz of ragged wings, as the tiny nightmare fey fled our presence. The city seemed to be infested with them; like a plague of locusts or cicadas, they perched on rooftops and in the branches of trees, watching everything with beady, malicious eyes. The throngs of humans never saw the hordes of fey, but several times I would pass a mortal and catch a glimpse of a tiny body clinging to their neck, or a face peeking out of their hair, baring its fangs at me. They seemed especially attracted to anger or fear; a man in a business suit crossed the street, snarling into his phone, unable to see the swarm of nightmare piskies following him like a cloud of gnats. A woman pushed a stroller down the sidewalk, her eyes darting warily about, as if fearing a kidnapper would leap out of a moving vehicle, snatch her child, and take off. A pair of nightmare piskies crouched on the handle of the stroller, their eyes glowing pinpricks in the approaching dusk.
“Okay, this is bad,” Puck commented, gazing around at the growing swarms of fey. “Did we stumble onto the set for The Birds III, the Nightmare Edition? Why are there so many of the little buggers flying around?”
“This city is angry,” Nyx muttered, her gaze never still as they swept our surroundings. I saw flickers of amazement and wonder on her face, a reminder that the Forgotten had never seen things like modern streetlamps or baby strollers. But it was all overshadowed by the present situation. “I can feel the rage building under the surface,” Nyx continued. “It feels...”
“Like a boil?” Puck wondered. “Or a volcano getting ready to erupt?” He wrinkled his nose. “Also, by the by, combining those two images? Bad idea.”
Someone barreled toward me, another human staring at his phone. On his shoulder, one of the nightmare piskie creatures looked up and opened its jaws in a menacing hiss, baring its mouthful of razor fangs. I could have easily stepped aside, let the mortal pass. Instead, I stayed where I was, barely feeling the impact as the human ran into me square on.
“Hey! What the f—!” The mortal stumbled back and glared at me, indignation shining from his eyes. “You got a problem? Watch where you’re going, asshole.”
I ignored him, staring at the creature in my hand. As the human had collided with me, I’d managed to snatch the tiny monster off his shoulder before it could react. The nightmare piskie thing hissed and squirmed beneath my fingers, trying to snap at me with oversize teeth. Its ragged wings buzzed frantically against my palm like a trapped hornet. Pulses of rage thrummed from the tiny Evenfey, invisible needles jabbing my skin, unseen and infuriating.
“Hey, you ignoring me?” The human stepped forward, not seeing Meghan and the others, who were still glamoured and invisible. He glared at me as the Evenfey’s hissing grew louder, more frantic. “What, you think you’re better than me or something? I’m talking to you. Pay attention when I’m talking, you piece of—”
I clenched my fist, crushing the nightmare faery in my grip. It gave a high-pitched shriek before its tiny body dissolved in my fingers. An oily mist rose from where the piskie had been, seeping through my fingers, and writhed on the air like tiny worms before curling away on the wind.
I suddenly felt dirty, like I had picked up something dead and rotting on the pavement. The human in front of me had paused when I’d crushed the Evenfey, the expletive dying on his lips. I raised my head and gave him a cold glare, and the air of indignant bravado around him faded.
“Go home,” I said flatly, and the human went, hurrying away down the sidewalk. I shook my hand free of the last of the oily tendrils and tried to ignore the regret that the human hadn’t given me an excuse to hurt him.
“Well, that was amusing,” Puck remarked. He wore his trademark grin, but his eyes were wary, as if he could feel the anger pulsing through me. “You okay there, ice-boy? It would’ve been fun to see him take a swing at you, but I’m not sure you wouldn’t have stuck an icicle through his middle.”
Meghan was also watching me, a concerned look on her face. I gave my hand a final shake and drew my glamour around me again, becoming invisible to mortal eyes. “I’m fine,” I said shortly, suddenly impatient to be gone. “Let’s keep moving.”
Several minutes later, we turned down a nondescript street and came upon an equally nondescript structure. A five-story office building with no signs or defining features stood on the corner; one could easily walk past it without a thought.