“So we’ve been told. Apparently Marina was able to break it before—”
“Wait, homeboy,” I break in. “Did you say Marina? Is she okay? Is she back?”
“Yes, she’s fine. She—”
“And you were planning to tell me this—when?”
There’s a moment’s silence, then Lalo says, his voice formal, “My apologies to you, Theodore Washington. I only just received word of this myself, and my mind has been so preoccupied with security that I forgot the importance of this matter to you.”
I’m just starting to wonder if Auntie Min is playing me, when a crow swoops down out of the sky and drops something at my feet. I pick it up and see it’s a piece of foolscap crumpled around a small stone. I open the paper and stretch it out so that I can read what it says:
Marina’s with Josh and the others and she is safe. They will be with us soon.
“You still there?” Lalo asks.
“Yeah. I just got a message from a crow about Marina.”
“Does it mention the canid clans?” Lalo asks.
“No. What about them?”
“All the clans in this area have sworn fealty to Marina.”
“Okay. So?”
“I hope this will not cause a problem for you, considering …”
He lets the words trail off, but I can finish the thought. Considering how the other Avers and I mowed down a bunch of them.
“Ladies, can we get back to the business at hand?” Matteson says. “Lalo, can your boys remove these Wildlings in the congressman’s detail?”
“No. But I will send someone to see who they are. In the meantime, remain vigilant. If they aren’t the threat, then it’s still out there.”
“We’re on it,” I say.
The crowd’s at least doubled. J-Dog checks in with the boys. No one’s seen anybody who looks like an obvious threat, but the growing tension hangs in the air like a thundercloud. The sheriff ’s department and state police have men weaving in and out among the people, making their presence known, and that’s probably the only thing that’s keeping this sick party in check. For now.
“You okay?” J-Dog asks.
“Sure. I’m good. We should probably split up, cover more ground that way. This place is getting nuts.”
“’Cause if you need to check in on your girl, we’ve got this.”
“I said I’m good.”
I’m lying. I feel like shit. What does it mean that the canids have all sworn this fealty thing to Marina—that they’re her crew? And I know they’re just waiting for today to be over to put the Ocean Avers in their sights, so what does that mean for Marina and me?
I realize that J-Dog’s still standing beside me. I’m about to ask why, when I realize he’s pissed off, and not at me. I turn to see what he’s looking at, and here come Fat Boy Zaragoza and his lieutenant Chico Para sauntering through the crowd. This is not cool. They’re in full gangbanger gear and I can tell by the way Para’s walking that he’s got a gun under that baggy T-shirt. A couple of state troopers are trailing along behind them.
I’m not surprised to see the Kings. Something this big hasn’t happened in Santa Feliz for as long as I can remember. There’s going to be all kinds of rubberneckers, checking it out. Why should the Riverside Kings be any different?
“Look at you boys, all cleaned up,” Fat Boy says when the pair reaches us. “You on your way to some country club?”
“Now’s not a good time,” J-Dog manages to get out in a civil tone. I’m proud of him.
Fat Boy raises his eyebrows. “What? You haven’t got the time to say hello to old friends?”
Everybody’s got buttons. Between the Kings and the Avers, it doesn’t have to be anything that’s said, just the way it’s said, the look in an eye, the way somebody’s standing. It brings old drivebys and other hurts alive like they happened yesterday.
That’s why J-Dog takes a step forward, only stopping when I put a hand on his arm.
“Back off,” I tell Fat Boy.
Fat Boy gives Chico a can you believe this guy? look.
“I wasn’t talking to you, ese,” he tells me. “And backing off ’s not something I do. Now you run along and let the men talk— you know, mano a mano, boss to boss.”
I feel J-Dog stiffen at my side. I don’t think Fat Boy’s actually here to cause us trouble. Being an asshole is just his habit. But diplomacy’s not something J-Dog knows much about— especially when it comes to dealing with the Kings—and he’s taken it about as far as he can. I figure we’re just an eye blink from someone throwing a punch, so I step in between the two.
“We’re here at the request of the Halcón Pueblo,” I tell Fat Boy, which is mostly true, since Tío Benardo was at the meeting last night.
Fat Boy’s eyes narrow. “If you’re bullshitting me …”
“Where’s the percentage in that?” I say. “But if you want confirmation, see all those crows?”
Fat Boy looks around and nods. Hard to miss them since there are three or four on every tree, lamppost and roofline, with more winging in lazy circles directly above the crowd.
“Go ask one of them,” I say.
“Crows ain’t hawks, ese. Those are just scavengers.”
“Ask them anyway.”
“You have a problem?” Matteson asks in my earpiece.
“Nothing we can’t handle,” I tell him.
“Who you talking to?” Fat Boy wants to know.
“Nobody.”
Fat Boy gives me a thousand-yard stare, cold and hard, but hell, unless he gets Para to pull a gun, he can look at me all he wants.
“So you’re telling me it’s los tíos,” he finally says.
I nod.
“And they come to your crew?” he goes on, though what he’s really asking is, why the Avers and not the Kings? “What are you supposed to do for them?”
“Keep the congressman from getting killed.”
“Shit, who cares if one more fat white dude dies?”
“Los tíos, apparently.”
“Wrap it up,” Matteson says in my ear. “The staties have just asked their captain permission to take the bunch of you in.”
“Okay,” I tell Fat Boy. “Here’s the deal. You’ve got one second to walk away or I let those staties pull you in.”
I know he’s been as aware of them as me and J-Dog.
“They’ve got dick-all to hold us on,” Fat Boy says.
“True. But if you fuck this up, you’re going to find Josh waiting for you when you step outside state police headquarters. You remember Josh—you met him at the skatepark where los tíos told you to back the fuck off?”
I don’t know that Josh would actually do it, but they don’t know that he won’t, and they know what he’s capable of.
I see the state troopers start to move toward us, hands on their still-holstered guns.
“Last chance,” I say.
I wake up to find Donalita snuggled up tight against me. The ground’s hard and I ache everywhere from the crappy bed it made, but her warmth feels nice. Sure, she makes for a psycho girlfriend, but the truth is, everything seems more interesting when I’m around her. Like, instead of watching the movie, I’m in the movie. And I’ve got the girl.
It sure beats being with most of the girls I’ve hooked up with. Let’s just say those classic blond beach girls are cute and everything, but I could almost write out a script for what they’ll say or do.
I sit up and stretch, trying to work out a few of the kinks in my back. Donalita murmurs something and wriggles until she’s pretty much glued to me with her head on my lap.
I tangle a hand in her hair and look around, still blown away. I’m in a freaking otherworld, dude. I may not have superpowers, but this is still way cool. Then I realize that the blanket-covered bundle lying on the ground on the other side of last night’s fire isn’t one person, but two.
Josh pokes his head out, blinking in the light. He sits up, bare-chested, and I catch a glimpse of M
arina’s naked shoulder.
I shake my head and smile. “Du-ude.”
He turns in my direction. “Don’t say a word,” he says.
And I don’t want to because this is what I’ve wanted pretty much forever. If I couldn’t be with Marina, then it had to be Josh. Oh, who am I kidding? It always had to be Josh. But the two of them hooking up now?
“You remember who Chaingang runs with, right?” I say. “Do you really want to get on the Avers’ bad side?”
Marina sits up beside him, looking gorgeous with her mussed hair and sleepy eyes. She holds the blanket up against her chest. The pair of them look mildly guilty, but they’ve also got this goofy look of pure happiness in their eyes. Josh puts an arm around her shoulders.
“We know,” he says. “Okay?”
“Yeah, but—”
I don’t get a chance to finish. Donalita’s awake now, too, and she pokes a sharp elbow in my side.
“Stop it,” she says. “Don’t you see that they were meant to be together?”
“Dude, I totally agree. But pissing off a gang of bikers never seems like a good idea. Especially when half of the rest of the world’s already lining up to take a crack at us.”
“We’ll work it out,” Josh says.
The door of Canejo’s building opens, cutting off anything more we might say. Canejo walks out carrying a tray with a teapot and a bunch of small mugs without handles.
“Good morning!” he calls out to us.
“I need a moment,” Marina says.
She wraps a blanket around herself. Picking up her clothes, she heads around the side of the building, presumably to pee. Josh wriggles into his pants under the other blanket, then gets out from under it to put on his shirt and shoes.
“Thanks. This is generous of you,” he tells Canejo.
The rabbit man sets the tray down near us, then straightens up, his nose twitching.
“You had a visitor last night,” he says. His voice is calm, but there’s a new edge in it.
“That’s right,” Josh says.
Canejo regards him, waiting.
There’s a long pause. “It was Tío Goyo,” Josh finally says, “from the Halcón Pueblo.”
Canejo nods. “You know those men are not to be trusted.”
This is new and I’d like to hear more—like, hello, why?—but Josh only shrugs.
“Who’s not to be trusted?” Marina asks, rejoining us.
“The hawk uncles,” Donalita says. “The ones that go around killing cousins with evil spirits in them.”
She says it like she’s never had a bloodthirsty thought in her own pretty head.
Marina glances at Josh and he shrugs again.
“Don’t take them lightly,” Canejo says. “They can be dangerous.”
Josh nods. “I can be dangerous, too. Everyone has that potential. The trick is in knowing when your aggressive actions are justified, and when they’re not.”
He and Canejo are staring at each other and I don’t know what to think. Josh has always been so easygoing. Between the two of us, if anyone was going to get into a fight, it’d be me. But he’s different now. Focused. Tough. Enough of the old Josh remains that I doubt he’d try to pick a fight, but I’m damned sure he won’t back down from one now. And I’d bet money that he’ll be the one standing when the dust settles.
“So, the dude brought us some tea,” I say. “That’s nice, right? Hospitable.”
Everyone turns to look at me, and my inane comment does just what I hoped for. It defuses the tension.
Josh grins. “Very hospitable.” He gives Canejo a little bow. “For which we are grateful.”
The rabbit man shrugs. “If I’d known you were camping out here all night, I would have offered you pallets inside.”
Josh smiles. “No, we enjoyed being out here tonight.” He draws Marina to him and gives her cheek a kiss, then lets her go and sinks to a cross-legged position beside the tea tray. She sits down beside him, close, all dreamy looking, like she didn’t get a lot of sleep last night. Her hand is on his thigh.
This is going to be real messy when we get back home.
“Can I pour for anyone?” Josh asks.
Donalita scampers over. She picks up a mug and holds it out for him to fill.
“Sure,” I say. “Why not? Kind of like a last meal, right? Or at least a last drink.”
“Okay, I know this isn’t going to be easy,” Josh says as he pours tea for the two of us. “But we’ll get through it. All of us will.”
Donalita passes me my tea and settles back down beside me.
“Are you talking about when Chaingang finds out, or the rally?” I ask.
“Both, I guess.”
Marina gets a pained look on her face.
Canejo looks at me, puzzled. “What is it that worries you so?” he asks.
I roll my eyes. “Dude, where do I start?”
Really, Des? I think. We don’t know anything about this guy except that he helped Marina—admittedly a big plus, but it doesn’t automatically make him our new best friend.
Des shoots me a glance and I see that he’s realizing that for himself. He opens his mouth, then closes it as though thinking better of saying anything more.
Canejo sits on his haunches so that we’re all pretty much at eye level. I take a sip of tea and study the rabbit man over the brim of my mug. He’s obviously curious about what we’ve been discussing. I decide to switch subjects before Des can change his mind again.
“Do you know anything about our world?” I say to the rabbit man.
“The first world? Of course. It’s where everything started.”
“I mean, our world now.”
“I haven’t been in Dainnan for that long,” Canejo says, “so I doubt things have changed much in the brief time I’ve been here.”
“Well, there’s this congressman,” I say, “who’s got a hate-on for Wildlings.” I go on to tell Canejo about Householder’s rally, and how he wants to round us all up.
He nods in sympathy. “As you witnessed, Nanuq and some others have similar ideas about your kind, and antipathy toward ordinary humans, as well, for that matter.”
“That’s just it,” I say. “Nanuq knows about the rally today. He’s been scheming to have the congressman killed and pin it on a Wildling so that humans will turn against us and lock us all up. Maybe even give the authorities justification to euthanize us, like animals, and then conveniently forget that animal people ever existed.” I shake my head. “As if that makes any sense.”
“You’re not looking at it from the right perspective,” Canejo says.
“You can make sense out of it?”
“Nanuq can’t kill Wildlings himself without arousing the ire of the cousins. But if he can get humans to start killing Wildlings, it will drive the undecided cousins to his side. They will see that they are no longer safe living alongside of you—especially the smaller, gentler cousins—and they will come to him for their own safety. He’s not hunting you down because he hates you. He’s building an army.”
“To do what? There are billions of human beings. He can’t expect to take them all on.”
“I don’t know,” Canejo says. “But he’ll have a plan—his kind always do—and the will to implement it.”
“Auntie Min must have figured that out,” I say. “So we have to make sure he doesn’t get to the congressman. If he doesn’t die, the Wildlings won’t get blamed, and Nanuq will be back at square one.”
Canejo nods.
“And then he can be dealt with outside of the public eye,” I say.
“Perhaps. But that’s not necessarily your responsibility.”
“Except nobody else seems ready to take it on. Don’t worry,” I add, as much for my friends as for him. “It’s not something I’m planning to rush into. It’s not even something I want to do. But at some point, someone has to fix this.”
Canejo accepts that with an incline of his head. “And this other problem?” he asks.
“Who or what is Chaingang?”
“A personal problem,” I tell him.
“Ah.”
“He’s a friend of ours,” Marina says. “He’s in a biker gang and he was sort of my boyfriend.” She hesitates, then adds, “I guess he still thinks he is.”
Canejo glances at her hand on my thigh. “Ah.”
“It’s not like you think,” she says. “Josh and I have known each other since we were little kids. Just … not like this.”
“And Chaingang—”
“Theo,” she says. “His real name’s Theo.”
“Theo,” Canejo repeats. “He will be angry?”
“I honestly don’t know. He’s always been hard to read. But he’ll be hurt and I don’t want to hurt him.”
“Perhaps if he cares for you,” Canejo says, “it will be enough for him that you’re happy.”
“It wouldn’t be enough for me,” I say.
Canejo leans closer, his gaze locked on Marina’s.
“You’re afraid that they’ll fight over you,” he says.
Marina nods.
“Oh, come on,” I say. “It’s not like we’re living in the days of slavery. People aren’t possessions. Marina makes the choice about who she wants to be with. Nobody can force her.”
“Dude, he’ll so want to fight you,” Des says.
Canejo turns to me. “If the only way you could be with her was to fight for her, would you?”
“Not to own her.”
“That’s not what I asked,” he says.
I sigh. Everybody’s looking at me, waiting for my answer. But it’s Marina that I’m speaking to when I finally say, “It’s not something I’d want to do, but yeah, I would, if it meant protecting her right to choose. I just realized in the past few days that I’ve been letting her slip away for as long as we’ve known each other. I won’t make that mistake again. The only reason I’d ever walk away now is if she said go.”
I’ve changed in a lot of ways since I first got the mountain lion under my skin, but one thing that hasn’t changed is that when I make a commitment, I stick with it. Marina knows this. Her eyes are bright with a moist sheen. She takes my hand and squeezes my fingers.
“I don’t make a habit of giving advice,” Canejo says, “but in this case I will make an exception because it would be a pity for things to go wrong simply because you don’t see what I see. Stand together to face your challenges and always be honest with one another. This is as true for when you speak with your friend Theo as it is when you face the challenges the other cousins set before you.”