"I couldn't get away," I tell Auntie Min, "because I'm grounded."
She smiles. "Being grounded is a good thing. It emphasizes the connections we all share with the land and each other."
"Not that kind of grounded. My parents won't let me leave the house, except to go to school and visit my dad."
"That hardly seems fair. Does she not know the part you played in rescuing Josh?"
"She doesn't even know I'm a Wildling. I'm grounded for staying out all night."
"I see."
A sympathetic look crosses her face before her eyes brighten once more.
"Still, you're here now," she says. "What about this 'grounding' you were given?"
"I snuck out. I'm just so tired of being cooped up."
Auntie Min nods. "Of course. And it keeps you away from the grasshopper mouse, too, doesn't it?"
I can feel the flush rise up my neck until my cheeks are burning.
"How—how do you know about that?"
She laughs. "Oh, little otter. I know all the gossip of this land. If the birds don't tell me, then the little lizards will."
I see this as the perfect opportunity to turn the conversation away from personal embarrassment to what I really came for.
"So all the cousins answer to you?" I ask.
"It sounds so formal when you put it like that. The little cousins give me their respect and, in return, I help them with the various troubles that vex their lives."
"What do you mean when you say 'little cousins'?"
She shrugs. "We are all of equal stature in the eyes of the Thunders, but in the day-to-day goings-on of the world, some of the elder clans walk a little taller. But only because we have been here for that much longer."
"You mean cousins like Tomás and Cory?"
She smiles. "Cory comes from an elder clan, but he's still a pup. Tomás, however, is another matter. He has been a guiding force in the lands north of us for many many years."
"I guess you must know all the local elders," I say.
"There aren't many of us to know. At any given time, there are no more than a half-dozen at best in this area. Most of us tend to keep to ourselves and don't get involved in human affairs."
"I think I saw an elder the other day," I say, hoping she won't be able to tell that I'm lying to her. "He was this really tall guy wearing dark suit pants and jacket, but no shirt or shoes. He was pale-skinned, too, which I thought was weird since most of the older cousins I've seen so far are dark. And though I got a major vibe from him, I couldn't tell what his animal shape is."
"That comes with time and practice," Auntie Min says, but I can tell she's intrigued. "Where did you see this man?" she asks.
I make a vague wave with my hand.
"Down south," I say. "Around Tiki Bay. All the hardcore surfers go there and I thought maybe he liked to ride the waves, too."
"Hmm."
"Do you know him?"
"I'm not sure," she says. "From your description, it sounds like Vincenzo of the Condor Clan, but that doesn't make sense. He has no love for the five-fingered beings. Truth is, he doesn't much care for his own people, either. You're more likely to find him in the middle of the Mohave or some other desolate place. And I think that I would have known if he were in Santa Feliz." She gives me a sharp look. "If you see him again, keep your distance. He has a special distaste for Wildlings and would be a formidable enemy."
"So these condors are pretty badass?"
Auntie Min shakes her head. "Don't mistake individuals for their clans. Yes, the people of the Condor Clan can be fearsome, but Vincenzo is something else again. He is one of the oldest and most powerful cousins I have met, and easily the most angry about our current state of affairs."
"You mean because he got outted," I say. "I don't mean just him," I add, "but all of you, now that the world knows about the Wildlings …"
Auntie Min sighs. "Yes, he faces the same risk of exposure that we all do. For an old cousin like him, that's an uncomfortable possibility. He's walked hidden among the five-fingered beings for centuries and would prefer to keep it that way. But most of us have seen how the wind blows. Better we introduce ourselves in our own time than be discovered and considered as yet one more threat to the security of the five-fingered beings.
"Which reminds me," she goes on, "have you spoken to Josh?"
"Sure. I see him at school every day."
"Could you tell him that I would like to speak to him?"
I nod. "But don't hold your breath. He's not ready to be your poster boy. He's just trying to keep his head down and get on with his life."
"Unfortunately, that choice might no longer be in his hands. As soon as he became a Wildling, destiny began making its own plans for him."
I know this spiel, and thankfully, she doesn't bother to repeat it. Josh is from the Mountain Lion Clan, one of the oldest and most respected of the cousin clans, which means the other cousins will listen to him. From the human perspective, he's a good kid with a mixed-race background. Some of the elder cousins like Auntie Min and Tomás think that makes him a perfect candidate to be their public face when they come out to the rest of the world. They need a friendly, uncomplicated kid like Josh to defuse the potential fallout when the world actually realizes what's what.
At the moment, everybody believes this is just something happening to kids in Santa Feliz. They have no idea that the animal people originate from the beginning of time and have been living hidden among them since day one. They also don't know about the pristine parallel world that exists side by side with the one we live in. Only the cousins do, and until we came along, only they had access to it.
Somehow, I don't think the cousins plan to share that information any time soon.
"I'll tell him," is all I say.
Auntie Min nods. Then she cocks her head and studies me for a long moment.
"What?" I finally have to ask.
"There was always a strong connection between you and Josh," she says, "and I was curious as to whether it had been broken. Now I see it is still there, but Theo is entwined in the pattern as well—much more than he was before."
"You can read the future?"
She laughs. "Of course not. But I can read patterns. I read it in the land and I read it in how we all interact with one another upon it. Everything is connected. But there are always surprises, even for one such as I, with all my centuries behind me. I find it interesting that you've chosen the grasshopper mouse over the mountain lion."
"I didn't say that."
"But you're with Theo."
I don't know how to explain the confusing mix of subterfuge and genuine emotion that's running through me right now. And even if I wanted to try, I couldn't. Not without giving away how Theo and I are trying to deal with this threat to Josh's life in a way that doesn't involve any of the other animal people.
"Josh made his choice first," I say instead. "He chose Elzie."
"But now Elzie is gone."
"I don't think Josh even knows I exist in that kind of way."
"Have you ever let him know how you feel?"
I shake my head. "But it doesn't matter, anyway. I'm not going to be the rebound girl."
"And you have Theo."
I don't know what I have, but I nod just to avoid discussing the topic any further.
Auntie Min tilts her head and looks at me as though she's reading my mind. "Hmm," is all she says.
"I should go," I tell her, getting up from the sofa.
"Come back when you can," Auntie Min says. "I have much to teach you about your new heritage—if you're still interested."
"I am. Honestly. As soon as things calm down a little."
Auntie Min smiles. "Outer tranquility first requires inner peace."
That sounds way too much like a fortune cookie, but I keep that thought to myself. I just give her another nod and set off back through the cardboard village and trash. I wait until I'm a block away before I pull out my phone and text Theo to tell hi
m what I've learned. I half think he's going to want to meet up, but he doesn't respond.
I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about that after I've snuck back into the house and am lying in my bed.
I go over my conversation with Auntie Min again.
I haven't really chosen Theo over Josh. Or have I? I wasn't lying to Auntie Min about how Josh sees me as a pal, not a girl. I used to want to change that, but now I'm just confused.
Theo's in a gang. Who knows what his future's going to be? The victim of a drive-by? Or the perpetrator who gets caught and sent to jail?
Josh is the textbook definition of a great guy. Plus we love the same music and easygoing surf lifestyle. Okay, Josh manages to fall off a board more often than he stays on, but I can't even imagine Theo hitting the waves with me.
But he's such a great kisser …
It's a long time before I finally fall asleep.
Josh
Des keeps goofing around after we drop Marina off at her house, but then suddenly he gets serious.
"We need to come up with a plan to deal with Erik," he says.
It's such a nice day. Lots of sun, not too hot. I can hear the waves. I can smell the waves—or at least the brine in the water and the tangles of seaweed that are knotting in the tide at the shoreline. Movement catches the corner of my eye and I track a pelican across the sky, heading out to sea. Talking about Erik Gess is pretty much the last thing I feel like doing right now.
"You heard me, right?" Des says when I don't respond.
I nod without looking at him. "Sure."
"And?"
"You need to let it slide."
"Dude, you saw what happened after lunch. He's on your case and he's not going away until you put a stop to it."
"The way things stand right now, I don't see what I can do."
"Seriously? Seriously?"
I shake my head. "What do you want from me, Des? Should I track him down and beat the crap out of him?"
"Sounds good to me."
"Then what was the point of letting him and his goons beat me up?"
"You tell me."
I sigh. Now he's beginning to sound a little like Matteson.
"Look," I tell him. "I know how you feel about all of this. I know what you'd do it if was you who'd changed instead of me. But I don't want to be the public face of the Wildlings. I'd just screw it up."
"I'm not talking about going public."
"Then what do you think's going to happen if I take Erik down? Look at me. It's not like I was ever a threat even before I got beat up. And suddenly I can take him?" I shake my head. "I don't think so."
"You took him before—when he tried to jump you outside the lunchroom."
"Sure, but not like you want me to do now."
Des steps in front of me and pokes my chest with his finger. Why does everyone keep forgetting I'm bruised up?
"Okay," he says, "so you don't care about being on Erik's shit list. What about your friends?"
"Come on. Since when do you care about something like that?"
"I'm not talking about me," Des says. "Did you hear what he called Marina? Do you want to have her put up with that kind of crap? Dude!"
"I haven't forgotten."
I've been trying to—so I don't do something stupid. But the mountain lion under my skin sure hasn't forgotten. All it wants to do is tear off Erik's head. And when I see Erik's face in my mind's eye all I want to do is—
I take a calming breath.
"Fine," I say, stepping back from his finger. "So just saying I agree we need to do something about Erik.What did you have in mind?"
He grins. "A takedown—but get this. We do it in his own bedroom so that he knows nowhere is safe."
"I can change into a mountain lion, not a ninja."
"Whatever. You just need to show him that there are repercussions to being an asshole."
"And if he goes ahead and tells everybody anyway?" I ask.
"Dude, he's not going to tell anybody. And even if he did, who's going to believe him? You just need to get him on his own and explain the serious payback if he hassles you again. Then get out. You don't mark him, you don't trash the place. You let his own fear do the work for you."
"I could never sneak in without getting caught."
"I've been scoping out his place," Des says. "His room's on top of the garage and I'm pretty sure the stairs up to his room are right inside."
"When did you scope out the place? You were at school all afternoon."
Des shrugs. "I've been working on this since he first went to the principal crying about Wildlings." He cocks his head. "Look, if you don't want in, I'll do it myself."
Like I'm going to let him do this on his own.
"Okay," I tell him. "We'll swing by tonight. But we're just going to check it out."
"I told you, dude, I already—"
"I know. But I still want to see it myself."
Which is how come, just after midnight, Des and I are crouched in a jade hedge across the street from the Gess house. It's a long stretch of California-style adobe, with a manicured lawn and palms out front. We just saw Erik go into the garage. A moment later the light goes on in the room above.
"See?" Des says.
I nod, but before I can say anything, I hear a rustle in the hedge and Cory's crouched down beside me. His eyes glow for a moment—like when you catch a cat or a dog in your headlights—then he moves his head out of the light. Des doesn't know he's there, so he jumps when Cory speaks.
"Tell me you're not doing what I think you're doing," Cory says.
Des almost falls out onto the sidewalk. He catches himself in time and glares at Cory.
"Jeez, dude," he says. "Maybe a little warning next time."
Cory ignores him. His gaze is fixed on mine.
"We're just scouting things out tonight," I tell him.
"Right."
But then Des launches into his explanation about why we have to do something about Erik before everything gets out of hand.
Cory's eyebrows go up, but Des doesn't have a Wildling's night sight and I doubt he sees.
"And ambushing him in his own home," Cory says. "That's not getting out of hand?"
"And you've got a better idea?"
"Sure. Let me deal with it. And that way the Feds won't find out you're involved."
"What are you talking about?" I ask.
Cory gives a nod down the road with his head. "Agent Solana's sitting in a car on the next block."
"Why are they following me? How are they following me?"
"The how's easy," Cory says. "He's tracking you through the GPS on your phone."
Des nods. "Spycraft 101, dude."
"So I should turn it off."
"No," Cory says. "That'll just tell him that you know about it—like a couple of weeks ago when you were trying to lose that other agent in the mall. Just leave it at home the next time you go out and don't want him to know."
"But I might need to make a call."
Cory shrugs. "So get a burner. You can even forward your calls to it if you have to."
"So are you following me, too?" I ask.
"Sure," Cory says with a grin. "But it's not so stalkerish as it sounds. I was coming by to talk to you. When I saw you heading out, I decided to tag along and see what you were up to."
"In other words, you were sneaking around."
"Hey, that's what coyotes do. Anyway, I was coming up to talk to you when I noticed Solana pull up. I figure he has to be using a GPS tracker. It's not like he's got our skills."
"We can track people like that?"
Cory taps the side of his nose. "You can if you've got the right nose."
I look in the direction where Cory pointed.
"What do they even want with me?" I say.
"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"
"It's getting creepy. First they show up in time to save me from getting my ass hauled by Erik—"
"Sorry to disagree, d
ude," Des breaks in, "but they totally went to town on your ass."
I ignore him. "Which is like they're looking out for me, but then they stopped to hassle us when we were leaving school."
"What did they want?" Cory asks.
"To see if I had an alibi for when Clint Gaillard got killed." I see Cory trying to process the name and I add, "He was the guy who was running security at ValentiCorp."
Cory nods. "Oh, yeah. Him. I heard it looked like he'd been killed by a Wildling."
"Was he?" Des asks.
"Don't know. I'd have to see the body firsthand. But back to your little problem here. I'll handle the high school bully if you'll do something for me. Go talk to Auntie Min."
I shake my head, exasperated that no one wants to cut me a break. I just want a bit of down time before getting back into all this crap. Two weeks haven't been nearly enough.
"We've already had this conversation," I tell him through clenched teeth.
"I know. I'm not saying to do whatever she wants or even to agree with her. Just talk to her. Give her a little respect."
"Why do you even care?"
"Because she's got every damn bird, lizard and rat in Santa Feliz reminding me to ask you, and I'm sick of listening to them."
"You can understand regular animals?"
"I can if she sends them to me. So are we good with this deal?"
I sigh and close my eyes, trying to think. I've been intending to talk to Auntie Min at some point down the road, and I really don't want anything more to do with Erik, so I decide to tell Cory what he wants to hear.
"Sure," I say.
"Okay, then. It doesn't have to be tonight, but soon."
Before I can respond, Cory shifts into coyote shape and trots across the road. When he gets to the garage door, he goes through it like he just stepped through an illusion, not a real door.
"Holy Batman!" Des says. "How did he do that?"
My guess is he stepped momentarily into the otherworld, where there isn't a garage door, and stepped back out again once he was on the other side.
"Ninja coyote skills, I guess," is all I say. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
I know Des wants to hang around to see if we can tell what's happening inside, maybe talk with Cory when he comes back out, but I'm done. He hesitates as I push my way out of the hedge and start to walk away, but a moment later he's scrambling along after me.