Changeling (29 page)

 
Chih Nu
(
China
): Celestial weaving maid and dressmaker to the Chinese gods and to New York supernaturals of taste and discernment.

Chin Chia
(
China
): Spirit in charge of literature and scholarship. If you don't want blisters all over your body, don't ever let him find out you haven't done your homework.

Closet Monsters
(
New York Between
): Monsters who live in mortals' closets. No two monsters look exactly alike, but all of them have long claws, big, shining eyes, and lots of teeth. Oddly enough, they only eat cloth or paper: socks and homework, mostly, but occasionally sweaters, shoes, and books as well. But they can hurt you if you poke around in their closets without paying attention.

Corn Spirits
(
Europe
): Spirits of the wheat harvest. There's not a lot of wheat grown in Central Park, so the few that got stuck here by accident devote themselves to taking care of the grass.

 
Demons/Devils/Devi
(
Everywhere
): Bad guys. They come in many colors, sizes, and shapes, with anywhere from two to twelve arms and one to five heads, all of them fully equipped with sharp teeth. If a named supernatural has the word “demon” in its description, keep away. Very far away.

Djinn
(
Middle East
): Wind spirits who can take any form at all, although even in their mortal shape, they can't hide their goat feet and square-pupiled eyes. They can be helpful or nasty, depending on their mood, which changes frequently. They grant wishes, but you have to be very careful what and how you ask.

Dragons, Eastern
(
China and Japan
): Long and colorful snakes with lizard legs and horns and long, delicate whiskers. Even though they don't have wings, dragons can fly. They are basically guardian spirits, and therefore good guys, although kind of difficult to talk to. They read a lot and are very, very smart.

Dragons, Western
(
Europe and Great Britain
): Hoarders and guardians of treasure. Some of them have wings; most of the ones left in New York don't. All of them have teeth and claws and like to sleep on beds of gold. The Dragon of Wall Street has eaten the larger immigrant examples, but there are a few left in Madison Avenue and Midtown.

Dryads
(
Greece
): Guardian spirits of trees, groves, and woods. They look like wispy girls, and it's hard to get them to talk about anything but tree maintenance. Good dancers, though.

Dwarf
(
Everywhere)
: Short guy with long beard. Dwarves can be good or not-so-good, but they're almost never bad clear through. They're into metal and technology and gold.

 
Elf
(
Europe and Scandinavia
): In the Old Country, a general term for Folk. In New York Between, more commonly a mortal-shaped supernatural who is very beautiful and very stuck-up. They look down on changelings and Folk from other countries—basically, anybody who isn't an elf. They like music and art and breaking mortal hearts.

Eloise
(
Fictional Character
): The Genius of the Plaza Hotel, Patroness of Spoiled Brats, and heroine of the series of books by the mortal Kay Thompson.

 
Fairy
(
Everywhere
): A general description that covers all kinds of nature spirits. They can be any size, but the most co mmon are small, delicate, and winged.

Fu Dog
(
China
): Supernatural watchdog that hangs out in front of houses in Chinatown to protect the Folk who live there against demons and devils. They work in pairs.

 
Garuda
(
India
): A bird with a human head and a cool headdress. There's really only supposed to be one at a time, but the New York ones are little and colorful and there are plenty of them.

Genius
(
Greece
): Traditionally, the spirit of a sacred mountain or grove or fountain. In New York Between, the spirit of a famous and interesting place.

Ghosts
(
Mortal
): The ghosts of mortals who die in New York City are all over New York Between. I don't know much about them except that they mostly don't bother us, and we mostly aren't interested in them.

Ghouls
(
Middle East
): Gray, bald, skinny. Flashy dressers. Good at business, the shadier the better. Favorite food: bodies, preferably human, preferably well-rotted, but they'll eat anything. They're not aggressive, but they're sneaky.

Giants
(
Everywhere
): Big guys. How big they are and whether they're good-natured or nasty, dangerous or helpful, depends on where they're from. Scottish and Norse giants are pretty bad-tempered. French giants like to eat. English giants like to work in stone—they built a lot of New York Between. Giants are very sensitive to gold fever, which is why there are so many of them on Wall Street.

Gnomes
(
Germany
): Short and strong like dwarves, only bald and clean-shaven. Also, they don't have any toes. They're more into guarding metal and treasure than making it.

Griffin
(
Europe
): A fabulous monster with the body and tail of a lion and the head, neck, front legs, and wings of an eagle. Over in Europe, griffins have a reputation for being fierce and nasty. In New York Between, a lot of Geniuses keep them as guard dogs because they look impressive and are loyal to their masters.

 
Hamadryad
(
Greece
): The spirit of a tree. Not every tree has its own hamadryad, only the important ones, like the mulberry in the Shakespeare Garden. Hamadryads are even more single-minded than dryads and never leave their trees until the tree dies, when they die, too.

Hobgoblin
(
England
): A small and ugly fairy who loves tricks, mischief, and bad puns.

Hooraw
(
Origin Unknown
): Doesn't appear on any of the lists of traditional Folk, but from what Astris says, I'm guessing it's a big bird with extremely sloppy nesting habits.

Howlaa
(
Isle of Man
): A weather spirit. Invisible and very loud.

Hu hsien
(
China
): Fox spirits. Like the kitsune of Japan, they can look like foxes or beautiful girls, but they're much nicer. Because they're the patrons of civil servants, they often work as secretaries in Madison Avenue and Wall Street.

 
Incubus
(Europe)
: A kind of demon who likes mortal women. The original boyfriend from Hell. Literally. Do not go out with an incubus, no matter how cute he is or how well he plays the guitar.

Iolanthe
(
Fictional Character
): The heroine of
Iolanthe
, an operetta by the mortals Gilbert and Sullivan. Teaches dancing in Central Park. (
See
peri)

 
Kappa
(
Japan
): Demon with webbed fingers, a head that is open at the top like a bowl, and really good manners. Hobbies are karate, wrestling, and drowning humans. If you meet a kappa, remember to bow. When it bows back, its strength pours out of its head.

Kazna peri
(
Russia
): Demon from the steppes. It's gray, with a nose out to there. It cooks its treasure over a blue fire from around the Spring Equinox to the Summer Solstice, and if you catch it, you get the treasure.

Kelpie
(
Scotland
): A water spirit who can shape shift between horse and man shape. Either way, he likes to drown people.

Kid-napper
(
New York Between
): An operative of the New York Bureau of Changeling Affairs. Any supernatural that likes stealing mortal children can become a Kid-napper, but pixies seem to be best at it.

Kitsune
(
Japan
): Sometimes a fox; sometimes a foxy girl. Kitsune like mortal men. Sometimes they marry one and settle down in New York Outside, but it usually doesn't work out well. The name means “fox maiden.”

Kobolds
(
Germany
): Small and pointy-headed, like brownies. Miners and metalworkers, they live in the Financial Maze, in the Betweenways, and Grand Central Station.

Kraken
(
Scandinavia
): A very, very big sea monster with lots of tentacles, like a giant squid. It's really a deep-sea creature and has no business in New York Harbor, but I'm guessing that even the Mermaid Queen would think twice about telling it to leave.

 
Lamia
(
Greece
): Half woman, half snake. She's got a short fuse and a big appetite for mortal men and lost children. You don't want to meet her on a dark night.

Leprechaun
(
Ireland
): Little guy, maybe ankle height. Favorite colors: green and gold. Occupation: shoemaking. Hobbies: hoarding gold and drinking beer. If you can catch one and hold on to him, he has to give you all his gold. Hard to catch.

Leshii
(
Russia
): Forest spirit, shapeshifter, trickster. Some of his shapes are wolf, old man, and dog. He can be helpful if he's in the mood, but he's got a strange sense of humor. When he plays hide-and-seek, he cheats. He's supposed to have a wife called Lesovikha, but I've never seen her.

Li
(
China
): A fire spirit who will help you organize your daily life.

 
Mélusine
(
France
): Her top half is woman, her bottom half is snake. Not easy to get along with because of a messy romance in France that no one will tell me about.

Moss women
(
Germany
): Wood nymphs, guardian spirits in a small way. They'll grant you a wish if you're sad enough.

Nixies
(
Germany
): Water nymphs. Like most water spirits, they have a thing about drowning people, so you have to be a little careful when you go swimming with them. But they like changelings and have always been very kind to me.

 
Nymphs
(
Everywhere
): Nature spirits. Really beautiful girls. They live everywhere nature is found. They can be silly or kind or mischievous, but you can always distract them with presents or treats.

 
Peg Powler
(
England
): A bogeywoman. If the Lady let her, she'd eat any mortal kid who came near her. As it is, she likes to make them slip and get wet and muddy and scared. A good reason to stay away from boggy places.

Peris
(
Fictional Characters
): Originally, peri was the name of a tiny, winged, female fairy in Persia, but that was so long ago that the last one disappeared long before America was even discovered. New York peris are mostly cast members from the comic opera
Iolanthe
by Gilbert and Sullivan, have English accents, and sing and dance a lot.

Piskie/Pixie
(
Cornwall
): A wingless fairy, about knee height. Pixies like playing tricks. They steal things from mortals, including children. Their favorite color is green.

Pooka
(
Ireland
): A shapeshifter and trickster whose main party trick in the Old Country was turning into a shaggy pony and getting kids to ride on him and throwing them off cliffs. He can also turn into a black dog, a black goat, and a man. My fairy godfather.

Puck
(
England
): Puck's kind of complicated. On the one hand, he's a traditional hobgoblin. On the other hand, he's one of the Shakespeare fairies. He likes playing tricks and getting people into trouble, but he can be a good friend if he's in the mood. (
See
hobgoblin; Shakespeare fairies)

 
Red Cap
(
Holland
): A household spirit who always wears a red baseball cap and does his best to help poor people pay their heating bills. There's another, English, Red Cap who rides with the Wild Hunt and is pretty much what you'd expect: bloodthirsty, nasty, and very toothy. His cap is dyed red with blood. (See
Wild Hunt
)

 
Selkie
(
Ireland
): A man on the land; a seal in the sea. Very strong, very handsome, very gentle—for Folk.

Shakespeare fairy
(
Literary Character
): Moth, Peaseblossom, Cobweb, and Puck appear in the play
A Midsummer Night's Dream
by Mr. William Shakespeare and in the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park. They're tiny, they have wings, and they spend most of their time decorating flowers and gathering dewdrops and nuts and things for their queen, Titania. They also sing and dance a lot.

Shinseën
(
China
): Fairies who can look like little old men with long beards or beautiful girls. For some reason, in New York Between, they prefer the little-old-man look.

Sidhe
(
Ireland
): Kind of like mortals, only lots more beautiful. Famous for red hair, violent tempers, and tragic love affairs. They live in the City, and cross over Outside a lot. (Pronounced “shee.”)

Succubus
(
Greece
): Girl incubus. A super high-maintenance girlfriend. They only go out with mortals, and the mortals are always really, really, really sorry.

Supernatural
(
New York Between
): General term for anything that lives in New York Between that isn't mortal.

Swan maidens
(
Northern Europe
): Swans who are girls; girls who are swans. Take your pick. If you can hide their feather cloaks, they have to marry you. My advice? Don't bother. They have bad tempers and they bite.

 
Tanuki
(
Japan
): Shapeshifter. Sometimes he's a little fat man; mostly he's a badger. He's always a trickster, with a very basic sense of humor and a weakness for rice wine.

Tech Folk/Machine Folk
(
Cyberspace
): Geeks, nerds, bugs, gremlins, spam, worms, hackers, Tech dwarves, and computer wizards. Practically the newest Folk around—except for the gremlins and Tech dwarves, who have been around ever since machines were invented, under one name or another. Bugs, gremlins, worms, and spam are the bad guys. Computer wizards, geeks, nerds, and Tech dwarves are the good guys. Hackers are kind of like tricksters—they'll do whatever amuses them most. Tech Folk come from all over the world and hang out in Cyberspace until they're summoned through a computer.