Changeling (30 page)

Tengu
(
Japan
): Sometimes he's a crow, sometimes he's a man, sometimes he's a little of each. He's also a bogeyman and a trickster. He particularly hates politicians and members of the clergy and is very sensitive about the length of his nose.

Theatre Folk
(
New York Between
): Hoofers dance. Chorus lines sing and dance, mostly at the same time. Gaffers (and their assistants, called best boys) are in charge of lighting. Managers run the theatres. Scalpers (almost all of them ghouls) trade tickets to popular shows for an arm and a leg. Most actors are vampires
,
but fairies, elves
,
and other supernaturals sometimes act, too.

Trolls
(
Scandinavia
): Big, ugly, hairy, and bad-tempered. They like treasure and solitude and biting people's heads off. They turn to stone in the sun.

 
Undines
(
Germany
): Water spirits, shapeshifters, unreliable, but not actively out to drown you. They can turn into snakes or fish, but mostly they don't bother.

 
Vampires
(
Europe
): Bloodsuckers. Formerly mortal, now undead. Since they're allergic to fairies, they don't usually bite changelings, but it's better to be safe than sorry. They can't stand the smell of garlic.

Veela
(
Eastern Europe
): Nature spirits, guardians of wood and stream and tree. Independent, mischievous, beautiful, not all that interested in talking to mortal girls. They're wonderful dancers, though, and the squirrels like them.

Vodyanoi
(
Russia
): Water spirits, shapeshifters. Part of the “lure you into the water and drown you horribly” crowd. When they look like mortals, it's mostly old men with green beards or fur or scales. They can also look like big fish or frogs.

 
Wall Street Folk
(
New York Between
): More of a job description than a species of Folk, since almost any kind of supernatural can be infected by gold fever if it hangs out on Wall Street long enough. Folk who are predators turn into brokers. Tricksters and gamblers turn into investors. And that's all I know, even after Fleet explained it all to me.

Water Rat
(
Literary Character
): From
The Wind in the Willows
, by the mortal author Kenneth Grahame. He's very English. Personally, I think he's sweet on Astris.

Werebears
(
Scandinavia
): Shapeshifters who can look like men or bears. In the Old Country, they were mighty warriors. Here, they're mostly into sports.

Wild Hunt
(
Northern Europe
): Traditionally, a host of evil spirits who hunt the souls of the damned on stormy nights. In New York Between, it's more of a mob made up of all the nasty Folk who like fresh meat and scaring people out of their wits.

Will-o'-the-Wisps
(
England
): Nature spirits who look like little lights. They enjoy leading travelers astray. Similar spirits appear everywhere in the world under different names.

Wyrm
(
Scandinavia
): A kind of dragon, wingless, snake-like, nasty-tempered, greedy. Not all that powerful, which is why the Dragon lets wyrms hang around Wall Street.

Wyvern
(
Europe
): A kind of fabulous monster. Body of a snake, head of a dragon, wings of a bat, legs of a bird. It likes fighting better than gold, which makes it an excellent security guard.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Every writer writes to please herself. But a writer who publishes had better please her audience as well, or else what's the point?

I am very grateful to all the people who have been this story's earliest audience. The Genrettes (Laurie R. Marks, Rosemary Kirstein, and Didi Stewart) encouraged me through the difficult early drafts and kept me focused on bringing my beloved New York alive to people who don't live there. The Massachusetts All-Stars (Kelly Link, Gavin Grant, Holly Black, Cassandra Claire, Sarah Smith, and Ellen Kushner) supplied lively critical discussion, useful comments, and some very cool doodles in the margins of the manuscript. Keri MacNair supplied research materials. Helen Pilinovsky and Veronica Schanoes cast a professional eye over my folklore. Mimi Panitch, Deb Manning, Patrick O'Connor, Eve Sweetser, Els Kushner, Tess Baker, Shweta Narayan, and Nathaniel Smith caught inconsistencies, queried motivations, and asked interesting and useful questions. Davey Snyder gave me insights into the speech patterns of Executive Assistants and Dragons. Ellen Klages not only read the manuscript five times (or was it six?), but had something intelligent and kind to say every time. Sara Berg gave me an invaluable education on Asperger's Syndrome and a copy of Dawn Prince-Hughes's wonderful
Songs of the Gorilla Nation.
Holly Black rallied around with moral support, advice, and some very shrewd suggestions during the difficult final draft.

I also want to thank my younger readers: Maya and Rafaela Carlyle-Swedberg, Chiara Azzaretti, and most of all, Liran Bromberg, who honestly, yet kindly, told me what they thought of Neef and her adventures, and the places where things got confusing.

Special thanks to Christopher Schelling, my agent, for taking care of the business end so I don't have to worry about it and being a good friend and perceptive reader as well. And thanks to Sharyn November, whose editorial style is a fine, rich mixture of enthusiastic encouragement and incisive, detailed criticism. Nobody could ask for a better, more attentive editor.

Thank you to Eleanor and Leigh Hoagland and Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, who let me retreat to their houses in the country at the two points when I needed it the most.

And finally, my love and most profound thanks to Ellen Kushner, who named the Eloise Award for Naughty Children, liked Honey when no one else quite understood why she was there (including me), walked all over the North Woods with me looking for the Blockhouse, which wasn't at all where I thought it was, and got us safely home again.

DELIA SHERMAN was born in Tokyo, Japan, and raised in New York City, where she now lives. She is the author of numerous short stories, including three set in a magical New York: “CATNYP” (
The Faery Reel
), “Cotillion” (
Firebirds
), and “Grand Central Park” (
The Green Man).
Her novels include
Through a Brazen Mirror
,
The Porcelain Dove
(winner of the Mythopoeic Award), and
The Freedom Maze
. With fellow fantasist Ellen Kushner, she is coauthor of a short story and a novel, both called “The Fall of the Kings.” She is also coeditor, with Terri Windling, of
The Essential Bordertown.
She prefers cafés to home for writing, and traveling to staying put.

Her Web site is
www.deliasherman.com.