Firestone (37 page)

“
Tanesha has always had
the look.” Alma nodded. “I wasn’t surprised when Heather brought
her home the first time.”

Fin nodded.

“
What has your mother done
about . . .?” Alma indicated Yvonne.

“
Nothing,” Fin said.
“Queen Fand knows better than to cross me. My daughter, Yvonne’s
mother, is currently mother’s personal librarian as mother strives
to catch up with the world. She’s been cursed for the most of the
last two millennia. The world has moved on.”

“
You are a better man than
my husband,” Alma said.

“
I saw my friend ripped to
shreds over the cruelness of his mother,” Fin nodded.

Alma’s eyes filled with tears.

“
Why here?” Fin
asked.

“
No one remembers us.”
Alma shrugged. “It’s easier to live out in the open without my
infernal mother-in-law pestering me all the time.
Heather
has been able to
grow up in peace without the burden of . . .
everything.”

Fin nodded.

“
She never needs to know,”
Alma said.

“
Your husband will find
you,” Fin said. “He’s been looking. It takes up most of his time.
The fairy corps is assigned to help him.”

“
Let him look,” Alma said
firmly, and Fin saw some of the bitterness Tanesha had referred to.
“You will not tell him.”

“
If I do?” Fin
asked.

“
I will move,” Alma said.
She nodded to Heather. “We’ve done it before.”

“
You’d take Heather from
all of the people who love her?” Fin asked. His voice reflected his
horror.

“
I’ve done it before,”
Alma said.

“
But her
husband . . . her children . . .” Fin
said. “Her friends? Tanesha, Jill, and Sandy?”

“
Better than her
grandmother killing her outright,” Alma said. “Better than having
to deal with her weak and pathetic father.”

Fin swallowed hard. He knew by the set of
her jaw there was nothing he could do to change her mind.

“
She forgets after a
time,” Alma said. “I mean, it always takes a while.”

Alma nodded.

“
She eventually makes new
friends,” Alma said.

“
She’s an adult,” Fin
said.

“
For now,” Alma said. “I
usually return her to an age when she’s happy — nine or
ten.”

“
And her children?” Fin
asked.

“
Oh, they stay with their
father,” Alma said. “
I’m
no child killer.”

“
Let’s hope it doesn’t
come to that,” Fin said.

Alma gave him a sickeningly sweet smile, and
Fin had the distinct feeling that Alma had already made a plan to
take her daughter somewhere else. He swallowed hard.

“
I won’t allow my only
child to be injured like I was,” Alma said, before she got up from
her seat.

Fin’s eyes followed her across the room.
Alma picked up Mack and laughed at something Tink said. Heather
looked up when Alma touched her child. Fin watched a wave of deep
distrust flow from daughter to mother.

“
I’ll change him, Mom,”
Heather said.

Tanesha turned to look at Alma.

“
It’s my pleasure,” Alma
said, and carried the baby to the back to change his
diaper.

Heather and Tanesha shared a long look. Just
then, Abi and Yvonne fell over on the Twister mat, and it was
Tanesha and Heather’s turn. Fin watched Heather wait for her mother
to bring Mack back. It wasn’t until the baby returned that Heather
engaged in the game.

“
Did you talk to her?” Abi
said in a low tone.

Fin nodded.

“
And?” Abi
asked.

“
Nothing nice,” Fin
said.

Abi looked at Alma and scowled.

“
We’ll talk later,” Fin
said. “You should play.”

Abi nodded and returned to the game.

~~~~~~~~

Monday evening — 7:26 p.m.

“
Mommy?” Katy
asked.

“
Yes, Katy-baby?” Jill
asked.

She pushed away layers of tulle to see her
daughter’s face. Katy was wearing pancake makeup and bright blue
eye shadow from the makeup kit they’d found in Valerie’s dress room
above Mike’s garage painting studio. Katy had put on a big dress
with a full skirt. She kept pulling the skirt over her head to show
just the tulle.

“
What do you think is
happening at Auntie Heather’s house?” Katy asked.

“
I don’t know,” Jill
said.

She pulled the big skirt down and put a
saucy hat on Katy’s head. Katy ran to the full-length mirror to
take a look. She laughed.

“
Now you!” Katy
said.

They went through the designer dresses until
Katy picked a particularly gaudy, bright-pink dress for Jill to
wear. Jill was afraid it wouldn’t fit, but Katy didn’t care about
zipping the dress.

“
You look very pretty,
Mommy,” Katy said. “Let’s find a hat.”

Jill followed Katy to the hat stands.

“
This one! This one!” Katy
picked up a cowboy hat. “It’s like my horsey hat!”

Jill picked it up and stuck it on her head.
Katy tipped her head back and laughed.

“
Why did you ask about
Auntie Heather?” Jill asked.

“’
Cuz we need to go,” Katy
said. “Let’s do make-up!”

“
What?” Jill
asked.

“
Make up?” Katy’s dark
eyes blinked at her. “We have to have make up!”

“
No, I mean why do we have
to go over to Auntie Heather’s?” Jill asked.

“
Oh.” Katy shrugged. “I
don’ know.”

Jill gaped at her daughter. Katy smiled.

“
I’ll do your make up,”
Katy said.

“
Wait,” Jill said. “Tell
me now.”

Katy blinked at Jill.

“
Now,” Jill
said.

“’
Member when you had to
go away to get Keenan?” Katy asked.

Jill nodded.

“
It’s like that,” Katy
said.

“
What do you mean?” Jill
asked.

“
I don’ know.” Katy shook
her head. “I would tell you if I did, Mommy. Promise.”

Jill thought about her experiences with
knowing to see if she could use them to better understand.

“
Tell me what you see,”
Jill said.

“
I see Auntie Heather,”
Katy said. “She’s yelling. Bad. Crying. But stuck. Someplace
bad.”

“
When?” Jill
asked.

“
I think that happened
before,” Katy said.

“
But it’s going to happen
again?” Jill asked.

Katy nodded.

“
When?” Jill
asked.

Katy shrugged.

“
Tonight?” Jill
asked.

“
I don’ know,” Katy said.
“I’m not s’posed to know.”

“
What does that mean?”
Jill asked.

“
Um . . .”
Katy broke away from Jill.

She ran around in circles for a while. She
moved her hands like she was shooting arrows, and then she fell
down to the ground as if she’d been stuck with an arrow.

“
Like that,” Katy
said.

“
Heather’s going to be
stuck with an arrow?” Jill asked.

“
No,” Katy said. “Her
mommy was stuck with an arrow.”

“
Oh?” Jill
asked.

Jill had no idea what Katy was talking
about.

“
Her mommy needs your
help,” Katy said.

“
My
help
?” Jill pressed her hand into her
chest.

“
Cuddles.” Katy
nodded.

“
Uh . . .”
Jill said.

“
And Auntie Sandy too,”
Katy said.

Jill watched her daughter closely. Katy was
looking off into the distance.

“
And me too, of course,”
Katy said.

“
And not Paddie?” Jill
asked.

“
Oh, Paddie?” Katy asked.
“That’s a really good idea. Let’s get Paddie.”

With that, Katy started to leave the room.
Jill grabbed her. She wrangled the priceless designer dress off her
daughter and took off the one she was wearing. She noticed that
some of Katy’s makeup had gotten on the dress. She set the dress
aside in the “to be cleaned” pile. She was hanging up her dress
when she heard a car door slam. Looking out the window, she saw
that Katy was waiting for her in the car. Jill grabbed her purse
and then ran to the car.

“
Can we get ice cream
after we get Paddie?” Katy asked.

“
What about Auntie Heather
and being locked away and her mommy shot with arrows
and . . .” Jill started. A little out of breath from
the dress-wrangling and purse-getting, Jill swallowed. “What about
cuddles?”

“
Oh,” Katy said. “Right. I
keep forgetting.”

“
Why is that?” Jill
started the car.

“
I’m not supposed to
know,” Katy said. “It’s like a big
shhh
is wrapped around the whole
thing.”

“
Is that why Auntie
Heather is in danger?” Jill asked.

“
Yeah, Auntie Heather is
in danger.” Katy nodded.

They drove down a few blocks toward Paddie’s
house.

“
We’ll get Paddie,” Katy
said. “And then go to Auntie Heather’s house and then get ice
cream.”

“
What about Auntie Sandy?”
Jill asked.

“
She’s already on her way
there,” Katy said. Jill’s phone rang. “That’s Auntie
Tanesha.”

“
Hello?” Jill
asked.

“
Jill!” Tanesha
said.

“
Don’t forget to tell her
Paddie’s coming too!” Katy yelled from the back seat.

Jill looked into the rearview mirror. Katy
still wore the bright blue eye shadow that matched her dress-up
dress. Katy gave her a bright smile.

“
What’s going on?” Jill
asked into the phone.

“
You need to get here,”
Tanesha said. “Pronto.”

“
When you call Paddie’s
mom, tell her we need Paddie’s sword,” Katy said.

Jill looked up at Katy in the rearview
mirror. Katy smiled.

“
We’re on our way,” Jill
said to Tanesha.

~~~~~~~~

Monday evening — 7:35 p.m.

“
Is something wrong?” Seth
asked Sandy.

They were sitting in his downstairs piano
room trying to decipher Andy’s symphony. Seth was sitting at the
piano, and Sandy was standing near the marble fireplace. Sandy had
just gotten off the phone with Tanesha.

“
You don’t look great,”
Seth said.

Sandy looked at him and nodded.

“
Can I help?” Seth
asked.

“
Have you ever heard of
someone called Psyche?” Sandy asked.

“
Sure,” Seth
said.

“
She has a daughter
named . . .” Sandy started.

“
Hedone,” Seth
said.

“
Right. Heather told Jill,
and Jill . . .” Sandy shook her head to keep from
repeating the long string of who-told-who. “Anyway, Tanesha says
that Heather’s mother is Psyche, and Abi — you know the fairy — she
said Heather is Hedone.”

Seth nodded.

“
You knew that?” Sandy
asked.

“
No.” Seth shook his head.
“It’s just weird enough to be something that involves Heather’s
mother.”

“
What do you mean?” Sandy
asked.

“
Uh . . .”
Seth shifted uncomfortably. He looked down at the piano in front of
him. His fingers moved across the keys. “What do you think of the
piece so far?”

“
We’ve only played a few
lines.” Sandy shrugged. “And you’re not so sly. What did you mean
about Heather’s mother?”

“
Uh . . .”
Seth said again.

“
Seth.” Sandy scowled at
him.

He made a sound somewhere between a grunt
and a sigh. She kept scowling at him.

“
Fine,” Seth said. He let
out a puff of breath and then began speaking quickly. “When Mitch
and I found you, we looked into everyone who knew you. Some of it
was because the captain was on our ass about you.”

“
Me?” Sandy
asked.

“
He wanted us to ‘bring in
the witness,’” Seth said. “We didn’t want to do that. Plus, Mitch
met Patty and . . . all of that.”

Seth turned back to the piano and played the
line of the symphony they’d decoded.

“
What do you think
about . . .?” he started.

“
I think you’re not very
funny,” Sandy said. “What’s this with Heather and her
mother?”

“
Uh . . .”
Seth looked back at the piano. “You don’t want
to . . .?”

“
You’re acting like a
child,” Sandy said.

“
I know,” Seth said. “Is
it working?”

“
No,” Sandy
said.

“
So we looked into Jill
and found General Hargreaves,” Seth said. “I’d worked with him to
find Saul and the other MIAs, so that wasn’t a big deal. He told me
the standard story. You know, ‘Jill’s mother and father were killed
in Costa Rica’ and whatever else. I knew he was lying, but he’s a
general. They’re usually lying about something. And
Tanesha . . . Well, I’d known Yvonne and Rodney
because I knew Alvin.”