When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears: The Goblin Wars, Book Three (9 page)

Teagan nodded. Green Men planned forests and gardens that covered continents. Gardens that might take a hundred thousand years to grow, but that could be destroyed in what must seem like the blink of an eye to them.

“I had to make a split-second decision,” Teagan explained. “I chose to save Gil.” Well, there it was. The lawyer’s horrified look was back.

The phooka gave up his ruse and sat up. “That’s not my real name.”

“Well, you’re stuck with it,” Teagan said. “Unless you want to tell me—”

“No,” Gil said quickly. “I don’t. You tried to
bend
me.”

Now not only was Seamus looking horrified, Raynor was frowning. He had warned against using her Highborn power to bend creatures’ wills into making promises they didn’t want to.

She’d thought she’d had a really good reason to bend Gil to her will in Mag Mell—and she still wasn’t sure it was completely wrong. Phookas’ own wills got them into all kinds of trouble. But knowing she’d destroyed his trust hurt more than she’d expected.

“What’s in that bowl? Is it good to eat?”

“No. It’s soap and water to clean your neck. I’m sorry that I tried to bend you, Gil.”

“I like your other eyes better,” the phooka said. He was jiggling like Aiden on a sugar high, but Teagan couldn’t tell if it was fear, shock, or just the cold.

“What other eyes?” Seamus asked.

Teagan winced. How could she possibly explain? He already thought she was a goblin. If he ever saw her walking as a bilocate with molten golden eyes, he would probably call in an exorcist.

“Shhh, shhh, calm down, little one.” Joe put a huge hand on the phooka’s shoulder. “No need to get excited.”

Gil was little compared to Joe, but he was still as tall as Teagan. She wondered how phooka boys felt about pastel colors, as she wasn’t sure anyone else’s clothes but hers would fit him. The fact that he was still sitting on the cold ground worried her.

“Can you rip open another door into Mag Mell?” Teagan asked Joe. “We could send him back.”

“If I had two good arms.” Joe shrugged again, and for the first time Teagan realized the other shoulder wasn’t just blackened. His arm was stiff.

Raynor touched his friend’s charred coat. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t—”

“No, you had to take care of the problem,” Joe said. “I’d have done the same thing if I could. A good winter’s sleep and everything will begin to grow new again. Raynor . . .” Joe wrinkled his nose. “You smell really bad.”

“You do smell bad, scary angel,” Gil said.

“Oh, sorry,” Raynor said, pulling out the grease rag he’d shoved in his back pocket. “I’ve been working.”

Joe hated everything about combustion engines. He felt that they led to automobiles, which in turn led to asphalt and cement.

“If you could just”—Joe made a shooing motion at the angel and his grease rag—“take that somewhere else?”

“I’ll get back to my machinery, then. Coming?” he asked Seamus.

“I’ll stay a little longer,” Seamus said, watching a squirrel that was peeking out of Joe’s beard.

“Suit yourself.” Raynor started back to the house.

The squirrel studied Seamus with bright, beady eyes, then scrambled up the beard and jumped to Joe’s shoulder, where it started digging at the burnt parts, tearing away pieces of the bark coat and what looked like charcoal beneath it.

“Should it be doing that?” Seamus asked.

“Yes,” Joe said, but he twisted and grimaced. “She’s scratching my itches. Squirrels are
good
at scratching. I couldn’t manage without them.”

Teagan knelt beside Gil. Abby had tossed a handful of cornstarch on him when he’d first been pulled out of Mag Mell so she could see him. When Tea leaned closer, she could still make out traces of the powder dancing around him. Cornstarch was mixed into the tear tracks on his face and crusting the edges of the cut on his neck.

Teagan tried not to think of Maggot Cat’s pus-oozing wounds as she opened the first-aid kit.

“Do you know where you are, Gil?” She wanted to be sure the phooka boy wasn’t in shock.

“Yes. I’m at
Teagan’s
house.”

No chill swept through her when the goblin spoke her name. His voice had almost no power in it—not even as much as the voice of a
cat-sídhe
. No wonder the phookas never told anyone their real names. Without that power, they were completely vulnerable to any creature that wanted to bend them.

“What’s that?” Gil watched suspiciously as she took out the box of nitrile gloves.

“Gloves.” Teagan pulled one on and held up her hand to show him. “They keep my hands clean. Can I look at your cut?”

Gil nodded. Teagan tipped his head up so she could see the wound.

“I’m going to wash it with soap and water, all right?”

Gil nodded again, but when Teagan touched the soapy gauze to his neck, he screamed.

“Are you all right?” Joe leaned over them.

Teagan sat back on her heels. “Did that hurt?”

“No,” the phooka lied. He wiped away a tear with the heel of his hand. “I’m not crying because it hurt,” he said. “I’m not.”

“Then why are you crying?” Joe asked.

“Because she left to fight a Highborn. Finn went to help her, but Raynor wouldn’t let me go. I said I could help.”

“You wanted to help her?” Seamus asked. “I thought you didn’t trust her.”

“What are you?” the phooka demanded. “I heard your name, but not what you are.”

“He’s a lawyer,” Teagan explained. “He helped me.”

Seamus looked pained, but Gil nodded.

“I don’t
trust
her, lawyer.” The phooka boy reddened to the roots of his hair. “I just
love
her.”

Finn dropped over the back wall and landed like a cat, his soft leather boots hardly making a sound against the grass. “What was all that screaming about? I thought someone was being murdered. Joe, good to see you.”

Teagan held up the washcloth. “I was just trying to clean Gil up.”

“And the goblin was explaining how much he loves her,” Seamus said.

“Making moves on my girl again, Gil? I won’t have it.”

Gil’s ears drooped. “Hi, Finn. I thought you were dead.”

“You did not,” Teagan said. “Where were you, Finn? I was starting to get worried.”

“Cooling my head a bit. And I took a look around to make sure the uglies had left the neighborhood. They have.”

“You could have
gotten
dead,” Gil said. “Before you came back. That can happen.”

“Wishful thinking, boyo.” Finn squatted beside Teagan. “Maggot Cat’s taken care of. At least, it’s out of the way until you figure out what to do with it. Hey, my man. Other than flirting with Tea and wishing me dead, how are you doing?”

Gil held up his trotter. “God didn’t heal me.”

“Yeah, I was there. Things didn’t go well for you. Not at all. But we told you Fear Doirich was no god.”

“I gave you to him, and he let Mab
cut
me.” Gil wiped his nose with the back of his trotter. “He could fix me. But he didn’t.”

Seamus moved a little closer. The squirrel on Joe’s shoulder flicked its tail at him, but the lawyer was more interested in the phooka than the tree man.

“What will you do in this world?” Seamus asked.

“I don’t know,” Gil said. “I want to go home. I’m cold and I’m really, really hungry.”

“There’s no harm in him,” Finn said. “Once you get to know him, you’ll understand.”

“What do phookas eat?” Seamus seemed willing to give Finn, at least, the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe I can find something for you.”

Gil looked up hopefully. “Babies! Can you find a baby?”

Seven

S
EAMUS
took a step back.
“You eat babies?”

Finn swatted the back of Gil’s head. “He’s never. He says that, but he’s never.”

“I
would
,” Gil insisted, putting both his hand and his trotter up to protect his head from another smack. “I’d rip their flesh and crunch their little-bitty bones.”

“It’s all talk,” Finn said. “He’s hunted children, of course. They all do. But the faster, stronger beasties always get them first. Gil’s sort eats beetle bugs and bloody raw fish.”

The phooka boy glared. “Don’t
tell
him that.” His eyes narrowed. “What do lawyers eat?”

“It depends on the lawyer,” Seamus said, recovering a little. “Some eat hamburger, some eat caviar.”

“Caviar is fish eggs,” Finn explained. “It’s that nasty.”

Gil’s stomach growled, and he licked his lips. “I want some fish eggs!”

“Do you have to talk about food right now?” Teagan asked. “I need to get this wound cleaned, and it’s going to be hard enough without adding wiggling and salivating into the mix.”

“Just trying to help,” Finn said. “I don’t want Seamus here getting the wrong impression.”

“I think he already has plenty of wrong impressions,” Teagan said.

Seamus ignored her. “So Teagan brought you here? Why?”

“He’s not a witness on the stand, McGillahee,” Finn said. “How’s he supposed to know why Tea does the things she does?”

“I do know.” Gil laid his ears back, and if it hadn’t been for the pig trotter still protecting his head from Finn, he’d have looked completely and bashfully human. “She did it because she loves me.”

“I what?” Teagan said.

“You do,” Joe agreed. “Anyone can see it.”

“She hunted god,” Gil told the tree man. “She could have
gotten
him. But she didn’t. She saved me instead.” He wagged his ears happily. “I love her, too. I even know her real name. Teagan, Teagan, Teagan!” he shouted.

“Quiet down,” Finn told him.

“Gil,” Teagan said firmly. “I love Finn.”

“I do, too,” the phooka said. “A little.”

Seamus raised one eyebrow at Finn, who ignored him.

“If you love us so much, why did you betray us to Fear Doirich?”

Gil flushed so dark it was visible through the soot and grime on his face. “I thought god would fix me. And when I was a man, I could save her.”

“Right after you let them eat me,” Finn said.

“Maybe.” From the faraway look in Gil’s eyes, Teagan was sure he was imagining just that. Then he dropped his gaze to the grass and sighed. “No. We shared a nest. I’d save you, too.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Teagan said.

“You shared a nest?” Seamus asked. “What does that mean?”

“Never you mind what it means.” Finn flushed, even though Gil had only instinctively huddled close to him for warmth as they slept in the chill of the deep woods. Phookas slept in group nests.

“Could you both go inside?” Teagan asked. “You are disturbing my work.”

“I’m not disturbing Gil,” Finn said. “If people get the idea he’s been gobbling up children, it’s not going to go well with him.”

“I can’t help it!” Gil said. “I’m a
phooka
.”

“Let me help you, then.” Finn leaned close and looked into Gil’s eyes. “You know there’s a child in this house?”

Gil’s ears perked up, and he inhaled. “I can smell it.”

Teagan made a mental note to make sure Aiden was actually getting in the water when he said he was taking a bath. And using soap.

“Him. You can smell
him
. And you’ve seen the old woman staring out the window at you?”

Gil leaned over to look around Finn, then ducked back.

“The Scary One.” He uttered it as if it were a title. “She’s there now.”

“The Scary One’s my own grand-
máthair
, Mamieo Ida. And I promise you, if you so much as look at the boyo, she’s going to finish the job Mab started.”

Gil’s human hand went to his throat again, but his eyes lifted to Finn’s.

“Not you?” Gil said. “You won’t kill me?”

“Not unless I have to.” Finn ran his hand through his hair. “Teagan’s rubbing off on me.”

“You think?” Seamus asked. “You went to Mag Mell to fight, and you ended up rescuing a phooka. You’re ready to let it run free in Chicago.”

“Knowing Tea has made me think twice before I kill a creature, that’s for sure.”

“
Can’t you see what’s happening?
She’s part Highborn
. Teagan Wylltson is bending you.
”

“Na,” Finn said. “And she’s all Highborn. Kyle took care of that, didn’t he? And I ran with her through the night of Mag Mell while her eyes glowed like molten gold, and she was just as beautiful as she is standing before me now. I ran with this one, too”—he nodded toward Gil—“and none of us knowing if we’d live to see the dawn.”

“And we shared a nest,” Gil said.

“You don’t need to keep mentioning that, boyo.”

“Boyo?” Gil asked. “What’s a boyo?”

“What you’ll be until you’re a man.”

Gil held up his trotter. “But, god didn’t—”

Finn stood up and offered his hand to Gil. The phooka took it with his human hand and Finn pulled him to his feet.

“Doirich can’t make you into a man, Gil. He’s not the one who can do it. You are. You fight for it. You fight to be what you want to be, not what that damned Doirich twisted you into. Not what McGillahee here thinks you are.”

Gil wiped his nose again and nodded.

“Now, are you man enough to stand here without screaming and crying while Tea cleans that little-bitty scratch?”

The phooka closed his eyes and tipped his head back.

“You can deal with this?” Finn asked Teagan.

“I can if Joe will hold the bowl of water.”

“Of course.” Joe took it.

Teagan nodded toward Seamus. “Can you deal with
that?
”

“I will,” Finn said. “You hold good and still while Tea fixes you up, Gil, and I’ll get you something to eat. Come on, McGillahee. We’re going inside.”

Gil didn’t even flinch as she washed the scratch out, taking her time and doing a thorough job.

“You do love me, right?” The phooka boy lowered his long lashes as she smeared on antibiotic.

“Not the way I love Finn.”

“But you love me.” His ears wagged happily. “You take care of me.”

“As a friend. I love you as a friend.” Teagan couldn’t believe she’d just said that. Abby had warned her that guys never hear the “as a friend” part when you try to tell them that. She suddenly wished Abby were here to make some bizarre comment, or even Aiden, who’d tell Gil,
“Teagan likes ugly little creatures. She even loves toads.”
She sighed. She’d told the phooka the truth, and that was the best she could do. It wasn’t her fault that he was humming happily to himself.