Chaos Choreography
Page 78
“I get that, and it was a smart move given the information available at the time, but I’m telling you we need to find the others.” I shook my head, feeling the bobby pins holding my wig in place dig into my scalp. “Something’s making people not care about the disappearances. Do we want to risk Pax or Malena going missing, knowing that nobody’s going to give a shit?”
Dominic’s eyes widened. Then he nodded. “This way,” he said, and turned to run.
He was only a few inches taller than me, but that was enough to give him a longer stride. That was a good thing, since otherwise there was no way he’d have ever been able to keep up with me. Dominic was in good shape. He trained hard and worked harder. I was a dancer and a fighter whose only chance of survival was rooted in speed, and I’d been training nonstop for the past three weeks. Really, the only surprise was that I was less than ten feet ahead of him by the time I hit the last corner between us and the hallway leading to the basement.
Alice and Pax were there, standing in front of the open door. Alice had a pistol in her hand, holding it low against her hip, as if that would keep her from getting in trouble if theater security came around the corner and saw her with the gun. I slid to a stop and looked up at the same time. Malena was anchored to the wall some twelve feet up, her feet bent at an inhuman angle.
“Where have you been?” demanded Alice. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Dominic said the same thing, and I don’t think you have,” I said. “I was on the stage with Clint. Half the hallways in this place would have led you straight there. I think someone’s messing with us. Malena!”
“What?” The voice drifted down from above, not accompanied by the chupacabra. She was in hunting mode. It would take her a while to shake that off.
That was good. I needed her in hunting mode. “Go to the top of the wall and start looking for anything that seems like it doesn’t belong there. Dried flowers or herbs or stones.”
“What?” Now she just sounded confused.
Alice, on the other hand, looked horrified. “Memory charms.”
“Or confusion charms,” I said. I looked up again. Malena hadn’t moved. “Come on. We need this if we’re going to find them.”
“You need my foot up your butt,” she muttered, and skittered away, moving with a fluid, insectile grace completely at odds with her still mostly human appearance.
Content that she was trying, I turned to Alice and Pax. “Do either of you remember going to look for me, or did you just assume it had happened?”
“Pax and Malena told me they’d gone looking,” said Alice.
“I looked,” said Pax.
“As did I,” said Dominic.
“Okay, where?” I asked.
Silence followed.
“That’s what I thought. Look: my family’s spent so much time around cuckoos and Lilu and other things that scramble your head that we’re a little resistant. Not immune, but . . . we do okay.” I shook my head. “If I don’t remember looking for people I couldn’t find, and Alice doesn’t remember looking for people she couldn’t find, but we’re all mysteriously losing track of the folks we’re supposed to be keeping our eyes on? Someone is messing with us.”
“Does this fit the bill for something that doesn’t belong?” asked Malena, just before a bundle of dried flowers wrapped with a string of stone beads hit the floor. Pax jumped. Alice slanted a narrow-eyed glare up at the rafters.
“Yes, it does,” I said, as I moved to pick up the bundle. The flowers were thin and fragile, but they’d been red before they were dried; hints of color still showed on the petals. I sniffed, and was rewarded with a dusty, venomous sweetness. “I think these are resurrection lilies.”
“The stone is howlite,” said Dominic. I glanced at him. He continued, “We used to carry disks of the stuff when it was thought we might be going into an area containing a cuckoo. There was no proof it helped us to remember ourselves, but the thought was that any protection, however scant, was better than none.”
“Howlite is supposed to be calming,” said Alice. “It reduces stress, anger—all the things I live by.”
“And resurrection lilies are used in a lot of memory charms,” I said. “Someone’s looping memory in the halls. Keeps us from noticing when we lose track of people, keeps us from realizing that we’re wasting time doing things we don’t have to. This is bad.”
“We can get counter-charms from Bon,” said Alice.
Dominic’s eyes widened. Then he nodded. “This way,” he said, and turned to run.
He was only a few inches taller than me, but that was enough to give him a longer stride. That was a good thing, since otherwise there was no way he’d have ever been able to keep up with me. Dominic was in good shape. He trained hard and worked harder. I was a dancer and a fighter whose only chance of survival was rooted in speed, and I’d been training nonstop for the past three weeks. Really, the only surprise was that I was less than ten feet ahead of him by the time I hit the last corner between us and the hallway leading to the basement.
Alice and Pax were there, standing in front of the open door. Alice had a pistol in her hand, holding it low against her hip, as if that would keep her from getting in trouble if theater security came around the corner and saw her with the gun. I slid to a stop and looked up at the same time. Malena was anchored to the wall some twelve feet up, her feet bent at an inhuman angle.
“Where have you been?” demanded Alice. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
“Dominic said the same thing, and I don’t think you have,” I said. “I was on the stage with Clint. Half the hallways in this place would have led you straight there. I think someone’s messing with us. Malena!”
“What?” The voice drifted down from above, not accompanied by the chupacabra. She was in hunting mode. It would take her a while to shake that off.
That was good. I needed her in hunting mode. “Go to the top of the wall and start looking for anything that seems like it doesn’t belong there. Dried flowers or herbs or stones.”
“What?” Now she just sounded confused.
Alice, on the other hand, looked horrified. “Memory charms.”
“Or confusion charms,” I said. I looked up again. Malena hadn’t moved. “Come on. We need this if we’re going to find them.”
“You need my foot up your butt,” she muttered, and skittered away, moving with a fluid, insectile grace completely at odds with her still mostly human appearance.
Content that she was trying, I turned to Alice and Pax. “Do either of you remember going to look for me, or did you just assume it had happened?”
“Pax and Malena told me they’d gone looking,” said Alice.
“I looked,” said Pax.
“As did I,” said Dominic.
“Okay, where?” I asked.
Silence followed.
“That’s what I thought. Look: my family’s spent so much time around cuckoos and Lilu and other things that scramble your head that we’re a little resistant. Not immune, but . . . we do okay.” I shook my head. “If I don’t remember looking for people I couldn’t find, and Alice doesn’t remember looking for people she couldn’t find, but we’re all mysteriously losing track of the folks we’re supposed to be keeping our eyes on? Someone is messing with us.”
“Does this fit the bill for something that doesn’t belong?” asked Malena, just before a bundle of dried flowers wrapped with a string of stone beads hit the floor. Pax jumped. Alice slanted a narrow-eyed glare up at the rafters.
“Yes, it does,” I said, as I moved to pick up the bundle. The flowers were thin and fragile, but they’d been red before they were dried; hints of color still showed on the petals. I sniffed, and was rewarded with a dusty, venomous sweetness. “I think these are resurrection lilies.”
“The stone is howlite,” said Dominic. I glanced at him. He continued, “We used to carry disks of the stuff when it was thought we might be going into an area containing a cuckoo. There was no proof it helped us to remember ourselves, but the thought was that any protection, however scant, was better than none.”
“Howlite is supposed to be calming,” said Alice. “It reduces stress, anger—all the things I live by.”
“And resurrection lilies are used in a lot of memory charms,” I said. “Someone’s looping memory in the halls. Keeps us from noticing when we lose track of people, keeps us from realizing that we’re wasting time doing things we don’t have to. This is bad.”
“We can get counter-charms from Bon,” said Alice.
