Chaos Choreography
Page 79
“That’s not going to save Mac and Leanne,” I said.
She didn’t have an answer for that. Sadly, neither did anybody else.
Malena searched the rafters and found six more howlite and resurrection lily charm bundles. Once they were all collected, she slipped out through one of the high windows, on the theory that if we got the charms out of the building, we’d have a better chance of finding our missing people. (They weren’t powerful enough to make her forget what they were while she was actually touching them. As for the wisdom of having her move them, rather than destroying them . . . if we didn’t find Mac and Leanne, we could put the charms back and hopefully keep the people who’d created them from realizing how much we knew, at least for a while longer. Especially since we didn’t know anything useful. We had enough bits and pieces to be a danger to ourselves, but not enough to be a danger to anyone else.)
Dominic made a small, startled sound. I turned to see him blinking, looking suddenly confused. Pax looked much the same.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I never went looking for you; I found you by mistake,” he said, expression turning horrified. “I was angry with Malena for refusing to come off the wall, and stalked away. I all but ran into you after that—before, I would have gone to my grave swearing I’d sought you, and failed to find you anywhere.”
“Welcome to the wonderful, terrible world of memory charms,” I said. “It’s all right. I wasn’t hurt, and you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No,” he said. “It most certainly is not all right, and we’ll be discussing this later, at length. Right now, we need to find your missing dancers.” He turned and stalked away, heading down the hall toward the stage.
A hand touched my shoulder as I watched him go. I looked behind me. There was Pax, frowning deeply.
“You know, if you don’t want to discuss this with him later, he can’t make you.”
I blinked before I realized what he was implying, and burst out laughing. It was a relief, almost, to feel like laughing again, even though I knew the situation was dire. “No, no, nothing like that, Pax, I swear. He’s just worried, and he didn’t get a lot of coping mechanisms when he was a kid. I promise, he only wants to talk to me. And maybe make out with me. A lot.”
“If you’re sure . . .”
“I’m sure. Now come on, you’re the Ukupani. Do you smell blood?”
Pax closed his eyes and breathed deeply. As he did, he went perfectly still, becoming a statue of a man. Nothing moved except his chest, and once his lungs were full, even that stopped. He was motionless as only a predator could be, carved from stone and ready to return to life the moment his prey was within range.
Then he opened his eyes and pointed down one of the side halls. “Blood,” he said, voice suddenly thick with hunger and longing. “So much blood.”
We ran. Malena would just have to catch up with us once she was back in the theater. I had faith that she could; Pax was great for following the smell of blood, but Malena was a distance hunter, and she could follow the smell of us.
The hall ended at a closed door. I was the first to reach it, followed by Alice and Dominic, with Pax bringing up the rear. We all stopped, hesitating as we looked at it.
“Anyone know where this leads?” I asked.
Silence told me no one did.
“Great,” I said. Producing three throwing knives from the waist of my pants, I signaled for the others to be quiet before leaning forward and turning the knob with my free hand. The door swung inward, revealing a flight of stairs leading down into the dark. My nose was nowhere near as sensitive as Pax’s, but it didn’t need to be.
The smell of blood was strong enough that I could pick it up on my own.
“Come on,” I said, and reached through the door, feeling around for a light switch. There wasn’t one. Bracing myself against the potential for things to go terribly, incredibly wrong, I started down the stairs. The others followed.
It was impossible for us to descend silently into the dark. We had to hunt for our footing, and the stairs were metal; our footsteps clanked, not every time, but often enough to alert whatever might be lurking below to our presence. Something scraped on the wall above my head.
I decided to risk it. “Malena, find the light,” I hissed.
The scraping intensified, moving away. I realized my mistake and covered my eyes a split second before the lights came on, bathing the room in burning light. Behind me, Dominic made a small, disapproving sound. Alice said a bad word in what sounded like Latin, identifiable as profanity only in its inflection. Pax didn’t say anything.
She didn’t have an answer for that. Sadly, neither did anybody else.
Malena searched the rafters and found six more howlite and resurrection lily charm bundles. Once they were all collected, she slipped out through one of the high windows, on the theory that if we got the charms out of the building, we’d have a better chance of finding our missing people. (They weren’t powerful enough to make her forget what they were while she was actually touching them. As for the wisdom of having her move them, rather than destroying them . . . if we didn’t find Mac and Leanne, we could put the charms back and hopefully keep the people who’d created them from realizing how much we knew, at least for a while longer. Especially since we didn’t know anything useful. We had enough bits and pieces to be a danger to ourselves, but not enough to be a danger to anyone else.)
Dominic made a small, startled sound. I turned to see him blinking, looking suddenly confused. Pax looked much the same.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I never went looking for you; I found you by mistake,” he said, expression turning horrified. “I was angry with Malena for refusing to come off the wall, and stalked away. I all but ran into you after that—before, I would have gone to my grave swearing I’d sought you, and failed to find you anywhere.”
“Welcome to the wonderful, terrible world of memory charms,” I said. “It’s all right. I wasn’t hurt, and you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“No,” he said. “It most certainly is not all right, and we’ll be discussing this later, at length. Right now, we need to find your missing dancers.” He turned and stalked away, heading down the hall toward the stage.
A hand touched my shoulder as I watched him go. I looked behind me. There was Pax, frowning deeply.
“You know, if you don’t want to discuss this with him later, he can’t make you.”
I blinked before I realized what he was implying, and burst out laughing. It was a relief, almost, to feel like laughing again, even though I knew the situation was dire. “No, no, nothing like that, Pax, I swear. He’s just worried, and he didn’t get a lot of coping mechanisms when he was a kid. I promise, he only wants to talk to me. And maybe make out with me. A lot.”
“If you’re sure . . .”
“I’m sure. Now come on, you’re the Ukupani. Do you smell blood?”
Pax closed his eyes and breathed deeply. As he did, he went perfectly still, becoming a statue of a man. Nothing moved except his chest, and once his lungs were full, even that stopped. He was motionless as only a predator could be, carved from stone and ready to return to life the moment his prey was within range.
Then he opened his eyes and pointed down one of the side halls. “Blood,” he said, voice suddenly thick with hunger and longing. “So much blood.”
We ran. Malena would just have to catch up with us once she was back in the theater. I had faith that she could; Pax was great for following the smell of blood, but Malena was a distance hunter, and she could follow the smell of us.
The hall ended at a closed door. I was the first to reach it, followed by Alice and Dominic, with Pax bringing up the rear. We all stopped, hesitating as we looked at it.
“Anyone know where this leads?” I asked.
Silence told me no one did.
“Great,” I said. Producing three throwing knives from the waist of my pants, I signaled for the others to be quiet before leaning forward and turning the knob with my free hand. The door swung inward, revealing a flight of stairs leading down into the dark. My nose was nowhere near as sensitive as Pax’s, but it didn’t need to be.
The smell of blood was strong enough that I could pick it up on my own.
“Come on,” I said, and reached through the door, feeling around for a light switch. There wasn’t one. Bracing myself against the potential for things to go terribly, incredibly wrong, I started down the stairs. The others followed.
It was impossible for us to descend silently into the dark. We had to hunt for our footing, and the stairs were metal; our footsteps clanked, not every time, but often enough to alert whatever might be lurking below to our presence. Something scraped on the wall above my head.
I decided to risk it. “Malena, find the light,” I hissed.
The scraping intensified, moving away. I realized my mistake and covered my eyes a split second before the lights came on, bathing the room in burning light. Behind me, Dominic made a small, disapproving sound. Alice said a bad word in what sounded like Latin, identifiable as profanity only in its inflection. Pax didn’t say anything.
