Rampant (18 page)

“Stand them up? Is that how I raised you? Come on. Seth knows all the best places. It will be better for showing the girls a good time.”

I shook my head. “No, something’s weird. I’ve never heard Giovanni talking that way. He sounded…mean.”

Phil’s brow furrowed. “I hope he doesn’t end up being a jerk to you, Astrid. I’d hate to have to feed him to a unicorn. Boys can be such losers sometimes.”

Out in the yard, Bonegrinder was happily gnawing away at her latest bloody conquest. Weird as it sounded, I thought I’d rather spend the evening with her.

In the end, we didn’t bring longbows with us, but I did retrieve the dagger from inside the Clothilde figure’s skirts and stuck it in my purse. Though I didn’t want to calculate our chances against a kirin without ranged weapons like bows and arrows, I felt better knowing that I had something more than my fists if we did run into a unicorn.

Ilesha, Ursula, Zelda, Dorcas, and Rosamund joined us, but Valerija declined after hearing that we’d be meeting up with some boys, and Melissende had slammed the door in Phil’s face as soon as she and Grace saw my cousin on the other side. Frankly, I was happy to avoid their company for a few hours.

Piazza Navona was packed, as always, and I kept my purse slung across my body, doubly determined not to lose it because of the ancient—no doubt priceless—weapon I’d hidden inside.
We got our gelatos, then stationed ourselves by the huge Bernini fountain of the Four Rivers, eating ice cream, shouting over the rush of water, and people watching as the crowds passed by. Ilesha and Ursula seemed to have completely recovered from the trauma of the afternoon; and even though Dorcas was trying to act as cool as Zelda, who’d only gotten a small cup of lemon sorbet, she couldn’t stop staring at the towering piles of multicolored gelato on top of Ursula’s cone.

Cory was telling Rosamund about a small portfolio of sheet music she’d come across, and they were discussing old-fashioned methods for transcribing melodies, and how that might affect Rosamund’s ability to play them. Phil was trying to decipher movie listings in an Italian newspaper and becoming increasingly frustrated that the titles weren’t direct translations of the English films.

“Just pick something with a martial arts star in it,” I said at last. “You’ll be golden.”

“There you are!” Phil was swept up off the edge of the fountain, and her paper and gelato cup slid to the ground. Seth spun her around and smacked his lips against her mouth. “Mmmmm, you taste like a cherry.”

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Phil said. “That was all of it.”

“Oh, I will.” He turned toward the other hunters and pretended to doff a cap. “Ladies. Good evening. Seth Gavriel, at your service.”

While the hunters introduced themselves, I looked behind Seth, but I didn’t see Giovanni.

“You have a boyfriend, Phil?” Dorcas asked, eyes wide. “Does Neil know?”

“Ah, the famous chaperone!” Seth grinned at his audience.
“Too bad he’s off duty tonight, huh?”

“Why ‘too bad’?” Cory asked, oblivious to Seth’s charms.

“Because I’d like to get a look at this guy you all spend so much time with. See what the big deal is.”

Was that a note of jealousy in his voice? I wondered briefly how much Phil talked about Neil.

“Hey, mini Phil,” Seth hissed at me. “Don’t bother looking for your boy. He was too much of a wuss to show.”

I bit my lip and pretended I hadn’t been craning my neck to peer into the crowd.

“So,” Seth said. “I have the perfect plan for the evening. There’s a big outdoor concert in the Baths of Caracalla.”

Cory looked up from where she was trying to wipe gelato off the newspaper. “That’s all the way across town near the Cloisters.”

“Why did we come out here to turn around and go back?” Ilesha asked.

Zelda shrugged. “I’m up for a concert. I don’t even care who’s playing.” She stood, then brushed imaginary dust off her skirt. Rosamund was so excited, she bounced on her heels.

So to the Baths of Caracalla we went. On the bus, Cory justified it to herself by saying that at least it would make for an easy walk home after the concert, and the youngsters seemed excited that their night out would include more than ice cream cones. I did my best to hide my disappointment about being stood up. I wished I could talk to Phil about the situation, but she spent most of the ride with Seth’s tongue down her throat, so I never got a chance.

The Baths of Caracalla, it turned out, were the enormous brick ruins near the Circus Maximus. Though little remained now
aside from a few crumbling walls, arches, and vaults, it was still impressive. Massive, hundred-foot walls lit by amber spotlights soared above our heads, forming an imposing backdrop for the concert. The audience had assembled on a grassy hill in front of the ruins, lounging on blankets or in lawn chairs, while vendors walked among them and food and drink carts lined the street beyond.

I traced the outline of the dagger through my purse. Another Roman park? Perfect. The baths themselves seemed abandoned, but I wondered how secure they were. Would a quiet, dark little corner make a good hiding space for a kirin? The unicorns had to sleep somewhere, didn’t they?

“This will be perfect,” Seth said. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a folded tarp. “Not too close to the crowds, nice and dark…” He pinched Phil’s side, but rather than yelping or giggling, she gave him an incredulous look.

“Is he always such a git?” Cory said to me under her breath as she helped me smooth out the tarp.

“I don’t know what that means,” I whispered back, “but
he
is usually nicer than this.” And so was his friend. Where was Giovanni? He’d love something like this. I bet he’d be midway through a whole lecture on the architecture of the baths. I felt torn between relief that he hadn’t shown up in his bad mood and depression that I was snuggling up with Cory to listen to the concert rather than with Giovanni.

The girls spread out on the tarp, armed with sodas, snacks, and glowing bracelets and necklaces they’d bought from one of the vendors. Chatter filled the warm evening air, and I began to relax. Perhaps Phil was right. Boys were jerks sometimes, and I shouldn’t let it ruin my night. The weather was beautiful; I was
out of the Cloisters, hanging out with friends, about to listen to music on a hillside in Rome…things were great.

A young couple in front of us had their dog on the blanket with them. The family next door sent their toddler over with a treat, and the dog rolled over, showing its belly to be rubbed. The move reminded me of Bonegrinder and her bottomless need for the hunters’ attentions.

Cory noticed me watching and translated. “They’re talking to the other family about all the dogs gone missing recently. Apparently, the baths are usually home to many strays. All gone in the past few months.”

Bile rose in my throat as I thought of this cute pooch as a meal for a kirin. “I know you don’t have any papers on this, and Gordian doesn’t seem the least bit interested, but I can’t help but think we’d be doing a lot better if we started researching their behavior. Feeding patterns, mating cycles, group or family structure, where they sleep, preferred diet—”

“Body language when they attack and when they feint,” Cory finished. “I agree. If you want to gen up with me, I’m all for it, Astrid. I could use the help.” She smiled. “That is, if you can spare the time off being one of the great
Llewelyns
.”

But this time, I knew she was joking, and tossed a blade of grass at her. “Why is everyone so hung up on the families? You’ve been, too, you know you have.”

Cory took a drink of her soda. “Makes sense, doesn’t it? Did to me, at least. Leandruses were supposed to be whizzes at admin, and we are. My mum had all sorts of brilliant books and such. Your family were all the ace hunters, and Clothilde Llewelyn killed the karkadann.”

“But now what do you think?”

“Dunno, really. Phil’s best at targets, but Grace did just as well shooting that kirin in Tuscany, and Valerija took one single-handed. Melissende is a Temerin, beastly through and through, but her sister and Rosamund are dolls. And you—”

“Not as good a hunter as you and Marten think I ought to be?”

“You’re better than I am.”

“But not as good as you wish I were.”

Cory said nothing. The concert began, and our conversation ended. I leaned back on my elbows and closed my eyes, letting the music wash over me. Unlike Rosamund’s playing, there was nothing here that held the slightest stench of unicorn. Pure beats and rhythms, without that chord in the Cloisters wall or the twang of bowstrings. I breathed, and smelled nothing but grass and people and snack food. The crowd around me whispered and rustled. I let my eyelids flutter open. Rosamund tapped her fingertips on the blanket, silently playing along. Dorcas and Zelda danced at the edge of the group, twirling, their hands open to the stars that had begun to sprout in the pale blue evening sky.

I joined them, weaving in and out between them, spinning to the beat of the drums on the stage, clasping hands with Dorcas to create an arch for Zelda to shimmy through, dipping and swirling with the other girls and then back to twirling, letting the skirt I’d borrowed from Phil ruffle around me, a little wheel of color that flapped and rippled in the wind.

We danced for several songs; and Cory, Ursula, and Ilesha joined us in turn, whirling and leaping and undulating to the beat as the night closed overhead and the field turned violet, then midnight, then black save the amber spotlights and the hundreds of tiny, neon glowsticks. Sometimes I forgot about
Giovanni altogether for several bars. I didn’t notice when Phil and Seth wandered off.

I did, however, notice when she came back. “Time to go,” she said, appearing beside me, still as a rock in the river of music.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Where’s Seth?”

“Sent him away. He was being a jerk.” She looked at the tarp. “Guess we have to lug this back with us.”

“Come on,” I said. “Stay for a few songs more. Dance with us.”

She shook her head. “It’s getting late. We promised Neil.”

“Since when are you so worried about the rules?” I took her hands and tried to pull her into the dance, but she shook me off.

“Astrid, stop being so childish. Time to go home.”

I stopped dancing, and the world jolted back into place. “The Cloisters isn’t my home.”

She bent over and started yanking up the tarp, dislodging empty soda bottles and candy wrappers. “Yeah. Keep telling yourself that.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“That Aunt Lilith dumped you here and all your fantasies about going home are just that. Fantasies.”

I reeled back as if slapped. Phil’s face fell.

“Oh, Asterisk, I’m sorry.” She reached for me, but I shied away. “Don’t listen to me. I’m tired and frustrated. I didn’t mean it.”

“Doesn’t matter if you meant it,” I said dumbly. “It’s true.”

“No, sweetie…”

I grabbed the other end of the tarp and started folding it. “Gather up the girls.”

Just because we’d left the baths didn’t mean the dancing had
stopped. The other hunters twirled their way back through the park and over the Celian hill toward the Colosseum and the Cloisters of Ctesias. Their songs ricocheted off the marble walls of churches and echoed through empty archways of ruins and apartment houses fronted by gated courtyards. Rosamund’s clear soprano rang above the others, broken only by occasional giggles as the girls chased one another through the streets. Even Cory seemed to be having a good time.

Phil was the only one who remained silent. I walked beside her. “What’s going on?” I asked, slipping my hand around her shoulder.

She hugged the tarp to her chest, but leaned into me nonetheless. “You were right. We shouldn’t have met Seth tonight.”

“What happened?”

She pursed her lips and studied our feet. “He was being a loser.”

I squeezed her shoulder.

“You know how our folks are always like, ‘They’re only interested in one thing?’ She gave a tiny, mirthless laugh. “Sometimes I wonder if that’s true.”

“I think sometimes it is,” I said. “That’s what it was like with Brandt. Every time we went out was like some complicated game. What he’d try, when he’d try it, and how I’d stop him without making him mad or doing something I didn’t want to do. That’s the only thing I thought about every time we were together. Not about the movie we were watching or what we were talking about. Just waiting for him to make a move. It wasn’t dating; it was preparing for battle.” Maybe that’s what we really needed combat training for.

“And with Giovanni?”

I blushed and hoped she couldn’t see in the dark. “I…wanted to sleep with Giovanni. At first. I thought if I did, I could leave.”

Phil nodded. “I figured as much. What happened?”

“He wouldn’t do it. Guess it’s too late, now.” And too bad, too. Dating Giovanni hadn’t been like it had with Brandt. “I don’t know why he didn’t show tonight.”

“Me neither. I’m sorry, Cuz. I—”

She cut off, but I knew why. We all felt it, but not one of us was prepared.

There was a pounding beneath my feet, like the ancient cobblestones were shaking loose from their foundation, and then Ursula screamed.

I turned around. Even in slow motion, the unicorn was almost a blur. Enormous, dun colored, like marble splashed with mud. A re’em. He was the size of a bull, of a bison, and the girls shied away. There was something on his horn, a scrap of fabric, a tiny bundle, but then he shook it loose, and as it crumbled to the pavement, I saw.

Ursula.

Cory shrieked and smashed her soda bottle to the ground. It shattered in her hand and she rushed at the creature, clutching jagged glass edges in her bloody fist.

They barely scratched its hide, and the unicorn butted at her. She went flying into the wall, and slid, and was still. Dorcas let out a little squeak and rushed over to her.

“Run,” Phil whispered. “We have to run.”

“He’ll catch us.” I fumbled in my purse, closing my hands around the hilt of the knife.

Zelda took off, racing for the busier streets ahead, screaming like a banshee. The unicorn turned to give chase, then shied back as two Vespa motor scooters wheeled up the alley, revving their little engines for the climb. The riders slowed, then stopped, and I could see them staring.