The Others 03 Vision in Silver (27 page)

Moonsday, Maius 14

J
ackson Wolfgard took a couple of steadying breaths before he opened the door to the scarred girl’s room. When he didn’t catch any scent of blood, he entered and set the plate of food on the desk before he studied the girl sprawled on the bed. She blinked at him, then yawned, showing a mouthful of dainty, healthy teeth.

“I brought you something to eat.” He took a step toward the bed, curious about the pictures she had made. The first one looked like a drawing of the patchwork quilt. He wasn’t sure what the second one was supposed to be. But the third picture . . .

“What is this?” he asked, pointing to the third picture.

“It’s what I heard last night.”

Jackson looked at land lit by moonlight. Two Wolves had their heads raised in song. Smoke drifted out of their mouths, rising to the night sky, where it took the shapes of bison and elk, moose and deer, mountain goats and rabbits.

“You drew our song.”

The girl tucked her hands into her armpits, as if needing to protect them. “Did I do wrong?”

“No.” He picked up the drawing and saw her eyes fill with regret. “I’d like to show this to the Wolfgard elders. I’ll bring it back.”

“Could I . . .” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Could I put it on the wall?”

“Yes.”

Now she looked at him. Just a puppy frightened of being punished for
following her instincts. Which meant the humans in the compound
had
punished her for drawing pictures. Why?

He needed to say something. “Grass is not the same color green as leaves, and water can be different shades of blue. I can go down to the trading post today and see if they have more pencils . . . if having more colors wouldn’t be upsetting to you.”

“I like colors.”

He turned to go.

“They were going to cut off my fingers. In that place. They were going to cut off my fingers because I needed to draw pictures and they wanted me to need the cuts instead.”

He walked out of the room and gently closed the door.

Grace looked at him, her smile fading as she studied his face. “What’s wrong?” She sniffed the air.

He turned the drawing around so she could see it.

“How did she know?” Grace asked, staring at the drawing.

“That’s something I’ll ask Meg, the Trailblazer. Right now, I want to show this to our elders. Then I need to make a trip to the Intuit trading post.”

“You should buy a frame for the sweet blood’s picture.”

“Come with me to pick it out?”

Grace was a white Wolf who had come down from the High Northwest as a juvenile and eventually found her way to Sweetwater. She could pass for human, but her hair remained white with strands of light gray. Combined with a youthful face, she looked distinctive and drew attention that made her uneasy.

“There were strangers at the trading post when I went there last week,” she said. “I didn’t like their scent. I don’t think the Intuits liked it either.”

He stepped closer. “You should have told me.”

“I told the elders. I think the Crows are keeping watch on the village, and the Hawks and Eagles are paying attention to the road and the vehicles coming our way.” She ruffled her hair. “I’ll go with you. I don’t think any of us should visit the trading post alone. Not for a while.”

He wanted to be her mate, and she was thinking of accepting him. He’d hoped she would go with him to spend time with him, but he didn’t want her to go because she thought a lone Wolf would be in danger. If there was trouble at the Intuit village, she would be in danger too.

But the Intuits had said nothing about strangers in their village when he’d
responded to their plea for help with the scarred girl. That was something else to think about.

Jackson carefully rolled up the drawing and left with Grace. He stopped long enough to assign another Wolf to stay in the cabin so that the sweet blood wouldn’t be alone. Then he and Grace went to see the elders before taking one of the settlement’s two vehicles and driving down to the trading post.

When he returned, he would send a message to Simon Wolfgard, asking if the sweet blood could reveal visions and prophecies in other ways besides cutting their skin.

Moonsday, Maius 14

M
onty moved quickly when he heard the raised voice coming from Captain Burke’s office.

“I just spent seven hours on a train, stuck in a car with a freaking vampire. I expect some cooperation, Burke.”

“Cooperation I can give you. As for the rest, I can’t give you what I don’t have,” Burke replied as he glanced toward the doorway. “Lieutenant, come in and meet Captain Felix Scaffoldon of Toland’s Crime Investigation Unit. Captain, this is Lieutenant Crispin James Montgomery.”

Monty stepped into Burke’s office. “Do you have some news about what happened to Elayne?”

Scaffoldon gave Monty a cold once-over. “Just strolling in now, Lieutenant? I guess getting cozy with the Wolves here has its perks if you don’t have to report to work on time. We’ll talk further.” He turned away from Monty—a sharp, dismissive gesture—and looked at Burke. “Right now, I want to see the girl.”

Monty stepped forward, forcing Scaffoldon to include him. “You came all the way to Lakeside to interview Lizzy? Weren’t you sent a copy of the interview that was already conducted?”

“He was,” Burke replied before Scaffoldon could. “But the captain is really more interested in retrieving the physical evidence, which I have already offered to hand over to him for his investigation.”

“Yes, I need to bring that bear back to Toland,” Scaffoldon snapped. “Having it sit here doesn’t help us find a killer.” When he said “killer,” he didn’t look at Monty,
and he did it in a way that made it clear he believed Monty
was
the killer, despite the physical impossibility of being able to travel to and from Toland in the time frame. “But the child’s family wants her returned to Toland, so I’ll take her back with me.”

“My daughter is staying with me,” Monty said with quiet heat.

“Alleged daughter. Ms. Borden’s mother is questioning if you are, in fact, the child’s father.”

Monty pulled a document from his inner suit coat pocket and handed it to Scaffoldon. “Here. You can pass this on to Celia Borden.”

“What is it?” Scaffoldon didn’t bother to look.

“When the legal documents for child support were written, Elayne expressed no doubt that I was Lizzy’s father. She had no doubts when Lizzy was born and the birth certificate was filled out. She had no doubts, and neither did Celia Borden, during the years when Elayne, Lizzy, and I lived together in Toland. I
know
I’m Lizzy’s father, regardless of what Celia Borden is saying now. I’m Lizzy’s closest relative, and I can support her. So
my daughter
is staying with me. What I gave you was a photocopy of the custody papers that were signed and witnessed this morning.”

The relief he’d felt when he’d signed those papers had staggered him. Celia Borden had never shown any real interest in Lizzy, and Monty didn’t think her wanting custody now was sparked by feelings of affection for the girl. Celia just wanted the girl within easy reach for some reason, and whatever the reason, he was sure it wasn’t for Lizzy’s benefit.

Scaffoldon’s face was suffused with anger. He looked like he wanted to rip up the papers and throw them on the floor.

“I want to see the girl,” Scaffoldon said.

Burke’s fierce-friendly smile turned icy. “She’s at a safe house. Since you insist on seeing her, I’ve arranged for you to interview her there. I’ll have the bear brought up from the evidence lockup. You can take it with you so you won’t have to stop back here after the interview.” He made a show of looking at his watch. “She’ll be available in an hour.”

“I’ll interview her here.”

“No, you won’t.”

Scaffoldon stared at Monty and Burke. “By all the gods, where did you stash her?”

The icy glint in Burke’s blue eyes matched his smile. “In the Lakeside Courtyard.”

Moonsday, Maius 14

T
hey met in the government building on Great Island, in the conference room Steve Ferryman had reserved for this meeting.

Simon studied the woman sitting across from him, but he didn’t know the proper way to describe Pam Ireland. Plump? Solid? Compact?

Those were human terms. Since he wasn’t considering whether she’d have enough meat to feed a pack, he thought of other words that were relevant.

Sincere. Yes, that was a good word for what he was sensing. And . . .

“You smell like dog,” he said.

“That’s Ben,” she replied with an easy smile. “He’s a golden retriever. He’s still young, so he’s a little goofy, but he’s great with kids.”

Simon cocked his head. “Small humans or young goats?”

She laughed. “He’s never seen a young goat.”

“He will if you stay here,” Steve said, taking the seat beside her. “Along with Foxes, Bears, and Coyotes, to name a few. There are some dogs and cats on the island. Mostly working animals.” Looking at Simon and Henry, he waved a hand to indicate Ming Beargard. “Until Ben arrived and made it clear that, to him, a Bear smells like a Bear whether he’s wearing fur or human skin, it didn’t occur to us that the animals here don’t respond to the
terra indigene
in the same way as an animal who didn’t grow up around their scents. Poor Ben has spent half his time hiding.”

“Despite that, he’s been a kind of furry security blanket for the girls,” Pam
said. “Mr. Ferryman indicated that there are a few people who need to decide about my employment here . . .”

“But I wanted to see how Ms. Ireland interpreted the information Ms. Corbyn had already provided,” Steve interrupted. “So I gave her permission to work with the girls for a few hours.”

“And?” Simon said.

“I wish I’d known even this much in a couple of places where I worked,” Pam said. “More to the point, I wish I’d had outside confirmation for my own impressions as I worked with some of the girls in those halfway houses. I had a feeling some things would work, would relieve the distress some of the girls experienced, but I didn’t have any proof, and feelings weren’t enough for the administrators.”

Simon thought the sudden bitterness in her voice was interesting. “The girls died?”

“A few of the suicide attempts were successful. But after being told a little about the
cassandra sangue
, I’m wondering if those girls really were trying to kill themselves or had cut themselves for a different reason and were unlucky enough to bleed out before someone found them.”

Opinionated. That was another word for this female. He’d bet she’d expressed a lot more opinions to her employers than the female pack did to him. Of course, her former employers most likely didn’t have a good set of fangs between them.

“The young prophets cannot continue to live in the bed-and-breakfast,” Ming said. “Even after simplifying their rooms as your Meg suggested, the place is too busy for them.”

“And Lara and Margaret need to make a living,” Steve said. “The village has been paying for the girls’ board, but we can’t do that forever either.”

“You can’t cut them for profit,” Simon growled.

“Of course not!” Steve scraped his fingers through his hair. “But our village doesn’t have a lot of resources to spare.”

Simon sat up straighter. The Lakeside Courtyard had plenty of money. Pam Ireland could be hired by the Courtyard’s Business Association but work for Steve Ferryman as the blood prophets’ caretaker. And she could meet with Dr. Lorenzo at the Market Square medical office to talk about the girls and decide what would be put into his task force reports.

Yes, that could work for all of them.

“You have some ideas?” Henry’s question to Ming pulled Simon back into the immediate discussion.

The Black Bear nodded. “The
terra indigene
have talked among ourselves, and we’ve talked with the Intuit leaders. We will give thirty acres to build a home for the
cassandra sangue
.”

“Thirty acres?” Simon said, surprised. “What are five young girls going to do with thirty acres? They don’t know how to hunt or fish or even dig to plant food.”

“We’ll build housing, starting with just what we need but planning for a total of a hundred girls living on the campus,” Steve said.

“Campus.” Simon bared his teeth—and realized his canines weren’t close to human size when Pam’s eyes widened. “Is that another way of saying
compound
?”

“No. Well, yes, in a way.” Steve blew out a breath. “Not a place with walls and locked doors. We’re not talking about anything like that. But a place where the
cassandra sangue
can live and receive schooling. A place that will be more like a private school, but will have walking trails and water. Gardens where they can grow some of their own food and have an active connection with the world. A small farm with a couple of dairy cows and a handful of chickens that the girls can help take care of. Maybe a goat or two. And Jerry Sledgeman said he’d talk to the Liveryman family about donating a couple of ponies.”

“Hopefully many of the girls will be able to move beyond the campus and work in a small community like Ferryman’s Landing when they reach adulthood,” Pam said. “But I think you have to prepare for the fact that some of those girls will never be stable enough to live outside of a supervised facility.”

“And some will die, regardless of what anyone tries to do to help them,” Henry finished, nodding.

“You have the workers who can build this campus?” Simon asked. What would Meg say about blood prophets being moved from one kind of confined place to another?
Would
it feel confined? Thirty acres wasn’t much to a Wolf. On the other hand, the three hundred acres that made up the Lakeside Courtyard was surrounded by a fence that defined the boundaries. Did
Meg
feel confined?

Something to ask her this evening.

“We have the workers,” Steve replied. “We have an architect working to design the buildings—clean lines with an eye to blending privacy with protection. Not as basic a design as the houses the Simple Life folk prefer, but more in keeping with the rest of Ferryman’s Landing.”

When Steve hesitated, Ming said, “What the Intuits and the Great Island
terra indigene
don’t have is money to buy lumber and pipes and the other things that go into making human dens.”

Simon said, glancing at Pam.

Ming said.

Simon turned toward Pam. “You’re hired to work with the girls living in Ferryman’s Landing. Now go away.”

She blinked at him several times before looking at Steve, who nodded and said, “Thanks, Pam. We’ll talk more as soon as I’m done here.”

She left the room in a controlled hurry.

“That was rude,” Steve said.

“No,” Simon corrected. “Threatening to eat her if she didn’t leave would have been rude, since employees are not edible. But decisions need to be made, and she isn’t part of that.”

“River Road Community,” Henry rumbled, cutting off anything Steve might have said. “Simon had to deal with other things these past two days, so Vlad and I have talked to the
terra indigene
who have heard about that land.”

Simon looked at the Grizzly. So did Ming and Steve.

“There are some Sanguinati living in one of the houses,” Steve said cautiously. “When I went with a crew to check out the houses and make a list of what would be needed, they came out to investigate and said you’d given them permission.”

“We did,” Simon said. “And Erebus Sanguinati has also given them permission. Tell me about the houses.”

“Not in bad shape,” Steve said. “Need some basic care and all of them could use a few repairs. The industrial building would need significant work to convert into something we could use—once someone figures out how it will be used.”

“The main concern, for us, is that humans who manage to escape from Talulah Falls might try to claim those houses and that land,” Ming said.

“Which is why we need to get more than a handful of juvenile vampires into those houses,” Simon said.

“What kind of humans did you have in mind?” Steve asked.

“A mixed community. Intuits, the humans the HFL movement calls Wolf
lovers, and
terra indigene
.” Simon studied the other four males. “Right now, Talulah Falls is a dangerous place.”

“The Crowgard have told me the
terra indigene
who have taken the duty of keeping that city under control have said they are separating the useful humans from the meat. And most of what is in the city is meat,” Ming said.

“The animosity between humans and Others is fuel for the HFL movement.” Simon frowned. Something Ming had said created an itchy thought. “How are humans escaping from Talulah Falls?” The
terra indigene
who controled that town had brought in a Harvester for their main enforcer. How were humans getting past him?

“A group of humans create a distraction,” Steve said. “They cause enough of a ruckus so that when the Others go to deal with them, another group of people on the other side of town can escape on foot, taking only what they can carry.” He fidgeted. “Personally, I think the Others are letting people escape. Now that the initial anger toward humans has passed, I have a feeling that if they could find a way to keep the necessary industries running, they would let everyone else leave. What they aren’t considering is that people in the HFL movement probably consider every escape as some kind of victory over the
terra indigene
, even if the people don’t survive long enough to reach another human village.”

“Victory implies a fight, and there is nothing to be gained by fighting with us,” Henry said. “The humans can’t win.”

Simon held up a hand, signaling they should all be quiet.

Distractions in one place so that something else could happen in another place. Something being claimed as a victory even if no one survives. Catching the scent of a fire so distant you can’t do anything about it, and yet knowing that a shift in the wind could bring that fire right to your den with little warning.

“The humans in Thaisia can’t win a fight against the
terra indigene
,” he said quietly. “So why is the HFL movement trying to start a fight here? What do they gain when they have to know they’ll lose?”

Steve’s eyes widened. “Distraction. Creating a ruckus and pulling everyone’s attention away from somewhere else—or something else.”

“Wolves will attack another predator to draw it away from the pups. It’s not a serious fight, although it can turn into one. They just pester and nip, forcing the predator to deal with them while other members of the pack get the pups to safety.”

“The HFL movement here could be the nip and pester to keep us, and other
humans, focused on them,” Henry said. “But what are they protecting? Every time you stand against another predator, you run the risk of being hurt or killed. What is worth that risk?”

“Being able to control all the food, all the water, all the resources,” Steve said.

“The humans can’t win a fight against us,” Simon said. “Not here, where cities are separated by miles and miles of wild country. But someplace else where the humans would need extra food and supplies to sustain a fight?”

Steve leaned forward. “You think the HFL movement here is a distraction and resource for the HFL in Cel-Romano? That they’ve been conned so they’ll send as many supplies as possible—so many, in fact, that they’re creating food shortages here? Gods above and below, if they truly believe that anything that happens in Cel-Romano will benefit them, you’ll never convince them that they’re being set up.”

“It doesn’t matter if the humans in Cel-Romano win or lose their fight with the
terra indigene
; the humans in Thaisia will lose,” Ming said.

Simon nodded. “They will lose. But the HFL movement is like an invasive weed that has taken root and spread through human communities across the continent. We’re not going to be able to convince the humans who are ensnared that they are being set up or that they will lose. We need to protect our own packs as best we can—and we both have a better chance of doing that if we work together.”

“Agreed,” Steve said.

“That’s why we need the River Road Community inhabited by a group of humans and
terra indigene
who will help us defend the route between Ferryman’s Landing and Lakeside.”
And will be tolerated by the earth natives in the wild country who have been disturbed by the humans’ recent actions.

“Okay, what do we do?” Steve asked.

“I have been talking to
terra indigene
,” Henry said. “Word has traveled that the Lakeside Courtyard is going to be a training ground for Others who need more detailed lessons for interacting with humans. I have talked to Panthergard leaders from the western regions, as well as Lynxgard from the Northeast and High Northeast regions.”

“Some of the cats want to come to Lakeside?” Simon tried not to whine. A Wolf would take on a Lynx or Bobcat if necessary, but one of the cats known as Panther or Cougar? Not if there was a choice. They were bigger, heavier, and meaner than Wolves.

Ideal as enforcers for the new community?

“They asked about training at Lakeside, not living there,” Henry said. “But at River Road, some houses could be set aside for various gards that wanted to spend more time here before returning to their old territory.”

It took them an hour to come up with a working plan. The River Road Community had forty-five semidetached, two-bedroom doubles with the garages sharing a common wall. Fifteen of the doubles would be set aside for the
terra indigene
. Twenty-five would be available to humans who wanted to help build this community and who met the approval of both the Intuits and the
terra indigene
. The other five buildings, the ones closest to River Road, would become the business center. For the time being, the industrial plant would be used for storage.