The Tree Shepherd's Daughter (19 page)

Zeke frowned. "Leave it alone, it's a sad case. I'll give it
my personal attention."

"Knot's upset, too. We're getting that buzzing, you
know. He's running in circles and biting at his tail. I think
he needs to be flea-dipped."

"I'll get to it this afternoon as soon as I can," Zeke
said. He swirled his tea around in his mug, then took a
sip. He still had dark circles underneath his eyes, but he
had a mischievous smile on his face. "I'll make spaghetti
tonight, and put extra garlic in the sauce. Garlic helps get
rid of fleas."

Fleas. That cat was so not going to sleep with her. She
scratched her arm.

Keelie glanced at the (what else!) tree-shaped clock
hanging above the stove. "Time for me to go to the mews
and feed Ariel."

"I'm going with you." Scott waggled his eyebrows up
and down, and gave her his dorky grin. He needed to floss;
he had a chunk of something brown stuck in between his
two front teeth.

"No, you're not. Cameron didn't invite you."

"Scott is escorting you to the mews. I asked him to."
Zeke was putting on his no-nonsense parental voice.

She glowered at her father. "I'm in high school. I don't
need him," she jabbed a finger at Scott, "to go with me to
the mews." She was hoping to run into Sean in her new
clothes. Having Zeke's shop boy running herd on her like
a Border collie would cramp her style.

"Scott is going with you. End of discussion," Zeke
said. "Be back in three hours. Four o'clock. Any later, I'll personally make it my mission to escort you everywhere
you go until you're eighteen."

Keelie shrieked. Marching ahead of Scott, she found
the deserted Faire jolting. Some of the Renaissance residents wore normal everyday clothes like she'd seen in
the Shire yesterday. Some Rennies were in costume. She
guessed their brains were permanently time-warped to the
medieval ages.

She missed the bustle of the crowds, where even in her
mud clothes she could go unnoticed. But, for some reason, in the midst of the quiet and in her mundane clothes,
she felt glaringly different.

Scott caught up with her, his legs keeping pace with
her brisk walk.

"Heard about your adventures in the Shire with Captain Dandy Randy," he said.

She knew it. Although her cheeks were flushed with
embarrassment, Keelie couldn't help but glance over at
Scott, and if she had a ball of mud she would've smeared
it over the smirk on his face. She wasn't going to bother
replying.

Scott continued. "He was telling everyone you were
giving away free samples."

Keelie stopped.

Scott stopped, too. He grinned, spreading his mouth
extra wide so she got a really good view of his back molars.

"He said what?"

"You were giving away free samples, and they were
mighty sweet."

She spun on her heel, heading in the direction of the Shire. "Where is he?" She pounded a fist in her open palm,
envisioning Captain Randy's face with a broken nose. The
bastard would probably look good.

"He's supposedly working on some new software game.
Perilous Pirate or something stupid like that."

"I'm going to show him a perilous pirate. Me."

"I wouldn't worry. Raven set him straight. Besides, he
knows that if he said anything to anyone else, she'd tell
Zeke. And everyone knows just because your dad lives and
works with us normal people, he's not quite like us. Captain Randy got scared."

"What do you mean, my dad is not normal? Who is
normal in this place?"

"Ah, come on, Keelie. You know what I'm talking
about."

"All right, all-knowing wise ass. You tell me what's different about my dad, since I just got here and you've spent
all this time with him."

Scott studied Keelie, but he blinked nervously several
times as she kept her gaze level with his. Suddenly, it hit
her: he was pumping her for information.

She could feel the corners of her mouth lift up in a
smile. "Let's keep it our secret." Whatever he was trying
to get out of her wasn't going to happen, because she was
clueless about a lot of things about Zeke. And what she did
know she wasn't going to share with Scott. She had other
problems, and one was a pirate named Captain Dandy
Randy. She didn't want Zeke to find out about her Shire
activities from the other night until after she went home to
California. Worse, if he found out he might get all fatherly, as he was doing back at the apartment a few minutes ago.
He'd insist she come back to live with him until she was
eighteen. Not having Mom and Dad divorced had thrown
a major mountain range in her plans to go live with Elizabeth and Laurie.

Down Ironmonger's Way, the nasty lady from the jewelry booth walked toward them. Her nose looked kind of
normal with her giant bosom to balance it. She wore a
pink blouse and blue jeans and kept glancing down at a
clipboard. It was weird seeing these Renaissance people
in regular clothes. The woman looked up and frowned
at Keelie, but then she smiled when she saw Scott. Keelie
walked on. She wouldn't give this woman the time of day.
Anyway, Ariel would be waiting for Keelie to feed her
lunch. Though excited to see Ariel, Keelie didn't relish the
idea of touching a dead rat or watching it get eaten.

"Good afternoon, Scott. How was business at Heartwood this weekend?" the jewelry lady asked.

"Hey, Tania. Not bad. You know Zeke. He attracts
the ladies, so he's not hurting. How's it going with your
shop?"

"With these cursed rains keeping the customers away?
Everyone is feeling the pinch. This year's been bad for a
lot of us, except for Elianard's crew. They never seem to be
hurting economically. Business is up for them." Tania strode
closer. "Al at the pub says he has the sight, inherited from
his Irish grandmother Janie. He says something nasty has
brought its dark ways to the Faire." She cocked her head,
waiting for Scott's reaction, but her eyes were on Keelie.

Scott nodded, "Yeah, Cameron's been worried. Said she's seen a strange little man with a weird laugh hanging
out near the mews at dawn and sometimes around twilight."

The woman said, "See. Cameron's one of those I would
say has the sight. I heard over at the pub last night that
they think the little man in the red cap might be the one
that started the fire. One of the belly dancers thought she
saw him head over into the woods past the meadow."

Keelie stopped and spun around on her heel. Red cap.
Woods past the meadow. More than one person had seen
the little manic midget. She hadn't been the only victim.
He was an arsonist.

Scott whistled. "Really. I wonder what Admin is going
to do."

"I don't know. I bet someone from that land development company put him up to it. Why don't you stop and
have a cup of coffee with me? We can talk some more."
Tania batted her eyes at him.

Keelie was going to heave.

"Oh, I can't. I'm on an important errand. I have to get
Zeke's daughter to the mews," Scott replied.

"She's Zeke Heartwood's daughter?" Keelie thought
Tania was going to choke on the words.

Keelie joined Scott, feeling much better. Watching the
woman's face as she learned that Keelie was Zeke Heartwood's daughter was worth the delay. She was starting to
appreciate her father's importance at the Faire.

"I saw her yesterday, but I thought she was a new performer in the Muck and Mire Show."

"It was so nice of Tarl to come to my rescue and loan me some clothes, because all of my everyday wear is in Europe."
Keelie batted her eyelashes, too. If Scott started on his, the
breeze from all three pairs of eyes would be noticeable.

"Europe." She looked Keelie up and down, as if she
was tabulating the cost of Keelie's outfit. "My goodness.
I didn't realize you were Zeke's daughter." The woman
smiled, but it wasn't a genuine smile. It was like the one
that Mom's tennis rival wore whenever she and Mom met
at the grocery store. Mom would go, "Beverly, darling, how
are you?" Beverly would reply, "Fabulous, Katy, darling.
I can't wait till our rematch down at the club." Though
their verbal exchange would sound amiable, Keelie felt the
venom dripping with each word they exchanged. Air kisses
at twenty paces.

"Keelie, I know you liked that fairy necklace. I still have
it," said Tania. She pointed through the woods in the direction of her booth. "I can get it for you, if you still want it."

Shaking her head, Keelie said, "No, thanks. I really
must be going. I have to get to the mews. Cameron is
waiting for me."

Walking away, Keelie sensed hostility flow from Tania,
just as it had from Mom's tennis rival. Keelie felt very satisfied. More than likely, the fairy necklace would've turned
her neck green. Maybe that's why Tania wasn't making any
money-shoddy merchandise.

At the raptor mews, Keelie ran to Ariel's cage. The hawk
was sitting on her perch and opened her eyes, turning her
head to watch Keelie's approach. The hawk's golden eye
gleamed, and her posture looked noble. Keelie knew the other eye, milky white, was the reason Ariel could no longer soar, and she felt sad for the poor bird.

"Here you are. You've been delivered safe and sound.
I'll be back around three forty-five to walk you back. Have
fun with the dead rats." Scott nodded at one of the mews
workers and sauntered off.

Cameron approached, carrying a brown paper bag
marked "Ariel" in black marker. "Good morrow, Keelie.
Ariel's been waiting for you." She gave Keelie two sturdy
leather gloves.

"I can't wait." Not.

"Where's your father? I needed to speak to him." Worry
lines creased her face.

"He's resting. He's not feeling well after our trip to the
mall yesterday." Keelie put the gloves on. "I think it might
have been MSG in his tofu."

"Your father went to the mall?" Cameron's mouth hung
open.

"Yeah. According to Raven, it was a historical event.
I needed clothes. All I had to wear were the mud clothes.
The airline's lost my luggage, and Knot peed on my underwear." The comment about Knot whizzing on her underwear always solicited sympathy.

"Knot peed on your underwear?"

Keelie nodded.

Cameron scrunched her face up and shook her head.
"Knowing Knot, he might have been telling someone or
something you belonged to him. Marking you as his territory, so to speak. Some cats do that."

Keelie stared at the bird woman in total shocked silence. Somebody had been hanging out with her fine- feathered
friends for way too long. "I am so not his territory. I think
it was a hate message: Leave now."

Smiling, Cameron said, "Well, Knot has always been
a bit unusual, even for a cat. I hope Zeke feels better. Do
you think he'll be up for a visit tomorrow?"

"I think so."

Cameron opened the bag. "Okay, Keelie, reach in there
and retrieve Ariel's dinner."

The thick leather of the gloves made her fingers feel
clumsy. Reaching into the bag, Keelie grasped something
thin but heavy. She slowly lifted a large, dead white rat out
of the bag. Its tail hung limp and disgusting, but thankfully, its eyes were closed. Keelie looked away, afraid she'd
hurl her lunch.

"Gross, but necessary, Keelie. Give it to Ariel," Cameron said.

Keelie made her way to the cage. Ariel's good eye
watched her-or rather, the rat.

A bundle of autumn-colored fur ran toward Keelie.
What was that sadistic cat doing here? Had he heard them
talking about him? Forget him.

Keelie focused on Ariel. She locked eyes with the hawk
as she approached, cursing Knot silently for weaving in
and out of her legs. When she reached to open Ariel's door,
she felt claws at her ankle and stepped back, tripping over
the cat. She reached for the wooden cage with one hand
to break her fall. As she did, she dropped the rat, which
landed with a thud as the cage door popped open.

The cat yowled like a banshee when the chilled rat landed on him. Ariel stretched her wings once, then flew
out and spiraled into the trees.

Knot shot into the woods, as if aware of the chaos he'd
caused.

Cameron cried out for him to stop, but the cat kept
running, leaving a trail of waving grasses in his wake.

In the air, Ariel paused as if noticing new prey, then
shot down in pursuit.

All the birds began screeching and flapping their wings
against the bars of their enclosures. It seemed to Keelie that
they were cheering Ariel on as the hawk flew in pursuit of
the rapidly retreating Knot. Keelie wanted to run, too.

Her second day on the job, and she'd lost the hawk.

Keelie kicked pebbles as she walked down the path toward
Heartwood. She'd chased Ariel all over the Faire. Luckily,
Cameron had bribed the hawk back with another rat. At
least it had been Keelie's idea, so she'd redeemed herself,
sort of.

She stopped in front of the Magic Maze. A group of
the badass college kids who manned the booths on weekends were playing soccer on the path and the clearing on
both sides of it. She detoured around them and circled the
Magic Maze. A little path led through the woods.