Revenge and the Wild(70)

The suspicion in Lavina’s voice left no doubt that she knew exactly who Westie was. Westie looked into Lavina’s eyes again and saw the recognition, though neither was willing to out herself. “What ended up happening to the girl you used to know?” Westie asked.

Lavina turned back to her drink. “Oh, I don’t know. She’d lost her family, and her mind, I suppose. I’d like to think she found a new family . . . a better family.” She slid a look at Westie from the corner of her eyes. “I’d like to think she moved on to enjoy the rest of her life and left the past behind her.”

Westie tossed the metal remains of her cup over the bar into the trash bin. “Well, if the girl is anything like me, I imagine moving on with her life isn’t likely.” She stood and put her coin on the bar. “And anyone who crosses her ought to be scared,” she said, and walked out.

Westie kicked at rocks as she headed toward the livery yard to get her horse, the conversation she’d just had with Lavina replaying in her head. The Fairfields obviously knew who she was, so there was no sense in pretending anymore. She could’ve told Lavina and Hubbard exactly what she thought about them, or maybe even asked questions. Being that her hands were tied and there was nothing she could’ve done to have them arrested, they might’ve even given her answers.

A knot of voices grew louder the closer she got to the livery yard. Turning the corner, she saw a line of creatures waiting outside Doc Flannigan’s office. Fae were the only known healers in the creature world, but they were extinct, and since creatures and the Native Americans rarely got along, the doctor was their only option.

On the opposite side of the street, humans gathered in buildings, still in their mourning clothes, watching the creatures from windows.

Westie followed the line of creatures. Children wilted in their mothers’ arms, the color drained from their faces. The sheriff was out there too, in the muck of it. She’d always heard him talk about how creatures and humans had no business living together, but there he was, helping an elderly warg lady to the front of the line.

Vampires milled around without their shrouds due to the overcast day. There was one in front of her bent at the waist, vomiting blood into the street. Westie recognized him as one of Costin’s guards, the big vamp with the lazy eye who she’d choked with her machine.

“Hey,” she said to him.

His eyes sprang open and he took a step backward.

She held her hands up. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m just looking for Costin is all.”

Tight-lipped and wary, he pointed toward the end of the line.

Westie headed in that direction but stopped when she saw the werewolf innkeeper, her pup draped across her arms like a wet shirt. When Westie approached, the wolf woman growled.

“It’s all right,” Westie said, slowly pulling her last gold coin from her pocket. “I just want to show him something.”

The innkeeper’s face was taut with suspicion, but her shoulders relaxed and she gave Westie a curt nod.

“Want to see a trick?” Westie said to the boy. His face was flushed, but his lips were pale as bone. He looked at her without turning his head.

Taking the coin in her machine, Westie began rolling it across the knuckles of her metal fingers, back and forth in both directions, faster and faster. The boy sat up, mesmerized by the trick, a smile forming on his dry, peeling lips.

Westie smiled too, smoothing down the sweaty hair that stuck out in all directions on his head, and handed the coin to him. She wasn’t sure if there was magic left in the gold, or if that was even how it worked, but it was worth a try. “That’s a lucky coin. Keep it close now, you hear? Don’t ever let it go.”

When Westie turned to go look for Costin, she found him only feet away, watching her.

“What’s happening?” she asked as she approached him. His skin was the color of stone, his face and hair wet with perspiration.

“A brief illness. Creatures get sick too, you know.” It was true, but they never got sick all at once. Every species of creature was built differently, and each had their own afflictions. Westie couldn’t think of a single illness that affected them all the same—until now.

She looked up into the sky, her gaze sailing across the dome. There were several large holes in the membrane where the sky seemed to shine brighter.

“But there are rumors going around,” Costin said, “about the Wintu spirits being angry and letting the dome collapse. Humans are afraid. One of my guards heard some men in the saloon talking about how they should start killing off creatures before we have the chance to kill them. Some of my fellow creatures believe the humans have found a way to poison us.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Oh? Do you know something I don’t?”

Westie didn’t want to tell him the truth about magic disappearing. If that information found its way to the wrong ears, it could have devastating consequences. She had to make people believe the Wintu were still in control.

“Spread your own rumors. People already know that settlers once made a deal with the Wintu. Tell them as long as folks stayed out of the Wintu’s sacred sites, the Wintu would protect this town from creatures.” Costin rolled his eyes and started to speak, but Westie pressed on. “People aren’t keeping up their end of the bargain. Convince them to stop mining and leave Devil’s Crag, and I’ll make sure the Wintu keep the dome up.”