When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears by Kersten Hamilton

Author:Kersten Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Eighteen

“SHADOWS came out?”

“Yesss. But the light was too bright,” Grizabella said. “Sssso they’re . . . melty bits and melty pieces. The Dogs put all of the little pieces in a jar and stirred them with a stick.” She pantomimed stirring a cauldron. “We hear them talking, but they can’t hurt us. Not without an abode.”

“What is an abode?” Teagan asked.

“Sssskins and bonesss.”

They needed a body? Teagan made a mental note not to leave her own skin and bones lying around where they could find them.

“Do you know where they are now?”

Grizabella shook her head as they reached the entry to the zoo.

“I don’t want you to follow me inside,” Teagan said. “I have friends in here that might catch your mange. But I won’t be too long. If you wait here, I’ll try to bring you something that will help.”

“Yesss,” the cat-sídhe hissed again. Teagan looked back once to make sure she wasn’t following her. Grizabella was perched like a ginger-tufted gargoyle atop the zoo sign, staring after her.

When Teagan was far enough away that she was sure the cat-sídhe couldn’t overhear her, she sat down on a bench and dialed home.

“Raynor’s Rescue,” the angel said when he picked up. “Tell me where, I’ll be there!”

“Raynor’s Rescue?”

“Angel humor,” Raynor said. “What do you need? You don’t sound like you’re in trouble.”

“I was just talking with a cat-sídhe—”

“Of course you were. Pleasant chat?”

“Not really.” She explained what Grizabella had said, and there was silence on the line. “Raynor? Are you there?”

“It’s possible that some part of them made it out. I had to shield your father from the fire, so there were places . . .”

“Some part of them?”

“They would have become . . . less than alive.”

“Less than alive, but not dead? How does that work?”

“I’m surprised that you don’t know the spectrum between alive and not alive.”

“If we were talking biology, I would have an idea,” Teagan said. “Living creatures are in a state between birth and death. They carry on metabolic activities that produce molecules and energy needed to sustain them. But I don’t think shadows work that way.”

“True,” Raynor said. “But we can use the analogy. Is a bacterium alive?”

“Yes. Even though it’s one cell, it does everything I mentioned.”

“Is a virus alive?”

“Not exactly. Viruses are more like little computer programs that take over the processes in a living cell. They borrow life.”

“Exactly,” Raynor said. “We’ve got a virus out there looking for a life to borrow. Did your cat-sídhe friend happen to tell you where these melty shadows are?”

“Yes. The Dump Dogs put them in a jar and stirred them with a stick.”

“Terrific. Let’s get off this line now in case Mamieo needs to call.” Raynor hung up.

Teagan dialed Abby. She was probably in the midst of painting a rich and powerful toenail at the moment. Whoever’s it was, it was not as important as this. To her relief, it was Thomas who answered the phone.

“Abby is busy at the moment, Tea.”

“That’s okay. I needed to talk to you, anyway.

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