Carnival of Souls

But the bird-breathing woman was in front of them now. She was familiar in a way that made Mallory struggle to identify, like a word on the tip of her tongue, an answer just out of reach. Her eyes were ringed with blue and red lines, and the shape of her pupils wasn’t quite right. But aside from the whole birds-flying-from-her- mouth thing, she was beautiful.

The woman touched Mallory’s arm, and without planning to do so, Mallory slid the.357 back into its holster.

With her odd eyes and impossible mouth, this woman looked inhuman, but at her touch Mallory felt peaceful.

Then Kaleb stepped forward, using his body like a shield in front of her, and told her, “Run, now.”

Mallory frowned. She didn’t know why she felt like she could trust the strange woman, but she did. She also wanted rather desperately to protect Kaleb. The two instincts were both unexpected — and at odds.

She wasn’t sure what to do until, with a flick of her fingers, the woman flung Kaleb with such force that he landed several storefronts away. He wasn’t moving.

“Distraction,” the woman said, the word pushed from behind her teeth with deliberation and struggle.

She stepped closer to Mallory.

The peaceful feeling evaporated, and Mallory backed away from her. Kaleb was injured; the woman had hurt him. That clarified everything.

“I will shoot you,” Mallory threatened. She reached for her gun again.

Simultaneously, the woman reached out and snapped the cord that held Mallory’s pendant. She cupped the stone in her palm and curled her fingers around it. All the while, she stared at Mallory as if a question had been left unanswered in the air between them.

“That’s mine.” Mallory grabbed the woman’s wrist with her free hand.

Across the street, the three black birds stood in a row on one of the cables that stretched between poles.

Waiting for me.

“I really don’t want to hurt you, but…” She resisted the urge to look at Kaleb. “You hurt him. If he’s not okay, I’ll kill you.”

The woman looked heartbroken for a fluttering moment. She took Mallory’s hand and put the stone in it.

Mallory backed farther away, not running—not yet—for fear of leaving Kaleb at the woman’s mercy. She eased toward him, hoping that she could reach him but unsure if it would do any good.

The woman didn’t speak. Two of the three birds looked in opposite directions so that one was peering up the street and the other down the street. The third bird swooped toward Mallory.

The woman lifted her hand. She stood with arm outstretched and palm open. The black bird touched down in her hand. As it did so, it disintegrated into ash and smoke. The woman lifted her cupped palm filled with silty dark ash while tendrils of smoke twisted above it. “Remember.”

“What?” Mallory lifted her gaze, and as she did so, she realized too late that the bird-breathing woman had opened her mouth again.

She blew the ashes into Mallory’s face. “To free your voice and your mind.”

Mallory coughed as the dark cloud of ash hit her face with far more force than was possible from an exhalation — not that disintegrating birds or women breathing birds into being was possible either.

Daimon. Daimons don’t do magic… but witches don’t exhale birds.

“What are you?” she asked.

The woman exhaled again then, and feathers cradled Mallory’s fall as she dropped to the ground unable to breathe or see — or stay awake to hear the answer to her question.

WHEN SHE OPENED HER eyes again, Kaleb was crouched on the sidewalk beside her. He had one arm around her shoulders and was holding her chin with the other hand. He tilted her head, peering into her eyes as he did so. “Do you feel able to stand?”

“I think.” She accepted his help and came unsteadily to her feet. She didn’t know what to say. Anything she could say would seem crazy.

She looked around, confused. They were standing just outside the restaurant. No bird-breathing, weird-eyed woman stood anywhere in sight. Kaleb wasn’t tossed down the street. Everything was perfectly normal.

“You hit your head pretty hard when you fell.” Kaleb slid his fingers through her hair. “I don’t feel any blood. I’m so sorry I couldn’t catch you.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine.” Mallory was mortified; she tried to step backward but swayed a little as she did so.

“The ground is uneven.” He lifted her into his arms and started walking toward her house. “Your father will kill me if you’re injured. Do you need a healer or—”

“Healer?” she interrupted as she tried to get free. “Kaleb, I’m fine. You can put me down. Seriously, I hit my head, but my legs work fine.”

“No.” His grip tightened as he held her closer to his chest. “I can’t let anything happen to you before we even… I need you to… We’ll go to your father, and tell him what happened, and—”

“No, we won’t,” she interrupted. Then she softened a little. He sounded so frightened that she kissed his cheek. “I’m fine. Are you… did you…? Are you injured?”

He frowned and paused for a moment, but then resumed walking. “You hit your head, Mallory, and you’re unsteady. I can carry you.”

Mallory smiled at him and then tentatively said, “Before I hit my head, there was a woman….”

“She startled you.” He stared in front of him as he walked, but he held her even closer. “I should’ve seen her. I didn’t expect…”

“Expect what?” Mallory prompted.

“Her.” Kaleb carried her down the street at a rapid pace. “If anything at all feels… damaged, you’ll tell your father?”

“Sure.” Mallory closed her eyes. Her head really did hurt, and she felt like a complete fool. He could’ve been injured — was thrown down the street — because of her. She couldn’t date a human boy, not while daimons were pursuing her father and thus her. Unfortunately, she also couldn’t tell Kaleb any of that. If Kaleb knew about the daimons or witches, he’d run the other way. He should run. Even for her, what had just happened was unprecedented.

Witches don’t exhale birds; daimons don’t work magic. And what was she talking about? What do I tell Dad? What do I say to Kaleb?

When they reached the house, Kaleb gently lowered Mallory to the ground. Her father’s car was in the driveway. Kaleb looked at it, but he made no move to walk toward the door with her. “I need to go take care of some things. You’ll stay awake to make sure you don’t have a bleeding brain, right?”

Mallory stared at him for a minute, and then said lightly, “I don’t think anyone has ever said that to me before.”

“I just want to know you’ll be okay,” he said. “I’m not actually sure when I’ll see you again, so I—”

“I’ll stay awake,” she promised.

The moment stretched awkwardly, and then Kaleb leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry I didn’t catch you.”

He won’t be back. He shouldn’t be back.

She, at least, already knew they weren’t alone in the world. Kaleb was doing that thing most humans did: coming up with ways to explain the unusual. She still fought against that instinct, and she’d grown up surrounded by magic. He’s probably better off without me anyhow. Even as she thought it, though, she wanted to clutch him to her. Instead she stepped away and opened the door. She looked over her shoulder and said, “Good-bye, Kaleb.”

“Good night.”

The look of pain in his eyes made her feel like crying. Her bizarre and exciting date had turned into something awful, but she wasn’t sure what to do other than watch him as he limped away.

She wondered if whatever had prompted Adam’s sudden desire to move had followed them here. Mallory