it at the machine and followed her.
'How did you do that?' I indicated the barriers where the attendant watched people passing through but had completely failed to notice Blackbird walking through without a ticket.
'Do what?'
'You just walked through the barriers without paying.'
'The barriers aren't meant for me,' she explained as the lift door opened. Thankfully at that time of day most of the people were coming up in the lift, not going down and we had the lift car to ourselves.
'So you just walked through the barriers because you thought you could? Everyone else has to pay.'
'I don't, though, do I?' she explained, as if I were a two year-old.
I found myself trying to argue with the obvious. I had just watched her walk through the barrier, so I knew she could do it. If the reason she could do it was because she thought she could then perhaps that was reason enough. It occurred to me that there was an underlying arrogance to the Feyre. They believed they were privileged and because they believed it, they were. It was an arrogance I was familiar with amongst human beings, especially at senior levels within companies, but it translated to the Feyre well enough.
The lift reached the bottom and the doors rolled open to the empty corridor. Blackbird exited and I followed her out and towards the platform, except that she swung right after the lifts. I followed her into the passage that joined the platform entry and exit passages. She halted outside a door marked Staff Only — No Entry.
'Here we are.' She tapped on the door and entered.
'It said Staff Only,' I pointed out, in case she hadn't noticed.
'I know. It's to keep people out.'
'Should we be in here then?'
'No one comes in here unless they're entitled to, trust me. And if they did, they would regret it.' Inside we took the spiral stairs leading down. A little way down, a passage led off to the base of the lift shaft but the steps spiralled on down.
'Where does this lead to?'
'I think it used to be a service tunnel, but it's been adapted for other purposes now. Here we are.' The stairs ended in one of the circular tunnels that are common on the underground, except that this one looked as if it hadn't been used in years. The floor was smeared with something dark in places. Worryingly it looked organic in origin, as if something had decomposed there and left a stain.
Blackbird passed me the brown sack with the pigeon sleeping in it and stepped slowly down the corridor away from the spiral stair. I hung back. The hairs on the back of my neck slowly lifted until I could feel them prickling down my neck. Some instinct was telling me it wasn't safe here and that my best course of action would be to flee back up the stairs as fast as I could.
She paused and cocked her head as if listening for something. The light illuminated only the first fifteen feet, then slowly merged with the darkness beyond, vanishing into featureless grey.
'Are we going down there?' I spoke softly to her back as the distance slowly increased between us.
She held up her left hand with one finger raised to indicate that I should be quiet. She paused then stepped forward again into the edge of the darkness. As she did, a huge shaggy figure coalesced out of the grey and reached out for her.
'Blackbird!' I shouted a warning.
The long shaggy arms closed around her, sweeping her up. I was torn between trying to rescue her and running back up the stairs. My cowardice shamed me, but the thing was immense. Huge hairy arms grasped Blackbird's slight frame. It had swept her up off the floor as if she were weightless and was crushing her against its chest. What could I do?
A long low growl came from the tunnel echoing from the walls as Blackbird kicked her legs helplessly, caught in its grasp. Why didn't she zap it or something?
Torn between staying to watch Blackbird's fate and saving myself from a similar one, I stayed at the bottom of the stairs, hand on the rail ready to run for it when my laggard brain made sense of the low growling emanating from the creature.
'Bbbbrrrraaaacckkkbiiirrrddd.' The sound rolled like a glacier grinding gravel.
It knew her name?
I hesitated as I heard another noise. It was muffled, but it came from the figure pressed into the creature's chest.
Blackbird was laughing.
FOUR
The scene transformed as my perceptions shifted.
The arms became a hug, though on a scale that was hard to believe. Blackbird's thrashing became her return of the enthusiastic greeting she was receiving. The growl was speech, though it was slowed and so low that most of it was wasted on my ears and found rest somewhere low in my gut.
The creature was still half-concealed in darkness, though it filled most of the tunnel. Grey shaggy hair covered it completely, sweeping down its shoulders and arms and hanging in loose dark curls where Blackbird was pressed against its chest, her arms buried up to her elbows in fur. Its head was wide where creamy tusks emerged from the darkly lined lips. Its eyes were black inside a ring of burnished gold and they were watching me.
Blackbird's feet descended slowly to the floor, though she clung with her face pressed into the fur for a moment longer before stepping back.
The creature swept its hand up then extended its palm, turning upwards.
'My apologies, Gramawl, I am losing my manners in the joy of seeing you again. He is called Rabbit. Rabbit, this is Gramawl.' As she said this, she made a complicated gesture, rotating her middle finger downwards and then indicated me and made a little rabbit with her hands. As she was signing, I realised that the last sentence spoken was meant as a cue for me.
Blackbird stepped aside and I hesitantly stepped forward. I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. I staggered for a moment, unable to make sense of what was happening. I came to myself, clinging to the rail and finding my knees unsteady. Something washed over me, like waves of disorientation.
'I suppose I should have anticipated that.' She turned back to Gramawl who retreated slightly into the dimness. She wobbled her fist and then tapped it sharply against her palm, then made a series of sharp sweeping motions, ushering Gramawl backwards.
Gramawl made a small circle to indicate us both then added an outstretched hand that tipped from side to side. The sensation dissipated and I found myself able to stand again.
'Yes, I know what you thought, but even if that were the case, that is a poor welcome, isn't it?' She pressed the knuckles of each hand together for emphasis. There was a reprimand in her voice, mixed with the sort of fondness reserved for a wellintentioned but over-protective uncle.
The shape retreated further into the dimness.
'Oh, stop it. Come out and meet Rabbit properly.' She was both frustrated and amused.
Clearly the creature understood her speech as it came forward, this time fully into the light. As it emerged further I became aware that it was hunched over. Shoulders loomed behind the head, sloped down to fit in the tunnel. I thought it would shamble forward, but its step was light, full of grace and poise, like a dancer.
There was a seismic rumbling, accompanied by a complex bow and ending with an outstretched palm.
'He apologises for his misunderstanding, Rabbit, and offers you welcome, if you will accept it.'
I gathered my wits.
'Thank you, Gramawl.' I bowed in turn, keeping my eyes on the shaggy form. As he approached I became aware of his scent. I had thought he would smell like a beast, but instead there was the freshness of new-turned earth. I could see, now I was closer, that the shaggy fur was not matted and grey but layered with grey over brown, over black. It had the quality of a finely groomed horse's mane and I wondered who had spent time combing through that mountain of fur.
'I was about to explain that Rabbit had brought you a gift, Gramawl, but now I'm not sure whether he will
