just like I wore when I was a patient, not a month ago. And for some reason, I noticed, really noticed the name on it: Cinnamon Frost. Dimly I remembered the doctors telling me the DEI officers had to guess at her name, and had just assumed that Cinnamon was my daughter. I had laughed, saying that no mother would just have left her daughter alone with the medics, but I didn't really object. And then, as I looked at the bracelet, I realized in the whole month that I'd been there I had never objected or corrected them-nor had she.
And around this point I realized: I'd decided to adopt Cinnamon.
'So, Cinnamon,' I said, reaching out to pat her tufted little hand. 'I was thinking, you know, about you not having a mom.'
'What of it?' she said, suddenly sullen.
'Well, I don't have a daughter.'
Cinnamon looked up at me in shock. Her eyes grew all shiny and large, though it was difficult for me to see it with all the water building in mine. Then she reached over and grabbed me and pulled me too her and held on tight, claws pricking me gently through my shirt.
'Mom?' She said the word so gently, it was like magic. And then she bawled. 'Oh, Mom. Oh, my Mooooom.'
'It's okay, Cinnamon,' I said, patting her head. 'I'm so glad I found you.'
Yeah, yeah, I know: sappy as hell. Wake the fuck up. When people talk in real life, they don't make up all sorts of flowery phrases to say what they feel; they say the first thing that comes to mind and then sit there holding each other, glad to be alive.
And we did just sit there, for a long long time, her hugging me hard enough to squeeze the air from my lungs, me cradling her and stroking her soft, feline ears and cooing softly. Finally she said, 'How is this going to work?'
'I don't know, Cinnamon,' I said. 'You're a bit big for me to tell you to clean your room.'
'Oh, Mom,' she sobbed. 'Give me a room, and you can tell me to clean it anytime.'
46. PAYOFF
The Valentine Foundation is going to pay out. I'm not joking. It's a big scandal. There are half a dozen investigations ongoing, but apparently Mirabilus was playing his cards very close to his chest, because the Foundation appears completely legit. In fact their board was mortified to find out that Valentine had been killing potential prizewinners. The money may be tied up for years in court until the investigations around Mirabilus are settled, but the hands of Alex's wristwatch tattoo are still turning, counting out one day for each turn of the Earth beneath the stars-and so they're going to pay out.
Even better, I didn't win just by default-there's a clause in the contract which stipulates that if one party in the challenge fails to even attempt the feat, the result is decided not by default, but by a panel of experts. They lined up a half dozen of them, but not one of them could explain through trickery or science how it I made a tattoo watch actually rotate. That only left magic as an explanation.
Footage of me putting the watch on Alex even made it into the promos for the next season of the Valentine Foundation's cable show-and so business at the shop has been booming. I've even managed to turn the loss of my tattoos into a benefit: I held public inkings for the butterfly and the snake, and plan to do the hawk next month. The Dragon, on the other hand, my masterwork… will take more time.
Cinnamon is going to be more than I can handle. She's officially taken over my storage room for her bedroom and unofficially taken over the rest of my flat besides. I'm sure there will be a thousand forms and pieces of paperwork we're going to need to sign to make this official, but I can deal with that. What I'm really dreading is the next step: she can barely read, so I'm planning to enroll her in school.
If you thought cats would scratch you if you put them in the shower, you ain't seen nothing yet. Send iodine this Christmas.
Savannah and Darkrose have been hunting for Transomnia. We think the little shit's left town. At this point I'd be inclined to let him go-without him, Cinnamon and I would be dead. Of course, without him I'd have all my natural teeth, but I've worked up a payment plan to do some tats for my dentist in case the money from the challenge gets tied up in red tape.
I'm still wearing Saffron's collar. I hate it, Darkrose offered to remove it, but Savannah overruled her. I think she's right-I almost died even with her protection-but I'd feel a lot more comfortable about it if I didn't know she was enjoying it.
The Masquerade will remain open, for now. The publicity was good for it-as was the death of Mirabilus. It turns out he was behind the land deal that had closed the Masquerade-one of a half-dozen other shady land deals uncovered when Jack Conway finally tracked down the mysterious server failures at APD. Mirabilus, or one of his pawns, had hacked the entire City Hall East network, enabling him to intercept 911 calls, create fake land-use permits, change the A/C settings and God knows what else. Until it's sorted out, the Masquerade stays open. Hooray.
I've made one call to Stratton, South Carolina, to make peace with my Dad. He was pleased to hear from me. I had expected him to give me shit about my tattoos, about never calling; but he had heard through the grapevine all the things that had happened, and just cried and told me again and again how happy he was that I was alive. Apparently he isn't that happy-he still won't get in a car and drive a hundred and fifty miles to Atlanta, to see me. I didn't tell him about Cinnamon yet. It didn't seem like the time to mention his new granddaughter, a weretiger.
Philip is gone, most of the time. He's on some kind of circuit over the Southeast. I never found out what the stealth shape was, that night outside the Masquerade-he just said, 'Well, we can't always get the Shadowhawks where we need them quickly enough, it's not like we can haul them on the back of a flatbed.' He's similarly tightlipped about who might have given Mirabilus the box as a commission. But when he is in town, once every month or so, I buy him coffee, and he takes me out to the gun range for target practice. We aren't calling it dating yet, but here's hoping we'll start.
Isn't all that great? Doesn't it sound so wonderful? Happy, happy, joy, joy.
But the truth is I still wake up almost every night, sometimes screaming, sometimes crying, always holding my right hand in my left, massaging my first two fingers, reassuring myself they're still there. Sometimes it's Transomnia in my dreams, red eyes gleaming as he snips my fingers off one by one; sometimes it's Mirabilus, blue chips of ice glinting as he strips the skin off my back; and sometimes, I just plain wake up screaming.
When I do, Cinnamon comes and curls up in the bed beside me to comfort me; but just as often she wakes up bawling, holding herself, shivering, and I have to comfort her. And that's when the worst feeling sets in: that I could have done something, that I could have stopped the trouble earlier. That I could have kept Cinnamon out of it. That I could have seen the trap Transomnia was in and helped him escape sooner. That I could have kept Wulf out of that damn body bag.
No, I'm not going to become a police officer, or a bounty hunter, or a detective, or anything like that. I like tattooing, and I'm not going to give it up.
But I have started karate, three times a week. Darren is amazing. He's working with my physical therapist to help design a program to get me up and running as fast as possible. In the meantime, I get to see him run up a wall at the end of every class.
And, in addition to the karate, I have two other new weekly appointments-one with Jinx to school me in graphomancy and help me master the power in my tattoos, and one with Canon Grace, to help me decide what I should do with my powers.
I will not hide. I will not run. I will not live in fear.
Because I'm not just a tattooist.
I'm Dakota Frost, and I'm a skindancer.
