Wondrous Strange

XXIX

“Tyff?” Kelley asked as her roommate deftly pinned her hair up into a loose, artful cascade of curls. “How come your ears aren’t…you know?”

“For the same reason that I never let anyone photograph me from the neck up,” Tyff muttered around a mouthful of bobby pins. “Because I’ve been trying to pass for mortal for the last millennium and a half. I used to just cast a glamour or wear my hair down, but then I finally found this great cosmetic surgeon on Ninth. Used to be a Druid healer way back in the day, and he’s very discreet. Hey, do you want me to set up an appointment for you?”

“Uh…I’ll think about it.” Kelley ran a finger over the tip of one ear. “They’re not that pointy, are they?”

“Oh, honey, no!” Tyff assured her. “Actually, on you, it’s sort of cute.”

“Thanks. I think. And for loaning me the dress.” It hung in a contour-hugging wave from slender straps to brush her ankles. “Are you sure it’s not a bit much?”

“What, you don’t want to look nice for your date?”

“Do you really think this is a date?” Kelley could hear the panic in her own voice.

“I think he’s trying to take you somewhere safe,” Tyff said. “I do.”

There, see? Not a date. Damn it.

Still. He was taking her to a safe house? Putting her under some kind of guard…Kelley really wasn’t sure how she felt about that. “Do you like him?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Do I like him?”

Tyff’s mouth bent up at one corner. “You’re going to have to figure that one out all by yourself, kiddo.”

Kelley sighed. “Okay, but-seriously-if this isn’t a date, then why am I dressed like I’m hitting the red carpet?”

Tyff chuckled and secured the last pin in Kelley’s artfully tousled updo. “The Green is a little more upscale than the burger joints you’re used to, Kell. Trust me. Sparkly apparel is like a kind of uniform there.”

Kelley turned this way and that in the mirror. Shimmering, champagne-hued crystals caught and reflected the light, but the effect was still somehow subtle. Tyff draped a silky wrap over Kelley’s bare shoulders and gave her arm a quick squeeze.

“How do I look?”

“Fetching. But don’t ask me…” Tyff stepped aside so that Kelley could see past her- to where Sonny stood, waiting patiently in the living room. “Ask him.”

Sonny turned and his eyes went wide. The look on his face spoke volumes.

If it hadn’t been a date before that moment, it certainly was now.

“How was last night?” Kelley asked, as Sonny put out an arm for her to take as they crossed Fifth Avenue in the waning light of late afternoon. She had been making all kinds of small talk since they’d left the apartment-mostly to avoid having to notice the fact that Sonny had barely taken his eyes off her. “Guard duty, I mean.”

“Quiet, all things considered.” He shrugged. “For me at least. Maddox and the others did most of the heavy lifting. He still thinks I need mending.”

“Don’t you?” she asked, hazarding a quick look into his face. He’s still staring at me. Maybe the dress really is too much.…

Sonny smiled. “I need less mending than a regular mortal. I’m fine.”

“Really? Then why is Maddox worried?”

“He’s just being an old woman.”

“You’re his friend.” She gripped his arm tighter, feeling a bit precarious in Tyff’s high heels.

“I know. He’s still being an old woman.”

She looked up at him again. “You know, you do look a little…rugged.”

“I…oh.” Sonny frowned and looked away.

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “Rugged works pretty well for you.”

There were dozens of carriages lined up along the curb at the southeast corner of the park. Some were pulled by lean, neat-footed ponies, while others were powered by larger draft horses. Sonny cast his gaze up and down the line and made a choice. Grabbing Kelley by the hand, he approached a white buggy adorned with garlands of pink and purple silk flowers. The driver was a tall, broad-shouldered woman with a keen glint in her ice-blue eyes; the horse was a proud silver-white beast who managed to convey a sense of dignity despite the jaunty fuchsia ostrich plumes waving from his bridle and the sparkly purple paint on his hooves. Probably a tourist favorite for the pure kitsch value, Kelley thought.

The horse tossed his huge, noble head, butting her insistently with his nose once she got close enough.

“You certainly seem to have a way with horses,” Sonny whispered.

“Belrix likes you,” the driver said to Kelley. “He’s very particular.”

“He’s beautiful,” Kelley said, scratching his hairy cheek.

“We’d like to hire his services. And yours, if you are available,” Sonny said to the driver.

“We haven’t had many folk wanting a ride through the park the last few nights,” she said, her face a carefully composed blank.

“Due to the uncertain weather, most like,” Sonny suggested politely.

“Aye. Most like…Hard to tell one season from another these days.”

“Just so. Can you take us to the Tavern?” Sonny asked the driver.

“The Tavern on the Green?”

“You know the one I speak of.”

Kelley was confused. There was only one Tavern on the Green. It was one of New York’s landmarks.

But the driver nodded slowly. “I do. It will cost you extra to take that road.”

“I’ll pay,” Sonny said, pulling out a small red suede pouch. He tugged open the drawstring and chose several coins, which he dropped into the palm of her hand. “For both of us.”

“Fair enough,” she said, and gestured with the little buggy whip she held. “Up you get, then.”

Sonny helped Kelley climb into the cab and then sprang in behind her as the carriage began to move. The steady clip-clop of Belrix’s hooves echoed beneath the trees as they wound through the park, passing familiar landmarks and features. They were on a road that took them past the carousel at a distance.

Kelley remarked, “You know that particular carousel is the fourth one to stand on that spot? It’s burned to the ground twice in its history.”

The driver turned and glanced over her shoulder. “I’m usually the one who gives the guided tour, missy,” she said, sounding amused. “Are you trying to take my job?”

Kelley smiled. “No, ma’am. I just remember reading about the carousel in a brochure.”

“Aye, well.” The driver nodded and took over the narrative. “The story goes that the original merry-go-round used to be powered by a horse and an old blind mule that walked a circular track in an underground cavern beneath the ride. Indeed, old Belrix here gets touchy when I talk about the horse and mule.” The big animal’s ears twitched back and forth. “Seems to think that it wasn’t exactly fair work.”

Kelley shivered at the idea of those animals traipsing in an endless circle, one blind, led by the other, in sunless toil for the sake of other creatures’ amusement.

“The carousel that stands there now was found disassembled on Coney Island,” the driver continued. “They brought it back here and refurbished it. Lucky, that. The park would be poorer without it, to my mind.”

“Yeah,” Kelley murmured, thinking about a horse of another kind. “Lucky.”

On either side of them the park vista passed.

“You know,” Kelley said to Sonny softly, “I was fascinated by the park when I first moved here. I felt kind of drawn to it. I guess that’s not exactly a coincidence, now. Seeing what this place really is. And who I…really am and all…”