“Liam’s plots aren’t complex. Something strikes his fancy and he runs after it.”
“I suppose you know him better than I do.”
“He’s just someone who knows me well enough to keep me from killing him,” Randolph mused.
“And you know him well enough to make him useful. It doesn’t bother you that he thinks so little of you?”
Randolph studied the being in front of him. Not quite a man and not quite an animal, Kawosa seemed to be obscured by clouds that weren’t even there. His eyes shifted from the color of a clear sky to one reflected in unfathomably deep waters. His face had narrowed and his posture became stooped. Whether that was to hide his true size or coddle some sort of ailment was anyone’s guess.
Shifting his eyes once again to acquire a multifaceted quality and a color that was only slightly grayer than Randolph’s, Kawosa said, “There is another reason you’re so intent on finding this other Full Blood that is making its way here.”
“If you truly are the one who created shapeshifters, then you know about the deficiencies we have in picking up some very particular scents. We can pinpoint a specific human from hundreds of miles away but we cannot find those that will become most vital to us. We can barely smell our own kind unless we’ve acquired their scent from its source. Is that your doing, Trickster?”
Kawosa smirked. “That would be a nice little way to make things difficult, wouldn’t it? The almighty Full Bloods have to live with a fault.” Bringing his tone down from the taunting edge it had acquired, he shook his head. “I’m not that crafty. Leave it to the higher powers to come up with torments that cut so deep. To be honest, I’ve always seen your few flaws as a boon to your kind.”
“How so?”
“If every Full Blood had absolute power and could so easily find one another, what would prevent you from tearing through entire continents chasing each other around?” Using his hands and twitching fingers to illustrate his point, he continued, “All of your brothers and sisters, scampering over the globe, knocking down what the humans have taken so long to build. The ones like you would be forced into a life of defense and war, while the ones like Liam would be given the opportunity to consolidate his gifts into something far worse. Whether you agree or not, that is the way of things.”
“You’re fond of humans?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“One of them locked you in a box belowground. If they haven’t figured out you’re missing already, more of them will undoubtedly come to try and put you right back into that box or another that’s even worse. Now,” Randolph added as he stared out in the direction that Liam had gone, “the humans that didn’t even know about us until so recently will kill us the first chance they get.”
Kawosa faced in that direction as well. “Humans are a source of endless amusement. Throughout the generations, I have found them to be both devious and gullible. Optimistic, yet hardened. Musical and grating. Even when they know better than to trust, they still want to see what they could be missing if they strayed. No matter how much there is to fear, they never hesitate to walk away from the path.”
“Yes,” Randolph sighed. “Liam enjoys that aspect of them very much as well.”
“You spend a lot of time concerning yourself with him.”
“I know. That’s why I want to leave this territory of mine.”
“Leave? And go where?”
“Whoever is answering Liam’s call to arms can have my territory, and I will stake a claim in theirs.”
“Simple swap,” Kawosa mused.
“Nothing simple about it and you know that.”
“I also know that some very interesting times are coming. This has always been a land of strife and confusion. In recent years,” Kawosa added enthusiastically, “doubly so. The Half Breeds are growing. The humans are regressing. Up is down. Fire is water. Even the Nymar have broken out of the stale shell they’ve inhabited for far too long.”
Randolph watched the other being with a mix of caution and reverence. Even as some of Kawosa’s words degraded into babble, he wasn’t about to make the mistake of completely discounting their source. “You can sense a change within the leeches?”
Clamping his lips in a gnarled grimace, Kawosa lifted his chin and re-formed his face into something with nostrils that stretched back like a pair of offset, toothless mouths. “Ohhh yes. They evolve like anything else, but their spore is internal and slow to adjust. They can only taste through their host’s mouth and see through clouded eyes. I don’t know if it was the Skinners or the Amriany, but one of the groups figured this out, and Lancroft was one of the first to capture one of the evolved Nymar before they had a chance to spread their gift.
“The leeches haven’t had as much reason to change as the Half Breeds, so they become lazy. If there’s one thing I can spot, one thing I can smell, one thing I can feel, it’s laziness inside someone’s heart. Laziness makes the humans so easy to manipulate. Their legends are full of whining about being deceived by the likes of me, when all they needed to do was not give in to the temptations being offered.”
“You sound like Liam.”
“And what’s so bad about that?”
“He’s insane.”
After considering that a moment, Kawosa replied, “We all have our quirks. If you’ve been able to deal with him thus far, why do you need my help with any other Full Bloods? I would think you’d be grateful to acquire another’s scent.”
“Whoever is coming so far to respond to Liam’s call will not be the sort that is willing to hand over anything to anyone. If not for our kind’s deficiency, I could have found the rest of us during all my years of searching. Instead, I must piece a picture together by looking at the voids instead of the solids. Once I have acquired their scent, I ask you to convince the new arrivals that it is best for them to stay here.”
“Surely they will ask where you have gone. No doubt they won’t have any trouble figuring it out. What should I say to that?”
“Say what you like,” Randolph told him. “Just grease the wheels for this to happen. This is what I ask in return for breaking you out of Lancroft’s prison.”
“Haven’t I been helpful enough to repay that debt?”
“We haven’t asked you to do anything you wouldn’t have freely done on your own. That is no way to repay a debt. What I ask of you is also well within the scope of your normal affairs, but it is important enough to me for it to carry more weight.”
Kawosa nodded slowly. “I think I can arrange something. But don’t tell me that is your only request. What of the matter you mentioned before? Was that a genuine concern or has it been replaced by your newfound wanderlust?”
“That matter stands, but now is not the time to discuss it any further. Once I have settled in my new territory, if you still feel inclined to grant me that favor, I am sure you can find me. Are you certain those wretches can pick up the scent we’re after?” Randolph asked.
“Oh yes. They just need some time. As far as they’re concerned, the single task I have given them is the only one there is. What happens when they find the one you’re looking for?”
“Perhaps I’ll have a companion when I take my journey.” Randolph sighed, then the muscles in his brow tensed just enough for an internal darkness to make itself known upon his features. “Or perhaps one more death will be added to all of the others that are to come.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The tunnels beneath Rush Street branched off in several places, but it was easy to figure out the one the Nymar had used. Not all of them could walk on walls, which meant they left a trail in the gritty dust covering the floor. Paige scouted ahead and Rico helped Cole walk while carrying the ceiling-hugging Nymar over one shoulder. It was slow going but sped up once Paige doubled back to report that the rest of the Nymar had cleared out. The
