the movement sent sparkles through my vision, and I was lost in darkness.
The smell of cleaning solution woke me briefly.
“…broken neck blah-blah-blah.” It sounded like Samuel, but there was something wrong with his voice. He sounded so sad, so I tried to listen. Maybe I could cheer him up. “And the burns … I’m sorry, Adam—”
Adam said something, and I sank into his voice like it was a warm sea.
“It’s probably better if you talk to me and don’t pay attention to all of that,” said Coyote.
I was lying on a thick field of new-mown grass that smelled a lot better than the cleaning fluid had. I watched the sky where small groups of clouds chased each other like little ducks.
“Mmmm,” I said dreamily.
Coyote chuffed a laugh. “They do have you on some strong stuff. But you’ll remember this anyway. Guayota isn’t dead. You can’t kill one of his kind unless you destroy what he represents. That need not concern you—although I wouldn’t be in a hurry to go visit the Canary Islands for a while. A few years, and he’ll forget. He shouldn’t have worn a human-seeming for so long.”
“Like you did when you became Joe Old Coyote,” I said.
“Not at all,” he told me indignantly. “That cloud looks like me, don’t you think?”
“The bigger one?” I asked.
“Yes, that one that looks like it’s about to eat an egg.”
“No. That one’s a rabbit.”
“Rabbit,” he said indignantly. “That’s a coyote.”
I laughed, but that was a mistake. My vision went black for a few minutes, then, slowly, the sky, clouds, and grass were back.
“Don’t do that,” said Coyote. “It makes it difficult to hold you here. I break things, a lot of things, but I don’t want one of them to be you. So just rest here.”
“What about…” It was difficult to be worried; most of me wanted to just watch the clouds drift by.
“Let me talk,” Coyote said. “You don’t know what questions you want to ask. Unusual decision to bring Joel into the pack. You could have used the walking stick to cut the threads of Guayota’s spell, and that would have done the same thing as you managed to do with the pack spell.” He paused. “Maybe. Maybe it would have just burned to ashes. I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the pack with a tibicena in it.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” I told him. “I gave the walking stick back to Beauclaire.”
“Did you?” said Coyote. “Hmm. Anyway, Guayota, being separated from that which gave him life—the volcano—needed two anchors to hold him in his human-seeming and allow him his power. Two anchors who were connected to his island. Why two? Why male and female? Who knows. Doubtless there is a reason, and if you meet him again, you might ask because the answer interests me.”
“Never,” I told him. “I am never going to the Canary Islands.”
There was a little silence beside me, and I realized that he was lying in the grass, too. “It’s supposed to be beautiful in the Canaries,” he said a little wistfully. “There’s this underground lake lit by torches…”
“No,” I told him.
“Maybe Gary will go,” Coyote said contemplatively. “But in any case, when you claimed Joel, tibicena and all, it threw the magic that allowed Guayota to live away from his island out of balance, and it unraveled.”
“Then Joel will go back to being just human?” I asked.
“That depends,” Coyote said.
“On what?” I turned my head, glimpsed his face, then my world went black again.
“Why don’t you just die?” hissed someone in my ear.
After a moment, I realized it was Christy.
“I know it was you. I know it. And now I look like a freak.” Something dripped on my cheek and touched my lips with salt.
“Mom,” said Jesse. She sounded appalled and … amused.
“She’s nasty and vindictive,” Christy said. “Everyone thinks she farts rainbows—and look what she did to me. I’m blue.” She wailed the last.
Christy had used the bottle of shampoo she’d left in my bathroom. I hoped the dye hadn’t stained the tile, but it would be worth it if it had. There were some noises, then Jesse’s breath was warm on my ear.
“She’s gone to get coffee, Mercy,” she told me. “I love her, but—the dye was inspired.” She giggled. “You are terrifying. I can’t believe you got her while you were…” She cleared her throat. “While you were in the hospital.” She laughed again. “I told her she should leave it. I’d dye my