The Unkindest Tide (October Daye #13) - Seanan McGuire Page 0,71
kitchen, why did we have to take a boat to get here?” I asked.
“Because I can’t just snap my fingers and take away distance for no good reason; the magic doesn’t work like that, and let’s all be grateful,” said the Luidaeg. “There have to be limits, even on the Firstborn. We can’t be gods. The world would shatter and turn to dust beneath our feet.”
“Some of you would be gods if they were allowed,” said Tybalt.
“And all the ones who would be gods are the ones who shouldn’t be gods. My kitchen is here because I need it to do my job, and that gives me the leverage to bridge the distance.” The Luidaeg opened the refrigerator door and started rummaging around inside. “Last time I used one of Ketea’s scales to manage the transformation, but that’s not a good idea when I need your blood to remember that the form isn’t yours.”
“If it’s not a good idea now, why was it a good idea last time?” I crossed my arms, fighting the urge to scowl. It was born of nervousness; I don’t like it when people transform me into things. It didn’t seem to matter that this time, I’d asked to be turned into something I wasn’t supposed to be. It was still a transformation, and I still wasn’t comfortable with it.
“You were more human last time.” She pulled several bottles of fluid off the shelves and set them on the counter. One was white and sparkled like liquid starlight, one was so black it seemed to steal all light from the room, and the last was a swirling, pearlescent red, somewhere between blood and strawberries. “Humans don’t understand what it means to lose themselves in a new shape. They’re born in one body, they die in the same body, and all the changes they make to it are cosmetic. The bones remain the same.”
“And?”
“And you’re Dóchas Sidhe, children of the last Ride—and you have no idea what a relief it is to be able to say that, to not be waiting for you to figure out the right question to unlock your own family tree—and your blood knows how to become something it’s not. Tam Lin isn’t your grandfather, thank Dad, or you wouldn’t be standing here now, but the magic my mother threw at him splashed onto your grandmother, and it changed her, too, somewhere deep beneath the skin, where the world couldn’t see it. It’s easy to convince you to be something other than you are. Simon Torquill would never have been able to turn kitty-boy there,” she hooked a finger toward Tybalt, “into a fish for more than seven years, and Cait Sidhe are natural shapeshifters. With the brat, he’d have been lucky to get seven months.”
“My grandfather turned a man into a linden tree for a hundred years,” said Quentin.
“Trees are different.” The Luidaeg produced a large glass bowl and began dumping her various liquids into it, doing the measurements by eye. “Trees are slow. A hundred years as a tree is less than a decade as something that has a heartbeat. There’s a reason most punishment-through-transformation involves trees. Everyone gets to look impressive, and no one has to live with the long-term consequences of having a pissed-off enemy popping out of the decorative water feature. Toby, you got your knife?”
“Do you even have to ask?” I wearily produced the knife from beneath my skirt, holding it out to her hilt-first.
The Luidaeg raised an eyebrow. “I don’t want it. You’re all going to be bleeding for me in a moment. I needed to know we had a way to make that happen.”
“All?” asked Quentin nervously.
“Well, kiddo, since your lady knight wants to go hang out in the Undersea like a big asshole, you’re going to go with her.” The Luidaeg flashed a toothy smile. “Call it a learning experience. You’re going to learn why you need to get yourself a better knight if you want to live long enough to be High King.”
I gaped at her. “I’m not taking Quentin.”
“She’s not only taking Quentin,” added Tybalt. I turned my gape on him. He raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look so offended, little fish. If you must go submerge yourself in a watery nightmare, it’s my duty to be by your side.”
“Hilarious as the idea of transforming you into a giant catfish is—and believe me, it’s funny as fuck—no,” said the Luidaeg. “You’re here to provide the shapeshifter’s spark to my spell and nothing more.