He gave a bitter laugh and stood up, signaling the guards that the visit was over. Nothing will protect you from Coyote. From His voice changed, deepened, and he said something in a language Id never heard before. He stopped, then began again, He is coming and his children cry his name into the world. He threw his head back and howled, the high, whining cry of a coyote. As the guards broke into a run, he said something that sounded like Coyotes name, but not quite, three times. It was oddly accented, making the first consonant a guttural sound and the final softer. Guayota, Guayota, Guayota, he repeated again in a soft chant that gave me goose bumps. His children howl his name and hunger for blood until the night is broken with their cries.
Before the guards touched him, he fell off the chair, body writhing for a moment, then every muscle in his body seized. His back arched off the floor, and his eyes rolled back in his head. I dropped to the floor and pulled his head into my lap so it wouldnt slap the floor a second time. Honey protected his tongue by putting her fingers in his mouth. She didnt flinch when he bit down.
When he lapsed into total unconsciousness, it was so sudden that it was more frightening than his sudden fit.
Luke crouched beside me. Weve called for help. You need to leave now.
Honey and I were escorted out of the room with more speed than gentleness, but when we retrieved our IDs, Luke found us again.
He has these fits, sometimes, Luke told us. The doctor thinks its the result of doing hallucinogenic drugs when he was young.
Luke didnt, quite, ask me what Id been doing therebut only because Honey growled at him.
Thank you, I said. He was helpful. Treat him kindly when you can. Something in me rebelled at leaving him here, caged like a zoo animal. My half brother, hed said. Coyotes children. I shivered and hoped that his last words were hallucinogenic remnants, but it had felt, had smelled, like magic to me. It had smelled like Coyote.
Luke nodded at me, lips disapproving, but went back to his job obediently enough.
Some of the pack like to forget who you are when Adam isnt around, Honey said softly. Ill have a discussion with Luke.
I gave her a sharp look she didnt see because she was watching Luke. Honey didnt like being dominantshe
avoided situations in which her natural temperament showed through. Id thought Honey didnt like me at all. So why had she just decided, out loud, to squelch Luke?
I opened the locker and collected the Vanagons keys. I walked out the prison door a free woman, but it wasnt until I turned the van out onto the freeway that I really relaxed.
So all you have to do to summon Coyote is be interesting, Honey mused. Shouldnt take you long.
You could stake me out naked in the desert near an anthill, I suggested.
She shook her head. I dont do clichés. Besides, Adam might object.
My phone rang.
Could you see who that is? I asked.
She picked it up off the floor between our seats and, after a glance at the readout, answered it. Adam, its Honey, she said. Mercy is driving.
Why hasnt she picked up her phone for the past hour? he asked.
She held the phone my direction and raised one eyebrow in inquiry.
Ive been in prison, I said in a sad voice. And left it at that. Honey flashed a grin at me, the expression startling because I was so used to the reserve shed been carrying around with her.
There was a brief silence. Okay, Adam said. Was your undoubtedly brief sojourn the cause of your phone call earlier today? Christy said you didnt leave a message.
Christy answered your cell phone, and you thought Mercy should leave a message? Honeys voice let everyone know exactly what she thought of that.
No, said Adam with gently emphasized patience. I thought that she should have told Christy to give me the phone.
You were unavailable, I told him.
Silence followed. Unhappy silence. And then I remembered who the enemy was and what she wanted to do to Adam and me.
Im sorry, I said. I let her get to me. But not to the point I did something stupid, I promise. I called Honey, and she came with me to see a man about summoning Coyote. Hank gave me his name. It was safe enough.
Adam made a man sound that could have meant anything, but I took it to mean that we were okay again. When he used actual words, the subject wasnt Christy anymore. What did you learn from Hanks contact?
A lot. Important things I didnt want to talk about on the phone. So I gave him the least of it. He doesnt summon Coyote because hes pretty sure thats the stupidest thing anyone could do. But apparently Coyote has a habit of showing up when he finds one of ushis descendantsinteresting.
Adam laughed ruefully. Shouldnt take you long, then.
Thats what I told her, Honey said.
Any word on the fire? I asked.
Arson is confirmed, Adam said, though there seems to be some confusion about the accelerant used. Whatever it was, it got really hot, really fast.
Do you think hes done this kind of thing before? I asked.