Whispering Nickel Idols Part 40

"You can't help it. Your mouth takes over when you're nervous."

"I'm not nervous."

"Of course you are. You're scared s.h.i.+tless that I've gotten up enough nerve to decide what I want from you and me."

Good point. I'm always afraid that will happen and I'll respond by shoving both feet a yard down my own throat. But I was afraid we'd never work it out, too. "Some," I confessed. "Because chances are, someday you'll have an attack of good sense and make me go away."

"That, probably, would be best. Half the time I just slow you down. But I'm spoiled. I grew up overindulged. I can't picture my life without you in it."

Gah! This was gonna get deep. "I know what you mean. I can't, either."

"But that isn't what I want to talk about. That just came out."

Sure. The woman has no self-control whatsoever.

"I wanted to talk about Penny."

"Oh?" I squeaked. She saw the relief flood me. She managed a credible scowl. The effect of which was lost when she had to blow her nose.

"All right. What about Penny?"

"She isn't really a priestess."

"No! The surprises never stop."

"Knock it off, smart-a.s.s. She isn't a priestess because she wasn't ever invested. She was too young. She's still too young. She's only thirteen. Though you'd never believe it if you saw her undressed. Which d.a.m.ned well better never happen, even after she does turn fourteen."

"I'm missing a detail or three to pull all that together."

"She turns fourteen-she's officially an adult. In her cult, that means it's time to be a holy semipro. Putting it out to honor the G.o.ddess-and add a little cash to the temple pot-until she finds a husband."

"Ymber must have been interesting, back in the day."

"You would've loved it. You would've been in church every d.a.m.ned day instead of just for weddings and funerals."

Could be. If the religious catch wasn't too big. "I could surprise you."

"You could, but I doubt it. You'll never be anything but sixteen when it comes to that. You can't see beyond the moment."

She wasn't entirely incorrect. But we were getting personal again.

She said, "That's not what we need to talk about. I shouldn't fuss about that. She won't let you get near her, anyway. She's scared to death of you."

"Huh? But I'm just a big old huggy bear. Why be scared of me?"

"Because-"

"Tinnie." Theses words were scarcely louder than a whisper.

Penny Dreadful, pale as the weather outside, peeked round the frame of Tinnie's open bedroom door. She did look scared as h.e.l.l.

"Are you sure?"

"I have to do it sometime."

68.

I retreated toward the dormer window on my side of Tinnie's four-poster. That put the bed between me and the immigrant urchin priestess princess.

She oozed around the doorframe by degrees. Somebody had run her down, stolen her rags, scrubbed and rubbed her, washed, combed, trimmed, buffed, and polished her, then stuffed her into something old of Kyra's. Yep. She'd worked wonders disguising herself as a boy.

"I've seen you before," I said. As a girl Penny Dreadful looked familiar.

Tinnie slapped my hand. "Stop drooling, big boy. She's still a baby."

"You're wrong this time, sweetness." Then, "Where do I know you from?"

The girl s.h.i.+vered, turned pale again. Which made her look like the ghost of Belinda Contague's past.

That was it. She resembled Belinda, though her hair, clean, was auburn with a hint of natural curl.

My ancient talent for leaping to conclusions coalesced. "Chodo Contague was your father."

Tinnie gasped, choked on some phlegm. "You're insane, Garrett," she hacked.

"Probably. But-"

"You're right," Penny said in her tiny, frightened voice. "My mother said... how did you guess?"

"In this light, dressed like a girl, you look a lot like your sister."

"Belinda... she wouldn't... she..."

"You talked to her?" Belinda hadn't ever mentioned Penny or a half sister. Or any visit from somebody running a lost-relative scam.

"She wouldn't see me." Penny grabbed the bedpost kitty-corner from me, her knuckles whitening. "When our temple was besieged my mother told me about my father. Which is against the rules. We're not supposed to know.

"I tried to see him, too. They wouldn't let me, though."

Prodding gently, I got Penny to tell her life story. "This man came to see my mother twice a year. And me. He always brought presents. I didn't know who he was till my mother told me. At the end. But he stopped coming after he got important here. I never saw him after I was ten. A-Laf's priests started going wild after he stopped coming. First they took over the city offices. After a while there wasn't any difference between the town elders and their council of deacons. Then they started on the other religions."

Unsubtly. Bullying adherents and committing arson. The weak of faith converted. The stronger fled or died. In time, only A-Lat remained, and her empire consisted entirely of the mother temple. "Then they came for us."

"And you got away."

"My mother sent me away. She made me bring the Luck to TunFaire. In disguise. She told me to find my father. So I came. And I can't get to him."

Penny didn't appear to have witnessed her mother's murder. I gave that no weight. Witnesses do have trouble keeping time straight. When she was told to run and when she took flight could've been weeks apart.

A skilled cynic keeps his mind open to all the darker possibilities, though.

Penny teared up. "I thought it would be easy. I'd just find my father and he'd make everything right again. He's an important man."

"You really want to see Chodo?"

Frightened little-girl nod.

"Does he know who you are? Would he recognize you?"

Another nod, but not entirely confident.

A scheme began to stir in the shadowed rat's nest of my mind.

"I can take you there."

She seemed honestly excited-till she realized that I must want to take her home. Her pallor returned. She looked ready to bolt.

How carefully had she studied us before she swooped down on Dean?

"When did you come to the city?" I asked.

"Uh... months and months ago. Right after the war was over."

She was a kid. Kids don't pay attention to anything that don't have them at its center. Which I say based on personal experience. I used to be a kid. "So A-Laf's people arrived after you did. They came looking for you?"

"No. They didn't know about me. They thought the Luck had been destroyed. They wouldn't have found out, either, if I didn't get caught spying on them."

"Is it me you're afraid of? Or my partner?" I asked after she began to relax, thinking she'd changed the subject.

Tinnie, I noted, was quite interested in the answer.

Her suspicions abide in a realm distinct from mine. She thinks any female within stone's throw will fall under my spell.

Yeah. Right.

I hear tell a rich fantasy life is a good thing.

Again, yeah, right. "Tinnie will always be right there, ready to jump in between us."

That earned me an evil glare from my honeycomb.

"It's not you. I learned how to handle men in the temple."

"That's good to hear." Tinnie didn't relax a bit. "So why be worried about my a.s.sociate? Did Dean hand you one of his tall tales? Old Bones is harmless. Like a big old stuffed bear."

Tinnie managed a straight face. But Penny wasn't buying. "I know what he is."

I considered telling her the Dead Man wouldn't get into her head uninvited. But he'd tried already. "What secrets can a girl your age have that would embarra.s.s a four-hundred-fifty-year-old Loghyr? What do you have to lose? If it has to do with those weird cats, he already knows." If he did, though, he hadn't told me.

"Uh... no. It's just too personal. It'd be like rape."

I've never felt that way. Most people don't. Still, some might.

"Your father is at my house. It isn't likely he'll leave soon."

You could see her emotions warring. Cynical old Garrett wondered if she was acting. Cynical old Garrett suspected that Penny no longer needed to connect with Chodo. Her problems with A-Laf had been resolved, at least locally.

Block and Relway wouldn't let the cultists resume their wicked ways-particularly now they were known to be part of a criminal enterprise.

I told Tinnie, "Talk to her. She won't trust anything I say."

"About?"

"Having a chat with my sidekick. Colonel Block and Director Relway will need all the ammunition they can get when friends of the Tersizes intercede for them and their immigrant pals."

The Tersizes had high connections, forged during generations of war. As did the Tates. But the Tates found legal new ways to make money. Some of which float my boat a little higher.

Tinnie said, "Leave us alone. We'll talk."

"Don't tell her too many lies about me." I eased round the bed. I could raid the kitchen during my exile.

Tinnie read my mind, in her own special way. "You stay right there in the hall. I don't want you around Rose or Kyra."

Rose would be Tinnie's evil cousin. The black ewe of the family. I hadn't seen her for a while. I hadn't missed her, either.

I slid into the hallway, commenced to amuse myself working heavy math problems. Two times two is four. Four times four is... uh... sixteen! Sixteen times sixteen is... uh... well, enough of that stuff.

Later, hovering at the brink of some huge intellectual breakthrough, I got porlocked. Tinnie yelled, "Garrett! Get your homely tail back in here." I got. Too much thinking is scary. "We have a deal. Let me get dressed. Then we'll head for your place."

"You sure? You up to it?"

"Yes."

"Oh, boy. Let me get my fingers loosened up and I'll help."

"Back in the hall, daydreamer. Penny can help. We're still talking."

I went back out. I tried to remember what my great breakthrough would've been, worried about Tinnie's health some, then wondered how she'd gotten to the kid.