When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears: The Goblin Wars, Book Three Read Free Page B

sound track; he heard not only the cantus firmus —the Song of Creation—but also the songs of everyone around him.
    She wasn’t like Aiden, though. Give me the courage to live what I am . Not a Highborn, no matter what Fear Doirich and Mab might call her. Not a goblin, no matter what anyone might think.
    She was a tyger. Her father had seen it when she’d found him in Mag Mell, even before Kyle’s retrovirus had burned all of her DNA from his side away. Dehydrated and half out of his mind, he’d looked into her and quoted Blake’s poem. Tyger! Tyger! burning bright . . .
    Fierceness coiled tight inside her, a need to put an end to what Fear Doirich and Mab were doing. To protect her family.
    She leaned her head against the seat in front of her. The only problem was, she was still Teagan, tyger or not. Wanting to stop them wouldn’t get it done any more than wanting to throw the knife had made it fly straight and true.
    Isabeau had been right. She had absolutely no idea what to do next.
    She huddled in the car for at least half an hour, while more officers poured into the school and more reporters arrived. They were kept out of the school, but busied themselves interviewing students in the parking lot. Finally, the Gagliano boys were led out, put in cars, and driven away, cameras flashing the entire time. The officer and his partner finally got into the car with Teagan.
    “Buckle up,” he instructed, and watched until she did.
     
    Leo was not quite right. She wasn’t photographed or fingerprinted when they reached the station. She was simply led down a long, quiet hall with stained dingy carpeting to a room that had nothing in it but a table and three chairs. She looked around the room for a two-way mirror—she was sure she had seen that on TV—but there wasn’t a mirror of any kind. Only a window, which looked out on an alley full of weeds.
    It was a shabby, cold room. Teagan ignored the chill and went to the window, pressing her face against the glass and trying to see the smoke in the distance. Raynor and Joe had stopped the demons. If they hadn’t, it wouldn’t be smoke pouring out of the park. It would be something much worse. Chicago was simply not ready to meet the creatures of Mag Mell.
    She was going to have to get Gil back there as quickly as possible. Even if phookas didn’t have disgusting habits, her house was already too full of refugees from Mag Mell. There was Lucy, the sprite that had built her nest in Aiden’s hair; their aunt Roisin; and Grendal, Roisin’s cat-sídhe friend . . .
    A big black bird landed on the ledge outside the window and peered in.
    . . . and Thomas, the lhiannon-sídhe shape shifter who changed into a raven.
    The bird tipped its head, peering up at Teagan with a beady eye.
    “Is Dad all right?” Teagan asked.
    The raven’s beak gaped, but she couldn’t hear the caw through the glass. Teagan looked around the room for a piece of paper, anything she could write on to communicate, but there was nothing.
    She started to sign in ASL, then shook her head. Thomas wasn’t Aiden. He wouldn’t understand ASL.
    “Dad,” she said loudly, pressing her hand against the glass. “Is Dad all right? What happened at the park?”
    “Are you . . . talking to that bird?”
    Teagan whirled around. A man and a woman were standing in the open doorway watching her.

Two
    “I’ M Detective Deneux.” The woman’s voice was almost monotone. “This is Detective Gilkyson.”
    Deneux bore an uncanny resemblance to an aging bloodhound. Her lower eyelids drooped, her cheeks sagged, and the corners of her mouth fought against the weight of wattles beneath her chin.
    Detective Gilkyson was at least forty but trying to look younger, like the narcotics officers who sometimes came to school dressed like students. His blond hair stood straight up, and his blue eyes were open so wide it looked as if he were in a constant state of shock. He was carrying two Styrofoam cups.
    “Were you