Chimes at Midnight

“He didn’t move,” Danny whispered back.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs cut off any further questions. “—there’s anyone down here,” said Jude dubiously. “Ardith didn’t come in today, and Madden is on his break.”

A dog barked joyful greeting.

“What is that?” demanded an unfamiliar male voice.

“That’s Madden’s dog, Buddy,” said Jude. “We let him stay down here sometimes, when Madden’s working short shifts. Hi, Buddy. Who’s a good boy, hmm? Who is it?”

Madden barked again, apparently asserting that he was, in fact, a good boy. Claws clacked against the basement floor. I’ve known enough canines in my time that it wasn’t hard to picture him jumping up on the Queen’s guards, tongue lolling, tail wagging madly.

Cu Sidhe are interesting. Like Cait Sidhe, sometimes they look a lot like Daoine Sidhe with animal characteristics, although they always have that red and white candy cane hair. Unlike Cait Sidhe, they have two distinct dog forms. One, the form most of them are born in, is a tall sighthound with white fur over most of its body, and red at the ears, tail, and paws. The other is, well, a different kind of dog. It varies from Cu Sidhe to Cu Sidhe, but when they’re in their second dog forms, there’s nothing fae about them. They look like any other mutt enjoying the wonders of the dog park.

Jude seemed to think Madden was a perfectly normal dog. That meant he had to be in his second form—and that we might have a chance at getting out of this unseen. It all depended on how good the Coblynau illusion hiding Arden’s “apartment” really was, and whether getting rid of my shoes would actually make the guards stop following us.

Carefully, I stepped back from the curtain, my bare feet making no sound on the threadbare rug as I moved to sit on the bottom bunk of Arden’s bed. Danny remained where he was, frozen in the act of pinching the curtain closed. After a few seconds, Quentin followed me, taking a seat to my right. I put an arm on his shoulder, not looking at him, and listened to the sound of Madden barking and jumping on the guards, whose muttered exclamations were becoming increasingly frustrated—and increasingly close.

“I told you, there’s no one down here.” Jude again. “I’m not sure why it was so important that you look for your friends in my basement, but I’m going to need to ask you to leave now.”

“They’re here.” This voice, I recognized: the Satyr who tried to arrest me earlier. Apparently, the Ravens hadn’t pecked his eyes out after all. Darn.

“They’re not,” said a second female voice. She just sounded tired. “I don’t know how, but the bitch figured out she was being followed. This was all just misdirection. We need to get back to the hunt.”

The voices were coming from right outside the curtain. No matter how good the illusion was, all it would take was one of them making an over-enthusiastic gesture, and the jig would be up. I closed my eyes and tightened my arm around Quentin’s shoulders. Seconds crawled by.

“Fine,” snarled the Satyr.

I opened my eyes, startled, and listened to the sound of receding footsteps. Madden barked again, punctuating the sound of those same footsteps climbing the stairs. Finally, the basement door opened and closed again, and the only sound was Madden’s barking.

Quentin started to stand. I pulled him back down to the bed. He turned and blinked at me. I shook my head. If Madden was still barking, we didn’t have the all-clear. We’d come too far to blow things by deciding to be impatient now.

More seconds crawled past, until finally, one more set of footsteps started in the basement outside. Madden was still barking, so they weren’t his. That last pair of feet climbed the stairs, and the door opened and closed one more time.

We waited.