Daniel’s pulse quickened, and he scuffed his feet more firmly into his borrowed shoes. “I’ll be careful,” Daniel said, and the man nodded.
“Chuck, go with him.” The dog stood, ears pricked.
“Uh, thanks,” Daniel said as he moved Orchid to his shirt pocket, “but it’s just up the street.”
Orchid poked her head out. “I’m watching him, you mangy dog,” she said belligerently, and the man smiled, his hand on the top of the dog’s head.
“I bet you are.” With a final nod, he turned and walked away with Chuck, the dog who wasn’t a dog. Daniel watched as they rejoined the rest of the pack, and quicker than he would have believed possible, they were gone. He was alone.
“Maybe we should be more careful about you being seen,” he said. His shoes were a little tight, but he wasn’t going to complain.
“That might be a problem,” Orchid said, and he peeked in at her, huddled in his pocket.
“Just stop moving your wings. You don’t glow then,” he said, and she shook her head, looking up at him with a mournful expression.
“No, I mean that kid with the cans? He heard the entire thing and is following us.”
Daniel sighed, and Orchid pulled herself up, hanging half out of his pocket. “You have to take care of this,” she said. “I’m not going to be responsible for another Detroit.”
Daniel eyed the dark alleys between the buildings. “Maybe we can bribe him into silence,” he said, taking a slow right into one of the alleys.
“What’s your plan here?” Orchid asked as he put his back to the wall.
“Plan?” he whispered as he crouched to find a rock. “Shhh. I think I hear him.” Daniel’s pulse quickened as the silhouette of a small boy showed at the top of the alley. Daniel flicked the rock to clatter farther in, and convinced, the boy followed.
“Now!” Orchid called, and Daniel grabbed him, shocked at how small he was. Six? Seven?
“Let go! Let go!” the boy shouted, wiggling as Daniel wrapped his arms around him.
“Hold still,” he said, grunting when a little elbow hit his nose. “Hold still, or I’m going to do something you will not live to regret.”
“Oh, like that’s going to convince him,” Orchid said, glowing a bright yellow dust as she alighted on the top of a burn barrel.
Catching sight of her, the kid stopped, entranced. “You’re a fairy,” he whispered, and Daniel let go apart from an iron grip on his wrist.
“A pixy,” Orchid said, hovering before him. “And you’re in trouble, little man.”
Immediately the kid tried to jerk away, stomping on Daniel’s foot.
“Hey! Knock it off,” Daniel said, but the thrashing just got wilder. “I don’t know, Orchid,” he added, chin high as the kid hammered at his middle like a pint-sized boxer. “He doesn’t want to know how to stop the blisters.”
Immediately the boy lost all his fight, staring up at them with wide eyes. “I don’t want my mom to get sick,” he warbled, and Daniel’s heart just about broke.
Giving Daniel a dark look for making him cry, Orchid dropped down to hover before the boy, her glow shining on his tears. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Johnny,” he said, and Daniel eased his grip slightly.
“Okay, Johnny,” Orchid said. “My name is Orchid. We’ll tell you how to keep everyone you love from catching the plague, but you have to keep quiet about me.”
Johnny wiped his nose on his sleeve. “What about the werewolves and vampires?”
Orchid’s brow furrowed. “Have you seen any werewolves and vampires?”
“Just the werewolves.”
This wasn’t good, but Daniel was seeing an interesting pattern, and he let go of the kid and dropped down to kneel before him. Johnny was taking everything at face value. He was scared, but it was the kind of scared you were about the bogeyman under the bed, a fun scared that held no real fear. Maybe Inderlanders coming out wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
“Johnny, pixies and vampires and werewolves are a really big secret,” Daniel said, and the boy looked from Orchid to him. “And if you tell anyone, everyone you save is going to die anyway. Do you understand?”
Big, helpless tears rolled down his face, making Daniel feel like a jerk. “I don’t want my mom to die,” Johnny sobbed, and Daniel took him in a hug, feeling his tiny body shake.
“Does she have the blisters yet?” Daniel whispered, and Johnny pushed back as if suddenly remembering big boys didn’t cry.
“No,” he said, wiping his nose on his sleeve again, and Daniel smiled.
“Then I can tell you how to save her, but if you tell anyone about vampires or witches—”
“Or pixies?” Johnny interrupted, looking at Orchid.
“Or pixies, or fairies, or werewolves, or anything, the magic won’t work and she will die. Do we have a deal?” Daniel said, holding out his hand.