Stories: All-New Tales

“Are you guys okay out there?” It was Sunny, peering through a gap in the curtains. “Do you want some more ginseng tea?”

“Ah—no thanks,” said Arthur, now with a demon wolf in each hand and that stupid grin on his face again. “Look, ah, Sunny, go inside. I’m kinda busy right now—”

The thing that Our Thor had been holding at bay finally escaped his grasp. It didn’t go far, though; it sprang at me and knocked me backwards against the rail. The balcony gave way with a screech, and we all fell together, three floors down. I hit the deck—damned hard—with the ephemera on top of me, and all the fight knocked out of me and I knew that I was finished.

Sunny peered down from her window. “Do you need help?” she called to me.

I could see right into the creature now, and it was grim—like those fairy tales where the sisters get their toes chopped off and the bad guys get pecked to death by crows and even the little mermaid has to walk on razor blades for the rest of her life for daring to fall in love…Except that I knew Sunny had got the Disney version instead, with all the happy endings in it, and the chipmunks and rabbits and the goddamned squirrels (I hate squirrels!) singing in harmony, where even the wolves are good guys and no one ever really gets hurt—

I gave her a sarcastic smile. “Yeah, wouldya?” I said.

“Okay,” said Sunny, and pulled the drapes and stepped out onto the balcony.

And then something very weird happened.

I WAS WATCHING HER from the alleyway, my arms pinned to my sides now and the ephemera straddling me with its overcoat spread like a vulture about to spear an eyeball. The cold was so intense that I couldn’t feel my hands at all, and the stench of the thing made my head swim, and the rain was pounding into my face and my glam was bleeding out so fast that I knew I had seconds, no more—

So the first thing she did was put her umbrella up.

Ignored Arthur’s desperate commands—besides, he was still wrestling with the second ephemera. His colours were flaring garishly; runelight whirled around them both, warring with the driving rain.

And then she smiled.

It was as if the sun had come out. Except that it was night, and the light was, like, sixty times more powerful than the brightest light you’ve ever known, and the alley lit up a luminous white, and I screwed my eyes shut to prevent them from being burnt there and then out of their sockets, and all these things happened at once.

First of all, the rain stopped. The pressure on my chest disappeared, and I could move my arms again. The light, which had been too intense even to see when it first shone out, diffused itself to a greenish-pink glow. Birds on the rooftops began to sing. A scent of something floral filled the air—strangest of all in that alleyway, where the smell of piss was predominant—and someone put a hand on my face and said:

“It’s okay, sweetie. They’ve gone now.”

Well, that was it. I opened my eyes. I figured that either I’d taken more concussion than I’d thought, or there was something Our Thor hadn’t told me. He was standing over me, looking self-conscious and bashful. Sunny was kneeling at my side, heedless of the alleyway dirt, and her blue dress was shining like the summer sky, and her bare feet were like little white birds, and her sugar blond hair fell over my face and I was glad she really wasn’t my type, because that lady was nothing but trouble. And she gave me a smile like a summer’s day, and Arthur’s face went dangerously red, and Sunny said:

“Lucky? Are you okay?”

I rubbed my eyes. “I think so. What happened to Skól and Haiti?”

“Those guys?” she said. “Oh, they had to go. I sent them back into Shadow.”

Now Arthur was looking incredulous. “How do you know about Shadow?” he said.

“Oh, Arthur, you’re so sweet.” Sunny pirouetted to her feet and planted a kiss on Our Thor’s nose. “As if I could have lived here this long and not have known I was different—” She looked at the illuminated sky. “Northern lights,” she said happily. “We ought to have them more often here. But I really do appreciate it,” she went on. “You guys looking out for me, and everything. If things had been different, if we hadn’t been made from such different elements, then maybe you and I could have—you know—”

Arthur’s face went, if possible, even redder.

“So, what are you going to do now?” she said. “I guess we’re safe—for a while, at least. But Chaos knows about us now. And the Shadow never really gives up…”

I thought about it for a while. And then an idea came to me. I said: “Have you ever thought of a career in entertainment? I could find a job for you with the band…” I wondered if she could sing. Most celestial spheres can, of course, and anyway, she’d light up the place just by stepping onto the stage—we’d save a fortune on pyrotechnics…

She gave that megawatt smile of hers. “Is Arthur in the band, too?”

I looked at him. “He could be, I guess. There’s always room for a drummer.”