As the leader opens his mouth and closes it again, struggling with his words, the other hunters seem to deflate.
Peri shoots me a flash of a smile, and my spirits settle back to their normally breezy state.
There could be more battles up ahead, but we’ve won this one—with dancing birds and cheeky flowers.
15
Periwinkle
Ithought doing one big presentation in front of the humans’ video cameras would set the record straight. But it seems people like to hear and see the same things over and over again before they totally believe them.
So here I am sitting on a wobbly chair on a makeshift set while yet another reporter smiles her blindingly white teeth at me and asks me questions as if off a checklist.
“And you’ve been traveling to our world for how long?”
I smile gamely and try to answer in a way that will make sense to her and anyone watching this interview through the TV. “I don’t exactly know. We don’t have clocks or calendars in the shadow realm, and I wasn’t paying much attention to that sort of thing when I first arrived! But I think it’s been a while. When I first came through, those phones you like to carry around were usually bigger, and a lot of them would bend in the middle. Andyou had to press buttons instead of tapping on the screen, which I guess was less convenient.”
The woman nods, looking a bit thrown. “Oh. Yes! I remember my mother having one like that when I was a kid. So I suppose…” She hesitates with a sour tremor of anxiety that I think might be because she doesn’t want to give away how old she is. The amount of cream and powder smeared on her face suggests she’s covering it up as well as she can. “At least a couple of decades.”
“That sounds about right!” I agree cheerfully.
“I gather the ‘shadow realm’ is awfully dark. Do you find it difficult being here in the sun? You must need a lot of sunscreen.”
A laugh tumbles out of me. “Oh, no, not at all, actually. We don’t get hurt by the same things humans do—well, not all the same things. It was a little strange being somewhere so bright at first, but also wonderful.”
The reporter hums thoughtfully. “And what did you typically do on your trips? Before you had strange floods of darkness to deal with, I mean.”
It’s my turn to hesitate, because it wouldn’t be a good idea to mention that one of my main activities was blasting my own darkness at innocent people under duress by the sorcerer who used to hold me captive. The whole point is to make humans feelmoresafe around me, not less.
But I’ve enjoyed lots of more pleasant activities too. “I like to visit the places where people feel happiest. Parks, playgrounds, entertainment complexes—anywhere they go to relax and have fun. As I mentioned before, I get nourishment from absorbing emotions, and it’s a lot more satisfying when they’re positive feelings.”
A frown crosses the reporter’s face. “And does your ‘feeding’ affect the humans whose emotions you ‘eat’?”
I wave my hands emphatically. “Oh, no, not at all. You’d never even know I’m doing it! It’s like, your emotions give off this energy into the air whether anyone’s around to notice or not. And I just pick up on what’s already come out of you. I don’t do anything to you at all.”
Well, other than the fact that I’ve learned I can push my own emotions onto people. And blast them away if I get too emotional in any given direction.
Other facts I suspect it’s better I keep quiet about for now.
The reporter’s apprehension has simmered down. “Well, how wonderful that something we don’t need can keep you fed. I hope you’ve found the people you’ve encountered here are welcoming.”
Has she not noticed the hunters prowling around, or the soldiers with their rifles?
“Um, well, it would be nice if no one was coming at us with guns or nets or whatever. But most people have been very nice, like you!” I beam at her and then at the camera. “The shadowkind who come to this world would like to live among you totally peacefully—and we can. We want a lot of the same things humans want. It bothers us to see you in trouble, which is why we’re trying so hard to sort out the mess here. I really think we can fix this problem if we all work together.”
“Cheers to that.” The reporter aims her own smile at the camera. “You’ve just heard from Periwinkle, one of the so-called ‘shadowkind’ who are attempting to clean up a strange atmospheric condition that’s uprooted all the inhabitants of Jackson City from their homes.”
As she chatters on to her unseen viewers, one of the TV staff people ushers me out of my seat. A little girl who can apparently juggle hamsters is waiting to go on next.
I guess the humans think my glowing is a similar trick? At least my super power doesn’t involve flinging harmless rodentsaround. I send a trickle of soothing energy toward the three furry creatures in the cage she’s holding.
When I step away from the recording tent, my own furry companion squirms over to join me. I bend down to rub Falkor’s long belly and grin as he wriggles off again. A few of the humans have turned to stare.
“He’s friendly!” I assure them. “No chomping or slashing.”
They don’t look particularly convinced.
At least the vibe around the evacuee camp seems to have mellowed out since the hunters showed up two days ago. The figures with their whips and nets are still stalking around the edges of the city, claiming they’re just looking to subdue any hostile creatures we miss while continuing to glare at us every chance they get, but they haven’t pointed anything at us worse than the evil eye.
