It was only a second or two before he took in my grin and pulled his dour expression back into place. “Currently? Yes.”
I laughed and nodded. “All right, you’re you. Good job. I’m convinced. Let’s see who we have here. Do either of you recognize it?”
I bent down next to the ghoul and moved its arms into a more comfortable position. It groaned, gaining consciousness.
I held on to its wrist for a moment. “You’re okay,” I said, squeezing gently, “you’re safe. But I want you not to run. Can you sit?”
The ghoul groaned, bent both legs, and put its hands underneath it to push upward.
It was strange—really strange—to stare down into the face of a friend, knowing it was not my friend looking back at me.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
That caught it off guard. Its eyes moved between Than and me.
Xtelle just snorted from behind it. When it didn’t speak, I tried again.
“I know you’re new in town. My name is Delaney Reed. I’m here to help you get settled in, and also to tell you the rules and laws that all the citizens agree to follow here.”
Still nothing. It had gone from staring at me to throwing short, slightly panicked looks at Than. The eyes might be moving but the mouth was clamped tight.
“You should talk to her,” Xtelle said. “She’s the, well, I wouldn’t sayleader, but she has somesmallauthority here.” Xtelle bent her leg and sort of nudged the ghoul in the shoulder with her knee.
“Gee, thanks,” I said.
The ghoul finally twisted to look at Xtelle, and if I thought it looked uncomfortable before, it looked absolutely mortified now.
“Queen Xtelle?” it said, and I had a moment of vertigo as a sweet tenor voice came out of the not-Than shape.
Weird.
“How could I have not known it was you, Your Majesty? I am honored if you would forgive me?” It executed a pretty good bow considering it was sitting and half twisted around.
“Of course you are honored. Do you hear that, Delaney?Someonehere is giving me the respect I deserve.”
“Super neat,” I said just to watch Xtelle’s eyes narrow.
“So,” I said to the ghoul, “do you have a name and a pronoun you prefer?”
It was interesting that the rest of the world was starting to catch up with us on the whole pronoun thing. We’d been asking that question for generations, since our population was as wide as it was varied. Asking right up front seemed to be the easiest way to keep everyone on the same page.
The ghoul gave one more bow to the ex-queen of demons, then twisted back to look up at me. “I am Artishall the Supple? You may call me Tish? They?”
“Tish.” I nodded. “Were you in the car that fell out of the sky yesterday?”
“Yes?”
“How did you take Than’s shape?”
“Than?”
I jerked my thumb toward the glowering god of death next to me. “Than.”
“Oh?” Tish said. “There was a broken fingernail? On the beach near rocks I was hiding behind?”
Everything the ghoul said came out as a question, but I didn’t think it was actually asking me to confirm what it was saying.
I glanced at Than, who held up his left hand. The nail on his forefinger was broken and much shorter than his other nails.
