I have a bad feeling about this.
The crunch of our boots on the millions of teeth lining the entryway sends chills along my skin as I follow Seven inside. It’s quiet here. Too quiet. Only now do I miss the strange sounds of birdlike creatures that accompanied us on our journey here. This place is as silent as a tomb and smells like one as well. Not a rotting smell—no fresh dead here—but the scent of ancient things, bleached bone, leather, and dust. I make the mistake of looking up and realize we are in a catacomb of sorts. The room is shaped like a church, the bones narrowing to a point, the gaps between letting in enough daylight to see by.
The teeth in front of my toes rattle although I haven’t moved. They settle, then rattle again. “Seven?”
I draw a shaky breath as I whirl toward the hall at the end of the large room we’re in. Seven is already turned in that direction. Luck coils around him, and something gold glints in his hand. It distracts me for a second before my eyes snap back to the hall.
Yissevel is there, the floor vibrating with every heavy footstep.
The creature is more horrific than I’d imagined. Seeing him on camera and in sketches hasn’t prepared me for this. He’s at least eight feet tall and composed entirely of bones held together by sinew and what must be magic. His head is a fleshless skull with tufts of hair growing from the bones, rheumy eyes, a hole where a nose should be, and a lipless smile of narrow teeth. Within his rib cage, a heart must beat because I see the leathery connective tissue pulse beneath his left arm. He stares down in our general direction, wearing nothing but a loose and filthy cloth that circles his waist and ties over one shoulder. Yissevel is a walking, breathing skeleton from my deepest, darkest nightmares, and he’s staring at Seven as if he’s his next meal.
“Back so soon?” Yissevel sniffs the air.
What?I look between Yissevel and Seven, who is visibly shaken. Yissevel’s eyes swivel in his skull and I realize he’s not focusing on either of us. His eyesight must not be very good. He tips his head back and sniffs the air again. He can’t see us; he smells us.
“What have you brought me this time, leprechaun?” Yissevel takes another step forward. “More meat? Morebones?”
“We’ve come to ask for your help,” I say in a loud clear voice. My arrow is still anchored between my fingers, the bowstring drawn taut.
Yissevel stops, pivots toward me and sniffs. “A pixie? Not expecting you. You need help? First, you bring Yissevel teeth!” he booms.
“Was a leprechaun here before?” My hands are shaking, and I try in vain to steady my arrow. Beside me, Seven’s eyes glow. He’s completely focused on the bone fairy.
The creature’s head turns right, then left, sniffing the air. “A leprechaun brings me a pixie, and now a pixie brings me a leprechaun? What treachery there is among the seelie.”
A leprechaunwashere before. I glance at Seven, but he doesn’t look my way. His luck slithers around the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him squat and pick something up from among the carpet of teeth.
“What did the leprechaun who was here before want you to do?” I ask. “You said he brought you a pixie. Was she dead or alive when he gave her to you?”
“Just dead. Yissevel prefers dead. He will not do it again.”
“Do what again?”
“Yissevel does not care for the smell in that place. Too sweet.” The creature sniffs again. Takes another step toward me. “Pixie hearts are sweet but small. Barely a meal. Not enough payment to cross the silver. Yissevel will only leave for human meat, human bones. He likes them best.”
“Who was here before? Who offered you pixie flesh in exchange for your help?”
“You would know, little one. Tell him Yissevel will not go again for only pixie. Man flesh is what I crave.” The creature whirls faster than anything that big should move. He sniffs the air in front of Seven. “Although Yissevel wouldn’t mind sampling leprechaun. You are different. Younger. Sweeter.”
“Was it anolderleprechaun who visited you before?” I ask.
He snorts and sniffs closer to Seven.
“There’s been a mistake,” Seven says. He backs for the door, waving a hand at me to do the same. “Sorry to have bothered you.”
What’s he doing? We can’t leave now! We still don’t know who killed Phoebe or how Yissevel made it through the silver.
“No bother.” The creature takes a step toward us. “Come closer. Let Yissevel look at you.”
Seven starts moving in earnest toward the door, motioning for me to go too.
“First taste of leprechaun.” Yissevel lunges, faster than I expect. His hand sweeps toward Seven… and misses! The boney fingertips of the creature’s fingers brush against his shirt as Seven leans out of reach.
My arrow flies.Fuck! I didn’t consciously release it, but seeing that thing dive for Seven, my fingers acted of their own accord. I was aiming for that pulse under its left arm, but he’s already shifted and the arrow bounces harmlessly off Yissevel’s rib cage. The only thing I’ve accomplished with that shot is to turn its attention from Seven back on me.
Yissevel growls and charges. “Come here pixie treat!”
I jump and lift straight up as his fist closes around the space where I just was. “I thought you liked your meat dead!”
