Schwint took a deep breath, rolling his eyes as he exhaled. “Oh, right. It’s Newman or something now, right?”
“Newton.”
“Yeah, that’s it, Newton.” Schwint flicked his wrist between the three of us again, his words slurring as he rushed them together. “Finn, Catlin, meet Newton. Newton, meet Finn and Caitlin.”
We stood awkwardly for a moment, no one saying anything. The babble of differing languages seemed to get louder around us, the tourists seemingly moving in fast-forward compared to our solidity. Finally, Caitlin shot out her hand. “Well, this isn’t awkward at all. Nice to meet you, Newton.”
He reached out his hand and shook hers, and offered what I was pretty sure was meant to be a smile. You know it’s bad when Caitlin looks polite in comparison.
Pewlet. Pewlet. I could feel the name triggering something in the back of my brain. I’d heard it somewhere. Maybe some guy I’d run into in the back rooms at the Square. Easy to forget when you’re hopped up on Spor. Not that I’d need Spor to forget this guy.
Following Caitlin’s fine example, I stretched out my hand toward the man. “Hi. I’m Finn. It’s nice to—” I sucked in my breath. “Oh!” Pewlet! It clicked. Schwint had taken me to a fairy party celebrating the new moon a few weeks ago. As we were leaving, I’d noticed a fairy sitting off by himself. Schwint had said something to the effect that Pewlet was a sort of troublemaker in the fairy community and here the royal family was talking about banishing him. I couldn’t believe this was the same man. I never would have recognized him. Despite his plain-Jane appearance, Pewlet had the most beautiful wings on a fairy I’d ever seen—not that I’d seen tons of fairies. His wings were nearly twice as large as his body and patterned like a butterfly, their metallic hue constantly shifting colors in the light of the party. He had long, flowing golden feathers that covered the upper costal veins of his wings. They’d looked too beautifully alien to be real. Schwint had assured me they were, that Pewlet never altered his appearance, even though beauty was most valued by fairy society.
“We met at the New Moon party Schwint took me to last month. Well, I guess we didn’t meet, but I noticed you there. Your wings are gorgeous! It’s nice to meet you, Pewlet.”
“It’s Newton.” He shook my hand, but his face managed to deepen its blush, whether due to me using his given name or because I’d complimented his wings. Probably both.
Schwint looked like he was struggling not to laugh.
“So, can we get out of here already? The longer we’re here learning all about fairies, my little sister is being tortured by some fucking day-walking vampires.” Caitlin looked over at one of the couples that were still staring at the four of us. “Yes, we got a couple of fags here, okay? Move on or you’ll find out what else we’ve got.”
The man opened his mouth to retort, but his wife clutched his arm and pulled him away.
“There’s gonna be enough wanting to kill us here, Caitlin. Do you really need to add others to the list?” I looked back to make sure the couple was still moving away and caught Pewlet’s—I meanNewton’s—scowl teasing up into the faintest hint of a smile as he watched the couple scurry away. It seemed Caitlin might have found a new kindred spirit. I hope he didn’t develop a crush on her. My lesbian sister would get way too much enjoyment in destroying him.
Schwint turned to Caitlin. “As much as I don’t want to stay in this city another minute, we need to spend the night. There’s a bus that can take us tomorrow. It leaves at seven. That’s the earliest I could find.”
“There’s a bus that goes to the Vampire Cathedral?” That didn’t make any sense at all.
He raised his eyebrow at me, then grinned. “I thought you were kidding. Thank goodness you’re pretty, little warlock. The bus will take us to the Nicoya Peninsula, near Montezuma. We will find our way from there. Newton and I already located it from the aerial perspective.”
“Oh, that sounds more right. I’m choosing to blame that question on stress and lack of sleep.”
“Doubtful.” Caitlin gave me a look, then returned to Schwint. “And there is no way I’m wasting any more time. We need to leave right now. Cynthia’s waited long enough.”
“Actually, from what Schwint has told me, I highly doubt the vampires are doing anything to your sister.” Newton’s voice had a bored quality, like what he said should be obvious to everyone. “There’s not too much to bargain with if they kill her.”
Caitlin muttered something and flicked her fingers. Newton stumbled back a couple of feet as a gush of air hit him. “I wasn’t talking to you, Pewlet! And there’s a lot they can do to Cynthia before they kill her. As far as she’s concerned, a lot worse than killing her.”
The fairy righted himself again. “My name is New—”
She flicked another rush of wind at him, this time tossing a few minuscule fireballs into the mix. To an onlooker, it would simply look like some large cigarette embers. Newton yelped and swiped at his cheek as one landed on his skin. His furious gaze said that any admiration for Caitlin had vanished even quicker than it had come.
“Caitlin, we don’t need all—”
“Shut up, Finn.” She waved me off, only taking her stare away from Newton to glare at Schwint. “We leave tonight. She can’t wait any longer.”
Schwint’s expression was surprisingly gentle. “Caitlin, I know you and Finn are desperate to get to the Vampire Cathedral, but trust me, from both what I’ve seen from above and from those I’ve spoken to here, leaving on a bus in the morning is the best alternative. The roads are too hazardous here at night, and hiring someone that isn’t a licensed driver tends to end up in a dangerous situation. It would ultimately take longer if something went wrong.”
Caitlin started to object once more, but Schwint cut her off. “I wish we were able to fly you and Finn there ourselves, but our magic isn’t strong enough to carry you. Maybe one of you if both Newton and I did it combined. Maybe, but I doubt it, especially that far. If you like, he and I can fly there tonight, and you can meet us there tomorrow afternoon.”
“What good would that do? It didn’t do us any good to have you come down here before us.”
Schwint was staying amazingly calm with her. Doing better than I could have. “Actually, we do know they didn’t bring her through the airports, here or Liberia, which is closer.”
“I could have told you that. We weren’t even able to get tickets to Liberia until the day after tomorrow. It doesn’t—”
He cut her off again. “I also know that they didn’t use any private jets or planes to get her here.”
