I couldn’t handle her looking at me with pity. So I held my secrets tighter, and distance stretched between us.
Jo walked me back to the shop, where Heathcliff was handing over the keys to Mum. Because we were going to London, where there were people everywhere, Quoth decided he would be joining us in his raven form, which meant Heathcliff was swinging a giant black birdcage under one arm.
“Are we sure this is a good idea?” I peered at Quoth. “Will they even let him into FanCon?”
“Sure they will.” Heathcliff stepped into the street. He was dressed in a crisp white poet shirt. My jaw hit the ground.
“What… are you?”
“All the weirdos wear costumes to this event, so I’m Edgar Allen Poe. Quoth is my stuffed raven, part of my costume. He’s been practicing perching still.” Heathcliff tapped Quoth’s foot, and he froze in place, his eyes wide. It was pretty impressive – I really couldn’t tell he was alive.
A giggle burst from my throat. “You said you weren’t going to be a part of any crazy schemes, and here you are with the wackiest scheme of all.”
“You’re not the only one who’s learned a few tricks from the criminal genius. Let’s go.” Heathcliff yanked me around the corner, only instead of heading toward the train station, he pulled my face to his for a searing kiss.
“What was that for?”
“It was for me,” he growled. “You’re making me travel to that cesspool of humanity and I need fortitude.”
I tangled my fingers in his hair, drawing his head down to devour him. “I’ll fortitude you any time you like.”
We managed to untangle ourselves just in time to dash across town. We arrived at the station just as Edie stepped off the train with Oscar in tow. He wasn’t wearing his harness yet, so I bent down to pet him and scratch his ears. Oscar nuzzled up to me, his tail wagging with glee. I fancied he remembered me, and that made me so happy a lump rose in my throat.
Oscar stared up at frozen Quoth with wide eyes. But my beautiful birdie didn’t move a muscle. Not a single feather twitched. To everyone else, he appeared stuffed, but I knew Oscar could smell him and was desperate to leap up and investigate. Luckily, Edie handed me the harness and we got down to business. As soon as I clipped his harness, Oscar focused on me, although his eyes followed Quoth as Heathcliff stood at the machines to purchase our tickets.
Edie handed me Oscar’s leash. “He’s wearing his red coat, so he’s officially on the job. That means you can’t allow anyone to pet him, even if they ask really nicely. And they will ask, because he’s such a gorgeous boy.”
“Got it.”
“Good. Do you remember the command to find the escalators?”
We practiced getting on and off the escalators while a line built behind me. Normally, I’d be mortified at making all those people wait, but no one seemed annoyed. They wanted to watch Oscar at work. One girl even had her phone out recording him.
I waited on the platform as the train pulled in. When it came to a stop, I gave Oscar the command to find the door. He took me directly to the nearest set of doors and guided me to the edge, where I could use the rail to locate the steps with my feet. We were on the train in seconds.
“Do you remember the command and gesture to ask him for a seat?” Edie asked.
I did. Oscar took me to the first empty seat he saw, which happened to be a collection of three in the disabled section nearest the doors. I told Oscar to lie down, and he draped himself over my feet like he’d been doing it his whole life, his ears pricked up. He was still working, aware of his surroundings and waiting for my next command.
I glanced across at Heathcliff, startled by the expression on his face as he watched me. Instead of his usual darkness, he features had softened into an expression that might have looked angelic on another person, but just made him appear slightly less deranged.
My heart raced a mile a minute as the train sped into London.This is really happening. I’m really taking my guide dog into the city.I bombarded Edie with questions about Oscar, his training, his life, the family that had socialized him before he was matched with me. Meanwhile, Oscar’s eyes focused on Quoth’s body, but he didn’t move from his spot at my feet.
The train pulled in, and people stood back to give Oscar space to lead me off the train. He found a path through the crowds like a pro, and after a few tries practicing crossing the street, we walked to the convention center. Edie and I milled around while Heathcliff got in line for tickets, watching the strange and marvelous costumes as fans streamed past. I noticed a Ticketrrr sign by the entrance, and saw fans scanning electronic tickets on a booth and downloading a convention app.That’s the company Kate worked for – they must run the ticketing for this event. I wonder if Grant Hosking is here.
As Edie was telling me about the mischief Oscar got up to during training, a teen girl in a Sailor Moon costume came up to us. “What a beautiful dog. Can I pat him?”
“I’m sorry, he’s working,” I said, firmly. Edie beamed.
Heathcliff came back and handed me and Edie each a ticket. “They won’t let Quoth inside, even though I said he was part of my costume. The woman behind the desk saw through my stuffed-raven routine immediately, but she’s going to watch him and feed him his berries.”
We joined the throng pushing to get through the main doors. Yennefer of Vengerberg jabbed me in the side. Two Stormtroopers compared lightsaber lengths in a delightfully earnest way. Heathcliff kept close to me, his beard tickling my ear as he whispered, “These people are unsettling.”
Once inside, I scanned the crowd for Tara’s signing, but the place was so enormous, it was impossible to orient myself. I staggered beneath an animatronic Ent as lime-green lights danced in front of my eyes. I almost didn’t notice it amongst the swirling, multi-colored crowds pouring into aisles to buy figurines, anime DVDs, and Harry Potter wands.
“Look, there’s an app to help you navigate.” Edie pointed to the Konnekt stall. “That company have a good reputation for accessibility—”
“No apps. They’ve given us a map.” Heathcliff frowned at the pamphlet in his hands, turning it every which way. “But I can’t comprehend it. Muggles? Rivendell? Witchers? They must’ve given us one in a foreign language.”
