I step inside first, Rupert ducking his head so he can follow before he closes it behind him.
The apartment is dark with low ceilings, so he continues stooped over to make room for his horns. The woman pays him no mind as she returns to the living room, which has cute knickknacks all over glass shelves in the corners, and sits in a chair with the crying baby. She doesn’t ask us to sit down, so I help myself to the couch, leaving space for Rupert next to me.
“So, you know him?” I ask. “The man who did this to Rupert?”
The woman nods. “He was my grandfather.”
“Where is he?” Rupert demands. “I need a word with him, immediately.”
She laughs. “He’s dead. He has been for a while now.”
Rupert freezes, and his mane stands up. “He’s… dead?”
“You heard me.” She lifts her shirt, revealing her breast, and latches the baby onto the nipple. Rupert quickly turns his head. “He passed away about seven years ago now.”
Finally, with the baby quiet, I can hear myself think. The man’s been dead for seven years, the one who laid this curse on Rupert.
“Fuck!” Rupert says. I try to shush him, but he has his hands in his mane, pulling on his ears. “Shit! He was the only one who could ever undo this!”
I stare at him.Undo this?
Oh, of course. He still wants to be human.
The woman is unbothered by Rupert’s outburst, though, and the baby remains occupied. “I doubt he could reverse it, even then. Papaw was not in the business of ‘undoing’ things.”
“Can you do what he did?” I ask suddenly.
She shakes her head like I’m not very bright. “No. Thatwas old magic. He shouldn’t have been playing with that stuff, anyway. It’s very dangerous. I’m sure it’s why he died.”
A shiver ripples through me at the thought.
“But I know what kind of work he did. The moment I saw this guy on television, I recognized it.” She gestures at Rupert, still talking to me. “Papaw loved to punish those greedy Wall Street guys especially.”
Rupert’s mane rises even higher as his fur bristles. I put a hand on his arm, trying to cool him down.
“Thatwasyou, to be fair,” I tell him. His lip curls, but then he gives me a weak smile, because he knows I’m right.
“Now, is that all?” the woman asks, bored.
I suppose we should leave her be, now that we know. But Rupert has his head in his hands, shaking it back and forth as if he doesn’t believe it.
“He can’t be gone,” Rupert says, sniffling. “I need you, Peony. I can’t bear being without you.”
“Look,” I say to the woman, rubbing his back. “Your grandfather said something when he ‘cursed’ Rupert. That he would never—and could never—be happy.”
The woman arches a brow. “Well, no kidding. Have you looked at this guy?” She gestures at Rupert.
He growls, and I fist my hand in his fur to hold him back.
“Was your grandfather really capable of something like that?” I ask. “Cursing someone’s fate? Changing their destiny?”
The woman barks a sudden laugh, so loud that Rupert and I both recoil.
“Tourists,” she says, snorting. “Papaw did shit like that all the time to scare people. It worked, I guess.”
Rupert lifts his head, confusion in his eyes. “What? It… it isn’t real?”
“There is no such thing as fate,” the woman says, clearlygrowing annoyed with us. “Your will is your own. No magic can change what people do.”
