Midnight Girl Part 15

He raised his eyebrows. "Death by starvation? You're crueler than I thought."

She had meant her commands as a temporary solution. Were her only choices to kill him quickly or slowly?

Zoraida told Baldomero, "Convince humans you deserve to live, and they'll share their blood. Pay them, and they'll sell it."

"Beg for my life or buy it?" He smiled sadly. "No, thank you." His smile disappeared. "Catalina. You have every right to hate me. But, please, don't make me a puppet. If ever you loved me, even the tiniest bit, kill me."

She couldn't kill him now that he was harmless. And she couldn't keep him harmless without feeling she was killing him.

Zoraida said, "To the night folk, death is the honorable choice." Professor M said, "It sounds like the practical one." Cat shook her head. "I can't just--" Tarika said, "How long do ravens live?"

They all turned to her. Zoraida said hesitantly, "In captivity, forty years. In the wild, fourteen."

Baldomero nodded, his face proud, his eyes pleading. "The wild. It's little to ask."

Cat glanced at her father. He shrugged. "Gone is gone."

Her mother nodded. "Bound is bound. Give him a simple command, and he'll have to obey."

"Forever?" "Or until you say otherwise." She looked at Baldomero and thought, Eyes like the night, with galaxies of promise. But she said, "Be a raven. Forever." "Thank--" he began. Then a raven bobbed to her as if bowing and launched itself into the deep blue sky. As it flew, Cat whispered, "Goodbye, Baldomero." Her father said, "Cat? You okay?" S h e s h o o k h e r h e a d , t h i n k i n g , T i a Y s a b e l 's d e a d , C o u s i n Baldomero's banished, and Tarika can't trust me because I nearly killed her twice. What do I lose next?

She heard, My fury, we should go. Now? Why?

What's here to keep us?

Cat glanced at her father, then at the broken windows, and thought, Plus someone might notice the excitement. Zoraida shook her head. Glamour makes all things normal. Uh, how much of my mind can you read? Only what you direct at me. And the rare thought so strong you seem to scream it. Cat looked at her father and thought, Dad? He said, "What, kid?" She thought, Do you hear me? He said, "You need to sit? Or some water?" She said, "Coping," and thought, He can't hear me. You never bit him. I never bit you. No. I hear you because you bit me when I was a baby! You wanted to control me. To use me against Baldomero. Yes.

But last night, you told me to be free. Yes. Mama? If you had me to use me-- Her mother's face became as mask-like as her father's had ever been.

Cat glanced at him as she heard, That's not why I had you. Then why-- Will you force me to answer? No. Then deal with what's here, my fierce one. Tarika watched them warily. Cat said, "Tee? If you want to go while it's safe--" Tarika's eyes went wide. "And miss the end of the show? No way." "It could still go wrong." "Kind of know that." Cat smiled, then faced the motionless forms of Uncle Olujimi, Auntie Fong, Mr. Rahman, Ms. Arkan, and Ilya. She took Ilya's pistol from his grip, put it on the table, and asked Zoraida, "Free him next?"

"As you wish," Zoraida said.

Ilya stumbled forward. He stared at Zoraida, then his gun, then Cat. "You can't trust nighters. Ever."

"They can't trust humans." "They want our blood!" Zoraida smiled widely. "Top of the food chain, young Arkan." As Ilya glanced at his pistol, Cat said, "Mama, the not helpful."

Zoraida shrugged. "It stays true. We all know it."

Professor M said, "You've got two choices, Ilya. Trust Cat, or run like h.e.l.l."

Ilya said, "I won't leave my mother!" "I'm not planning for anyone to get hurt," Cat said. "How certain," Ilya asked with a hint of hesitation, "is this plan?" "Not very. But I want this whole thing over." He studied her. She thought, Brown eyes are common, but that doesn't mean they're not beautiful.

He nodded. "I want this over, too." "So help." She began plucking pistols and knives from human hands. He frowned. "This plan is to make us defenseless?" Tarika took Auntie Fong's gun from her fingers and told Ilya, "Like you'd be less dead if you killed the nighter who killed you?" Cat said, "I just want everyone to think before they fight." Ilya said, "That's your plan? All of it?" "Waiting to hear a better one."

Ilya glanced at Professor M, who shrugged and said, "We tried everything else. If thinking doesn't work, we can always go back to being stupid."

Ilya sighed, then squinted at Zoraida. "Can I take her fangs?" Zoraida, laughing, told Cat, "I like this Arkan. He's funny." Ilya shook his head. "Nighters think I'm funny." Prying Ms. Arkan's pistol from her fingers, he said, "Sorry, Mother," and set it on the table with the others.

Cat thought, Mama? If you said the truce was continuing, would all the nighters obey?

If I did? Yeah. Now that Baldomero's gone, don't you rule? No. But who--? My fury, you bit him, you bought him. And all that goes with him. Cat jerked her head back in surprise. Her mother raised an eyebrow. You don't think I've been unusually helpful? I thought you loved me. That, too. So I'm, like-- La Reina de la Sombra. Queen of the family? Of the nighters. The nighters? Wait. All nighters? All nighters everywhere? Not a joke? Not a joke, my fury. Baldomero was at the top of a pyramid of bindings. When you bit him, all who were his became yours. They have to obey me, just like I'd bit them? In the realm of shadow, royal power is absolute. Cat looked at the ring of the Medianoches on her father's finger. So if I order nighters not to kill, they have to obey? Yes.

Cat's father, Tarika, and Ilya were watching them. How long had the silent conversation with her mother taken? Five seconds? A minute? She said, "I'm the Queen of Shadows."

Professor M glanced at Zoraida, When she nodded, he turned back to Cat. "You good with that?"

No. Not yet. Maybe never, she thought, but she said, "Kind of have to be."

Tarika smiled. "Then you'll be the best Queen of Shadows."

Only a best friend would hear the hesitation in Tarika's voice. Cat tried to grin back, and hoped no one else saw how frightened she was.

Ilya said, "What does it mean?"

Making people do whatever I want? Being responsible for all the nighters? "Still working on that," she replied.

Chapter Seventeen.

All Things End.

Looking at the tableau of Auntie Fong, Uncle Olujimi, Mr. Rahman, and Ms. Arkan, Cat thought, I could walk away and leave them frozen here, but she knew she couldn't. She asked her mother, "Okay, let everybody free now?"

Zoraida shrugged, then nodded.

Ms. Arkan immediately lunged for the pile of pistols and knives on the dining table. Olujimi caught her shoulder and jerked his chin at Zoraida, who showed her gleaming fangs in a grin, saying, "Alexandra Arkan. Do feel free to break the peace."

"The peace ended when Cat became one of you!" Ms. Arkan said.

"Technically," Professor M said. "But as an element of strategy, you might not want to point out that you're at war and unarmed."

Ms. Arkan whirled to face Cat. "Girl--"

"Queen Catalina or Your Majesty," Auntie Fong corrected. "If we must negotiate with the enemy, we must respect them too."

"Not enemy," Cat said. "I want peace. Not a fight-until-one-side- wins peace. A real peace. And to prove it..." Cat took a deep breath. "My first queenly command is no nighter may kill a human."

Zoraida said, "Then we'll be vulnerable to humans." "Except in self-defense," Cat added. Mr. Rahman said, "What if a nighter finds a way around your command?" "What if a human--" Zoraida flicked her chin toward Ms. Arkan and grimaced. "--exploits your command to kill nighters?" Tarika stepped forward. "You need a group of judges! So nighters who killed humans and humans who killed nighters could be judged by humans and nighters!"

"Hmm," said Mr. Rahman. Tee should be queen, Cat thought. She heard her mother answer, Queens need advisers. "What power would the judges have?" asked Auntie Fong. Cat said, "Uh, nighters could be bound to live as a raven or a wolf for as long as the jury decides." "Or make them go to live by themselves in a wild place," Ilya suggested. "That would be good for humans and nighters both."

"Or they could have to help people," Tarika added.

"Liking the judges idea," Cat said as she turned to her mother. "Would it work?"

Zoraida frowned. "If humans are about to break the peace, may nighters kill them?"

"They'd still face a jury half full of humans." Auntie Fong said, "Even your mother?" Cat nodded. "Even me. Dad?" "Worth a try," he said.

"Tee?"

Tarika glanced at Cat with an expression she couldn't read. "Kind of icked about the messing with people's minds part." it."

"The ditto. But if someone turned out to be innocent, we could undo Olujimi said, "You know how nighters learn to control their hunger."

Cat shuddered, remembering how close she had come to killing Tarika in the B&B, then shook her head. "I'm proof it doesn't have to be that way."

Professor M said, "Custom always trumps logic."

"Okay, queenly command Number Two. Any nighter who lets another nighter kill will face the judges. Definitely including nighter parents."

Mr. Rahman said, "What stops nighter judges from saying their kind are always innocent and ours, guilty?"

Zoraida answered, "Wanting the peace to last." "Do nighters want that?" Zoraida nodded. "We're no fonder of dying than you." Ms. Arkan showed her empty hands, then told Olujimi, Auntie Fong, and Mr. Rahman, "The Arkans do not consent to this charade. Only one peace is certain--our victory, their extermination."

Zoraida asked Cat, "Now I may kill her?" "Not if she doesn't attack you." Zoraida turned back to Ms. Arkan. "Say where you'd like to attack me, Arkan. I'll be waiting." Cat said, "Uh, Mama--" "Yes, the not helpful." Zoraida glanced at the clan leaders. "I'll go." Professor M said, "Zora." She shook her head. "My presence won't help them decide wisely." "You think I care about that?" She smiled. "No. But you should." Ms. Arkan pointed at Zoraida. "If that stays, I go." Professor M said, "Best reason yet to stay, Zora."

Auntie Fong said, "Alexandra, we're still the Five Clans. The Medianoches are still our hosts." She turned to Professor M. "What do you say?"

"Not my decision." He pulled off the turquoise ring, rolled close to Cat, and put it in her palm.

Ms. Arkan said, "She's not their First!"

Auntie Fong said, "The circ.u.mstances that required her to step down have changed--"

"Not a bit!" Ilya said, "Mother! You saw and heard--" "A farce." Ms. Arkan pointed at Zoraida and Cat. "They can force us to trust them. That's why we never can." "If I'm so powerful," Cat said, "why haven't I glammed you into shutting up?" "Because you're a freak nighter playing some game--" "Okay." Cat slipped on the ring of the Medianoches. "Your game, your rules. Let's play." Ms. Arkan pointed at Zoraida. "It's clearly her game. She'll use you for her wishes--" Zoraida grinned. "Were that true, you would be my slave. My silent slave." Professor M said, "I believe Zora." As Zoraida glanced at him, Ms. Arkan said, "And that's a surprise?" "The surprise," Professor M said, "is it took me so long to figure it out. I knew Zora for a year and Granny Lupe for fourteen. Neither tried to bite or glamour me."

"Because she bound you when you met, then made you forget."

He shook his head. "I nearly killed Cat last night. If I'd been bound, Zora could've stopped me in a second. She could've made me kill Olujimi and Auntie Fong. She could've saved her sister." He studied Zoraida. "I'm sorry about that."

Zoraida closed her eyes, then said, "That was war, not you."

"And it's not over!" Ms. Arkan said. "Any fool can see she didn't need to bite you to enslave you!" She whirled to face the others. "How long must we endure this?"

Auntie Fong took her previous seat at the table. "So long as the First of the Medianoches acts within our rules."

"She's the queen of our enemies now!" Professor M said, "And the head of a clan." "Who was sentenced to die!" Olujimi sat on the right of Auntie Fong. "Who saved us from their king." Mr. Rahman sat on Auntie Fong's left. "The circ.u.mstances have changed."

Ms. Arkan shook her head. "There's no reason to change her sentence."

Tarika said, "Can I speak?" Cat nodded. "Anytime." Tarika told Ms. Arkan, "La Reina de la Sombra didn't agree to the sentence. Only the First of the Medianoches did." Ilya said, "May I speak?" Cat smiled. "Also the anytime." He said, "Firsts often withdraw their consent when circ.u.mstances change." Cat pointed at her ring. "Totally withdrawing." Ms. Arkan glared at Ilya, then smiled coldly. "Now we're the Four Clans. The Medianoches--" "Stay neutral until someone breaks the peace," Cat said quickly.

"Being host means I can say the meeting's over?" Olujimi, Auntie Fong, and Mr. Rahman looked at Professor M, who nodded. "Those are the rules." Ilya said, "But you'll all look like fools if you don't vote again!" Ms. Arkan said, "Ilya--" Olujimi put his hand on the table. "Ilya's right." Olujimi glanced at Ms. Arkan. "The Udofias call for a new vote. Yes or no. Should Catalina, First of the Medianoches and Queen of Shadows, be killed?" He looked at them all. "The Udofias say no."

Mr. Rahman slapped the table. "As do the Rahmans!"

Ms. Arkan, glaring at Cat, hit the table so hard that cups and papers jumped. "The Arkans say yes!"

"Not all Arkans," said Ilya.

Auntie Fong glanced down, then said, "The Fongs abstain. Unless you vote against yourself, Catalina, you've won. The Fongs will honor the council's decision."

Ms. Arkan nodded. "And the Arkans will honor it so long as the Medianoches stay in the Five Clans. Therefore I call for--"

Cat said, "You can kick us out. It won't change what we do. And if I'm killed, the ring goes back to Dad." She turned to her mother. "What would happen to the nighters?"

"I would rule," Zoraida said. "And I'd be very tempted to reconsider Baldomero's plan to enslave your race."

Auntie Fong asked, "You threaten us?"

"Never." Zoraida smiled innocently. "Only fools give warning before they strike."

Professor M said, "Zora, not helpful." He faced the clan heads. "The chance for peace is small here. Don't screw up."

Cat added, "Please."

Ms. Arkan rolled her eyes, but Cat could not tell what Olujimi, Auntie Fong, or Mr. Rahman thought. Ms. Arkan said, "Let's end this. Yes or no. Do the Medianoches stay in the Five Clans? The Arkans say no!"

"But the Rahmans say yes."

"And the Udofias say--" Olujimi glanced at Cat. "Most definitely yes."

Auntie Fong frowned at her. "Catalina, if the vote is two to two, you'll decide your own fate. Would you stay with so little support?"

"Yes." "Why?" "Because you should never stop trying to work with people." Auntie Fong closed her eyes, then nodded at Mr. Rahman.

"Sometimes, to win, you must do what frightens you. The Fongs say yes. The Five Clans stay the Five Clans."

As Cat was about to sigh in relief, Ms. Arkan glared at Auntie Fong. "Not if the Arkans leave!"

Ilya stood. "Mother, no!" "Must I name every Arkan that nighters have killed?" "If you're right, they'll break the peace, yes? Then you can have your war again." Ms. Arkan said in a tone so gentle it surprised Cat, "My son, if they break it by killing you, I'll blame myself always." "Blame me instead, Mother." As Ms. Arkan stared at Ilya, Zoraida said, "If the peace is broken, it'll be no nighter's fault. I promise that. On my honor." Ms. Arkan breathed deeply. "We'll test the honor of nighters. The Arkans accept the decision." Cat hesitated, expecting a trick. When she saw Ilya smile, she knew Ms. Arkan spoke the truth. She wanted to thank her, but before she could speak, Ms. Arkan glared at Cat as if she was the target on a shooting range. "It's postponed, not over." She glanced at the other clan leaders. "And when we pay for today's decision, I pray the price will be small." She stood and walked into the hall.

Professor M leaned close to Cat. "On the long list of things Xandra doesn't get: Postpone something forever, and it's over."

Cat gave him a small smile, but she thought, Can the peace last?

The whisper came: I heard that, my fury. We only have to make peace last for a day. Then it'll last forever.

Cat gave her mother a larger smile.