Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

lot of them, but only a few I knew much about.
    Selkies were the only ones I could remember that were even neutral. I didn’t think he was a selkie—mostly because I couldn’t be that lucky—and he didn’t smell like something that would turn into a mammal. He smelled cold and fishlike. There were kinder things in lakes and lochs, but the sea spawns mostly horror stories, not gentle brownies who keep houses clean.
    â€œYou smell like a coyote,” he said finally. “You look like a coyote. But no coyote ever wandered Underhill to the Sea King’s Realm. What are you?”
    â€œGnädiger Herr,” said Zee cautiously from somewhere just behind me. “This one is working for us and got lost.”
    Sometimes I loved that old man as much as I loved anyone, but I’d never been so happy to hear his voice.
    The sea fae didn’t move except to raise his eyes until I was pretty sure he was looking Zee in the face. I didn’t want to look away, but I took a step back until my hip hit Zee’s leg to reassure myself that he wasn’t just a figment of my imagination.
    â€œShe is not fae,” said the fae.
    â€œNeither is she human.” There was something in Zee’s voice that was awfully close to deference, and I knew I’d been right to be afraid.
    The stranger abruptly strode forward and dropped to one knee in front of me. He grabbed my muzzle without so much as a by-your-leave and ran his free hand over my eyes and ears. His icy hands weren’t ungentle, but even so, without Zee’s nudge I might have objected. He dropped my head abruptly and stood again.
    â€œShe wears no elf-salve, nor does she stink of the drugs that occasionally drop a lost one here to wander and die. Last I knew, rare though it is, your magic was not such as could do this. So how did she get here?”
    As he spoke, I realized that it wasn’t Harvard I heard in his voice, but Merrie Old England.
    â€œI don’t know, mein Herr . I suspect that she doesn’t know either. You of all people know that the Underhill is fickle and lonely. If my friend broke the glamour that hides the entrances, it would never keep her out.”
    The sea creature grew very still—and the waves of the ocean subsided like a cat gathering itself to pounce. The wisps of clouds in the sky darkened.
    â€œAnd how,” he said very quietly, “would she break our glamour?”
    â€œI brought her to help us discover a murderer because she has a very good nose,” Zee said. “If glamour has a weakness, it is scent. Once she broke that part of the illusion, the rest followed. She is not powerful or a threat.”
    The ocean struck without warning. A giant wave slapped me, robbing me of my footing and my sight. In one bare instant it stole the heat of my body so I don’t think I could have breathed even if my nose wasn’t buried in water.
    A strong hand grabbed my tail and yanked hard. It hurt, but I didn’t protest because the water was retreating, and without that grip, it would have carried me out with it. As soon as the water had subsided to my knees, Zee released his hold.
    Like me, he was drenched, though he wasn’t shivering. I coughed to get out the saltwater I’d swallowed, shook my fur off, then looked around, but the sea fae was gone.
    Zee touched my back. “I’ll have to carry you to take you back.” He didn’t wait for a response, just picked me up. There was a nauseating moment when all my senses swam around me, and then he set me down on the tile of the bathroom floor. The room was dark as pitch.
    Zee turned on the light, which looked yellow and artificial after the colors of the sunset.
    â€œCan you continue?” he asked me.
    I looked at him, but he gave his head a sharp shake. He didn’t want to talk about what happened. It irked me, but I’d read enough fairy tales to know that sometimes talking about the fae too directly lets them listen in. When I got him out of the reservation, I would get answers if I had to sit on him.
    Until then, I put my curiosity aside to consider his question. I sneezed twice to clear my nose and then put it down on the floor to collect more people from this house.
    This time Zee came with me, staying back so as not to interfere, but close on my heels. He didn’t say anything more and I ignored him as I struggled for an explanation of what had just happened to me. Was this house