Mercy Thompson 06 - River Marked

Times of sickness. There are good things here.” He waved a hand at Wolf. “Look at the clothes you wear. That suit is silk and wool woven in a fashion that was not possible a few centuries ago. All change brings bad things and good things to replace the bad and good things that were before. It is natural to look back and say it was better before—but that does not make it true. Different is not worse. It is just different.”
    “There is some truth in what you say, Coyote.” Wolf was petting his suit jacket with the same sort of possessiveness he’d shown toward Adam.
    “I don’t like it here,” said the man in the darker leathers; he sounded unhappy and uneasy.
    “Bobcat.” Coyote liked this one. I could tell by the tone of his voice. “There are good hunting grounds here; you just have to find them—as was always true. The sun is still warm, and flowers still smell sweet.”
    “You should take him to Disneyland,” suggested Gordon. “Or I could. I like Disneyland.”
    The purely human contingent had been very quiet up to this point. But now Calvin spoke. “If you give it a chance, I think you would find it isn’t horrible here.”
    The man with the belt with the brass bells put an arm around Bobcat. “The problem is this, Bobcat. Things change whether you want them to, or not—unless you are dead.” His voice was hoarse, like a three-pack-a-day-for-twenty-years smoker. “Don’t hold so hard to the past that you die with it.”
    He looked at Coyote. “There is no sense in this, though. We have all agreed to do as you asked, or we would not be here. Where and when?”
    “As Raven says,” agreed Coyote formally. Then he described how to find our campsite in a way that ravens, bobcats, wolves, snakes, and bears could find it. When he was finished, he said, “As for when, the sooner the better, I think. Tomorrow?”
    “After dark,” said Jim. “Calvin says the FBI are looking for whoever is responsible for the killing field that this river has become. You don’t want them showing up at the wrong time.” He looked at Raven, and said, “Warriors with bang sticks who are river marked is a bad idea.”
    Raven smiled at him. “I do know who the FBI are,” he told Jim. “Coyote is not the only one who still wanders.”
    While they were talking, the others had left. Some of them seemed to walk away, but I saw Wolf disappear, probably because he did it while still staring at Adam. Who belonged to me.
    “Thank you, Raven,” said Coyote, after a quick glance to see that the other animal spirits, including Gordon, were gone.
    “We may all die forever tomorrow, old friend,” said Raven. “But it will be interesting, anyway.”

    ADAM AND I LEFT TO CHANGE AND GET DRESSED, too—but I was the only one doing any changing. Adam’s panicked gaze met mine as I was putting on my jeans.
    “Hold on,” I told him. “There’s help about.”
    I pulled on my clothes, stuck my shoes on my feet, and grabbed Adam’s clothes as fast as I could. Then I bounded back up the hill, hoping like heck that Coyote hadn’t already vanished like the rest of them.
    Why I was so sure that Coyote knew anything about werewolves was a mystery to me, but it seemed right. He’d known Adam would have trouble shifting when the earth magic was singing.
    The candles were all out. Jim and Calvin were gone; Fred and Hank had left before we’d headed out to change. Stonehenge looked deserted.
    “Coyote?” I called.
    “Mercy?”
    I’d been almost certain he was gone, but he and Raven had apparently been sitting on the altar playing a card game in the dark. Hard to believe I’d missed them, but Coyote was that sort, so I didn’t worry about it. I had other things on my mind.
    “Adam can’t change back. Would the earth magic have done something that keeps him from shifting?”
    “He can’t change back to human?” Coyote folded up his hand of cards and set them on the bronze plaque, giving us his full attention. “That’s awkward, this being your honeymoon.”
    “He can’t change,” I said, ignoring the last sentence. “Is it the earth magic? Will the effects go away after we leave here?”
    Coyote considered it. “The earth magic shouldn’t do anything unless directed by a shaman, and I think Jim likes you.”
    Raven gave his head a birdlike twitch. “It wasn’t Jim, and it wasn’t the earth magic.” His voice left no room for doubt. “Your werewolf bit our Wolf, remember?”
    Raven grinned at me, a