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Her snapping black eyes flashed up to mine, filled with rage. “Yes. Once I arrived here, the memory spell stopped working. It’s a cold place you’re from though.”
I had to laugh. “It isn’t always. But I have news for you. Maybe Fergus should hear it too.”
Blackbird shook her head. “He’s gone off with Frank, once they saw the news on the magic box.”
Shit.The image of aging-hippie Frank taking off in his Jetta with a centuries-old Irishman who’d been trapped in Faerie amused me, despite my stomach’s clench of warning. “What news?”
The baby cried harder and she raised her voice a bit. “Seems that Titania contacted some of our children here, set off messages in their minds. What did Frank call it? Brain-bathing?”
I realized then that she was speaking English to me. And so had Puck. Of course they would be, for me to understand them. Something to puzzle over later.
“Brainwashing.”
“That’s it.” She looked pleased, then frowned. “I don’t quite understand it, but apparently some of the changeling children did…thingsto open the gates. One stole a flying machine and flew it into a stone ring. Other places, too—many humans in huge villages dead. Frank was beside himself.”
Frank. Still alive and kicking, so it hadn’t been that long since I left. “What were they planning to do about it?”
“Fergus wanted to visit one in custody, to see if he’s Brody, and Frank said something about saving the world.”
Of course he had.
“He won’t have the magic here, to give him any advantage. Did he think of that?”
Blackbird smiled with exasperated affection. “He told me not to fash meself about it, so I haven’t. I was to wait here for you and then shut down the gate after you go back. Before the terrorizers find it.”
“Terrorists,” I corrected absently, jiggling the crying baby. “I don’t know what to do for her.” If I’d had any kind of normal life, I would have taken parenting classes and been prepared for this. Surely there was some sort of checklist for dealing with crying babies.
“She’s hungry,” Blackbird said in a gentle tone. Hesitated. “Do you have milk?”
“Milk?” Why would I have milk? It wasn’t like I carried groceries around and coming through—oh. “No, I don’t. After the birth I was pretty torn up and I, um, changed into the cat and back.” Erasing all effects of the pregnancy.Stupid, stupid, stupid.
My little daughter squinched up her face and turned hot pink with crying. Already disappointed in me. “I’m a terrible mother,” I realized. “I can’t even feed her.”
“Oh, stop it,” Blackbird snapped. “I’ve got some goat’s milk that we’ve been giving her. Once you cross back, you can wish up your own milk or feed her a combination of magic and other sustenance. No mother knows what she’s doing at first. We all learn as we go.”
She handed me a bottle and I popped it in the baby’s mouth. The ensuing quiet did a great deal to steady my nerves. I would need to name her, which I hated to do without Rogue’s input. Why had we never discussed it?
“Two things—first, this might be a shock, but remember Walter?”
“How could I forget?” Blackbird replied in a dry tone, shaking her head a little. So odd not to hear her thoughts, sample her feelings. Where Faerie had once seemed over-the-top to me in every way, my old world now felt sterile and one-dimensional. Walt wasn’t the only one who’d changed.
“He’s come a long way. Very manly and a great help during—all the stuff you missed—which is good, because, surprise! Turns out he’s Baby Brody.”
The news electrified her. At first she nearly protested, but then frowned, puzzling it through. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? We asked you to help find him and you led us right to him. We just didn’t recognize him.”
I nearly said it hadn’t happened that way, but—when she phrased it like that—it kind of had. Magic worked in mysterious ways.
Another thought occurred to her. “Does Starling know?”
“She does now. And, don’t worry, things didn’t progress far between them, if you know what I mean.”
Blackbird sighed. “I wasn’t a fan of the old Walter, but I was willing to go along, for Starling’s sake. She wants to find love so much.”
“I know.” We all did. The baby had stopped suckling and looked drowsy. I might be a terrible mother, but she’d have to put up with me, because I’d never let her go. No chance of wandering off into the desert without me again. “You’ll like the new Walter, I think. You’ll be proud.”
“I always pictured Brody like this.” Blackbird stroked a hand over the fuzz of black hair on my daughter’s head. “Though I knew he must have grown, I never… Ah well, time enough to adjust.”
Not much to say to that. I took a deep breath, dreading the answer to my next question. “Okay then, where is Rogue?”
