Disclaimer: I do not own Tithe, Ironside, Valiant or any of the characters
Chapter One
Kaye rested her chin on her hands and leaned against the countertop. She could hear Corny and Luis conversing in low voices behind the embroidered curtain that hung between the coffee shop and the library, and she turned up the stereo, offering them a little more privacy for – she smirked – their sweet nothings.
The coffee shop was in good shape, compared to when she'd first leased it from the lank-haired Mr. Noake. Half a dozen round wooden tables dotted the rug-covered floor, and the walls had been painted a dappled concoction of greens that imitated the look of sunlight streaming through leaves – Corny's idea. Kaye hadn't been sure what to make of it when she'd come in to find Corny and Val, that friend of Luis', laughing and slapping green paint every which way. Now, though, she liked it. A glamour would have looked more realistic, of course, but she'd have known that in fact it wasn't real at all, and so she refused to change it, amateurish as it was.
Slow business today, she complained inwardly, hating the long, still hours stretching out before her, what is this? Did the fey decide to suddenly leave mortals alone? She didn't think so, somehow. Perhaps someone would be along soon – someone to whom she could offer what help and knowledge she had. She liked the days when a near constant stream of people trickled in and out of the shop, keeping her busy, some requiring faery help from her, others just wanting a warm drink before they went on their way. This afternoon, though, there were no takers of either sort.
Kaye grabbed a notebook from under the counter and began a vague doodle. A figure, arms wrapped around knees, face tilted slightly upward. The familiar posture reminded her of her changeling counterpart, her 'sister', as Ellen called her, so she turned the doodle into a picture of Kate. On Kate's left, she drew the living room of her Grandma's house, the TV on in the background. On her right, she drew the colour-rich fruits and dancing revellers of the Seelie Court. Two worlds. Two lives. She wondered absently whether Kate preferred the old life or the new one.
"Kaye!" Corny's voice floated through the curtain, "come and back me up, here! There's nothing 'obviously gay' about me, right?"
Kaye, laughing softly to herself, pushed through the curtain and left behind the quiet stillness of the empty coffee shop. "Well, I'm not so sure…"
*
Tricksters. Thieves. Heartless.
Leigh Hart recited the familiar litany in her mind as her brown lace-up boots pounded the streets.
Completely devoid of a conscience.
She saw the words in her mind's-eye, written on scraps of paper torn from stolen library books as she garnered any information she could find.
Games.
Sacrifice.
Drown.
They were murderers. That much, at least, she had surmised from what her aunt had told her. Her aunt, who believed that the father whom Leigh had never known was responsible for her mother's death. Her father who for some reason Aunt Annabel believed was… was… not human.
Ciaran Hart. That was all she had to go on. A name. It sounded human enough. Ciaran Hart.
The folk.
That phrase, she'd come across countless times in her frenzy of reading. The folk. What would happen if one of the folk fell in love with a human? What would happen if they had a child?
Leigh knew she was in the right place before she saw the blue sign swinging in the breeze. She didn't know how she knew, but she did. She pushed open the door and stepped into the warmth of the empty café.
"Hello?" she called out, "is anyone there?"
She was about to sit down and wait when a dark green curtain embroidered with gold at the back of the cafe was pulled aside and a young woman stepped out from behind it. She was not much older than Leigh; thin and angular with upturned eyes in a face framed by ragged fair hair.
"Are you Kaye?"
The young woman nodded. "You want something?"
"Coffee," replied Leigh, "extra hot. Oh, and a way of telling whether or not I'm human."