There was a board missing from the porch steps, and several boards gone from the porch itself. Jade limped around them with dignity. The gate had given her a good whack in the shin, and since it was wood,it still .hurt. In fact, everything seemed to be made of wood here, which gave Jade a pleasantly alarmed feeling. Back home, wood was revered-,and kept outof the way.
You have to be awfully careful to live in this kindof world, Jade thought. Or you're going to get hurt.
Rowan and Kestrel were knocking on the door,Rowan politely, with her knuckles, Kestrel loudly, with the side of her hand. There wasn't any answer.
"She doesn't seem to be here," Rowan said.
"She's decided she doesn't want us," Kestrel said, golden eyes gleaming.
"Maybe she went to the wrong bus station,"Jade said.
"Oh-that's it. I bet that's it," Rowan said. "Poorold thing, she's waiting for us somewhere, and she's going to be thinking that we didn't show up."
""Sometimes you're not completely stupid," Kestrel informed Jade. High praise from Kestrel.
"Well, let's go in," Jade said,to conceal howpleased she was. "She'll come back here sometime."
"Human houses have locks," Rowan began, but this house wasn't locked. The doorknob
turned in Jade's hand. The three of them stepped inside.
It was dark, even darker than the moonless nightoutside, but Jade's eyes adjusted in a few seconds.
"Hey, it's not bad," she said. They were in ashabby but handsome living room filled with huge, ponderous furniture. Wood furniture, of course dark and highly polished. The tables were topped with marble.
Rowan found a lightswitch, and suddenly the roomwas too bright. Blinking, Jade saw that the walls were pale apple green, with fancy woodwork andmoldings in a darker shade of the same green. It made Jade feel oddly peaceful. And anchored, somehow, as if she belonged here. Maybe it was all the heavy furniture.
She looked at Rowan, who was looking around tall graceful body slowly relaxing.
Rowan smiled and met her eyes. She noddedonce. "Yes."
Jade basked for a moment in the glory of having been right twice in five minutes--and then she remembered her suitcase.
"Let's see what the rest of the place is like," she said hastily. "I'll take the upstairs; you guys look around here."
"You just want the best bedroom," Kestrel said.
Jade ignored her, hurrying up a wide, carpeted flight of stairs. There were lots of bedrooms, and each one had lots of room. She didn't want the best, though, just the farthest away.
At the very end of the hall was a room painted sea-blue. Jade slammed the door behind her and puther suitcase on the bed. Holding her breath, she opened the suitcase.
Oh. Oh, no.Oh, no ...
Three minutes later she heard the click of the doorbehind her, but didn't care enough to turn.
"What are you doing?"Kestrel's voice said.
Jade looked up from her frantic efforts to resuscitate the two kittens she held. "They'redead!" she wailed.
"Well, what did you expect? They need to breathe, idiot. How did you expect them to make it through two days of traveling?"
Jade sniffled.
"Rowan told you that you could take only one."
Jade sniffled harder and glared. "I know.That's why I put these two in the suitcase." She hiccuped. "At least Tiggy's all right." She dropped to her knees and peered in the cat carrier to make sure he was all right. His ears were laid back, his golden eyes gleaming out of a mass of black fur. He hissed, and Jade sat up. He was fine.
"For five dollars I'll take care of the dead ones," Kestrel said.
"No!" Jade jumped up and moved protectively in front of them, fingers clawed.
"Not likethat," Kestrel said, offended. "I don't eat carrion. Look, if you don't get rid of them somehow,Rowan's going to find out. For God's sake,girl, you're a vampire," she added as Jade cradled the limp bodies to her chest. "Act like one."
"I want to bury them," Jade said. "They shouldhave a funeral."
Kestrel rolled her eyes and left. Jade wrapped the small corpses in her jacket and tiptoed out after her.
A shovel, she thought. Now, where would that be?
Keeping her ears open for Rowan, shesidledaround the first floor. All the rooms looked like the living room: imposing and in a state of genteel decay. The kitchen was huge. It had an open fireplace and a shed off the back door for washing laundry. It also had a door to the cellar.
Jade made her way down the steps cautiously. Shecouldn't turn on a light because she needed both hands for the kittens. And, because of the kittens, she couldn't see her feet. She had to feel with her toe for the next step.
At the bottom of the stairs her toe found something yielding, slightly resilient. It was blocking herpath.
Slowly Jade craned her neck over the bundle of jacket and looked down.
It was dim here. She herself was blocking the light that filtered down from the kitchen. But she could make out what looked like a pile of old clothes. A lumpy pile.
Jade was getting a very, very bad feeling.
She nudged the pile of clothes with one toe. It moved slightly. Jade took a deep breath and nudged it hard.
It was all one piece. It rolled over. Jade looked down, breathed quickly for a moment, and screamed.
A good, shrill, attention-getting scream. She addeda nonverbal thought, the telepathic equivalent of a siren.
Rowan! Kestrel! You guys get down here!
Twenty seconds later the cellar light went on andRowan and Kestrel came clattering down the stairs.
"I have told you and toldyou," Rowan was sayingthrough her teeth. "We don'tuse our-" She stopped, staring.