Kaye touched the picture, running her fingers over the ink of the page. "I don't know.”
Luis frowned. "All those people. Can't the folk kill each other and leave us out of it?”
"Shut up. Just shut up," Kaye said, walking to Corny's car and jerking on the handle. Pieces of chrome came off on her singed fingers. She felt sick.
"I've got to unlock it," Corny said, opening the door for her with his keys. "Look, he's okay. I'm sure he's okay.”
She threw herself into the backseat, trying not to imagine Roiben dead, trying not to see his eyes dulled with mud. "No, you're not.”
"I'm calling my mom," Corny said. He started the car while he dialed, his gloved fingers awkward.
Luis pointed out the turns and Corny drove with the phone cradled against his shoulder. This time Kaye welcomed the iron sickness, welcomed the dizziness that made it hard to think.
"She says Janet's coffin wasn't disturbed, but the stone's gone." Corny pushed his phone closed. "Nobody saw anyone sledding that late, and according to the local paper the truck wasn't even supposed to be making deliveries in the area.”
"It's the war," Kaye said, putting her head down on the vinyl seat. "The faery war.”
"What's wrong with her?" she heard Luis ask softly.
Corny's eyes stayed on the road. "She was dating someone from the Unseelie Court.”
Luis looked back at her. "Dating?”
"Yeah," Corny said. "He gave her his class ring. It was a whole big thing.”
Luis snorted.
"Roiben," Corny said. His voice sounded too loud, as though the name were echoing off the walls of the car. Kaye closed her eyes, but the dread didn't ebb.
"That's not possible," said Luis.
"Why do you think Silarial wants to see me?" Kaye demanded. "Why do you think it's worth two messengers and a guarantee of protection? If he isn't dead already, she thinks I can help kill him.”
"No," said Luis. "You can't date the Lord of the Night Court.”
"Well, I'm not. He dumped me.”
"You can't get dumped by the Lord of the Night Court.”
"Oh, yes you can. You so completely can.”
"We're all on edge." Corny rubbed his face. "And it's a bad day when I'm the voice of reason. Relax. We're going to be stuck in this traffic for a long time.”
They drove upstate while the late afternoon sunlight filtered through the leafless trees and the new-fallen snow melted into slush. They passed strip malls hung with wreaths and garlands, while kicked-up road salt streaked tide lines onto the sides of cars.
Kaye looked out the window, counting silver cars, reading every sign. Trying not to think.
At sunset they finally pulled onto a dirt road and Luis told them to stop.
"Here," he said, and opened the door. In the fading light Kaye could see an ice-covered lake stretching out from a bank just beyond the lip of the road. Mist shrouded the center of the lake from view. Dead trees rose from the water, as though there had once been a forest where the lake now stood. A forest of drowned trees. The fading light turned the trunks to gold.
Wind whipped loose snow into Kaye's face. It stung like chips of glass.
"There's a boat," Luis said. "Come on.”
They walked downhill, shoes skidding on the ice.
Corny gasped and Kaye looked up from watching her feet. A young man stood in front of her, half obscured by the branches of a fir tree. She yelped.