Vincent squeezed Clover’s paw. “We just need to clear Juniper once and for all. Why is he acting so suspicious? For my own peace of mind, I need to know. We all do.”

  Suttor nodded in agreement. “Vincent’s right. Juniper is not giving us much of a choice.”

  “If Juniper, Cole, or anyone else on the Council is going to hide things from us, then we’ll have to find out the answers on our own,” said Carn. “If we work together, perhaps we can uncover the traitor.” He looked at Clover. “I don’t believe for a second that Juniper’s involved, but we must check him out, and the sooner the better. Then we can all move on.” Carn looked around the table. No one protested the idea. “So then, are we all agreed?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Julius held Nomi by her front paws and hoisted her into the air with his hind feet. As she swayed back and forth she giggled hysterically. Julius was making silly faces.

  Juniper and Mother Gallo had just returned from the Council meeting. “What’s going on in here?” demanded Juniper sternly. “Why, you’re loud enough to wake the Saints! We can hear you children all the way down the corridor.”

  “You’re not really mad, Papa!” said Julius.

  “Oh, I’m not, eh?” He growled, crossing his eyes and jutting out his jaw in an exaggerated scowl. Nomi screamed with laughter as her father scooped her up in one arm and plucked Julius up in the other. Opening his mouth, he snarled at them as if he might take a bite.

  “Papa, you’re pretending!” shouted Julius. Nomi squealed blissfully as her father spun them in a circle.

  “You found me out!” Juniper smiled contentedly. It was in these moments that he stopped worrying about Nightshade and quietly reveled in his children’s happiness. Nomi pulled softly at Juniper’s scruffy hair while Julius grabbed his face and giggled. Both beamed at their father.

  Mother Gallo went to the table and patted her oldest son, Tuk, on the head. His snout was stuck in a schoolbook. “How goes the studying, dear?”

  “Fine, I suppose,” answered Tuk. “I haven’t been able to get much done, though.”

  “Were the children bothering you?” Mother Gallo sighed. “I told them to keep quiet while you studied. I should have had Hob and Gage stay back to help. The library could have waited.”

  “Julius and Nomi didn’t bother me,” answered Tuk. “It was Texi. She stopped by and didn’t seem to want to leave. She read them stories and played games with them. It was so noisy I couldn’t concentrate.”

  “How was Texi? We’ve been worried about her.” Mother Gallo lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m afraid the whole Billycan matter may just be too much for the poor dear.”

  “Now that you mention it, she did act a bit peculiar,” said Tuk.

  “How so?” asked Juniper.

  “Well, she was whispering to Julius over by the fireplace, and then she asked if she could take him for a walk—in fact, she insisted on it. I said you wouldn’t approve. She kept pressing me, but finally relented after I told her under no circumstances was I to let the children leave our quarters.” He smiled at his mother. “I can’t risk you getting cross with me, or you’ll never extend my curfew.”

  Mother Gallo smiled at her son. “You did the right thing, Tuk. It is certainly too late for the little ones to be out for a stroll.”

  “Julius,” said Juniper, “did you talk with Texi tonight?”

  “Yes,” said Julius. “She told me she was very sad.”

  “She did? Did she tell you why she was so sad?”

  “She said she needed to make things right or she’d never be forgiven. A rat was very mad at her for what she’d done.”

  “Oh,” said Juniper, glancing at his wife, “that is very sad. Did she say who this mad rat was? Did she mention a name?”

  Julius nodded. “Yes, it was a funny name.”

  “And what was that funny name?”

  “Killdeer.”

  Crouched in a ball on the floor of his cell, his head buried in his arms, Billycan remembered—remembered Killdeer who had taken him under his wing, showing him how the criminal set operated in Trillium City.

  Billycan took to crime as easily as one breathes air, never regretting one merciless act. Always in his mind was Dorf’s teaching, Only the strong shall survive. Billycan’s loyalty, cunning, and love of the kill made him priceless to Killdeer.

  Feeling the cell’s cold floor under his feet, he remembered distinct moments from his past—terrible moments. Bad things, dreadful things, were coming back to him.…

  “No, no, no!” Billycan barked at Lithgo. “You’re being too soft. If the dock rats won’t give us what we want, then simply exterminate them!” He leaped from his stool, kicking it across the room. “If we want to be taken seriously, we must show brute force from the onset—not an ounce of indecision.”

  Lithgo, Schnauss, and Foiber all eyed Killdeer, waiting for him to say something. He stayed seated in his chair, deadly silent.

  With paws clasped tightly behind his back, Billycan marched around Lithgo in a crooked circle. “The early leaders of Trillium did not mollycoddle the populace. They did not give them peace offerings and warm blankets. They gave them nothing, took everything. The dock rats are foolhardy if they think I’ll accept their insolence, their defiance.”

  “Billycan is right,” said Killdeer. “They were given the opportunity decades ago to go underground. Trilok offered them sanctuary in his precious Catacombs. They unwisely refused, too stubborn to leave their beloved docks and plentiful food supply. Now I want that food, and I shall have it. The dock rats will get what they deserve.”

  “Yes,” said Billycan. “If they do not hand over their operations peacefully, then they will be eliminated.”

  Lithgo had had enough. “No,” he said decisively. “If we slaughter them all, who will do the work? I’ll tell you who—us! The whole point of this was diplomacy—a gentle bending of wills—to allow them to labor, while we reap the benefits.” He stepped close to Billycan, who glared at him unflinchingly. “You are not one of us. You never have been. Killdeer took you in only because you did him a favor. We taught you the ways of our kind at his request.” Lithgo’s chest started to heave as years of resentment spilled out. He motioned to the mob of rats behind him. “None of us wants you here!” Billycan stayed silent. “Look at you, with your snow-white fur and eyes like blood. You don’t belong and never will. There is something off about you—something inherently foul. Never have I seen a rat so eager to kill, so full of bloodlust.”

  Billycan gave Lithgo a grin, a grin that slowly broadened into a menacing sneer of pointed yellow fangs. Billycan’s eyes narrowed, their shade shifting from a composed red to a fury of sizzling orange. “Finished?” he asked snidely.

  Taking a step back, Lithgo stuttered, “Y-yes.”

  “Good,” replied Billycan, clasping his paws theatrically, as if delighted by the answer. “Now then, I believe it is my turn to speak—unless of course anyone has something to add?” He turned in a circle, eyeing the entire throng. Except for Killdeer, everyone shifted uneasily. “Let me be clear right now so there will be no further need to speculate about my motives.” He turned back to Lithgo. “You’re quite right. I am… oh dear, what was the term you used?” Billycan abruptly lurched forward, thrusting his snout nose to nose with Lithgo’s. He snapped two digits. “Ah, yes, inherently foul, that’s it. I learned that about myself some time ago. And now, thanks to my dear friend Killdeer, I’ve come to realize that my skills are needed—greatly needed. He has taught me that I should not fight who I am, but embrace it! So that is exactly what I’ve done. That being said, Killdeer has made me an offer, and, you’ll be delighted to hear, I’ve accepted.”

  “What sort of… offer?” asked Lithgo.

  “Dear Lithgo, we are ready,” said Billycan, “finally ready to invade the Catacombs, and I will lead the way.”

  Finally Killdeer got up from his chair. “Yes, gentlemen, it’s time to take back our home. The home Trilok banished us from. Old fool should have killed us when he had the chance. We will once and for all destroy High Minister Trilok, along with his wretched group of advisers. With Billycan at the helm, we cannot fail.” He stood next to Billycan, who kept his paw firmly latched to Lithgo’s neck. “Billycan is no longer just another one of you.” Killdeer glared angrily at Lithgo. Lithgo gulped. Killdeer turned to the rest of the rats. “Henceforth, you will address Billycan as Commander. Commander Billycan reports to me, and each and every one of you reports to him. You are now an army, his army. Is that clear?”

  Silence filled the room.

  Billycan wrenched Lithgo close to him and whispered in his ear, “Major Lithgo, you are my major now. Do not ever address me in such a manner again—do you understand me?” He could feel Lithgo’s hackles rise under his grasp. “For if you do, not only will you die, but you will die in such a prolonged and, dare I say, ghastly manner that you will be utterly mad by the time I finally finish you off. I will quite literally skin you alive bit by bit, until there is no skin left. You will beg for death.”

  Juniper sat on his stool and watched Billycan in silence, thinking. He thought of the secret and what it was doing to him. And what it would undoubtedly do to his family, his friends, the Council—all of Nightshade. Everything trickles down, as they say, one poor decision leading to another.

  More than ever he wished his brother Barcus were alive. Barcus always seemed to know the answers to life’s sticky problems, giving sound advice, but in this situation Barcus might well have been equally confounded. Juniper felt as though everything was tumbling down around him. Lost in reflection, he didn’t notice Billycan staring at him from his cot.

  “Juniper,” Billycan called out groggily, “are you all right?”

  Juniper looked up. “Oh,” he said, getting to his feet, “yes, I’m fine.” He folded his arms and leaned against the bars of the cell. “I was thinking about you, actually. I’ve been coming down here for days now, hoping you’d remember something of the swamp, because I so badly need you to remember whom you were working with. But I’ve neglected to ask about you. How you’re doing. What you’re feeling. And you may think my asking is a ploy to win your favor, to get you to talk, but I do care about you, what happens to you… what happened to you.”

  Billycan cocked his head and stared at Juniper, perplexed. “But why? After all I’ve done, why would you care anything about me, other than the day I’m to be executed? I don’t remember it all—not yet—but I do remember many, many things, horrifying things that I did. Worst of all, I remember liking it.” He pulled himself to his feet. A sudden chill sent a shudder through his body. His stomach churned and his hackles rose. He looked at Juniper as though he’d been slapped hard across the muzzle. His voice grew angry. “I don’t want you to care about me! I don’t want anyone to ever care about me! What I’ve done cannot be forgiven, nor should it be. There will be no pity for me, only loathing and disgust at what I’ve become—a wicked, wicked creature.”

  “What if I told you you are not solely responsible for being that wicked creature you describe?” Billycan stayed silent. “What if I told you that in that laboratory you once called home a dangerous drug was pumped into you by humans? This drug, supposed to make you calm and content, had the opposite effect. It made you violent, sadistic. It was manufactured out of greed, and the humans knew full well its vile effects.”

  “I don’t believe you,” replied Billycan flatly. “You’re just saying this to get answers out of me—clever of you, just what I would do in your place.”

  “I speak the truth. That is exactly what happened, and there is a chance at redemption. Everyone has that chance, even you.”

  Billycan shook his head. “Every time I look at you, all I see is that night in the Catacombs when I attacked you, ripping that eye from your skull. I can’t think of anything else! I wished you dead. I remember hearing you growl in pain. I reveled in every moment of it.” His shoulders slumped. He fell back down on his cot. “Whatever this serum is, its effects will wear off eventually. I will turn back into the soulless killer I was. I know it. I feel it. I hope you get your answers before that happens.”

  Two cups of tea between them, Juniper sat across from Elvi in the Council Chamber, his expression one of utter astonishment. “I don’t understand why you’d ask me this. Elvi, it makes no sense.”

  “I know it’s a strange request,” said Elvi, “but one I thought was quite vital. You said the serum you gave Billycan is working. He is starting to remember things—many things—but slowly. Maybe I can help hasten his memories along. Perhaps your presence is impeding him, keeping his memory from moving forward.”

  “I’m sorry to say, I think you’d only be wasting your time.”

  “Since I returned I’ve heard nothing but unsettling, grisly stories from all of you about Billycan,” said Elvi. “Maybe that fear—that history you all hold with him—is preventing him from giving you answers. He may not remember details quite yet, but perhaps his subconscious knows he should not talk to you. If he’s as cunning as everyone says he is, even with the drug maybe he’s found a way to hold back.”

  “You do make sense,” Juniper agreed. “He did mention that he can’t stop thinking about the night of the Bloody Coup, when he attacked me in the Catacombs…perhaps you’re right. Maybe it is preventing him from remembering more.” He pushed away his tea and smiled. “And you do have a way about you—that Toscan charm.”

  Suddenly Elvi’s paws trembled.

  “Elvi, what is it?”

  “Juniper, all those years ago, when I was hustled onto that boat to Tosca, I was terrified. I had no idea what horrors lay in store for me in the vast Toscan jungle. My greatest fears were realized. Not only are Toscan creatures savage, they are wicked, too. They kill because they are born to it. They like it. But I’m strong. I used my wits—and my wiles—to deal with those cunning creatures, to talk to them. I’m quick and I’m clever. I can cajole Billycan, worm the truth from him, bend his will just as I did with the brutish Toscans.”

  “But—”

  “You have to let me do this,” she pleaded. “Don’t you understand, Juniper? I want to help. Now I have a chance to truly contribute—to give back to the Saints for taking care of me in Tosca, and to give back to you. You and the others welcomed me with open arms.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Please. You must let me do this.”

  Juniper considered. It was natural that Elvi needed to feel she was helping. She seemed to care about everyone in Nightshade, always there with kind words, always compassionate. She doted on poor Texi. She was a dear friend to his wife. She was a caretaker—someone who wanted only to help. “All right, Elvi,” Juniper finally agreed.

  Elvi wiped her eyes. “Thank you. I know I can help.”

  “Tomorrow, then.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Appalling Tea

  ULRICH HAD ALWAYS had a soft spot for Texi. Some thought she was slow, simple, a dim, damaged dullard. He’d never believed that. There was nothing dim about her. He reasoned Texi’s heart was merely so pure and generous she couldn’t fathom others being cruel and calculating. She was a benevolent soul who was lucky enough to live in her own special world.

  With that in mind, he and his brother made their way to her and Clover’s quarters, hoping to ease Texi’s mind about Billycan and decipher her strange words to little Julius. They had to question her regardless, so the timing made good sense. Talk of Killdeer, dead for three years now, troubled them greatly. Perhaps Texi had become overwrought from Billycan’s return. Her grip on reality might just be slipping.

  “You must be gentle with her,” Ulrich urged his brother as they walked toward her door.

  “Your fondness for her clouds your judgment,” said Ragan. “We discussed this at Council. No one gets special treatment—no one.” He patted his brother on the back. “You’ve always told me she’s special. I understand that. We just need to check everything out—just to be safe.”

  “I know,” agreed Ulrich. “It’s just that in all my days working security with you, I’ve never interrogated anyone as altruistic and innocent as she.”

  “You’ve no need to convince me. We’re only covering the bases. After all, she is Killdeer’s sister. She must have some loyalty to his memory, no matter how evil he was. And what have we always told each other?”

  Ulrich sighed. “Trust no one.”

  “Exactly,” replied Ragan. “Besides, I think you like her so much because she’s the only one in all of Nightshade who admires that stubby excuse for a tail.”

  Looking back at his nub of a tail, Ulrich frowned. “What are you talking about?” He wiggled it back and forth. “My tail is beautiful!”

  Ragan laughed. “That it is, brother. That it is.” He knocked on the door. Clover opened it. “Hello, dear, we’re here to check on Texi, see how she’s managing.”

  Ulrich and Ragan had a charming way about them, which made them good at interrogation. “Your timing is perfect,” Clover said. “We’re just about to have some tea.”

  Ulrich and Ragan tried to hide their grimaces. Clover made appalling tea, and Texi’s didn’t go down much better.

  “I see your faces!” Clover said. “You’re both awful. But neither Texi nor I made the tea, Elvi did.”

  “Oh, thank the Saints,” said Ragan, putting a paw over his heart.

  “Why, you’re terrible, Ragan!” said Clover, laughing, “I admit it. My tea is dreadful.”

  “Sorry, dear,” said Ulrich. “As you know, we’re quite particular about our tea. Our mother spoiled us with her currant spice. I must admit, though, I’ve grown quite partial to Elvi’s. Here again, is she? Elvi’s certainly fond of you.”

  “And I her, but truth be told she’s here for Texi—they have a special friendship. She’s taken Texi under her wing.”

 

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