Chapter 49

I know you’re sitting in the lounge downstairs, D, watching the results newscast with everyone, but I need to put my thoughts down on paper. And of course it must be in a letter to you. I’ll finish it tonight and post it to you later, have it show up as a surprise.

After all this time, I can’t believe it’s happened. The referendum passed with a massive majority. We are to be Silent in every emotion, not only rage. The great irony of it is that on this momentous day, I sit here swamped in emotions: shock, fear, worry—but chief among them is hope.

For a better future for my baby girl. Neiza will grow up without fearing for her sanity, this I believe with every ounce of my soul.

—Letter from Hien Nguyen to Déwei Nguyen (21 August 1979)

THE GARDENER—WHOSE name was Santo Lombardi—looked up right then . . . and he had the loveliest eyes of soft green.

Eyes as guileless as a deer’s.

They crinkled at the corners and it seemed as if he was about to smile. Then he flinched and took a couple of steps back. “I don’t know you,” he said, and turned to look over his shoulder in the direction of the door.

When no one exited, he turned back toward them. “I don’t know you.”

Fear pumped off him, reminding Yakov of a cub that had been startled. So he went with instinct and treated Santo Lombardi with the same gentleness he would said cub. “I’m Yakov,” he said. “A bear.” He deliberately didn’t introduce Theo, because he had the feeling this man would respond much better if he thought them both bears. “You’ve probably seen my clanmates around the city.”

Santo peered suspiciously through narrowed eyes. “You don’t have a bearskin,” he said with the solemn seriousness of a young child who was sure he was being fooled.

Yakov grinned and lifted his hand. “Watch this,” he said, then extended his claws.

Santo gasped and jumped back, and Yakov thought he’d made a critical mistake. Then a huge smile cracked the other man’s thin face, lighting up those beautiful soft eyes. “Again!”

Laughing, Yakov retracted his claws, only to slice them back out. At the same time, he allowed his eyes to shift to the yellowish amber that came out in the bear in lower light, but that tended to be the first manifestation in his human skin of the bear rising to the surface.

“Bear,” Santo said definitively.

The front door opened again right then, revealing a dark-skinned woman in her late twenties or early thirties, her hair in two neat braids that began at her temples and ended just above her shoulders. Well-fitted jeans and a poppy-red sweater outlined a compact body, her height between Theo’s and Yakov’s.

She wasn’t looking at them, her focus on the person coming out behind her: another woman, the thinnest and smallest of the three. Closer to Santo in age. Huddled into a jacket of sunshine yellow, she wore dark brown pants.

“Janine Fong,” Theo murmured. “Which one of them uses the prescriptions?”

It was impossible to tell at first glance. Janine’s skin was milk pale with bluish undertones, the kind of skin that bruised with a touch. Her face, with its naturally high cheekbones and round eyes beneath epicanthic folds, didn’t hold Santo’s laxness, but she was more timid than him, sticking close to the side of the younger woman.

It was her hair that most struck Yakov: it was braided in the same style as her companion’s, despite the clear difference in textures. Janine’s braid was already slipping apart, strands escaping here and there.

Now, the younger woman shot Yakov and Theo a look of polite inquiry. “Are you here to visit a friend in the apartment building? Only, they’ll have to buzz you in themselves.”

That was when Yakov noticed how she balanced on her feet and realized that she wasn’t a carer—or not only a carer—she was also security. “Actually, I wanted to speak to Santo.” Never taking his attention off the younger woman, he smiled at the gardener. “It is Santo, isn’t it?”

“He’s a bear, Cissi!” Santo said to the carer-bodyguard, whose dark eyes had narrowed when Yakov stated the gardener’s name. “I saw his claws!”

Suspicion morphing into worry, Cissi turned to her female charge. “Will you stay with Santo for a little while, Nene?” Her voice was kind, her tone even. “I need to talk to our new friends.”

Santo opened up his arm and Janine Fong quickly shuffled over to lean against him, hiding her face in his chest.

“Why don’t you show Nene your vegetables, Santo? I’ll be over here with your new friend.”

“Bear!” Santo said again, his grin huge. “I saw him first.”

“I know, I know.” Cissi laughed. “You can talk to him again after we’ve chatted, okay?”

It was clear from the way Santo nodded and began to lead Janine away that Cissi had built a strong bond of trust with the two. The younger woman’s scent was twined into both of theirs—Govno!

Cold in his veins as he realized why his instincts had sparked at Santo’s scent. But it had nothing to do with Santo. It had to do with someone Santo was around. Fuck. “I’ve got ID.” Managing to keep his shock out of his voice as he spoke to Cissi, he reached into his pocket.

“No need, I’ve seen you at Club Moscow with your clanmates.” A sheepish smile. “I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you straight off the bat. I just wasn’t expecting to see a senior bear outside our front door. You’re a twin, right? I’m sure I’ve seen two of you at times—but that might’ve been the cocktails.”

Chuckling took effort with his stomach in knots. “I’m Yakov. The other one is Pavel.” He glanced at Theo. “And this is Theo.”

Cissi’s smile faded as she took in Theo. “You’re not a bear. Psy.”

“So are you,” Theo said coolly. “You do a good job of appearing human—that comment about cocktails was excellent—but I can sense your psychic strength. I’d wager you’re at least a 7.”

The two women took each other’s measure, before Cissi gave a crisp nod and broke the eye contact. “Why do you need to speak to Santo?” she asked Yakov.

Folding his arms, he set his feet apart. “First, I want to know who you are and what you’re doing here.”

No give in Cissi’s expression. “StoneWater has no rights over Psy in its territory.”

Woman had spine. Good. Those charged to protect should have spine.

“Per my research,” he said, “Santo was a chemical analyst in his twenties.” Unsurprisingly, he’d worked in an arm of the Marshall Group. “Not at the top of his field, but not at the bottom, either. Just a man doing a job and doing it well, from all his performance reviews.” He held her gaze. “What happened to him?”

But Cissi stood with a gimlet expression, her hands on her hips.

Yakov groaned inwardly. He hated pulling out the big, bad bear routine, especially against a person he’d begun to respect. He’d much rather use charm or logic, but he had a feeling that wasn’t going to work with this protective woman.

He reluctantly put on his mean face. “You live in bear territory.” His voice was granite. “Do you really believe that the authorities will bother to step in to protect three random Psy from us?”

Of course StoneWater didn’t just go around attacking innocent people—they weren’t animals. Well . . . they were animals, but not that kind of animals. But despite the fact she’d been in Club Moscow, it was unlikely Cissi knew much more than surface information when it came to StoneWater. The vast majority of Psy still had a massive blind spot about changelings, believing violence their default.

Which reputation you haven’t exactly helped with, Yakov Stepyrev.

Babushka Graciele’s disappointed voice.

But his gambit worked. After glancing back at her charges, Cissi looked once more at him, then at Theo. She frowned, tilted her head, a strange confusion to her as she stared a beat too long at Theo. But when she spoke it was to Yakov.

“Name’s Cecilia Bonet, but I go by Cissi. I became Santo’s and Janine’s carer three years ago—got the job through one of the listing sites. I had to submit to a security check, then an interview with their guardian, and I continue to be spot-checked.”

“You also have security training yourself.”

Cissi nodded. “That was my field in the time of Silence. I retrained as a carer afterward, and honestly, had no experience when I was given this job. Their guardian made it clear it was my security background that bagged me the position, but that I’d be out on my rear if I didn’t care for them as required.”

A softening in her as she looked back at Santo and Janine, who were now crouched by the garden, picking and eating what looked to be snow peas. Man had to have magic green fingers if he’d gotten a crop this early.

“I didn’t know that about his work, the field he was in. Makes sense, though—every so often, he says words I don’t understand, and when I look them up, they’re almost always related to chemicals.”

Theo stirred. “You did Janine’s hair.”

“What? Oh, yeah.” Cissi smiled. “Neither needs assistance with hygiene, but Janine loves my braids. It’s a mission to get them to hold in her hair; the strands are so slippery. I have to resort to fix-fast gel.” Affection in each and every word. “Honestly, they’re family now.”

“Janine,” Yakov said, staring at the small and skittish woman who hadn’t spoken even to Santo, “she’s a telekinetic.”

Cissi nodded. “Used to work for a private family as a teleporter. Was groomed for the position at a young age, and the family must’ve had enough political power that she wasn’t pulled into the Council’s corps.” The carer stared at Theo again, her forehead wrinkling up. “I’m sorry for being rude, but have we met?”

“Not as far as I know.” Theo’s voice was a touch too even. “Do you believe we have?”

Yakov understood Theo’s wariness. Was it possible Cissi had been a staff member at the facility? But that didn’t jibe with her relationship with her charges. Regardless, he took out his phone and tapped in a quick request to his brother: Work/residence history for Cecilia “Cissi” Bonet. Lives at the address you sent me this morning.

He slid away his phone as Cissi shook her head. “I get the strongest sense of what the humans call déjà vu when I look at you. Did you live in Missouri as a child? I grew up there.”

“No,” Theo answered. “I must just remind you of someone.”

“Yes, that’s probably it.”

“Santo’s and Janine’s guardian,” Yakov said, “you have their details?”

Cissi stiffened up again, folding her arms across her chest. “What’s this all about?” A hard line to her jaw. “These two are wounded and unable to defend themselves. I won’t allow you or anyone else to hurt them.”

Theo spoke before Yakov could. “We’re here in an effort to make restitution,” she said. “There’s a chance my family is responsible for their current mental and physical state. If so, we need to be paying for their expenses and any related medical costs. Our new CEO believes in accountability.”

Cissi took a single step back. “Their guardian made it clear that that’s already the situation. The apartment, my salary, the food, everything. Either your new CEO has the wrong information—or you’re lying to me.”

“Ah.” Theo nodded slowly. “Yes, that explains the financial draw.”

“We still need to speak to the guardian,” Yakov said. “There’s a chance there are more survivors in the same condition as Janine and Santo—Theo’s been tasked to make sure that every single one of them is being cared for to this high standard. StoneWater has offered its support to track down the victims.”

A cold chill in Cissi’s eyes. “I knew it,” she bit out. “I knew it wasn’t an accident that hurt them. It was a Center, wasn’t it? That’s why the bears are involved—I’ve heard through the grapevine about how the former Centers now have human and changeling oversight.”

She shook her head before they could answer. “Don’t tell me. I don’t want that nastiness in my head. As for their guardian, I won’t give her up. Not when she’s protected them for this long.” She faced Yakov full on. “You can hurt me but that won’t give you what you want.”

Yakov’s bear hid its head in its paws, feeling like a bully. “Look, Cissi, we mean your charges no harm, but it’s critical we get in touch with their guardian. Will you pass on a message to her?”

“Yes, of course. I want only the best for Santo and Janine—and anyone else who might’ve survived a Center.”

Yakov glanced at Theo.

Who picked up the baton. “Tell their guardian that the management has changed. And that we’ve found the leak. We have no intention of plugging it up, but we need all the facts.”

Cissi gave a crisp nod. “I’ll repeat it word for word. It might take her a few days to get back to you—she’s not in the country right now and doesn’t always have the best reception.”

“Understood.” After giving the woman their contact details, Yakov said, “One more question—other than you and their guardian, does anyone else have access to Janine or Santo?”

“Santo is friendly with others in the complex,” Cissi said. “Nene—Janine—rarely talks, and tends to stick close to him or me. They’re never out of my sight for longer than a few minutes except when they’re asleep in their beds, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Yakov left it at that, asking no further questions. Instead, he spoke to Santo as promised, while Janine stared at Theo for long moments before walking over to give her a snow pea pod.

Next to Yakov, Cissi whistled quietly under her breath. “I’ve never seen her be so friendly with a stranger.”

Taking the pod, Theo said, “Thank you. Can I eat it just like this?”

Janine ran over to the patch, came back with another pod, then showed Theo how to remove the bit of “thread” along the seam that could get stuck in teeth. Discarding that bit into the garden, she mimed crunching down on the vegetable, then watched with care as Theo followed her instructions.

Her face broke out in a big smile when Theo began to eat the snow peas. A second later, Janine threw her arms around Theo and said, “Keke, I love you,” in a voice soft and sweet.