No one spoke as they considered the implications. Humans had little understanding about the terra indigene they could see. They had no understanding at all about the earth natives who lived in the wild country.
“Train. Train,” Tess said. “When she spoke the last prophecy, Meg said that word twice. The Controller and his . . . people . . . spent years training her, so everything she says in prophecy has meaning.”
“Stavros will be coming by train,” Vlad said.
“And so will someone else. For good or ill, I think we should expect a second visitor.”
Simon grunted with the effort to get to his feet. <Enough. I’ll be able to shift tomorrow. Then I’ll see how the human form feels and what limitations it may have.>
“I’ll go over to the Three Ps now and make the copies of the diary,” Tess said.
Since there was nothing more he needed to do at this meeting, Simon hobbled to the door, then had to wait for someone to open it. He wanted to walk a little and rest a lot. He wanted to curl up with Meg and get petted while she watched a movie.
He wanted to be strong and well enough to protect, just in case the second visitor who was coming to Lakeside turned out to be an enemy.
* * *
Jenni Crowgard returned to her apartment in the Green Complex early that evening. The Crowgard had spent the day together, mourning the loss of Crystal, not dissimilar to the way the humans had gathered to mourn the loss of Lawrence MacDonald.
Will the Crows open Sparkles and Junk tomorrow? Meg wondered. Or will they abandon their shop in the Market Square?
Feeling awkward, she knocked on Jenni’s door . . . and tried not to stare when the Crow answered.
Jenni’s black hair, usually shiny and well groomed, hung dull and unkempt around a face drawn by grief.
“I have something for you and Starr.” Meg held out a small decorative box, one of the items Julia Hawkgard had picked up for her.
Jenni took the box and stared at it for a full minute before lifting the lid. She poured a few dimes into one hand. “Shiny,” she whispered. “Coins aren’t always so shiny. Crystal liked shiny coins. She kept them in a bowl on the counter.”
“I know. That’s why I polished these. I thought you could add these to the bowl in her honor.” Meg stopped. “I don’t know how to help, and I want to help.”
“You helped. You warned Simon, but we didn’t listen when he said we had to leave. There was so much shiny, so many treasures to look at and touch, we didn’t want to listen. He had to wait, had to argue with us, and that gave the humans time to attack.”
“Those men had planned to attack the terra indigene. It wasn’t your fault, Jenni.”
The Crow poured the dimes back into the box. “Doesn’t change things. Crystal is dead. MacDonald is dead. And we have learned, again, that humans can’t be trusted.”
The anger in Jenni’s eyes chilled Meg. “Jenni . . .”
“Our Meg can be trusted. Our Meg would not betray us.”
“No, I wouldn’t. Neither would Merri Lee or Ruth or the other humans who work here.”
Jenni shrugged. Meg thought that was a very bad indication of how angry the terra indigene were about this latest clash between themselves and humans.
“Merri Lee and Ruth wouldn’t betray the Crows or any of the terra indigene,” Meg insisted. “Neither would Debany or Kowalski. They wouldn’t.”
Jenni stared at Meg. Then, finally, “Crystal being killed in that place. It wasn’t their fault either.”