He strode off, singing what sounded like “Radioactive” punctuated with explosions. They watched him go.
Windwolf waited until the Stone Clan domana was out of sight before giving Law a bow. “Thank you. You have saved more than the lives of those who were celebrating here. If the oni had been able to attack unchecked, then war would have broken out between the elves and the humans.”
The elf had no idea that he owed even more to her and Bare Snow. It was nice, though, to be thanked for part of it.
“I have friends here,” Law said. “Someplace. Or at least, I did.” Usagi was the one Law was most worried about; she had been at Oktoberfest alone with five kids. Tiffani would have fled instantly. Ellen had a brother living nearby. Trixie was good at landing on her feet.
“My people started to vacate this area minutes after you called with the news,” Jin Wong said. “Some stayed to fight, but those with children fled.”
Relief nearly took Law to her knees. She breathed out and cautioned herself that just because everyone had been warned, didn’t mean everyone reached safety.
Tiffani’s fishing pool had been trampled. The water had drained to a mud puddle. The little gleaming fish lay scattered on the ground, long past saving. Law took the fact that they could find nothing of Trixie’s booth as a sign that the Changs had packed up and left long before the oni arrived. Ellen’s little house had been battened down with storm shutters and the charcoal grill drowned with water, so she’d beaten an orderly retreat.
All the little stuffed bunnies sat abandoned at Usagi’s booth. Alarmingly, the cash box was still tucked under the counter, unlocked. Law picked it up, feeling sick with fear. Of course with five children to shepherd to safety, Usagi would have needed her hands free to fight or hold onto a kid. Had they gotten home safely? All Law could get on her cell phone was a Shutdown message of all connections busy. Everyone in Pittsburgh was trying to find out if their friends and family were safe.
Bare Snow whimpered and picked up something from the ground. It was a rabbit hat that belonged to one of the kids.
“I’m sure they got home safe,” Law said. “Let’s go check there.”
Dusk bled to night as they rode up Mount Washington on the incline. Part of Station Square burned unchecked. Lightning occasionally struck out of the clear sky. Sudden eruptions of flame would follow seconds later.
Law picked her way down Usagi’s toy-strewn sidewalk to knock on the door. “Usagi! Usagi! Is anyone home?”
There was the thunder of small feet. The door flung open and the entire herd of half-elves flung themselves at Bare Snow. The rabbit hats had been abandoned for a wide variety of wings.
“We flew!” Moon Rabbit shouted as she scaled Bare Snow. “We flew! It was awesome!”
The others hopped up and down and shrugged their shoulders to make their fake wings flutter. “We flew! We flew!”
And then Usagi was hugging Law tightly. “Oh, I’ve been so worried about you two!”
“Us?” Law hadn’t told Usagi anything about chasing after oni.
“The tengu said you were the one that stumbled across the train while helping Duff look for Tinker’s cousin.”
Duff? Oh! Alton’s little brother! He worked at the bakery with Hazel. Widget hadn’t been dragged off to do computer work for the bakery; she’d been hijacked by the Kryskills to hack into the city’s camera network.
“Widget sent the tengu to get you to safety,” Law guessed.
“They didn’t know how much time there was before the train arrived, so they just flew us straight up from Station Square.”
“It was awesome!” Moon Rabbit cried.
“Scarier than hell,” Usagi murmured. “At first I was angry, yanked away from all our work that way.” She glanced toward the wall of windows overlooking South Side. She had a clear view of the train wreck. “I remember when you brought me Widget. She was still shivering from trying to swim the river in the middle of winter. I was afraid to take her in. You kept begging me and I was thinking ‘you just don’t want to be saddled with her.’ ”
That was true. Law didn’t want the girl underfoot; Law walked too much on the dangerous fringe to have someone like Widget trailing along. “Sorry about that.”
Usagi laughed and hugged her harder. “I’m thanking you! You were right. I was wrong. She’s sweet and funny and smart and she saved all our lives today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Law hadn’t known it would turn out that way. She had only known that Widget needed help. She’d had no idea that Widget would someday be able to pay her back tenfold. She supposed that was the natural order. By lifting Widget up, Law had given her the power to help others. They were daisy-chained together; acts of goodwill looped back around. Law had saved Windwolf. He had protected her without even knowing how much he owed her. Tinker saved the tengu, and they in turn protected Usagi and her children. Around and around, kindness being paid forward until it returned.
It was what Pittsburgh needed. What Elfhome needed; people helping one another without concern of clan or race or species.