UNREADY FOR THE NIGHT

PROLOGUE

The sun hung dead in the sky over London by 4:30 that December day, its pale light snagged amid the interlacing branches of Hyde Park. People walked by, collars turned up against the chill, kicking leaves as they passed. No one noticed Lucinda, which was exactly what she wanted. 

Ordinary is the best disguise. A glance in her direction wouldn't reveal much, only a super-ordinary girl of forgettable features: lank hair and dull skin wearing black-on-black with the tall boots, jeans, and long coat of the latest fashion crow. By design, she looked like a thousand other young women only less so. At first glance, you'd think she was sixteen years old and you'd be right, only in her case, she'd been sixteen years old at least thirty times before. 

In her hand she carried a bag of roasted chestnuts. Late autumn brought the best kind of chestnuts to London, the ones roasted in metal carts by the street vendors. The girl plucked one from her bag and rolled the tasty morsel around on her tongue. 

Luci, darling, come home at once.  

The girl stopped in her tracks. Just when she'd begun to enjoy herself, just when she was maybe two seconds away from make-believing herself normal, and here was granny mind-knocking again. Shoving the bag of chestnuts deep into her pocket, she picked up the pace.

I'm fine, Granny. Leave me alone. 

Pray, do not be disrespectful, Lucinda. I strive only to keep you safe, as always. T'is time to return. T'is far too dangerous for you out on the streets after dark. 

I'm not on the streets and it's not after dark. 

Do not trifle with me, child. I know exactly where you are -- Hyde Park bordering Kensington Gardens, near where King Henry hunted stag and Lady Juliana had her throat slit one fine eve by a man masquerading as her beau. Indeed, t'is one of the worst places of all for such as you. Shadows deepen while all manner of creatures lurk about. Power attracts power and will be drawn to you as a moth to a flame. I can permit you to travel there by day but I fear you are not yet ready for the night. 

Her grandmother's thoughts always came with archaic terms. After all, half the time Granny wasn't certain in which century she lived and she hadn't been out in ages, the Middle Ages.  

So, let them. And, contrary to your opinion, I'm not a child but of legal age by Congregation terms. I can take care of myself and it's not even dark yet. I'll be home when I get there. I'm going to silence your head calls now. See you later. 

I beseech you! Lucinda, do not-- 

And then Luci shut her mind against her grandmother as effectively as turning off a cell phone. She did that, too, nixing all possible communication between herself and her grandmother/chaperone/tutor/guardian/gatekeeper -- apply term of choice. 

Daily outings had become her one illusion of freedom, one which she was determined to extend no matter what the costs. The shortening days only complicated matters. All she wanted was to stroll unfettered through the common reality as if it were the only one that mattered. Forget the ghosts, the creatures of the dark, the dead prowling every inch of the city in the sediment of ages. Forget past lives, including her own. To see only what humans saw, as dull and pedestrian as that seemed to them, was all she wanted. 

Because they didn't know how good they had it. 

A couple ran arm-in-arm down the lane laughing inside that insular world lovers share. What did Luci know? Maybe they were on their way to somewhere cozy for supper. She'd like to imagine their togetherness, her own little reality-scape rolling away inside her imagination. And she enjoyed the sound of children laughing, too, or of the youths heading home from school in their jackets and ties, or the nannies pushing prams across the crunching gravel. She pictured ordinary suppers of macaroni and cheese, pasta, or even a hamburger instead of the kind of food waiting for her at home. Tonight, she expected boar slow roasted over the fire again. Really, she'd had it with pork and venison.  A hamburger would do nicely. And so would a boyfriend, somebody cute and normal.