We finish our cigarettes and listen to the music for a while. The tune they’re playing now is slower and has an almost tribal beat. I find I don’t have to even try to like it. It just slips into me, as recognizable as my own heartbeat.

“Do you have much familiarity with this music?” I ask Jack.

“Me? Yeah, I love this stuff. But I hear you’re not too fond of it yourself.”

“I think I’m having a change of heart.”

“With players of Geordie’s caliber, I’m not surprised.”

“Lizzie seems to be holding her own.”

Jack nods. “You still sweet on her?”

“I was never sweet on her. I just knew she was in over her head and wanted to make sure she didn’t get hurt.”

“Whatever.”

“Besides. I think she’s got something going on with the guitar player. You see the way they keep looking at each other?”

Jack leans closer to the window and smiles. “Oh yeah. They’ve got chemistry, all right. Hey, is that Jilly dancing in there?”

I nod.

“Man, will you look at that shine of hers?” he says. “Makes you wonder about humans that they can’t see something like that.”

“Maybe they can’t see it,” I say. “But they can feel it. Look how the people close to her are all grinning and laughing, but the farther away from her you get, the less it touches them. They’re still enjoying themselves, but they’re not nearly so filled up with some good feeling that they could never explain if you asked them about it.”

Jack smiles. “Seems like you’re changing your mind about more than just music.”

I turn to look at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, come on, Grey. Everybody knows the hard-on you’ve always had for humans and fairy. I knew about it long before I ever met you.”

I give a slow nod.

“I had my eyes opened, I guess,” I say. “Turns out we’re not all that different from each other. Except maybe some of the old cousin spirits.”

His eyebrows go up.

“It’s just. Well, take Raven . . . I don’t think he’s actually even here most of the time.”

Jack grins. “You’re just figuring that out? Man, all those old spirits are like that. Raven, Cody, Rosa, White Deer Woman. Oh, and let’s not forget the crow girls.”

“The crow girls seem completely here.”

“Well, sure. So they look like a pair of teenage girls, and act like they’re half that age, but you know they were here before Raven made the world. There’s some say they were the long ago. Can you imagine carrying all those millions of years around in your head and not going crazy?”

I shake my head.