The Blitz Experience: A Faerie Justice Story: Faerie Justice

By Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Tenesha McGuire misses her Grand immensely. She wishes she could visit her great-grandmother more often, but Grand lives in London and Tenesha in Chicago.

So, when an opportunity to chaperone a school trip to London allows her to spend time with Grand, she jumps at the chance.

But a visit to the Imperial War Museum's Blitz Experience will bring Tenesha even closer to her Grand than she ever imagined. And reveal family secrets that will change Tenesha's life forever.

"Rusch is a great storyteller."

—RT Book Reviews

• Language: English
• Publisher: WMG Publishing
• Release date: Feb 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201246020

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake.  She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

Book preview

The Blitz Experience

THE BLITZ EXPERIENCE

A FAERIE JUSTICE STORY

KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH

WMG Publishing, Inc.

CONTENTS

The Blitz Experience

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Also by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

About the Author

THE BLITZ EXPERIENCE

Tenesha McGuire towers over her great-grandmother Littleton. Tenesha’s great-grandmother, whom she has called Grand since childhood, used to be the tall one. In fact, Tenesha can’t quite believe that the short but sturdy woman before her is Grand. They haven’t seen each other since Tenesha graduated from high school—and that is six years now—but still, no one should change quite that much.

They stand awkwardly in the living room of Grand’s house. The living room, at least, hasn’t changed. It’s narrow, with a small fireplace and furniture littered with handmade quilts and pillows. The end tables are the same—square spindly things that her great-grandfather had made as a young man—covered with a sheet of glass so that no one can ruin the surface.

This living room was always a place of excitement for Tenesha. Here, she first imagined World War II—practically seeing how suffering Londoners survived. She heard tales of kings from Henry the Eighth to the Edward the Eighth, who married an American divorcee and stepped down. History came alive here, and Tenesha still loves this living room—small as it now seems—for giving her that gift.

The living room smells of tea, old socks, and some kind of ointment, just like it always has. The only difference now is a flat-screen television in place of the old console model that once stood in front of the picture window.

Come along, Grand says. Her voice is the same. Strong and veddy veddy British—not quite the posh, clipped tones of the Queen, but reflecting a strong upper-class education. Let’s have some tea.

She meant the mid-afternoon meal that the British insist upon. Tenesha has never understood how the British have managed to keep their figures while eating four meals per day, one of them mostly made up of baked goods and sweets. Americans have gone to fat, all except a diligent few like her, and they don’t have as many scheduled mealtimes.

Even though she lived in London from the ages of six to eight, England seems foreign to her. She isn’t sure why. She also spent summers here until she graduated from high school. But each June when she arrived, she had to reacclimatize herself to all the little differences.

At least this time, she doesn’t have to deal with Grand’s neighbors. They always tut-tut when they see her, as if they can’t believe she and Grand are related. Tenesha looks like a lighter version of her father. She has his brown eyes and curly brown hair, but her skin isn’t conventionally white or black. Grand’s neighbors would often ask Tenesha if she was Greek or Italian. She would answer that she was American, which irritated Grand.

You must never forget who your people are, Grand would say. You come from good British stock.

And good American stock. Her father was born in Chicago, and still lived there, loving its blunt sameness. He rarely came to England with the family, preferring to stay in Chicago.

Grand has papery white skin, so pale that her veins show bluely through it. Her eyes are, even now, a vivid blue, and she has the Kewpie doll lips so in vogue when she was a girl.

Tenesha and Grand look nothing alike, but Grand has always insisted that the only person in the family who takes after her is Tenesha.

No one—not even Tenesha—can see the connection. But it still pleases her whenever Grand says it.

Grand hasn’t said it this visit. Not that they have had much time. Tenesha is on a strict schedule. For the first time, she’s acting as a chaperon. She agreed to help her best friend, Kara Edwards, with a class of high school students on their senior class trip.

Tenesha hadn’t thought it would be so much work. This is the first afternoon Tenesha has to herself. Grand knew she was coming and also knew they wouldn’t have a lot of time together, and Grand says she’s all right with that.

Tenesha isn’t. Money is tight. She expected that. She majored in history, and