Twilight Siege

17

6 I wasn’t sure if it was triggered by my utter exhaustion, or the attack by Ronan or the attempted break in, but I saw the shadow man in my dreams that night. As always, a thick cloud of smoke formed into the shape of a man stood over me. The dreams had haunted me during my childhood but had been dormant until I moved to Belfast. That night’s version had not been particularly bad but the dreams were yet another straw to add to the proverbial camel’s back. When I walked into the museum lobby that morning, Cat was stationed at her post behind the visitor’s desk. She didn’t have to come to work until closer to opening but often she preferred to get out of her house and away from her overbearing mother. The day before, during one of my breaks between tours, I had visited with Cat about my meeting with her elders. “Imagine my surprise last night when I walked into that room and saw Fergus—you couldn’t have given me a little heads up?” I chided her in a playful manner. “You know I couldn’t. You saw how serious they are, if you hadn’t been surprised, they would have hung me out to dry.” I rolled my eyes but softened the effect with a smirk. “The detective who interviewed me after the Draug attack was also there, Maura O’Brien. And I suppose you know that your mom was there.” “Yeah, I did ask again if they’d let me go but they wouldn’t.” “They told me about the queen teaching your ancestors magic, but how is it exactly that you see the Fae if they’re glamoured?” Cat turned and lifted her thick mass of red curls to expose her porcelain neck. Near the hairline was a small symbol tattooed into her skin. “The rune is given to each child when they are old enough to understand what they see and not risk exposure. It’s a sort of truth rune that ensures the Fae can’t deceive us.” She dropped her hair and turned back to face me, one corner of her mouth hitched up in a smirk. “Just how many runes do you have tattooed on you?” She gave a small chuckle before answering. “Just that one. If we need to use a rune for a particular circumstance, we can paint them on or use other methods of magic.” “You guys are pretty amazing—humans dabbling in Fae magic. Walking the fine line of having to use the magic and wanting to teach your children about it but not revealing that you know about the Fae. All of that takes guts.” Cat looked shyly down at her feet for a second before saying with a wry smile, “When you’re brainwashed from infancy it’s not so much about bravery as it is being in a cult—once you’re in there’s no getting out.” I burst out laughing at her characterization of the druids but I knew that despite her teasing, she loved her family. After a moment, I sobered and looked at Cat imploringly. “The other night I asked them for information on the Sword of Light but they wouldn’t help me. Cat, we have to find that sword.” Her green eyes looked up at me helplessly. “I don’t know anything about it.” “If I at least knew what it looked like, maybe I’d have some chance of finding it. Do you all have any memoirs or information that’s been written down that you could look at? If you could get a description or take a picture of a drawing, anything would help.” I had lowered myself to begging, hands in prayer pose and all. I didn’t want Cat to get in trouble, but if we didn’t find a way to stop the coming war, more than just Cat and her family would be in danger. She hung her head backwards and closed her eyes in defeat. “I’ll see what I can find, but I’m not guaranteeing anything.” “Thank you, Cat!” I wrapped her in a tight hug and she laughed at my enthusiasm but continued to remind me that she doubted she’d find anything. I had been so busy working with the school children for the rest of the day that I hadn’t talked to her again. That next morning as soon as I walked through the front doors Cat’s eyes lit up with excitement and she came bounding around the visitor desk. “I did it! Becca, I got you a drawing of the sword. I was so worried Mum would find me digging in her chest, I’m not ever allowed in there and she doesn’t know that I know where she hides the key but I happened to see her put it away one time years ago and I’ve never forgotten.” “Slow down, Cat—you’re going to pass out if you don’t breathe.” She ran back to the desk and dug through her bag before triumphantly pulling out her phone. She thrust the phone at me to display the picture she had taken of an old drawing. The length of the sword blade was embellished with ornate carvings. In contrast, the grip was surprisingly simple, drawn in brown tones that aligned with Lochlan’s description of a wooden handle. There was no guard, simply a bone-shaped grip possibly adorned with a jewel on each of the four nodules of the grip. “Cat, thank you so much, this is amazing. Text it to me so I can use it for reference.” My sweet friend beamed at me as she took back her phone. I started to thank my lucky stars that Cat and I were thrown together but decided it might be more appropriate to thank my Faery godfather instead. Merlin had been noticeably absent, but I had no doubt his physical presence was little indication of his actual involvement. He had proven himself subtle and crafty with a phenomenal ability to set plans in motion then patiently wait for those plans to percolate and eventually come to fruition. When I reached the administrative offices on the top floor, Fergus was already working in his office. I gave a gentle tap on the door to catch his attention and smiled as he ushered me inside. “Rebecca, good morning. What can I do for you?” He sat back in his desk chair, his finely manicured hands clasped on the top knee of his crossed legs. “I don’t want to upset you, but I need to ask you something. Yesterday, when you asked me to get that dog out of the graveyard—” “Oh, yes. Were you able to get him? I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.” “I got him out, but only after I was attacked by Ronan.” His already pale complexion became ghostly and he sat forward in his chair. “Are you all right? I’m so sorry, I had no idea he was out there.” He spoke quietly, his voice low and his Scottish brogue thicker than normal. “I’m fine, I got lucky and he was scared off. I didn’t think you had anything to do with it, but I had to ask—I hope you understand.” My eyes had dropped to my hands but as I finished speaking I looked up to meet his gaze. “Of course, I understand. But I also hope you will learn to trust that I’m a friend. I don’t want to see you harmed, Rebecca.”