When the phone rang, Thomas opened his eyes. His mouth flickered into a satisfied smirk as he raised James's phone to answer.
"Hello, Elizabeth. It's so nice to hear from you."
~*~
There was one thing Eamon could always count on: everyone underestimates the gruagach.
When Lizbet read him the note that Thomas left in James's room, Eamon smiled. "Well, he's not very far, and he's not bleeding, either. So I think it may not be as much bother to retrieve him as Thomas might like."
"How do you know that?"
"Did I not tell ye about the gruagach sense of smell? I can track a wolf that left its scent three days ago. It's telling me that James hasn't even left the building. I should be able to find him pretty easily. I want you to call Thomas now to make sure we don't run into each other while I'm sniffing out James, right? Just agree to whatever he says, and we'll make our plans based on that."
Lizbet nodded her head as she dialed James's number on Eamon's phone. Eamon shifted to the elderly woman glamour before stepping out of the room. The kindly old lady stood there for a moment, nose twitching for the direction of James's scent and then walked to the left. She stopped four doors down and winked out of existence.
~*~
"Hello, Elizabeth. It's so nice to hear from you."
Lizbet took a deep breath. "What do you want?"
"There are so many things I want. I think the more important question is: what do you want? Do you want my granddad back? Because there are arrangements we can make, if you do."
"I'm listening."
"You will bring me the cup, the contents of the box Eamon fetched, and whatever you took from the grave other than granddad’s jewelry. I will then tell you where you can find him."
"How do I know you'll really tell me where he is?"
"Granny, you are so mistrusting. Truth is, you have no way of knowing. But he's no danger to me if you give me what I want. You'll just have to make that leap of faith. And do make sure that the gruagach is with you when we make the exchange. I want to be able to see exactly what he's doing."
"Okay. I'll do it. Where and when?"
"In exactly two hours from now you'll leave your room and go to the parking lot. You'll climb the back fence and continue through the woods until you arrive at a dirt road. You'll stay there until I come to you. And like I said, I want that gruagach right next to you. Don't even think about trying anything. Don't leave the hotel room until two hours have passed and don't call this number again. If the gruagach interferes, I have no problem with taking care of granddad all over again."
"Yes, alright. I'll do it. Please don't hurt James. Please."
Lizbet's plea went unheard. Thomas had already disconnected. There was nothing she could do now but wait.
~*~
From the fae realm, Eamon walked through the closed hotel room door. James was gagged and tied to the radiator but didn't seem to be in immediate danger. He smelled some fear on the lad, but other than that, he appeared to be holding up well.
After Thomas finished his phone call, he started putting his things into a traveling bag. Good. Eamon hoped that Thomas planned to leave without harming the boy even though he also knew that he would easily be able to stop Thomas. Without Faolan's magic, Thomas was no more dangerous than any mortal man. Eamon could easily withstand any attack a human could mount.
However, he worried that Thomas would fight too hard, that nothing short of death would prevent him from getting what he wanted, and Thomas was not his to kill. Eamon had no great love for either Thomas or James, but he hoped he didn't have to make a choice. Without Thomas, the fae couldn't be saved. It wouldn't be James who walked away if Eamon had to decide who to leave alive.
Thomas finished packing and left the room without another look at the boy. Eamon was glad of it. No choices today. He followed the monk out of the room and into the parking lot. The monk stopped at a white van and left his bag, locking the van back up afterward. Eamon noted the license plate, something he should have done in London but hadn't thought about.
Thomas then headed toward the edge of the parking lot. He took a quick look around before he climbed the chain link fence behind the hotel, dropped over the other side, and walked into the woods.
The still invisible Eamon walked back into the hotel, cringing a little each time he had to push through a closed door, due to the discomfort of moving through human side objects. He re-entered the human realm after he was back in Thomas's room. He watched James's eyebrows shoot up when he faded in and thought he almost saw a look of welcome there with the surprise. Myrddin had never liked or trusted him. They had different approaches to problems. Perhaps the boy had different thoughts.
Eamon took a knife from his pocket and cut the ropes that bound the boy to the radiator. "I'll let you remove the tape yourself, although I think it won't be pleasant no matter who does it."
He waited while the lad tried to ease the tape off of his mouth a scrap at a time. Finally, James squinched his eyes closed, got a firm grasp on the loosest corner of the tape and tore it off quickly with a wince.
James reopened his eyes, which glimmered with a hint of tears. "Man, that was intense. Thanks for that, Eamon. Getting me out of here, I mean."
"You're welcome, lad. But I think we've not seen the last of Thomas. We need to figure out how to get you and the lassie out of here without him knowing about it."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Hide Away
WHEN JAMES OPENED the door and walked into the room, Lizbet couldn't stop herself from running to him and throwing her arms around his shoulders. "Omigod, omigod…I'm so glad that you're safe. I couldn't stand it if something happened to you."
Lizbet was glad that James returned her hug just as fiercely. He said, "Goes double for me. We need to get out of here and away from that guy. He's been a fracking nut case both times I've known him."
"What? No thanks for the wee gruagach?" came from behind James.
Lizbet let go of James reluctantly and caught Eamon in a bear hug. Resistance was completely futile. "Thank you, Eamon. I don't know what I would do without either one of you right now."
"Alright, that's thanks enough," huffed Eamon, as he pushed out of her grasp. "We need to be heading on, don't ye think?"
"Actually, no. While you were gone, I worked on translating the tablets. Are you sure you didn't know what's in them, Eamon? Because according to the tablets, I need to, and I'm quoting this—'destroy Faolan utterly'. At least, I think that's what it says. No, I know that's what it says. I need the knife, the cup, the bone, and I need to destroy Faolan utterly. It doesn't give me a recipe yet, but I'm thinking I can figure that one out. What else do you do with a knife and a cup but what Faolan did to Myrddin?"
"You're thinking it will take his blood to undo it?"
"It doesn't say that, but yep, I think so. And then there are some words that I need to say. It says to say them in 'our tongue', not in the Roman it's written in."
"I don't know, lassie—spells can be tricksy. Especially blood spells. Faolan used Myrddin's blood for its magical components, to make the spell stronger. The spell would normally split the fae world off from the human in a small area and couldn't be undone because magic could no longer exist in that space on the human side. Morgan knew, after seeing the spell, that Faolan had done something wrong that would allow her to break it, but a druidess wouldn't trust a fae with that kind of deep spell knowledge. So, I don't know what it was he did that makes the spell reversible."
"Whatever. You'd think that Morgan could manage to not be quite so vague when it comes to saving the world."
"It's a druid's way. They never liked to write things down. You can't pull this from Morgan's memories?"
"I've tried. I've focused. But she was sick and feverish, remember? Plus, she was doing all of this while she was basically being ripped in half. So there was a lot going on inside her head. For all I know, the fae Morgan has the answers to all of this. But she never really shares her
thoughts with me. She's very closed that way. She just lets me look through her eyes. It's really different than the memories are."
"Lassie, you may be right. You and the fae Morgan don't have a lot in common. Just like spells, faes themselves can be tricksy."
James added, "Yeah, like pretending they haven't already bought you a plane ticket, or not telling you they've got a piece of jewelry with your name on it…"
"Aye, laddie. Exactly like that." Eamon said. "Still upset about the plane, are you?"
"Nope. Just sayin'." James shrugged.
Lizbet interrupted any further argument, "So, look...we have to grab Thomas and hang onto him until I figure all of this out. But I refuse to kill him, do you understand that, Eamon? Even if it means that we can't save the fae."
"Aye, lassie. I do, I understand."
James gave a broad smile. "We get to tie him up and tape his mouth? Nice! Where do I sign up?"
~*~
As they discussed the best way to outsmart Thomas, they began to hear sirens in the distance. James watched out the window as they got louder. Two police vehicles pulled into the parking lot of the hotel.
"We've got cops. Do you think they know we're here? Could our pictures be out in the papers now or something?" James closed the curtains. Right, like that'll keep the cops out if they know we're here.
Lizbet looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know what? I bet they're actually chasing Thomas. He used your phone, and if there's an alert out for us…"
"Oh yeah. If the cops have set up a check for it, it probably pinged back when Thomas turned it on." James looked out at the edge of the closed curtains. "They're heading into the woods. I say they're following my phone."
"But if Thomas ditches it, which he probably will when he sees the cops heading his way, we need to be out of here when they come back to the hotel to look for you. Which means we won't be able to grab Thomas. That's definitely a problem." Lizbet looked thoughtful again for a minute and her forehead scrunched up hard before she gave a big smile. "I have an idea! We just have to figure out which car is his. Then we can break into that to hide and grab him when he goes to leave. Two birds with one stone. Plus, turnabout is fair play, if you want to go big on the clichés."
James watched Eamon's eyes light up as soon as Lizbet finished telling her plan. Eamon said, "We don't even need to figure that out. I followed him when he went out to the woods. He's in the same van the monks used at Heathrow."
James came back from the window. "So…we go?"
"Yep," said Lizbet, scooping up the few possessions she'd left out on the dresser and cramming them into her backpack, "We go."
~*~
Eamon looked at the two young people and gave a quick nod. They no longer registered surprise when they watched him phase into a glamour. They were adapting well to the ways of magic. That could end up saving them. Or, just as likely, it could end up being their destruction.
He pushed aside his gloomy thoughts. Focus now on the thing at hand. There'll be plenty of time later to worry about the things that haven't happened yet. At least, he hoped so.
No one would be looking for a silver-haired granny in a cardigan to be involved with a kidnapped American girl. He stepped out into the hallway and motioned for them to come along. All clear.
They took the side door of the hotel, which would exit them directly to the parking lot. Once again, Eamon stepped out first, to make sure that neither Thomas nor the Police were about. With no one else in sight, they hustled across the parking lot. James leaned up against the side of the van and Lizbet stood in front of him. They looked like nothing more than a young couple just saying goodbye to each other. No grand theft auto going on here. No indeed.
Of course, if anyone had seen Granny disappear without so much as a fare-the-well or puff of smoke, it would have been a bit complicated to explain.
The lad and lass quickly scrambled into the van when Eamon slid the side door open for them. He had already taken stock of what he needed and held a short coil of rope in his hand. It was a good, old-fashion hemp rope, so Eamon would be able to pull the natural fiber with him between realms. He handed James a roll of very sticky tape. Noting that the reddish rectangle around the lad's mouth still looked sore, he thought the gesture might be appreciated.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Drive On
LIZBET WOULD HAVE liked to have taken part in the Great Capture, but only Eamon could fade into the human world and pull the rope tight around Thomas’s hands. Taping Thomas's mouth and wrestling him into the back of the van was all that was left after that, and she didn't want to take away James's revenge. It would have to be good enough that she was the one who came up with the plan. She decided she could live with it. But it wouldn't be easy.
She had to admit she was having a hard time hanging back while other people played hero. She wanted in on the action. Where in the heck was that coming from? I've always been happy to go with the flow. I'm no leader.
Whatever. Things change.
She snuck sideways glances at James while she worked at translating a particularly difficult sentence on the tablet into the old Gaelic using Morgan's memories and wrote it out phonetically for when she needed it later. It wasn't such a bad way to occupy herself while waiting. Well, the phonetic Gaelic part was. But the James part? Nope.
The police had taken off about half an hour ago, according to Eamon, who popped in to the van a couple of times to let them know what was going on. The time for her meet up with Thomas had come and gone. Thomas returned from the woods after the police left and went back into the hotel, walking up from the main road instead of coming in from the woods. He wasn't going to be happy when he came out. She wondered if he was tearing up her room right now, looking for some clue to where they had gone.
Eamon appeared in the front seat, said, "down," then disappeared. Down they went behind the boxes at the back of the van. She lay on her side, but James crouched and leaned on one arm with the top of his head out around the side of the box so that he could see the front seats, ready to tear around the boxes and slap the tape on Thomas's mouth as soon as Eamon appeared again.
In a few minutes, she heard the driver side door open and the car started. James bolted from his spot. She popped her head up in time to see Eamon pulling a rope tight around Thomas's wrists as James covered his mouth with a piece of tape, grabbed him by his tightly bound wrists, and pulled him out of his seat and into the back of the van.
Eamon struggled with the monk's feet but managed to get them bound despite the kicks. Although she heard him let loose a soft "och" or two, being pummeled didn't seem to bother the gruagach. She remembered now: gruagachs are pliable. Unfortunately, James wasn't. He was probably going to have a nice black and blue mark on his cheek from Thomas smacking his head backward into James's face as they fought, but from the determined look James wore as he hurried into the driver's seat and started the van, she didn't think he would mind it.
Once Thomas was firmly tied and Eamon had made sure that the rope around his wrists was attached to a tie down on one side of the van, she hopped into the passenger seat up front while Eamon sat determinedly facing Thomas. She was pretty sure that those golden eyes of his weren't going to blink again until the Thomas problem had been taken care of one way or the other. She had experience with how long Eamon could sit like a statue. She hoped it freaked Thomas out every bit as much as it had her.
~*~
James drove a few hundred feet down the road and then stopped so Lizbet could stow the bikes that Eamon had left locked up at the gas station. Thomas had had to think that they'd taken their bikes and gone when he returned to the hotel. Lizbet had orchestrated everything about Thomas's kidnapping pretty much dead on. As far as James could tell, she hadn't left anything to chance.
Lizbet secured the bikes against the side of the van opposite Thomas. James secretly hoped she hadn’t done a good job, and he'd have to do an elaborate fish tail at some point that would send both of the b
ikes smashing into the currently not-so-threatening monk. It was all he could do to not jump back into the back of the van and wallop Thomas once or twice, but he was holding it together to make sure he didn’t. He hated that part of himself and never wanted Lizbet to see it.
After Lizbet had the bikes stowed and was back in the passenger seat, James headed the van east again, with Lizbet studying the map.
"For right now, just follow the signs that point to Glasgow and then head back up toward Dunipace. Hopefully, it's faster by car."
James glanced sideways at Lizbet, and she was smiling straight at him, nearly causing him to rear-end the car in front of them. He didn't care. That smile was worth it. It pierced him right to his soul. Right to his hundreds-of-years-old soul. He didn't need Myrddin's encroaching memories to make Lizbet into someone special. He wished the old man would stop whispering to him every time he thought of Lizbet. He didn't need some ancient memories coloring how he felt about her.
James quickly learned that driving in Scotland wasn't something he could do on autopilot like he could in small town Ohio. For one thing, there was a huge amount of traffic on the main roads near Glasgow and the smaller cities. He thought he would get a break when the drive turned more rural, but the roads just became narrower, and he was sure they were going to be smashed up every time a car approached from either direction. The ones behind were moving fast, and the ones in front didn't look like they were going to get by without taking the side of the van with them. It didn't help that he had to concentrate every second on staying on the left side of the road instead of wandering onto the right.
His neck was so stiff after about an hour and a half of driving stress he had to get out of the driver's seat for some relief. When they stopped for gas, he told his traveling companions he needed to park the van for a little while and take a walk to de-stress. Lizbet said she would join him and stowed her backpack under the seat. Eamon just nodded his head, continuing to sit cross-legged in front of Thomas, unmoving.
Riot Girls: Seven Books With Girls Who Don't Need A Hero Page 25