“You know everything you need to know.”
“You get a kick out of talking in riddles, don’t you?” I arched an eyebrow in his direction and the corners of his lips twitched with the hint of a smile.
He lifted the newspaper off the table and flicked it open between us, effectively ending our conversation. The flight only took about an hour and I spent most of that time imagining what would happen at the museum and enjoying a companionable silence with Lochlan.
A black sedan with heavily tinted windows waited for us at the small private airport in the outskirts of London. Lochlan spoke with the driver as I crawled into the back seat and then we were off.
“I still have no idea what the plan is—how exactly are we supposed to get the sword out of the museum?”
“We’ll go in and take it.” His face was somewhat perplexed, as if he was confused with such an inane question.
He may have had no doubt that the extraction would go as smoothly as he expected; however, I was an anxious mess. I wouldn’t be able to help save the world if I was locked up in a jail cell for breaking and entering. I found little assurance in his words but there was no point in arguing with him. “Do you know where the sword is being kept?”
“We obtained the museum schematics, archive location, and the type of alarm system. Not that any of it is crucial, but we try to stir up as little trouble as possible.”
“What happens if we get caught?”
“We won’t get caught.”
“Easy for you to say, you can just poof out of there easy peasy and I’d be caught red handed.”
He assessed me for a minute before leaning his head down toward me. “Rebecca, I’m not going to leave you.” The intensity of his gaze and his gravelly voice had my heart flip flopping in my chest.
I nodded in response since my voice had abandoned me.
The closer we got to the museum, the more anxiety churned my stomach. By the time we arrived, I had chewed my nails to the quick and was ready to heave on the sidewalk.
I had seen Lochlan unlock a door with magic, so that wasn’t a concern, but I had no idea how he planned to circumvent the museum alarm system, not to mention cameras and security guards.
He ushered me around the back of the building to a door beside a loading dock. Swinging his black backpack around, he pulled out a small electronic device that was totally foreign to me. Once the pack was back in place, his eyes met mine to ensure we were both ready before he turned to open the door.
A clicking sound signaled the lock giving way and he quickly stepped inside, holding the device up to the alarm panel. The characteristic beeping signaling the alarm countdown never sounded, just chilling silence. After several taps and a small heart attack on my part, he lowered the device and swiveled his head to scan our surroundings.
“Was it a silent alarm?” I whispered at his back.
“It would have been, had the alarm been armed.”
“It wasn’t armed? Could workers still be here?”
It was after nine at night and the museum should have been empty but there could have been an after-hours event or simply someone working late. The museum housed a countless number of priceless works of art and there was no way someone simply forgot to arm the system. I could tell by his tense features that Lochlan understood the implications.
We walked silently toward a back stairwell, me following his lead down the dimly lit corridor. As we neared the bottom of the stairs, Lochlan froze. I wondered what had stopped him until I heard a small shuffling noise, just barely audible, along with a light shining in from the basement hallway. Lochlan’s form visibly relaxed before he continued around the corner and we were met by a woman and two men in all black. Our appearance caught them off guard but they quickly pulled out weapons and settled into defensive stances.
Holy crap. What were the chances that someone else was robbing the museum the same night as us? This was absurd.
“You will turn around and go home and you will not remember anything about this night.” Lochlan’s voice resonated in my ears and made the hairs on my neck stand at attention.
“It’s not gonna work on us, but it was a nice try,” quipped one of the men in a self-satisfied tone.
Double crap. They were druids and they were outing themselves in front of Lochlan! I didn’t think they were in danger but I didn’t want Cat or any of the others to think I had anything to do with the Hunt learning that the druids still existed.
“That’s too bad, I don’t think you’ll like the alternative.”
Unaffected by Lochlan’s menacing words, the man started to whisper a chant but was cut off as the woman with them grabbed his arm in alarm.
“This was not the plan—you know we can’t, let’s go, now.” She pleaded but her efforts were wasted. The man’s eyes were lusty for a fight and there was no way he was going to back down.
“Once we have the sword, we won’t have to live in hiding anymore. Then we can defend ourselves against their filth.” He spat his words with venom and the gleam in his eyes was almost feral.
“You know that was not our purpose in retrieving the sword, it was simply to keep us safe, not to wage a war.” The woman’s face turned to mine briefly and I could see panic and fear etched in her features.
These people were after the sword, which meant Cat had ratted me out. There was no way a group of druids just happened to be at the museum to steal the sword one day before I told Cat we would be doing the same. She was the only person I had told that we had located the sword. The leak hadn’t come from Lochlan this time because he had intentionally misled everyone about our plans. Equal measures of frustration and anger made me want to lash out, but I didn’t want Cat’s people getting hurt. I had promised her my protection and I would not fail her, regardless of her transgressions.
I placed my hand on Lochlan’s back and pulled myself close to his ear. “I need you to occupy them, but please don’t hurt them. I’ll get the sword.”
His gaze never left the druids but after a moment of consideration, he whispered, “It’s in the archives room behind us, bin E25.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he sent a blast toward the druids but the leader crossed his arms in an X before him and deflected the blast. The second man, who had remained a silent observer throughout, lifted his arm to reveal a small pistol. I watched in horror as he pulled the trigger and Lochlan’s shoulder flung back with the impact.
The scene stirred up memories of him being shot with arrows when we were attacked by the Red Caps and a fearful cry escaped my lips.
“Go, Becca, now!” he ordered on a growl as he turned back to them with murder in his eyes.
“Please, don’t kill them,” I pleaded in a frenzied voice.
“You had better bloody well hurry before my patience runs out.” He sent another vicious blast in their direction and I stepped back toward the wall. The two men stood their ground but I watched as the woman fell back and disappeared around the corner.
I raced down the hall, reading the labels on each door I passed until I came to the archive room. When I bounded inside, directly across from me the woman flew into the room from an alternative entrance. We both froze, eyes locked in a moment of surprise.
The room was filled floor to ceiling with rows of metal shelving, each full of white plastic bins labeled with a combination of letters and numbers. In my peripheral vision I could just see inside the lower bins containing unique artifacts or collections of similar pieces.
I darted toward the shelves just as she did the same and when we met in the middle at E25 the woman swung her fist at my face. I ducked just in time but wasn’t quick enough to clear her uppercut to my gut. Her strike must have been magic laced because it sent me flying backwards gasping for breath. As I attempted to suck air into my burning lungs the woman pulled down the large white bin from an upper shelf and lifted the sword into her hands.
I couldn’t let her take the sword.
An angry growl echoe
d down the hallway and I knew Lochlan was struggling—had I not asked him to go easy on the druids it wouldn’t have been a problem, but I knew my request had made his job harder.
Rising to my feet I chanted in my head with my eyes squeezed firmly shut. IneedtohideIneedtohideIneedtohide. Unlike my previous attempt at the trick, this time I felt a tingling stir inside of me, provoked by my heightened emotions. When I opened my eyes and looked down, there was nothing. No arms, no legs, no body. Nobody. I was invisible.
“You’re Fae too,” the woman hissed. She stood in shocked horror, the sword set precariously in her hands, as she scanned the room in search of me.
I lunged at her and ripped the sword from her hands and it instantly disappeared in my grasp. She screeched out in frustration and I tore past her out into the hall and raced for Lochlan.
The woman chased after me but I kept as quiet as possible and with no visible target her pursuit was limited. “She has the sword, stop her!” She screamed from the far end of the long hall, not wanting to come close to Lochlan by herself.
As I neared Lochlan my stomach tightened at the beaded sweat on his brow and the blood coursing down his chest. I started to tell him that it was time to go but my nearness caught him by surprise and he almost leveled me with a left hook.
“Jesus, Lochlan, it’s me! I have it, let’s go.”
His hard eyes turned back to the druid men and he sent one final blast their direction that leveled both to the floor a good distance away, despite their attempt at deflecting. We took advantage of their brief incapacity and rushed up the stairs and back toward the loading dock.
“This would be a lot easier if I could see you,” Lochlan grumbled as we tore outside and hurried to where we had told our driver to meet us.
“I don’t know how to control it yet. It should stop once I calm down.” My words came out between pants as we raced down the dark sidewalk. As we neared the car, I could make out the cries of the druids as they exited the museum. They were too late. We barreled into the car and it sped away from the curb at Lochlan’s command.
After taking a few deep breaths to calm my racing heart, I examined his ravaged shoulder. “The bullet’s still in there.”
“Yeah, and it’s iron. Bastards shot me with an iron bullet,” he growled with a grimace. “Would have had my shields up sooner if I’d had any idea they were magic users.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Guilt, oh the guilt. Layer after layer like one of those fancy cakes from a baker.
“No, there’s a first aid kit on the plane. That’ll work until we get back to Belfast.”
My eyes turned toward the driver, who could hear everything we said and seemed unconcerned with neither our words nor Lochlan bleeding out on his back seat. “Will you tell him to forget, like you did with the others?” I asked softly so the man wouldn’t overhear.
He gave a single nod, his hand held firmly to his shoulder to stem the bleeding. “They’re paid well to forget what they see, but we take extra precautions.”
The remainder of the car trip we sat in tense silence. Not until we were boarded on the plane and in the air did he speak again. “In the bathroom cabinet under the sink there’s a first aid kit. Bring it to me.” His breathing was labored from the blood loss and pain.
I did as he ordered, deciding now was not the time to argue about politeness. When I returned, I found him lying on his back on the couch, shirt removed and wadded under his injured shoulder.
“Get out the alcohol and pour it on the wound.” His voice was steady but I could hear the strain from his discomfort.
I bit my lip in apprehension at doing something that would cause him excruciating pain. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until we’re back home and you can use some pain reliever and have a professional do this?”
He turned his eyes to me, brow furrowed and I forgot how to breathe when his hand lifted to gently trace the line of my jaw. “Need to do it now. I don’t want any traces of iron left in me when this is done.”
Our eyes stayed locked and his seemed to say, you were magnificent tonight. And I offered in return, you were pretty amazing yourself. The ever-present magnetic pull between us intensified and I found myself lowering my lips to his. The kiss was far gentler than any we had shared before. My lips pressed firmly but softly to his and my tongue gave a small caress of his lower lip before I hesitantly pulled back, eyes unable to meet his.
I schooled myself for what I had to do and lifted the bottle above his wound. When the clear liquid poured onto his marred flesh, his teeth gnashed together and he hissed. I then held a hand towel next to the wound and he rolled himself just enough to pour the fluid back out of the hole in his shoulder, staining the towel red with blood.
I retrieved several over-the-counter pain killers from the kit and a bottle of water from the mini-fridge. Once he had taken the medicine, he shut his eyes and breathed steadily until I decided he had fallen asleep.
Finally calming from the intensity of the evening, I sat on the floor next to where I had discarded the sword. It was the most magnificent thing I had ever seen and I could understand why the museum staff had thought it a replica. Nothing as old as the Sword of Light could have been in as pristine condition as this masterpiece of craftsmanship was without the aid of magic. The blade gleamed off the peaks of the swirling carvings and the wooden handle was smooth with wear but still had a well-oiled shine. The two stones on either end of the grip glinted off the airplane lighting and my hand slowly extended to touch one of the red gems, each the size of a dime.
From there my hand slid its way onto the grip and as it fell into place on the wood, I realized I could feel the sword’s presence. Not exactly like feeling a presence in the shadows, as I’d been able to do when the Red Caps had surrounded us in the garage. This was more like a sentience in the sword, a magical essence distinct to itself.
When I had killed the Red Cap by pushing darkness into him, the magic almost felt tangible. Like it was an extension of me that I had pushed inside the creature. In that instance I had forced my magic inside the creature, but in this case I could feel a part of me wanting to connect with the magic in the sword. On a series of deep breaths, I relaxed myself both inside and out, and felt as if a shield I hadn’t known that I possessed had dropped. Removing that barrier allowed the two magics to connect and the sword pulsed with light. My lungs emptied on a gasp and my mouth dropped open from the wonder and delight of the sensation.
“You obviously have light magic—the sword can be handled by anyone but would only glow like that when used by someone who possesses light magic. But you can do things the rest of us can’t—do you have any more insights into what you might be?”
My eyes stayed fixed on the sword as I shook my head slowly. “You said yourself I was becoming Fae, what do you mean ‘what you might be?’”
“Certain Seelie and Unseelie can trace, jumping from one location to another. Shadow Fae can dissolve into smoky shadow. You became invisible in a lighted room—I’ve never seen another Fae accomplish that feat.”
I set the sword back on the floor and lifted my eyes to where he now sat upright on the couch, assessing me. “I wasn’t sure I could do it, but from what had happened in the past, I was pretty sure I had somehow made myself invisible. I tried once before to make it happen on command but couldn’t do it. I can only seem to use my powers when I’m really upset.”
“That’s not all that uncommon for young Fae when they are learning to use their magic. Can I see the necklace?” he asked quietly.
My protective instincts toward the necklace made me flinch at his question, but I overruled the urge to flee and slowly got to my feet and sat next to him on the couch.
His hand lifted and with the softest of touches on my sensitive skin, he lifted the stone pendant. When he turned the pendant over, his eyes narrowed and brows nearly met in the middle as he studied the carving inlaid on the back.
My heart rate skyrocketed and I tried to se
ttle my racing thoughts with assurances that Lochlan would not hurt me. Whether it was self-preservation or the necklace’s influence, I felt a strong desire to pull away and keep its secrets hidden.
“It’s not possible.” His words were little more than a murmur to himself but I responded anyway.
“What’s not possible? You’re scaring me, tell me what’s going on.”
“These three crescent moons symbolize the dark magic of the Shadow Fae, and the circle in the middle represents the sun and light magic. This design indicates that the two types of magic have been somehow woven together in this pendant, but that’s impossible. Light and dark magic are repellant, they can’t coexist.” His words started out casual but became more assertive by the end of his explanation.
“What about the sword though?” I asked in confusion.
“What about it?”
“You said it’s made of iron and yet infused with light magic, even though that should be impossible.”
He stared at the pendant intently for a long moment. “It would seem our friend Merlin has found a way to accomplish what was unheard of.” He let the pendant fall back to my chest and I could feel its warmth from his touch. His features blanked as he sat back against the couch and I started to grow wary again. “Why didn’t you tell me about the design on the back?” His words were not accusatory but I felt scrutinized under his hard gaze.
“I didn’t realize it was important, and I was scared that the more people knew about the necklace, the more attempts there would be on my life.”
He leaned his head back, closing his eyes. “And those druids, have you told them about the necklace?”
“I didn’t know those people!”
“Yet you happened to ask about druids not long ago, I don’t tend to believe in coincidences and that would be a big one.”
“You think I would sabotage my own breaking and entering escapade by telling a bunch of crazy druids what we had planned?” I knew I was manipulating the truth a bit, but the intent behind my question was valid. I had not intended the druids to show up and attempt to stop us.
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