“What’s going on?”
“Yeah, what the H? There was another freak storm last night?”
“Where is everyone? Did something happen?”
“Where’s Lily? Is she okay?”
“Are you okay? You don’t look so hot…”
I held out my hands and pushed…whoever was closest away from me. “Whoa! Back off! Let me at least…move!” I couldn’t even begin to figure which questions had gone with which voices.
Of course, Tony hadn’t gotten to the people most likely to want to get involved with this mess. No, that would have been too convenient.
The group of them backed up half of a half-step. Between them, because I wasn’t quite tall enough to see over any of their heads’ yet, except Livy’s, I noticed the few other students sitting around, eyes on us. Damn.
“What did Mum say?” I asked.
“That we had another freak storm last night, knocking some trees down on the access road and washing out the wires underground for everything,” Sara-Not-Beth reported.
“No offense to your parents, Heather,” Chris said softly, frowning, “but that sounds like rubbish. And we can’t even go outside to check on the horses!”
“I’m sure the horses are all right,” I muttered, waving my hands to try and back them all up more. “Mum and Mickey would die before they let anything happen to them. And there was a bad storm last night. I couldn’t sleep—”
“Yeah,” Chris continued. “We noticed you were out late last night. With Max.”
“Would you cut it out?” I snapped at him. “We’re just friends because neither of us have all that many friends—”
“What are we, chopped liver?” Livy asked.
“No…just…” My face turned red. I knew that they wouldn’t understand if I said that I knew they were all Lily’s friends.
“Heather, news flash, we’re your friends as well as Lily’s,” said Chris. I blinked in surprise even as he continued, “Now, back to the whole point of this inquisition. What, really, is going on? All the coaches are missing, and so are all the little kid students. If the access road is blocked, how did they leave? And when?”
Crap, I thought. The adults hadn’t thought that one out too well, had they? Maybe they figured, if Tony was taking everyone back safely and making them forget, a little confusion now wouldn’t matter.
“I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t. But I can see if I can get something better from Mum, maybe?”
“She’s been running between the kitchen, where she’s helping cook or something, and her office with your Dad,” said Livy, with a frown. She paused as we all heard footsteps on the stairs. In a split second, her jaw dropped as she looked up, whispering, well, sort-of whispering, “What’s Prince Joseph doing here?!”
The look in Joe’s eyes told me that, if he hadn’t been looking right at us, all now looking at him, he would have cussed, hard. He must’ve heard us, no? Well, he still looked half-asleep, despite being recently showered. He met my eyes with a silent Help!
“Okay, fine, part of the whole thing is they—” I nodded towards Joe “—also were traveling and got diverted here by the storm, which is why all the adults are rushing around all hush-hush.” I glanced between them and the small group of older teens, who, fortunately, appeared to have lost interest in us and were talking amongst themselves. They must’ve missed Livy’s stage whisper.
“What time is it?” Joe asked, softly.
I pulled out my cell. “Like eleven.”
“It’s earlier than I thought. Mine finally died, and I don’t have the charger.” He stayed in the stairs, barely in our line of sight. “Who else is still here?”
“Five of the other teens.”
“And Max,” Sara-Not-Beth added. “But he’s been wicked sick all day. In and out of the bathroom. We thought there was some virus, but none of the rest of us are sick.”
“Unless he’s patient zero, and we’re in some zombie movie,” Jared said. Hunching his shoulders and waggling his fingers in the air, he spoke in a horror-movie premiere voice. “In a secluded castle. On a barely populated coast. Danger lurks, unseen, in the blood of an unexpected test subject… and in a conspiracy to change British life as we know it!” He straightened back up and gave Joe a half-smile. “Because, you know, why else would your family be diverted here where we have no phones, we’re just running on generator power, and everyone under thirteen except Heather has totally disappeared, yet the access road is blocked?”
Joe and I shared a look. Yeah, our parents didn’t think this cover story through very well at all. Granted, I bet none of them had gone to bed either, despite Mum having given Joe’s parents a room.
“You’re right, it sounds mental,” I said. “So let me talk to Mum and Dad and find out what the real story is so I can tell you.”
Livy looked up the stairs. “Want us to grab you some food so you don’t have to come down?” she asked Joe sweetly.
Frowning, he shook his head. “I think I can make it to the kitchen if you lot clear the path there.”
“You don’t think the rest of the survivors—I mean students—are going to freak if they see you?” Chris asked.
Joe gave him a look I can only describe as “princely,” which made Chris wither a bit.
With as much dignity as he could muster—more than I’d expect from someone in rumpled army pants and one of my dad’s too-long T-shirts, with damp hair starting to curl in odd directions—Joe said, “I suppose if you all continue to stand there, I could just ease by into the kitchen and then join Heather to talk to our parents without anyone noticing.”
The group shuffled to the doorway of the dining room while Joe and I grabbed glasses of milk and some wrapped sandwiches we found in the fridge and took them into my family’s side of the house. When we passed by the group again, I heard a small smack and Sara-Not-Beth whispering, “He’s, like, twelve.”
And Livy responding, “Still a prince.”
Next to me, Joe ground his teeth but said nothing as I knocked on my parents’ office door.
“Heather, Joe, you’re up,” my dad said, opening the door. He may not have slept, but he’d at least showered, and his hair was standing out in more odd directions than Joe’s, reminding me why his normal routine for dressing and styling himself took longer than Mum’s and mine combined.
“Good,” Mum said from her computer. She looked much worse for wear. Her face was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot, with dark circles.
“Morning.”
I jumped in surprise at my brother’s greeting. He looked up at me from the beanbag chair he was sitting in and then quickly back down to the book in his lap when he saw Joe with me.
“Morning…?” I stared at my younger brother, who looked only slightly better than Mum.
Dad started to explain, “We sent the twins and Anita with Richard and Annette, but Rowan—”
“Not. Leaving,” my brother declared, looking up at me again. “I helped Heather before, and the faery things can’t touch me.” A little smile curled his lip, though his eyes looked almost scary-dark. “Not even a genie.”
“Yes, Rowan, not even the djinni can touch you.” Exhaustion painted Mum’s voice; Dad was frowning at her with concern. “But what have we said about interrupting someone?”
With a scowl, Rowan looked back down to his book. It was one of Mum’s faerie encyclopedia-type tomes.
“Rowan?” The edge in Mum’s voice was sharper than usual.
“I’m sorry, Dad.”
“Good.” She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her hands over her face with a groan.
“Where are my parents?” Joe asked.
“Aimee finally convinced them to sleep, since they have had even less than we have,” Dad said, looking back at Mum with a frown. “And she thinks that’s also a good enough reason why she should stay up.”
“Michael, enough! You have work to do and one of us needs to research!”
“Heather and Joe and I
can research,” Rowan said, without looking up. “I’m good at research. Ask Heather!”
“What about you, Mr. MacArthur?” Joe asked.
Dad gave him a mirthless half-smile. “When I’m manic, I have insomnia anyway.”
“What work are you doing, then?” I asked. “What’s the plan? Because the masses out there aren’t buying the cover story. Even less so when they saw Joe come down the stairs. Well, Lily’s group of friends saw him, and they kept it quiet to try and help.”
“Lily’s still asleep?” Dad’s face grew even more worried.
“Aye. She was when I came down.”
He took a deep breath and held up two insulated lunch packs. “I am offering Tom an Apology Breakfast—well, Brunch—in a manner of speaking. Your mum said if I were genuine and brought the right offerings, he might speak to me and bring our message to the Seelie lord and lady. And I need you to tell your kelpie to watch my back, because I have to do this where Tom can come to me.”
“Dad!” About a hundred different things that could go wrong with this plan ran through my head. Not the least of which was the sickening thought of the red caps… getting…my dad. Because I certainly didn’t trust Calbraith to actually hold off until sunset if he could find an excuse not to.
“Heather,” both my parents started, but Mum nodded to let Dad continue. “Heather, I was wrong. Really wrong. And I truly am sorry for that. And if this is a way we can get a message to the fey who might possibly help us, it’s worth the risk. But, that’s why I need you to be specific with… Ehrwnmyr…because, well, he and I haven’t been on the best terms, as you know.”
I nodded. Boy, did I know that!
Holding up a piece of notebook paper filled with lines of his handwriting, Dad continued. “Your mum gave me very specific instructions on how to make a safe spot in the yew trees just past the gardens and what else to do. And if the kelpie is watching my back, taking me there and back, it’s as safe as we can make it.”
I clenched my teeth. “But last time you tried magick—”
“I was in a very bad place in my head. I was angry and panicked. I was hurt, and I had no concept of what I could even do. I have a better idea of that now.”
“But being near Ermie…you know, makes things worse.”
“Your mum gave me a few tricks to try and help with that, too. Heather, we have to do something. You know this. And the way it works is, I messed up, so I have to be the one to make amends. You know this, too.”
I nodded but felt a stinging in my eyes. Dad pulled me into a hug, and I hugged him tighter than I’d ever hugged anyone before.
I heard Mum stand up and walk over to us, talking. “What you need to do, Heather, is call Ermie to the castle again. Have him meet you and your father as near as he can. Explain to him the situation and tell him, specifically, that he must guard your father as he would guard you and listen to him exactly as he would listen to you. Michael, you and Ermie wait to leave until Heather gets inside safely, and then go. Are we all clear?”
“Aye, Mum.” I finally pulled away from Dad.
He leaned around me to kiss Mum on the lips. Even with Joe in the room, I couldn’t be embarrassed, not this time. Dad was putting himself in a lot of danger. “And you’ll at least try to get some sleep while I’m gone, love?”
She kissed him back. “You seriously think I’m getting any sleep while you’re out there? Maybe, maybe, I’ll consider a nap once you’re back, safe and sound, telling me the cat fey is on his way to Lady Fana and Lord Cadmus.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Dad shook his head and kissed her again. I glanced around them, relieved to see Joe turned away, looking at another of Mum’s books from the pile beside Rowan. Rowan, who was staring.
“Come back safe, Dad?” There was a crack in his voice.
Dad blew him a kiss. “I’ll be safe, Rowan. I promise.”
“Good luck, Mr. MacArthur,” Joe said, looking at him.
“Thank you, Prince Joseph.”
Dad took my hand and, after yet one more kiss with Mum, we headed outside, while I reached out to Ermie in my head.
The kelpie was waiting on the embankment of the castle as he had last night. He pranced nervously.
What is happening? Mickey chased in peahens to feed me this morning, but I have heard nothing from any of you!
“I’m sorry. I— Well—”
“I’ll fill you in on the details,” my dad said. “I don’t want Heather out here longer than necessary. I don’t trust Calbraith to not do anything.”
A wise choice, Heather’s Father. But why am I here? What do you request of me?
Dad made a face and cringed each time the kelpie drew close. Shaking his head, he took a few deep breaths. “Michael. First. Please. And…and…” He rubbed his forehead.
“Dad—”
“I can do this, Heather.”
I frowned. “He needs you to take him to the yew trees so he can apologize to Tom and maybe get Tom to speak to Lady Fana and Lord Cadmus on our behalf. Let them know Calbraith was lying, and we don’t want a treaty with him. And you have to protect him. Like he was me and something awful would happen to you if something awful happened to me. Do you understand?”
I understand. He stopped prancing in place and looked at my dad. Can he do this?
“Well?” asked Dad. From his expression and his tight jaw, I realized he hadn’t “heard” what Ermie had just asked.
No. I only spoke to you. I…dislike the feel of speaking to him. And I believe he feels the same.
I turned to Dad. “Ermie knows he’s making things worse with you, so he isn’t using his telepathy stuff, because he doesn’t like how it feels and is pretty sure you don’t either.”
“He would be correct. Will he let me ride him and watch my back? I’ll just tell him everything, and he can, I don’t know, just nod or something so he understands?”
Ermie deliberately nodded.
“Then we’re good.” He handed me the two lunch bags, then gestured to the kelpie. “Stand, here, on the lower edge of the embankment. It’s been a while since I’ve mounted bare back.”
With a grunt, he took a step back, grasping Ermie’s mane, and hoisted himself up. Had it been a regular horse, he would have fallen back to the ground. But Ermie’s tentacle fur caught him and pulled him the rest of the way up.
It would be disrespectful of me to describe his reaction. Especially since he was risking his life on the hopeful chance that making amends with the cat fey could get us some unlikely backup. So, I’ll simply say it was not one of the bravest or coolest-looking moments in his career. In Dad’s defense, he had never even come close enough to touch Ermie before, ever, so this was his first encounter with the “fur” that could grab you and stick you on.
He finally got himself situated, after a few squicked-out shivers and shakes, before taking the two lunch totes from me. Fortunately, for his part, Ermie was more amused than offended at my dad’s reaction. Well, about as amused as one can get when one is worried about an evil fey who is looking forward to enslaving and torturing you.
Ermie trotted a tight circle while my dad got his bearings. I will guard him for you, Heather, he said, which actually made me feel better because it felt honest.
“Be good for your mum, love! I’ll be back for tea,” Dad called, trying to sound casual. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Dad!” I blew a kiss as I headed back into the castle. “See you at tea!”
I did love my dad, and we told each other that a lot. Yet this time hearing him say it and me saying it gave me a sick twinge in my stomach as I thought, What if this is the last time…?
No. I’d see him by teatime. I had to believe that.
No one was in my parents’ office when I came in, so I headed back to the kitchen. The last time I’d pulled an almost-all-nighter I was starving, and this time wasn’t looking any different, no matter what kind of emotional wreck I was.
I had just taken a bite out of another san
dwich when I was surrounded again. The usual suspects. Plus Lily.
“Do you know where Max is?” asked my sister, who annoyingly did not look like she’d lost almost a night’s worth of sleep.
“No, why would I?”
“‘Cos he likes you, and we can’t find him anywhere,” Chris answered.
I rolled my eyes, then caught Lily’s eye. Before I could think of some way to ask if Tony had taken him without letting on about the djinni taking everyone, she gave me a look and said, “All his stuff is still here.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Livy asked.
Jared frowned. “‘Cos all the other stuff of kids who’ve disappeared has disappeared, too.”
“You are holding out on us!” Chris said.
Lily and I looked at each other in a totally not-guilty kind of way. Really, I swear.
Sara-Not-Beth drew herself up to her full height, which was definitely taller than I was and almost as tall as Chris, looked me hard in the eye, and said, “Spill it. What’s going on?
Now.”
“Hey!” Lily got between us. Despite being several inches shorter than me, she looked pretty imposing. “Back off. That’s my sister you’re talking to.”
“Then you tell us what’s going on,” Sara-Not-Beth demanded, pushing her blonde bangs out of her eyes. “You’re in on it. It’s something to do with Joe’s family, isn’t it? They were attacked or something, and we’re all under some royal guard black-ops watch with men in black secreting everyone away once they know they’re not terrorists or anything? We’re not thick, you know. And we see the news.”
“The truth is,” Lily said. “We’re not allowed to say anything, so yeah, we do know stuff is going on, but we don’t want to get anyone in trouble.” She made her bottom lip quiver just a little, but not so much that she wasn’t convincing. “It’s all really scary, and we don’t know what’s going to happen. Just that we all have to stay inside and listen to them. Please?”
And the award goes to… I guess my dramatic sister was more useful than not.
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