Isla's Inheritance

by Cassandra Page

  Dominic’s car was a newer model than mine so, with the exception of the belt buckles, there was no exposed metal to trouble Jack on the drive to Dad’s place. But tension thrummed through him as I drove, as though he was a clockwork toy that was overwound until the tiniest thing could set him off … or break the spring. He sat with his shoulders hunched and his hands curled into balls on his thighs, and stared out the window with a fixed expression, as though he were concentrating on just breathing.

  I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles went white, and my stomach roiled with stress. Was Natalie right? Was Dominic going to take my choosing Jack’s assistance over his as a fatal blow to our relationship? I hoped not, but a sick, leaden feeling in the pit of my stomach made me suspect otherwise.

  So the two of us drove in silence for about twenty minutes, each of us preoccupied with our woes.

  Jack relaxed minutely once we were out of Canberra and onto the winding bush roads leading to Dad’s farm. Did being out of the city help him tolerate the steel better? Or maybe being that tense for that long had just worn him out.

  “So what was the thing in Ryan’s drawing?” Brooding over the probable imminent end to my relationship with Dominic wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and I had other things to worry about.

  “It is most commonly known as a powrie.” Jack took his hat off and put it on the seat behind us, rubbing his ears as though they ached.

  “A powrie?”

  “They are also called redcaps, ogres or dunters. They are tall, fast and incredibly strong. But not bright. The aosidhe use them as enforcers. If there is one at your father’s farm, it is probably working for the same aosidhe that sent the elf shot.”

  “Great,” I muttered. “How do we fight one?”

  “We do not,” he corrected me. “You should stay in the car. The presence of this much steel should deter it from striking you.”