Three cups of vintage Colombian and a full stomach finally roused her to prepare for the day. She loaded the shotgun and a box of shells and hid them behind the seat of the truck, noting that the kelpie’s blood was gone, and fortunately, had not eaten off the paint. For that matter, all she could see of the kelpie as she drove down the hill was a smudge in the grass. It wasn’t all faded, but at least it just looked like an oil leak instead of a bloody, smoldering pulp.
With Tom in the passenger seat, Katie drove back towards town. She would have to remember to stop at the hospital later and check in on Sally, but their first stop, at Tom’s insistence, had to be the MacGreeley sisters’ house.
Katie did not look forward to this confrontation. She headed down the road at a sedate speed, and she chewed her lower lip as she contemplated the possible grim outcome. At worst, they might tell her she was insane. Or they might know nothing of the key. They might call Sheriff Cannon and ask that Katie and Tom be arrested, or at least, bodily removed from their property. In fact, it was possible that they might not have the key anymore.
That was probably the worst scenario of all. Katie tried to shake it from her thoughts as she approached the stately white pillars that marked the entrance to the MacGreeley Mansion.
The main house itself was said to be over a hundred and fifty years old, and had replaced the original cabin built by the MacGreeley who founded Mercyville. It was one of those brick plantation houses, a huge, two-story box sitting upright with a portico jutting from the front. A small balcony with a wrought iron railing centered the upper floor. Katie once attended a party here while in high school and recalled that there was a long L-shaped wing that created a small courtyard. The back half had been for servants or slaves, and now stood empty. Long ago, someone had painted the bricks white, but they forgot the paint in the pediment, and so it jutted like a rusty red triangle.
The house, however, was the last thing of interest to Katie as she passed through the “pillars of piety,” as she so fondly dubbed them. For one thing, a section of the front yard looked as though someone had attempted to dig a ring in the grass. And for another, two sheriff’s cruisers and a state trooper’s vehicle sat at the front. She recognized one as Dan’s.
“Oh, dear,” Tom said under his breath. “I do not think this bodes well.”
“Pessimist,” she muttered, but she had a feeling he was right. Why would both cruisers be here. For that matter, why would the Highway Patrol have been called in? She drove cautiously up to the front, and sat in the truck for a moment.
“They might not let us in,” she said.
“Only one way to find out,” Tom said. He crawled out of the passenger side, and Katie was left with no choice but to kill the engine and follow.
The front door sat open, though the screen door was closed. Tom peered through the mesh, then without even knocking, seized the handle and stepped inside. “A gracious day to ye, ladies,” he said.
“Who are you?” That was Dan’s voice, clearly hostile in its tone. And he opened his mouth to say more until he spied Katie. She felt her face grow warm. “Katie?” Dan said with less vehemence.
She waved a hand in acknowledgment.
“Of course, you know me, master Dan,” Tom said. “You’ve just not seen me so well dressed.”
“It’s that mad vagrant!” came an indignant woman’s voice from beyond Katie’s point of view. She leaned to look around Tom. “Constable, arrest that man at once!”
Three women sat on a settee against the wall of the foyer. The MacGreeley sisters. Miss Alma, the eldest, was readily visible, for she was a tall woman with hair that time had turned to iron. To her left sat the more dowdy, but no less formidable Miss Mae, whose sweet tooth and sour nature were well known around Mercyville. Crammed in the right corner of the settee was feathery little Miss Winona. Though the other two sat like they had ramrods sewn into their dresses, she leaned back with far less grace, worrying a fingernail.
“Perhaps I should wait out in the truck,” Tom said, leaning towards Katie. “I’m sure you can handle this without me.”
Her smile only enhanced the dagger glance she threw him. He tipped his imaginary hat and slipped outside. In moments, Katie heard the trill of his tin whistle chattering a jig.
“Katie, what are you doing hanging around with that bum?” Dan asked, frowning at her.
“You shouldn’t judge people by their appearances, Dan,” she said coolly. “He’s not a bum, and he believes me.”
“What are you doing here, Miss MacLeod?” Sheriff Cannon quickly asked as though sensing there might be more to this matter than he wanted to know.
“I need to talk to the ladies about a key,” Katie said. “As I’m sure they know, I’m setting up a display to celebrate the centennial of the donation of the T.L. MacKenzie Memorial Library to the citizens of Mercyville.”
“Yes, I do recall Mr. Durgan mentioning he had assigned you that task,” Miss Alma was quick to relate.
“Well, I understand you ladies are in possession of the original key to the old locks on the house,” Katie said, “and I got to thinking what a wonderful item that would be to have in the display, along with a reprint of the old drawing in the papers showing Mr. MacKenzie passing the key to Reverend MacGreeley.”
“Oh, I think that sounds like a clever and tasteful idea, child,” Miss Alma said, never losing her southern lady demeanor. “But I fear this is not a proper time to discuss such a matter.”
“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?” Katie said, not really sure she wanted to know.
“The devil was here last night,” Miss Mae said, leaning forward and shaking her head so her frosty grey coif fluttered about her face like the mane of an agitated Persian cat.
“Sister,” Miss Alma said. “Let’s not frighten our guest with such unsavory news.”
“But, it was the devil!” Miss Mae insisted. “His eyes glowed like embers, and he had sharp pointed teeth and long nasty looking talons and pointed ears.”
“He didn’t have horns, though, nor a tail,” Miss Winona said softly. “So he might not have been the devil after all.”
“Oh, it was the devil!” Miss Mae insisted. “He’s come to warn us that all sinners are going to hell with him.”
“That’s not what he said,” Miss Winona protested a little more firmly. “He said that he would spread darkness across the land, and those who dared to stand against him would fall to his goblins. I don’t think the devil has goblins, does he, sister?”
“He has all manner of wicked servants,” Miss Alma said with a knowledgeable bob of her head. “But the Lord shall deliver us, my sisters, and in Jesus’ name, we can drive the devil back to his pit of doom!”
I can tell your father was an evangelist, Katie thought. She could see the amusement in the state trooper’s eyes. The young man stood aside, taking notes, but in spite of his hat, the curl of the corners of his mouth was easy to see from her angle. She glanced at the Sheriff who looked at his hands as though wishing he had something else to do. Only Dan watched Katie, suspicion in his eyes. Like he thought Tom and I were having orgies behind his back! She ignored him and concentrated on the sisters who still fervently argued about the “devil’s” message.
“The gardener says we should have left the fairy ring alone,” Miss Winona said. “That’s why he came again.”
“And I have told you at least a hundred times now, sister, that there is no such thing as a fairy,” Miss Alma countered. “There is the Lord above and His angels, like those who saved our illustrious ancestor from the heathen red men. The Lord shall be our salvation in this time of trouble.”
“Amen!” Miss Mae cried, fervently bobbing her head.
“Uh, ladies,” Katie said. “I really would like to have the key, and then I’ll be on my way...”
“We don’t have it,” Miss Winona suddenly said.
“What do you mean, you don’t have it?” Katie insisted.
“Well, he took it,
of course,” Miss Winona said. “I was going to tell the Sheriff about the theft just before you came in, dear.”
“Who, ma’am?” Sheriff Cannon said.
“Why the blue man, of course,” Miss Winona said. “He forced his way into the house last night.”
“You let him in!” Miss Mae retorted. “You opened the door to him, even though sister Alma and I specifically warned you never to open doors to strangers or devils!”
Miss Winona sighed and shook her head. “I really don’t believe he’s the devil, sister Mae. I mean, he didn’t have horns or a tail...”
Sheriff Cannon rolled his eyes.
“Wait a minute,” Katie insisted. “The blue man took the key? But how could he do so? He can’t touch iron or steel, and that key most certainly would have been made of iron.”
“Oh, he didn’t touch the key itself,” Miss Winona said. “He came in the front door, pretty as you please, walked straight upstairs into father’s old study and lifted the key from the desk.”
“So he picked up the key itself?” Katie said. That didn’t make any sense. Unseelie could not touch iron. Their reaction to her truck had proven that to her.
“No, dear,” Miss Alma said. “He seized it up by the silk cord we had attached to it and carried it out as though it were a dead fish on a hook.”
“He was quite revolting,” Miss Mae said. “But he was the most polite devil I have ever met, because he bowed to us as he left.”
And just how many devils have you met? Katie kept that thought to herself. This didn’t bode well at all if the Erl-King had taken the other key. He must have known we would need it.
“Well, I suppose that’s that,” Katie said. “I won’t trouble you anymore, ladies. So sorry about the intrusion.”
Katie made quickly for the door. She passed under the portico and hurried towards the truck where Tom still sat twiddling away on his pennywhistle. Behind her, she heard a rush of feet.
“Katie, wait!” Dan said.
She paused and turned back to fix him with an uncertain gaze.
“I heard about Sally being taken to the hospital late last night...” he said.
“How?”
“It was on the scanner when you drove into the emergency room like a bat out of hell,” Dan said. “Is she all right?”
“I don’t know yet,” Katie said. “She had a bad scare last night, and her heart...” She hesitated. “Her regular doctor will be seeing her this morning.”
Dan nodded. He rubbed a knuckle across the end of his nose as he let his gaze fall to the gravel at their feet. “What scared her?” he asked.
Katie sighed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I might.”
“See your blue lady again last night?” she ventured.
“No,” Dan said, “but I didn’t sleep at home either. We pulled some long shifts at the station last night, what with all the calls.” His gaze drew up again. “Listen, what was all this about a key?”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “The Erl-King’s got it now.”
Dan grimaced, probably remembering that their last fight had started on that very note. “Well, I guess I better go back in before my Uncle wonders why I left him with the ladies,” he said. “Can I call you tonight?”
“If I’m home,” she said.
“I’ll stop by the hospital later and see Sally,” Dan said.
“She’d like that, I’m sure,” Katie agreed. “Just promise me you won’t start asking her what scared her. She’s had a bad night.”
“What did scare her?”
“A goblin child, and a kelpie,” Katie said.
“Kelpie,” Dan said. “Isn’t that supposed to be one of those water-horses in folklore that drag people into lakes and drown them?”
Katie nodded. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“Because over towards the Lakewood farm, one of the grooms was found drowned in a cow pond,” Dan said, “and the owners say he was last seen following a big black horse they’d never seen before.”
Katie bit her lip. The thought that Sally could have suffered the same fate gnawed in her gut.
“Katie, what the hell is going on?” Dan said.
“I told you before,” she said carefully. “You didn’t believe me then. Why should you believe me now?”
“Because too much weird stuff is happening all over Cocke County,” Dan said. “That’s why the State Trooper is here. He’s getting as many crazy reports over his way as we are. People are seeing all kinds of things. Walking trees and glowing lights. Over in Cherokee National Forest, the rangers got a call to investigate a green hag who grabbed a young hiker by the ankle and tried to pull him under water.”
The trill of the pennywhistle died.
“It’ll be getting worse,” Tom’s voice suddenly broke in. “Especially now that the Erl-King has the other key.”
Dan’s glance in Tom’s direction was full of the earlier suspicion. “What’s he doing here anyway?”
“Helping me,” Katie said.
“You trust him?” Dan said.
“Of course,” Katie said with a shrug. “There’s a lot more to Tom than any of us have ever realized. Besides, he doesn’t lie.”
“How can you be sure?”
“It’s his gift and his curse,” Katie said and grinned.
Dan made a face. His gaze shifted back to her. “Can I call you tonight?” he said. “I think you and I have some things to work out.”
“Okay,” she said, “but I may not be there, depending on what my next move is.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if you call and I don’t answer, you might check at the library to make sure I haven’t been eaten by an ogre.”
“Dan?” Sheriff Cannon called through the screen. “The ladies want to show us some things.”
“Probably their collection of antique bibles,” Katie said with an arch of her brows.
“Lucky me,” Dan said. Almost hesitantly, he reached for her hand. She offered it up willingly, and he gave it a squeeze as he smiled just faintly. “I... love you,” he said.
“I love you too,” Katie said, realizing she felt more than a little foolish for their last encounter. What was I thinking then? she wondered.
“I guess that’s why all this doesn’t make any sense,” he said. He leaned down and brushed lips across her cheek in a gentle kiss. “I’ll find you somehow. Be careful, and don’t let that lunatic talk you into anything irrational.”
She nodded. As if this whole thing wasn’t already irrational, she thought. Dan let go of her hand and hurried back towards the house.
“Now that’s what I like to see,” Tom said. “Young lads and lasses kissing and making up.”
“Who said we had anything to make up for?” Katie said as she stepped over and leaned against the side of the truck to look up at Tom. He squinted against the rising sun and grinned.
“Sounded like words of apology to me,” he said. “He really does care for you. I hope he lives through this.”
Katie froze. “You’re not making one of your predictions, are you?” she asked.
“Oh, no,” Tom said, shaking his head. “At this point, I doubt I can predict anything. Especially knowing the Erl-King has laid his filthy grasp on the other key, no matter what the risk to himself. He means to keep you out, Katie. And he means to have that bit of silk.” He gestured towards the locket. “We’ve much work to do now, lass. In either case, we’ve got to find a means to pass his barrier. Without access to the second gate, there’s little chance you can summon the Seelie.”
“But how can we pass solid rock and dirt?” Katie insisted.
“With magic,” he said, “and luck.”
“I’m beginning to wonder about luck,” she said.
“Let us depart this sad place and go visit Miss Sally, then travel on to the library, aye?” Tom said, standing up to leap out of the bed of the truck. “And see if we can impro
ve our luck. Too bad, these dear ladies were not wise enough to do the courtesy of leaving that faery ring intact. They’ll have a bigger plague of the things on them tonight.”
Katie glanced at the circle of dirt and shook her head. As much as she disliked the MacGreeley sisters, she wasn’t sure she wanted to wish such a plague on them. Wasn’t there a philosophy that said ill wishing only comes back on the wisher?
She decided it was better not to think about that just now.
TWELVE
Sally was asleep when Katie looked in on the elderly woman. The doctor assured Katie that Sally was in stable condition, and that he wanted to keep her for a few days. Out in the hall, Katie heard two nurses going on about the madness that had afflicted patients in one ward. Something about a small green Martian with pointed ears and lots of sharp teeth that kept inverting the bedpans. She shivered just to think what they really had seen. The Erl-King’s goblins were spreading, and there was little doubt that the hospital might find itself a target of faery mischief.
Just to be sure, Katie slipped one of the packets of nails and red thread she’d taken to carrying in her own pockets into Sally’s bedtable drawer and another under the pillow, hoping they would help. Tom saw her, but he said nothing. Merely nodded as though he approved, and even suggested fixing a vase with a few branches of rowan among the flowers to sit by the bed. Katie made a mental note to herself to cut some mountain ash before dark.
From the hospital, they made their way towards the center of Mercyville. A sense of unease permeated the air here. People moving about the town square looked careworn and nervous. Reverend Williams stood in front of the Mercyville Baptist Church, hands on hips, looking up at the spire. Katie managed a quick glance at it as she drove by, and saw what looked like several brassieres and girdles strung together, waving in the wind like a banner. The Mountain Laurel Diner’s windows caught her attention as well. Pies had been smeared on the inside, and what looked like a rope of link sausages dangled over the door. Maggie Sue could be seen swiping her way through the meringue and scowling. The general store had suffered as well, and the grocer. All around Mercyville were signs of faery mischief. Even the angels surrounding the concrete trunk had suffered the indignation of having ripe tomatoes smeared in their faces. A watermelon capped the point of the flaming sword.
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