by Helen Harper
I edged over to Brochan. ‘Do you think Tipsania has been possessed?’
‘It’s possible,’ he admitted. ‘Listen, Tegs, about Byron...’
I held up my hand. ‘I don’t agree with what you did and if you ever do anything like it again then you will leave. I don’t care who you are, Brochan, or what you mean to me. But,’ my voice softened, ‘I do understand why you did it.’
Relief flashed across his face. I gave him a tight smile. ‘We have another bigger problem.’ I tilted my chin and looked at my friends. ‘Byron has been taken prisoner.’
Brochan swayed back on his heels, paling, while Taylor inhaled sharply. ‘That’s not good.’
‘No.’ I clenched my fists. All I wanted to do was to pelt back through the Veil and rescue him but my logic was beginning to reassert itself. I had to be smart. I had to take my time, think it through and do what was best for him. Blindly sprinting after him wouldn’t make for a successful venture. I already knew that I’d have to wait until midnight when the Fomori demons seemed to sleep. I needed every advantage I could find to slip through undetected if I was going to find Byron.
Lexie raised her eyebrows and, her voice dripping with sarcasm, said, ‘Let me guess. He’s been captured by the Fomori demons? Her kinsmen?’
‘I told you her name is May.’ I sighed. ‘But yes. I don’t know what they’re going to do to him but it’s probably not going to be good.’
Taylor straightened. ‘We’ve been in some tight situations in the past. This probably beats them all.’
Lexie snorted. ‘I’ll say.’
‘Stop it.’ Speck’s voice was quiet. ‘Do you think I’m not scared that there’s a Fomori demon in the corner? Or that the Steward, who was already gunning for our blood, now has us to blame for his son being a Fomori prisoner? And that’s without mentioning the bugs and the bats and the ghosts that this place has to offer. Of course, I’m scared. I’m petrified. But Tegs will find a way out. She’ll have a rescue plan. She’s our friend.’ He paused. ‘In fact, she’s our family. We trust her so you need to stop complaining. It’s really not helpful.’
I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard Speck make such a long speech before. I’d certainly never heard him speak to Lexie like that. Apparently neither had she because, after gaping at him for a moment, she wound her arms round his neck and planted a very big, very wet and very long kiss on his lips.
‘I’ll get everyone to stop moaning if you stop going on about my gambling,’ Taylor said in an aside to me.
‘Nice try,’ I told him. ‘No chance.’
‘I love you, Speck,’ Lexie breathed.
He flushed bright red. Brochan ignored the pair of them and glanced at me with worried eyes. ‘Can we get back to the matter in hand? What on earth are we going to do about Byron?’
I breathed in deeply. ‘I need to get to a phone line.’ I curled my fingernails into the palms of my hands until my flesh stung. ‘I’m going to have to talk to Aifric.’
***
In the end, I was forced to take the car and travel more than forty miles north to get a damned phone signal. The thought of speaking to the man who had so cold-bloodedly murdered my father made my skin crawl but I couldn’t rescue Byron on my own. I needed his help.
Brochan came with me for moral support. He was obviously keen to make amends. When I finally got bars telling me I had enough signal to make the call, I gestured at him to pull over. He gave me a long look. ‘Are you sure about this?’
‘It’s Byron. I can’t just leave him to rot.’ An image of him strung up and horribly tortured sprang unbidden into my mind. I quashed it down with difficulty.
‘I’m sorry he’s been captured.’ He heaved in a breath. ‘But you still give that boy far too much of your concern,’ he chided gently. I shrugged helplessly.
Brochan nodded once and passed me the number. With trembling fingers but a steely heart, I pressed the keys. Unfortunately, when the phone started to ring, my so-called steely heart lurched into imminent vomit.
I raised my eyebrows to Brochan. ‘When does a horse answer the phone?’ He squeezed my free hand. ‘Whinny he wants to!’
He didn’t smile. ‘You can do this, Tegs. You’re already the better person. Better than Aifric, better than Byron.’ He paused. ‘Better than me.’
I frowned at his last words although it appeared I was even more transparent now than when I was invisible. I took a deep breath and prepared to put on my best phone voice just as the ringing ended.
‘Good morning. You have reached the Cruaich.’
‘Good morning!’ I trilled back. ‘This is Integrity...’
‘To speak to a member of the administrative team, press one. To find out when you can make an appointment to...’
I cast my eyes upwards. Automated bloody machines. I glanced at Brochan. ‘Your call is important to us,’ I mimicked.
‘Your call is very important to us,’ said the disembodied and overly cheerful voice.
I waited, eventually pressing nine to connect to a real person. At least the delay meant that some of my tension dissipated.
‘Hello! This is Mhairi. How can I be of service to you today?’
Finally. ‘Hello Mhairi. This is Chieftain Adair. I have an urgent phone call for the Steward.’
‘Hold the line please.’ The sound of some tragic bagpipe dirge filled my ears. Appropriate. I drummed my fingers and waited. ‘Hello, Chieftain Adair. I’m afraid that the Steward is unavailable.’
‘But...’
‘Thank you for your time.’ She hung up.
I cursed loudly. ‘He’s refusing to talk to me. Typical.’ I sighed. I needed to try a different tack. I pursed my lips and located the Bull’s number; at least after our last phone call, I knew he’d answer. Unfortunately it didn’t make him any more polite.
‘What?’ he snapped down the line.
If he was going to dispense with the niceties then so was I. ‘You are going to do me a little favour.’
‘I don’t have time.’
‘I don’t care.’
He huffed. ‘Listen up, Chieftain. You might enjoy playing lady of the manor but the rest of us have real issues to deal with.’
‘My heart bleeds.’
‘Funny you should say that because I was under the impression that it did bleed for the Clan-less. I guess you’re just like the rest of us, after all.’
I sat up straight. ‘Explain yourself.’
The Bull couldn’t refuse. ‘You’ve heard about those little Fomori incursions, I presume? The one in Perth? The others further north?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, it appears they were just the beginning. Last night, there was a full-blown attack.’
My world shrank in on itself. Fear tugged at my soul and I gripped the phone so hard, I heard the casing crack. ‘Where?’ I whispered.
‘Aberdeen.’ I didn’t think I was imagining his note of smug satisfaction. I’d all but grown up in Aberdeen after I’d abandoned the horror of the Bull’s household.
It was a struggle to get the words out. ‘What happened?’
‘Union Street is burning. Estimates place the casualties at more than two hundred. It’s difficult to tell. We’re never sure about how many Clan-less vermin there are in one area.’
The Bull was very, very lucky he was on the other end of the phone and not in front of me; at that moment, I would have happily renounced my pacifism. I’d almost felt sorry for him when Tipsania said she wanted to stay with me. I was starting to change my mind. A lot.
‘What are you doing about it?’ I said through gritted teeth.
‘Well, it’s the city’s main thoroughfare so there are a number of Sidhe businesses. We are trying to put the fires out.’
‘I’d hate to see a loss in Sidhe revenue,’ I spat.
He didn’t seem to realise I was being sarcastic. ‘Exactly. The current economic climate is bad enough as it is.’
‘Where are the demons now?’
; ‘Apparently they’ve vanished but I have a feeling they’ll be back. I wonder where they’ll strike next,’ he mused. ‘Your lands are very close to the Veil, aren’t they?’
What was going on? Why was this happening now? The thought that it was related to my incursions into the Lowlands nibbled at the edges of my heart. I couldn’t breathe and there was a roaring sound in my ears. Brochan reached over and punched my arm. ‘Ouch!’
‘Have you hurt yourself?’ the Bull enquired, not in the least bit solicitous.
I glared at Brochan but he merely shrugged. ‘Where are you now?’ I said into the phone, rubbing my throbbing bicep.
‘I’m at the Cruaich, of course. All the Chieftains have been summoned to an emergency council. Well,’ he amended, ‘almost all of them.’
I didn’t pay any attention to the snub. ‘Take this phone and hand it to Aifric. Tell him it’s a Moncrieffe Sidhe up in Aberdeen who needs to speak to him right away.’
‘Lie to the Steward? He already mistrusts me enough as it is. Are you out of your tiny mind?’
Funny, Tipsania had asked me exactly the same question not that long ago. ‘Just do it.’ My voice hardened. ‘Now.’
He huffed and puffed but he had no choice. I waited a moment or two, ignoring Brochan’s repeated gestures to tell him what was going on.
‘This is Aifric Moncrieffe.’
I breathed out. ‘Your son has been captured by the Fomori. He’s across the Veil and he needs your help now.’
Cold silence answered me. I wondered whether I’d have to repeat myself and was about to when Aifric finally spoke. ‘Chieftain Adair, I presume.’
‘You should have spoken to me when I first called,’ I told him.
‘I am a busy man.’
‘Too busy to mount a rescue to save your own son?’
This time, Aifric’s voice vibrated with anger. ‘Don’t you understand what’s going on right now? The demons are attacking the country.’ He blew out air, making the line crackle and hiss. ‘This is all your fault.’
The truth-telling Gift didn’t work down the phone but for some reason, I knew he wasn’t lying. ‘Because I went across the Veil?’
‘What else, you brat? You’re just as arrogant and narrow-minded as your father.’
His words had the opposite effect to what he intended. The hot tears which had been brimming in my eyes were held at bay and the pain I felt inside coalesced into an icy anger.
‘Why did you try to stop me from going? It’s a dangerous place. If I had died there, you would be free from blame forever.’
There was a pause. Aifric roared some garbled words which sounded vaguely like ‘get the fuck out of here’. I made out some scuffling of feet and slamming of doors, then he came back on the line.
‘You just don’t get it, do you? This was the deal.’
I held my breath. ‘What? What deal?’
When he answered this time, his voice was more even and controlled. Although I instinctively knew that this was it – that I was finally about to get some answers – I was also painfully aware that there was very little Aifric did without reason. Even with his only child in mortal danger, he still knew what he was doing. This was a calculated move. ‘The deal to keep the Highlands safe.’ He laughed harshly. ‘You think all this is about you but you’re just a leftover. It’s your heritage that counts, not you. You’re nothing more than a tiny piece of the puzzle. And an inconsequential piece, at that.’
Somehow I doubted that. He wouldn’t keep going to such trouble to do away with me if that were the case. I stayed silent, however. I didn’t want to interrupt him now he was on a roll.
‘Twenty-five years ago,’ Aifric continued, ‘when I first became Steward, the demons sent an emissary. They wanted more land. Unless we agreed to move back the Veil, they threatened to come here. To kill babies, Highland babies. Sidhe babies. I put my own safety at risk to broker a deal to stop them from taking what they wanted. They agreed to it with a single proviso.’ He paused dramatically. Considering I didn’t think this phone call could be any more dramatic, it was a wasted effort. ‘Destroy the Adair Clan. Wipe out the entire line and erase them from history.’
He was doing it; he was admitting what had happened. ‘So,’ I said, with a quick look at Brochan, ‘you’re saying that my father didn’t kill anyone. You did.’
‘What would you have you done in my place? Would you be brave enough to take one life in order to save a thousand?’
I knew I was brave enough not to; compromise your morals and you compromise the fabric of society. I didn’t bother answering his question. ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What did the Fomori demons have against the Adairs?’
‘The prophecy, of course,’ he snapped. ‘That the one Adair will save Alba.’
I froze. Aifric had used the old Gaelic word for Scotland but there was no denying the direct simplicity of the prophecy I’d heard so much about. I was the one Adair ‒ I had to be because I was the only one left. But how could I save the entire country? My world flipped on its head.
Aifric continued blithely. ‘The demons took it to mean that if an Adair lived, they would destroy the Veil and destroy them. They wanted you all dead and gone before that happened. In return, they left us alone. The only reason you weren’t killed was because you were an innocent baby. I’m not a complete monster.’
Trying to overcome my shock at the revelation that I was supposed to be some kind of national heroine, I almost laughed. ‘That’s not true, is it? You wanted leverage against the Fomori in case everything went tits up. Plus, there was the small matter of the Foinse possibly failing. Even then, you probably knew the magic was faltering and you’d need me to help bring it back.’
‘You’re very cynical for one so young. I saved you. Now you need to repay that favour. Your trip across the Veil before the Games must have alerted the Fomori to the fact that the Adairs are not all dead and buried. That’s why they’ve returned. They’re searching for you. I could have persuaded them that they were mistaken but you went back to the Lowlands again. You just couldn’t help yourself. You are the master of your own destruction – and my son’s. The question that remains is how many are you prepared to bring down with you before that happens?’ He spat in disgust. ‘The only thing that will save Byron – and the rest of the Highlands of Scotland – is if you give yourself up to the demons. Then the Adair Clan will be finished for good and the country can live in peace. You brought this on your own head.’ He waited a beat. ‘And this is how you fulfil the prophecy.’
I swallowed. ‘And what if I say no?’ I asked, my mind whirling. ‘You’ll just leave your own son to be tortured? Enslaved? Murdered?’
There was a moment of silence. ‘He’s only one person. To send anyone after him would be to send them to their deaths. We can’t beat the Fomori, we can only negotiate.’
‘And your only negotiating power is me?’
‘Your life for his. And Scotland’s. Chieftain Adair,’ he spoke the name disdainfully with his treacherous tongue, ‘the choice is entirely yours.’
And with that, he hung up.
Chapter Thirteen
We sat cross-legged in a circle in the main courtyard. Although Brochan’s gills were bristling, the tips of Speck’s ears were bright red and Lexie was clutching the fabric of her skirt so tightly that it was a wonder she had any circulation left in her fingers, no one said a word.
Taylor was absent-mindedly rolling the water bottle, with Bob inside it, up and down his thigh. I could only imagine that the genie had elected to stay inside because he was making a point – whatever that may be. The continuous spinning motion seemed to be turning him green. Eventually, as Taylor paused for a moment, Bob rapped sharply against the plastic sides and glared. Realising what he’d been doing, my old mentor placed the bottle upright in the centre of our circle.
‘Byron’s already been gone for almost four hours,’ I said, when it became clear that no one else was going to break the silence. ‘We know
from my first visit that the demons rouse themselves at midday. If we’re going to mount a rescue plan, we have about twelve hours before we can head back into the Lowlands.’
Taylor folded his arms. ‘You need to take Byron Moncrieffe out of the equation.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You don’t even know whether Aifric was telling the truth.’
I fingered a curl, wrapping it round my pinkie. ‘He was telling a version of the truth. There are still a lot of unanswered questions.’
‘Such as,’ Brochan said, ‘whether that damn prophecy is true.’
‘And,’ Lexie piped up, her eyes now filled with concern rather than censure, ‘how the freaking Fomori found out about it.’
I released the curl and flicked it over my shoulder. ‘They have Gifts too. There could well have been a Fomori demon with precognition who foretold the same prophecy as the Sidhe.’
‘Prophecies are tricky things,’ Taylor argued. ‘They are only one possible version of the future. Our lives are not set in stone. Even if you sacrifice yourself, it might come to naught.’
I nodded distractedly.
‘What about Aberdeen?’ Speck asked quietly. ‘Should we go up there and try to help?’
‘That was my immediate reaction,’ I admitted. ‘But I get the feeling that whatever has happened up there has been and gone. By the time we reach the city, things will be under control.’
Bob knocked against the side of the bottle and I unscrewed the lid. ‘What?’
‘You could make a wish! That would solve everything.’
I put the top back on again. ‘Aifric said that this all started because the Fomori wanted more land but that doesn’t make sense. They have lots of land. As far as I can tell, the demons all live within the city limits. They’ve got acres and acres of countryside.’
‘Tegs, I’m not sure how this started is relevant right now. I know you. You’re going to do what Aifric said, aren’t you?’ Taylor ran a frustrated hand through his white hair and gazed at me. ‘You’re going to sacrifice yourself.’
I lifted my chin. ‘Last time, the entire Clan was massacred. The trolls who worked for the Clan, the pixies, the warlocks and the mermen and whoever else had sworn fealty – they all died.’