by R. A. Rock
Finn came out from the bathroom with a towel around his waist, looking so hot she felt every nerve in her body go on high alert. She wanted to kiss his tan skin and toned muscles. Her mind ran wild and she imagined running her hands over his biceps and kissing his lips. Her fingers itched to run through his dark brown hair that was getting long enough it was a bit wavy.
They had only slept together the one night of the Hundred Years Ball but she remembered every detail.
“There is a waterfall that you can control in this bathroom,” Finn said in wonder.
“Finn,” Tessa said, gesturing at his state of undress. It hurt to look at him, but she tried to make a joke. It was better than bursting into tears. Again. “If we’re not together, you can’t keep showing me the goods. It’s not fair.”
He looked down at himself. “What about you?”
Tessa glanced at the blue sundress. Doyle had provided her with a variety of clothes in her size. She didn’t like the panties and bra he had suggested she put on, so the dress was all she was wearing. They were too constricting, though she could see their use in a running or fighting situation. It seemed that Finn had noticed because his next words addressed this fact. “You’re not even wearing any of those underclothes they seem to like so much in this realm.”’
“How do you know?” Tess said, studying herself and wondering if the dress was maybe see-through and she hadn’t noticed.
“I can see your nipples,” he said, and his voice sounded strained. Oh that.
Not see-through then.
“Whatever. You have clean clothes in your backpack. Get dressed.” Tessa used her Captain of the Guard tone of voice. Then she went back to searching for the key that would make the mirror—the computer, she reminded herself—do its magic.
Ethan had explained that it was technology, not magic, but it seemed the same to Tess. She found the key she was looking for and pressed.
Finn didn’t say anything and the silence caught her attention. Tess looked up from the keyboard. He was still staring at her and there was desire in his eyes.
“Unless we’re going to be friends… with benefits?” she suggested, hoping against hope that he would go for it. English was such an interesting language. So many fascinating ways to say things.
“No, no,” Finn said, holding out one hand. “That would not be a good idea. I mean, it would be a very, very good idea. But no. No. We can’t. No.”
Tessa lifted her eyebrows. “That was a lot of no’s. You sure? We can be broken up and still… you know.” She knew it was a horrible idea and would only bring them more pain in the end. But if he was willing, she certainly wouldn’t say no.
Finn shook his head as if he were resisting the very Shadows themselves.
“No way, Tess. If we slept together again… No. I couldn’t.” He shook his head vehemently. “Shadows take me, but I want to, though.”
“Me too,” Tess said, standing up and meandering toward him where he still stood in one of the white towels the hotel provided. She longed to pull it off him. “You didn’t have a shower when we were at Ethan’s?”
He watched her approach.
“No. I only used the bathroom without the waterfall.”
“Shower,” Tess corrected him, stepping into his space.
“Shower,” he repeated. Then he swallowed as she ran a finger down his chest.
“Finn,” Tess said, needing him so much. “Please?”
She looked up into his brown eyes, begging without words. He squeezed his eyes shut with a groan, his muscles tightening. Then as if he had suddenly unleashed a beast, Finn’s arms were around her and his lips were crushing hers. He kissed her with all the longing that they hadn’t been able to remember when their memories were gone.
She responded immediately, pressing her body against his, her arms going around his neck. She opened her mouth to his, a burst of energy going through her entire body. He cupped a breast through the dress and she moaned.
Finn kissed along her neck and shoulder.
“Tess, this is a terrible idea,” he whispered.
“The worst,” she agreed with a gasp. “But please don’t stop.”
Chapter 21
Tess stared up at the ceiling of the hotel room they were staying in. As the bliss of being with Finn faded, the heartbreak came back with a vengeance. Why had she spoiled this? Why couldn’t they just go back to the way they had been? Why hadn’t she made a different choice?
Finn kissed her on the forehead and got up without a word. He grabbed his backpack and went into the bathroom. Tess sighed.
What a mess.
She shook her head, wrapping the sheet around her and going back to the magic mir—back to the computer. She sat down and peered at the screen where the results had popped up.
All the results were for some sort of game, except one that was for an online store that sold what looked to be pretend chalices. Ethan had explained how to make the computer tell her what she wanted to know. She needed to type in words that had to do with what she needed to find out.
Tess thought for a minute.
Then she typed search for ancient chalice. More game results. She needed to change the words.
Finn came out of the bathroom fully clothed but Tess didn’t look up. He stood behind her and read what she was typing.
“Tess, we need to talk about us.”
“Uh huh,” she said, only half listening as she tried to think what words would make the magic work.
She tried ancient cup. There were several articles about the Lycurgus cup that Tess thought might be references to the Chalice. But Tess knew that it was a golden-colored Chalice made from Starlight itself. That was why it turned water into Elixir—if there was enough ambient magic of course. And this cup was made of some special cool glass that changed color in the light.
But it wasn’t golden.
“We can’t keep doing this,” Finn said, pulling another chair over and sitting down.
“I know.”
She thought hard. She needed a different angle.
That was it. She needed to search for words that referred to how the Chalice could provide immortality. Because that was what these short-lived Starless ones would be most interested in.
“No, I mean it.”
“Sure. But I think it takes two to have sex.” She started to laugh.
“What are you laughing at?”
“That English word. Sex. It’s so weird.”
“Tessa, you’re not taking this conversation seriously.”
“Fine, sorry.” She turned to face him, still thinking about the word sex and how funny it sounded. It was better than thinking about how she and Finn were over and how much that hurt.
“I know it takes two,” Finn said, sounding annoyed.
“So, don’t sleep with me. It’s easy.” Tess spun her chair back to face the computer.
Finn muttered about it being more of a herculean effort but Tess wasn’t really listening.
She poked at the keys again and typed in chalice long life. This got her a lot of strange images of what appeared to be musicians and more results for games. What was with the humans and their games with chalices in them?
“Damn it all to hell,” Tess said, chuckling at the funny curses that came out when she wasn’t paying attention. Often, she and Finn still used faerie curse words but spoke them in English. Or sometimes in the faerie tongue. But if she wasn’t paying attention, the translation spell would translate her curses as well, which was always amusing. “What do you want me to type, you silly magic mirror?”
Finn sighed loudly. “Well, consider the fact that the Starless Ones wouldn’t believe that the Chalice exists,” Finn pointed out, giving up on talking about them, which was what Tessa wanted.
“Right. The humans don’t believe in magic because there’s so little here on the Earthly Realm.” Tessa nodded.
“Try searching using the words story or myth. If anyone’s been talking about the Chalice, the h
umans would think it’s just a story. Like a fairy tale.”
He snorted and Tess laughed out loud.
“Fairy tale,” she repeated, seriously amused at the Starless Ones and their beliefs. “Ridiculous.”
Finn got up and went to the table where they had put the food they had bought. She heard him rustling the bags, followed by the sound of him crunching something. On the air, she caught the scent of something absolutely delicious. These humans and their wonderful food. It was the most surprising thing about them. She had not expected everything to taste so great.
In the room next to theirs, the sound of another waterfall—shower—hit her ears. For half a second, she wished they could have stayed at Ethan’s. But that was foolish. No matter what he said, he wanted them gone. He wanted to go back to his life. He didn’t want to be saddled with two faeries on a quest. It was better that they were here. Even if it wasn’t nearly so opulent. It wasn’t like Tess and Finn needed anything more than the basics, after all.
Tessa thought for a moment, then tried myth chalice immortality.
The first result gave her a shiver down her spine. She clicked through and read the article. Then she read the next one and the next. They all referred to a Chalice or bowl that was reputed to confer immortality if you drank from it. There were some pretty crazy stories as well, but…
“Every lie has a grain of truth,” she said softly.
“What’s that?” Finn said, coming over with a crinkly bag made of something Ethan called plastic. He crunched down again and asked with his mouth full. “Did you find anything yet?”
“Maybe.” Tessa spun around on her chair to face him. “They have this myth about a famous object with magical powers here on the Earthly Realm.”
“Really?” Finn leaned over to peer at the screen.
“It’s almost as famous as the Scroll of Severance back home,” Tess told him.
“What does it do?”
“If you drink from it, you will stay young and live forever,” she told him, a triumphant smile on her face.
“Sounds a lot like Elixir,” Finn commented, shoving his hand inside the bag again.
“It does at that.”
He pulled out a thin piece of something. Holding out his hand, he offered it to her. She took it and popped it in her mouth, crunching on the crispy and salty snack.
“Oh yum. What’s that?”
“A chip,” he told her.
“There are some stories that say this cup or bowl is made of gold. Of course, the real Chalice is made of solidified Starlight, which is what gives it both its golden color and its power to change water into Elixir. It would be easy to mix up.”
“I wonder what happens if a human drinks Elixir,” Finn mused. “They’re not Faeries, so I bet it’s powerful enough—”
“To make them immortal,” Tess finished for him. “That’s what I was thinking.”
“So you think these stories are referring to the Chalice?”
“I think so,” Tess said, thinking that this technology was some amazing magic.
“And what do they call the Chalice here on the Earthly Realm?”
Tess turned to look at Finn, his handsome face giving her yet another pang of regret.
“The Holy Grail.”
Chapter 22
Tess wrapped the sheet more tightly around her body. The air conditioning made it cool in the hotel room they had rented with Ethan’s human money. She considered getting dressed but she was more interested in finding out about the Chalice than about being decent.
She could go for some supper, though. She was hungry after their lovemaking. She snorted as the phrase popped into her head. But she wasn’t hungry enough to leave her search. Not when, after five days on the Earthly Realm, they were finally getting somewhere.
“It says here that the Holy Grail was thought for a long time to be hidden somewhere in the middle East,” Finn said, scanning the article. “But there are a bunch of other ideas like Spain and Italy too. It looks like no humans really believe that the Holy Grail exists, it seems. Or if they do, they’re actually crazy.”
He clicked again and scanned the new page. “Whoa. This place in the middle east is wickedly hot. So are a lot of the places where it’s proposed to be. Very hot places.”
“Hotter than L.A.?” Tess said, unable to believe there was any place hotter than here. She had never been so uncomfortable since they had arrived on the Earthly Realm, except for their brief trip to Ireland, which had been much cooler.
As she thought about where they should start their search for the Chalice, the fact that it might be in a hot place struck her as wrong.
“No, no, that can’t be right,” Tess said, putting her hand to her mouth as she thought about it. She held the sheet in place with the other arm. “Not a hot place. Perdira said she and the King nearly froze to death in a snowstorm when he was hiding the Chalice. Or maybe she used the term blizzard? It has to be a cold place. Or a place that was once cold.”
Finn poked away at the keyboard much faster than she had, Tess noticed. When the results came up, he clicked and they both scanned the page. Then he searched again. And again.
“The weather has never gone below freezing in most of these places,” Finn said finally. “So I guess the Holy Grail is a dead end. The humans maybe have never heard about the Chalice.”
“I suppose.”
“And if Perdira knows what she’s talking about, and we have to assume she does, then they almost froze in a snowstorm. And if that’s true, then it’s highly unlikely that the King hid the Chalice in the middle east or this part of Europe.”
Tess held the sheet around her breasts and began to pace back and forth, trying to puzzle it out. The sheet dragged along behind her on the floor, making a soft shushing sound. Then a thought hit her and she stopped dead.
“What if the Chalice isn’t hidden where the humans think?” she said. “What if they got it wrong?”
“Uh, yeah, that seems very likely,” Finn said. “They’re human.”
“So, what if you looked for articles on the Holy Grail that say it’s in a cold place?”
“Hm, I could try,” he said. Finn worked away on the computer for over an hour while Tessa paced.
“Have you found anything?” she said finally, unable to stand listening to the keys clicking any longer.
“Well, I’ve searched for the Holy Grail with almost every place that has cold weather.”
“And?”
“Nothing. There are no articles that talk about the Holy Grail being anywhere cold so far that I could find. But I didn’t try North America yet.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?” Tess said, making a circling motion with her hand. “Try it. Try it.”
Finn gave her an annoyed look.
"You are the one who interrupted me," he pointed out. Then he hit a key and they both waited.
The first result was an article that had the title: Mad Archeologist says the Holy Grail is buried in Canada, despite little actual proof.
“How about that?” Tess breathed.
“Maybe the King didn’t hide the Chalice in the middle east, Tess,” Finn said, beaming at her. “He hid it right here in North America. And this Dr. Jayde Flett might just know where it is.”
Tessa had quickly thrown the sundress back on and was back beside Finn, staring at the computer. She put another chip in her mouth and crunched down. She had to give it to the Starless Ones. They definitely made delicious food.
“So, this archeologist,” Tess said.
“Jayde.”
“Cool name.”
“Very.”
“So she thinks that the Holy Grail is hidden in North America?” Tess said, reaching for another chip. Damn, these things were good.
“Yes,” Finn said in an excited voice. “She studied Medicine Wheels in North America for something called her Master’s degree. Then she did her Ph.D on the Holy Grail.”
“What’s a Medicine Wheel?” Tess aske
d.
“Well, in an archeological context—”
It was Tessa’s turn to interrupt. “In an archeological context?” she repeated in a mocking tone.
“These universal translators are the best.” Finn grinned, and Tess could almost forget for a moment that she had screwed up the best thing in her life.
Finn went on. “So, in an archeological context, as opposed to a spiritual or medicinal context, Medicine Wheels were constructed by the first humans who lived on this continent. And they mark…” Finn reached into her bag of chips and pulled out a handful.
“What?” Tess said, impatient to get doing something. “What do they mark?”
“Well, the humans aren’t sure,” Finn said, popping a chip into his mouth. “But some Starless Ones with a little more brain power are comparing this Medicine Wheel to Stonehenge.”
He indicated a picture of a field with a pile of rocks that was displayed on the screen.
“Stonehenge. Holy shit. That’s where we came through from Esper. That’s the place with the biggest concentration of magic on the Earthly Realm.”
“Exactly.” He pointed a chip at her as he continued explaining. “So these Medicine Wheels most likely mark what?”
“A place on Earth where the magic is more concentrated. Where the magic leaks through from Esper.” Tessa was bouncing on her chair, she was so excited.
“Right. The perfect place to hide the Chalice.”
They both crunched for a moment, thinking about this.
“The rest of her colleagues think she’s nuts, of course,” Finn said, gesturing at the screen.
“Nuts?” Tess laughed. “That food we ate yesterday?”
Finn ignored her. “Her colleagues think she’s crazy and she even got fired from her position at the University of Toronto. I mean, it says she stepped down but that was right after she published her article on the Holy Grail actually being hidden in Canada.”
“Wait, so nobody believes that she’s right?”
“No humans.”
“That’s great,” Tess said, clapping her hands. “Then there’ll be nobody to interfere with us.”