“Probably. But luckily, Ciaran intervened before I was forced to find out.”
Immediately my ears perked up. “Wait, Ciaran Shea?”
Bastian nodded. “He’d had a vision of my yet-to-be-arranged meeting and was able to stop me before I did anything foolish.”
“So you knew Ciaran?”
“I did. That’s why when I found out that you were looking into him, I realized that we might be of use to one another.”
“How did you find out about that?” I asked with a squint.
“Steven told me.”
“He ratted me out? He promised not to tell anyone!”
Oh, he was so dead…
“Well, as far as Steven is concerned I’m not ‘anyone.’ And just so you’re aware, he only told me after he came to your gallant defense. He gave me quite an earful for yelling at you the way I did.”
“Good,” I raised my eye brows, “you deserved it.”
“Maybe,” he allowed, a smile twisting his cheeks. “But I think we’ve gotten a bit off topic.”
My glare turned wry. “I happen to be enjoying this topic, but if you insist, go on.”
“Thank you,” he clipped, a smile hiding in his eyes. “So as I said, Ciaran had a vision and came to see me. In exchange for not informing my parents about what I’d been planning to do, Ciaran insisted I tell him what was going on. When I explained what I’d wanted from Darragh and why, he told me that if I was willing to allow him, he could help.”
“Help Steven?”
“Help me to help Steven, yes, but not in the way I’d expected. He explained that not only was my attempt to cut a deal with Darragh reckless, it would also have been futile as only Holders can assume abilities taken from others. The new ability actually bonds to the one the person was born with, thus if there is no ability already present, the new ability has no way to be absorbed.”
“Ciaran knew how to steal abilities? I thought Darragh was the only one who knew how it was done.”
“So did I, but it turned out that Ciaran was the one who first told Darragh it could be done, though he didn’t know how, nor did he realize the lengths Darragh would go to in order to make it a reality.”
“So Ciaran and Darragh actually knew each other?”
“Quite well from what I understand. Darragh had a talent for seeking out the most powerful Holders and keeping them close, and Ciaran was one of the most gifted Seers to have ever lived. There was a time when the two of them worked closely together, Darragh giving Ciaran a home, protection, and anything else he may have needed, while in return Ciaran kept Darragh appraised of all his visions and prophecies. Their arrangement remained for decades – until the day when Ciaran shared a vision which prompted Darragh to single-handedly kill every member of his own bloodline.”
My stomach turned. “Darragh killed his own family? All of them? Just because of something Ciaran said?”
Bastian nodded slowly. “Every last one.”
Dear God…
“What was it?” I asked, trying to hide my fear under the far less vulnerable emotions of shock and abhorrence. “What did Ciaran see? What could make a man – even a man like Darragh – do that to their own family?”
“I don’t know. Ciaran never told me, but I do know he carried the guilt of it to his grave.” He paused a moment looking away, and I had to wonder just how close the two of them had been. I could have asked, but as it wasn’t really the time, I sat quietly until he turned back and continued. “That was when he finally left Darragh and came to us – or to my grandparents, I should say, as it was long before I was born. He told them he wished to join with the Bhunaidh, and considering that his bloodline was pure and the fact that they enjoyed the idea of finally having a Seer among their ranks, they welcomed him onto the fold.”
“And Darragh never came after him?”
“Honestly, that is the part I have never understood. There was no doubt that Darragh knew where Ciaran was, but anytime I would ask him about it, all he would ever say was, ‘Darragh and I have an understanding.’ Yet despite the ‘understanding,’ Ciaran seemed to constantly be on edge, forever looking over his shoulder. Most people attributed it to simple paranoia or assumed he was beginning to lose his mind to his ability as was so common with Seers, but the truth was he knew he was being watched.”
“But if he was so paranoid,” I asked, my skepticism rearing up again, “why did he trust you enough to tell you all this?”
“Because, as mentioned earlier, he wanted to help me. I’ll admit that at first it seemed odd even to me, but then I began to see how similar we really were and wondered if he saw it as well. He’d been watching the situation with Steven and saw how much it had changed me. He knew that I’d come to see the Bhunaidh way of life for the hollow sham that it was, but like him, could not risk leaving the measure of protection it provided. Maybe it was what he saw of his own struggles within me, or perhaps it was to help allay some of his underlying guilt for the deaths he felt he caused, I’m not sure. But whatever the reason, he decided to take it upon himself to show me that if I truly wanted to help Steven have a better life, lashing out and fighting was not the way. The collective mindset of the Bhunaidh was one that had been too long standing and rigidly formed to be broken, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t twist and manipulate it from within. In other words, he taught me to play the game.”
“The game?”
“This,” he waved his hand around the room, “them, all if it. It’s a game. Say the right things and play by the rules; you win. Say the wrong things or step out of bounds; you lose. Simple as that. Ciaran convinced me that if I acted the part and became who they expected me to be, that I would be able to reassume my standing in Bhunaidh society, and that using that standing to my advantage would be my true power. I was skeptical at first, but as I had nowhere else to turn, I decided it was worth a try. After talking with Steven and making sure he was agreeable to this new approach, I swallowed my disgust and assumed the mantle of a true Bhunaidh. I retook my place at my parents’ side, mirrored the pride and contempt that everyone around me seemed to wear like a second skin, and – at least while in public – began treating Steven the way everyone else did. My parents remember it simply as the day I ‘returned to my senses,’ when little did they know it was actually the day I finally took control. Control I used to convince my parents to allow Steven back into the private academy we’d both attended, because it was ‘just so embarrassing to be without him and let all the other students know that he was no longer worthy.’”
“And that worked?”
“I’d begged my parents to let him stay when they pulled him out just after his failed Awakening, and they had barely heard me. But one single mention of being embarrassed for my family name, and lo-and-behold, Steven was immediately reenrolled. That was when I realized that Ciaran had been right and that true power lay not in fighting my position, but using it.”
“OK… I get that, but how did all this lead to you sneaking around hallways and eavesdropping through keyholes? Not to mention land you in my math class?”
“It started out as simply a way to try to help Ciaran. He was convinced that there were several members of the Bhunaidh that were secretly informants of Darragh, so I decided to look into it so that I could help put his mind at ease. However, the more I learned, the more it became apparent that not only was Ciaran correct, but that the informants were actually using Bhunaidh resources to help Darragh’s operations. They provided him information from the archives when needed, even stealing volumes on occasion, and of course they kept a tight watch on Ciaran for him. There were also times when they acted as middle men, often meeting with other of Darragh’s spies and relaying information back and forth.”
“Kind of smart, really,” I mused to myself. “I mean it’s no secret that you all don’t exactly like getting your hands dirty when it comes to Darragh. No one would have looked twice for spies here.”
“A fact I’m sure they have counted on,” he agreed. “Being both outraged that these men were getting away with betraying their entire race to a madman, and excited that I had finally found some way I could truly be of use to someone, I made espionage something of a hobby. Any time that was not spent away at school, I did my best to attend as many gatherings and functions as possible, make as many visits to the individual men’s homes, and did anything else I could manage to learn as much as possible. My hope was that if anything serious were to be plotted, I would hear enough about it to remain one or two steps ahead and be able to prevent any sort of disaster. It was slow going at first and there were some very near misses – though none quite as near as the one I just rescued you from,” he chuckled.
“You did not
rescue
me, you abducted me,” I corrected, not about to be looked at as some damsel in distress.
“But once I got the hang of it,” he continued, acknowledging my protest with nothing more than a snarky grin, “and began to incorporate my porting, I actually became quite good. But despite my growing proficiency, oftentimes, there simply wasn’t much to be learned. Then finally, I received my big break. It was the thing that I was sure would put me ten steps ahead of everyone including Darragh, and oddly enough, it didn’t come from, as you say, sneaking around halls and listening at keyholes, but from Ciaran, and was given quite by accident. He and I were discussing the Black Iris one afternoon, and he happened to mention something about the person destined to awaken it – a person he quite clearly referred to… as
she
.”
“Ciaran knew about me…” I whispered, only realizing after the words were out that I probably shouldn’t have confirmed it and instead played dumb. “How?”
“A vision, most likely. When I asked about it he denied having said it, but the look on his face was as good as a confession.”
“Is that how you found out where I was? Did he know that too?”
He nodded. “At first he wouldn’t say, claiming it was for both your safety and mine, but when I learned from one of my many bouts of eavesdropping that one of your father’s most trusted associates was yet another of Darragh’s informants, Ciaran became worried that you and your brother may be in danger. He couldn’t risk sending word to your father when there was a traitor so near him, nor could he go to check on you himself as it would call too much attention to the situation. I, on the other hand, was about to leave for my next semester of school anyway, and with some careful planning, would not be missed. With both Ciaran and Steven’s help, things fell quickly into place, and before I knew it I was in the States attending high school.”
“You were where?” I asked, making a show of leaning in.
“In school with you.”
I put a hand to my ear dramatically. “I’m sorry, one more time…”
“In Moon Area High School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, attending your classes as Brian Connor,” he said, eyeing me exasperated. “Satisfied?”
“Marginally,” I nodded. “Go on.”
“The plan was to assess the situation, then come home and decide how to proceed, but it was about that time that Ciaran began to fall ill.” He paused, looking down at his hands. “He died while I was away. When I came home I was on my own. I didn’t know what to do or who I could trust, so did the only thing I could – I waited. Waited for a chance to share what I knew with the right people, while in the meantime make sure nothing bad happened that I could prevent. I hadn’t expected the opportunity to fall at my door the way it did, but when Steven told me what you said earlier, I knew this was what I had been waiting for.”
When he stopped, I knew I should probably speak, but I didn’t know what to say. I just looked at him, one last time waiting for a flash of falsehood or some other sign that he was working me over, but yet again, all I found looking back at me was sincerity that was as irritating as it was genuine. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through the last two days?” I asked after a moment.
“I know.”
“No, you don’t know! Don’t tell me you know! I have been going out of my mind! Do you realize I called my mother to have her try to look you up in my yearbook just so I could prove to myself and everyone else that I wasn’t crazy?”
“I didn’t take a picture–”
“I know!” I growled, taking a few deep breaths as I reined my anger back in. “What exactly do you want?”
“I want to help,” he said. “I know things that can get you the answers you need.”
“Why? What do you get out of it? And don’t say something stupid like, ‘it’ll be fun’ or ‘because I’m bored.’ This is a serious matter, and I want a serious answer.”
He looked me right in the eye and didn’t flinch once. “I will be able to do what I can to make sure that Ciaran’s work isn’t used to cause more destruction or death than he believes it already has. He lived too much of his life in shame for what his visions brought to pass, and I won’t allow his work to fall into the hands of the one man he sought to keep it from.”
I sat there as the desire to believe and the desire to keep hating him wrestled in me like two bears fighting over one cave. The real problem was that as I looked into his calm yet slightly tentative expression, I knew that one of those bears was right and the other one was just being stubborn and petty. Much as I may not have liked it, this man was serious and more than that, he just might have the answers we needed; in which case, there was only one way this could end. I stood up, looked hard at his still seated form one last time, then offered him my hand. Following me to his feet, he glanced down at my waiting palm and smiled, taking it into his own and shaking it.
“I still don’t like you,” I grumbled, not willing to surrender totally.
“You don’t have to. You just have to be willing to give me a chance. And who knows,” he grinned as that playfully cocky glint came back into his eye, “you may find I’m not so bad once you get to know me.”
“Yeah, not likely,” I scoffed. “And just so you know, I’m not the only one who matters here. There are some other people we need to go talk to who may or may not kick you to the curb, so just keep that in mind.”
“Well, I suppose there is no time like the present to find out. Shall we go and speak to them?” he asked, turning toward the door and offering me his arm.