“No we don’t,” Bastian stopped him, his brow lowering slightly the way it always seemed to when the subject of his parents entered the conversation. “Telling them we wished to visit would do nothing but raise questions that we are not prepared to answer. As their son, I am inviting you all to the cottage as my guests. Nothing more is needed.”
Jocelyn didn’t look thrilled, but he nodded. “All right. Though I take it this also means you do not intend to tell them you are assisting us?”
“No.”
“I am willing to respect the fact that you are an adult and capable of making your own decisions, but I must say that I am not entirely comfortable making an arrangement of this nature with you behind the backs of your parents. Particularly when I know they would not approve.”
Bastian’s brow darkened. “With all due respect, there is little they do approve of. I understand that my joining with you on this project may put you in an uncomfortable situation, but I’m afraid I must insist that my parents, or anyone else for that matter, not find out that I am involved. My security, and more importantly that of my brother, rests on my position within the Bhunaidh which would be damaged beyond repair if I were to be in any way connected to investigations into Darragh.”
“Then I suppose it’s fortunate,” Jocelyn said, “that as a competent and legal adult, your decisions are your own, and I have no business interfering.”
Bastian’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Thank you,” he said sincerely.
After a few more minutes of logistical discussion including the decision to tell Mr Anderson to meet us at the cottage with Chloe the following day instead of coming all the way to the manor and risk being seen by the wrong people, Bastian commented that we had all been missing from our respective events for far too long and should get back before anyone took notice. He left to make a belated appearance at the youth reception while Jocelyn, Cormac, and Alex were late to play cards and have drinks with the other men in one of the upper lounges. Having no intention of going back to the reception I’d run away from earlier, I made an excuse about being tired and asked if I could just go back to my room and go to bed. Thankfully, Jocelyn agreed without giving me any grief and I turned to go, but stopped as Alex spoke up for what may have been the first time that evening.
“I’ll walk her back so she isn’t seen skipping the social,” he said, with a weird severity to his tone I could tell he was trying to hide.
“Not a bad idea,” Cormac said.
Jocelyn nodded his agreement. “We’ll be in the north lounge,” he told Alex as he followed Cormac up the staircase.
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Alex said, and we stepped off down the hallway together.
I eyed him suspiciously as we made our way toward the main hallway, trying to figure out what was going on. As soon as we rounded the corner and I saw that there was no one nearby to overhear, I opened my mouth to ask what was up. But as it happened, he beat me to the punch. “OK, what the hell is going on?”
“What?” I asked, taken aback. I had never seen him that irritated before. “What’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter?” He eyed me like I’d lost it. “Seriously? Bastian, Becca, that’s what’s the matter! Not eight hours ago we were hiding in a hallway, following him around like a couple of second-rate spies, all because
you
were convinced he was the root of all evil, and now all of a sudden not only do you bring him in to join us, but you are vouching for him to Jocelyn? What happened?”
“Right,” I grimaced, starting to walk again. “Sorry, I should have caught you up. You’re right, this morning I did think he was evil, and trust me after you left it got a while lot worse before it got better, but it turns out that I might have been wrong… about some stuff, anyway. Though,” I raised my chin, “I was right about him being the one who went to school with me, just… you know… for the record.” The cock of his eyebrows told me he was not amused so I pressed on. “Anyway, yes, this morning I was convinced he was up to no good, but we talked tonight and it turns out that we actually have a lot in common.”
“You were talking? Where, at the reception? Did anyone hear you?”
“No, no we were alone.”
He blinked. “Alone?”
“He,” I paused with a wince, knowing I was going to get in trouble for this one, “he kind of saved me earlier. See, I left the reception because of this bitchy chick – long story – anyway, I was hiding out in a hall and Bastian came sneaking down it acting all shady and whatnot, so I… kind of… followed him.”
“
Becca!
”
“I know, I know, I shouldn’t have gone without you, but you weren’t there, and he was snooping around, and I was already in a bad mood… Anyway, it turned out that Bastian was actually sneaking around to spy on Doyle and McGary who almost caught me, but Bastian was able to grab me and port us both to his room before they saw us. Then we started talking, and I realized that I may have been wrong about him – not about what he was doing, but why he was doing it.”
He eyed me sideways. “Is that supposed to make it OK? The fact that not only did you nearly get caught eavesdropping on two of Darragh’s spies, but then you and Bastian had some quality alone time in his bedroom? Oh yeah, I feel much better…”
“Oh, come on,” I rolled my eyes, “you know it wasn’t that kind of ‘alone time.’” As we reached my door I took his arm and turned him to face me, taking both his hands in mine. “Hey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone snooping without you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.”
“I’m sorry,” I said again.
“And?” he prompted lifting an eyebrow.
“And… I love you?” I smiled innocently, not sure what he was after.
“And,” he said, sternly though with the slightest trace of a grin, “you won’t do it again. And,” he added, quickly putting a finger on my lips before I could speak, “you are going to
mean
it when you say it this time.”
“
I weant it wast wime!
” I mumbled against his finger.
“Obviously it slipped your mind,” he glared with a grin, freeing my lips.
I sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again, I swear.”
He nodded, satisfied. “And I love you too,” he said, pulling me in and kissing me sweetly.
I mmphed softly as the kiss ended, the fuzzy feeling in my stomach brushing away all the remnants of the thousand and one unpleasant emotions that had come at me over the past few hours and replacing them all with a warm and drowsy calm. I looked up expecting to find Alex back to normal as well, but something about him still seemed a little off.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, wrapping my hands around his waist and joining my hands together behind his back.
He hesitated a breath before answering. “So this Bastian, you really believe we can trust him?”
“Much as I hate being wrong,” I said, “yeah, I do. He’s actually not such a bad guy, and it really does seem like he’s going to be able to help us. Even if he is occasionally annoying,” I added more to myself. Alex nodded but didn’t seem convinced – if anything he may have seemed worse. “It will be fine,” I tried again, willing him to believe me, “trust me.”
“I do,” he said with a bit more gravity than I would have expected.
“You know,” I said coyly, trying to lighten the mood, “Jocelyn and Cormac are in the lounge…” I left my thought hanging as I slid my hands around his sides and up his chest letting them finish my not-so-subtle hint for me.
Alex smiled, pulling me closer. “They are, but they are also expecting me.”
“Right.”
Damn…
“You couldn’t come up with an excuse?”
“If I did, do you really think Jocelyn would buy it after what happened last night?”
“No,” I grumbled, deflated. “This isn’t working out as well as I thought it would.”
“No, definitely not,” he agreed, rubbing my upper arms. “But don’t worry, we still have plenty of time.”
“Yeah.” Though it was starting to look as if the likelihood of this actually happening was shrinking by the day…
He took my face in his hands and kissed me once more, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “Goodnight, Leannán,” he breathed against my mouth sending a fire ripping though me that made me wish with all my might that everyone else on earth could find a way to just disappear for the next few hours.
But of course they didn’t, so of course he had to go, and yet again I was left to crawl under the covers wishing my enormous bed didn’t feel so empty.
CHAPTER 18
The fog hadn’t even lifted the following morning before Jocelyn, Alex, and I pulled up to the Bloch family cottage in County Offlay. Cormac had stayed behind to keep up appearances, and Bastian had made his own way separately to ward off suspicion, so it had just been the three of us on what had turned out to be a peaceful morning drive. Jocelyn and Alex had ridden up front listening to the radio and talking idly about a few of the men they’d seen at the card games the night before, while I spent the trip stretched out across the backseat, enjoying the loud hum of the engine as it tried to lull me to sleep. But relaxing as the ride might have been, the moment I saw the white St Brigid’s van waiting for us in front of the cottage, I knew the peace and quiet was over.
“Becca!” Chloe squealed, running up and throwing her arms around me the moment I stepped out of the car. “I missed you so much!”
“It’s been two days, Chloe,” I laughed, hugging her back, not wanting to admit out loud how much I’d missed her too.
“I know, I’m just so excited! I can’t even tell you how happy I was when Mr Anderson told me!” she beamed, starting to ramble. “It wasn’t even difficult to wake up so early this morning, which you know I usually hate, but I was so excited I didn’t mind at all, I was even awake before my alarm sounded, which never happens! I only hope I brought the right clothes with me, I was worrying over it the entire drive out, but you can tell me what to wear since you’ve been here a while and have seen what they’ve been wearing, I mean I know I won’t really get to meet anyone so it really doesn’t matter, but still…”
“Take a breath, hon,” I laughed, as I wriggled out of the death grip her arms held around my neck.
Alex cleared his throat deliberately from just behind us where he stood leaning against the car. “
Why hello, Alex
,” he said with a wry smile, beginning a mock conversation with himself. “Good morning Chloe.
It’s nice to see you.
Good to see you too…”
“Hi Alex!” Chloe giggled. “Missed you too!”
“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I can see that.”
“No, I have! I’ve missed you all; Lorcan has been so boring these past few days! But you’ve been having fun, right? Is Adare amazing? Oh my gosh, what are your rooms like? I bet you’ve met loads of people! How was the gala?”
“We can get to all that on the way back, I promise,” I grinned, “but for now, you’ve got work to do.”
Chloe’s eyes opened wider as a whole new sort of excitement lit them. “Do you really need me to time walk for you? Is that honestly why I’m here, so I can help?”
“Something like that,” Jocelyn cut in, “though you won’t be walking so much as lending your ability to us and teaching.”
Lending? Teaching? “Whoa,” I said, getting a strange feeling I knew where this was headed. “What do you mean?”
“Chloe is here so she can instruct you on how to use her ability,” he looked at me calmly, “so that you can get us what we need.”
My stomach dropped along with my jaw. “Wait,
I
have to do this? You can’t be serious! We can’t trust something this important to me; I’ve never time walked before! I thought I was just going to feed her ability like I did for you.”
Jocelyn shook his head. “She won’t be able to handle that kind of power. It’s no insult to you, dear,” he said turning to Chloe, “even I had trouble controlling it. It wouldn’t be safe.”
“Don’t worry, it’s easy,” Chloe glowed, obviously just happy to be of service. “I can teach you. It will be fun!”
I smiled and nodded, but from the corner of my eye I locked glances with Alex for just a fraction of a second, which was all it took.
“Chloe, while we’re waiting, let’s get your stuff moved into the car.”
“OK,” she said happily, leading him over to the van.
“
Thank you
,” I mouthed.
He winked quickly before following Chloe, allowing me to slip over to Jocelyn and pull him aside without her noticing.
“What is going on here?” I whispered to him as we stepped off to the side. “I know she isn’t exactly the strongest Walker out there, but this wasn’t the plan.”
“This
was
the plan.”
“You never said that!”
“I didn’t want you to worry,” he said, still annoyingly calm, “or worse, find a Walker within the Bhunaidh and attempt to practice before we got here.”
“I wouldn’t have done that!” I totally would have done that.
“Well, I apologize, but I wasn’t willing to risk it. The fact is, we need a powerful Walker we trust. Chloe is more than trustworthy, but she lacks the strength we need. You have both.”
Not sure whether I should be flattered he had so much faith in my abilities, or insulted that he kept the plan from me to begin with, I moved on to the big issue which he was clearly overlooking. “Thanks for the vote of confidence and all, but what exactly do you expect me to do? If I assume the Walking ability from her, then I can only be as strong as she is, and if you don’t think she could do it on her own, why would I be… any… different…” I tapered as the answer occurred to me and I looked to find confirmation written on his face. Of course, I should have realized – I
was
different. Sure, what I’d said was true; I was only ever as powerful in any ability as the person I assumed it from. However, there was one substantial exception to that rule that I hadn’t considered until right then. “The Iris.”
Jocelyn nodded. “I asked Mr Anderson to bring it with him. With that, you will have the power of a full Time Walker and then some.”
“That might be true in theory, but you seem to be forgetting that I have no idea how to use the thing!”
“You’ve used it before.”
“Oh yeah, and that turned out great…” Ciaran’s secrets or no, I wasn’t in the mood for yet another near-death experience.
“The only times it has harmed you were when you were not wearing your scaith, and…” he gestured to the large emerald charm hanging against my chest, “you are. You will need to learn to use the Iris eventually, and there is no reason we can’t start today.”
“Nothing like a little on the job training…” I mumbled, not at all loving this idea.
“Besides,” Jocelyn said, leading us back over toward the others, “a Time Walker is the perfect ability to learn with. It is a subtle power and is entirely enclosed to the user. You are the only one who will be able to see or hear any of the effects from the walking, which means there is no chance of injuring anyone if something goes wrong.”
“Even Chloe?”
“Not even Chloe. But if it would make you feel better, I will monitor her while you are walking, to be safe.”
I’m not sure that “better” was really the word, but it did make me feel at least a little less like a potential wrecking ball, so I nodded.
“Where’s the Bloch lad?” Anderson asked as we joined him by the van. “Didn’t he come out with you?”
“He drove separately and had to stop by the housekeeper’s home in Durrow for the key, but he should be along shortly.”
“He’s here,” I corrected, turning to look down the road in the direction of the approaching ability I felt.
“You’re sure it’s him?” Anderson asked.
“Unless there is another Porter who followed us out here, then yes.” Though given the interest in Ciaran, I guess nothing was impossible.
But thankfully it was him, and a moment later he was stepping out of a ridiculously cool black sports car, tucking his sunglasses into the inner pocket of his jacket like some slow-motion shot out of an action movie. But that ever, I was not about to let myself be impressed by this guy.
But God damn, that was a cool car…
“Gentlemen,” Bastian said, nodding to Jocelyn and Alex as he approached.
“Any trouble?” Jocelyn asked.
“Not at all,” he said, pulling a key ring out of his pocket. “I was able to get away this morning without anyone realizing, and I told the housekeeper that my mother was in need of a few books from the office here. All’s well.”
“Good. Bastian,” Jocelyn motioned to Mr Anderson, “this is Christopher Anderson, another of our associates.”
Mr Anderson took Bastian’s hand and shook it heartily. “Good to meet you, lad.”
“Pleasure,” Bastian smiled.
“He was kind enough to bring us our Walker,” Jocelyn said as he turned to Chloe, “Miss Chloe Quinn. Chloe, this is Mr Bastian Bloch. His family owns this property.”
Bastian took Chloe’s hand and bowed over it politely, and again, his stuck up air seemed to be gone, replaced by charm that seemed to be working on Chloe, but I for one found annoying. “It is lovely to meet you, Miss Quinn.”
“Thank you,” Chloe answered with a coy tilt of her head.
Ugh… Come on Chloe, don’t get sucked in to his crap…
“Shall we then?” Jocelyn asked stepping off toward the house as the rest of us followed behind, though Chloe took a bit longer to move.
“I like your car,” she said to Bastian, still blushing.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ve had it about a year now.”
“It’s lovely…”
I grabbed Chloe’s shoulders and physically turned her away from Bastian and the car. “Let’s go Chloe,” I groaned, guiding her toward the house. “Trust me, his ego doesn’t need it,” I told her, glaring back at Bastian when he chuckled, which only made him laugh harder. Jerk.
We made our way up to the cottage door, though I had to admit, the word “cottage” was a bit misleading. Yeah, the stone walls and ivy gave it a country sort of feel, but when I thought of a “cottage” I pictured something more like what Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma would have lived in, not a two story building that could have comfortably housed a family of six or more. Once inside it looked even less like what one would find in the country, with a state of the art kitchen, modern electronics including a huge flat screen TV in the living area, and fireplace with a pushbutton starter. Not going to lie, I’d have been more than happy to spend the last few weeks of my life in a place like this.
As Bastian led us from room to room, Jocelyn looked over everything carefully, until finally we reached a bedroom on the upper level and he stopped. “This is it,” Jocelyn said. “This was the room he was in during the memory I saw. It is arranged a bit differently, but I recognize the book case and the window. This is the one.”
“OK,” I said, glancing around. “Now what?”
“Now,” Jocelyn said, looking between Chloe and me, “I think we should do a practice run. Start with something simple just to get a feel for it, and we can go on from there.”
“Oh,” Chloe said, hearing her cue and stepping up next to me. “OK, well, first thing we need is a date to visit.” She stood perfectly still for a moment, her eyes glazing over slightly. “Hmmm…” she said after a long pause. “I’m trying to find a date for you to try, but all the days I keep checking are the same and no one is here. There is nothing for you to see.”
“The house is empty most of the time,” Bastian said from the corner. “Try a Monday – that is when the housekeeper is supposed to be here.”
Chloe’s eyes glassed over. “Ah,” she said after a moment, “there she is. OK, Becca, what you need to do is… I guess you’d… hmm…”
“Yes?”
“I’m not sure, I suppose you’d start the way you always start.” She motioned back and forth between us, trying to make her point.
I reached out with my ability and joined it with hers. “Done.”
“Do you feel anything?” she asked.
“Not really, but then I never do.”
She pursed her lips, looking a bit unsure. “All right… Well, what I do is think of the date in a certain way, and then that day will appear in place of everything you see now. It will become the only thing you can see.”
“What do you mean by ‘a certain way’?”
“I… don’t really know. I just… it’s like…” She bit her lip, thinking.
“Take your time,” Jocelyn said as she struggled for the right words.
“Aye, it’s not easy, is it?” Anderson said. “I couldn’t describe how to impart for the life of me.”
That gave me an idea. I’d become good at Imparting and to do that all I had to do was think the words I wanted to say and direct them through the ability I was assuming. Maybe the date thing would work the same way.
“What was the date?” I asked Chloe. “Let me try something.”
“The second of October this year.”
With a long breath I pictured the date in my mind, forcing the thought through the bright hazy glow of mine and Chloe combined abilities, and suddenly everything around me began to change. It was almost as if the world were made of tiny tiles, each one flipping over in a rippling wave then realigning themselves to reveal a similar but still very different image of the room I was in. Jocelyn, Alex, and everyone else who had been crammed in the space a second ago disappeared, and the door which we had shut behind us now appeared to stand open. There was a broom and dustpan leaning against the right-hand wall that had not been there before, and a portly woman in high-waisted jeans and faded sweatshirt suddenly stood at my shoulder, spraying cleaner on the window that was right behind me, and scared the ever-loving out of me.
“Oh!” I yelped as I stumbled backwards. And then in a flash, it was all gone. The woman, the broom, the open door, all vanished leaving me tripping backwards into the desk, everything in the room back to the way it was when I’d started.
An instant later the room erupted with questions as five pairs of hands shot toward me.
“Becca?”
“Whoa there, lass!”
“What just happened?”
“Are you all right?”
“You saw it, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” I said to the last question, as I regained my balance. “I saw it… or I saw something. There was a woman cleaning the window…”
“Yes!” Chloe beamed, clapping her hands excitedly. “That was it! You did it!”
“And on the first try too,” Mr Anderson commented. “Well done!”
“It wasn’t too hard,” I told them. “It was actually a lot like Imparting. But what happened?” I turned to Chloe. “Why did everything just vanish like that? I mean, I was scared when I saw her so close, but it only caught me off guard, I didn’t break our connection or anything.”
Chloe looked down, her face falling a bit. “Sorry, that’s my fault.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You moved your foot when you stumbled. I can’t move while I time walk, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
“Any move at all of your foot will do it. You can move just about anything else – your arms, your head, your waist – just so long as your feet don’t move.”
“Got it,” I smiled, feeling guilty for having brought up her shortcomings in front of so many people. “Let’s go again.”
For the next few minutes I tested my new ability, picking different dates, then moved on to learning how to choose the time of day, though Chloe’s lack of power made that part a bit more difficult. Finally, I came back to the present time, feeling more comfortable and even enjoying myself, but the fun wasn’t to last. Much as I was still dreading the task ahead, I knew I couldn’t put it off any longer.