Brothers: Legacy of the Twice-Dead God (68 page)

“Hello, Seth,” he said without turning
around. “Your father sure knew how to pick his women. Olivia is
beautiful.”

“I’ve always thought so,” I said, coming over
to stand beside him. “Is this going to help her?” I watched as he
tugged gingerly on a strand of energy in her aura, shifting it into
a position within the Pact spell.

“Most likely,” he said. “I’m surprised you
hadn’t already done this.”

“I’ve only known about the Pact and magic for
about a month now,” I said defensively. “Since Ehran came into my
life, actually.”

He looked at me with a surprised expression.
“So you were a null?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “We found evidence of me doing
some things as a child, then my parents did something and hid that
part of the world from me. We don’t know why yet.”

“And you haven’t wanted to press her quite
yet. Understandable,” he said, nodding. “What happened to her?”

“She was tortured by a mad man for months,” I
said. My voice was hollow from the memory of hearing her crash onto
the table in front of Cahill.

“And what happened to him?” he asked in a
whisper.

“I killed him.”

“I’m sure it was too clean a death,” he said,
his voice breaking on the last word.

“Maybe,” I said. “But I’m not him.”

I looked down at Lucian, slumped in the chair
trembling. He was a good man who’d been put through Hell and he
really needed to rest and recuperate. He also needed to feel needed
when the rest of his world was gone.

“Lucian, that’s enough for today,” I said,
putting my hand on his shoulder. “You need to rest. There’s always
tomorrow. My mother isn’t going anywhere for a while and neither
are you. Once you’re up and about, you can decide what you want to
do.”

Lucian snorted. “Want to do? There’s nothing
for me to do. Everyone I know is gone. Am I to wander an empty
world?”

“No,” I said, squatting beside his chair,
putting my hand on his knee. “Look, Luke, I don’t want to diminish
your loss in likening the two of us too strongly, but we are in
somewhat similar situations. Seven months ago, I thought the same
thing except I was in a world full of people that didn’t want me
around and some were trying to kill me. I didn’t know what to do
besides stand there and take it. When Ehran came into my life and
offered to help, things changed. I changed. I had options that
weren’t there before. A whole lot more trouble came with that, but
I had something to strive for. And that got me my mother back.
Along the way, I found some friends and discovered some enemies.
You’re part of the way through that; you’ve got some friends, Luke.
With time, we’ll find out who’s done this and make them pay.”

I’d stolen parts of that speech from Kieran,
but I didn’t think he’d mind the plagiarism as long as it helped.
Lucian’s eyes welled up in tears and his body shuddered in sobs. I
reached up and pulled him into my shoulder as much as our positions
would allow. I made some minor adjustments to his screening as I
held him, blocking my mother from his grief and misery and allowing
the staff to sense his presence. He needed to feel and work through
the emotions, so I made no effort to manipulate him beyond simple
human contact and consolation. I would have made a total muck up of
it if I’d tried anything else anyway.

Someone came in behind us and set a bowl of
hot water and some towels on the table then stepped out quietly. It
was about ten minutes before Lucian finally pulled away to compose
himself. I thought it was too soon but I didn’t argue. I wrung out
a towel in the basin for him and gave him a box of tissues, slowly
easing him out of Mother’s room. Lucian had deepened her sleep when
he started his manipulations on the cache, but she was returning to
normal levels and I didn’t want to wake her unnecessarily. He eased
himself into the hallway while he dried his face with another towel
and I followed him out.

“You know, if you think you can’t sleep, you
could come with me and listen to the politicking I’m being forced
to listen to,” I offered. “It’s just about put me to sleep, maybe
it’ll help you.”

“Really?” he asked, looking up at me. He
seemed really surprised. “You’re not going to keep me holed up
someplace?”

“Why would we do that?”

“I’m the Librarian,” he said as if that were
an answer that would split the heavens.

“And at the moment, I’m the library,” I
responded. “I think we can do pretty much whatever we want at this
point. Come on.”

We stopped in the front room long enough to
tell the orderly where we were going then took off for downstairs.
I coached Lucian on whom he’d meet and the facts we’d told each. It
was actually quite easy since he knew the names and relationships
already through the Pact’s network of spies and reports. John was
folding a newspaper and standing when we entered the main hall. His
timing was perfect as he met us at the door to the observatory.

“Beverages are available inside,” he said
cordially as he opened to the door. “Would you care for anything to
eat, Lucian?”

“Um, no, thank you for asking, though,”
answered Lucian. He was startled by the question. I muttered thanks
to John as we passed in, but Lucian stopped me just as the door
shut behind us, whispering, “Everyone told me that this world was
brusque and rude, but these people…”

“Oh,” I said, understanding his confusion. “A
lot of it is. Trust me, it gets worse, but the Cahills are friends
and are taking good care of us. They know how to be nice.”

Shrank was the first to notice us. He flew
straight to my left shoulder, looked down at Lucian and said,
“Hello.” I made introductions. Lucian was enchanted by the pixie,
but the reverse was definitely not true. Shrank did not like Lucian
in the least. Not that he was discourteous or mean, but I couldn’t
get him to do or say anything with Lucian. He flew off to Kieran
before I could get irritated at him. Too irritated, anyway.

Introductions to the Cahills and to Harris
and his crew, while more formal, went without incident. Harris
didn’t seem inclined to press Lucian with questions about his
history. That could have been the specter of Kieran’s earlier words
suppressing his natural suspicious nature. He could have just been
tired, as they’d been debating names and places for hours, culling
the list to a respectable ten outside of themselves.

However, after my return with Lucian, the
meeting never quite returned to the topic at hand. The liquor was
flowing, not unreasonably, just flowing and loosening tongues, with
Peter and I abstaining. And Shrank. Shrank only moved when Kieran
moved and only then to keep Lucian in sight. He’d gone invisible,
so at least he wasn’t being obnoxious about it, but if he wasn’t
sitting on Kieran’s shoulder I would’ve snatched him up by the nape
of the neck by now. If Kieran had noticed, he wasn’t saying
anything about it.

Once it was clear that no further business
was to be done, Gordon excused himself for the night. Peter and I
followed suit since we were accompanying him tomorrow. We expected
Kieran to come too, but he merely accepted the responsibility of
returning Lucian to the hospital suite. I let the aggravation show
without remorse. He was supposed to explain a few things for us
tonight and he was blowing us off, basically for a cocktail party.
And he didn’t like three of the five people involved. Something
wasn’t right here. Not a new feeling for me.

The three of us didn’t say much of anything
as we went upstairs. It didn’t change much when Gordon bade us good
night and peeled away down another hallway toward his room and us
toward ours. Too much to process, I suppose. Peter gave me a quick
hug good night and went to bed. I thought I’d be up for a while
thinking about the day’s events, but as soon as my head hit the
pillow, I was out.

“Master Seth, rise and shine!” shrieked
Shrank as he jumped on my arm repeatedly. “John is in the hall
requesting you.” He flew out the door once I started groggily
moving around the bed. I stuck my head out into the hall and yawned
at John. The man had to own fifty dark blue suits.

“Good morning, sir,” he said, grinning,
“Gordon asked me to wake you for breakfast. He’d like to leave in
about an hour, if possible. Good morning, Peter.”

“Morning, John,” said Peter, breezing by me,
ruffling my hair. “Haircut looks good, Seth. Shrank did a good job.
See ya downstairs.”

My hand flew to my head, a bit shocked by the
proclamation as Peter and John disappeared down the hall side by
side. I ducked back into my room, shutting the door behind me and
looking for a mirror. Once again the Fae had creeped me out by
doing something when I wasn’t looking. I had to say something to
Shrank about this and his behavior last night to boot. Peter was
right, though—he did a good job, but cutting my hair in my sleep?
Ew!

I was downstairs twenty minutes later with
briefcase in hand. Though I wasn’t sure what we’d need, I packed up
for contingencies: secured laptop, three international cellphones,
a couple of thousand American, a couple of thousand Euros, an
international credit card, my passport, and a light-weight jacket.
As long as we could buy our way out of any problems, I guess we’d
be okay.

“Good morning, Gordon,” I said, helping
myself to some biscuits and ham and coffee and then sitting down
next to him. “What’s our itinerary look like for the day?”

“Not too bad, really,” he said, moving his
appointment book over so I could read it. “I could only arrange
four appointments on short notice and Martin badgered me into
adding the brother of a school mate. That should be a quick one.
The first one’s in Dublin and on the way. We can go over the C.V.’s
on the way. I blocked off three hours for Martin to show you ‘round
the school. That sound right to you?”

“Sure,” I shrugged. “How much leeway does
that give us?”

“Much as you want, really,” said Gordon.
“This puts us back here between nine and ten tonight with lunch and
dinner en route. This is a day off for me.”

“Gordon,” John called from the doorway,
“Billy has the van ready when you are.” Gordon nodded, drinking the
last of his coffee.

“Let me tell Da we’re leaving and I’ll meet
you out front when you’re ready,” he said standing.

“Peter,” I said once Gordon had left, “What’s
a C.V.?”

“Curriculum vitae,” he answered with a
chuckle. “Same thing as a resume. It’s a history of education, work
experience, accomplishments, that sort of thing.”

“Oh,” I said. “So mine would be a sheet of
paper with my name at the top.”

“Keep that dream, little brother,” Peter
snorted. “Tell ya what, on the trip, I’ll write up a quickie for ya
and we’ll show it to our first candidate and see what he or she
thinks. ‘Kay?”

I agreed and we headed out to meet
Gordon.

~ ~ ~

Peter typed feverishly on his laptop in the
back of the van during the first leg of the trip. He sat further
back so that the driver and Gordon wouldn’t affect his electronics,
mine being protected in the briefcase. They didn’t do any
“skipping” down the highway, but I didn’t ask why—I’d either ask
Peter or Kieran later, just in case there was some trade secret to
it or something. For all I knew, there was some ordinance violation
or something involved, though I hadn’t seen any black and white
cowled policemen on brooms with nightsticks around.

Gordon provided me with a little reading
material on the way: printouts of the c.v.’s of the people we’d be
talking to today. Our first potential assistant was a young woman
about Gordon’s age. That shouldn’t have surprised me. All of them
were schoolmates of Gordon at some point so they had to be close in
age. I don’t think she was completely informed on with whom she
would be interviewing, though, as we met outside a neighborhood
tavern and she barreled out the front doors, attaching herself to
Gordon’s neck, hoopin’ an’ a’hollerin’ in greeting and ignoring all
of Gordon’s attempts to calm her.

“Maddie, settle down,” Gordon said
repeatedly, his face red. He enjoyed her attention, certainly, but
he was embarrassed by her exuberance as well as his inability to
keep his eyes off of her… exuberance. Peter and I just stood back
and enjoyed the show.

“Maddie!” Gordon finally shouted her
down.

“A’right, a’right,” said Maddie. “Keep your
knickers on, Gordie. How long we got ‘fore the geezers get
‘ere?”

“Maddie!” Gordon exclaimed.

“You seem to be saying that a lot, Gordon,”
said Peter. We both snickered.

“Hey, I’m only seventeen. That makes you the
geezer,” I said, elbowing Peter in the side and grinning at him.
Maddie on the other hand wasn’t grinning anymore. She looked
horrified then embarrassed. I didn’t know freckles could glow, but
hers did.

“Oh, my God, Gordon, why didn’t you stop me?”
she cried.

“I tried, Maddie,” said Gordon, shaking his
head. “I told you ahead of time even, didn’t I, lass? Now let’s go
inside and see how much of a learning experience we can turn this
into for all of us, shall we?”

Gordon ushered us into the tavern, arm in arm
with Maddie. She glanced over her shoulder at us once furtively.
The pub was a family-run place with a small staff that ran on the
edge of the magical community, according to Gordon. There were
several wardings on all the doors, low-grade, anti-theft-type
stuff, by the looks of them. There were more around the bar I
couldn’t identify but they didn’t look threatening to me and Gordon
and Peter both ignored them so I did too. I had a lot to learn.

Maddie darted ahead to an alcoved table and
slid on a jacket, making her outfit more professional looking. She
gave us a demure smile that belied the energy of the woman on the
sidewalk just moments ago, green eyes shining out between tight red
curls. I was taught European introductions in a far more social
context, apparently. Gordon introduced Peter first and he shook her
hand in a thoroughly American way, which thoroughly confused me.
The few times I had done it were at large balls with my parents as
a child many years ago. I giggled at my parents’ juvenile
romanticism and embarrassed myself in the process, stuttering
through my greetings like a sex-starved teenager. Peter smirked at
me as he scooted over into the booth.