That’s where I’m sitting, my eyes closed and trying to think, when Lucius once again tries to be helpful.
“What if she decided to return to the UK? Perhaps she feels she would be safe there? Maybe she’s gone to Wales?”
I start to argue with him when something pings my memory, making my eyes pop open. “Shit!”
“What?”
I open my laptop and use Google Earth to do some searching. Once I’ve confirmed the spelling, I run a search…
And then I stupidly have one answer that I have no idea how it fits in with the rest of the puzzle. “That’s it!”
Lucius arches an eyebrow at me from across the conference table. “What? Do you know where she is?”
“No! I know what the symbols on her ring are!” I spin my laptop around and show him. “They’re the same symbols etched in rocks on an old ring of standing stones in Wales!”
Lucius’ brow furrows, a deep scowl making him frown. “Well, thatisinteresting, but I don’t understand how it’s relative to locating her.”
“You and I are in agreement that damned thing is agwyllgi, right?”
“I mean, I don’t know what it is, but that certainly fits.”
“Gwyllgioriginated in Wales. Maybe if I can figure out where the hell that thing is coming from, it might be another way of locatingher. And maybe it has something to do with her ring.” I grab my phone and call John and Mark to get the jet ready to leave for Wales ASAP.
When I end that call, I start gathering my things, but Lucius stops me. “Are you sure you want to do this? Shouldn’t you stay close by for when we locate her?”
“Look, thisisimportant. If I find her, it’s not like I can compel her and drag her back. She’ll just run away again if this thing shows up.Stoppingwhatever this is, finding out if it can even hurt us, is every bit as important asfindingher. Right?”
He doesn’t look convinced, but he finally nods. “I suppose you are correct.”
As I return to my hotel to join up with my men, I pray I’m right about this. Because I have to find her.
But even more importantly, once I do find her, I have to be able to hold on to her.
And that won’t be possible until we figure outthispart once and for all.
28
Dexter
I haveplenty of time shut up in the private cabin of my jet to contemplate my situation. Returning to the UK is always a melancholy experience for me, even in the best of times and under the best of circumstances. It’s yet another reason I decided to relocate to the US when I knew it was time to move on.
The irony isn’t lost on me that, less than two weeks ago, I thought my last time traveling to the UK would be to say good-bye to my old love and greet the sunrise.
But then, I thought I’d be able to bring Eilidh here to see where she grew up in Cardiff and show her around Scotland.
Now?
I come seeking answers, and Iwillhave them.
I have people on the ground in the UK scouring libraries and museums and universities for more information on the standing stone ring in question. There are two similar ones with similar markings, but of the three, that one in particular is the only one with those exact markings, matching the ones on Eilidh’s ring.
It’s not a language, per se, and no one’s ever figured out what the symbols mean. Like so many symbols from this period in history, the meanings were lost to the mists of time.
The other two stone rings, the markings are similar, but slightly different. No one knows what they mean. No one knows for sure what the stone rings were used for, although working hypotheses are, as always, some sort of ritual space.
Still say it cannot be a coincidence that the only time I’ve found those markings replicated is on this stone ring, and she is from Wales.
Twenty-four hours after my departure from Tucson, I’m standing with John and Mark at the stone ring in Wales, not far from Cardiff, and staring at markings that exactly match the ones on Eilidh’s ring. There’ssomethingabout this place, but I don’t know what.
