I knew how that ate away at you until you were a hollow shell.
I moved toward her and opened my arms. I expected her to stand her ground, but instead she collapsed into me, her body shaking.
“You heard what Clara said. We have until the full moon before the Slaugh come to find a way to stop them. I think this might be important, Maeve. This painting has hung in this house for more than twenty years and it has never moved before. You show up and it starts going haywire, and it may even be protecting us. And now we learn that the painter was really a witch who was present at the ritual that stopped the fae last time? We have to investigate this.”
“But what about Kelly? She’s arriving in two days time!” Panic wracked Maeve’s voice.
“Get her to meet us in London. She wanted to have an adventure, right? We’ll show her all the sights – Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral, The British Museum. We’ll all go down together. It will give us a chance to investigate this, and maybe talk to some of the other covens in the city. If they helped the Briarwood Coven before, perhaps we can call on them again.” I grinned. “Who knows? Maybe amongst all the worrying about the end of the world, we might actually get the chance to have a tiny bit of fun.”
Flynn waved a hand in front of my face. “Fun? Who are you and what have you done with Corbin Harris?”
I laughed. “ What do you say, High Priestess?”
Maeve glanced up at her mother's face twisted in horror. A grim determination passed over Maeve’s eyes. “I guess we’re going to London.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BLAKE
“We’re going to be late for the train if you go into the village now,” Corbin yelled after me as I slung my new leather jacket over my shoulder. While Maeve had been in Arizona, Flynn showed me how to order things off the internet. I found the jacket in an online marketplace where people placed wagers on items they wanted – a practice I was very familiar with from the fae realm. Lots of people wanted this jacket, but I won.
I always win.
Flynn banned me from using his credit card again, but as the soft leather crinkled across my shoulders, I decided it was worth it. I think my new hero Sherlock Holmes would have liked this jacket.
“I’ll meet you at the station,” I called back to Corbin as I shoved my new phone (another internet purchase) and some of those parchment rectangles I’d nicked from Rowan into my pocket. I’d seen the parchment rectangles exchanged for goods. “I just want to get my fix of curry before we head away in the metal box on the rails.”
“They do have curry in London, you know.”
“I’ll give the key to Clara while I’m there. That will be helpful. I’ll be back soon!” I pocketed the heavy ring of castle keys Corbin had left by the door to drop atAstarteon the way to the train station. I slung the small rucksack of my worldly possessions over my shoulder and sauntered out the door before Corbin could go running to Maeve so she’d forbid me from going.
“Blake, don’t be ridiculous. You?—”
I slammed the heavy wooden door behind me, breathing in the dewy air and relishing the instant quiet of nature. I knew that for all his posturing, Corbin wouldn’t follow me. Weirdly, admitting my lie about Liah seemed to have made him warm to me. Well, he initiated that hand-squeezing ritual, and he hadn’t said anything about the cock and balls, although he’d managed to scrub it all off. He still yelled at me every chance he got, but I’d once been tied to a rock in the middle of Daigh’s sidhe for four days – the yelling just amused me. Last night was the first time Corbin hadn’t slept in front of my door.
Maybe my dashing wit and sparkling personality would finally win him over.
A tiny sliver of something that might have been guilt jabbed me in the side of my stomach. Ididwant the coven’s trust. And yet here I was, lying to them again.
This is the last time, I swear. I need to know for myself.
The walk into the village was as invigorating as always. I didn’t know why humans bothered to strap themselves into those weird metal contraptions they called cars. Imagine being able to walk in any direction for hundreds of miles and see completely new things around every corner. Bliss.
I waved to two women jogging down the road toward me. “Top of the morning to you!” I called out.
I’d picked up lots of useful human customs from the telly.
One woman looked up from their conversation. When she noticed me, her expression turned to stone. She grabbed her friend’s arm and yanked her to the other side of the road. They turned down a side street and sprinted away, turning back over their shoulders to shoot me filthy looks.
Strange.I looked down at my leather jacket, black jeans, and new Doc Martin boots (another internet purchase. Flynn hadn’t seen the bill for them yet). It couldn’t be that they thought I was ugly. I must’ve been missing some kind of social cue.
The village loomed ahead. I walked quickly, aware that I didn’t have much time. As I made my way down the high street, practicing my wave and greeting, several people crossed the road. No one answered me.Very strange.
Shops stocking every manner of magical implement lined the main street, but I remembered exactly where Clara’s shop was. The bell on the door tinkled as I went in.
The shop was deserted save for the old woman, who looked up from a shelf of figurines she was arranging. “Ah, Blake. I wondered when you’d show up to see me.”
Her statement was meant to freak me out and make me wonder how she knew I’d turn up. I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. Instead, I thrust out my arm in a flourish. “I have arrived.”
