Davina rolled her eyes in exasperation and pushed my back. “Just get the man’s lunch. And are we going in right after we eat?”
“Might as well.”
Brandon overheard this and he turned, frowning. “I really do not like the idea of you and Seiji going down alone.”
Davina corrected this. “I’m going down as well.”
“Oh yeah? Okay, I feel marginally better. I know I won’t be much help down there, but is there anything we can do?”
Sadly, strong as my friend might be, he’d stand no chance against this beastie. Frankly, I wasn’t sure if I stood much of a chance against it. The only one I had faith in was Seiji because, to my Sight, he stood in a tornado of energy. Like he’dsummoned magic to him and was holding it, just because. Seiji had explained that this land locker was charged with energy, and even if I couldn’t see it, I believed him, just from seeing how much ambient energy clung to him.
I shook my head. “Can’t think of a thing, sorry, mate.”
“Actually, there is.” Seiji was sipping water between speaking. “I’ve a tether I can attach to us, something you can draw upon to guide us back to the surface if we get lost down there.” Then he pointed to Gwyn. “Gwyn’s the only one who can hold it.”
“An anchor point,” Brandon mused, looking at his apprentice. Well, Mack’s apprentice, but she was Brandon’s too, that was clear. “Now that makes me feel better. Honestly, I’m just as afraid of you three getting lost down there as you coming across that demon-beast thing.”
Having been in the mines before, I said, “It’s a concern, for sure.”
Gwyn had her hands full of sandwich but swallowed hastily to ask, “Will I need to be near the mines?”
“At the mouth,” Seiji confirmed.
That was as close as I wanted Gwyn to the mines, too. She was in a very precarious spot in her learning and would have no real defense against anything bad coming for her. Personally, I prayed this thing wasn’t a demon. Or something trying to become a demon. I’d no luck or talent killing demons. But beasties, ah, those I could cut down.
The Scots knew that in the depths of crevices, in the darkest parts of the planet, there existed evil unlike any other. Not everything was known to man. Now, fortunately, a foot of steel normally handled the problem. I certainly hoped for that here. I did not want Seiji or Davina in real danger. I’d take the beastie head-on if it came to that.
We finished up eating, Gwyn sneaking an apple to the two horses. Very much a horse-girl, that one.
Then it was time to go hunting.
No lie, my hands tingled with anticipation and part of me was anxious and ready to move. I checked the claymore on my back, the four dirks strapped to my thighs, the sword at my waist, and the flashlight I could strap to my head.
Very important step, that. Hard to use a flashlight and fight at the same time. Bit of experience had taught me that. Had the scar to prove it.
No, I wasn’t too bright when I was fifteen.
Davina pulled me over to the porch again and sat me down. I went, not in the habit of arguing with ladies, but didn’t understand what she was doing until I felt her fingers start carding through my hair.
“Do I look a mess, then?”
“Stop taking the piss,” she grumbled, fingers still moving. “Do you not remember the last fight you did with your hair down? You were eating it half the fight.”
“Saliva’s great for hair,” I countered, grinning. “Ask any cat.”
“Hush. I’m not going home and explaining to the familyaye, he died ’cause he was too busy spitting hair out of his mouth.”
I snickered because she really would tell the story that way.
While Davina braided my hair, Seiji worked with Gwyn so she knew not only how to hold the tether, but also how to read it? Energy reading wasn’t my field, so I couldn’t follow more than one word in three, but just look at him, so calmly explaining, talking about things few could understand. Made my heart go pitter-patter.
Davina leaned in to whisper near my ear, “If you die because you’re too busy staring at his arse, I won’t let you live that down, either.”
I gave her quite the side-eye. Granted, if I died at the hands of a beastie, that would likely be the reason.
Still, seemed we were as ready as we could be. I turned on the light—I could never find the button once it was on my head—and strapped it on. Then I looked to Seiji. He nodded, picked up his own weapons, and strode for the mine entrance.
The town had been built rather close to the mine entrance, which I wouldn’t have done. Not with knowing how volatile TNT could be. It served us now, though. Everyone else followed along, Beau moving the SUV closer so he could sit comfortably and wait.
