Page 54 of In Your Light

“Yes,” Fyn said, then he stomped his hoof on the footpath. “My shoes are built in, see?”

Little Ukko put his hand up for Fyn. “You come to school with us.”

“Oh,” Fyn said, looking at Aurin and Salem, then Ciaran. “Um...”

“It’s fine,” Ciaran said. “We’ll come get you before we do anything.”

Salem cocked his head. “Did something happen?”

“Yes,” Ciaran replied. “Sawyer’s just making some phone calls. We’ll tell everyone everything when we know more.”

“Ciaran?” Aurin said, his voice soft, his eyes worried.

“Everything’s fine,” Ciaran said. He looked at the four little ones and was resolved to keep them safe forever. “They’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Okay,” Aurin said. He and Salem trusted Ciaran to protect their family, the whole consortium as well, and Ciaran would die before he failed them.

“We should get them to school before they get too tired,” Salem suggested.

“Can I come to class too?” Fray asked the four little ones.

“Yes!” they exclaimed, excited.

Tobin gave Fray a smile. “I’ll join you in a minute.”

They headed off, Ukko still holding Fyn’s hand, while Fray picked up Llyr and flew him like a plane the whole way. Nyx ran ahead, telling Fyn to watch his big jumps, and Áine put her arms up to Salem for cuddles, and gods, Ciaran’s hearts grew four sizes just watching them.

Tobin had stayed behind, and Ciaran knew why.

“You saw something,” Ciaran prompted. “In Fyn’s mind. When he was anxious about telling his folk about the mining company. He doesn’t understand much about twenty-first century, but he knew the word ‘bulldoze.’”

His eyes cut to Ciaran’s, and he nodded. “Yes. It was very brief, just a flicker, really, what I saw.... Or who, rather.”

The door behind them opened with a huff, and Sawyer stalked out. “Just spoke to the general manager at Strahan council,” he said with a scowl. “Yes, it’s been greenlit, and yes, it all happened very fast, and the environmental studies were all supposedly done through the proper channels—which I called bullshit on because fast-tracking a mining approval in protected forests doesn’t just freaking happen—” He then imitated the guy’s voice as he said, “‘and it’s going to be great for the economy and the people need industry and jobs, and not to mention the tourism it will bring to Tenebrae,’ but oh no, oops sorry, they didn’t think to let me know.”

He groaned before continuing. “Then I left a message on Hadeom’s number. I know he’s out of office, or whatever, but maybe he can pull some strings at some higher government level, I don’t know.”

“Yeah, well, don’t hold your breath on that,” Tobin mumbled.

Ciaran looked at him. Stunned disbelief shivered down his spine because he knew what Tobin meant.

“No,” he whispered. “You can’t be serious.”

Tobin nodded. “Yep.”

Sawyer looked between them, confused. “Serious about what? What did I miss?”

“Tobin saw something in Fyn’s mind,” Ciaran began.

Sawyer nodded. “Yeah, I saw you blink in surprise. I was gonna ask....”

“I saw who’s staying at the hut,” Tobin said. “Just a flicker, but no mistaking it.”

“Who?” Sawyer pressed.

“It was Hadeom.”

Sawyer looked at Tobin like he’d lost his mind. “Hadeom?”