ARC: The Seers (11 page)

The instant I felt the brush, I kicked it off, tangling my hand further into Alex’s hair. It was nothing – just an ability brush from a random Holder who was happening by. They weren’t coming here. It wasn’t anyone I knew. It wasn’t. It… wasn’t…

Damn it!

“No,” I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut, “no, no, no...”

Alex opened his eyes suddenly, looking down at me as though worried he’d done something wrong. But before he could ask what was wrong, the hanging question was answered by a knock at my door. An entirely different kind of fear ran across his face as both our heads snapped toward the lingering echo of knuckles against mahogany.

“Jocelyn?” Alex mouthed silently, apparently having as hard a time as I was getting his breathing back under control.

I nodded with a wince.

“Go,” he mouthed again, motioning toward the door then snatching his discarded tie and jacket from the floor and ducking into the bathroom.

“Coming!” I called out as I scrambled over to the mirror for a quick once-over. My hair and dress had survived our little
encounter
relatively well, though unfortunately the same could not be said of my makeup. I grabbed a tissue from the box on the dressing table and wiped frantically at my face, removing all the tell-tale smudges and smears. Once my face was lipstick free, I darted for the door, taking a deep breath before pulling it open, making sure I was the picture of cool, calm, and collected.

“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to settle my tone into that thin line of casual located between too innocent and too guilty.

“You haven’t changed yet?” he asked simply, though there was something not so simple behind the glint in his eye.

“Yeah, I was just about to. Did you need something?”

“I wanted to let you know that I spoke with Min and we will be conferencing via phone with her, Anderson, and Reid in my room tomorrow morning at 7 o’clock.”

“Oh. Well great,” I said, wishing my enthusiasm didn’t sound so forced. “I’ll be there.”

“Good.”

“Was there anything else?”

“No, not about tomorrow,” he said, his voice eerily stoic, “but there is a mystery you may be able to help me solve. Before coming down to let you know I’d spoken to Min, I stopped by Cormac and Alex’s rooms to tell them. But oddly enough,” he paused, raising his eyebrows in that “you’re so busted” kind of way, “Alex wasn’t there. Any thought as to where he might be?”

“Huh…” I said, slowly pursing my lips. Clearly he already knew the answer, so what was he expecting me to say? “
Oh sure, he’s here, and actually we were about to get naked when you knocked, so would you mind making this quick?”
Yeah, not the best idea. Despite the hype, honesty isn’t always the best policy.

However, as I watched his eyes move from my face to over my shoulder, I realized I wouldn’t have to say anything. Glancing back, I saw that Alex had emerged from the bathroom, his tie and jacket – thankfully – back in place. If only his ears weren’t red enough to heat the entire room, we might have been able to play it all off.

“You heard?” Jocelyn asked, looking at Alex.

“Seven o’clock tomorrow,” Alex nodded, clearly struggling to meet Jocelyn’s eye.

He nodded.

The three of us stood silently for the longest moment of my life, no one seeming sure what to say next. All I could come up with was, “
Wow, this is awkward, huh?
” but that of all things really didn’t need saying, so I kept it to myself.

“It has been a long day,” Jocelyn finally said, somewhat pointedly, “and we have an early start tomorrow. I think it’s time we all got some sleep. Good night.” With that he turned and walked off down the hall, making it more than clear he expected Alex to follow him.

Taking the obvious cue, Alex came forward, gently squeezing my hand as walked by me. “Goodnight, Leannán,” he whispered, leaning down and kissing me sweetly – albeit chastely – on the cheek.

“Stay…” I breathed, gripping the hand that held mine.

There was longing in his eyes, but he shook his head. “Don’t know if that’s the best idea.”

I huffed, but bowed my head. I didn’t like it, but I also knew he was right. “Damn it,” I mumbled.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “But don’t worry,” he added, stroking my cheek with his thumb, “I don’t plan on giving up.” With that, he gave me a last quick kiss, then turned and followed Jocelyn down the hall.

I closed the door with a growl and stomped over to the dresser, yanking the bobby pins out of my hair as I went.

Did that seriously just happen? We were so close! Everything was perfect! We were finally…
GAH!

When I’d thrown down the last of the hair pins and wiped the remaining makeup off my face, I set my alarm for 6.30, slipped out of my dress, and flopped onto my bed, not even bothering to locate my pajamas. As I stared up at the satin canopy, frustrated in more ways than I could even count, I began to make a mental tally of all the epic ways the evening had sucked. First off I’d made a friend, only to discover that he was shunned and mentally abused by his family and there was practically nothing I could do to help him. Next I’d found out that not only was I spied on in high school, but that the spy and his accomplices were more than likely going to get away with it because I had no way to prove it, then was mocked, patronized, and generally treated like crap by said spy. Then I’d been talked about and made fun of behind my back by a catty bitch and her mother, causing me to cower in a bathroom stall like a wimp. After that, we’d found out that the man we’d hoped would have all the answers we came to this nightmare of an event looking for has been dead for years and may end up being no help at all. Finally, I was now going to spend the rest of the night alone in an enormous bed that I should have been sharing with Alex, all because my father caught us about to have sex. Did that about cover everything?

Oh yeah. Great night.

I rolled over with a thrash, punching my pillow into shape as I went. With a string of silent expletives, I hugged my still misshapen pillow to my chest and closed my eyes.

Damn this trip. Damn this perfect mansion. Damn my stupid expectations. Damn it, damn it, damn it...

CHAPTER 11

“You said Brian Connor?” Mom asked, as I heard the flapping of book pages carry through the phone.

“Yeah, that’s it. I’m not sure what class he was in, so you might have to check each grade.”

“Well, he’s not in with the freshmen…” more page flapping, “not a sophomore…”

It was 7 the next morning, and after a night of not nearly enough sleep, I was fumbling around my room trying to get ready, while my mom sat on the other end of the phone line, thumbing through one of my high school yearbooks, trying to find me the proof I needed to nail Bastian to the wall.

“I don’t see him in here, honey.”

“No,” I plopped down on the edge of the bed. “That’s not possible; he has to be in there.” Even if it turned out not to be Bastian, a Brian Connor would still be there somewhere.

“Oh wait, here he is,” she said suddenly, “There is a Brian Connor listed as a senior on the last page in the ‘not pictured’ list.”

Son of a bitch…

“All right, Mom,” I sighed pinching the bridge of my nose, “thanks anyway.”

“Sorry, hon.”

“It’s fine. To be honest I should have figured.”

“What did you need his picture for?”

“It was nothing. I could have sworn I saw him the other day, and I just wanted to,” –
get proof so I could rub his nose in it
– “see if I was right, that’s all.”

“So,” she moved on with an excited note in her voice, “how’s the castle? Are you having a good time?”

“The castle’s amazing, probably the most incredible place I’ve ever seen. Just my room alone is almost as big as the whole first floor of our house, and my bed could fit me and about six other people.”

“Wow! That sounds lovely! And how is the conference? Is there much for you to do?”

As of course I couldn’t tell mom why we’d really come out here, I’d gone with an academic conference that Jocelyn had invited a few of us to join him on. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Doesn’t sound fine…”

“The company kind of leaves something to be desired.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, they just… aren’t my type of people. This whole event that we’re at, it’s… a school thing,” I said, trying to find the best way to explain and school being the best analogy I could come up with, “so most of the other people here are professors and stuff, and I just can’t handle how uppity and self-righteous they all are.”

“Oh… that’s a bummer. But what about the younger people, the ones more your age? Can you just hang out with them?”

“Believe it or not, most of them are even worse than the adults.”

“Hmm. Well, you only have a few more days, guess you’ll just have to suffer through the rest of your vacation alone in your enormous room and big fluffy bed, you poor thing,” she teased.

“Yeah, yeah,” I laughed, wishing this trip was as enjoyable as she made it sound. “OK, I have to get going.”

“OK sweetie,” she said. “Try to enjoy the rest of your trip, and give me a call when you get back to school.”

“Will do, Mom. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

With about the hundredth yawn of the morning I slid on my shoes and made my way down to Jocelyn’s room for our call with the rest of the guys back at Lorcan. When I arrived, everyone was already there and gathered around the phone while Jocelyn fought his way through the “dialing out” process. I slid down into a chair hoping I wouldn’t fall asleep on the call, though I was at least happy to see that Alex and Jocelyn didn’t look much better than I felt. The overall low-energy feel in the room helped to make the awkward, nearly-got-caught-in-the-act elephant in the room a little easier to ignore.

“Hello?” Min’s voice echoed through the speaker on the console of the phone.

“Good morning Min,” Jocelyn answered, “can you hear us all right?”

“Yes, fine.”

“Are Anderson and Reid there with you?”

“Aye, we’re here,” we heard Anderson say over a yawn.

“Good morning everyone,” Reid added.

“I’m sorry to wake you all,” Jocelyn began, “but matters have changed.”

“Changed?” Anderson laughed without humor, “sounds like matters are bloody well ruined. How are we to find out what Shea and Taron were up to when neither of them are able to tell us?”

“Shea wasn’t up to anything, at least not with Taron,” Jocelyn answered. “All the occurrences of Shea in Taron’s mind were within the last six months, while Ciaran has been dead three years now. That can only mean that Taron was never dealing with Shea himself, but with something or someone involving him. All we need to find out is who or what that was, and we will do that by finding out as much about Shea as we can.”

“You think really think it will be that easy?” Reid asked.

“No, I do not believe it will be easy at all, but for now it is our only option. Min, Duncan, I will need you two to gather together all the information you can about Seers. Check the books in the inner chamber, my office, your own libraries, or anywhere else you think there might be anything related to the seeing ability. We will also need a list of the names of any and all Seers we have records of as well as any information you can find about their lineages. If we can determine Shea’s family line, it may lead us to family friends who could tell us more.”

“Of course,” Reid replied. “I can begin right away.”

“And I will join him after my morning class,” Min added.

“Thank you both,” Jocelyn said. “Next, there are a few items I will be needing now that things have changed. Chris, what is your class load today?”

“I’ve a 10 to 11, and a 1 to 2,” Mr Anderson answered, still sounding groggy.

“Would you be able to make a drive out here this afternoon? I can call you later with the specifics on what to bring once I finalize the list.”

“Aye, not a problem.”

“As for us,” Jocelyn continued, turning to look at Alex Cormac and I, “our job will be garnering information here. Cormac will continue speaking to his friends to find out what he can from anyone who might have known Shea.” He looked up at Cormac. “There might not be much knowledge to be had, but anything is better than nothing. You never know what might be of use.”

“Good thing gossip is an art form around here,” Cormac said with a nod. “I’ll get what I can.”

“Alex will be our fly on the wall,” Jocelyn said, turning to Alex. “You can watch and listen to things the rest of us cannot, simply by going unseen. Once Cormac has had a chance to speak to some of his contacts and get leads, you will have more direction and a clearer idea of who to focus your attention on. However, until then, learn what you can, and most importantly, make sure you are not caught.”

Alex nodded, while I wondered if either of them saw the irony in Jocelyn telling Alex not to get caught doing something.

Finally Jocelyn turned to me. “Becca and I will go through the books that were brought here for the week from the Bhunaidh archives. They have the most thorough log of Holder lineage and history in existence, and they may contain something we can use. Provided Brassal and Alva agree to grant us access to the books, of course.”

“Wait, wait,” I said, not liking the sound of that at all. “Grant us access? They could actually tell us no?”

“I don’t believe they will, but technically they could, yes. The books belong to them, and the Bhunaidh archives have always been very closely guarded. However, as Alva and Brassal both know you are new to the Holder world, if I tell them that you wish to learn more about our histories, I’m sure they would not have a problem letting us browse whatever volumes they have with them.”

They sure as hell better, or I might go ape. These people had long worn through my patience.

“One last thing,” Jocelyn added, his tone serious. “I want to make sure that everyone understands how imperative it is that no one finds out that we are interested in Shea. There is no way to know who might be involved in all of this, and there is still the issue of the holes in Taron’s memory. Someone had to put them there, and if that someone is here, I don’t want to give them the chance to hide. Cormac, make sure that the people you speak to about Shea are trustworthy, and even then, keep your inquiries strictly conversational. Tell them that you and Ciaran were old friends, or that you were once a student of his, or any other story you think will work. The less you divulge the better. Alex, we will be counting on you to listen to any talk you hear about any of us. If you overhear that someone is making too much out of our interest in Shea, or growing suspicious of our intentions, let me know immediately. I will be keeping Brassal appraised as always, but just as before, only as much as I must.”

“Will the four of you be staying longer?” Reid asked, causing my stomach to clench. “You are due back the day after tomorrow, but it seems you may need more time.”

I looked over at Jocelyn, silently begging him to say no. “I am not sure yet. We will see what we are able to come up with in the next day or so and decide then.”

“Jocelyn,” Min spoke up after another pause, “forgive me, but I must ask… Do you plan on visiting the site?”

Jocelyn crossed his arms with a sigh, starring at the floor as he spoke. “If I must, yes. However, I wish to give traditional investigation methods a chance first. If we’re lucky, a reading may not be necessary. Though,” he shook his head with a frown, “even if it does become necessary, after three years, I’m not certain I could get anything that would be of any use.”

As I watched Jocelyn struggle with the idea of doing a reading on Shea, I felt bad for him and was impressed by him all at the same time. I was pretty sure there weren’t many people out there – Holder or otherwise – who would have had the conviction to stick so solidly to an ideal. But Jocelyn wasn’t most people. He didn’t believe in reading people, and that was that. Not living, not dead, not ever.

“I think that does it for tonight, and Chris, I’ll call you later.”

Silence.

“Anderson?” he called, leaning toward the phone.

After another moment of silence we heard something that sounded like a slap. “Wake up you lazy lummox!” Reid whispered sharply.

“What?” Anderson yelped suddenly.

“I’ll call you later,” Jocelyn repeated.

“Oh… um, yes. Yes, fine.”

“Have a good day everyone.”

As Jocelyn reached to hang up the phone, I could hear movement on the other end of the line with Reid and Anderson mumbling in the background.

“Bloody idiot…”

“I wasn’t sleeping, you half-wit!”

“You were drooling on yourself!”

“That’s no reason to hit m–” But Jocelyn disconnected the call.

“Well,” Cormac said, standing with a stretch, “I don’t know about you all, but I am starving. Shall we get some breakfast?”

“Sounds good,” I said, actually excited to see what would be on the breakfast spread.

“I’ll have to meet up with you all later. I’m due to have breakfast with Brassal and some of the other men he golfs with. He invited me out with them tomorrow and wanted me to meet the other players. If the opportunity arises, I’ll ask him about looking through the archives and see what he says.”

“Wait, you golf?” I asked, skeptically.

“I can when I have to. Let us just hope they don’t expect me to be any good.”

The four of us stepped out into the hall when were said our goodbyes and parted ways. Jocelyn headed off to the left while Cormac, Alex and I took the stairs to the right, following the alluring aromas of baking bread and cooked sausage.

“So,” I said quietly to Alex, slowing my pace so that he and I fell slightly behind Cormac, “since you are our resident spy, what do you say you and I do a little snooping after breakfast?”

“Sure,” he grinned. “Though it might be hard since we don’t have a specific target yet.”

“Yeah we do,” I murmured, throwing him a sly glance.

It was time to spy on the spy.

“Do you feel anything?” Alex asked, as we stood outside one of the guest suites later that morning. Bastian hadn’t been at breakfast that morning, which honestly didn’t surprise me, though it had made following him harder considering that in order to follow someone, you first have to find them. Luckily when Alex and Cormac were walking to their rooms just after check in the day before, Cormac had pointed out a smaller hallway and told Alex that those rooms were where the head family always stayed. Figuring it was as good a place as any to start, Alex and I had headed there after breakfast and were now using our respective abilities to begin tracking down our target – me by sensing the abilities nearby to determine if Bastian was actually in any of the rooms, and Alex by making sure that no one who happened by would be able to see us.

“There are two people in that room,” I pointed to one of the doors, “and one in there. The two there I don’t recognize, but that one,” I paused, concentrating on the single ability in the adjacent room, double checking before I went on, “that one is him.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, “I got pretty familiar with the feel of his ability during our dance last night. It’s him.”

“OK, so we found him… now what?”

“We wait, I guess.”

“And if he doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary? Or for that matter, doesn’t even leave his room?” he asked as we wandered back up the hall toward a set of armchairs by a window.

“OK, Negative Nancy,” I glared, “I know it’s not a perfect plan, but it’s not like we have anything better to do at the moment. Unless that is, you want to go up to the art auction and mingle…”

“Negative Nancy?” he repeated, cocking an eye brow.

“Buzz-kill Betty? Pessimist Polly? Downer Deloris? Gloomy Gertrude? Feel free to pick your favorite, I’ve got a million of them. Worrywart Wilma is always a classic…”

“OK,” he laughed, “now you’re just making stuff up. And do they all have to be women?”

“No, but it’s funnier that way,” I giggled as he shoulder checked me playfully into the side of the first armchair. “Look, I know this is dumb, OK, I get it. But I have to do something – or at least feel like I am doing something. I can’t just sit in my room all day and ignore the fact that he’s playing us all for saps. Lousy as this plan might be, until I can come up with a better one, this is all I’ve got. And, if I just so happen to know a talented guy who I can rope in to hide me while I sneak around, so much the better.”