Veiled Threat (24 page)

He grunted in assent. We all pretended not to notice the red marks round his throat.

A female Sidhe, who could have been from the Jardine Clan judging from the colours she was displaying, stepped off the pavement and began to cross the street. ‘Lexie,’ I said, ‘you’re up.’

She grinned and nodded, peeling away from our group. As soon as she got close to the Sidhe, she started shouting. ‘Are there more demons? Are you going to protect us?’

The Sidhe woman looked horrified. She obviously hadn’t expected to be accosted on the street. ‘We are doing our best,’ she said in clipped tones and tried to move away.

Lexie wasn’t about to let her prey go. ‘Do you have a Gift? If a Fomori demon showed up right now, could you use it to help us?’

The woman tapped her foot. ‘There are no demons in the vicinity.’

‘How can you tell?’ Lexie clutched at her arm. ‘They could be on their way. An entire army. They’ll rip out our entrails and use our intestines as washing lines. They’ll chop off our fingers and toes and throw them to their children to play with. They’ll...’

‘My Gift is far-sensing,’ the woman snapped. ‘I can tell there are no demons anywhere near here because I can sense what’s coming from up to two miles away.’

‘Have you tried recently? When was the last time you used it? Because two miles isn’t far, you know. All they have to do is teleport and...’

‘Oh for goodness’ sake! Stop babbling. I’ll try now.’ Her eyes rolled up into her head. I stretched out my senses. This time, I caught a snag of her power in the air. The trail of magic led me right to her Gift and it was a simple matter then to pull at the strands and draw some of it into myself.

The woman gasped.

‘What?’ Lexie demanded. ‘Are they coming?’

She passed a hand across her forehead. ‘No. I just felt a bit light-headed.’

‘You should see a doctor about that.’ Lexie beamed and danced away, leaving the Sidhe woman frowning after her.

‘That’ll be handy,’ Taylor said.

I nodded. ‘Definitely. Two miles isn’t far but I can make good use of it. Maybe I can use it to locate Byron.’

‘We should try down by the river,’ Speck threw in. ‘We might get a catch there as well.’

‘Good idea.’ I turned on my heel, forgetting how taxing stealing Gifts was. My head swam and I felt my knees wobble.

Brochan grabbed me. ‘Are you alright?’

I squeezed my eyes shut until the moment passed. ‘I’m fine.’

He and Taylor exchanged looks. ‘You have to be careful, Tegs. You’ve never stolen more than one Gift at a time.’

‘I told you, I’m fine.’

‘If you pass out for days as a result of all this, your Byron is going to be pretty much screwed,’ Speck said.

I couldn’t argue with that. ‘Just one more then. Something I can really use.’

A dark shape pushed off from the wall by the far side of the street. ‘I can help.’

We all jumped. How on earth had someone managed to follow us and stay hidden? We were normally better than that. I squinted. ‘Who are you?’

The figure bowed and swept off his hat. ‘You don’t remember me?’

‘Fergus,’ I breathed. ‘The Bauchan.’

He smirked. ‘At your service. It’s good to see you again, Integrity Adair.’

‘Yep. I’m kind of busy though. Maybe—’

‘I looked you up,’ he interrupted. ‘After our last encounter. You had me ... intrigued.’

Damn. As much fun as that had been, this wasn’t the time for more fake orgasms. If there ever was a time.

‘You’re an interesting person,’ he continued. ‘And now I’ve just seen a little more, I’m even more interested.’

‘Mate, you need to back off,’ said Speck.

‘I told you,’ Fergus said casually, ‘I can help.’ He kept his eyes trained on me. ‘You can take their Gifts, can’t you? That’s what you just did.’

‘I have no idea what you mean.’

‘Please. You said you were busy. Let’s not play games.’

I watched him. He had an easy smile and the manner of a con artist. I liked him. ‘Go on then.’

‘I make it my business to know the people in my town. Knowledge is power, after all. Tell me what kind of Gift you’d like, and I’ll tell you if there’s anyone in Perth who has it.’

‘Tegs, this isn’t a good idea.’

‘It’s alright,’ I murmured to Speck. I raised my voice. ‘What would you get out of such an arrangement?’

His eyes gleamed. He knew he had me. ‘Bad times are coming,’ he drawled. ‘It’s going to be survival of the fittest.’ He winked. ‘Or at least the smartest.’

I snorted. ‘Or the most underhanded.’

He didn’t take offence. ‘Call it what you will.’ His mouth crooked up. ‘I want sanctuary with the Adair Clan. Not right this minute, you understand, but if and when the tide turns and there are more attacks. If there’s war, well, you have magical borders. I don’t.’

‘You’re not a very optimistic fellow, are you?’ I gestured agreement. ‘Fine. Lead me to a Sidhe with the Gift of my choosing and I will grant you sanctuary on my land.’

‘Me and my friends.’

‘You and your friends.’

‘Tegs!’ Taylor hissed. ‘You don’t know how many ‘friends’ he’s talking about.’

I leaned back and lowered my voice. ‘Are we really going to deny anyone safety if they need it?’

Speck coughed. ‘I don’t want to break up the party but I’m not sure the Adair Lands are the safest place.’

I placed my finger on my lips. ‘Hush.’ I went to Fergus and held out my hand. ‘You have my word.’

He grinned and shook to seal the deal. ‘What manner of magic would you like?’

I bit my lip. If I were anyone else, I’d ask for something powerful and violent but I was me. I thought of all those visions I kept having of Byron being tortured, not to mention the suffering happening up in Aberdeen. I knew exactly what I wanted. ‘Healing,’ I said finally. ‘Lead me to someone who has the Gift of healing.’

Fergus snapped his fingers. ‘I have just the person.’

***

E
ven though it was broad daylight, I was dubious about where Fergus was taking us. He veered away from the main streets almost immediately and strode down a small cobbled alleyway. At least he was setting a good pace. I couldn’t stop repeatedly checking my watch; the more time that passed, the more danger Byron was in.

The alley might have been small and cramped but it was remarkably clean and well-maintained. Here and there, planting boxes hung off the walls. They contained little more than soil – it was far too early in the year for any spring blooms to be emerging – but I spotted some snowdrops stretching up their heads.

‘I don’t like this,’ Taylor muttered. ‘We don’t know where we’re going. We don’t know what to expect.’

I understood his worries. Back in my thieving days, we never engaged in a heist without thorough planning and preparation. More and more these days we were flying by the seat of our pants, jumping into precarious situations without looking for an exit route. But then again, we’d never had this level of danger and imminent death to worry about before.

‘Chill, old man,’ Fergus said. ‘She’s my ticket out of here. I’m not going to jeopardise it.’

I pondered his words as we twisted right and moved further and further away from the crowds at the town centre. ‘What do you know that we don’t? Why are you so sure there are going to be more attacks?’

Fergus swung his head towards me, a curious look in his eyes. ‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? They’ve not bothered us for centuries and now the demons are popping up all over the place. They’re planning something. Whatever it is, you can bet it’s not going to be good for the people of Scotland.’ He sniffed. ‘What I
should
say is it’s not going to be good for the
Clan-less
people of Scotland. The Sidhe will hide behind their magical borders with their underlings to serve them. They’ll be alright. It’ll be everyone else who suffers.’

Brochan placed a heavy hand on my shoulder and squeezed. He knew exactly what I was thinking. If Aifric was right and my death would put a stop to the Fomorian attacks, then countless thousands could be saved. The stupid prophecy, which was the new bane of my life, would be fulfilled.

I wasn’t particularly afraid of death; after all, I’d been brought up in the knowledge that my entire Clan was made up of corpses. But I wasn’t going to run and embrace it until I had all the information. And I wasn’t a lone wolf; my pack needed me if they were going to survive.

Fergus stopped in front of a brick wall. He turned and grinned. His expression was open but I felt my stomach tighten; there was no way out of here other than back the way we’d come. If there was going to be an ambush, this was the perfect spot. The others tensed as well but the Bauchan only laughed at our expressions.

‘I hope none of you are afraid of heights,’ he said. ‘Because now we go up.’ He pointed at a drainpipe that led up the building on the left-hand side, reaching up to the roof about five storeys above us.

Speck stuck his hand in the air and waved it around. ‘Me. I’m afraid of heights.’

Brochan gazed at him askance. ‘You’ll brave the mad blue-haired pixie’s wrath but you’re afraid of that? It’s not a skyscraper. We’ve been up far higher.’

Speck bared his teeth. ‘When we planned it out and we had appropriate safety equipment.’ He paused. ‘Fancy a dip in the ocean after this, Bro?’

The merman’s eyes narrowed but he refrained from making any further comments.

‘Stay here and make sure no one else comes down this way,’ I told Speck.

‘If they do...?’

‘Then yell as loudly as you can.’

He nodded grimly.

Taylor rubbed his hands together. ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve done any climbing. Let me go first.’ He hoisted himself upwards. The drainpipe creaked and groaned alarmingly but it held his weight. He flashed us a quick smile and scurried up.

‘He’s pretty spry for an old geezer,’ Fergus commented.

Speck, Lexie, Brochan and I glared at him and he held up his hands as if in surrender. ‘Whoa. Sorry. It was intended as a compliment.’

‘Perhaps,’ Lexie said sweetly, ‘you should keep your comments to yourself.’ She sprang up after Taylor.

Brochan waited until she was pulling herself up over the edge of the roof before he began. I stepped back and frowned. Lexie appeared to be struggling; she was normally much more nimble. Perhaps she was just out of shape. When the top of Brochan’s head reached her foot, however, I understood. Her legs flailed around and then her foot landed on his forehead. Her hands let go of the roof’s edge and she balanced herself on one tiptoe.

Brochan cursed and snarled. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

Lexie bent down, her head swinging towards his. ‘You called me mad. Do you want to take that back?’

He scowled up at her. Taking that as a no, she pivoted on his head with all the delicacy of a ballerina and reached for the gills on the side of his neck. She stretched her fingers forward and began to tickle. Brochan’s body shuddered. ‘Do you want to take it back now?’ she enquired.

‘Fine! I’m sorry I called you mad!’

Speck applauded. Pleased with herself, Lexie leapt onto the roof, finally leaving Brochan free to continue.

‘Crazy bunch of people you work with,’ Fergus murmured.

I smiled proudly. ‘Yeah.’

‘You know, your bag is glowing in the most peculiar manner.’

I twisted away, using my body to shield the drawstring bag containing the Foinse from him. ‘What of it?’ I gave him a little shove. ‘Your turn.’

Looking amused, Fergus shimmied up. As he hauled himself onto the roof, I nodded to Speck and followed. When I got to the top and looked around, I finally saw where Fergus was taking us.

‘That,’ he said with a grandiose sweep of his arm, ‘is the town residence of Ochterlony Clan.’

We stared at the high walls and impressive façade of a large, expensive-looking townhouse. Directly below us was a perfectly manicured garden, including a lawn worthy of Wimbledon, and a pretty fountain.

Fergus jerked his head at the building next to it. ‘That place houses seven families and it’s a fifth of the size. And it is used by one Sidhe Clan family who spend less than two weeks a year here.’

Taylor raised an eyebrow. ‘So it’s empty and you’ve brought us here to point out the inequalities of society?’

Fergus held up an index finger. ‘Right now, it’s very much occupied. And I suggest we all get down before we’re seen.’

Lexie opened her mouth to speak just as the sound of a door opening reached our ears. In an instant we were flat on our bellies, peering over the parapet in a bid to keep out of sight but see what was happening.

A human woman, dressed in a French maid’s outfit, stood at the door as a Sidhe girl with bright red pigtails flew out. She couldn’t have been older than thirteen or fourteen. A small dog barrelled along at her feet.

‘Just five minutes, Nana!’ she cried. ‘I’ve been stuck inside all day and Baxter needs to run around.’

I put my head in my hands. ‘Her? Tell me you don’t mean her.’

‘Got her Gift about two months ago. She’s only the fifth person in the whole of Scotland to be currently bestowed with the power of healing.’

‘How do you know all this?’ Brochan asked.

‘I told you,’ Fergus said, ‘I pay attention to the people in my town.’ He looked at me pointedly. ‘Especially the ones who are ... interesting.’

I drew in a breath. ‘I can’t steal a child’s Gift.’

‘She’s thirteen years old,’ Taylor said. ‘Pre-Fissure she’d already have been married off and popping out more little Sidhe-lings.’

‘We’re probably related. My mother was Ochterlony. And she’s just a kid.’

‘So were you. You were younger than that when you ran away from them. That dog is being treated better than you were.’ There was considerable rancour and bitterness in his voice about what had happened to me before I’d met him.

Below us, the girl threw a ball and the dog bounded after it while she laughed.

‘You said she was the fifth,’ I appealed to Fergus. ‘Where are the others?’

‘Two are in Shetland,’ he said, referring to northernmost islands which were way out of reach. ‘One is over ninety and hasn’t left her Clan Lands in more than thirty years. I believe the other is currently hosting an emergency council meeting at the Cruaich.’