Forged Steel

by H A Titus

  I looked at the earlier work I'd scribbled down on the side of the page. Thirty-nine. Angel…why was he on…right, Angel and his numbers.

  Wait. Angel liked fours and progressions of four—I thought of his passcode, eight to the power of four. Maybe the key to this cipher was in a progression of numbers.

  So, 39 + 39 = 78. 39 + 78 = 117. I scanned through the entire code, running my finger along the line of text.

  And found 117.

  I stared at the text. No way. I kept going with the calculations. 39 + 117 = 156. I ran through the numbers.

  No good.

  If it wasn't a progression of thirty-nines … I added 78 + 117 = 195. That occurred several times within the cipher text. And 117 + 195 = 312, which also occurred several times within the text.

  I smacked myself in the forehead. "Idiot!"

  Eliaster snorted. "You're just now realizing this?"

  I thrust the papers toward him. "It's similar to a Fibonacci sequence! That's why the numbers go so high."

  He raised his eyebrows. "I hate to ask, but what is a Fibonacci sequence?"

  "You wouldn't know unless you'd taken higher math," I said. "I'm an idiot for letting it stump me for so long, but I've never seen a Fibonacci sequence that didn't start with three…though thirty-nine is a progression of three. Thank you, Angel."

  "Can you just tell me—"

  "Fibonacci sequences are sequences where all the numbers are the sum of the two numbers before it." I held up the page with the key phrase on it. "Christ's 'fathers' number thirty-nine. Thirty-nine and thirty-

  nine equal seventy-eight, which corresponds to A. Thirty-nine plus seventy-eight equals one-hundred-seventeen, which is the next highest number, so it would equal B. Seventy-eight plus one-hundred-seventeen equals one-hundred-ninety-five, which is C…"

  I flipped the sheet of paper over and began working out the numbers. Within twenty minutes, I had the entire alphabet, from A to Z, in a sloppy row on the page. I showed it to Eliaster.

  He clutched his head in both hands. "I got it! Don't make my head hurt any more than it already does."

  I grinned.

  It took me no time at all to convert the numbers to letters. Within twenty minutes, I had the back of a page covered with consonants in groups of five.

  THLST KPRNT HYRFR LRDGH TNSVN TNNLG

  HTFTH RCNTD SCVRS RGRDN GTHRL LCNRH NDSHS DCDDT PTTHR LCNDR SFKPN YNHDD NPLCT HSWHS KTWLD BWSTR MMBRT HLSTG RLDDN GRNVG HTNSV NTNXX.

  As I stared at the letters, the triumph I'd felt at cracking the cipher withered like old lettuce. Technically, I'd known all along this was what I'd find. Confronting it was different. I hate word puzzles.

  I glanced up at Eliaster. He was asleep again, his head tucked under his arm. No help from him. I sighed, scanned Roe's shelves until I spotted a dictionary, grabbed it, and spread the cipher out on the coffee table. I picked the first combination of letters—THLST—and flipped the dictionary open to T.

  By midnight, I'd figured out that it was actually two words, 'the' and 'last'—and not much else. David and

  Larae still hadn't shown up. Eliaster had woken up and, upon discovering that I hadn't finished the cipher, reverted back to his usual cranky self.

  Roe pushed the door open. She had been in and out since supper, checking up on my progress. She'd always had an encouraging word, but pep talks every thirty minutes were starting to get old. This time, however, she just sat down on the couch beside me and folded her hands in her lap.

  I sighed and threw the papers onto the coffee table. They slid across it and off the other side.

  "Nothing more?" Roe asked.

  "No." Why was my brain blinking in and out today? Absolutely ridiculous. Now I really felt stupid. I'd figured out a Fibonacci sequence, but I couldn't solve a few scrambled letters.

  The front door clicked, and a moment later Larae and David came into the library. Larae flopped into the chair opposite Eliaster's and dropped her bag at her feet.

  "Find out anything?" Eliaster growled, leaning forward.

  "Not a thing, no thanks to you," she snapped.

  "Oh, it's my fault that your informants are lame?"

  "If you hadn't followed us—"

  Roe sighed. "Please, Eliaster. Larae. Can we just put away the pettiness for a little while?"

  Larae crossed her arms. "A couple of the guys on the list said that they've heard increased rumors of the Lucht Leanúna. My own guys told me no way that there's anything to those rumors. So basically, we're back to where we started, hoping that Genius Boy can figure out something."

  I grabbed my work papers from the floor and shoved them at her. "I've gotten something accomplished."

  She eyed the papers, then muttered, "How long until you're done?"

  "Who knows."

  "You're stuck again? Really? Marc always told me you were smart—for a human, anyway."

  Eliaster snorted.

  Larae turned on him. "Oh come, on, really? Why do you always have to be so melodramatic?"

  Eliaster pointed at himself. "Who, me?"

  "I didn't hear anyone else throwing a temper tantrum."

  "Why do you always have to be a pain in the butt?" Eliaster snapped back.

  I took the opportunity to slink out of the room and flop on the bottom step of the entryway stairs.

  Had Marc ever added that last bit—for a human—when talking to his fae friends? I smoothed the cipher over my leg and tried to ignore the sounds of Eliaster and Larae's bickering in the library. Did it matter? It wasn't going to make me stop trying to help.

  Not that I was doing all that much good.

  The library door opened, releasing the sound of hard-edged Gaelic words, and Roe and David came out into the hallway. David made a face as he stepped around me and headed up the stairs.

  Roe patted my shoulder. "I put toiletries and an extra towel in the last bedroom on the left upstairs. Perhaps going to bed would be the best thing right now."

  "Maybe."

  Roe reached out and grasped the edge of the papers. I tightened my grip. She raised her eyebrows, the soft lines of her grandmotherly face turning sharp. I let go.

  "I appreciate your worry about Marc—but between that and those two…" She nodded at the library. "I'm sorry you were dragged into this, Josh. I know you don't want to be here."

  I shifted, looked down at my hands. "It's okay."

  "Is it?"

  I nodded, pressing my lips together. It wasn't okay. I wasn't okay. But the faster I finished the cipher, the sooner I could get out of here.

  She sighed. "Sleep well. I pray that it refreshes your mind."

  "Thanks."

  She headed down the hallway to the kitchen.

  I rubbed my hands over my face. My stomach growled, but there was a knot in my gut the size of my fists. I couldn't eat right now.

  I stood and trudged up the stairs. The upper story of the house stretched away from the stairs in a long hallway. I walked past four doors, all shut, to reach the open doorway of my bedroom. As promised, Roe had left towels and bathroom essentials on the dresser tucked under the sloped blue ceiling. I kicked off my shoes, peeled off my socks, and curled my toes into the thick, plush gray carpet.

  Like Roe said, maybe sleep would help. I moved my messenger bag from the bed to the floor, then pulled off my jacket and tossed it over my bag. It landed with a dull smack, and I saw the corner of a green CD case sticking out of the pocket.

  Where had this come from? I hadn't stuck it in there, had I? I tried to remember if I'd felt it banging around in my pocket within the last couple of days. Then I remembered that there had been dozens of times someone had bumped into me in the Market today. It could have gotten stuffed in my pocket at any time.

  I booted up my computer.

  A light rap on the door frame made me jump and drop the disk.

  "Oh, sorry." Larae stepped hesitantly into the room. Her hunched shoulders gave her crossed arms a softer look, like she was trying to keep
warm. "Getting ready to go to bed?"

  I nodded. "Yeah. I'll work on the cipher some more, but I think my brain needs some time to process everything that's happened before I'll get much more work done on it."

  She nodded and glanced away, looking past me to the black and white sketches hanging on the wall over the bed. "I feel as though I should apologize for my earlier comments. It was stupid of me."

  I shrugged. "Believe me, I'm getting used to not being trusted."

  "But Marc trusted you, and that should have been good enough for me." She stepped toward me and laid her hand on my arm. "I'm sorry. I know you wouldn't abandon Marc."

  Prickles of heat washed over me, emanating from the spot where her nails brushed my skin. Her big violet eyes looked way too soft, and gentle fluctuations danced in the irises. She leaned toward me, her body inches away from my torso. The knot in my gut got heavier.

  I moved my arm away and scratched my neck, making her hand slide off. "Yeah. Yeah, I just didn't feel like I could—you know…"

  She smiled and reached up, brushing my cheek with the tips of her fingers. "I know. You have the makings of a hero more than you realize, Josh."

  I stared after her as she left the room. What had just happened? No, dumb question. I knew what had just happened. Larae—my best friend's girlfriend—had just hit on me. I sat on the bed and dug my fingers into the edge of the mattress. Why?

  "Nice little show." Eliaster stepped up to the doorway and leaned against the jamb, grinning. "Gettin' all cozy, are we?"

  I growled under my breath. "Don't tell me you have laser vision."

  He laughed. "Nope. Came up to the door when you two were busy gazing adoringly into each other's eyes. Or, more correctly, Larae was gazing adoringly, and you looked like a rabbit about to get run over."

  "Thanks. You could've rescued me."

  "Nah." He stepped into the room and closed the door after him. "Now do you believe me that there's something weird about those two?"

  I wasn't ready to make a final judgment on David yet. That was partially because he felt safe—he was another human, after all. Someone like me who had been through all of this, someone who had survived it and adapted to it. Maybe I could do the same.

  Larae, however…

  "You said she was Marc's girlfriend."

  "They certainly seemed infatuated with each other. Sickeningly so. Always purring over how nice the other looked and how sweet they were. I 'bout had to puke a few times." Eliaster flopped onto the floor and leaned his back against the wall. "Curiously enough, I saw her pull a similar stunt with Marc once or twice. Big doe-eyes, hand on the arm, soft voice, the works. It was gross. Can't believe Marc always fell for it."

  "So why was she pulling the sweet-and-innocent act on me if she's Marc's girlfriend?"

  "Surely you can't be that dense. Have you ever had a girlfriend?"

  Dating had been misery for me in high school, so I hadn't even tried in college. Not that I was going to tell him that. Time for a subject change. "Look, as much as I'd love to get all chummy and discuss my love life, we've got bigger problems." I held up the CD. "I found this in my jacket. I think someone stuck it in my pocket at the Market."

  Eliaster stood up and hovered over my shoulder as I inserted the CD in my computer and clicked 'play' on the video command screen that popped up.

  Blodheyr's face appeared on the screen, his silver eyes seeming to bore into me even out of a computer screen. He leaned forward on a desk and steepled his fingers underneath his chin. "Joshua."

  I glanced at Eliaster. His eyes were so narrow I could barely see the color spikes in his irises, and the rest of his face was as expressive as a stone carving.

  "Most businessmen will start out by telling you how patient and flexible they will be, especially when they're trying to work with a freelancer like yourself. However, I have never claimed to be a patient man.

  Marc is performing adequately, but it has taken a lot of…" The Unseelie paused, leaned back in his chair, and reflectively smoothed the front of his shirt.

  "…persuasion, to get to this point. I want results, and I know that you can produce them.

  "If you think that Eliaster Tyrone can protect you, you are gravely misinformed. Eliaster suffers from an overinflated sense of duty to Overworlders, as if the fae owe you something. I suffer under no disillusions, and I owe my allegiance to no human who's been dead for the last two thousand years." He cleared his throat, lowered his hands to his desk. Not a single movement he made seemed superfluous.

  Blodheyr glanced off to the side as if gathering his thoughts for a moment.

  "This guy…" Eliaster muttered.

  "I will not be beaten, Joshua. I hope you understand that." Blodheyr picked up a blank sheet of paper from his desk and started fiddling with it. "I will find a way to acquire your cooperation."

  I rubbed my sweaty palms against my legs.

  He tore a long, precise strip from the paper. "It will not be pleasant for you unless you come voluntarily, though I doubt that you will, given your actions thus far. If this is your course, then so be it. Just be cautious." Another tear, and his eyes came up, staring directly into the camera. "And Eliaster—this is strike two. Next time, I will flay you alive."

  The screen went dark.

  Eliaster's jaw bunched. "I have to tell Roe about this." He started for the door, then paused. "For what it's worth, however sweet and innocent Larae may seem, I think she's trying to manipulate you."

  Right. "And you're not?"

  Eliaster met my eyes, then stalked from the room.

  Chapter 10

  After Eliaster left, I went to bed and, despite Blodheyr's threat, fell asleep immediately. The next morning I woke at seven and quietly sat on the edge of my bed, feeling rested but achy, as if I'd slept too heavily for too long. My neck cracked as I stretched, but most of my bruises from the wreck and getting manhandled had eased.

  The house had that still, expectant air that old houses do in the morning, before anyone has gotten up. The musty smell was a bit heavier. I pulled my feet back onto the bed, opened my laptop, and replayed Blodheyr's message with headphones stuck on my ears so I wouldn't disturb anyone.

  The tone of Blodheyr's voice made my skin crawl, but the words and his actions seemed more appropriate to a campy James Bond villain.

  Blodheyr wasn't stupid. Why was he trying this kind of scare tactic? And why was Eliaster the only one of my teammates mentioned? He talked about Eliaster's overinflated sense of duty to Overworlders, so maybe he figured that Eliaster would have appointed himself my guardian. That bothered me. Eliaster seemed to be the one in charge, and if our enemy knew him that well…

  "I hate this," I muttered, standing up again and grabbing my jeans from the desk chair. As I pulled them on, I noticed a folder lying partially under the door. I picked it up and flipped it open. The cipher. Roe must have slipped it under the door while I was still asleep, knowing I'd want to work on it as soon as I woke up this morning. I smiled and settled back on the bed.

  The night of sleep had done something for my brain, just as Roe had told me it would. Slowly, painstakingly, I began to see words in the letters that had made no sense last night, and I made good headway by the time Roe knocked on the door at eight.

  I scanned the cipher as I rolled out of bed, ran my fingers through my hair, and pulled on a wrinkled blue t-shirt from the wad of clothes in my bag.

  By the time I got to the downstairs hallway, I could smell bacon. The kitchen door was open, and I could hear Larae and Roe talking over the sound of frying meat and pancakes.

  Eliaster stumbled from the library, wearing the same jeans and black shirt he'd worn since I'd first met him at Blodheyr's cabin. His eyes were bleary and bloodshot.

  "Morning, sunshine," I said.

  He grunted and brushed past me, dragging a hand over the fine stubble on his face. I rubbed my own cheek and found the beginning of something that wasn't quite a beard, but was too long to call scruff.
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  A shave and a shower needed to happen soon. Preferably, immediately after breakfast.

  I stepped into the kitchen. The upper half of the walls were papered in a muted green and pink plaid, and the lower half of the walls were covered in white wainscoting. A table with built-in white benches stood right next to the door, one of the benches almost blocking the door. Roe stood past it at the gas stove, wearing a blue apron and stacking pancakes onto plates sitting on the counter beside her.

  Eliaster and David both sat on the far side of the table, so I slid into place between Larae and the wall. She smiled at me, and the warmth of a blush spread over the back of my neck.

  "Morning, Josh." Roe put plates piled with pancakes and bacon the table. "Did everyone sleep well? You didn't sleep in the library again did you, Eliaster?"

  He nodded.

  "Did you actually sleep?" she asked, placing a full cup of black coffee in front of him.

  Eliaster shrugged and chugged the coffee. "Couple of hours."

  "Weirdo," Larae muttered, but she had a note of humor in her voice.

  "I worked on the cipher for a bit this morning," I said around a mouthful of bacon. "Got some of it done—I think another few hours and I can finish it."

  Larae clapped her hands together. "Excellent!"

  "Well done, Josh," David said, grinning. "I guess we'd better start getting stuff together, planning out our next steps."

  Eliaster nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe it's time to think about some defense training for you, Josh."

  I tried not to grin as I stuffed a huge bite of pancakes into my mouth. I still wasn't totally excited about the deal that came with accepting the sword, but at the same time, I wasn't going to pass up a chance at actually learning how to use it.

  Roe caught my eye and motioned to the coffeemaker. I nodded, and she passed me a cup.

  "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Larae asked Eliaster. "Even if you start today, he won't have time to learn much. He's going to be more of a liability in a fight."

  "What if there's another cipher? Or some computer hacking?" Eliaster scratched his neck. "Josh's skills more than outweigh the liability of inexperience in fights. We need him."