In fact, I loved her already.
It wasn’t long until the door opened and Alex’s voice came out mid-sentence before she did. “…don’t see why you need a stupid Santa hat,” she said just before she stepped onto the deck and moved aside to let Junkyard up. “That thing is filthy. Besides, it doesn’t really fit you.”
“It’s not a Santa hat.” Junkyard emerged from the gloom with a small chest tucked under one arm, the neck of a whiskey bottle jutting from his jacket pocket, and a disturbingly familiar dull red, drooping cap on his head. “It’s a stocking cap, and I bet it belonged to a pirate,” he said. “Oh! Hello, Prince Edward.” He lifted his free hand and waved at Uriskel.
“Er, hello,” Uriskel said carefully, and then leaned closer to me. “Is that not a Red Cap’s hat?” he murmured.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is.” Red Caps were technically Fae, but they all seemed to be murderous, nasty little bastards. And they soaked their caps in the blood of their enemies. “Uh, Junkyard?” I said. “You can keep the … pirate hat, but maybe you shouldn’t wear it. It’s probably an antique.”
He rolled his eyes up and frowned a little. “You know, you’re probably right,” he said as he pulled the cap off. “I’ll just put it in my chest for now. Maybe I’ll get a mannequin or something to display it on when we get back to the States.” He flipped the lid open and grinned as he shoved the hat inside. “I took a few jewels. Hope that’s okay,” he said. “There’s tons of them down there.”
“That’s totally fine,” I said.
“Thanks! You’re pretty cool, Gideon. I’m glad we met.” His smile flickered uncertainly as he looked at the grass surrounding the ship where water should’ve been. “I think we’re gonna need a whole lot of wind to get home from here,” he said.
Uriskel cleared his throat. “You’ve no need for wind,” he said. “You will take the … well, the …”
“The royal transport,” I cut in. “It’s the fastest way to travel. You’ll be home in no time.”
“Wow, that sounds awesome!” Junkyard said. “I can’t believe I got to meet the royal family. Thanks for having us, Prince Edward.” He held a hand out to Uriskel. “Oh, wait. We’re supposed to bow to princes, right?”
“No bowing, please,” Uriskel said quickly, and shook the hand.
Alex smiled over a sigh. “I can’t wait for him to get back to normal,” she said, and looked at me. “So, this is goodbye, I guess.”
“For now,” I said. “We’ll see each other soon.”
She hugged me tightly, and I squeezed back just as hard. Her eyes glistened when she stepped back. “This has been one hell of a trip,” she said. “Thank you. For everything.”
“You too.” Okay, that sounded lame. “I mean, for not killing me. And getting us off the bottom of the ocean. And, you know … everything.”
“You’re welcome,” she laughed.
“Hey, Captain?” Junkyard called from the rail, where he’d wandered over to look down. “When did you put wood sides on the Foxtrot? And why is she beached in … uh, fake grass?”
“Oh, boy. I’d better get him home,” she said, and looked at Uriskel. “What should we do?”
He raised a hand and drew it down slowly through the air, leaving a shimmering opening in the wake of the movement. “You’ve only to step through, and you’ll find Lightning Cove on the other side,” he said.
She gave a small nod and called Junkyard over. “Look, we’ve got the royal transport waiting for us,” she said. “It’s right through here.”
Junkyard peered at the shimmering rip. “That’s really bright,” he said. “Is it made out of gold or something?”
“Yes. Pure twenty-four carat, with diamond hubcaps. Go on,” she said. “I’m right behind you.”
“Okay.” He lifted a vague smile and stepped through the portal.
Alex turned briefly and waved at me. “See you soon, brother,” she said.
And then she was gone.
CHAPTER 37
Home was where you hung your treasure chests full of gold coins and precious gems.
We’d stayed in Arcadia for roughly a full day, which translated to a few hours in human terms. Time moved slower in the Fae realm. Most of that time was spent moving everything off the ship and into the castle, where it was still being catalogued. It was a vast collection, filled with a lot of powerful artifacts and some old, or more likely ancient items that no one could identify, but were obviously rare and valuable. Turned out that page in the envelope Tethys gave me was actually an inventory — for all the good the mostly illegible document had been. Fortunately, Sir Cromwell had a pretty good idea about most of it, and his spirit helped us figure things out.
Once we’d cleared the holds and storage rooms, Braelan had sent the ship itself to a harbor in Lightning Cove, where Alex could take it whenever she was ready.
I’d kept the Scrolls, the skull of Sir Livingston Cromwell, and the weapons. We’d also brought the more obvious treasure back to the house. Four massive chests, each of them filled to the brim with gold, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls, and other incredibly expensive things that translated into money. Lots of it.
I wasn’t completely sure, but I thought we might be billionaires.
When the four of us stepped through the portal and into the house, the first thing I did was call Abe to tell him I was home and alive. He was practically in the car before we finished talking, headed over to bring Eli back and probably to ream me out for being a day or two late.
I actually looked forward to it. Abe yelling at me was comforting — it was how he said he cared.
Taeral and Sadie headed for their bedroom to put away some things they’d kept from the ship, and I stayed downstairs to wait for Abe. I’d wrapped the skull in a cloth and set it on the table in the dining room, and I was going to the kitchen when I noticed Grygg standing in the foyer. But instead of his usual spot off to the side, he was right in the middle, staring at the front door.
I changed direction and joined him. “Everything okay?” I said.
“I’m not sure.” He looked at me with a frown, and I was struck again by how much more expressive his face was. “I almost feel like I’ve been sleeping, for a very long time. There is so much I’d forgotten. Now that I’m awake, I …” He sighed. “I’d like to ask a favor.”
Oh, man. This sounded serious, and I wasn’t sure how much more bad news I could take. “Okay, sure. What’s up?”
“Well.” He hesitated. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d like my own room after all. I believe I’m tired of standing in the foyer.”
I laughed so hard, I almost choked. “Is that all?” I said. “Of course you can have a room. Help yourself, there’s plenty.” I smirked and added, “You might want to stick with the first floor, though. Stairs probably aren’t your thing.”
He smiled. “You may be right. Thank you, Gideon.”
“No problem.”
Grygg got himself turned around and plodded off to stake a claim. I watched him for a minute, amazed at how much easier he moved. He wouldn’t be able to start running marathons or anything, but he was pretty fast for a five-hundred-pound stone slab.
With a soul. He’d actually been human once. It must’ve been so strange for him, realizing that he was probably the only human besides Cromwell that had lived for over four centuries.
I’d just decided to head for the kitchen again when the doorbell rang. Holy shit, Abe had made good time. “You can just come in, you know,” I said loudly as I headed for the door and unlocked the deadbolt. “Or did you already lose the key I gave you?”
I pulled the door open, but Abe wasn’t on the other side.
“Tethys.” How the hell did she keep doing that? Part of me suspected she was monitoring the house somehow, either electronically or magically, but that wasn’t even my problem right now. The force of my anger at whatever little game she’d been playing surprised me. “I guess you’d better come in,” I said as I mov
ed back.
She swept past me, all angles and jingling jewelry. “You seem upset, Gideon.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure you know why.” I slammed the door, hoping to startle her, but she didn’t so much as blink. “I’ve got your ancestor for you,” I said as I walked past her, heading to the dining room. “Come on.”
She followed me without a word. But when I handed her the small, cloth-wrapped bundle from the table, she looked surprised. “This is Sir Cromwell?”
“What’s left of him,” I said. “It’s his skull. The rest of him is ash dissolving in the Atlantic somewhere.”
Tethys unwrapped the skull slowly and stared at it. “Exactly how do you know that the rest of Sir Cromwell is ash?” she said in tight tones. “If there was an urn, you should’ve brought it to me.”
“Look, lady—” I cut myself off before I could start shouting, and took a slow, deep breath. “Do you have any idea what happened out there? Tell me the truth,” I said. “I don’t know what kind of witch power you have, but you seem to know a lot of things you shouldn’t.”
She somehow managed to look hurt. “I’m not psychic, if that’s what you’re suggesting,” she said. “I happen to be quite talented at scrying. However, even my talents won’t work over large bodies of water. They are a witch’s weakness, you know.”
“Unless you happen to be a weather witch, like your niece,” I said. “You know … my sister.”
The color abruptly drained from her face. “So that’s what you’re angry about.”
“Yeah, that’s a big part of it. So’s Alex, because you didn’t tell her either.” My fists clenched involuntarily. I wasn’t about to punch a fifty-year-old woman, or however old she was, but I kind of wanted to. “Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?”
“That must be why Alex wouldn’t answer my calls,” she said in a small voice, and then blinked and looked at me. “I honestly wasn’t sure if you’d put it together. And I’m sorry to say this, but I hoped you wouldn’t,” she said. “Your mother, my sister … she wanted Alex protected.”
“From Milus Dei,” I said. “Yeah, Daoin told us everything.”
This time she reeled like I’d slapped her. “Daoin is alive?” she whispered.
Something in those three shocked little words set off every internal alarm I had. “What do you know about Daoin?” I demanded.
“I … only that he helped Jessamyn, and that he’s your father. And Taeral’s,” she said.
She was lying, holding something back, but I couldn’t tell what. And I knew I’d never get it out of her by force or threat. I calmed down and decided to try a different approach. “All right, then what do you know about Milus Dei?”
At once, her expression was a deliberate blank. “I suppose I know enough.”
“Really. You know who they are, what they do?” I said. “Do you know that they infiltrated Alex’s crew and tried to kill all of us, Alex included?”
The speed that she moved from blank to absolute rage was astonishing. “They did what?” she said in a voice cold enough to lower the room temperature ten degrees.
“You heard me.”
“Yes, I did.” Her barely contained fury was terrifying. “But I’d like you to tell me again.”
I took a step back, almost without realizing it. “Okay, listen,” I said. “It’s a long and frankly unbelievable story, but here’s the important part. Once we found where the ship was, four of the crew turned on us and took everyone hostage. They wanted me to find something, and they’d kill the rest of them if I failed. I didn’t find what they wanted,” I lied. Something told me I absolutely didn’t want Tethys to know that I had the Scrolls of Gideon. “But we managed to turn the tables eventually, and they’re all dead now.”
Tethys listened with growing rage, a feat I would’ve thought impossible given how pissed off she already was. Finally, she said, “Well, you’ve fulfilled your end of the bargain, and the house is yours.” Her throat worked, and she seemed to regain control of herself by degrees. “Aside from that, Gideon, I am truly sorry about everything, including not telling you about your sister. I was only trying to honor a promise of my own.”
I relented a little. “Yeah, I get it. Like I said, we heard all about it from Daoin.” I knew she was still hiding something, but there was no doubt she’d been blindsided by what actually happened on the trip. She didn’t have anything to do with the sabotage, and she obviously cared for Alex. “Uh, so thanks for the house?”
“You’re very welcome.” Tethys was more collected now, but anger and hurt still lurked below the surface. “Gideon, I hate to ask,” she said. “This is not a favor, or a promise, or even something you must do, but I’d appreciate it if you would consider paying me a visit. Very soon, if possible.” She gestured with the skull as she started to re-wrap it. “There are things I’d like to ask Sir Cromwell about my family’s history, and obviously I can’t do that without your help. And … I’d really like to hear the whole story of what happened to you and Alex out there. Please.”
“That, I can do,” I said. “Maybe give me a few days to recover, and then—”
“Oh, absolutely. You can contact me when you’re ready, and I’ll send a car for you.” She produced a small card from somewhere — I had no idea where, since she didn’t have any visible pockets — and handed it to me. “Any of those numbers will reach me.”
I glanced at the card, saw Lady Tethys at the top and three phone numbers listed beneath. “All right,” I said, tucking the card in my pocket. “I’ll give you a call soon.”
“Thank you.” She smiled then, and the expression was almost happy. “I do hope you at least managed to bring some salvage home for yourself.”
“Oh, yeah. We did,” I said, thinking about the treasure chests and how shocked Tethys would be when she found out that Alex had Sir Cromwell’s actual ship, intact and in like-new condition. “Here, I’ll walk you to the door.”
We headed for the foyer, and I opened the door for Tethys. “Again, I can’t apologize enough,” she said. The rage flashed in her eyes again, just for a second, but it wasn’t toward me. “Please don’t forget to call me.”
“I won’t. And don’t worry about Alex,” I said. “I think if you give her a day or so, she’ll cool off and talk to you.”
Tethys gave a small smile. “I do hope so. Goodnight, Gideon.”
“Goodnight.”
She stepped through the door, and as I was closing it, I heard her say, “Good evening, Captain Strauss. Eli.”
I grinned and flung the door back open. “Hey, Abe. You finally made it.”
Abe snorted. “Did you ever consider coming home at a reasonable hour?” he said. “You know I’m an old man now, and I need my beauty sleep.”
Before I could respond to that, a small, furry form bolted at me and wrapped thin arms around my leg. “Gid!” Eli squealed happily. He had trouble with a lot of two-syllable words, since his vocal cords weren’t exactly optimized for speech. “Eli home,” he announced. “I missed home. Where Sadie? Where Taer?”
I reached down and patted his head. “They’re in the bedroom,” I said. “Go on.”
“Yes! Good-bye, Gid!” Eli squeaked, letting go of my leg to scramble into the house.
Abe had stood back to let Eli finish his greeting. Now he grabbed me, and I hugged him back. “You owe me a couch, by the way,” he said when he stepped back. “Eli ate mine.”
I tried not to laugh. “I’ll buy you the best damned couch you ever had. Hell, you can have two or three couches if you want.”
“What’s this? You go off on some ship, and suddenly you’re Mr. Moneybags?” Abe grinned. “I can’t wait to hear this story.”
I looked past him to the curb where he’d parked his sedan. I’d tell him what happened, but I also had to discuss a few more serious things — things I wasn’t exactly looking forward to explaining. But it’d be better to tell him now, before everything started blowing up.
“Tell you
what,” I said. “If you drive me out to the marina so I can get my van back, I’ll explain everything on the way.”
Abe’s brow shot up. “How did you get back here, if it wasn’t in your van?”
“That’s part of the story,” I said, grinning. “So how about it, old man … can I hitch a ride with you?”
He let out a good-natured sigh. “Yeah, come on,” he said as he turned to head for his car. “Sleep is overrated, anyway.”
I just hoped he’d actually be able to get some sleep when I finished telling him about the impending war against Dante.
CHAPTER 38
We were sitting in Abe’s car, parked next to my van at the marina. I was surprised to find a lot attendant stationed at the entrance at this hour. It wasn’t the same guy who’d been there when I drove in, but he still tried to charge us forty bucks.
Abe flashed his badge and put an end to that.
I’d told him everything that happened, the good and the bad. He took it in stride, even though he’d never get used to me doing all these insanely dangerous, life-threatening things. The mermaid thing really threw him. And he was genuinely thrilled for me that I was rich. He wouldn’t let me give him a few million dollars, but I did talk him into letting me pay off his house and buy him a new car, in addition to replacing his couch.
But now I’d come to the real hard part.
I’d been quiet for a few minutes when Abe said, “There’s something you don’t want to tell me, isn’t there?”
“Yeah, there is,” I admitted with a sigh. “A few things. But they’re all connected.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Are you running away to join the circus?”
“Uh … no. Where’d that come from?”
“Wild guess,” he said. “Okay, so you’ve decided to retire from the fighting evil business, but you want to move to Thailand.”
“Abe!” I laughed. “Look, I’m not leaving you.”
“Well, it sure as hell sounds like you are.” He got serious. “Usually when you don’t want to tell me something, it’s because you’re about to rush off and fight some huge thing that can squash you like a bug, and for some reason you think I won’t worry if I don’t know the details,” he said. “But you know I do. Even more when I have no idea where you are, or what you’re fighting. So do me a favor and just spit it out, kid.”
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