Chapter 229: Gate Warnings
I tried checking in on Dad, but he had the basement door warded. Part of me was pissed he wasn't paying attention when Celeste broke in, but the other half was grateful. It was probably those very wards which would have kept her from doing what she was trying to if I hadn't arrived home.
That thought made me pause at the bottom of the first floor stairs. What if she wasn't heading for the basement? But if not, what was she after? I pondered the question all the way to my room. A brief touch behind Meira's door told me she was sleeping. At least I didn't have her to deal with tonight.
There was still no Galleytrot waiting for me and nor could I reach him.
I sat down at my computer and checked for messages. And no Quaid either. Great, it seemed everyone was ignoring me. Sassy lay curled up on the bed sleeping, so I let him, sliding under the covers myself.
***
The hum drives me to my knees, shaking my soul as the pounding footsteps draw closer. I lift my eyes, looking up at the Gate as it begins to glow, gathering the light of the shining moon, sucking illumination from the silvered world around me.
I reach for it, desperate to stop the inevitable as the Gate pulses once.
Someone knocks, as though a great fist has struck the surface, making it ring like a bell. The sound intensifies the shuddering of the ground, setting the very air to vibrate, my teeth chattering together from the assault.
A second knock, this one louder than the first, tearing great rents in the earth beneath me.
A third. As my body shakes apart, my essence scattering in a million fragments, my scream dies under the sound of marching feet.
***
Oh hell, no. I swiped at the sweat running down my face, my gaze drawn out my window to the glowing full moon hanging over my back yard. Foreboding so powerful it made me groan gripped me in an iron hand and squeezed. Shaylee cried out, running to hide, cowering behind a wall of green magic I was unable to break through.
My conversation with the Sidhe Venner came rushing back to me. He'd mentioned someone knocking on the Gate. But I still didn't know what it meant, outside of the fact it wasn't good. I had to talk to Liam. No more waiting. Whatever was coming, I had to deal with it. I had a moment of nerves, remembering Celeste's warning. One more disaster. Well, maybe I could get to the core of this one before all hell broke loose.
Just keep lying to yourself, Syd.
Galleytrot, I need you now. Without Shaylee's power I knew I'd have a harder time reaching him.
Nothing. Damn it.
I continued trying for the remainder of the morning, dawn soon arriving, through arguing with Meira over bathroom time leading to the inevitable screaming of, "I hate you!" and the slamming of her door, past breakfast and all the way along my walk to school. I finally gave up trying to reach the black dog, though my fear for him didn't go away.
Of course I was worried about Galleytrot himself, despite knowing he was an immortal hound of the Wild Hunt and not much could really harm him. But he was, after all, the anchor to which I'd placed the seal of the Wild when Gwynn ap Nudd finally agreed to go back to sleep instead of ripping the world to shreds. If something were to happen to Galleytrot, I wasn't sure the seal would hold.
Alison seemed even more normal that morning and I found myself grinning at her jokes, just like I used to. I really missed her. I just wished I had more time to spend with her, now that she seemed to be on the mend. I ditched her as gently as I could and went searching for Liam.
I spotted him easily, his reddish blonde head topping most of the other students. But when I smiled and waved at him he turned from me and vanished into his classroom.
I would have gone after him except the sight of Ms. Spaft staring me down made me think twice. I'd almost forgotten about the horrid woman, but the memory of being in one of her detentions was enough to keep me from pushing my luck.
It wasn't until lunch I had time to chase him down, but Liam was nowhere to be found-not in the cafeteria where our table sat empty and lonely, not outside on the hill where we'd had lunch yesterday. I finally risked letting some magic out, knowing it wasn't exactly against the rules, but definitely stretching them. Shaylee latched onto him in a heartbeat, carrying me right to the stairs and up to the library.
Of course. He'd said it himself, he loved libraries. Duh, Syd.
I found him hunched over a book, head in his hands. The moment I sat next to him he looked up, startled, before his face took on an angry edge. Liam closed the book as he moved to rise and I knew then I had to do something radical or this was all over.
"Yes," I said, "you're right. Me too. Okay? Happy?"
His anger was gone in a flash, replaced by a mix of relief and an odd joy. Liam grinned at me, everything forgiven. I told myself I'd have to teach him what a poker face was as he spoke.
"I knew it." He touched one fingertip to the back of my hand. Shaylee instantly reacted, a spark of green magic jumping between us. We both twitched, but this time instead of hiding it, I shrugged.
"It's a family thing." True enough. No, I wasn't about to tell him about my coven, but the Sidhe stuff? That was mine to share and Celeste and the others be damned.
He nodded quickly. "Me too," he whispered. "My dad had it. And my grandfather. I think it's part of the reason Mom hates it here. Because we're, you know. Different."
"You've always known?" I needed him to not only fill in his family history, but resolve this mystery.
"Ever since I was little." Liam traced a pattern on the back of his book over and over again and I realized as he did it was a Sidhe symbol. And I knew it, had seen it. I touched his hand as he began to follow the path he made again and green magic lit it up ever so softly.
The Gate.
Liam grinned at me, suddenly trembling with excitement. "Cool. This sign?" He gestured at it, but I'd already let the power fade. Couldn't have someone wander by and spot it. "I keep seeing it in my dreams."
My heart seized up before thudding painfully back into action. "What kind of dreams?"
"There's this gate or doorway," he said. "And the moon is huge, really full and bright."
I found myself nodding. "Did someone knock last night?"
Liam gaped at me like he had no idea who I was. "You too?"
I tried really hard not to sigh. Didn't win, but I tried. "I think I know what's going on," I said. "But I need your help to figure out the rest of it."
I'm not sure what I said that made him suddenly stiffen. Liam pulled away from me, physically and emotionally.
"I have class." He moved so fast it left me speechless. What the hell just happened?
I managed to hook his arm with one hand. "Liam-"
"Sorry, Syd," he muttered, "but I'm starting to sound as nutty as Daddo."
"Daddo?" I thought his father was dead?
"Grandfather," Liam said and my brain made a connection so powerful my demon yelped. Daddo. His grandfather? Of course. The old man was the source, the one I had to find. He was the Keeper. I had to find out what Venner was up to and Fergus, not Liam, was my best chance at answers.
"Perfect," I said before I could sensor myself. "We have to talk to him, too."
Liam frowned, backing away. "Why?"
He looked like a spooked horse about to run off. I needed a better excuse than the magical one or I was sure I'd lose him. "My project," I blurted as the idea came to me. "I bet he knows tons about the town that isn't in these books."
Liam hesitated. "Probably," he said finally. "But he's not really all there anymore, Syd."
"Don't patients with dementia remember the past way better than the present?" I winced inwardly. Way to sound callous. But Liam nodded and actually relaxed a little.
"I use stories to sooth him," Liam said. "It always makes him happy to talk about the old days."
I had him, awesome. Now to find a way to ask the grandfather about the Gate without freaking out Liam.
One step at a time.
"Can we go after school?" I couldn't wait any longer, not with Shaylee's fear so intense and with Galleytrot out there, searching for what I now knew was the connection between our realm and the Sidhe.
"Well..." Liam ran one hand through his hair. "I guess so. But we can't tell Mom. She'll freak."
That was curious. "She doesn't like you to visit? I thought that's why you came back."
"It's not that," he said. "Daddo always talks about weird stuff and it makes Mom uncomfortable."
"The family stuff." We both knew what I meant.
"Yeah." A little, shy smile bloomed on his face. "I think Daddo will be happy to see you, if you're like us." He straightened then and smiled wider. "Okay, Syd. You're on. I'll meet you at the front doors after school."
I let him go, breathing a huge sigh of relief inside. Even Shaylee seemed to relax a little. Progress, finally. And some further food for thought. It was quite probable that Sidhe blood ran unbroken through the male side of Liam's family, passed from O'Dane boy to O'Dane boy, like mine had been passed from Gram.
I was still standing there, thinking, when the bell rang for class.
***
