Falling for Angels - Hazel Hunter Page 0,23
we walked he lurched a little (two legs requiring more balance than four) but didn’t try to shift back. At the castle’s threshold he stopped to sniff the air.
“It’s okay.” I took hold of his hand. “You can do this.”
“So many here.” Vel frowned. “No shame you, Less.”
That he was worried made me love him a little more. “You always make me proud, Vel.”
I guided him through the great hall, where of course everyone gawked. I smiled at the girls with teeth, and they went back to prepping breakfast. The clansmen kept watching us as I took Vel to my room.
“Okay, this is where you and I will sleep.” Inside my room I started pointing and naming things. “Hearth, trunk, wash stand, bed, and window. The laird said he’d find more clothes for you.”
He walked around and then stopped at the bed. “We sleep now?”
“Later tonight.” And do some other things, I hoped. “Today we’ll have breakfast together, and then do some work, and go to the bonfire tonight. It’s called, ah, Tine-Aye-Gan, I think.”
“Tein'-éigin,” a deep voice said. “’Tis what we call the Need Fire.”
As the McGillean stepped inside, Vel darted in front of me. I saw his back muscles shift, as if he meant to change form, but then he went still.
“My lord.” He bowed the way I’d taught him, but he stayed between me and the laird. “Lessy say I stay in castle.”
“Aye, ’twas time you lived as a man.” Gill smiled a little. “You guard the lady well, lad.”
Vel drew me against his side. “My lady.”
At dusk every hearth on the island was extinguished. The Need Fire, Coach told us, was something Scottish people did during times of bad luck. Everyone would restart their fires with torches they lit from one new, big blaze. The bonfire also had to be earned, not just lit up, and as the newcomers to the island the Angels had to be the ones to start it.
“We’re not Girl Scouts,” I heard Deb telling Gayla as Vel and I went to join the rest of the clan and the Angels around the huge pile of wood in the glen. “Using a rope and stick will take forever. I’ll do it.”
“Or we could just smack Reggie in the head,” Gayla told her.
“Hey, I heard that,” our tumbler protested before her guy wisely led her away.
I chuckled and went to help, only to walk into Vel. “It’s okay. I was a Girl Scout.”
He picked me up and nuzzled my neck. Against my ear he said, “Wood smell evil. Smell demon magic.”
Everyone had gathered around the huge wood pile and started cheering. Deb strode up as if she meant to use her power to light it.
I jumped on Vel’s back. “Shift and run.”
His body swelled under me as his clothes exploded and he took on stallion form. Clansmen drew their swords and shouted as Vel galloped through them. I jumped from his back and landed on Deb. We both fell in a tangle, and Vel shifted back into human form to drag us both away from the wood pile.
“They must burn,” Deb screamed in an entirely new voice.
I punched her in the jaw, and she went limp.
“Don’t light the fire,” I shouted as I scrambled up. “There’s something wrong with it.”
The laird ordered everyone back, and then approached the pile. Vel followed, and yanked some of the wood away to reveal a huge, seething orb of yellow light hidden inside.
“Fire evil,” he told Gill. “Burn clan, Angels.”
Vel picked up a rock and threw it at the orb, shattering it. An awful stench spread, and the light turned to sludge as it sank into the ground.
“My thanks, lad.” The laird took off his tartan and draped it over Vel’s shoulders before he ordered everyone back inside. That was when I went to get Deb, only to find she’d vanished.
“Where is she?” I asked Vel.
He pointed at the loch. “Go demons.”
In the end Reggie used her power to light one of the hearths in the castle, and runners were sent with torches across the island. Coach and Gill said they wouldn’t give up on Deb as long as there was a chance we could get her back. I promised to work on teaching Vel more English so he could explain more about what had happened, and why.
Much later I showed Vel why it was okay not to wear pants in bed with me. Now I don’t think he’ll ever put them on again.
Chapter 20
The Trouble with