Arch-Mage. The stench of death, unfortunately, still lingered in the air, along with the horror of what had happened to Staines. I spent as little time as possible getting my things together then we headed straight to Clava Books, stopping only to say a quick hello to Mrs. Alcoon and Slim, before going to the small room at the back and passing out, Aubrey on the campbed and me on the floor on top of a sleeping bag.
When I came to, a few hours later, I felt groggy and very, very hungry. Aubrey was still fast asleep, snoring gently. I stumbled out to the front of the shop, hoping that I could scrounge something to eat. Solus was there, one elbow propped up on the till counter, chatting to Slim.
“Where have you been?” he exclaimed. “No-one’s seen you since yesterday. You’ve been out all night, dragonlette.”
I looked away. “I had a few things to do.”
“Like what?”
I shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t want to lie to Solus, but I didn’t think Alex would be very happy about me spilling the reasons for us entirely circumnavigating the Fae in order to get a couple of pounds of palladium. I tried to appear nonchalant.
“I went with Alex and Aubrey to get hold of some metal that Balud reckons Endor will be vulnerable to. No biggie.”
He gave me a suspicious look but, before he could question me further, I changed the subject. “What’s going on with the preparations for Loch Ness?”
“Everyone’s ready. Some Fae and some mages have travelled up there already to scout out the land. The shifters are waiting until after the bear’s funeral.”
“And the kelpies?”
He wrinkled his nose. “They are being…difficult.”
“Fecking slimy buggers,” spat Slim. “You should just let Endor kill the lot of them first.”
I raised my eyebrows slightly. There was a tinge of venom to the little gargoyle’s voice that I’d not previously heard.
“They lure people to their deaths. Even fecking children! Drowning them just for kicks. And the whole Loch Ness monster thing.” He shook his head. “It’s fecking barabaric.”
Solus explained. “The kelpies created the legend.”
“Of the Loch Ness monster? Why on earth would they do that? We’re supposed to stay out of the way of humans, not advertise our existence.”
Slim folded his chubby little arms. “Exactly.”
“They started the legend by appearing to the odd human here and there. Letting them get away instead of just killing them. It was probably a mistake, but you can never be sure with the kelpies. When they realised that it meant more tourists – and therefore more victims – came to the area, they kept it up.” Solus shrugged. “They’re not the nicest of species.”
“That doesn’t mean that we should just let Endor slaughter them all to take their energy.”
“No,” Solus agreed. “They’re so heavily tied in to the element of water that he’ll easily be able to take what he needs to master it.”
“And we’re not in the business of encouraging genocide,” I said pointedly.
The Fae shrugged. “Sure. That too.”
Slim snorted and began to say something, then his eyes widened fractionally, and he flapped into the back room with more speed than I’d have thought he was capable of. The front door of the shop jangled, and a young woman walked in. I gave her a cursory glance, registering that she was human, and then turned back to Solus to ask him about what had been done to make sure that Endor didn’t get wind of our intervention and end up being scared off. He, however, was watching the girl, an odd expression in his eyes.
Wondering whether I’d misjudged what she was, I looked back at her. She was browsing along one of the shelves, looking through the Myths and Legends section. Or at least the Myths and Legends section if you were human. To the rest of us, it was the Historical part of the bookshop. She definitely seemed human though.
Solus straightened up, then sauntered over to her with an overly pronounced swagger. Interesting. I watched him, utterly fascinated.
“Good afternoon,” he said smoothly, holding out his hand.
She jumped slightly, looking up at him through a long messy fringe, then started to blush.
“Er, hi.” She took his hand in return but, when he started to lift it to his lips to kiss it rather than shake it, she snatched it away. You go, girl.
Apparently unfazed, Solus just smiled. “Welcome to our little bookstore.”
I tried not to laugh. ‘Our’ little bookstore?
She muttered thanks, then turned away, obviously wanting some peace and quiet