I picked it up to look at it further. It was made of Caithness glass and contained a pretty pattern inside of purple and red swirls. I was about to place it back down when I realised that the under-side felt oddly rough. Flipping it over, I saw that a small rune had been etched into it somehow. It looked Fae, but whilst I could speak a few basic words and sentences, I definitely didn’t have the skill to decipher the rune itself. Unless…my eyes searched the bookshelf again. There! John had a dusty old Fae- Human dictionary sitting at one end. I pulled it off, struggling with its weight, and opened it. The rune had three markings on the side in the shape of three teardrops so I had a vague idea of which section to look in. Next to the teardrops was what looked like a little stringless harp. That helped. Faerie language was pictorial. Once you had an idea about what the separate pictures were, you could start to find out their meaning. I counted the brush strokes on the right hand side. Five. That meant that in the teardrop section, I had to flip to the five stroked subheading and then find the harp. I was too impatient and I almost tore through the pages to find the right part. I traced my finger down the listed runes before seeing it. Herensuge. Huh. That was Basque for dragon.
I leaned back towards the computer and typed it in. What the hell, it was worth a shot. To my delighted surprise, as soon as I hit return, the monitor chimed in happy agreement. I let out a long breath - I was in.
John’s computer desktop was sparse. There were a few folders displayed so I clicked on one entitled Statistical Sightings, figuring that it might give me an indication about what otherworld creatures had been spotted recently in the area. It opened up to a comprehensive table detailing the activities of various nasties going back to 2006. The figures were fairly even: in 2006 3 ogres, 17 trolls (I remembered there had been a particularly nasty bridge infestation that year), one Unseelie Fae encounter and a few others. In the next few years, there was little difference. However the last three months told a different story. It appeared that there had been more sightings and problems since March than we’d ever had before.
I pulled back slightly from my perch on the desk and absentmindedly rubbed my side. Things had been quieter lately, not busier. I’d spent my time routing out rabbits and foxes, not evil otherworld creatures bent on destruction. The table even made mention of a Quinotaur, a five horned beast, that had been dispatched near the lake. I pouted slightly. Meeting new big and bad nasties made my day – why hadn’t I heard of anything about this one? Or all the others? I was convinced that if any other pack members had come across this number of creatures then they’d have been moaning in bitter complaint to everyone who came near. And whoever killed the Quinotaur would surely have boasted of their achievements to someone. I wondered if John had been doing all this himself, and sending the rest us off on wild goose chases instead. It was a phenomenal achievement if he had, but begged the question of why. Perhaps it was linked to the wichtlein’s harbinger pebble. If things were so bad though, he’d surely have already informed the Brethren before now. I felt really rather hurt that he might have been killing himself to keep Cornwall safe and hadn’t asked me for help.
I moved the cursor to the menu and opened up the list of recent documents. There was one that he’d created just a scant few hours before his death. Looking at the time display, it must have been after he’d returned from the clearing. It didn’t have a title but I double clicked the mouse to open it up anyway. There were just three words: black diamond stones – followed by a question mark. I had a bit of a question mark myself. What were black diamond stones? I silently cursed John for not leaving a more clear clue.
I scanned the bookshelves again, looking for something that might help and was about to pull down a precious gems and magical objects encyclopaedia when I suddenly heard voices and the slamming of doors from outside. Bugger it. Quickly closing down the computer, I stepped back into the outer office. I was just in time because Staines came suddenly striding in with the Lord Alpha. They were in mid conversation and didn’t see me at first.
“My lord, we need to focus on the magic trail before anything else,” Staines was saying.
The Alpha growled. “The mage can do that better than us. It’s the tree markings that interest…” his voice trailed off as he saw me and his green eyes narrowed.
“Hi!” I said brightly. “Found it!” I held up my mug for display.
They both just stared at me silently. I cleared my throat. “Well, I’ll get out your way then.” I moved towards the door but the Alpha was blocking it. I looked up at him, waiting for him to move out my way. He folded his arms and continued to stare.
I felt a flicker of irritation from my bloodfire. This was my keep, not his. I moved to brush past him, registering the hard steely curve of his muscles as my arm touched his. He moved further back, blocking the doorway completely.
“Miss Mackenzie,” he drawled softly.
My flames flickered higher. “Lord Alpha,” I bit out.
He smiled predatorily. “You can call me Corrigan. Why are you here?”
“Because this is my pack’s office and my coffee mug and I want to have my coffee.” My eyes flashed, even as the small voice inside of me snapped at me to simper slightly and shut up, not anatagonise the man further.
He gazed implacably back. “I see. And how is that not shifting working out for you, Mackenzie? Feeling shaky yet?”
“Only from caffeine withdrawal,” I snapped shaking the mug in the air as if to prove my point.
He stepped aside and gestured to the door with a flourish. “Then I will not impede your way any longer.”
I humphed and stepped through. ‘Impede’ my way? Just let him try. For one horrifying second I thought I’d spoken aloud because from behind me I heard him speak again, with an iron tone to his voice. “Don’t be late for our interview because you’re guzzling the black stuff and jumping around off the walls on a caffeine buzz. I do not appreciate tardiness.”
Fuck off, I thought, and stalked off in the direction of the kitchen.
So his name was Corrigan. I scowled at myself and pushed the thought away. It was nothing to me what his name was. Arrogant fucker. I considered arriving late for the interview just to spite him but reminded myself that I was trying to portray meek and weak. I had clearly been massively unsuccessful so far. Closing my eyes and counting to ten, I tried to calm myself back down further. I still had to do my best to pass under the Brethren’s scrutiny, even if that would be difficult after my fight with Anton. Letting my temper and the bloodfire get the better of me would not help me or the pack.
By the time I reached the kitchen, my blood had settled back down to a simmer. Overhearing their conversation had at least given me some more clues to work with. I’d missed tree markings when I’d been out searching for John before, probably because I’d been too focused on the ground trail. That was useful. The Brethren would be busy with the interviews until late evening so once my one with Corrigan was over then I figured I could probably return to the scene of the crime unhindered.
I took a deep breath. This was going to be a long afternoon.
Chapter Eight
Julia came and found me in the kitchen whilst I was sat at the large wooden table with my hands curled around my now steaming mug of deliciously syrupy Java. I was lost in thought about what the tree markings might indicate.
“How’s it going, dear?” She asked.
“Fine. Great.” I said sarcastically. “John is still dead. The Brethren are still here and I have an interview with the Lord Alpha in fifteen minutes.”
“Now is not the time to get worked up, Mackenzie. Keep your wits about you and we’ll be fine.”
I sighed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Yes, yes, I know.”
Julia leaned towards me. “Do not fuck this up, Mackenzie.”
I was startled by her swearing. “I won’t. I’m just frustrated.”
“And you’ll get over it. There’s just over a day to go then this will be over.”
“29 hours.” Not that I was counting or anything. I changed the subject. “Julia, did John mention anything to you about increased otherworld activity?”
She shook her head, puzzled.
“What about a Quinotaur?”
She shook her head again. “He seemed quite tired but I put that down to being busy with the quarterly reports. He was out a lot though.”
Yes, out doing the rest of our jobs for us. Anton took that moment to enter the kitchen. I noted with some satisfaction that he was moving stiffly but was still irritated that he could recover with such ease from an injury that would have killed most humans. He shot me a dirty look and went to the fridge.
“I think Anton and I need to have a little chat,” said Julia calmly. She looked at me with her eyebrows raised. I took the hint and left, hoping that he’d get the chewing out he truly deserved. I should probably go and wait outside the office for my interview anyway. In retrospect, arriving late would not help my cause.
When I got there, the blonde Brethren girl was outside with a clipboard, marking names off. She smiled at me briefly and I took a seat on a waiting chair. After a few minutes, Johannes emerged, smiling and shaking his head.
“He’s some guy, yer alpha.”
The blonde smiled again. “We’re lucky to have him.”
Oh, for God’s sake. He was just another shifter. I rolled my eyes expressively and crossed my legs.
Miss Mackenzie. I am ready for you now.
I jumped. Shit, he could use the Voice on me. I hadn’t anticipated that. I was about to make a sarky remark back to him when Betsy passed through my line of sight and glanced at me. I hesitated, remembering my brief.
As you wish, my lord. I answered back. Way Directive 32: Respect the hierarchy.
The girl put a check next to my name. “You’ll do fine,” she said. “He’s really a nice guy.”
Nice. Sure. He’d fought off sixteen leadership challenges and was in charge of the one group of people who could spell the doom of me and mine just because my mother had abandoned me here when I was kid. I gritted my teeth and curved up my lips to form a smile. “I’m just nervous,” I said.