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Scotland
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LEROY WAS PACING UP and down in the living room when Emelia teleported his friends back to Gorm’s house. “Thank God!” he exclaimed in relief when he saw they were all intact.
“You managed to get Rudy into the cell before he could kill again?” the fairy asked.
“Yeah,” the specter confirmed, but he seemed shaken. “I grabbed him, used the veil to zap us both into the cell, then got the hell out of there before he knew what hit him.”
“He didn’t try to use the ring to order you to let him out?” Pru asked.
“Probably, but it seems his orders don’t work if I can’t hear them,” he shrugged. “There ain’t no way I’m setting foot back in there until he’s back to normal.”
“We need to get the ring from him,” Asha said. She was still unnerved by her transformation into her goblin side. The others avoided looking at her and she couldn’t blame them. They all knew just how much of a monster she was now.
“I’ll retrieve the ring,” Emelia said, then looked at Leroy. “I don’t want to open the door. Doing so will break the spells that are keeping him captive. Will you use the veil to get me in and out of his prison?”
“There’s no need for that, mistress,” Tomlin said timidly as he appeared on the coffee table. He held his hand out to show a bloody silver ring on his palm. “I’ve already retrieved the ring for you.”
“A brownie!” Irindal said in delight. “I’m starving. Can you whip me up a meal?”
She batted her lavender eyelashes at him and he smiled shyly. “Of course,” he replied, then the ring vanished from his hand. He magically cleaned it before sending it to the fairy warrior. “Does anyone else require food and beverages?” he asked.
Everyone agreed and took seats around the coffee table. Emelia toyed with the ring, staring at it broodingly. She could feel the spell that bound the ghost to it and she could also feel traces of fae energy. Jake had merged part of himself with the enchantment, which had boosted the phantom’s strength and abilities. She hesitated, then slipped the ring onto her finger. It grew to fit her and she immediately picked up on the spirit’s emotions. He was anxious and frightened for Rudy and for the rest of his friends.
Leroy spun around when he felt a connection to the fae warrior. For a moment, her emotions were on full display. While she looked calm on the outside, her mind was in turmoil. He felt her rage, shame and despair before she clamped down and shut him out. She sent him a warning look not to blab what he’d sensed. That was her private business and she didn’t wish to discuss it with anyone.
Harley fired up his backup laptop to check his emails while they ate the sandwiches Tomlin had prepared for them. He responded to a message from Connor and updated him about what had happened at the institute. Next, he opened a message from Brandon Cooper. Quin had managed to speak to the Archivist through a secure phone to keep him in the loop.
Brandon was now aware that his boss was a gorgon. He’d created a new program that would allow him to search for information on all of the Archives’ files around the world without anyone knowing what he was up to. He’d been searching for a way to defeat Sheridan Harwood, but hadn’t come up with anything yet. The myth about casting a gorgon’s reflection back at them wasn’t going to be as easy as it seemed. Not while she was protected by her enchantments.
“Brandon hasn’t come up with any way for us to take down the Master Archivist yet,” the kid reported to the others. He’d wolfed down his meal before the others had barely started theirs. He took a gulp of the coffee Tomlin had made and gave the brownie the thumbs up.
“There can’t be that many records about gorgons,” Pru mused, daintily dabbing her mouth with a napkin. “If they’re supposed to be extinct, there won’t be much information for him to trawl through.”
“I hope he can come up with something,” Asha said.
“I still can’t believe you people let a gorgon bamboozle the leader of this country into becoming her puppet,” Irindal said in annoyance. “What were you thinking?”
“We didn’t know what she was,” Pru snapped. “By the time we found out, it was way too late. She’d already wormed her way into a role of importance.”
“Do you know of a way to defeat her?” Harley asked in hope that was dashed when the pixie shook her head.
“It was sheer luck that Medusa was defeated,” she replied. She was perched on the coffee table and was munching on a tiny plate of cookies. “It would be almost impossible to repeat that trick. Gorgons aren’t known for their stupidity.”
“What are they known for?” Leroy asked. They didn’t know much about their adversary. Any information she gave them would be a bonus.
“Greed, ambition and the willingness to destroy anyone who stands in their way of achieving their goals,” she replied. “This is the best cookie I’ve ever eaten,” she said to the brownie. Tomlin flushed in pleasure, skin turning slightly darker at her praise.
“Sheridan is trying to kill off, or capture all fae beings and creatures,” Harley said. “I’m assuming she plans to take over the US.”
“She won’t stop there,” Emelia predicted, hand resting on the pommel of her sword. Tomlin had cleaned them and their gear as soon as they’d returned. “Once she has conquered this country, she will move on to others. With her ability to control minds, it will be ridiculously easy for her to become a supreme ruler.”
“Why is there always a bad guy or girl who wants to take over the world?” Asha asked with a sigh.
“Says the girl who’s going to become a queen,” Leroy said with a smirk.
“I don’t want to be a queen,” she retorted.
“It doesn’t matter what we want,” Emelia said grimly. “Destiny often has other plans for us. We either succumb to the inevitable, or suffer if we attempt to fight it.”
Leroy didn’t know exactly what had happened to her to turn her so bitter, but he knew she was speaking from experience. Sorrow made its way through their link before she again cut her feelings off.
“Has Rudy changed at all since he turned rogue?” Asha asked to change the subject.
“Not that I could tell,” Leroy told her. “I could feel him when he was wearing the ring and that little mahfa was utterly nuts.”
Pru sent him a withering look for swearing, which he ignored. “How long can we expect him to remain evil?” she asked.
Emelia lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “There’s really no way to tell.” She couldn’t whip up a spell that would tell her the answer. Each leprechaun was different. It was rare for them to kill and turn rogue. Some recovered quickly, but others never came back.
She’d heard rumors that a few of Rudy’s kin were locked up in a permanent prison somewhere after they’d gone on a rampage. They would apparently never return to normal and had been stripped of their magic by an ancient troll spell. Emelia decided to keep that information to herself. The strange band of beings she’d become allies with were already demoralized enough. She didn’t need to make things worse for them.
