Twenty-Six

 

I sifted through paperwork and tried to find connections until 1:00 am. Grayson’d given up and crawled into bed at midnight. Once we were in bed, Alasdair wrapped his arms around me, and I felt like I could breathe again for the first time all day. It was a matter of hours until my initiation and the nervous butterflies had calmed some. I wanted to make a real difference in the world, to make it a better place. Being a Guardian would allow me to do that, and everything about Alasdair felt right.

I fell asleep with a smile on my face and hope for a bright and productive day.

Alasdair let me sleep in later than usual, which led to me waking up to an empty bed. I woke with a start and reached behind me wondering where Alasdair was. He couldn’t have been gone long, as I didn’t suffer from the nightmares. What if he’d backed out and couldn’t bear to be bonded to me, after all? I went out into the living area and breathed a sigh of relief to find him eating a bowl of porridge with a neat stack of paperwork in front of him.

He smiled up at me. “I wanted to let you sleep.”

“I appreciate the thought,” I said.

I couldn’t admit that I’d panicked at his not being there, or that I’d become so attached to his presence. No, that wouldn’t end well. I got myself a handful of cereal bars and sat next to him to look back through my notes from the night before.

“When will we hear back from Gray’s uncles?” I asked.

The last page of my notes was complete gibberish in a mix of English, French, and what could possibly have been Spanish.

“Should be later this morning, or possibly afternoon. They’re coming to Ireland, everyone is. So, you’ll meet them tomorrow night.”

I looked at him.

“I am?”

“Don’t you remember? You’re coming to the big family meet-up… we have them once every couple of months or so. You were invited by both Grayson and Lysander…”

I looked at him blankly. He laughed at me.

“You’re my partner, so you’re being dragged into the fray. They’re good people.”

It sounded like I got no choice in the matter, so I ate my cereal bar and went with it.

Focusing on the damn paperwork was difficult as I kept checking the time counting down to when we had to go to the church. Sunset was at 7:42 pm; we had to be there at 8:00 pm. The initiation was being done at 10:00 pm, which seemed like a long wait to me, but I knew nothing about these things.

Grayson came around at 1:00 pm with a large bag full of sandwiches and large cups of coffee for all of us. Tabs had gone over to the large house the family was renting for the get together.

“So, my uncles think they’re on to something. Tempo is a really weird concoction which Kadrix was pretty pissed he hadn’t created himself. Anyway, it contains fae, shifter, lycan, and witch.”

“What do you mean it contains them?” I asked.

“I mean it contains essence of those things. That’s how it gives people magic or a magic boost - it’s taken directly from the essence of supernals. How the magic manifests comes down to the person’s make-up and the exact mix of Tempo they get. That’s why sometimes one person can gain fire and the next have a partial shift.”

I looked down at the heap of paperwork in front of me.

“And this stuff came onto the market when?”

“About a month ago,” Alasdair said.

“Does anyone else think it’s suspicious that those beings started going missing two months ago… and this drug that contains those essences showed up a month ago?”

“You think this alchemist has been using the missing beings to make the drug?” Alasdair asked.

“That breaks so many laws,” Grayson said.

I looked at him and waited. He had far more knowledge of alchemy than I did.

“Well, the timing does add up. It would take them a bit of time to pin down how to make the actual drug, and then they’d have to package it and get it on the market…”

“Why do it, though? Surely, it isn’t a sustainable market?” I asked.

“They could make a fortune and move on,” Grayson said.

“Fuck me, there are some twisted people in the world,” I said.

“Anything on this magic-removal powder the fae are up in arms about?” I asked.

“They wouldn’t let us anywhere near the fae that have been hit with it, so I couldn’t get a sample to my uncles. They’re supposed to email me the details of the attacks this afternoon. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out who did it and get the information from them,” Grayson said.

“Ok, so we’re just sitting and waiting for now?” I asked.

Alasdair placed his hand on my knee. I hadn’t noticed I’d been bouncing my foot until he did. I placed my hand on his and took a deep breath.

“Don’t worry, Niko, you’re going to be an amazing Guardian,” Grayson said.

I didn’t have a choice.