“Oh yeah, how?” She folded her arms and sat back, challenging him.
“I could come in this weekend when Kyle’s working.” Kheelan ached to do just that, but it was too early. If he showed up unannounced, he would tip his hat to the pixie murderer. It was always best to remain in the shadows and blend in as much as possible. Because after tonight, he was sure he was in the right place. The fairy’s cross crystal under his shirt had detected the malevolent aura of bad Fae who had shape-shifted into human form. But he didn’t know which person, or persons, in the shop was his target. But he would find out. And having a ‘twin’ brother at the shop confirmed something sinister was going on there. The Mad Fairy indeed. As owner, Claribel was first on his list of murderer suspects.
“Sounds like a start,” Skye said, her voice tired and flat.
He would find an excuse later to get out of meeting Kyle. At least until she trusted him and could arrange a private meeting between them. If people in the store saw them together there would be questions. Any bad Fae around would immediately suspect the truth.
Kheelan watched as she dug through her purse and pulled out a bottle of aspirin. “Hard day?”
“Just a backache, I get them all the time. Scoliosis.”
He held out his hand, palm up. “Could you spare a couple?” All that manual labor in the winter garden the past two days had got to him. He was used to hard labor, but he’d grown a bit soft the last six months during Finvorra’s term as Guardian. Other Guardians, not the boozing kind, had worked him sunup to sundown.
Skye was careful to drop the pills in his open palm with no accidental touching. Doubt crept into him. Skye acted cautious, fragile, timid . . . very human. Had he been wrong that she was ‘The One’ of legend?
He immediately squashed the doubt. She had to be.
There was possibly a way to find out more. Unfortunately, he needed to wait until Finvorra was good and soused for the night to read up on the legend. For the past two days, he’d been uncommonly sober. Damn him. Rhoswen and her friends Maevea and Gwenllyn had popped by for a visit at the cottage, seen Finvorra stumbling about clutching a nearly empty whiskey bottle, and read him the riot act. Now his Guardian was sulky and irritable, issuing commands non-stop. Rhoswen and company had left packets of seeds and flats of seedlings for a winter garden. And when night came, Finvorra had him cook, clean, shop and anything else he could think of.
Kheelan shook off the memories. The first step in his plan was to establish trust. And he was failing big-time. Intelligence, patience and determination were his strong suit. Apparently though, he was lacking in the charm department. He smiled, the most sincere and trustworthy one he could muster. “Surely, you’ve noticed unusual happenings when I wasn’t in the shop. Strange noises like the far off tinkling of bells or a flute? Floating specks of light?”
Skye’s eyes flickered; she’d seen something all right.
“You can tell me.” Kheelan hoped his voice was encouraging. “Aren’t you curious? Maybe together we can figure this out.”
She let out a sigh. “I don’t know who or what I’ve seen, but there’s something down there, in the basement storeroom. Whatever they are – they’re in big trouble.”
Kheelan’s breath caught. His instincts were right. The Green Fairy was the headquarters for some kind of Dark Fae operation. “Tell me.”
Skye stared him down. “No. You tell me how you knew something was going on at the store, and why it matters to you.”
Kheelan ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. She wasn’t so timid after all. Time for Plan B. He dug in his pocket, pulled out a stone, and laid it on the table. Skye picked up the gray, smooth rock and ran her finger over the hole at its center, formed from years of running water.
“A hagstone.” She smiled, cupping her hand around its polished surface.
“You know what it can do?”
“People used to believe if you held it up to a full moon and looked through a hagstone’s opening, you could make a wish and it would come true.”
What a bunch of crap. He’d tried it once, and he was still nothing but a changeling.
“It’s a bunch of crap,” she said.
Kheelan started when Skye said what he’d been thinking. “I take it you’ve actually tried it too.”
She placed the stone on the table with a bang. “Don’t tell me this one’s special and it really works. Even if it worked for you, nothing comes true for me.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You know, it has another purpose.”
Skye’s brow creased. “I’ve never heard anything else.”
“Would you believe me if I said you could see fairies with it?”