“Look, we might as well investigate, and if we find nothing, we’ll move on to Moscow,” Fiona said, her voice clearly holding back the frustration and emotion she felt at the lack of information about the disappearance of Elaine and her husband, Alan. “I don’t plan on leaving a single stone unturned until we find them.”
“We’ll find something,” Remy said. “There’s always something to find. You just have to know what you’re looking for.”
“And what are we looking for?” Diana asked.
“Hopefully something really big and obvious with a map and excellent directions.”
Diana laughed. “You ever found something like that before, Remy?”
Remy smiled. “There’s always a first time.”
Mordred looked out of the window as they sped past everything far below. He wondered whether or not this mission was going to lead to something he’d rather not take part in. He wondered whether everyone in the helicopter with him would be okay if things didn’t go well. He pushed the thoughts aside; negative thinking would do little to help in the current circumstances. He felt a hand reach out and take hold of his, squeezing it slightly. He looked back at Morgan, who mouthed Are you okay? Mordred nodded and squeezed her hand to hopefully prove it. After the talk with Nate, he genuinely felt good within himself, although somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered how long that was going to last. There were a lot of people he’d purposefully avoided since regaining full use of his faculties, and he knew that at some point in the future he was going to have to meet up with some of them. It felt to him like an inevitability. He just hoped he could keep everything together when that happened. He didn’t want any of those people to think they could affect him anymore.
He let go of Morgan’s hand and went back to looking out of the window. Eventually there was an announcement in his headset that they were going to begin landing, and he sighed, cracking his knuckles and mentally preparing himself for what was coming. He started to hum the Mario theme tune and got an evil look from Morgan for it, but he ignored it and carried on. He found that humming the tune calmed him, although he’d discovered some time ago that the busier he was, the fewer tangents his mind went on.
There was a slight bump as the helicopter landed, and Fiona pulled open the door, allowing everyone to exit. Mordred walked away from the helicopter and stretched, taking in the scenery. Apart from a large house with a hole where the front door used to be, there was nothing for miles. Mountains sat in the distance, but between him and there were just open plains and a stream. Remote Scotland was as harsh and beautiful a place as anywhere Mordred had ever been, but he found the solitude to be tranquil.
As the helicopter’s engines died down, Fiona brought everyone together. “An LOA team went through here just after Elaine went missing, but seeing how we’re not exactly trusting Avalon at the moment, you should still be careful.”
“When did they leave?” Diana asked.
“A few days ago. This place has sat like this since then.”
“Well then, let’s go search the mansion,” Remy said, and set off toward the building.
Mordred held back and watched the rest of the group enter the massive house. He had no way of knowing when Elaine had the place built, but it looked to be a hundred years old, at least.
“Five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two receptions, a dining room, lounge, kitchen, and no garden,” Nabu said from beside Mordred. “And it’s been ransacked. Both by whoever came and looked for Elaine first, and then the LOA.”
“Maybe they’re one and the same.”
“That’s an unfortunate possibility. I believe she was taken from here, although the lack of magical damage suggests otherwise. Maybe she was taken in Moscow and they wanted to ensure she hadn’t left anything here that might lead us to them.”
“You know, Elaine isn’t stupid. She knew about the cabal; she knew that several of its key players are members of Avalon. She knew that Hera was at least partly behind it all, and that Merlin is quite probably helping. Yet she came up here, to the middle of nowhere, with her guards, who are nowhere to be found, for what? A bit of a holiday?”
Nabu thought about it for a few seconds. “It is suspicious, isn’t it?”
Mordred nodded. “There’s no way Elaine would leave Avalon to crack on with everything while she swans off on her holidays.”
“Crack on?” Nabu raised an eyebrow in question.
“It means get on with it.”
“And swans off?”
“Storm off in a huff. Admittedly she’s not the storming-off-in-a-huff kind of person, but I wasn’t being literal.”
“So, you believe she came here for another reason?”
Mordred nodded. “She was meant to come see me in New York. She said she had info on the prophecy about me and Nate. So, why come here two weeks beforehand? Why bother to leave Camelot? Why come all this way to do”—he waved his arms around him—“fuck all? There’s nothing here. That’s the beauty of this part of the world: there’s fuck all bastards to ruin it.”
Remy left the house and walked toward Mordred and Nabu. “You two planning on helping? Because at the moment you’re just standing there like a couple of scarecrows with even less dress sense.”
“That’s not as good as your usual insults,” Mordred said. “I feel kinda bad for you.”
“Less swearing than usual, too,” Nabu said. “Maybe his earlier death has given him much to ponder.”
Remy raised his middle finger. “Ponder this.”
“Have you found anything?” Mordred asked.
“No, because you two are out here with your thumbs up your asses.”
“That was better,” Nabu said.
“Remy, I need your nose,” Mordred said.
“You what?”
“Nose, Remy, nose.”
“I heard you, Mordred. I just don’t know why.”
“Did I not say that bit?” Mordred asked, wondering what he had and hadn’t said aloud.
Remy shook his head. “I find it helps, though.”
“Right, yeah, sure. Anyway, she has a secret stash. She uses it for information, not drugs.”
“Why would we think it was drugs?” Remy asked, and turned a full circle. “There’s nothing here.”
“Kind of why I need your nose.”
“You want me to pick up her scent? Because any tiny parts that are left are mixed with about fifty other scents. You’d be better off asking me to turn back into a human, because that might be easier.”
“Isn’t that impossible for you to do?” Mordred asked.
“Kind of my point there. Your brain gone weird again?”
Mordred shook his head. “About the same as it ever is. But in this instance, no, I don’t need you to track her scent out here.”
Remy remained silent.
“On the way over here, I checked on my phone and there’s a cave system over to the north. People go climbing in it . . . ‘Spelunking,’ that’s the word, right? Anyway, I’m not much of a spelunker, never really saw the point of it. You know? I know that Elaine likes to go climbing. She’s a big fan, always has been. Again, it’s a bit weird. Only reason to climb is to get away from something, in my opinion. Yes, I know I’m rambling, but my point is while she likes to climb, anyone who knows her will also know that. But going underground? Well, that might not be the first thing people think of.”