“How do you mean?” He frowned.
“Well, if Gaelin was assigned to you, then there is someone else pulling the strings. I figure if you can get past Gaelin to whoever is actually in charge, then maybe you’ll have more luck?” I was feeling a bit proud of my theory, but the small smile fading the frown from Wesley’s face said he’d already thought of this and was humoring me. Dammit.
“I know, sweetheart,” he chuckled. “I just haven’t figured out how.”
“Okay, well”—I yawned heavily—“then in that case—”
“Kit,” he interrupted me. “Take a nap. You’re exhausted, and we still have hours of driving ahead of us.”
“Yes, but,” I protested in a sleepy voice, “we still need to come up with a plan!”
Wesley chuckled. “You might come up with one in your sleep, you never know. Besides, I need you fresh in case we need to switch driving.”
Thwarted by logic once again. He had a point; if we were going to make it in time, then I might need to drive so Wes could sleep—which wouldn’t be easy if I was dead on my feet.
“Fine,” I muttered, snuggling into my seat and using my coat as a pillow. “But wake me up as soon as you need to rest, okay?”
“You got it, sweetheart,” he assured me, and I drifted off to the sound of the rumbling engine.
When I woke again, we were pulling up outside a little rustic farmhouse in the middle of damn nowhere, judging by what I could see out the windows.
“Where are we?” I asked Wesley, rubbing my eyes.
“We’re here,” he replied, blinking at me sleepily. He looked like shit, his blond hair all mussed up and big, dark circles under his eyes. “I didn’t want to wake you up; you looked so peaceful for once.”
I gave him a stern look. “Thank you, but you should have woken me up hours ago so you could sleep. But you’re right, no nightmares this time. Maybe the crisp, Irish air is clearing them out?”
“Well in that case, I vote we all move here.” Wesley grinned, but I could tell he was only half-joking. “Come on, let’s go see if this guy is for real or not.”
Unclipping my safety belt, I opened my door and slid down to the ground where I stretched the kinks out of my back. Wesley came around the car and took my hand in his before approaching the little cottage.
He hesitated only a second before knocking on the wooden door, but his hand was clenched tightly around mine, betraying how nervous he was. I squeezed his hand back, trying to convey my support, but jumped when the door swung open with a bang.
The man squinting at us on the other side of the threshold was elderly, and that was my first let down. One thing I had learned so far in dealing with supernatural creatures—they all aged very slowly, if at all. So either this guy was ancient... or he was human.
“You must be Wesley,” he said in a gruff, thick Irish accent. “Expected you two days ago.”
“Yes, and as discussed via phone, Kit and I were in the midst of a kidnapping attempt.” Wesley’s jaw clenched, and he narrowed his eyes at the old man. Not an amazing start, so far.
The man stared back at us for a long moment, then grunted and held out his hand. “Name’s Seamus. Come in; all the heat’s getting out.”
Wesley shook his hand, then moved aside so I could do the same. We both followed Seamus into his cottage, and he shut the door behind us with a heavy sound.
“So,” our host muttered, limping past us to lead the way into the little sitting room in front of an open fire, “you want to learn more about Druid-lore.”
“Uh, do we?” Wesley asked, taking a seat on the couch when offered. “We understood you had some experience with, ah, dreamweaving.”
Wes flicked a glance at me, and I gave him an encouraging smile. It couldn’t be easy talking to a total stranger about magic. It made me glad that I had the guys and that they’d never once made me feel like a crazy person for what I could do.
Seamus leaned forward in his seat, his beady eyes locked on Wesley so hard that even I squirmed a little. “If you came here looking for some crackpot fraud who will put you through a meditation and speak a bunch of mumbo jumbo, then charge you for the privilege... well you’re barking up the wrong bloody tree, kid.” He paused, and his intelligent eyes darted over me and back to Wesley. “But I get the feeling you kids are more than what you seem. So why don’t you start from the beginning, and then I’ll see how I can help. Hmm?”
Wesley sucked in a deep breath and raised a brow at me, like he was asking my permission or something. But this was what we’d come for, so I gave him an encouraging nod and squeezed his fingers.
He smiled back and then turned to Seamus to start retelling his history, starting way back before he met me, when he started seeing me in his dreams.
While he spoke, he kept a tight grip on my hand, and I noticed Seamus giving me several curious looks throughout Wesley’s story. When Wes finished telling Seamus about his encounter with Gaelin inside his dreams, the old man narrowed his eyes at me, and I squirmed uncomfortably.
“What?” I asked when he didn’t speak for a long time. “Why are you staring at me?”
“Lemme see that ring of yours, girl,” he ordered me, and I glanced down at my hand, still entwined with Wesley’s. I still wore my bloodstone Ban Dia ring, of course. It physically couldn’t come off now that I’d begun my bonds.
“Why?” Wesley asked for me. “That has nothing to do with what I am.”
Seamus barked a laugh. “Bullshit, boy. You wanna tell me I ain’t gonna find a Ban Dia bloodstone on that there finger?” Wesley opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. I simply cocked an eyebrow in curiosity at the old man. “That’s what I thought.” His Irish accent made it sound like he was dropping all his h’s from th- words, and I fought a smile. Something about him was just... non-threatening.
“What do you know about Ban Dia, then?” I asked him, tilting my head to the side. “So far as I’m aware, they’re not a well-known race of people.”
He chuckled, scratching his chin. “Nor are the badbh, and yet here the two of you sit on my very couch.”
“That’s... is that what I am, then?” Wesley puzzled, “Badh-uv?” He sounded it out awkwardly, so Seamus helpfully spelled it for him.
“Badbh. Yes, I’d say so, if this story you’ve told me is true. There’s always a chance you’re here to pull me leg and get a good laugh from messing with old, crazy Seamus, but I have a feeling you wouldne brought a Ban Dia with you for that.” He gave me a shrewd look, and I simply met his stare with curiosity, neither confirming nor denying the accusation.
“So you can help me then?” Wesley queried. “You can teach me whatever I need to learn to control my magic? We can pay, of course.”
“Nope,” Seamus replied without even a second’s hesitation.
“What? Why not?” Wesley demanded, and I tightened my fingers around his. I got it, though. After all this, it was yet another dead end.
Seamus let out a weary sigh and leaned in closer to us. “Boy, you already know why. Gaelin told you himself in your dream.” He reached out a gnarled finger and tapped the side of Wesley’s head. “Think. What did he tell you when he first showed up claiming to be your teacher, hmm?”
A deep frown marred Wesley’s forehead, but I knew he already knew the answer. “‘You’re the first of our kind to surface in the human realm for a very long time.’ The first to surface... meaning...”
“Meaning I’m not like you.” Seamus nodded. “Ain’t nobody on this whole planet like you, unless your girlfriend has been flinging that magic of hers around and restoring more unsuspecting fools to their birthrights?”
I scowled and gave a little head shake.