Larkspur (23 page)

“
Or catch on fire,” Aden
said.

“
Exactly right,” Rodney
said. “We have to deal with the water
before
we get there.”

“
Do it,” Honey said.
“Bambi?”

“
We’ll create a staging
area.” Her boss looked at her, and Honey nodded. “So we can be
ready when they pull people out.”

“
We’ll get MJ, Colin, and
the other medics,” Honey said. “They’ll want to be right there when
the people come out.”

“
I hear shouting!” a voice
came over the feed. “Someone’s alive down there.”

“
We’d better get everyone
in from the farm,” Rodney said. “This isn’t going to
be . . . good.”

“
I’ll get everyone here,”
Aden said. “I’ll get the sign team to bring hot food.”

“
You’ll direct those
soldiers?” Rodney asked.

“
Or find someone who
will,” Aden said.

Rodney gave Aden a long look. He nodded to
Honey before turning to his assistants. Honey and Blane moved back
to the medical tents.

“
Pete, I want a list of
who we think might be down there,” Rodney said. “Those are Kissack
Construction trailers. Who are they missing? I need it
fast.”

Pete gave a curt nod and ran across the
dirt.

“
DeShawn, Jason, you’re
with me,” Rodney said. “We’re going to scare those engineers into
coming up with a plan, or do it ourselves. You ready?”

They set out toward the group of army
engineers.

~~~~~~~~

“
I know how they created
the curse,” James said.

“
What?” Queen Fand leaned
forward. The room became very still.

“
James?” Jacob
asked.

“
I have more questions
first,” James said.

“
Then you’ll explain what
you mean?” Queen Fand asked.

“
I will,” James
said.

“
Go ahead,” Queen Fand
said.

“
Is this Liban?” James
gestured to the Cleopatra fairy.

“
I am Liban.” The
Cleopatra fairy curtsied.

“
You don’t look like
twins,” James said.

“
Not all twins look
alike,” Queen Fand said. “We can change our looks.”

In the blink of an eye, Liban looked like
Queen Fand, and Queen Fand looked like Liban. They switched
back.

“
Fair enough,” James said.
“Have you ever heard of a bloke named Cúchulainn?”

“
No,” Queen Fand said.
“Why?”

“
Queen Fand is supposed to
have been mad about him,” James said. “Manannán
intervened.”

“
With a relationship
between me and a human?” Queen Fand chuckled. The host of fairies
tittered with laughter.

“
How ’bout a bloke named,
Mongán mac Fiachnai?” James asked.

“
He’s one of Manannán’s
human grandchildren,” Queen Fand said. “His mother set out for
Ireland with a group of fairy-humankind. She married there.
Why?”

“
What’s this about?” Jacob
asked.

“
One last question,” James
said.

“
Proceed,” Queen Fand
said.

James glanced at Jacob, and Jacob
shrugged.

“
Did Manannán have any
powers of his own?” James asked.

“
Not especially,” Liban
said.

“
He is humankind,” Queen
Fand said.

“
My mother loved these
stories,” James said. “She died when I was not quite four. When my
father died, I went to a Catholic orphanage. I used to read her
books whenever I missed her. I must have missed her a lot, because
I know them by heart.”

“
Your mother, Brigid?”
Queen Fand nodded her head toward the side of the room.

A small woman with dark black hair and large
deep-blue eyes stepped out from behind the fairies near the back.
She wore the green dress of the Irish fairies. James gasped at the
sight of her.

“
Mum?” James’s eyes filled
with tears.

“
We
are fairy-humankind.” She beamed at him.

“
Johnny sees the blue
fairy.” When James said the words, the blue fairy appeared.
“I . . .”

James nodded. He took a breath to control
his emotions.

“
Mum, will you tell her?”
James asked.

Brigid walked to James’s side. He was so
taken aback that he wept.

“
My lady, Manannán is
supposed to be a god,” Brigid said.

“
A god?” Queen Fand
smiled. “He cannot be a god.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” Brigid said.
“He is attributed with powers of the sea and mist — my lady’s
powers.”

“
My powers?” Queen Fand
gave a confused shake of her head. “Why would he have my
powers?”

“
I believe the Celts took
your powers and gave them to Manannán,” James said. “Quite possibly
forced him to use your powers.”

“
It happened in an
instant,” Gilfand said. “Manannán was with us, and then he wasn’t.
What magic could do that?”

“
Not magic,” James said.
“Human cunning.”

“
How did they do such a
thing?” Brigid asked.

“
They stole her human
body,” James said. “Queen Fand would have naturally imbued her
human body with her fairy self. By stealing her body, they tied
Queen Fand to the site of the original monolith and stole her
power. I bet Manannán himself doesn’t know where you are — fairy
self or human body. That would keep him in line.”

Brigid gave James a proud smile. James
hugged his mother.

“
I’m not sure what you’re
saying,” Queen Fand said.

“
What he’s saying makes
sense. The Celts needed power and wanted control,” Jacob said.
“They had to eliminate any old magic. That’s why they got rid of
the fairy-humankind. In order to be in control, they would have to
destroy the power of Queen Fand and Manannán.”

“
And cursed us,” Celia
said. “They have to kill the male babies because
they . . .”

“
Have the power stolen
from Queen Fand.” James nodded.

“
Or they’re trying to
prevent the creation of a human with Queen Fand’s powers,” Celia
said. “A human like my granddaughters, Katy and Jackie.”

Jacob swallowed hard.

“
How do we fix this?”
Valerie asked.

“
We must return Queen
Fand’s human body to her grave,” Sam said.

“
If we can find it,” Jacob
said.

“
I bet James has an idea,”
Sam said. James nodded.

“
I’m pretty sure I know
where they hid Queen Fand’s body,” James said.

“
Does the monolith still
exist?” Valerie asked.

“
It is under this castle,”
Gilfand said. “And he’s right. Queen Fand’s human body is not
there.”

“
How to we find this
Manannán?” Sam asked. “That seems tricky.”

“
We will return Queen
Fand’s body to its rightful place.” Jacob used his booming,
powerful voice. He turned to look at the host of fairies. “Will you
help us find Manannán?”

“
If my son is correct,
finding Manannán will return power to the fairies,” Brigid said.
“And break the curse.”

The fairies seemed to agree at once.

“
We will scour the earth
for our king,” Liban said.

“
Where do we start?” Jacob
asked.

“
Anyone here good with a
shovel?” James asked.

Jacob laughed.

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty
-two

The Viking

Friday night — 9:45 p.m. MST

Denver, Colorado

Sissy waited by the coal tunnel door until
she saw Mike’s Bronco start into the garage, and then she ran to
meet him. He was pulling in when she noticed he had a passenger.
Sissy ran to Mike’s side of the truck.

“
Sissy!” Mike said as he
got out of the Bronco.

“
We thought you were
helping at the site!” Sissy said.

“
It’s been a complete
mess,” Mike said. “I tried to get there, but got stopped by the
state patrol, and then I tried to get home and got stuck in
traffic. I’ve been sitting in the car for hours.”

Anxious to tell him what was going on, Sissy
shifted from side to side. Mike’s eyes flicked across her face.

“
What’s going on?” Mike
asked.

“
Jill’s in labor,
and . . .”

“
That’s what her doctor
said.” Mike gestured to the man getting out of the passenger seat
of the Bronco. “I found him standing on Colfax, just standing on
the street. He said Jill’s in labor and he can’t get inside the
Castle to help.”

Sissy’s eyes went big.

“
Why can’t he get in?”
Mike asked.

The doctor gave Sissy an evil look, and
Sissy panicked. It was her job to tell Mike everything, but she
hadn’t counted on the doctor being here. She opened her mouth, but
nothing came out. As sure as if the doctor has placed a spell on
her, Sissy couldn’t talk. Mike patted Sissy’s shoulder and moved
around her.

“
Come on,” Mike said.
“I’ll show you the way.”

“
But . . .”
Sissy’s eyes pleaded with Mike.

He smiled at her, and looked at the doctor.
The doctor gave Sissy a smug look. Sissy felt like her mission had
been raided by this doctor. She scowled.

“
It’s all a little weird,
but we set this up so that Val could have some privacy.” Mike gave
the doctor a broad smile.

“
I feel like I’m in a
movie.” The doctor smiled. “A fair maiden needs my assistance and I
need to fight my way to her.”

Mike laughed and moved toward the coal
tunnels. He stopped at the door.

“
Are you coming, Sissy?”
Mike asked.

Sissy groaned at herself and turned
around.

“
Mike,
I . . .” Sissy started. She made the mistake of
looking at the doctor. He gave her another evil look, and she
swallowed hard. “You . . .”

“
Come on,” Mike said. “You
can tell me on the way.”

Mike’s hand moved over the coal tunnel
keypad lock and the door opened.

“
At least you get to see a
little bit of Denver’s history,” Mike said. He held the door for
the doctor. “These tunnels were made to move coal from the railway
lines downtown out to the mansions east of downtown during
inclement weather. Just head down the stairs.”

“
I’m moving a little slow
these days,” the doctor said. “Injured myself.”

“
We’ll go together,” Mike
said. “Right, Sissy?”

He gave her a long, unreadable look, and
then smiled. He gestured to the door. Sissy slunk through the
doorway. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the keypad’s
backlight was red, instead of the usual green. She glanced back at
Mike, who gave her a bright smile.

“
How is Jacquotte?” the
doctor asked when Mike reached the tunnel floor.

Mike waited for Sissy before stepping
forward in the dimly lit brick-lined tunnel. The doctor limped as
if he’d hurt himself in the crotch. Sissy wished she’d been the one
to hurt him, and then was embarrassed by the thought.

“
She’s doing really well,”
Mike said. “Val’s sister had her baby, Maggie. Jackie and Maggie
are best friends. Isn’t that right, Sissy?”

“
Katy too,” Sissy said.
“Katy takes care of them. If anyone hurts Maggie or Jackie, boy,
Katy, she makes sure that person suffers. Big! You can imagine what
she’d do to someone who hurt her mom. Katy and Jill are really
close and . . .”

Sissy looked up to see if the men were
listening. Mike patted her shoulder in a “there, there” paternal
way and asked the doctor a question. Sissy scowled at herself. The
doctor blathered on.

Sissy couldn’t believe Mike was acting like
this. Mike was Sissy’s friend. Whenever he got back from traveling,
he’d always made a point of setting up special time to spend with
Sissy. He always wanted to hear all about Sissy’s dancing and her
possibilities for dance companies. That was the reason Tanesha had
sent Sissy to wait for Mike. Sissy was the one who was supposed to
get through to Mike.

But there was no getting through to Mike
tonight.

“
Come on, Sissy, keep up,”
Mike said brightly when Sissy fell behind.

“
Teenagers,” the doctor
said. “They always shuffle here and there.”

Mike laughed. Sissy was so disappointed in
Mike that she started to cry. Up ahead, she noticed a light was out
in the tunnel. If she didn’t know better, she would have sworn
someone was standing along the tunnel there. She touched Mike’s
arm, but Mike seemed oblivious to everything.

“
How far are we going?”
the doctor asked.

“
It’s a little less than a
mile,” Mike said. “Not too far, but far enough away from the
paparazzi’s prying eyes.”

“
It’s hard to imagine you
have to live with this constant curse of prying eyes,” the doctor
said.

“
You know, I remember
those magazines when I was a kid,” Mike smiled.