Chapter 23 Checkmate #2
The man blinked, jaw dropping as he looked back and forth between Ember and Killian, and then Eira and Fen, who still hadn’t said a word. Fen turned to Killian, confusion washing over him. He turned back to the man, still standing on the other side of the door, and shoved his finger in his chest.
“You have no right to be here,” he hissed.
“Fenrir Kitt!” Eira scolded, still wringing her hands.
“She’s my sister too, mate,” the man replied, shoving Fen’s hand away from his chest.
Sister?
Ember sucked in a breath as she looked between the two, puzzle pieces shifting into place as she realized why his eyes had looked so familiar the night before.
They were the same shade of blue the rest of the Kitts’ shared.
“Osiris,” Otto breathed, as he walked into the room, stopping behind Eira, who was doing her best to compose herself.
“You’re home,” Eira added, teary eyed as she stepped closer, wrapping her son in her arms.
“Just go back to whatever hole you crawled out of,” Fen spat. “If you can’t bother to answer letters for five years, you don’t have any right to be here now. We don’t need you.” Then, he strode out of the room.
“Fenrir!” Eira almost shouted, making to follow him into the den.
Otto gently grabbed her arm and shook his head. “Let him go,” he whispered, turning back to Osiris. “Mum has tea in the kitchen, let’s go talk.”
The adults left the room, leaving Killian and Ember alone in the foyer.
“I didn’t even recognize him,” Killian mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “He looks so different.”
They made their way into the den where Fen was angrily setting up a game of chess, mumbling to himself as he slammed pieces onto the board.
“Whoa, mate,” Killian laughed, “what did that rook do to you?”
Fen shook his head as he sighed. “What gives him the right?” he said, as he furrowed his brow.
“What makes him think he can just waltz in here after five years and act like he cares about her? You don’t walk away from people you care about.
” He took a shaky breath, wiping away the tears pooling at his bottom lash.
“Why did he move to Iceland?” Ember asked, as she sat beside him, pulling her knees to her chest. “Does he have friends there?”
“I don’t know,” Fen shrugged. “After he finished school, he just up and left, didn’t even say goodbye, just left a note for Mum and Dad.” Fen furrowed his brow as he looked back at Ember. “How did you know he was in Iceland?”
Ember’s eyes widened as she looked toward Killian, whose face closely resembled a ripe tomato.
“That’s irrelevant,” she replied, as she shook her head. “What’s important now is finding Maeve.”
Killian nodded as he sat on the floor on the other side of the chess board, carefully moving a pawn. “So, what’s our first move?”
Fen chewed his bottom lip, moving one of his pawns as well. “The Guard isn’t getting anywhere with the investigation, and I honestly don’t think they can all be trusted.”
Killian moved another piece, tapping thoughtfully on his chin. “So, talking to Thornsten is out of the question then?”
Fen rolled his eyes as he moved a knight. “We’d get farther searching the entirety of the Dark Forest by ourselves with nothing more than a flashlight.”
“Well, maybe we should.” Ember shrugged. Both boys looked at her like she had grown an extra head.
“Ah, yes,” Killian nodded, “let’s go for a walk in the woods while a mad man is on the loose snatching weans from their beds.” He winced as he looked over at Fen. “Sorry, mate.”
Fen shrugged as he made his next move, tapping on the table.
“That’s not what I mean,” Ember replied, as she rolled her eyes. “I think we should go back to Arcelia. Maybe someone knows something we don’t, or maybe we can find some clues. Odette knows the forest better than we do, and I’m sure she would help. Maybe Osiris can come with us too.”
“Clues?” Killian all but laughed. “What sort of clues are you looking for, Sherlock? And what is Osiris supposed to do to help?”
Ember furrowed her brow. “He’s older, knows more magic than we do.” She shrugged as she leaned back against the couch. “I just think we could get further if we ask for help.”
“I agree,” Fen nodded, “we need to go back and talk to Erevan. But without Siris. I don’t need his help.”
“This isn’t about you,” Ember said sternly, as she laid a hand on his arm. “This is about Maeve and getting her back. I don’t know what happened with your brother, but we can sort that out later.”
Fen chewed on his lip and nodded, making another move on the board as he sighed.
“I guess so.” He tried to feign indifference, but Ember could see the ire dancing behind his eyes.
“So, it’s settled then,” Killian said as he moved a rook. “Tomorrow, we go Arcelia and talk to Lord Erevan.”
“If you put so much as a finger outside of the property line, I’ll string you up by your toes from a rafter in the barn myself,” Osiris said, as he waltzed into the room and ruffled Theo’s hair. “What’s your name, lad?”
Theo shrunk into himself, clutching his book to his chest as he looked to Ember.
“Um, he’s deaf,” she said to Osiris, preparing to interpret for him, but the man’s eyes almost lit up as he grinned and turned back to Theo.
“Sorry, mate. I’m Osiris. What’s your name?” he signed to Theo, and Ember’s jaw nearly hit the floor.
Theo’s face lit up as he grinned. “I’m Theo,” he replied before settling back in and continuing with his book.
“Where did you learn sign language?” Ember asked, as she cocked her head.
Osiris shrugged as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“My best mate was deaf,” he replied. “Had to learn if we wanted to talk. Plus, it made getting away with stuff so much easier.” Osiris looked down at the chess board as Killian furrowed his brow over his next move.
“I see you all made it back in one piece.”
Ember felt her cheeks redden as she looked down at her hands, and Fen’s eyes bore holes in the side of her head.
“You were in Iceland?” Fen looked at Killian dumbfounded.
“We came back as soon as we heard,” Killian replied, and then narrowed his eyes at Osiris. “You got here awful fast as well. How accessible are Geoports in Iceland?”
Osiris grinned as he looked toward the fire. “You’ll come to find that the magic you learn at Heksheim isn’t the only magic. It doesn’t begin and end with us. The world is full of it, and once you learn the rules, you can learn how to break them.”
Fen glared at his older brother as he crossed his arms tightly over his chest. Everything the man did seemed to make Fen want to strangle him. Ember grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.
“You will not go into the Danann,” Osiris continued, walking over to the chess board, “and you will not go to Arcelia, and you will not talk to Erevan. You will stay here and let the adults handle it. This is so much bigger than any of you can fathom.” He looked at Fen as if he wanted to say so much more, but instead, he looked back down at the board, moving one small piece that neither of the boys had noticed.
Killian’s jaw fell open as Osiris stepped back.
“Checkmate, little brother.”
A few weeks passed by with no word about Maeve and no new leads, and Fen was beginning to grow desperate.
And if Ember was being completely honest, she was too.
Yule and the Winter Solstice were in just a few weeks, and the trio had concocted a plan to go to Arcelia and talk to the king, despite Osiris’s warning.
“So, we go tonight.” Fen nodded as they walked to the Echopoint outside of Heksheim. “Siris has to go back to Iceland for a few days, and Mum and Dad won’t notice as long as I’m back before sunup.” Fen’s eyes were hollow, perpetually dark underneath. It didn’t look like he had slept in days.
Ember nodded as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder. “I have to make sure Theo is settled, but I’ll meet you all back here tonight.” She smiled as she traced her fingers along the runes at the Echopoint. “Odette will be here too. I talked to her at lunch.”
Fen groaned, and Ember lightly slapped him on the shoulder.
“Want us to walk you home?” Killian offered, waggling his eyebrow.
Ember rolled her eyes as she smiled. “No, I think I can manage,” she replied. “See you soon?”
“See you soon, Starshine.” Killian smiled, and Ember disappeared through a cloud of smoke and stars. She landed at the closed gate in front of the manor and wiped the dust from her jeans. She made her way through the iron gates and up to the front steps into the warm foyer.
“Mum, I’m home!” she shouted, as she walked toward the kitchen. “Do we have any apples?”
She walked into the kitchen, searching the fruit bowl for a snack, when Theo barreled into the room, frantic and white as a sheet.
“Slow down,” she laughed, as she grabbed a green apple out of the bowl.
Theo grabbed her arm, signing frantically as his breathing quickened.
Ember followed his fingers, furrowing her brow, but she couldn’t keep up. “Slow down,” she signed. “Start again.”
A door slammed in the distance, boots thudding across the floor as the sound grew closer.
Theo’s eyes widened as he blanched, turning back to Ember, and grabbing her wrist. He signed again, slower this time.
“Run.”