Chapter 5 #2
“Oh, knock it off, dude. Just because I’m a goddess now doesn’t mean you have to address me as such.
” I sighed, realizing that the longer time went on, the more this would happen.
I wanted to cement my friendships before then, because it seemed like my future would feel rather isolating.
Of course, I had my family, and Angel and the Wild Hunt crew, but I sensed a slight hesitation when Ginty hugged me, as though he was subconsciously nervous about being too forward. That had never been there before.
I introduced Nalina to him, and we settled at the counter, where I swigged on the cider.
It was so good it brought to mind the sensation of autumn in my bones.
I loved the cool weather and dark nights and mornings, and the smell of wood smoke on the wind as it coiled through the trees, sweeping the leaves into the air to scatter them on the ground.
“Not to seem like I’m not welcoming you in, but what brings you here, my friends?
” Ginty returned to his place behind the bar.
He wiped the counter with a bar rag—the man kept his bar spotless.
From the back, through the door between two sides of shelves filled with liquor, came the smell of roast beef and freshly baked bread.
“We actually do have a reason,” I said, my nose busy with the smells from the kitchen. “What are you cooking? That smells so good.”
“Pot roast,” he said. “And dinner rolls. The special tonight.”
My stomach rumbled, but I tried to focus on why we were there. “Nalina needs a place to stay for a couple of days—with her dog Muffin, who’s out in the car.”
“Is she claiming sanctuary?” Ginty asked.
“Not really. Not in the normal sense of the word. But there are some…they’re like will-o’-the-wisps, though they call themselves the Whispering Lights, and they’ve been charming her.
She can’t stay in her house, and I’m worried that they’ll track her down,” I said.
“We’re not sure what they want—at first, we thought they were actually corpse candles, but I connected with them and they aren’t the same thing.
We have to investigate before it’s safe for her to go home. ”
Ginty frowned. “Whispering Lights? I’ve never heard of them.”
“Neither have we,” Herne said. “We want to look into their nature—are they part of the Fae world? Are they nature devas like the will-o’-the-wisps? Or something else? Maybe astral creatures. We just don’t know enough to ascertain whether they’re a danger.”
“Well, we have empty rooms. Follow me and I’ll take you to a room,” he said to Nalina.
“I’ll get Muffin and your suitcase,” Viktor said. He headed toward the door.
“Muffin’s the dog,” I said.
Nalina swallowed, looking nervous. “I’m sorry to put you out—” she started to say.
Ginty waved her off. “Nonsense. This is part of my job. I keep the sanctuary house for those who need it. Although technically this isn’t exactly a house.”
Viktor returned, carrying her luggage, with Muffin on a leash. The dog looked around nervously, but when he saw Nalina, he started to wag his tail.
We were about to head upstairs when my phone rang. “It’s Yutani,” I said.
Herne and Viktor stopped. As I answered the call, Herne filled Ginty in on what had happened with Wager.
“Hey, Yutani,” I said. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s out of surgery and mending up. He should be fine, but he won’t be running any marathons for a while.
The appendix was close to bursting. Because he’s part Fae, he’ll be on a specialized course of treatment used in place of the usual antibiotics.
The doctor said they seldom see this happen to patients with Fae blood, but given he’s half-human, it makes it more complicated.
He should heal up, but they expect him to be in the hospital for a week.
Then, provided he’s healed up enough, he’ll be sent home.
But he won’t be cleared for work for another couple of weeks as they monitor his condition. ”
Yutani sounded shaky, and that meant he’d been worried. Yutani was usually taciturn, so when he showed obvious signs of tension, it meant he’d been frightened or really angry.
“Thank you for the update,” I said.
“Do you mind if I stick around until he wakes up? I don’t want him to wake up alone in the hospital,” he said.
“That’s fine. In fact, we’ll stop in on our way back to the office. Have you got your laptop with you?” I asked. I would have been surprised if he said he didn’t—Yutani didn’t go anywhere without his tablet, at the very least.
“I do. What do you need?”
“Look up ‘whispering lights’…We’re talking about some sort of energy creature similar to the will-o’-the-wisps. See what you can find out, okay?”
“Will do. Thanks, by the way. I don’t want to just sit here and dwell,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. It’s best for you to keep busy.” And that was absolutely the truth. Yutani did his best work when he wasn’t left alone with his imagination. He was still working through the mess with Lyrical, and time sitting alone in a hospital, waiting and worrying, could lead to chaos.
I hung up and turned to the others. “Wager will live, but he’s going to be out of commission for a while.”
“Good—as far as the living part,” Herne said. “All right. Ginty, why don’t you show us to Nalina’s room, now?”
Ginty led us behind the velvet rope that cordoned off a staircase near the back, and as we began to ascend the stairs, a mist filled the corridor.
We were entering the sanctuary state—the interdimensional safe space.
There might be other ways in and out, but if so, I didn’t know.
And Ginty had the magical codes needed to enter the sanctuary area, but we never saw him program them into any device or draw any runes.
It was all very much on a need-to-know basis.
As we came through the mist and reached the top of the stairs, the second floor—which wasn’t apparent in any shape or form from the outside—appeared very much like a guest floor in a hotel.
Each room here had an en suite, and there were vending machines in the halls and ice machines.
Apparently, electricity worked here, and even television channels and the internet managed to get through.
The latter didn’t surprise me—there was a place over in Annwn where the gods could receive their texts from our realm.
Nalina looked around, her eyes wide. Muffin let out a soft whine, but he didn’t seem that scared. She reached down and ruffled the hair on his head.
“Here, you’ll be in room 101. We don’t have any other guests right now, so you’ve got the place to yourself.
” Ginty unlocked the door and handed her a keycard.
“Keep this. You’ll need it to get in and out of the room.
Don’t try to navigate the stairs by yourself, or you might accidentally find yourself in a different dimension altogether.
If you need something, text me and I’ll either come up or send someone up. ”
Nalina nodded. “All right,” she said, staring around. “There wasn’t a second floor to your restaurant when we were outside.”
“That’s right. This is all in another dimension. You’re safer here than just about anywhere else. The Whispering Lights won’t be able to get to you here.” Ginty stood back as she entered the room.
The rooms here in the sanctuary space were quite spacious and comfortable. We helped Nalina get situated, and Ginty promised to send up some food and water for Muffin, and dinner for her, and then we left, promising to contact her as soon as we knew more.
Downstairs, Ginty motioned for me to join him, off to one side. “How’s Lyrical doing?”
Ginty was up on all the latest gossip.
“All right, but when I talk to her, it’s obvious she wants to come back. But we can’t let her rejoin the Wild Hunt, not with Yutani’s fixation.”
“What about having her work for me?” he said. “She’d be good for business, and since she’s one of the Leannan Sidhe, she should be able to sing. She could entertain the evening crowd, and I’ll bet she’d make big bucks in tips.”
I hadn’t even thought of that possibility. Yes, she’d still be in the same general area as Yutani, but he didn’t go into bars much on his own due to his prior issues with alcohol. And if we didn’t tell him…But no, we’d have to tell him. If he found out on his own, he’d be pissed out of his mind.
“I’ll talk to Herne, and to Lyrical. She might do better working here.
It suits her nature more. She never did seem very comfortable at the agency.
And then, once my temple is built—” Here, I stopped, blushing.
But Ginty said nothing, nor did he roll his eyes.
“Once my temple’s built, she’ll be installed there as the head priestess.
She’ll live there, as well as work there. ”
“This could serve as a short-term solution. I need a qualified bartender, and I remembered what you told me about having to separate those two.”
“Right. Well, I’ll get back to you. Meanwhile, we’ll get busy trying to find out whatever we can about Nalina’s situation. We just don’t want her wandering off into trouble, and I have no doubt that would happen if we leave her alone with them.”
With another kiss on the cheek, I patted Ginty’s arm, and then Herne, Viktor, and I made our farewells and headed back out to the car, just as the clouds boiled over into rain. The autumn rains were coming in, and trouble wasn’t far behind.