Chapter 14 #2
It feels odd to confide in someone I barely know, and a vampire of all people, but vampires have never harmed me the way the fae have and Cal has a steady presence that’s reassuring somehow.
I’m envious of how close you all are. My siblings are great, but they’re all I have left of my dragon flight and my Deaf friends are human.
Cal looks up from his phone after reading that, a flicker of some emotion in his eyes that I don’t know him well enough to place. Then he types again and I get a notification. He’s added me to a group chat called BSL Bros, and the messages start coming in thick and fast.
Cal
How’s everyone’s BSL coming along? Because that app has taught me the signs for house, ball, and cat.
Kit
Omg ikr. It just left me with more questions! Like, can I sign ‘house’ when I’m talking about the manor? Are there different signs for domestic cats, wild cats, and cat shifters, or is it the same one? Can you use the sign for ‘ball’ when talking about testicles, or do they have their own sign?
Ayo
I’m acing it! I signed a whole sentence to Bryn earlier!
Then I panicked when he replied because I didn’t know what any of his signs meant.
Ethan
I’ve been learning the swear words.
Treasure
How old are you?!
Ethan
tbf it’s probably thirty percent of my vocabulary.
And I left school at 14 so that’s my learning age.
Jet
The app doesn’t have any sex related words so I’ve been looking them up online
Treasure
Why would you need to sign sex words to my boyfriend…?
Jet
To embarrass you by asking him about your sex life, of course
Treasure
Don’t. You. Dare.
You’re all learning BSL?
Ayo
Bryn! You’re here!
Kit
Of course we are. We’re not heathens.
Cal
Skye’s learning too, but he’s out flying.
Ethan
If I swear at you it’s because I don’t know anything else.
I chuckle as the messages continue, my dragon generating a gentle warmth in my chest. When I look up, Cal’s expression is as neutral as always. Then his lips twitch up at the corners. He pockets his phone and signs ‘house,’ ‘ball,’ and ‘cat,’ making me grin.
‘Again,’ I sign with plenty of attitude.
His barely-there smile widens a fraction and he repeats the signs before looking towards the manor. Raj approaches us, in human form this time. Cal claps me on the shoulder before zipping off so fast he blurs.
Raj greets me with a soft kiss when we reach each other, then leads me through the woods to a bench which overlooks the lake with the manor beyond. The wood is damp and starting to rot, the metal supports rusting, but since I’m covered in mud and it holds our weight, it doesn’t really matter.
I angle myself towards him, careful not to touch my knees to his so that I don’t get his clothes dirty. ‘What happened with Jet?’
He rolls his eyes. ‘So you know that little tiger toy in my flat? That was leftover from this prank Jet did a while back. Anyway, he got more of them and filled the entire manor kitchen so when I went to cook dinner, they were staring at me from every shelf, inside every pan, filling every worktop. Then he started playing this song called “Eye of the Tiger.”’
‘So you chased him?’
‘Of course!’ His hand movements and expression are adorably indignant.
‘Is this something I’m going to need to get used to?’ I try my best to look amused in the hope that he didn’t notice my first instinct was to rush over and catch Jet for him.
His smile is knowing, damn it. ‘Afraid so.’
The sun dips behind the horizon as we take in the view, the last of the weak golden light casting long shadows on the lake that Ayo spent hours practicing a purification spell on this morning. Even covered in scaffolding, the manor has a majestic quality.
‘You know, I was thirteen the first time I came here.’
I’m not sure what prompts me to tell him. Maybe our conversation a few days ago about getting to know each other better, or perhaps just a desire to explain why this place brings out mixed emotions in me.
He tilts his head, a slight furrow to his brow. ‘Ayo said he’d played with a dragon shifter child once, but he didn’t think you were the right age.’
‘That was Milo. I’m not surprised Ayo doesn’t remember me. He was only five, and I barely saw him.’
His brow furrows. ‘What happened?’
I take a deep breath, my hands heavy. ‘You should know first that my dad hates that I was born Deaf. He insisted I learn to lip-read and go to speech therapy even while my mum did everything she could to make sure BSL was my first language, including teaching Milo and Zara to sign before they could speak. It caused so many arguments.’
His frown deepens. ‘Your dad didn’t learn BSL?’
I snort, a puff of smoke coming out of my nostrils.
‘Definitely not. He spent half my childhood dragging me to every doctor and magical healer he could find, trying to find a way to give me some level of hearing. Nothing worked. Human inventions are incompatible with dragon physiology, and there didn’t seem to be a magical method.
Then he heard about a powerful sorcerer in Birchester; Wema Muroyi. ’
‘Ayo’s mum,’ Raj signs. ‘Hang on, are you telling me you visited here because your dad wanted you to become hearing?’
I nod. ‘I hated that he couldn’t accept BSL as my language choice, so I was sulky and pissed off that day. Ayo’s mum took one look at me and insisted my dad go through the paperwork with Ayo’s dad, both of them keeping an eye on Ayo and Milo, while she took me to prepare the spell she’d be using.
‘Only, we didn’t go anywhere near the basement where the spell was going to be performed. She took me on a tour of the manor instead.’
He smiles tightly. ‘That sounds like the woman Ayo’s told us about.’
‘Maybe it was just intended as a distraction, but I was in awe of the place. I’d never seen a building like it before.
It was love at first sight. So many nooks and crannies, tall windows and soaring ceilings.
I immediately decided I was going to be an architect when I grew up so that I could design buildings just like it. ’
‘So that day changed your life, even after the spell didn’t have the intended effect.’ His hand movements are steady, his smile softer now.
‘Oh, that’s not the end of the story, treasure.
’ I give him a wry smile. ‘When we reached a music room, I immediately went to the bass guitar mounted on the wall. Wema was surprised, so I got my phone out to explain how at my human Deaf school I learnt to play using the vibrations, then made her get the bass down so I could give her a demonstration. She smiled the whole time. Afterwards, she asked me if I wanted to be able to hear music, or other sounds.’
He leans closer. ‘What was your reply?’
I smirk. ‘I gave her this look full of teenage attitude and typed something about how I didn’t see how becoming hearing would be better.’
I still hold the same opinion, but I could have been nicer to the woman willing to help me.
‘She gave me this thoughtful little smile and kept showing me around. Anyway, as we explored, there were witches and mages in various rooms mixing potions, making charms, and doing spells with runes. I thought it was the coolest thing ever, so when we finally did go down to the basement with my dad, and Wema said that all I had to do was concentrate on the sense I wanted, I kept thinking how awesome it would be to actually be able to see every type of magic.’
Raj’s eyes widen. ‘Wait, the spell worked? That’s why you can see magic?’
I grin. ‘Yep. Never regretted it.’
His mouth falls open slightly, then widens into a beautiful smile. ‘That’s amazing. How long did it take you to understand what you were seeing?’
I snort, a puff of smoke coming out of my nostrils.
‘Years. Wema and I emailed about it a lot, which helped, then after she died I was at university and had more access to magic-users and their books than I did at home. As for fae magic, I paid attention in Wargate and asked the guards questions. They liked to brag.’
‘Well, I’m certainly impressed. Your knowledge is incredibly thorough.’ He leans in and kisses me, careful not to get mud on himself.
It’s tempting to stay out here, to keep kissing him under the sunset, but the best of the light has already gone and I could really use a shower. ‘Ready to head back?’ I ask.
He stares at my lips, looking like he’d prefer to stay right here and carry on kissing, but stands anyway. ‘We probably should. Ethan’s planning to order Chinese takeaway for everyone, so text him if you have any specific requests.’
I smirk as I get to my feet. ‘You gave up on your plan to cook?’
He sticks his tongue out at me. ‘I’ll get Jet back, don’t you worry.’
We’re just reaching the front steps leading up to the manor entrance when Skye in eagle form swoops in through the open double doors and immediately shifts.
Raj beckons for me to hurry, so we rush inside and down the hallway after Skye.
We catch up to him in the dining room where the rest of the pack look up from their various laptops and phones.
‘What’s going on?’ I ask Raj.
He frowns. ‘Skye says there’s a problem. Want me to interpret?’
‘Please.’
Skye has his hands on his hips, breathing hard. “There was a drone. It couldn’t get past the ward, but it kept trying so I stayed above and followed it. Eventually it left, and I was able to discover the operator.”
Ethan quickly crosses the room to Skye. “Who was it?”
Skye grimaces. “Idris.”
‘The human you fancy?’ I ask as the rest of the pack gather around Skye as well.
Cal takes off his shirt and hands it to Skye.
It falls to Skye’s knees as he buttons it, covering up the wolf and wings tattoo on his shoulder that matches Raj’s, then rolls up the too-long sleeves.
“Aye. Idris finding out is risky enough, but if he uses that drone to record a video of someone shifting, even if it’s not us, we’re stuffed. ”
Kit waves that off. “We’d just claim it was AI. No one would believe it was real these days.”
Ethan scowls. “Someone would find a way to prove it’s genuine, or we’d inevitably have a few humans trying to hunt and capture shifters to confirm if they exist. We can’t take the risk.”
Raj grimaces. ‘The fact the drone was blocked from flying over the estate is likely to confirm to him that he should keep investigating, rather than be a deterrent.’
“Can a drone see through the ward?” Cal asks.
Ayo shakes his head immediately. “No, Kit and I checked all types of tech when I set it up.”
Jet nudges Skye. “I wonder if he’s worked out that you used to perch in the tree in his back garden. Maybe he’s here for payback.”
“Let’s fucking hope not,” Ethan says.
“Want me to put a tracker on his car?” Kit asks.
Raj raises his eyebrows. ‘You want to put magically modified tech on the car of a human? One who might find it, and would then have further evidence of our world’s existence?’
Kit rolls their eyes. “If the fae at Far Out Freight haven’t sensed our trackers, a human definitely won’t.”
“Forget the tracker.” Ethan clenches his fists. “For now—”
I stop following the conversation when my phone vibrates in my pocket. When I take it out to check the notification, Raj reaches for his phone as well. It’s an email from Far Out Freight with the subject line: For The Attention Of All Employees.
After much consideration, the decision has been taken to close all UK distribution centres. Staff on the ex-offender work programme will be reassigned to another Realm Enterprises subsidiary. All other staff should consider this their one week’s notice of redundancy.
Raj pockets his phone and turns to the others, his shoulders tense. ‘We have a new problem.’