Chapter 19

Merlin

Merlin paused to stretch and regard the stifling darkness of the Gorge. Idly, she worked one shoulder as she frowned.

So much rain just lately. People are getting twitchy and irritated by it. Crazy, really. Outside activity is still possible, after all, but only at the risk of getting and then remaining soaked to the skin.

Merlin didn’t particularly care about wet. People were ingenious – they had invented towels. She could shrug off cold as well. There wasn’t much she could do about the weather. Well .. there was but only short term. A half day’s respite, a few hours. Longer than that was asking for trouble in the shape of nature’s backlash. But she got twitchy when they started on at each other over little things which they’d usually ignore, or over nothing at all. They need time out, she mused. Time away or apart so they can appreciate the good things and .. know when to let the rest go. The rain cannot be changed. How they react to it can.

I should bring Nick over here. It’d do him good to get some practice. Just the concentration will calm him down a whole lot. I could take Rachel and Kat over to see Patrick and Connor. It’s been a while since I did that. Alex .. could use a vacation. Derek, well, I don’t know. Maybe a visit to William would perk up his brain cells. If the rain doesn’t ease off soon, I’ll do it. All of it. Take Alex somewhere, give her some money, an’ leave her there. She’ll find a way home when she’s ready.

Her training done for the night, she turned, ready to build the bridge over the chasm, only to discover it had already been done and that she wasn’t alone. For a fraction of a split second, her instincts took over but then recognition kicked in and the shock hit her. Shauna stood silently at Merlin’s shoulder, watching the liquid black of the Gorge with a curiously intense gaze.

“Jeez, Mom ..! Don’t do that! Cough or something, okay?” Merlin muttered.

“How was training tonight?” Shauna asked, her voice soft and distant.

“Excuse me?” Merlin smiled. “Don’t you think I’m a little too grown up to be asked that question?”

“Yeah, but answer me anyway. Indulge me.”

“It was okay,” Merlin replied in a steady tone.

“And yesterday?”

“The same.”

“You worked hard?”

Merlin watched the darkness too, and thought this conversation would be better held somewhere else – like on the safe side of the chasm. “I’ve worked harder, it’s true,” she began, directing her mother toward the bridge, “but – ”

“So it was easier than usual.”

She twitched her shoulders. “I still trained an’ that’s the important thing. Right?”

“Mmm.” Shauna was frowning as they reached the other side. She dissolved the bridge without really thinking about it, then paused again and, finally, seemed to notice it was her daughter standing there. “I’m not saying you didn’t train or work hard, Peri, I’m simply remarking on the fact that it was easier than it normally is. A comment about the place, not you.”

Merlin nodded. “All right, so, now, you tell me this – why are you here, and why were you over there? You don’t usually cross the bridge.”

“Unless there’s a reason.”

“Okay, so you don’t usually cross the bridge without a reason. What is it this time?”

“I’m just following up on a hunch,” Shauna answered. “You’d tell me I’m having a Star Wars moment.”

“A great disturbance in the Force?”

Shauna slowly nodded then shook her head. “I don’t really know what it is, only that .. people are getting twitchy. People who are usually very calm.”

“And what does Dad say?” Merlin asked, folding her arms.

“I haven’t been able to talk to him about it. He’s .. gone away.”

Merlin blinked. “Gone .. what d’you mean, he’s gone away? Gone where?”

Shauna started to walk toward the gloomily lit forest. Here, it wasn’t the forest everyone else knew. Here it was dark and bitter, an acrid tang in the air, the trees packed closely together.

“He didn’t exactly say but I know he’s anxious about something. I think he’s gone to see your grandfather.” Shauna glanced around. “Even this place feels different, have you noticed? It’s quieter than normal.”

“So was the Gorge,” Merlin agreed. “Emptier, somehow. Or .. nah, it can’t be that.”

“What?” Shauna asked, her voice tight.

“It’s been getting worse these past few days. I know pride’s a sin, Mom, but I thought maybe it was me, that I was causing this effect. I got the feeling .. they’re laying low. Hiding. Why would Dad go to see Peregrine?”

“I told you – he’s anxious about something.”

“But you’re not.”

“I’m starting to get that way. Something’s going on, Peri, and I don’t know what. I wanted to find you, warn you.”

Merlin nodded. “Okay, consider me warned. But, Mom, it has to be pretty big if even the Gorge is reacting. I mean .. the Gorge isn’t a nice place, not on any scale, and .. if the residents are hiding, what could be causing it? How big is big likely to get?”

Shauna shook her head. “All I can tell you is that .. everywhere seems very tense. In some places, it’s only a minor tension but those places are never tense so it stands out a mile. There’s a very great disturbance in the Force, young Skywalker. Tread the path with caution.”

“Okay,” Merlin agreed, rather more soberly.

“How are things at home?”

“Twitchy – but that’s down to the rain.”

“Is it? Are you sure? Do those people usually get irritable because of the weather?”

“Mom, a lot of people get irritable because of the weather. Too hot, too cold, too wet, too anything extreme. You don’t have to be psychic or unusual to get grouchy when it keeps on raining an’ you can’t get outside without a lot of wet weather gear,” Merlin replied briskly but her voice held a faint trace of uncertainty.

“You’re not sure,” her mother commented.

“I was till you showed up. But I’m glad you did. Maybe it is a symptom of something big an’ nasty heading our way. And, from what you’ve said, it’s gonna be bigger an’ nastier than usual.”

“Just be careful, okay? If you have to, get help. Call in some markers. Warn the others. Don’t take any chances. And I’ll keep on looking over my side. If your father comes back soon, I’ll have him drop by to give you his ideas.” Shauna shivered and pulled her shawl tighter around her body. “I think I’ll walk you home.”

“You really don’t have to do that, Mom.”

“I know but I want to. If this big an’ nasty is heading your way, you have to be kept safe. Primed. Maybe the Gorge is quieter because someone wants you to lose your edge.”

“That’s a cheerful thought,” Merlin remarked. “They’re not that bright over there. It’d take brains to figure out a smart strategy like that.”

“Who says it’s come from over there? Someone else could’ve figured it out and told them what to do. In which case, this isn’t going to be simple. It’d mean … ”

“Complicated.”

“Not necessarily. C’mon, I’ll see you get home.”

*****

Merlin woke and listened to the soft sound of Nick’s steady breathing. Shauna shimmered into existence at the end of the bed. Both women were silent, examining the background atmosphere for clues. The house was quiet. Everyone was in bed and asleep, had been for hours. The rain pattered steadily on the windows. Merlin carefully eased from the bed and began to dress. Nick muttered and turned over but didn’t wake. For his sake, she hoped the big and nasty whatever wouldn’t be too big and nasty.

Shauna drifted outside to the hall. Merlin followed her.

“What are you gonna do?” she whispered. “Not go check on everyone else here, I hope. I told you, they’re just twitchy in a general kind of way. Snapping when books aren’t put back in the right place, that kinda deal. Derek’s been a little preoccupied just lately but he hasn’t said why.”

“I’m just checking the house. It’s tense as well, and I don’t think that’s because of the rain. There’s an atmosphere of gloom, Peri, of .. horrible expectation.”

Merlin angled her head. “Mom, that’s normal for this house. It’s a Legacy house. It always expects horrible things to go down.”

“Don’t get complacent,” Shauna warned. “Whatever this is, it started on the other side. Certain sensitive locations, like this house .. it’s starting to bleed over.”

“Okay, I’m on it. Go home. Try an’ find Dad. Why did he go to see his father ..? Does he think Peregrine knows something?”

“Maybe he does.” Shauna put her hands on Merlin’s shoulders. “If you need us, you just have to say. We’ll be ready.”

“And I will call, if I can’t deal with it with the resources I have. Go, please. I got things under control my side. Well, here, at least. I need your intel from over there.”

Shauna nodded and slowly vanished away. Merlin, now on guard and all her senses roused, knew it would be a while before she could go back to sleep. Now she was twitchy as well.

Well, I guess I always knew deep down inside that it couldn’t have been me scaring the residents of the Gorge into hiding, but it was a nice thought while it lasted. It’s a great strategy too. Hide, don’t let them hunt you, don’t give them any opportunity to work out or practice with their weapons. We’d lose the edge, for sure. Maybe not overnight but over time, yeah. I wonder how much time we’ve got left …

If sensitive locations – and Legacy houses were almost tuned in to psychic disturbances; it was like they had a huge, flashing neon sign on the roof saying ‘weird and dangerous welcome here’ – were starting to feel the bleed over effect from whatever was happening in dark and secret places on the other side, and, in turn, affecting the people living in them, maybe those people had written it down.

Merlin padded downstairs toward the library and went into the control room. Another dark and secret place, she thought, although this was dark only because the lights were all off. The open journal system instigated by Paul Emery meant that every house had access to every other house’s daily activity log. It wasn’t the same as personal journals in which inner thoughts and deliberations were recorded. It was simply a listing of what any particular house had done that day, what they planned to do in the future in broad terms, any reasons why they hadn’t done what they’d planned, and if they were going offline for a while. Maybe irritability wouldn’t be mentioned but, if it was, it might give Merlin an idea of how broad an attack could be anticipated.

She sat down and began to call up the journals, and she began with San Francisco. It was Rachel’s turn to make the entries this week and Rachel usually mentioned people more than cases. Merlin wasn’t disappointed. Rachel had made a note that the continuing bad weather had forced a postponement of a field trip and that people were becoming increasingly short tempered. Merlin switched to New York and then Boston. Then Montreal. She frowned. They were twitchy too. Just a comment at the end of the day – grouchy, short tempered, prickly, tetchy, cross. She moved on to Central and South America. Then she headed over the Atlantic to London.

Whatever this big and nasty was, it was affecting a lot of Legacy houses …

*****

By the time she’d read every activity log for every house, it was nearly dawn. Merlin was stunned and could only sit there, staring blindly at the screen. On surface consideration .. it looked like a global catastrophe was in the imminent future. And that meant Armageddon.

But it couldn’t be that. Armageddon was the endgame. She would have been notified, warned, told in advance. She hadn’t been, so it couldn’t be. Yet, only this past night, her mother had warned her, so maybe it was.

“No,” Merlin said out loud, her voice firm, as if just saying that word would make the legions of Hell pause, shrug and mutter ‘okay’, then slouch home and rearrange their plans. “And I’ll tell you why,” she continued, pushing back from the workstation. “The boss would’ve told me. Or Gabriel. Armageddon is too important for me to find out thru my Mom’s hunch that something’s going on. Okay?”

‘Okay. So .. let’s pencil something in for .. another couple of thousand years, shall we? That okay with you?’

Merlin shook her head. Okay, so it wasn’t the endgame but it could be some kind of rehearsal. That was possible. Not very probable but it could happen. Lucifer had decided to dip his toe in the water and see what kind of reaction he got. That scale of activity would certainly have the inhabitants of the Gorge a little wary and liable to take cover. It would definitely cause the tension Shauna had spoken of and the bleed over effect Merlin had noted in every activity log.

Michael wouldn’t necessarily warn her of that. If Lucifer, Michael’s brother, was on the move, it was more Michael’s area. He’d deal with it. The Flamefalls might be put on alert to handle anything which came into this world but the main action would go down in another arena. Merlin’s parents might be activated to take part as rearguards. All the Flamefalls on the other side might be pulled into the conflict.

She frowned. Her father had disappeared. But wouldn’t her mother have known? Shauna was a Flamefall too. She’d served her time, paid her dues. Joe might be the trueborn but, from the day of her marriage, Shauna had embraced the life. She wouldn’t be excluded. All Shauna had, though, were hunches and suspicions. If something that big and nasty was happening, even if, so far, it was the first faint stirrings, Shauna would know. She didn’t. She just felt uneasy enough to find her daughter and warn her to be alert.

It was too obscure to pinpoint. Too vague to be nailed down. Merlin didn’t quite put it from her mind but she pushed it into the background. She had trained every night. She was in good shape. She could deal with whatever it was when it happened. Until then, she couldn’t waste time going over the angles because there were none. You can’t arrange fog. She couldn’t make a plan, not till there were some hard facts and solid intelligence.

“Breakfast, I think,” she decided, glancing at the time. “Now, before Andrew gets here.”

Merlin deliberately kept it light. Her appetite had disappeared so she had black coffee and a cigarette. It helped to settle the mild, nervous churning of her stomach. She wasn’t scared but there was an undercurrent of wariness. It wasn’t stupid to feel like this, it was a healthy response yet she couldn’t sense any evil in the immediate area.

Swimming would divert her but Merlin wanted to be alone for a while so she went outside to run. As she opened the door, the rain grew marginally heavier. It didn’t stop her. She ran around the perimeter defense, checking it was in place. It was. She moved outside and ran around the entire island. Apart from getting very wet, she learned nothing more.

By now, the sun had risen .. or the day had become brighter. The sun was hidden behind solid gray cloud. It seemed the world was already in mourning for some disaster.

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his face …

Now I know I’m in trouble, she mused, heading back to the house. I’m quoting a Shakespeare tragedy. I really need to get out more. Okay, I’ll give Mom .. two days. If I haven’t heard, I’m going over there and I’ll track down my Dad an’ see what the hell’s going on. And if he doesn’t know, I’ll go get my answers in the Gorge.

Now that’s a plan, she decided. That proves I’m on the case, aware, alert, ready to act. Someone, somewhere, knows what’s going on, or what will be attempted.

She let herself in thru the kitchen hall door and paused to listen to the sounds of the house.

“Good morning, Mrs Boyle,” Andrew greeted. “Another miserable day, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, that sums it up. A miserable day. But,” she smiled, “it can only get better. Right?”

He raised a dubious eyebrow, as if doubting her grasp on sanity.

“C’mon, be positive,” Merlin urged.

“Yes, madam. I’ll try. Maybe when I’m a little more dried out, it’ll be easier.” He straightened. “Breakfast will be in approximately forty five minutes.”

She felt a little calmer now that she had a preliminary plan in place so the prospect of a second, proper breakfast was an appealing one.

“Great. I’m starved.”

Merlin went upstairs and entered the bedroom just as Nick emerged from the bathroom. “Still raining,” he remarked.

“You’re used to the wet.”

“Sure,” he grinned. “Back when I took orders, I had no problem with getting wet. Happened a lot. These days, I get a choice .. an’ I think I’ll go take my exercise in the pool.”

“And get wet,” she pointed out, trying to see the logic.

“It’s heated and it’s under a roof. Wanna join me?” he invited.

“I’m already wet. You’d better hustle. Andrew said forty five minutes an’ that was a few minutes ago.”

“Catch you later,” he winked and kissed her cheek as he passed.

Merlin smiled wryly to herself. In so many ways, she was pleased Nick wasn’t a Flamefall but, right now, she was pleased the most that he didn’t have the ability to know her mood in the same way as her parents could. Nick had only regular human senses and a close bond thru marriage. He could sense a lot by watching her expression and body language and by listening to her voice and the words she used. He was becoming adept at listening between the lines and hearing the lies behind the words. But he couldn’t, yet, gauge her emotions when she acted one way but felt another. To her mother, it would have shone like a beacon on a dark night.

She stripped off and stepped into the shower, standing there a long time as the water beat on her head. It felt good. She felt good. The .. whatever it was had been successfully relegated to the backburner. She would find out in due course. She always had, and she wasn’t dead yet.

In the dining room, thirty five minutes later, the residents of the Legacy house on Angel Island came together at the official start of their day. Derek still looked preoccupied with something because there was a slight yet persistent frown denting the skin between his eyebrows. Alex, too, was frowning and silent. Nick seemed all right but it was still early. Even he’d been more terse than usual just lately.

“So .. what’s the plans for today?” Merlin inquired, looking round the table.

There was a moment of quiet consideration.

“I don’t know about the rest of you but .. I am really not in the mood to work very much,” Nick announced.

“Me neither,” Alex sighed, then shook her head. “No, that isn’t strictly true. I’m not in the mood to sit in that control room. I need some daylight. I’d like some sun but I don’t think I’m gonna get that.”

Derek didn’t say anything, just went on frowning. One by one, everyone swiveled to look at him. Eventually, he became aware of the scrutiny and twitched.

“I agree,” he said, showing, yet again, that it was tough to catch him off balance. “This weather is getting us all down. It’s difficult to settle when, inside, you are crying out for activity. Nick .. we haven’t practiced fencing just lately. I propose a strenuous morning in the gym. Alex, please feel free to come and watch.”

She laughed ruefully. “I would surely love to see you wipe the floor with Nick but – ”

“I’m not that bad,” Nick cut in.

“I’m just kidding with you,” Alex defended.

“Well, try to be a little kinder in future, okay?”

Alex paused. “I do have work to do so .. I’ll be on book research in the library. You two have fun. Work out some of that .. irritability.”

“Who’s irritable?” Nick asked.

“Hey, we’re all bitching at each other,” Merlin interjected. “Let’s face facts, people, an’ let it go. Last I heard, God isn’t planning a second flood so this rain has got to stop sometime. Till it does, not much we can do except put up with it and keep busy as best we can.”

“What are you going to do today?” Derek asked.

She shrugged. “I’m as bad as everyone else but I can’t stay inside. It’d drive me crazy. So .. I’ll go running again. The garden an’ the woods are kinda pretty. Washed clean .. except for the mud.”

They nodded but didn’t comment further. There didn’t seem to be much point. The rain was washing the garden clean but it was also washing away all their enthusiasm. It was like living in a house full of zombies.

They left the dining room for their individual projects. As Merlin headed for the front door, Rachel came in.

“How’s it going?” they asked each other and smiled.

“Nothing much has changed. The weather’s getting ’em down. Nick an’ Derek are in the gym for a fencing lesson. Alex has abandoned the control room and is on book research in the library. I’m going running.”

“I intend to go thru all my files an’ close those I can,” Rachel declared. “And I’m going to ask Andrew for a pot of tea in the lounge which is where I intend to work.”

Merlin nodded. “No one can stand to be in the same room as anyone else.”

“Except the gym.”

“That’s so they can beat the crap out of each other,” Merlin grinned. “I’ll be back in time for lunch.”

“Okay,” Rachel waved.

Merlin left the house and began jogging down the drive toward the gate. She was hoping a visitor would show up, someone with a genuine problem the others could help them with. She passed the gate, nodding at the guy on duty, then headed off on a track thru the woods. Now she had to concentrate and keep watch for exposed tree roots and slick patches of mud.

She rounded the bend and became aware of someone falling into step beside her. She glanced round, saw who it was, and stumbled in a mix of shock and surprise. A hand shot out to prevent her falling.

“What’s this?” Merlin asked warily. “You’ve never come to run with me before.”

“First time for everything,” Gabriel replied prophetically. “Where do you usually mark the half way stage?”

“On the beach.” She watched him closely, her heart hammering in her throat. Any second now, he’d tell her why he was here.

“Lead on,” he invited.

Merlin’s eyes narrowed. “You okay?” It wasn’t really a question.

He nodded. “Just thought .. y’know, I’d touch base.”

“Now I know something’s going on. This is all new behavior for you. You don’t touch base unless there’s something going down. I’ve been expecting you, or the boss, to show up. What is it?” she demanded.

“Beach,” he said, and sprinted ahead of her.

For a second, Merlin was sorely tempted to turn and run back to the house and hide there but it would have made no difference. Gabriel would only come find her again. And she had to know, to hear the worst. Her mother’s hunches were never wrong. Sighing, Merlin picked up the pace. For him to be here and to be so vague about why, it meant trouble. Not just big trouble, it meant enormous, world shattering trouble.

Once she’d slid and slithered down the bank to the thin curving strand, she jogged to a halt. Gabriel was sitting in the only patch of shelter there was, staring at the dull, gray water of the Bay. She frowned. His expression was, she considered, hunted. There was no other way to describe it. Slowly, she went to sit beside him.

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“First up, okay, let me just say I am only the messenger so don’t give in to any urges to kick my ass,” he began.

“Oh, this sounds promising,” Merlin remarked in a flat voice.

Gabriel twisted to face her. “How many Flamefalls have ever crossed the line and been punished?”

“That’s easy,” she replied. “None.”

“You’re wrong.”

Merlin appeared to accept this correction but then she drew in a long breath. “Are you saying my Dad lied to me?”

“He doesn’t know. None of you do .. except two and they’ve both sworn to never say another word about it. At the time, one was so traumatized by what he saw that day that .. he couldn’t cope with it.”

“And that isn’t my Dad.”

Gabriel shook his head.

“Okay. So ..?”

“It’s your grandfather. Peregrine.”

“No, my grandfather’s on the other side and, to a large extent, he is still a cantankerous old fart.”

“He’s the one who couldn’t cope. He was there, y’see, when it happened. He saw his father killed in cold blood by his best friend.”

Merlin’s face went white. “Ox ..? Ox was murdered by ..?”

“Another Flamefall. Yes.”

She was shaking her head. “I don’t believe that. It’s impos – ”

“Merlin,” Gabriel cut in, “listen to me. You have to know and I don’t have much time to tell you. Reuben Meyer crossed the line. He faded to black. Peregrine did everything he could to save his friend, to stop him fading .. but Reuben wouldn’t listen. He knew the consequences and he didn’t care. Reuben slaughtered Ox in front of Peregrine and the punishment was immediate. He vanished from this world, condemned forever to Hell.”

Merlin blinked tears from her eyes. “He deserved it.”

“Yes, he did,” Gabriel confirmed. “Your grandfather was .. almost deranged with grief and anger. We feared we might lose him so .. we helped him deal by blocking it out. As far as he knew, Ox died of a cardiac arrest and it wasn’t until Peregrine himself died that he learned the truth from his own father. Both of them have sworn an oath never to reveal this to anyone. Not even your father knows, and he was a little boy of two when it happened.”

“So why are you telling me?” Merlin asked.

“What happens if you break the rules?” he inquired.

“You go downstairs, no hope of appeal, ever.”

“That’s right, but there’s more to it. Once you’re down there, there’s a .. thing. A torture machine, I guess. Reuben’s the only one to have ever been put on it. It’s called the wheel of fire. It turns slowly but it never stops and the fire never burns out.”

“Gabriel, why are you telling me this? Do you think I could fade? Is it some kinda warning?”

“No, I don’t think that .. but it is a warning.” He straightened. “A warning to get ready. To prepare.” He took her hand. “Reuben’s escaped.”

Merlin stared blindly at the rain pocked surface of the water as all this sank in. Then she frowned and twisted round to face him.

“What d’you mean, he’s escaped? No one escapes!”

“Well .. they do, but those are what we’d consider .. minor risks. People like Reuben .. no, unless ... Look, there was an agreement right at the start that, if a Flamefall did ever go evil, he or she would be kept on the wheel of fire forever. Reuben is no longer on the wheel. He’s no longer in Hell. He’s either escaped .. or .. he’s been allowed to escape. Or he’s been released.”

“Or?” she queried sharply. “Don’t you know?”

“No, we don’t. I can tell you Michael is pretty pissed right now. We’re arming for war. We’re going down there to demand answers why the agreement has been broken.”

“An’ what are you gonna do about that asswipe who slaughtered Ox?”

“Nothing,” Gabriel whispered.

“Excuse me?” Merlin choked. “Did you, the archangel Gabriel, first Flamefall, just say nothing?”

“We can’t fight him. He’s back in the world, Merlin. And that means .. you have to fight him.”

*****

Merlin sat on the little beach in the only area of shelter and said nothing for a long time. Gabriel sat beside her, a silent presence offering spiritual support if she wanted it. Eventually, she closed her eyes.

“Where is he?” she asked on a tired breath, her head bowing.

“We don’t know.”

“Well, what can you tell me?” There was a hard edge of irritation in her voice.

“Not much. I’m so sorry. We had always believed that, if such a situation ever happened, the wheel of fire would be enough and would hold its captive for eternity.”

“I don’t want your apologies. Or your excuses. They won’t help me put this right. Do the others know?”

He shook his head. “Nor will they .. unless you fail.”

A wry smile twisted her mouth. “Nice. One on one, huh? But it won’t exactly be fair, will it? He’s been surrounded by evil, steeped in it, for a while now. He’s learned a lot .. about cruelty, subtlety, brutality, spitefulness and viciousness. Demons are a bit thick when it comes to brains an’ thinking but .. not him. He’s a Flamefall. He has his powers, strengthened by his time downstairs, an’ he has his smarts as well. An evil force this world has never seen before. And, up against all this, in the blue corner, there’s me.” She smiled again. “I’m gonna die.”

“Don’t write yourself off so fast,” Gabriel muttered. “You make yourself sound like .. anyone on the street an’ that just isn’t true. Merlin, right now you’re angry and you hurt – ”

“Damn right I do!”

“ – and it’s all still sinking in. You’re learned the truth and that is often hard. Listen, please. You’re not ordinary.” He tried to take her hand but she pulled away. “You’re right. I won’t lie to you. Reuben Meyer is a very dangerous opponent, the most dangerous you’ve yet faced. You’ll find it tough to beat him but you can do it. I have faith in you. You have to prepare. If you do that and do it properly … Go over everything you’ve ever learned. More than that, go over everything you’ve ever discovered by yourself. Tricks of the trade which are unique to you. The methods of fighting you’ve been taught .. he’ll know them too, so you have to be unpredictable. You’re strong, so is he, but it isn’t an even contest. Reuben fell into the darkness. He surrendered to it. You’ve walked in the darkness but you have a light which shines inside, bright enough to blind. He’s lost that. The power is very focused in you, Merlin .. plus you’ve had extra training. Reuben never had that. And .. you won’t be alone.”

She frowned and glanced at him. Gabriel actually flinched back.

“What do you mean?”

“You have a partner. A husband.”

“No. No way. I won’t put Nick into that kinda danger. I won’t do it, Gabriel.”

“It isn’t your decision to make.”

She laughed briefly. “Really. So .. who decides? You told Nick about this before you told me? You let him choose to do it?”

“It was Michael. He decided. You and Nick will take on Reuben Meyer as one team. If you fail then the other Flamefalls will be briefed and put into the field.” His head lifted, turning to the sky. “I have to go. Michael really is angry that his brother either let Reuben escape or deliberately released him. He does want to know why the agreement was broken. We’re going in there to demand the answers. The muster’s been called.”

She swallowed. “It’s really war between Heaven an’ Hell?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel nodded.

“Will I see you again?”

“I sure hope so,” he replied as he got to his feet.

“I have faith in you, bro.”

He glanced back. “Just .. send Reuben back where he belongs, okay?”

“Or die trying. Sure. One way or another, we’ll get him.”

A light began to grow around Gabriel. “One last thing. Reuben’s codename was Gulo. Oh, an’ don’t forget .. you have allies who must help. It’s time to call on them, according to the original agreement made between Flamefalls and the Legacy.”

Merlin looked uncertain but Gabriel was anxious to be gone.

“Michael says it’s time they settled the debt they owe. Call in the marker.”

She blinked, her eyes watering in the after flash. For a moment, she was overwhelmed by the task ahead as she thought over all the words they’d just exchanged. Then, wearily, she got up.

“Call on the Legacy for help .. against a rogue Flamefall. Yeah, right.”

*****

She ran right around the island .. twice. Merlin didn’t even notice. Her mind was elsewhere, engaged on other urgent tasks. Finally, her feet directed her back to the house and she was a little surprised to find herself going thru the front door.

Six billion people on the planet an’ I have to find one. I don’t know what he looks like. What kinda personality he has. Or had. How the hell am I gonna do it ..?

Pain flared suddenly at the memory of Gabriel’s confession. A member of her own family had been murdered by one of his own kind. And .. no one had ever said anything about it. Just .. sweep it under the carpet. Write off a life. Murderer’s been punished and will be for eternity so .. onward and upward. But, hey, guess what? Eternity’s shorter than you thought.

Merlin looked around the foyer, her eyes focusing. Then she raced upstairs and grabbed a bag, threw it on the bed and opened it. Nick wouldn’t be part of this. It was way too risky. As for the Legacy and it’s debt .. another time. This was down to her. Reuben Meyer owed her blood and she would have that debt settled in full. The blood price on Ox’s life was more than Reuben could ever afford.

Nick came in, mopping his face with a gym towel, and headed for the shower. “Good run?” he asked and pulled up, turning to regard the opened bag. “Something come up?”

For a moment, Merlin couldn’t answer. Her mouth opened and closed, her gaze became distracted and she frowned quickly. Then she crumpled and sat on the bed.

Nick was at her side in an instant. “Merli ..? Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

She shook her head. “No. I … I can’t. This doesn’t concern you, Nicky. Don’t push me for answers, okay?”

“You going someplace?” he frowned.

“Home. There’s things I have to do. People I need to see.”

“You can’t do it from here?” He went to put his arm around her shoulder but she flinched away. “Don’t withdraw on me,” Nick said and fell silent.

“I’m not. Nick, please .. I have to be alone for a while.”

“No. You’re vulnerable right now. I have to stay with you. I must.” He met her quizzical gaze. “Michael said.”

She nodded. “And .. just when did Michael say this?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I can’t remember. I just .. have this feeling that I have to do this because he said I must. Something about .. wanting to withdraw and .. being vulnerable. I must stay with you. That’s important.”

Merlin’s shoulders sagged. “Okay. Go take your shower and I’ll wait for you.”

Nick rose and hurried into the bathroom. He was gone five minutes. When he came back, Merlin was nowhere to be seen.

“I should have made her promise …” he sighed.

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