Nick located Derek in his office where
he was listlessly going thru his mail.
He paused in the opened doorway, unsure what to say. Aware that someone was standing there, Derek
glanced up.
“Nick. You want something?”
“Yeah. Um .. I want some timeout.
I need to .. do something.”
“We all do,” Derek remarked. “The weather – ”
“It’s nothing to do with that. Something’s going on an’ I think I’m meant
to be part of it.”
Derek raised an eyebrow. “I see.”
Nick ran a hand thru his hair and
laughed quickly. “Wish I did. I got a feeling but .. if you asked me for
proof, for facts, I couldn’t give ’em to you.
I just know .. I have to go.”
“Sit down,” Derek invited. “Tell me what you can. I won’t refuse the request but .. I have a
similar feeling. Something is indeed
going on and I believe we are all
meant to be part of it, in some way, but, like you, I have no other information
which I could offer as proof.”
Nick sank onto the chair. “Why d’you think it’s all of us?”
“A man I don’t know spoke to me in a
dream. He said only three words. Repay the debt. He was, I think, a man who lived a very long time ago in an arid
region of the world. My instinct says
the Middle East. I believe he was a
member of the Legacy, just as I am, because something connected us. And, if I’m right, we are all members of the
Legacy and, so, we are all involved in some way. Now you are going to ask what does it mean – repay the debt – and
I will tell you I have no idea.
Willingly, I would settle any debt the Legacy owes and I am sure we must
owe a lot to many, but the debt could
be anything. I’m looking for more
information and, perhaps, you can provide some of what’s missing.”
Nick slowly shook his head. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. Peri’s gone home – ”
Derek blinked. “Without saying anything? She was fine at breakfast.”
“I know. Whatever happened, it was during the morning. When I saw her, she looked .. numb. It was bad news. She said she had to go home, had things to do. I said I’d go with her. She took off while I was in the shower. She didn’t want me drawn in an’, when she
starts saying stuff like that, I know
it’s gonna be bad.”
Derek nodded. “And .. you said you’d go with her because
.. you are her husband? Because it’s
something you always say? Why?”
“This is the crazy part. I can hear this voice .. yet I can’t. It’s like the faint ghost of an old memory,
but I can almost make out the words – she’s vulnerable right now, she’ll be
angry, shocked – but I get this feeling at the same time that I have to be with
her. I don’t get a choice in it. An’ the really weird thing is that, for some
reason, I think it’s Michael’s voice I can hear. I couldn’t swear to it because none of it is real. It could be imagination.”
“Hmm.
My dream could be imagination
as well but I don’t believe it is. And,
if it is Michael’s voice, it is an order you cannot refuse. Not even a Legacy Precept can take
precedence over an archangel,” he commented with a wry smile. “Interesting. Very well. Go to Paradise
Drive, be with her. Protect her. And see if you can find out more
information. It is probable that your
feelings and my predicament are linked together. Peri can help us both.”
Nick rose. “Keep in contact and
if there’s anything you need, tell me.
We could all use something meaningful to do.”
“You got it, “Nick promised.
*****
The journey to the house on Paradise
Drive had never taken so long. Nick was
anxious that, in the time it had taken to talk with Derek and then to get to
the house, she would have moved on once more.
If that had happened, he would be delayed again trying to find her.
She’s learned a lot about sharing and
living with someone yet, when it comes down to risky business, Merli does her
best to cut me from the loop. I can
understand why she does that but I really wish she wouldn’t. I wish she’d trust me. Okay, maybe I can’t fight the same way as
she does but I can listen, help plan, do the logistics, be a support. But she keeps me away. Now there has to be a reason why I was
warned about this, why she took off so suddenly. I’ve seen her in a lotta moods but I’ve never seen her numb with
shock before. What the hell happened
when she was out running ..?
He pulled into the drive and, hunching
his shoulders against the rain, ran to the front door. Inside, the house was deathly quiet. There was not even the soft tick of a
clock. Nick didn’t call. He took the stairs two at a time, tried the
office door and discovered it was locked, then, nodding briefly, went on to
their bedroom. He figured she’d be
there, and he was right.
Merlin lay in that unnatural position
which looked like she was asleep but wasn’t.
He didn’t attempt to waken her.
He lay down beside her, closed his eyes, and tried to sleep as well. He thought very hard of the forest, willing
his spirit to go there. Nick didn’t
believe Merlin had gone training. She
was gathering information, visiting her parents maybe. He just wanted to make sure she was all
right.
Without warning, he did find himself
in the forest. He got his bearings and
set off toward the river. He couldn’t
build any bridges but he might find someone who could. He knew he couldn’t afford to stay very
long. If Merlin was vulnerable right
now, distracted by anger and shock, his place was on guard right beside her,
awake, aware and alert.
“Well, hi there, young man,” said a
voice. “Peri’s husband, right?”
“Right,” he replied, turning to face
the owner. “I should know you but I
don’t.”
“I’m Maude. What you doing here?”
“Trying to find her. I think she’s at her parents’ place. Could you take me over?”
“No problem.”
As Maude built the bridge, Nick
wondered whether he should say anything about why he was looking for
Merlin. Maude was family, after all.
“Something strange is going on,” Maude
remarked, surprising him.
“Oh?” Nick replied in his best neutral
voice.
She chuckled softly. “You don’t usually follow after Peri on a
routine visit to her folks. You’re
either with her or you don’t make the effort.
Fact that you’re here .. proves my point. An’, anyway, can’t you feel it?
Maybe you can’t. There’s an
atmosphere. It’s tense over here, and
it never gets tense over here. Joe’s
disappeared. Shauna’s worried.”
Could that be it? Could Shauna have visited Merlin this
morning while she was out running?
Would the knowledge that her father had vanished be enough to shock
Merlin, make her angry and thus leave her vulnerable? Nick didn’t think it would.
Worry her, yes. Maybe worry had
grown from the shock she’d felt. But
anger? He couldn’t see it.
“When did he disappear?”
“Few days ago. Shauna thinks he’s gone to see Peregrine but
she isn’t certain. Maybe Peri’s gone
looking for him.”
“Then I’ll talk with Shauna.”
They arrived at the neat house with
its tidy front yard. Maude hesitated,
wanting to come in with him, but, after a moment, she shrugged.
“Shauna will get you home if Peri
isn’t there,” she said, then hurried away.
Nick went to the door, knocked once,
then pushed it open. “Hi, anyone home?”
Merlin and Shauna looked round. “Nick!
Come on in,” Shauna invited in a warm voice.
“What are you doing here? How’d you get over the river?” Merlin asked.
“Maude brought me. I can’t stay long. I have to get back. I ..
just needed to know you’re okay. You
took off despite telling me you’d wait.”
Merlin paused. “No, I’m not really okay. I’m .. trying to find out information but ..
no one knows anything.”
“Can the Legacy help?” Nick asked.
“It’s Enforcer business.”
“And you’re the first Enforcer to have
dealings with the Legacy?” he queried mildly.
“No.”
“Then we may have something in the
archives.”
She considered, biting at her lower
lip. “Okay. See if you can find any reference to a codename Gulo. I have to find out as much as I can about
this guy. I think my grandfather knows
something so I’m gonna follow in my Dad’s footsteps an’ go visit Peregrine.”
“But why do you think that, Peri?”
Shauna frowned. “Gulo isn’t a name I
recognize.”
Merlin drew in a breath. “I had a visit this morning .. from
Gabriel. Something really bad is
heading my way .. an’ I have to deal with it.
Alone. I can’t involve anyone
else. It’s too dangerous. Really.
I’m not just saying that. It
really is too dangerous.”
Shauna nodded. Merlin had said it and it was the
truth. There was no point in
arguing. “I said something was going
on, something bad. I’ll see you home,
Nick. Watch over my daughter. Keep her safe. Peri, you go find your Dad but don’t be forever doing it.”
They left the house and went their
different ways. Shauna walked quickly
but Nick easily kept up with her.
“She can’t fight this alone, Nick,”
she said quietly. “I don’t care what
she says. You’re her partner. You have to be there too.”
“I know an’ I will. I promised.” He blinked. “At least, I
think I remember promising. Another one
of those echoes of memory.”
“Don’t let her give you the slip. I know what she’s like,” Shauna
muttered. “Her heart’s in the right
place but she can be way too stubborn at times. Don’t be afraid to use force.
Make her bring you along.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he grinned. “Whatever it takes.”
*****
Nick woke and stretched, then looked
quickly at his wife. Merlin hadn’t
moved. He sat up, stretched again, and
thought about what he’d learned. Not
very much, but more than he’d started out with. Then he thought about how
he’d learned it. Merlin hadn’t appeared
angry. She’d accepted him turning up
without warning and hadn’t argued his reasons.
She’d yielded easily enough to his offer of help. And she’d explained what had happened that
morning. A visit from Gabriel who’d
brought disturbing news. She’d seemed
focused, wanting to get on with the job, a little frustrated that no one knew
anything, but not angry or shocked.
Nick began to think that Michael had
gotten it wrong but then he stopped.
“Nah,” he breathed. “Michael
doesn’t get things wrong.”
He looked at Merlin again and he saw
that her hands were clenched into tight fists.
Looking closer, he noticed she was trembling very slightly. Every muscle had a very fine quiver to it.
“She’s pissed about something,” Nick commented
to himself.
He retrieved his cell phone from his
jacket pocket and pressed out Derek’s office number. He could’ve used the phone downstairs but he wouldn’t leave her.
“Yes.”
“Derek, it’s Nick. Can you an’ Alex go thru the Legacy archives
searching for any reference to the Enforcer codename Gulo. That’s G-U-L-O. Peri needs to find out as much as she can. I can tell you Gulo is a guy. I know they have a long history but .. as to
timeframe, I’m guessing the twentieth century.
Joe’s apparently disappeared to go speak with his father. If this is connected, I’d have to say
Peregrine is around the same age group as your father.”
“So Peri believes Peregrine knows
something about this Gulo.”
“She’s gone to track down her Dad so
she’s going to visit her grandfather as well.”
There was a pause. “How was she?”
“Aquila was focused but Peri’s mad
about something. Gabriel spoke with her
while she was out running to give her a heads up. She said something really bad is heading her way.”
“Interesting,” Derek commented. “Something bad .. would not get her
angry. She is accustomed to dealing
with evil and Enforcers are .. dispassionate about their work. Yet she requires information about another
Enforcer. Perhaps this Gulo once fought
the same creature and won so she’s after advice. Or, possibly, he lost the battle and she needs to know what he
did and where it went wrong. Leave it
with me, Nick. Alex, Rachel and I will
get right on it. I presume you’ll be
staying at Paradise Drive for a while?”
“Yeah. Guard duty. Let me know
if you find anything.”
“Of course. Take care.”
The line went dead and Nick put the
phone on the nightstand, then he pulled the chair closer to Merlin’s side of
the bed, sat down, got comfortable, and tried to imagine what could be so bad
that it was causing tension where there never was any. It had to be something .. unique. A one off.
And something that had never happened before.
Nick, being a practical guy more than
a theorist, then reflected on some choices for action. Derek and the others were investigating
Gulo. What else could they do? What else could Merlin do if the trip to her
grandfather yielded nothing new? Well
.. Enforcers had a tight network which went back over a long period of time but
they were not the sole occupants of the land beyond the river. They didn’t know everything or
everyone. Maybe there were others she
could question. Other Enforcers,
outside her immediate family. And other
people. People like Joseph. Butlers had exemplary skills for picking up
gossip. Maybe he’d heard a name or
about a situation. Maybe it wouldn’t be
the answer, but it may be an important piece of the puzzle.
Merlin tensed then relaxed a
little. Nick watched, holding his
breath. A momentary spasm, that was all
it was.
What could be so bad that Gabriel had
to tell her in person ..? What could be
so bad that Michael had spoken with Nick ..?
*****
“Alex, can I drag you away from your
book research?” Derek inquired. “Nick
has called with an urgent task.”
“I’d rather be doing something rather
than just anything,” Alex responded, pushing the book away. “I need to focus. Sure, what is it?”
“A search thru the Legacy archives
over the period of the twentieth century,” Derek replied and Alex gave a short
laugh of disbelief. “The Enforcer
codename Gulo. G-U-L-O. I don’t suppose we’ll find out a lot but we
need to discover as comprehensive a picture as we can.”
“Can’t Peri deal with this?” she
queried. “I’m not saying I won’t do it,
but .. wouldn’t it be quicker to ask her?
She is an Enforcer.”
“It is for her we are doing this
search. Apparently, none of the others
know the name.”
Alex slowly nodded. “A top secret Enforcer. Okay, I’ll see what I can find.”
“Is Rachel here?”
“Lounge, I think.” She glanced at him. “Is this a full team deal?”
“I believe it is, yes. Something bad is coming, Alex. Peri has always backed us up when we’ve
asked and even when we haven’t. Now we
will do whatever we can to back her.”
“Kinda .. balancing the scale,” Alex
commented.
Derek halted in the library
doorway. “Yes .. or settling a debt,”
he softly commented.
Alex paused too, her eyes
distant. “I guess we must owe them a hell of a lot over the
years. Okay. I’m on it. Any particular
year I should start?”
“Peri’s father is around my age, so
her grandfather is, or was, of my father’s generation. I expect we can write off the first ten or
so years. From the .. mid-Thirties to
possibly the Eighties.”
She nodded. “Should keep me occupied for a while.”
“I’ll call you for supper,” he smiled
and went to find Rachel.
In the lounge, Rachel was making good
progress. It was amazing what a rainy
day and genuine self motivation could achieve.
“Hey, Derek,” she grinned as he came
in. “I hear you an’ Nick crossed swords
this morning.”
“In honest competition,” Derek
confirmed. “It makes a pleasant change
from the other kind because words are often sharper and cause a deeper, more
lasting wound.”
“That is so true,” she agreed. She paused, her eyebrows rising. “Reason for your visit?”
“I need your help. Peri is looking for information on an
Enforcer with the codename Gulo. Alex
is searching the Legacy archives. It’s a
long shot but someone may have mentioned it.
Gulo is supposed to be .. or so we think .. the same age as my father so
I want to look thru his journals. He
may have made a note. That’s an even
longer shot because Gulo could have been based anywhere in the world .. but I
have to try. And that means I can’t run
a search. I have to read.”
“An’ two pair of eyes can read faster
than one,” Rachel commented.
“Sure. I’ve made big strides
here today so I can afford to take a break.”
She rose. “Why would Peri need
information on another Enforcer?”
“Something big is going to
happen. She wants to be prepared.” Derek shrugged slightly. “What that something is, we haven’t yet
found out. I’ll get the journals and
meet you in the library.”
*****
Every so often, Nick got up and walked
around the bedroom. So far, Derek
hadn’t called but Gulo, while an unusual name, may not have been recorded
anywhere. In those days – and he
realized no one was sure when ‘those’ days were – all contact between the
Legacy and the Enforcers was routed via London and London may have deliberately
excluded any reference to them. Alex
could be chasing her own tail and getting nowhere very fast. Nick didn’t expect news just yet.
He didn’t expect Merlin back just yet
either. She could be a few days. He wondered whether to call Derek again and
ask him to come over and share the guard duty.
Nick would have to sleep sometime.
He was fine right now but, if the time dragged on too long, he’d need to
crash for a couple of hours.
He bent over her, checking to see if
she’d relaxed at all but she hadn’t. He
was determined to get the whole story out of her when she did eventually wake
up. In the meantime, he had his own
story to unravel.
Michael had spoken to him. He was sure of that. He just couldn’t remember what was
said. He had impressions that it was
important. Critical, even. He had gut feelings that he needed to stick
like glue to his wife, that they were in this together. But the words used to convey these feelings
.. not there.
O-kay, Nick began. Let’s start at the beginning. Well, maybe not right at the beginning
because I don’t know when this started.
A few days, a week .. who can say?
But I am sure it was Michael.
Michael doesn’t speak to people every day. In fact, it’s rare that he speaks to anyone down here – why
should he? He’s got others to do that
for him. So .. if I’m sure it was him,
he had an important, even critical, reason for doing it. Then why can’t I remember what he said? My memory’s pretty good. I’m sure I would remember a conversation with God’s right hand man. At the risk of sounding impious, it’s almost
like we’re equals.
He grinned to himself, thinking Derek
might appreciate being elevated to such lofty heights.
So .. where does that take me? It takes me to the wary conclusion that .. I
can’t remember for a reason. An’ that
reason has to be that Michael doesn’t want me to remember.
Nick screwed his eyes tight shut.
An’ that’s plain dumb. It makes absolutely no sense, and yet it
does. If something is so critical .. I
should remember it yet I’m not supposed to.
O-kay. Is there a reason for
this riddle beyond trying to tie my brain in knots? There must be. What could
it be? Maybe .. I’m not supposed to
remember yet.
He sat up slightly.
I’ll remember what I need to know when
the time’s right. I remembered about
the being vulnerable part when it happened.
I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing at the correct time. Maybe the rest of it .. just has to wait
till the something bad actually goes down.
He nodded.
Now that makes more sense. How does it tie in to Derek’s dream? Did Michael prompt that too? Derek’s never met Michael. He didn’t know the man he saw either but he
did feel a connection. Someone from the
Legacy’s history. Repay the debt …
We must owe a lot of people a lot of things. Three thousand years of owing … It really could be anything but .. if it is tied in to whatever
Merli’s up against .. is it something we owe to the Enforcers? We must owe them a hell of a lot. How often have they gone in to put right something
we’ve screwed up? How often have we
called on them to be shield and sword?
Probably too many to count.
Well, I’m ready to do my part in saying thanks. Derek’s working on it too. If we can repay the entire debt with what
we’re doing …
A hollow feeling opened in his chest
and, for a second, Nick felt faint. If
what we’re doing is settling a three thousand year accumulation of thanks yous
.. what the hell is Merli up against?
He swallowed as he looked at her, the
sheer enormity of some unknown thing threatening to overwhelm him. Yet Merlin hadn’t been scared, she’d been
mad. She still was. Whatever was coming had better watch out …
*****
Alex left the control room with a
handful of sheets of print out.
“Like I said, not much,” she
announced, putting them on the table.
“What are you doing? Aren’t
those your father’s journals?”
“Yes,” Derek nodded, his voice
distant. Then he pushed the journal
aside to concentrate on what Alex had discovered. “Let’s see what you’ve turned up.”
“London house, naturally, had the most
references to the Enforcers,” she replied, sitting down. “At first, I didn’t recognize how they were
doing it. After a while, it dawned on
me that the phrase ‘E was involved’ meant Enforcer activity in a case, usually
coming in at the end. I’m going to
check the archives again, in case I missed some. ‘E’ was all they ever used.
No codenames, and nothing about what the Enforcers did to conclude a
case. So I found nothing about Gulo
specifically. Once I was wise to the
code .. letter, I guess you’d call it, I checked all the other lesser archives
– the ones at each house. It seems that
Gulo lived in this area because, in nineteen forty four, a member of this house
called James Peake made an entry in his journal that he had learned Gulo and
Peregrine had returned and he was going over to check on them to find out why.”
“That’s interesting,” Derek
remarked. “Returned from where? If it was a job .. why would he ask why?”
“I cross checked the London house
archive for that year,” Alex replied.
“Back then, all contact between the Legacy and the Enforcers was routed
thru London .. but London had been badly damaged during the war. There isn’t much surviving material to
access but I did find one mention of ‘E in Nevada for safety’.”
“London ordered them to mass somewhere
in Nevada for their own safety?” Rachel wondered. “Enforcers?”
“It
seems a reasonable suggestion, albeit a little hasty. It would explain why James Peake felt obliged to ask why two of
them had returned. Did he find out
why?” Derek asked Alex.
“According
to his journal, it was to do war work but he didn’t give any more
information. We can speculate that it
was manual labor for the war or some other activity in the war we’re still
fighting. He did write that Gulo was short tempered and curt with him. However, when he returned a few weeks later,
Gulo apologized. Apparently, the two of
them – Gulo and Peregrine – spent Christmas here that year.”
“Well
done. Peri thought her grandfather knew
this man. This proves she was
right. Was that all?”
“In
the archives, yeah. There were a few
scattered references to ‘E’ being involved or brought in to consult but nothing
by codename,” she answered. “But I’ll
check London house again.”
Derek
nodded. “Thank you.”
“Hey
… ” Rachel said, sitting up. “Derek,
look at this.”
She
passed the book to him and he scan read a few lines. “Plans proceed quickly to locate the first of the sepulchers,” he
read aloud. “I have made contact
directly with one of them and he has agreed to accompany me as security; we
leave in a couple of days. I should
have gone thru London but this is a secret project and too important. Therefore, I had to go outside the rules.” He glanced up. “One of them, security, should have gone thru London .. I think
it safe to say we’re talking about an Enforcer, don’t you?”
“Does
it give a name?” Alex pressed.
“Let’s
see.” He read on, turning the pages
rapidly. “They fly to Australia. Then take a tramp steamer to Jakarta. Ah .. here.
Gulo,” he declared, stabbing an index finger onto the paper. “I’ll make a copy of the relevant pages for
Peri for when she returns. Alex, could
you call Nick, tell him we’ve found something?”
“Sure,” she smiled.
“And
I’ll carry on with the reading,” Rachel breathed, already engrossed. This was like a detective story.
*****
Merlin
didn’t visit her grandfather’s place often.
If there was a family gathering, they tended to meet at Joe and Shauna’s
house. She knew the route, however, and
got there quickly, aware that she was, in one way, wasting precious time, yet,
in another, making the best use of it.
As
she traveled, she thought not of Reuben Meyer or her grandfather or her great
grandfather, but of Nick. Specifically,
Nick and Michael. She felt a sense of
conflict here. Michael wanted Nick at
her side when she went against Reuben Meyer, and Michael was her
commander. Merlin didn’t want Nick
there. She wasn’t totally confident
that she could beat this rogue Flamefall and, if she couldn’t do it, there was
no way Nick could. Michael had gone
behind her back and spoken with Nick directly.
She wasn’t going to start bitching that it wasn’t fair because that kind
of thing happened all the time to a lot of people. It was irritating but there was damn all she could do to change
it. And it was clear that Nick didn’t
remember the conversation.
How
she dealt with it now was another matter.
As always, there was a choice.
She could leave Nick behind and guarantee his life. Or she could take him with her and show him
how a Flamefall died in the line of duty.
There was a third choice – take him with her and allow him to watch a
glorious triumph of good over evil but she felt that was on the remote side of
feasible.
Gabriel
had told her to call in the Legacy for help.
Well .. she’d done that. They
were looking thru the archives. End of
involvement. Nick was different because
he straddled the fence. Michael had,
allegedly, told him to stay with her because she’d be vulnerable. That was true. If Reuben Meyer tried to attack her sleeping body, he’d kill
her. Nick was there, standing
guard. He’d be killed too. But that was assuming two things – one,
Reuben had managed to track her down, penetrate the defenses of the house, and
gain access to where she slept – and why would he want to track her down at
all? – and, two, that Michael was stupid.
The boss wasn’t the kind of guy to set his people up as targets and
watch them get taken out. He didn’t
think up suicide strategies for his army to follow. Therefore, Merlin thought that Nick was probably safe and could
handle anything which did blow up in his face.
And, anyway, he had no more idea of who Reuben Meyer was than she
did. She had his name. Nick didn’t. That was the sole difference in the amount they both knew about
the guy. Merlin knew what he’d done, at
least in the last few minutes of his life, but that didn’t identify his
face. She knew that, once, he’d been
her grandfather’s best friend. Again,
it didn’t identify him in a crowd or tell her where she could find him now
which, really, were the two things she most needed to know.
Flamefalls
were strange people. They trusted each
other implicitly yet they were suspicious of each other’s motives when it came
to personal. For instance, in combat,
Merlin trusted her parents to watch her back, to be there to help out,
whatever. But she wondered what her
mother had said to Nick when she’d taken him back to the river, and Merlin was
willing to put money on her mother interfering. Combat was one thing, personal entirely different, especially
when it came to parents and children.
Her father had kept his relationship with Shauna a secret from Peregrine
for many months. Maybe Peregrine had
kept his personal life a secret from Ox, even as they fought demons in the
Gorge and stood back to back doing it.
It
was that trust which was a fundamental building block in the army. Yes, they were loners, they rarely met each
other outside training week, but, when called, the individuals came together as
one cohesive unit. She understood now
why Michael had blocked the memory of Reuben’s terrible act of murder and
betrayal, and why, once Peregrine had died, he had made both he and Ox promise
never to speak of it. On the surface,
it was a gesture of kindness to help heal a ravaged soul in distress. But longer term, if it had become known, it
would have damaged irrevocably the trust the Flamefalls had in each other. There would always be a doubt in the back of
their minds – do I trust him to watch my back or will he fade to black and kill
me? Reuben’s legacy would have been a
knife thrust in the Flamefall heart and a lasting poison in their blood. Evil would succeed in attacking them in a
fatal way. Therefore, Michael had acted
wisely both for Peregrine and for all the others to come after him.
The
question was .. how much should she tell Nick?
The answer lay in what she would do – take him with her or leave him
behind. If he came, he deserved to know
what he was up against. If he remained in
the city, he didn’t need to know any more than he already did.
“I
just bet my Mom told him he had to keep me company, no matter what,” she
muttered as she drew near to Peregrine’s large house. “Boy, she can really talk up a storm when she has the mind to.”
Merlin
climbed the steps to the front door and rang the bell. She waited for a while, tapping her foot,
thinking of the time ticking away back in the real world, thinking of Nick
keeping a lone vigil armed only with a gun, then the door opened. A woman stood there.
“I’m
Peri. I’m looking for my Dad. Is he here?” Merlin began.
“I’m
Miranda, your grandmother. Come on in.”
Merlin
hesitated. “I don’t wanna seem
unsociable but I really don’t have the time to sit an’ chat.”
“I
know. Come on in,” Miranda
insisted. “I’ll keep it short.”
Sighing
briefly, Merlin stepped over the threshold.
“Nice place. It’s kinda like the
house on Nob Hill.”
“Perry
and I lived there for a while before we went to Paradise Drive. When Joe married your mother, we let them
have that house and we went back to the city.
I suppose you own both of them now.”
“I
guess. I own a lotta property. Is my Dad here?”
“He
was,” Miranda answered. “He’s gone to
look for Perry.” She smiled. “You are
very like him. I can see why Joe calls
you by that nickname.”
Merlin
paused. “My grandfather’s disappeared
as well?”
Miranda
urged her into the lounge and forced her to sit. “About a week, ten days ago.
He went to see Ox. He hasn’t
come back yet. Your father arrived a
couple of days later and went on to look for the both of them. He hasn’t come back yet either.”
“Damn.” Merlin sighed and shook her head. “Does Ox live far away?”
“A
distance. Longer than you can
spare. You’re not dead, Peri.”
But
that could change real fast. “Okay,”
she nodded. “Maybe you can help me
instead.”
“I’ll
certainly try. We are family.”
Merlin
leaned forward. “What can you tell me
about – ?”
The
door opened and footsteps were heard.
Miranda looked up, smiling as only a mother can, and Merlin twisted
round. Joe trudged around the corner.
“Dad!”
“Hello,
sweet pea! What’re you doing here?” he
exclaimed.
“Looking
for you. Mom’s worried. An’ I have an imminent situation. Did you find Peregrine?”
Joe’s
face clouded. “He’s gone to
ground. So has Ox. Left long before I got there. Thelma’s not worried though, but she did say
Ox wasn’t his usual, cheerful self before Peregrine showed up. Then they left together. Some kinda .. hunting an’ fishing trip, she
says.”
“Peregrine’s
been a bit uneasy as well,” Miranda commented.
“That’s why he was going to see his Dad. He always did when he had something on his mind.”
They
both looked at Merlin. She felt like
screaming inside. What use is going to
talk with a dead man? Why couldn’t he
have come talk with me? I am
the one who’s on the frontline here.
“Well
.. if they’ve gone to ground, I don’t suppose I’ll be able to track them, not
in the time I have. I’ll just have to
figure it out myself. Now I’ve gotten
you both together, can you tell me, please,
what you know of Reuben Meyer?”
Joe
frowned and glanced at his mother.
Miranda was frowning too. Merlin
held her breath. Maybe her father
didn’t know much but Miranda had to know something. She was a contemporary of the guy.
“Nothing,”
Joe said.
“I’ve
never heard the name,” Miranda added.
“Is he someone we should know?”
Merlin
closed her eyes.
*****
Nick
was fighting sleep. He was about to
call Derek and ask him to come over when Merlin’s eyes opened. Her hands unclenched and she sat up.
“Welcome
back,” Nick greeted. “Find your Dad?”
“Yeah. He’s heading home.”
“Find
anything else?”
“No. No one knows anything. It’s like .. he never existed.” She swung her feet to the floor. “I’m hungry an’ thirsty. I wanna beer. Join me?”
“Sure,”
Nick accepted quickly, never one to say no to a beer.
He
followed Merlin downstairs, watching as she worked the stiffness from her
shoulders and he couldn’t help but notice that those shoulders had a decided
slump of resignation to them.
“Whatever
it is, we’ll beat it,” he said.
“Yeah,
sure.”
“Merli
.. who is Gulo?”
“I
don’t know.”
“You
know his codename. No one else seems
to.”
She
opened the icebox and removed two bottles. “That’s all I do know. His
codename.”
Nick
angled his head. “That’s all Gabriel
told you? A codename which no one
recognizes?”
Merli
shrugged as she twisted off the bottle top.
“We don’t have all the answers, Nicky.
If we did, what would be the point?”
She sighed. “This one is gonna
be an uphill struggle the whole way.”
“You’re
not alone. You got me.” Merlin looked round at him. “You got Derek, Alex an’ Rachel. Whatever this is, Merli, it’s bigger than
you. Maybe it’s bigger than the Enforcers. But is it bigger than the Enforcers an’ the
Legacy pulling together?”
“I
don’t know. Maybe it is. Look, Nick, I appreciate the offer of help
but I don’t think you guys can really do anything.”
“That’s
where you’re wrong. Gulo went on an
expedition with Winston Rayne .. an’ Winston wrote about it in his
journal.” Nick grinned. “You still wanna say the Legacy doesn’t have
a part to play?”
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