“Thank you. I'd appreciate that.”
Images started surging into my mind.
Chapter Nine
On the second day of our mission to staunch the flow—yes, there were so many damn faerie spots on Earth that it took more than a day to get to them all—we were attacked.
The magic hadn't jumped from all of the new paths—I mean raths—so there were quite a few that withered after the rath was closed—no dragon fire needed—but every location so far had been more rural than urban. We'd come close to a few towns but had yet to find a rath inside a city. It felt to me as if the magic preferred the open spaces or perhaps it was easier for it to transform one type of plant into another instead of changing cement into something living. Whatever the case, we were in the wilds again, surrounded by trees, some of which were breathing, when a screeching child came running out of the forest at me.
“For my brothers!” the little boy shouted.
He appeared to be six or seven years old, blond, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned. A bandanna ringed his forehead like Rambo, mud streaked his cheeks, and a golden wand glowed in his hand. He pointed the wand at me—never a good thing in my experience—and light blasted out of it. The light hit me in the chest and I went flying. I smacked into a breathing tree, causing both of us to gasp, and then crumpled onto the gnarled roots. They separated to cradle me as if they knew the bashing hadn't been my fault.
As the men gawked and I climbed to my feet, buoyed in part by roots, the kid ran, ducked behind a tree, and disappeared.
“A Thaisce!” Arach hurried to my side and ran his hands over me. Once he was assured that I was unharmed, he headed after the child. “I don't know who that small god was, but I'm going to roast him and have a little snack before dinner.”
“Funny that you should say that,” I muttered as I walked after him.
There was no point in rushing; I knew the kid would be long gone. He wasn't the type to stay and fight, more of an ambush and flee kinda guy.
Arach sniffed the air. “He traced. But we can track him.”
“Forget the Lord of the Flies; he's not worth the effort.” I grabbed Arach's hand and drew him back to the clearing where the other men were waiting with shocked expressions on their faces. “We don't have time to chase him.”
“But, Vervain, he attacked you.” Arach gaped at me. “You want me to just let that go?”
“I killed all of his brothers.” I frowned in thought. “I think I ate them too. It was awhile ago; I don't recall everything that happened. But if I did eat them, they deserved it—just desserts.” I snorted at the play on words. “He must have heard about how I'd been turned human and thought he'd get some vengeance. We've been expecting my enemies to start showing up since Hermes never did a follow-up report about me getting my magic back. I'm actually a little surprised more gods haven't made the effort.”
“Was that a reference to the book or is that god really called the Lord of the Flies?” Lugh squinted at me as if he were still processing what I'd said.
“A reference to the book. Come to think of it, I never got his name.” I squished up my face. “I probably should have looked up his name, what with killing his family and all.”
“When was this?” Arach asked me.
“Remember when Zeus got barbecued?”
Arach blinked. “Yes.”
“That little boy was one of the pitmasters, as it were. He had a belly full of Zeus when we first met.”
“That child is a cannibal?” Rory asked with horror.
“A cannibal god or rather, a god who turned cannibal,” I corrected. “They were eating other gods to acquire their power. And he's not really a child.”
“And here I thought the Tuatha were vicious,” Lugh muttered.
“Stick with me, kid, I'll show you all kinds of horrifying things.” I winked at him.
“Gee, that sounds great!” Lugh exclaimed sarcastically.
“Let's get back to work.” I took another look around the forest, just to make sure the kid hadn't come back for another go. “Hopefully, we won't have any more interruptions from little orphan Canni-bal.”
Chapter Ten
Night found us at the Killington Mountain Lodge in Killington, Vermont. No, I'm not making that up, that's the name of the town, and I didn't ask why. Frankly, I had enough horrors in my head—along with all of those damn pictures of raths that Alaric had put there—to deal with anything else. Two days in and we still had several spots to go. At this rate, I'd be caught up to the time I'd left the God Realm and could pop over and give everyone an update without using my ring. Which leads me to the reason why we weren't going back to Faerie every night. First, it wasn't worth the trips we'd have to make back and forth to the Great Tree, and second, I wanted time to catch up so I could bring my other husbands in on the mission.
So, we were sleeping in Vermont.
It was lovely, actually. The weather was warmer than England but still a bit crisp at night—the kind of crisp that's enjoyable. Fall was already starting to show its auburn face there, tinting several trees gold and rust, and there was that smell in the air. The almost-Fall smell that's hard to describe. It's probably the combination of dying plants and cooling soil, something unpleasant like that, but I liked it. Of course, that could be because my dragon sensed that things were getting dry enough to burn.
We'd checked in and said goodnight to our team, then headed upstairs to a relatively nice hotel room with an odd color scheme of gray and orange. We'd gone shopping on the first day when it became evident that the work wouldn't end by nightfall and we'd all need a change of clothes among other things. I wasn't the only one with a satchel to lug around now. I set the satchel down, stretched, and smiled when I heard the sound of rain. I went to the window to verify that the patter against the glass was indeed a light rainfall.
“I miss our sons,” Arach said as he stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I snuggled back against him and continued to gaze out at the rain. Despite being a Fire Faerie, I loved the rain. It reminds me of home—my first home in Hawaii. The house I'd paid for and lovingly decorated myself. I didn't get to see a lot of rain anymore, what with one home having the weather of Africa and the other located in the Kingdom of Fire. Only the Weeping Woods had the humidity I craved. I still had my house in Hawaii but I didn't have a lot of time to visit. Mostly, my lions used it when they wanted to visit the islands.
“I miss them too,” I said softly. “But I always miss someone.”