'Got it,' she said, showing it to the animal. 'Are you going to let me by?' she asked the cat.
It studied her, extending its neck to sniff at her pants leg, as if considering her question. It looked up into her eyes again, meowed once, and left its perch, joining three other cats of various sizes and colors that had mysteriously appeared at the bottom of the steps.
Julia found it odd and rather disconcerting the way they were watching her as she slid the key into the lock. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure the cats weren’t ready to follow her, then quickly slipped into the house.
The inside was eerily quiet.
'Hello?' she called out, knowing no one was home, but wanting to be sure. The only sound was the ticking of a grandfather clock in a hallway off the foyer.
Danny had asked her to bring a few of his favorite CDs, DVDs, and books the next time she was in the neighborhood. She had gone to see her therapist earlier that morning in Cambridge and decided she would stop in, so that his things would be waiting for him when he returned from wherever it was he had gone.
She thought about her son quite a bit these days. What had Mr. Doyle called him? she thought, climbing the stairs to her son’s room. A changeling? A demon baby switched with a human child. It was the most insane thing she had ever heard, but the facts were all there. She remembered her child the way he had been before the onset of puberty, before the disturbing physical changes, and wanted to cry.
Julia thought that she had gotten beyond all this, surprised that she even had any tears left, but there they were. She wished she could talk with her therapist about this, but of course, that was out of the question.
She stopped on the stairs and took a deep breath, composing herself. No matter what he was, she still loved her Danny. He was still the child she had raised and loved with all her heart for sixteen years.
It’s like if he was gay… but different. Really different.
Julia set the bag of his things down as she entered his room on the second floor and breathed in the scent of him. Since beginning to change, her son had started to give off a strange aroma, a heavy musty scent not too far removed from the smoky smell of a wood-burning stove. His sweatshirt was on the floor at the foot of the bed and she bent down to pick it up, instinctively folding it and crossing the room to place it on the edge of the bed. She wondered where he was and if he was safe. She felt a certain peace knowing that Dr. Graves had promised to look after him, and smiled at the thought the man. He was good for her son, despite the fact that he was… what he was. Dr. Graves knew how to put her fears at ease, and because of that she had developed quite a fondness for him.
Julia picked up the shopping bag and placed it on Danny’s bed, wanting him to see that she had brought his things, to know that she was thinking of him. Always thinking of him. Then she left the room, closing the door gently behind her, and headed down the stairs to the foyer. She had just placed her hand on the crystal doorknob, when she heard the sound.
A strange thumping noise came from the hall closet. Julia held her breath, her chest aching with fear. She knew she should leave, maybe call the police, but found herself strangely drawn to the sound.
What the hell are you doing? An inner voice screamed as she slowly reached for the knob. Again she heard the noise, and immediately pulled her hand back, only to slowly reach out again.
She would never have dreamed of doing such a thing before Arthur Conan Doyle and his strange companions had come into her life. It had to be their influence on her, that’s the only way she could explain it. The metal knob was cold to the touch and she counted to five before tearing open the door with an ear-splitting scream.
Squire cowered in the corner of the closet, covering his face as if attacked by a flock of angry birds. 'Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! You just about made me soil my boxers.'
Julia’s heart threatened to burst through her ribcage. 'What the hell are you doing in the closet?' she asked, not liking the sound of her voice, pitched high from fear and the adrenaline coursing through her body. 'I thought you were all away on some mission.'
Squire turned away from her and immediately began to rummage through the floor of the closet. 'We are,' he said, dropping to his knees. 'But I need a couple of things from here before we continue with our business in Greece.'
She was going to ask how he had gotten there, but remembered something about the goblin using shadows to travel in, and decided that she didn’t need to know anything more.
'If I was a titanium mesh net where would I be?' he asked himself, disappearing beneath a curtain of Doyle’s long winter coats.
'You’re in Greece?' she asked, immediately curious. 'What does Danny think of that? He’s always wanted to travel and — '
'He ain’t with us,' Squire said, potato-shaped head popping out from beneath the dark overcoats. 'He’s with Mr. Doyle, Ceridwen, and Eve.'
A knot immediately began to twist in her stomach. 'You mean Leonard… Dr. Graves isn’t with him?'
Squire shook his head. 'Nope, Casper’s with me.' He disappeared again underneath the coats. 'Titanium mesh net, titanium mesh net, titanium mesh net.'
Danny’s in perfectly good hands, she thought to herself. Sure, Leonard is elsewhere, but he still has Mr. Doyle, Eve, and Ceridwen to look after him. There’s no reason to worry.
Is there?
'Got it!' Squire yelled. He crawled out from the bottom of the closet hauling a thick net of what appeared to be woven metal. 'I knew I’d left it around here somewhere,' he said, a victorious smile gracing his grotesque features.
'So do you know if he’s okay?' she asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice.
Squire shrugged. 'Couldn’t tell ya, babe. The kid could be pushin’ up daisies for all I know.' The goblin laughed uproariously. 'Just kiddin’, I’m sure he’s fine. I wouldn’t worry.'
Too late for that, she thought, immediately picturing herself on a plane to Greece, traveling to identify the body of her son killed doing God knew what.
'Hey, listen,' Squire said, bending down to again go to the back of the closet. 'I gotta get back to work. It was nice chattin’ with you. If I see the kid I’ll let him know you were asking for him.'
With those words, he was gone, disappearing inside a patch of shadow, like a rabbit going down into its hole. Julia could do nothing but stare into the closet, mouth agape. Closing the closet door, she stood in the foyer, her mind a jumble. The thought of going home to her empty house, to sit and wait by the phone until Danny got back and finally got around to calling her was not appealing in the least.
She was going to wait for him to return.
Julia Ferrick left the foyer and walked into Mr. Doyle’s study, going straight for the liquor cabinet. She was going to need all the help she could to keep her wits about her.
She found the scotch and poured herself a double.
CHAPTER NINE
A terrible malaise had fallen upon Ceridwen. Her body shivered with weakness and her vision was clouded as though cataracts veiled her eyes. Yet she refused to allow Arthur to see how this transition to the Underworld was affecting her. Faerie was her home, and her relationship with the elements there, with nature, was nearly symbiotic. If her life did not precisely depend on that rapport, her health could certainly be affected by it. Traveling from Faerie to Arthur’s world — the Blight — was not difficult. For millennia, the two realms had been connected, and their natures were not dissimilar, their elemental forces kin to one another, sisters, in a way.
This horrid place was merely a distant cousin, and a withered, sickly, and malevolent cousin at that. Cut off from the elements of the Blight, she was weakened, and though she could feel the elements of this place all around her, they did not welcome her. Nor did she relish their touch. In truth, the moment she had entered the Underworld the flame had snuffed out at the center of the ice sphere atop her staff, and then the ice had begun to melt.
It was good to her now only as a walking stick. Though Arthur had seen that she was unsteady, Ceridwen did her best to put her weight on the staff rather than entirely upon him. He would have danger enough to combat without worrying overmuch about her.
