minute to col ect myself. In fact, I’ve been through a lot of shocking stuff lately. But what else is new? Sorry, I’m babbling.”
“I can quite understand that. Shal I tel you what I’ve been doing?”
“Yes, please. Have a seat and talk to me.” It would give me a chance to recover.
The demon sat opposite me and smiled in a cordial way. “When last you saw me, you were giving a baby shower, I believe? And the hel hounds were pursuing me. Do you mind if I impose on you for a glass of ice water?”
“Not at al ,” I said, and rose to fetch it. I had to step over the body.
“Thank you, my dear.” The lawyer finished the glass in one long swal ow. I refil ed it. I was glad to return to my seat.
“You look kind of beat up,” I observed, for I’d watched him as he drank. Mr. Cataliades was usual y very wel turned out in expensive suits that could not hide his round figure but at least made him look prosperous. The suit he had on had certainly looked much better when he’d bought it.
Now it was marred with snags and holes and frayed spots, and spotted with stains. His once-polished brogans could not be salvaged. Even his socks were in tatters. The tonsure of dark hair was ful of debris, leaves and twigs. Could it be he hadn’t had a chance to change clothes since I’d last seen him sitting here in this kitchen, taking a time-out from his pursuit by four-legged streaks of darkness?
“Yes,” he said, looking down at his condition. “‘Kind of beat up’ is a gentle way to put it. Those streaks of darkness were hel hounds.” It was no shock to me that he could read my mind; my own telepathy had been a birth present from Mr. Cataliades. He’d always been very good at concealing his own gift, never betraying by so much as a glance that he could read human minds. But I’d figured he must have it, if he could give it away. “The hel hounds pursued me for a very long time, and I had no idea why. I could not fathom what I had done to offend their master.” He shook his head. “Now, of course, I know.”
I waited for him to tel me what he’d done, but he wasn’t ready for that.
“Final y, I became far enough ahead of the hounds to take time to arrange an ambush. By then, Diantha had been able to find me to join in the surprise I’d planned for them. We had … quite a struggle with the hounds.” He was silent for a moment. I looked at the stains on his clothing and took a deep breath.
“Please tel me Diantha isn’t dead,” I said. His niece Diantha was one of the most unusual creatures I’d ever met, and that was saying something, considering whom I could enter in my address book.
“We prevailed,” he said simply. “But it cost us, of course. I had to lie hidden in the woods for many days until I was able to travel again. Diantha recovered more quickly since her wounds were slighter, and she brought me food and began gathering information. We needed to understand before we could begin to dig ourselves out of trouble.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, wondering where this was going to lead. “You want to share that information with me? I’m pretty sure that this guy didn’t understand my gran’s letter.” I nodded my head at the body.
“He may not have understood the context, and he didn’t believe in fairies, but he did see the phrase ‘cluviel dor,’” Mr. Cataliades said.
“But how come he knew it was valuable? He definitely didn’t know what it can do, because he didn’t understand the reality of fairies.”
“I learned from my sponsor, Bertine, that Cal away Googled the term ‘cluviel dor.’ He found one reference in a fragment of text from an old Irish folk tale,” Mr. Cataliades said.
This Bertine must be Mr. Cataliades’s godmother, in effect, the same way Mr. Cataliades (my grandfather’s best friend) was mine. I wondered briefly what Bertine looked like, where she lived. But Mr. Cataliades was stil talking.
“Computers are another reason to deplore this age, when no one has to real y travel to learn important things from other cultures.” He shook his head, and a fragment of leaf floated to the floor and landed on the corpse. “And I’l tel you more about my sponsor when we have some leisure. You might like her.”
I suspected Mr. Cataliades also had flashes of foreseeing.
“Fortunately for us, Cal away came to Bertine’s attention when he persisted in his research. Of course, it was unfortunate for him.” Mr. Cataliades spared a downward glance at the inert Donald. “Cal away tracked down a supposed expert in fairy lore, someone who could tel him what little is known about this legendary fairy artifact; namely, the fact that none exist on this earth anymore. Unfortunately, this expert—who was Bertine, as you have no doubt surmised—did not understand the importance of keeping silent. Since dear Bertine didn’t believe that there were any cluviel dors left in either world, she felt free to talk about them. Therefore, she was ignorant of the wrong she committed when she told Cal away that a cluviel dor could be made in almost any form or shape. Cal away had never suspected the item he’d held was an actual fae artifact until he talked to Bertine.
He imagined scholars and folklorists would give a pretty penny to possess such a thing.”
“When he showed me the drawer, I didn’t get that he’d already opened it,” I said quietly. “How could that be?”
“Were you shielding?”
“I’m sure I was.” I did it without thinking, to protect myself. Of course, I couldn’t maintain such a level of blocking al day, every day. And of course, it protected your brain only like wearing earmuffs affected your hearing; a
“I need to give you lessons, child, as I should have done before. Isn’t it nice that we’re final y getting to know one another? I regret that it takes a huge crisis to impel me to make this offer.”
I nodded faintly. I was glad to learn something about my telepathy from my sponsor, but it was kind of daunting to think of Desmond Cataliades becoming part of my everyday life. Of course, he knew what I was thinking, so I said hurriedly, “Please tel me what happened next.”
“When Diantha thought of questioning Bertine, Bertine realized what she had done. Far from giving a human a
