If she hadn’t been afraid, then why the third degree? Her own words came back to me from an offhand comment not all that long ago. “A good cop is always watching, questioning, alert to learn more than meets the eye.”
“You’re just trying to find stuff out,” I accused.
She studied me for a second, face blank. “Come on. Ashling will be wondering where we’re at.”
The look on my aunt’s face told me that was exactly the thought on her mind as she watched us approached the little group under the boughs of the rowan.
I gave her a little shake of my head and then pushed a smile on my face when Monica turned to us, all excited.
“This space is marvelous! So much clean, positive energy!”
“Nice, right?” I remarked.
My aunt was now looking at Darci, and when I shot a glance at the deputy, I saw her meeting Ashling’s hard gaze with one of her own.
Gatik was right up under the tree, looking at some kind of device that he was holding near the trunk.
“Ms. O’Carroll?” Monica asked.
“‘Tis jest Ashling, dear.”
“Ashling, would it be alright if Gat and I stopped back on when we’re done with our investigation? We promise not to bring anything with us; we’re very careful to shed anything that might try and hitch a ride. It’s just that the energy here is so purifying that I feel like it would replenish us.”
“Of course, Monica. And I doubt our plucky tree here would let anything negative hitch a ride, as you say,” my aunt said.
“Are there any buried electric lines out here?” Gatik asked.
“No sir. Jest rock and dirt.”
“I’m getting a really amazing EM reading off this tree,” he said, moving the box all around.
“Well, a storm is coming,” I said.
Everyone turned to me, eyebrows up.
I thought fast. “My teacher says this area has some iron deposits, and with an approaching thunderstorm, it could be getting charged up or something,” I said.
“Hmm. I’m not sure about that, but you’re right about the thunderstorm,” Gatik said. “Monica, we should get on the road. I’d like to be on scene when the weather gets to St. Albans.”
“Oh right!” she answered. “Thank you so much for sharing this spot and your special tree with us. We’ll stop for lunch tomorrow on our way back, if that’s okay?”
“It’s a business, dear,” my aunt said. “We want repeat customers.”
“Of course. Sorry; it’s just my guides are even more twittery out here,” she said with a little embarrassed laugh.
“Not to worry, dear,” Ash said, turning toward the buildings.
Within just a few minutes, we had them on their way, waving as they drove out of the parking lot.
Then my aunt turned to Darci. “What’s all this about then?”
Levi was hanging near me, staying quiet, but I’m pretty sure he’d felt the tension.
“I’m feeling a little in the dark,” Darci said. “And I need some light to find my way.”
“Oh, is that it? I told you when we started that there were things about us that ye shouldn’t know,” Aunt Ash said.
She had her tough face on, but I sensed something else. Something like expectation, or resignation. That was it. The same thing that happened to me whenever someone got too close and saw too much. She was steeling herself for pain, for heartbreak.
Instantly, I felt a wave of sympathy for my poor aunt. Saddled with a kid, hunted for years, having to forever hide herself from everyone. I knew how it felt, but it was all I knew. She’d had a whole village, a circle, even a bit of celebrity status. Now she had nothing and no one. Just me. The bastard product of rape, an aberration who leaked magic like a frigging sieve. And now Darci was going to break her heart.
My sympathy turned to anger and another part of me screamed out a warning. Control. Lock it away; don’t let it out. Darci might soon be the agent of my aunt’s pain but she didn’t deserve what my anger could do.
“You good, lad?” my aunt asked me. She’d felt the tremors, the leaks of power.
“Ah, not to interrupt, but what in Hells is that!” Levi said, pointing down the hill toward the forest.
Robbie was marching toward us and now that I had snapped out of my emotion storm, I could feel his footsteps pounding against the ground.
“Um, that’s on me,” I said, knowing I had just toppled the worst set of dominoes possible. I ran, dodging Ash’s grab, and slipped by Darci, who belatedly tried to stop me.
Levi caught me, however, still thirty yards from my avatar. I ignored his hands, not even attempting an escape. “Robbie, stop!”
The giant mud form landed one more step and froze.
“What have ye done, boy?”
“Um, well, I was having trouble hauling wood and we don’t have a tractor, so I made Robbie. He’s just a giant dirt dude,” I said.
“He’s not even close to that, boy,” Ashling said as she and Darci caught up with us.
“He looks like a golem,” Levi said.
There was the smallest tremor in his voice, but he also sounded excited. I dropped my body weight toward the ground, simultaneously levering forward, ending up in a forward roll. Jumping up, I stepped forward toward my magic robot and then spun around.
“He’s like Draco is all,” I said.
My aunt moved immediately to me, staring at the seven-foot giant. I had only molded the barest of faces on him, just a pair of eye spots filled with pieces of quartz and a rock for a nose.
As my aunt got close, Darci followed. Immediately, Robbie straightened and turned toward them, almost seeming to come to attention. Ashling looked at me, then back at the giant. She reached a finger out and touched his torso, immediately sucking in a breath.
“Oh lad, he’s more like Draco than ye know,” she said, concerned.
“Well, maybe a little, but he’s just my helper,” I said.
She looked back at Robbie, then looked at Darci and Levi, once more at Robbie,
