Page 39 of Sidhe
“I think I’m sensing the heart of your problem, then,” Sasha said finally, daring sarcasm. He’d let his fangs fade, but his fingernails looked pointedly sharp.
Puck grinned again. “I don’tmeanto go to him, I just…do. If he’s within a certain range, I can’t help it. Something about him just…draws me in. I think it’s that he feels like a really good catch, you see, someone who just smells like the kind of personI love to mess with, but when I get to him, it’s not someone to mess with at all but the same damn seal again.”
“Seal?” Jim said, eyes wide as he sat stiffly, ready to leap from his stool at a moment’s notice should the need arise. “He’s a changelinganda seal?”
“He’s not aware of the normal stigmas that go with being a changeling, it seems,” Puck said, swinging his legs from his stool again. “Quite a loner. But yes, he’s both. And he’s like a supernatural magnet, whether you want to be drawn in or not. You better be careful.” He pointed seriously for a moment at Sasha, Iain, and Jim, with a wary eye at Walter. “Make sure he doesn’t find out what you are or he might pull you in too. Whatever power this kid has, it’s been lethal to more light and dark fae alike than I could count. I’ve only made it this long because I’m…well, me. I am still master of my domain, but I won’t lie. This guy’s got me worried.”
Silence fell on the group again as they digested the new information. It was Alex who finally spoke up.
“I hate to admit this, but now that I know he’s also a seal, I think I know who Puck means. Sounds like the right seal by that description. And…damn, I could hardly forget the stories I’ve heard from other seals, how fae just seem to flock to him.”
“Who is he?” Sasha asked.
“Real name’s Sonji…something or other. Japanese looks, but American born. Goes by Solrin.”
“So what’s this guy’s deal?” Nathan asked. He didn’t like that Alex looked so spooked.
Puck spoke up again, just before he vanished as quickly as he had appeared. “Compared to this kid…Gabrielwas the boy next door.”
Chapter 14
Afewsealscameand went over the next few days as Alex reopened the Gatehouse. None of them so far had proven to be their quarry, Solrin. Alex had made it clear that this guy did not play well with others. He was apparently more of a loner than Sasha had been in that respect, and for good reason. Most seals found him downright unsettling.
His abilities remained a mystery but seemed to center around drawing fae to him. The most they could do for now was wait as Puck had instructed, since Solrin was apparently headed their way.
Puck. Nathan could still hardly believe he had met the famous trickster.
When most of the gang and currently residing seals headed up to bed, and Alex locked the place up for the night, Nathan told Sasha not to worry about waiting for him; he needed to think a while before he hit the hay.
Nathan chose the library for his musing, which was in incredible shape after Iain’s careful work with it, and Walter’s added assistance. Iain was already anxious to seek out new tomes to add to Alex’s collection.
It was late and Nathan had quickly lost track of time, lying back on the large sofa. Absently, he picked at a string on his jeans, knees bent up a little as he tried to find some train of thought that didn’t give him chills. He could leave well enough alone for now, wait and see what happened with Solrin before he made any decisions, but a decision would still have to be made—one that might lead him straight to Malak.
Nathan half wanted to call out to his Spirit Guide, but Walter was more or less human now and he would need to knock on the man’s door if he wanted to talk. Well, Walter had mentioned that if Nathan called for him, in true dire need, he would have the power to manifest before him as he once did, but only under special circumstances that Walter hadn’t elaborated on. But this wasn’t an emergency. Nathan needed to decide these things on his own.
“Prrrp?” came a sudden questioning chirp from somewhere below Nathan.
Smiling, Nathan peered over the side of the couch. “Hey, girl, can’t sleep either?” He smiled at Wally, teddy bear-sized ball of fluff that she was. He was pleased to see her back in chimera form, even though it was generally safer if she stayed a cat when seals were boarding. He wondered for a moment if anyone had bothered to explain to Iain that the Gatehouse cat was actually a failed witch’s familiar. There were so many ways Nathan could have fun with that.
“Prrrp,” Wally chirped again, climbing up onto the couch using Nathan’s nearby arm as support. She weighed next to nothing, less than she should, Nathan often thought, since her appearance said she would have to be at least as heavy as a largetom cat. Maybe she was all fur, he mused, stroking her head and fuzzy ears as she settled on his stomach. Actually, she more like sat, so much like a person that Nathan had to snicker at how cute it was.
“Are we gonna have some kinda heart to heart? Coz I’m finally starting to feel a little sleepy here.” He was very sleepy all of a sudden, probably because Wally was just so warm and rumbled as she purred on his chest.
Wally cocked her head at him. He scratched her under the chin, and she purred more loudly, pushing into his hand.
“So what did ya wanna talk about, Wally?” Nathan asked almost seriously. “Still trying to figure out why I don’t smell all wrong anymore? Had you real freaked for a while, didn’t I?” Nathan’s voice was soft as he said that, trailing. He knew she could understand everything he said, always could, but he was sort of glad she couldn’t answer back.
Instead, the chimera stood back up on her little feet and walked up closer to Nathan’s face. She peered at him, leaning forward like a curious child so that her large blue-grey eyes took up his entire vision. He knew what she was looking for—the black eyes, some sign that what had frightened her was still hiding within Nathan somewhere. She seemed to frown for a moment, her face so suddenly human, maybe because of her eyes and the way her expressions were so much more complex than a cat’s.
“All me, girl,” Nathan said, picking Wally up by her furry sides and situating her in the crook of his arm where she curled up gratefully without fuss. “Good thing you can tell when one of us is off, though. Coz I’m gonna count on you…I’m counting on you, Wally…to sound the alarm if it ever happens again. Gotta warn the others for me if it happens and they don’t know. AndIdon’t know. Okay?”
Nathan looked down at Wally snuggled against him. That was definitely a frown he saw, and sadness in her large eyes. She reached up towards his face and pressed one of her tiny human hands to his cheek.
There was no reason why Nathan should feel halfway to crying. No damn reason at all. “I’ll take that as a promise,” he whispered to her. At least it was one thing he could count on, even if a warning hiss from a chimera might not be enough to save the people he cared about.
“Nathan?”
A sudden voice from the doorway made Nathan jump. Wally jumped too, which, because she had been trained well, meant she morphed at the same time, immediately returning to her guise as a cat. She scurried out of Nathan’s arms and peered at the door. A second later she popped right back to chimera mode and climbed up the back of the couch, waiting to be held.
