Page 51 of Changeling
“Yeah, I’m still here. What’s up? I should get going.”
“Well, I just wanted to say that, ummm…I know you’re not being entirely honest with me. And that’s okay! I can tell you’re not bad people and that whatever you’re doing it’s so you can protect and help Jim and Sasha somehow. So…I’ll look after them while you finish whatever you need to do. You really can trust me to help.”
Nathan exchanged a concerned look with Shiarra before replying. “It’s not that we don’t trust you. It’s just that—”
“Jim and Sasha aren’t usually like this, are they?”
Nathan froze. He glanced at Shiarra again, but she merely shrugged.
“It’s not the boys’ fault,” Ula said gently, “but they…sort of gave things away when I asked what their favorite TV shows are. I likedChip and Dale’s Rescue RangersandDuck Tales, too. When I was a kid in the 80s. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy them now, mind you, but I could tell Jim and Sasha weren’t talking about DVD packs.” Ula paused, as if she was thinking of just the right thing to say to reassure Nathan, which alone made Nathanfeel better. “You’re talking to someone who grew up on stories about fairies living in her garden. I can believe in the weird and abnormal pretty easily. That house did worse to those other people, didn’t it? The one that collapsed? I know it’s all related but you don’t have to tell me anything. I’ll watch them,” she finished firmly.
On the rarest of occasions Nathan had come across people like this, people ready to believe in the supernatural world that exists around them and desperate to help. It always made Nathan so angry because they didn’t really understand what they were getting themselves into. “I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get them back to normal,” he explained evenly.
“Better to have someone looking after them then,” she answered.
Part of Nathan wanted to say something more, maybe even protest, but he had to get back to Faust, so he simply ended the conversation with, “Thanks, Ula. We really owe you for this.”
“Not even a little. Get back safe!”
After Nathan hung up, Walter asked if he wanted him to go back and check on the boys, but Nathan gave a small shake of his head. Right now he was more worried about Faust.
Time passed slowly after that, with Walter offering the occasional report that Faust was still inside the house. It was dark out when the scenery finally changed.
“Nathan,” Walter said, “he’s coming.”
Nathan’s heart thrummed in his chest as he caught sight of vehicle lights coming down the road from Faust's house. They had moved their car into the bushes and kept the lights off so they wouldn't be seen, but there was always a chance. Nathan got as good a look as he could manage as the vehicle went by, catching sight of a blond head.
Faust’s little country home was now completely dark.
"Come on. Let's get a look inside.”
Approaching the house was easy. Nathan used his ankle blade to slide underneath the old wood of a front window and unhook the latch, and they climbed carefully inside. Nathan reached for Shiarra’s wrist in the dark once they had their footing. He had only brought one flashlight since Shiarra had insisted she would be able to see just fine.
They waited a moment for some sign that they might not be alone, but Shiarra shook her head at Nathan—she couldn’t hear anything, and Walter admitted that the coast seemed clear. Taking out the flashlight and flicking it on, Nathan passed it slowly over the room they had climbed into. It was the living room, which was exactly where Nathan had been aiming for. It was always better to start off on familiar territory.
“What’s this?” Shiarra said, as the light from Nathan's flashlight struck a nearby end table covered in photographs. She plucked a particular picture up, studying it. “I didn’t notice this before.”
Nathan peered over her shoulder and looked closer. The photograph was worn and at least several decades old but, if Nathan didn’t know better, he would swear the picture was of Faust.
He snatched the photograph out of Shiarra’s hand. “This must be Hollander, the uncle.” Catching Shiarra’s eye, Nathan immediately passed on all of the panicked emotions he felt welling up inside of him. "This seems a little too perfect to just be family resemblance. You don't think..."
"Same man?"
"That's it!" Nathan shouted a little too loudly in the darkness. “Of course he’s human instead of fae. He’s using sidhe magic to steal years from people and keep himself young.” Nathan placed the photograph back on the end able and scanned the room with his flashlight again, walking further into the center. "Let's seewhat else we can find. No one gets this kind of power on their own."
“Nathan,” Shiarra whispered harshly.
Nathan cast her a quick glance. “What?”
That was when Nathan noticed the large rug he had just walked over, which hadn’t been there when they were inside the house earlier. Shiarra was standing near the edge of it, her body jerking strangely as if she was trying to step off the rug but couldn’t get past some kind of invisible barrier.
“I can’t move,” Shiarra all but hissed, stating the now very obvious.
Returning to her, Nathan knelt at the edge of the rug and motioned for Shiarra to move back a bit. She did, unable to go too far before she met another barrier, while Nathan folded the rug over as much as he could to see if his hunch was right. Underneath the part of the rug he had moved was a still partially hidden runic trap.
Shit.
“Nathan!” Walter called in warning.
