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“Accidents?” Nelson asked and glanced at Clancy when Merlin shook his head.
“Freak accidents,” Clancy started. “First, Lucas got locked in Merlin’s car and it caught fire. I pulled them out before it was too late and I got him out of my pool right before it was struck with lightning. And I stopped a stage light from falling on him during a lecture.”
“Lucky for us, Clancy was there to save Lucas each time,” Merlin said distantly, staring out the windows at the courtyard. “Clancy tried to make Lucas see reason after the light almost killed him. They had a terrible fight!”
Clancy looked away, sniffing hard and blinking back tears. “Fire, lightning, a light… We didn’t need a soothsayer to read the omens. I told Lucas we could waste precious years living in fear of the next freak accident or we could work together and find a way to lure Him and strike first.”
“There’s no way,” Nelson said, imagining how Nox would have responded if he were in Lucas’s place.
“None whatsoever,” Clancy replied. “He said he wasn’t afraid of dying and all that mattered was that Nox would break the cycle. Lucas saw Nox rising like the sun in a dream and believed it was a new prophecy. I told him he was being naive and he accused me of absurd things.”
“It’s true,” Merlin chimed in. “I told Lucas he had gone too far. He accused Clancy of plotting to use him as a puppet to control the Dagda for his own benefit. Lucas told me to stay out of it and that I was no better, using Sorcha’s death to get closer to Nox.”
“What did you two do?” Nelson demanded, not wanting to believe what his gut was telling him. “Merlin?” He could see Clancy sacrificing his own heart and his best friend to save Nox. But he couldn’t imagine that Merlin could betray Nox and Sorcha. Nelson’s soul sank when tears spilled from Merlin’s eyes.
“We agreed to let the curse take Lucas.”
“You stood down.” Nelson saw Clancy’s pained grimace, the way he needed the edge of the sideboard for support as he nodded. “You sacrificed Lucas to save Nox.”
“We told him he had to either fight for Nox, or get out of the way so we could save him,” Clancy whispered and Merlin nodded weakly.
“Lucas threatened to banish us if we ever mentioned it again so we agreed we would work together to make Nox stronger and help him fulfill the prophecy,” he whispered. “We agreed that we had to sacrifice Lucas to save our boy. Clancy’s never been able to forgive himself so he accuses me of murdering two people I loved like my own children,” he added with a wounded sniffle.
There was a hard, bitter bark from Clancy. “He didn’t waste any time, did he?” he asked Nelson, aiming his empty glass at Merlin and sneering. “The very next day after that fight and that wretched pact was made, Lucas falls off a mountain he knew like his own child’s face. How does that sound to you, Nelson?”
Merlin balled his fists and his head turned red as he flew at Clancy. “You should have been there. You know I’m afraid of heights and sweating. But you stayed home and blamed it on a cold because you were stewing over that fight. Or, so you want us all to believe. What if it happened precisely because your back was turned and Lucas was out of my reach? What if that was exactly how Clancy planned it, Nelson?” he asked, but Nelson was still too stunned to answer.
The depth of their betrayal was shattering. “What am I supposed to tell Nox?” he demanded angrily. “He trusts you and he believes with all of his heart that you love him. But you did this to him. You let him think he had a chance of beating this but you’ve been setting him up since before he was born. You took everything from him when you let Lucas die. All he had was you because that was what you two decided when you made that pact and then you sucked me into it.”
“We know and we deserve Nox’s wrath,” Merlin said heavily. “But he’s going to need our help. His birthday is just a few weeks away.”
Nelson frowned, confused again and wishing he hadn’t left his coat and his notepad hanging in the foyer. “Why…does that…?” Why hadn’t Nox mentioned his birthday? Ever? Nelson knew Sorcha’s birthday because it was the security code. And Nox had mentioned big backyard parties at Clancy’s for Lucas’s birthday. But Nox never shared anything about his own birthday or mentioned it was just a few weeks away. “Why is his birthday important?”
Clancy laughed, but it was pained as he went to the other chair and fell back into it. “Nox’s birthday is March 20th.”
“And that’s bad?”
“Not always… In most cases,” Merlin said hesitantly. “But March 20th happens to be the spring equinox: the halfway point between Imbolc and Beltane, what many pagans call Ostara. But to the early Celtic druids it was Alban Eilir2, which translates to ‘light of the earth’ and was believed to be the point of balance between dark and light, day and night.”
“Fuck.” Nelson was dizzy as he calculated how many weeks they had left and the immensity of what Nox was facing. “Of course, his birthday falls on the spring equinox. When else would it be?” Nelson asked facetiously as he looked towards Nox’s bed chamber.
“More importantly than that,” Merlin said, stopping Nelson. “The druids used the trefoil, the shamrock as the symbolic plant for the equinox for a reason. Do you know what else looks like a shamrock?”
Nelson pictured the Dagda’s triskelion and felt sick. “And his three…” He received answering grunts and hums from Clancy and Merlin.
“Nox can hate us all he wants,” Clancy said, sounding resigned. “But he can’t stop the equinox.”
Merlin nodded glumly. “He can’t do this without our help. You’ll remind him of that when he won’t talk to us?”
“I won’t have a choice,” Nelson said, with a bemused chuckle. “The Dagda is coming for Nox and I can’t protect him by myself.” As if Nox had sensed that it was time, Nelson felt him stirring and thinking horny, godlike thoughts. “I’m going to let him know you’re here and you’re ready to set your differences aside and help him. After you tell Nox the truth,” he stipulated, then winced at the study around them. “Try not to break anything or kill each other while I’m gone.”
1 Samhain (Sau-win) a Celtic festival celebrated on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or "darker half" of the year. It is also the Gaelic name for November. Celebrations begin on the evening of 31 October, since the Celtic day began and ended at sunset. It is about halfway between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice.
2 Alban Eiler - (AHL-bahn eye-ear) Druid name for the festival of the spring equinox, which means “The Light of the Earth.”
Twenty-Three
“Time to wake up.” Nelson kissed the words against Nox’s lips, making them curve into a drowsy grin.
