Page 32 of Birthright

Shit! I fought the spray and got to my knees to cast something back but they were gone.

Shit.

CHAPTER 14

Imade sure Tynan was covered before I let my voyeuristic friend in. She came bearing cherry-filled pastries and coffee. The tray floated before her and landed easily on the table. I was fixing my coffee as she headed to the bed.

“When do you sleep?” Abbey asked, climbing up onto the bed. “Yeoowies,” she said before I turned to find her peering under the sheet. “I had fits all night thinking about men. No one was around for me,” she pouted.

“Quit that.”

“Why, he doesn’t mind?” She dropped the sheet and headed toward the table.

“I’ll never get used to the openness around here,” I said as she plopped into a chair.

“We’ve had this conversation. You’re the only one with the hang-up here,” Abbey snorted before taking a bite of pastry.

“I just feel like Tynan made such a huge sacrifice…”

“He did it of his own free will, sister. He’s lived this life for hundreds of years. He’ll start feeling guilty sooner or later if you don’t at least consider taking another consort.”

“I think he already does, at least from the way he’s always talking about it and all the trips he’s taking lately. But I can’t seem to get that part of my upbringing out of my head just yet. I think I’ve accepted a whole hell of a lot in the last few months. Let me hold on to this for just a bit longer.”

“Your loss,” she said, filling my cup. She pushed her cup to the side. “So, is he out enough to talk about the B double-O K?”

“Yeah.” I reached up to the amulet around my neck. “But I think I’ll be safe.” I took it gingerly over to the dresser and put it away. I rummaged through the stack of books I had had on my desk until I found the small black book we’d found a month ago. We’d glanced through it, but I’d hidden it. We didn’t want anyone to discover we had it as we’d made plans. The cover was still dusty, and the feel of the pages repulsed the nerves at my fingertips. Abbey had gotten all the way up on the table.

The worn parchment creaked as I tried to flatten the cover open enough to see the entire map across the fold in the middle. The map looked to have been drawn in ink. “This is a hand-drawn map.” I flipped to the next page. There was no table of contents, no author’s notes or reference information like most of the spell and potion books I’d seen.

No. On that page, printed in beautiful script, was a single sentence…

There be monsters here.

Abbey “oohed.”

“They used to write that on ocean maps. I saw a really old one in a university library once,” I said.

“The sailors must have come by here once or twice,” Abbey joked, and I had to laugh. She was probably right.

I turned to the next page, and then the next—the rest was written in German. “You read German?” She shook her head. “Know anyone we can trust who might?” She pointed over to Tynan. “Very funny. He’d tie me down to the bed if he knew what we were up to.”

“So all we have is the map,” she said, turning back to it. “Why would the map be in English and the rest be in German?”

“I think someone added it later.” I shrugged at my own guess and studied the map. Thule was an oblong-shaped island with a mountain range across the middle, and steep cliffs were indicated for most of the island, except for a beach and a dock at the far south end.

Abbey looked up at me and nodded. “We have to land at the beach or climb.”

On the fire side, just beyond the mountain, was the word Tutzlwarm. I sounded it out and looked up at Abbey.

“Mythical creatures that burrow in the ground. That’s all I know. I couldn’t find anything else about them in the library.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” The words written atop the drawing of the mountains were faded doodles, but I could still make them out. “Valley of the Unforgiven. Guess that’s where the Slaugh hang out.” Abbey shuddered. At the far northeast corner was a faint drawing of a castle. “Bran’s house?” She shuddered again. “Do these little boxes just below that look like other buildings to you?”

“I think so.”

“I wouldn’t imagine that Slaugh need shelter. That’s where I need to go. He has to be there.”

“Cauldrons, Keena, you’ll have to cross the whole island.” Her face looked worried.