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“Fuck’s sake,” he muttered and heaved himself over the fence.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t speak ill of her, Charlie. She doesn’t seem to like it,” I teased and waited for his reply.
And waited. Eventually, he said, “Guys. I think you should get over here.”
What was it? Margaret? Would I find her here? Was she alone? Hurt? Dying? Or did Daithi’s vision relate to Savida? Was I about to find my friend and savior in a position that I could have saved him from?
Dread filled me, and I immediately jumped the fence with Daithi not far behind. “What is it?”
“Something weird has happened here.” Charlie was standing in the middle of the grass with a puzzled expression.
I looked around but couldn’t see anything wrong. “What? What do you mean? I see nothing unusual.”
“It’s not something I can see.” He shuddered and rolled his shoulders. “It’s something I feel.”
Daithi moved toward him, frowning. “He is right. This land is scarred by magic. What kind, I cannot tell.”
Clawdia was at the door of a wooden building and dropped the plastic. She meowed and looked at us, then looked at the building and looked back at us.
“You might have been right about her wanting to show us something,” Charlie muttered as we moved to follow her.
Darkness was coming faster as the sun dipped below the houses, and my scars glowed as we entered the dim building.
My eyes took a moment to adjust, and I held my breath, awaiting the revelation of … something … maybe a someone. Clawdia meowed again, impatient, and then I noticed what she was sitting in front of.
“My love!” Daithi exclaimed,
Knocking me out of the way, he flung himself toward the body of my friend lying haphazardly in the corner of this forgotten shack. His wings were bent at an odd angle, and I couldn’t see his chest moving. I feared the worst.
“Oh fuck,” Charlie breathed. “Is he—”
“His fire. His fire is gone.” Daithi was panting, his body shaking with emotion. “I swore I’d save him. Always look after him. I’ve failed him.” My heart broke with him.
I tried to comfort him. “You haven’t failed him. Daithi—”
I reached out a hand to him, but Daithi growled, “Get away from us. You should have been with him today. You might have been able to prevent this.”
I bowed my head. “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want your apologies. I want him back.”
Charlie shook his head and put his hands up as though he could stop our words. “What happened to him? How is his fire missing?”
Daithi quietly admitted, “I don’t know.” Clawdia meowed, and his gaze fixed on her. “But she does.”
Charlie looked at her and then looked back at Daithi. “She can’t tell us, though. She’s a cat.”
Daithi stood up then, brushing the dust from his clothing. “I could help her communicate with us. Give her the illusion of a mouth and a voice. She could tell us what happened.”
“Wait. There are so many things wrong with that.” Charlie paced and ran a hand through his hair. “She might not even think in human terms. Whatever she says might be incomprehensible. She might not be able to use the illusion to speak at all because a cat has never spoken before.”
“The faei are gifted with illusion, but not as you understand it. To you, it is a trick, not real, and baffling. But illusion is creation. Temporarily. It is real. She will not need to use the illusion, because it will recreate her and give her a voice as though she had never been without.”
“Isn’t that cruel?” Charlie stopped, his brows furrowed and lips tight. “To give her a voice and then take it away.”
“We don’t have time to discuss the moral implications of giving a creature a voice. Every second we waste discussing this is another second Savida’s fire is in the wrong hands. It could be hidden or used or destroyed. Time is of the essence,” Daithi wailed.
I stared at the little cat as her head turned, following the conversation. My heart raced, and a wrongfulness stirred in my gut. “This will not hurt her?”
