Page 44 of Back in the Hunt
“Of course, but you’ve already been lots of help.”
Everly narrowed his eyes at Bryn. “You don’t have to say that. I know that I’m not good at much and that I usually need first aid when I go outside. But I want to help and I want glory so I can stay with you and Arawn and Fletcher.”
Bryn shushed him softly. “You hopped into the Nothing and showed us what was possible and what to look for. We never would have guessed this monster was another changeling and it was a game changer, knowing it had help from a powerful witch and a necromancer,” he said, then snorted. “We wouldn’t have even known that changelings were disappearing or that Douchebag had that creepy Abhartach kid if it weren’t for you.”
“I helped!” Everly squeezed Bryn as tight as he could.
He was ecstatic and proud of himself until he heard a door shut and footsteps in the hall. He recalled that Nox and Nelson were in for a long night and despite what any of the others might say, it was Everly who had brought Hugh’s monster to Georgetown. And Tony wouldn’t have been attacked if Everly had told someone about the scary child he had seen.
“I should take the next shift.”
Eventually, Everly drifted off to sleep but the scary child followed and his dreams were dark and cold and filled with screams and the pained howls of burning hounds.
Fourteen
Two days later, it was agreed that Tony wasn’t getting better. He could muster just enough energy to call his mother and put on a brilliant performance for her, but that was it. Everly and Nox had worked together, pouring soup, oatmeal, and tea into him whenever he was conscious. Neither Arawn nor Bryn could find any cause or solution with traditional medicine and Merlin looked frazzled and was cranky when they met in the study to discuss Tony’s condition.
Everyone insisted it wasn’t Everly’s fault, but his guilt and his conscience continued to fester. He was the one who had brought Hugh’s evil changeling to Georgetown and there was a reason they called it the anti-Everly. And Everly didn’t tell anyone that he’d seen it twice before Tony was attacked.Hefelt like a monster, sitting next to Bryn on the sofa like a member of the team. He’d made everything worse and Tony was getting weaker by the hour.
“We have to be close, we’ve tried damn near everything.” Merlin glared at the board with all the changelings’ names. “I believe this is why Tony was attacked. We followed that miserable little urchin right to Hugh’s door so he’s created adistraction. Credit where it’s due: this is quite a puzzle,” he admitted.
The room was quiet until Arawn pushed out an exasperated breath. “This is a completely different kind of…ailment, isn’t it? It’s not like any sleeping spell or curse I’ve studied and none of the potions or countercurses we’ve tried work. But I’ve run every test I can think of and I can’t find a medical explanation either,” he said, casting an apologetic glance at Nox.
He waved it off, but his eyes were red from lack of sleep and crying, making Everly want to cry. Any friend of Nox’s would have to be a very good and kind person. Nelson said that Tony had been Nox’s student and then his TA and when Tony was made an assistant professor, Nox had requested that Tony stay in his department and work with him. It was one of the few times Nox had become personally involved with a student or coworker and the two had become close friends over the years.
“I was able to pull some strings so Tony’s schedule is covered for the next two weeks,” Nox said in a hoarse rasp, sniffing hard as he studied the board. “I keep buying him time, but what if I can’t stop this from taking him?”
“Hush that now!” Merlin ordered with a hard wag of his finger. “Perhaps we have been going about this the wrong way and we need a different type of magick to break this…soul curse the anti-Everly has placed on Tony.”
“What do you mean?” Nox asked, suddenly alert.
Merlin went to the board and tapped on the blurry picture of Ronan O’Sullivan. “Something Arawn just said… About how this isn’t like a sleeping curse or a spell. Tony can’t stop sleeping because he’s sick or drained, he’s sleeping because hecan’twake up. That sounds more like an enchantment, I’d say.”
There was an answering gasp from Nox as he snatched the picture off the board. “Sleeping Beauty! The merrow were said to enchant sailors and lull them into crashing their ships. Merrowwomen would enchant human men and mate with them because merrow men are supposed to be hideous. But if the anti-Everly attacked Ronan, it could attack a human the way a merrow would,” he said and cheered loudly as he kissed Merlin’s cheek. “That has to be it!”
“I told you, we just need a different type of magick.”
“Right…” Nox deflated, groaning at the picture. “How do we get a merrow man to help us?” he asked and there were winces and pained grunts from Arawn and Bryn as they shook their heads cluelessly.
Fletcher raised a hand. “What am I missing? I thought he was a friend of yours, Nox,” he said, causing Nox, Merlin, Arawn, and Bryn to burst into laughter.
“Not by a longshot!” Merlin said as he wiped his eyes. “Nox’s father, Lucus, had Ronan’s approval to harvest honey and pick peaches on Pooles Island. Lucus did the old seal some favor so he wasn’t run off the island, but I doubt Ronan said two words to him over the years.”
Nox nodded and chuckled fondly. “Surliest man I’ve ever met. Dad said it was because merrow men are just extremely unpleasant and Ronan had been shunned his whole life for being ugly. I still don’t know why you think Ronan will help Tony,” he said to Merlin, bringing a wicked grin to the little old man’s face.
“Because he’ll have to if he finds Tony washed up on his beach,” he replied and Nox let out a louder gasp and began to hop excitedly.
“That’s brilliant, Merlin! We’ll just run Tony out to Pooles Island and dump him on the beach. Ronan will take care of him!”
“Hold on!” Nelson waved, shaking his head. “We can’t dump a barely conscious man on the beach and hope someone else will help him.”
Nox held up his hands. “And yet, that’s exactly what we’re going to do. If Ronan knows why we’re there, he’ll sink our boat and let us drown in Chesapeake Bay for trespassing. But if Tony washes up or he’s abandoned at sea, Ronan has to help him. It’s an old merrow maritime code or something. Like the twins and chasing souls,” he said as he waved at Arawn and Bryn. “They can’t leave a soul to waste away in the Nothing. Not if they know about it. And Ronan can’t see a ship in distress and not act or ignore a man who’s washed up on his beach.”
That didn’t make sense to Everly. “I thought the merrow lured sailors toward rocks so they’d crash, so they could mate with them.”
“The merrowwomen,” Merlin clarified and made a sympathetic sound. “The men are so unsightly, the women despise and reject them, choosing to lure and seduce human men instead. It’s why the merrow men want nothing to do with human men. But they made a pact with a human king, after he threatened to wipe them out for causing his navy so much trouble. The merrow men do their best to protect human men from their women and aid them if they should become lost at sea or shipwrecked.”
“Oh…” Everly felt very sorry for the merrow men. “But you think Ronan O’Sullivan can heal Tony,” he said and Nox nodded, laughing as he reached for Merlin. It was the first time he had smiled or truly laughed since they had returned, making Everly already more optimistic.