Page 87 of The Night Firm
I look up, checking the massive iron clock that hangs on a nearby tower. It’s 4:00 a.m. now. The brothers should arrive any second.
Lily returns with cups of golden liquid, and the drink tastes like warm honey with a touch of brandy. We explore the festival, watching as a group of gnomes participate in a challenge of strength, smashing a hammer into a golden disk for points. Five minutes pass. Still the brothers do not arrive.
“They’re late,” I say.
Lily shrugs. “Liam probably just saw a pair of shoes he couldn’t resist."
I nod, and we continue, walking past an Ifrit, burning brightly, sitting above a tank of water, as human-looking girls throw balls at a red target connected to a mechanism which would make him fall.
“Are they young werewolves?” I ask.
Lily shakes her head. “Young dryads.”
A light rain begins to fall, and another five minutes pass with no sign of the brothers. I start to get irritated. Then worried. “Do you know where they went?” I ask.
Lily shakes her head. “No. But Uncle Liam did mention they had something important to do. I suppose he was a bit more secretive than usual.”
Something important to do.
My gut twists into a knot, but I tell myself I have nothing to fear. I’m just being silly. The Night brothers are safe and well.
Another five minutes pass. The rain falls down harder, so much so that we buy cloaks off a vendor at the festival to keep ourselves dry. A chill enters the air and I find my teeth rattling.
Several more minutes pass and the knot in my gut is now a storm of worry. I wonder at where they could be, and I remember something I had forgotten. Something Derek had said at the trial.
It will be done by midwinter.
There is a pain in my chest, and my stomach burns like acid. I have felt like this once before. When my brother left me his final note.
“What’s wrong?” asks Lily.
But I have no words in reply, my mind a flurry of doubt. Have they gone through with it? I wonder. Had the smiles and laughter been easier for them than telling me the truth? Had the sleepover been a way of saying goodbye?
I notice a familiar face in the distance. Matilda, wearing her cloak tight around her against the heavy rain. Matilda, who said she was too old for such parties. Matilda, who is coming toward us all the same, her face dark and grim.
A sob begins to break from my lips.
And just as it does…
I hear them.
“What’s wrong, Eve?”
“How can we help?”
“What happened?”
“I swear, if someone hurt you…”
I turn around, seeing the four Night brothers crowding around me. And my heart breaks open with tears of happiness.
“Perhaps she’s just upset we’re late,” says Elijah.
“Sorry about that, Eve,” says Derek. “We had a bit of an emergency. You see…” He gestures to his brother.
And Liam moves aside his cloak, revealing a little baby girl, hair red as flame.
“She’s beautiful,” I say, the tears subsiding. “May I hold her?”