Dragos Takes A Holiday [6.50] Elder Races (8 page)

He smiled and changed, stepped a few paces away from them and leaped. Dragos had taught her some time ago how to see beyond the cloaking spell. She watched him soar, the dragon’s huge wingspan conquering the air. No matter how long she lived, she would never get tired of that sight.

Back at the house, she found Eva and Hugh drinking coffee and reading newspapers that Hugh had picked up earlier from the local grocery store. They both looked up as she entered the kitchen. Eva asked, “Did you have a nice flight?”

“Well, we had an eventful one.” Pia told them wryly what had happened. Eva groaned but Hugh just laughed. Pia regarded him with a sour expression. “Do gargoyles really take their babies on flights?”

“Every chance we get.” Hugh grinned. “In some clans, the parents toss ’em off a cliff.”

She shuddered. “And there for a while I thought we were the worst parents ever.”

“Not so,” he replied. “Hitting the ground in our gargoyle form doesn’t hurt us. If a baby gargoyle gets that far, he’ll just bounce.”

She thought of Hugh’s hard, stonelike façade when he was in his Wyr form. Still, she said doubtfully, “If you say so.”

Eva slapped her hands on her thighs. “Enough about that. Ready to go exploring?”

Pia bounced on the balls of her feet. “Yep. Let’s go.”

They headed out the door. Eva drove again while Hugh took shotgun, and Pia rode in the back beside Liam in his car seat.

Eva glanced in the rear view mirror. “I poked around online while you guys were out to dinner last night. There’s an Elder museum located in an old lighthouse on the west coast of Somerset Island. You wanna start there?”

“Absolutely.” Pia smiled with satisfaction.

The drive took about twenty minutes, and a good section of the route followed the coast. After a brilliant rose-and-gold dawn, the late morning remained perfect, sunny and cloudless. Light sparkled off the intense blue ocean. Both motor and sailboats dotted the water.

The Elder museum was located in the Beacon Hill lighthouse, which sat on the edge of land that jutted into the water. The white-and-red lighthouse towered against a backdrop of blue sky and water. Slowing, Eva turned the Mercedes down a narrow lane.

Pia looked around with interest as Eva pulled into a small, half-full parking lot. A few picnic benches were scattered across a wide lawn, and a Dark Fae family sat at one of the tables eating ice cream. Across the lawn, two trolls sat side by side, their faces tilted up to the sun. They looked like boulders that someone had carved faces on. At the far side of the building, a tall man with a ponytail leaned against the corner.

Pia’s eyes narrowed. The man stood in the shade, and it was impossible to make out his features from the parking lot. His hair was dark, not blond. Could it be the human male from the bar?

If so, it was a hell of a coincidence for him to be hanging out here, after their run-in last night. She thought of how the two males had gone silent and tense while she and Dragos had talked. What exactly had they discussed?

They couldn’t have mentioned the lighthouse. She had only found out about it this morning when Eva told her. But Bermuda was a small place. “Eva, you didn’t find anywhere else for us to do research, did you?”

“Nope, unless you want to check out the Bermuda Maritime Museum. That’ll be focused more on human history, so I think you might want to call first before making a trip over there.”

Pia stepped out of the Mercedes, shading her eyes. Moving quicker than his nonchalant attitude would have suggested, Hugh joined her. The man pushed away from the building in the other direction and disappeared.

Hugh asked, “What’s up?”

“Come with me.” She told Eva, “Watch the baby.”

She strode across the parking lot with Hugh at her side. Hugh said, “If you saw something you think is dangerous, you’d better tell me.”

“I don’t know what I saw.” Unsettled, Pia’s gaze swept over the people at the picnic tables again. “Just a man leaning against the side of the building, here at the corner.”

They reached the spot where they could see the far side of the building. A narrow path led alongside the building and down the hill. Pia rubbed the back of her head and tried to decide how paranoid she was, while Hugh stood watching her patiently.

She started on the path but was brought up short by Hugh’s hand on her arm. “You wanna see what’s down this path, okay, but I’ll go first.”

Impatiently, she gestured for him to go ahead of her then followed close behind, glancing up once at the lighthouse that towered high overhead. They reached the farthest corner of the building that faced the ocean, and walked to the edge of a sharp drop where they surveyed the scene.

The path cut down a short, rocky bluff to a pier where a motorboat carried a single male occupant with a dark ponytail. The boat headed out to sea.

Hugh angled his head at Pia. His usual sleepy expression had vanished, and he looked alert and interested. “What now?”

She blew out a breath. “Now we go back to the car, and I’ll tell you and Eva about what happened last night.”

They retraced their steps along the path. Pia paused where the man had been standing as they pulled up. She caught a faint whiff of cigarette smoke, along with a male scent.

Hugh inhaled deeply. “I’ll remember his scent.”

“So will I.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Does this guy have anything to do with what happened last night?”

She shook her head. “I can’t tell. We were in a bar with cooking food and a lot of people packed up against each other, and I didn’t get close to him. Come on, let’s get back to Eva and Liam.”

The Mercedes idled, engine running, in the parking space. When they approached, she heard a mechanical click as Eva unlocked the doors. She and Hugh climbed into the air conditioned vehicle.

Pia told them about the men at the bar. She frowned. “I’m pretty sure that Dragos and I talked about starting the search for the
Sebille
, but I can’t remember what exactly we said to each other.”

“And you feel like they didn’t recognize you or Dragos.” Eva didn’t frame it as a question.

Pia shrugged impatiently. “I don’t even know that the man today had anything to do with last night. I just saw a guy with a ponytail and remembered the men at the bar. Maybe I’m being paranoid.”

“Paranoid is a lot better than stupid, sugar.” Eva drummed her fingers thoughtfully against the steering wheel. “And we’re gonna keep on being paranoid. Hugh, go scout out the museum before we head inside.”

“Be right back.” Hugh slid out of the SUV and ambled toward the building.

He returned in a few minutes. Eva rolled down her window as he approached the driver’s side. “The guy’s scent is definitely inside, but the museum’s all clear.”

Pia unbuckled the straps on Liam’s car seat and lifted him out. “Let’s take a look around.”

Chapter Seven

Inside, the museum took the entire ground floor. Aged wooden floors, colorful posters and display cases lured the eye. One section of shelves, lined with books, was roped off and someone had taped a computer-printed closed sign to the rope.

Normally Pia would have been interested in looking around, but at the moment, she was too focused. Flanked by a watchful Eva, she walked through the museum and looked for a curator or attendant while Hugh strolled through the displays.

After some searching, she finally located a dwarf sitting at a desk in a back office, and she paused. The dwarf was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with the museum’s logo, and had a beard, but that was no indication of gender.

The office also carried a distinct male scent, with a whiff of cigarette smoke. Pia told Eva telepathically,
The man from outside has been in here very recently, within the last couple of hours.

The plot thickens
. Eva looked happy, but then Eva loved a challenge, and she usually looked happy when something got complicated or went wrong.
I didn’t even know we had a plot on this trip.

Pia said aloud, “Excuse me, could you answer a few questions for us?”

The dwarf jumped, knocked a sheaf of papers and exclaimed in a clearly feminine voice, “Gods! You startled me.”

“I’m sorry.” Pia started forward. “Let me help.”

“No, no, never mind.” The dwarf waved Pia away without looking at her. She slid out of her chair and onto her knees to gather up the papers. “Whatever you want, you’ll have to make it quick. I’m very busy today.”

Pia said, “I just wanted to know if the museum might have any historical records or information about an old Light Fae ship named the
Sebille
from the early fifteenth century.”

“No,” the dwarf replied, her voice flat. She still hadn’t raised her head. She stacked the papers together. “I’m afraid I can’t help you. We don’t have anything.”

Something about other woman’s demeanor seemed off, but her instincts had gone into hyper drive, so for the moment she reserved judgment. “Can you recommend anywhere else in Bermuda where we might research the
Sebille
?”

“None of the other island museums have anything.” The dwarf’s tone had turned short to the point of rudeness. She rose to her feet and slapped the papers on the desk.

Pia exchanged a glance with Eva and shook her head. That wasn’t just her imagination. Something definitely wasn’t right. “You sound very sure of that.”

“I am very sure,” said the dwarf. “This is the only museum of Elder history in Bermuda.”

“But you’ve heard of the
Sebille
,” Eva pressed. “You know what ship we’re talking about.”

“Of course I’ve heard of it,” the dwarf replied irritably. “Every couple of years some fool comes through, itching to learn everything they can about the
Sebille
, and they want to scour the records here for any mention of the ship. I’m going to tell you the same thing I tell all the others.” She finally looked at Pia, and her small, dark eyes were anxious. “Don’t waste your time. Go enjoy your vacation, and play with that cute baby. Stop searching for the ship.”

Pia’s gaze narrowed. She said softly, “Talking about it seems to bother you for some reason. Are you all right? You’re not afraid of someone, are you? Because if you are, we can help you.”

The dwarf drew in a quick breath and lowered her voice. “Wait a minute, I know who you are. Look, there are some men who have been looking for that ship for a very long time—since before I came to Bermuda and took over the museum. I’m not sure how many men, and I don’t know where they live. I don’t want to know. All I know is they spend time at the dockyards a lot, and they frequent bars, and their leader…he’s not a nice man.”

Eva and Pia exchanged another glance. Pia asked, “The leader wouldn’t happen to be a big Light Fae male, would he? Long hair pulled back in a ponytail?”

The dwarf rubbed her chin nervously with the back of one hand and nodded.

“And one of his men was in here earlier to talk to you.” Pia didn’t ask it as a question.

The dwarf nodded again. “Years ago, I used to have a few records that mentioned the
Sebille
. There was nothing substantial, mind you, just mainly some stuff that has been retold so much it’s turned into legend. A massive storm and strange lights in the sky, that sort of thing.”

“Strange lights.” Eva’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of strange lights?”

The dwarf snorted. “It was probably just lightning in the clouds. A few people claimed that they sighted the ship from the north shore, and then it disappeared.”

Pia felt a thrill of excitement. “So it was sighted here.”

The dwarf threw up her hands. “Apparently so, and people have been looking for it ever since. Like I said, every once in a while they show up here, just like you did. They want to dig for clues. But something always happens to them. Their boats disappear, or they have an accident. Somebody always ends up getting hurt. So I got rid of the records. I burned them. And I tell people I don’t have anything, and to stop looking.” She sniffed. “Sometimes they don’t listen, but I still try.”

“What about the man who was here earlier?” Pia asked. “He didn’t threaten you, did he?”

The dwarf shook her head. “No, they don’t bother with me. I wouldn’t hunt for that damn wreck if my life depended on it. He wanted to know if anybody had been in today to ask about the
Sebille
. He must have been on the lookout for you.”

Eva said gently, “If they come looking for us, they’re not going to like what they find.”

***

Dragos flew away from the islands in a bright flood of sunshine. After a short while, he left the shallow reefs behind and soared over deep water. He concentrated on flying thoroughly over a section before going on to the next, searching in a circular pattern around the islands. He made a complete pass all the way around, then moved outward in greater concentric circles.

Most people would have found it tedious work, but he didn’t. He reveled in the solitude and freedom as he soaked up the sun’s brilliant warmth. The air smelled briny and clean over the ocean. It felt good to stretch out his wings and work his body, and good to truly let go of crowded city life. He put away considerations of politics, stocks and profit margins, and let the dragon take over his thoughts.

The vast, tangled mass of land magic that made up the Bermuda Triangle lay to the west. He considered it without much curiosity. A few of the crossover passageways came in quite close to land, but passageways in the ocean were easy to avoid. All he had to do was fly high enough overhead.

He grew hungry, dove for fish and ate while he flew.

He covered more than a hundred miles in an hour. Within a few hours, he grew convinced that the
Sebille
had not foundered anywhere near the edge of the shallow reefs bordering the islands, and he headed farther out in a wider circle.

Dragos?
Pia said.

Like every other Wyr, her telepathic range was quite limited, but Dragos’s telepathic range was much larger than the average Wyr’s, and he heard her quite clearly.