The Day Human King (19 page)

Devin nodded to himself. That would be the plan, if he could find it.

Devin walked back
into Nessa’s room, already forming his next plan. Inside, Turner was waiting, along with Tara and Sean. Devin didn’t have time to explain to the two of them the importance of staying with Nessa in her room. He’d just automatically made the spell surrounding the room include the two kids. He had no clue how it came to him, but stress seemed to amplify his ability. Only Turner, Devin, and Rolf could come and go as they pleased. Nessa jumped up as Devin entered, and followed him back into her bedroom. Tara and Sean, who were playing some sort of board game at the table, didn’t even seem to notice.

“Did Mori find out what it is?” Nessa asked in hushed tones so that the two in the front room wouldn’t hear. It was clear that they didn’t know what was happening.

“Yeah. An extinct plant made into a poison,” Devin answered. “I guess your grandfather was involved in getting rid of it. It’s very powerful, and there’s no cure.”

Nessa’s mouth hung open. “Deadheart weed? Tolo something or another.”

“So you know what it is then?” Devin asked. She might have suggested it before.

“Of course I do—everyone does—but it’s impossible. That can’t be what it is. Mori had to get it wrong,” she added. “My grandfather worked with a team to get rid of all of it. They destroyed every plant that was growing in the villages, and every plant that was growing wild around here. He was sure they were all gone.”

“Well, not everything was gone. Maybe someone found a way to conceal it,” Turner suggested. He had faith that Mori was right.

“You can’t conceal it from a plant seeker,” Nessa replied. She was confused by the results of the analysis. “They feel the plants and know where each and every one is. My grandfather’s first ability was to seek out plants. He could tell, for miles, what plant was where. My family is very connected to plants, and his power was stronger than normal. No one could have hid a plant from him.”

Turner’s eyes bounced between Nessa and Devin. She was looking at him, waiting for him to reply.

“Not something I’ve learned yet,” Devin finally replied. It would have been useful to know this earlier, but everything having to do with the sidhe was a learning curve. He needed to see it be done, or be stressed to do magic he had no clue about. Even if Nessa had told him that there was a chance, he wouldn’t know how to do it. Devin wished the old man’s powers came with an instruction manual.

“He should be able to do it, right?” Turner asked Nessa, getting what she was hinting at.

“He should be able to do everything my grandfather could do. I know Devin can once he learns how, but since he was not born a McKinny sidhe, he must have to figure it all out.” Nessa sounded disappointed, and Devin hated to hear the defeat in her voice. She smiled at him, and it made it seem not quite as bad. She wasn’t mad at him, or even sad, she just didn’t like the situation. Devin had a feeling it made her miss her grandfather a bit more. She wasn’t the one who’d spoken with the old man days ago; in fact, she barely got to see him before he disappeared into dust.

“But that’s fine since I have a friend with an excellent sense of smell,” Devin replied. He had to be two steps ahead. He had magic now, but didn’t know how to use it, so he had to be willing to use good old detective skills to get things done. “I figure it will take time, but my puppy and I can go wing to wing in the palace first, and then to each compound, searching for plants, especially hidden ones. Mori sent me a picture of what it looks like. Once Turner finds it, I can see if it’s what we are looking for.”

Turner glared at him. Devin knew Turner hated to be called a puppy, and that was the exact reason he did that. Nessa shook her head at their play fighting. Neither was serious about the insults, and they both knew it.

“Just be careful,” Nessa replied. “It’s really poisonous.”

“Yeah,” Devin nodded, “Mori explained that we must burn it to get rid of it.” Devin nodded to Turner and they both walked out of the bedroom, toward the front doorway.

Once again Nessa hurried over, stopping Devin by grabbing his hand. When he turned to see what more she needed, she gave him a quick kiss before letting him go. It almost seemed like this was becoming a ritual for them. Tara giggled and Sean whistled as they watched. Devin tried to hide his smile as he turned to the two remaining sidhe children.

“Don’t leave this room. It isn’t safe out there. In here, Nessa will protect you,” Devin told them. Sean pouted a little and tried to puff out his chest to make himself seem more impressive. “If you are really nice, I bet she could show you a few new fighting moves.” Sean brightened at that thought.

Turner waited in the hallway for Devin to finally leave the room. “Where to, boss?”

“Let’s go make a short trip outside of the palace first. There’s someone that grows plants really well that I want to ask some questions,” Devin replied, not fully explaining himself. Luckily, Turner didn’t ask more. They had been friends for a long time, so Turner trusted Devin, and his judgment, completely.

Devin led the way through the village to the outskirts. It wasn’t hard to find his way now after wandering around a couple times. Devin had already mapped out the whole village in his head. He stopped at the first run-down house as they entered the castoff’s encampment. Devin paused at a partial fence that needed a few more pieces to be complete. Mara was in the garden, on her hands and knees, talking to a plant. Turner raised his eyebrows at Devin as if to ask what was going on, but Devin just shook his head. They waited a few moments and watched as a plant sprouted out of the ground. It grew, becoming full size in less than a minute.

“Hello, Mara,” Devin called from outside of the fence. The young girl looked startled, but stood and smiled at Devin.

“Day human. You’ve returned for a second time today?” she teased, wiping her dirty hands on her newly cleaned skirt. She looked better than the last time he had seen her in the morning, and he was sure that the milk had done some good for the young woman.

“I had some plant questions,” Devin replied. “I’m looking into something for my girlfriend.”

“What?” she replied with a chuckle. “You sound serious. Were you a detective in the day human world?”

“Something like that,” Turner mumbled for Devin to hear only. “More like prodigal child.”

“No, not a detective. Just trying to find some answers.” Devin nodded to Turner. “This is my friend, Turner. He’s a night human, too. He’s here to help me. We need to know more about the plants around here.” Mara looked Turner over with the same expression everyone in the village wore when they were walking around.

“First a day human in love with a sidhe, and now a new night human in the village. This must be some sort of crazy week,” Mara replied. She didn’t just look better, her spirits were up, too. Devin was finally seeing some of the youthfulness return to the young woman. “So what did you need to know?” She waved them into her garden to sit on the broken-down benches she had in the middle of the foliage.

Devin sat across from Mara, but Turner remained standing. He was still taking in the surroundings, and was a bit on guard. There was no threat to either Turner or Devin, but Devin was sure that Turner had talked to Nessa, and promised to keep him safe. It was funny to think he needed to be kept safe, but Devin knew the feeling. It was why he didn’t allow Nessa out of her room. They both had the same idea: they wanted the other safe at all times.

“How many people have plant abilities like you do in this village?” Devin asked. They needed to know where to look for the assassin.

“Plant abilities are fairly rare, except for the McKinny clan,” Mara replied, brushing her hands over the flowers next to her. They responded by straightening up and blooming a bit bigger for her. “All of the others maybe have one or two plant people.”

Devin already knew that most of the McKinny clan was associated with plant magic, but there was no one left to investigate there. Ronan and Gemma were both poisoned, and Rolf wasn’t about to do anything to his children or niece. There might have been more to worry about in the McKinny village, but Devin, for some reason, didn’t think it was them.

“So your family isn’t based on plants?”

Mara laughed. “Gosh, no. They were excited when I showed plant abilities, but when they never grew past flowers, they were ready to marry me off.  They’d had high hopes for me, but what can you do? You don’t get to choose your ability.”

“What more would they want?” Turner asked. He didn’t know exactly what her ability was, but it was strange that any ability that rare would be brushed off.

“They wanted me to be able to grow trees, or something a bit more substantial,” Mara replied. “They wanted what I couldn’t do.”

“She can make flowers grow from seed, but nothing bigger,” Devin told Turner. Turner didn’t see a difference, but nodded, and let them continue talking.

“Does anyone have a plant seeking ability right now, like the former king?” Devin asked. He needed a teacher, and quickly. He didn’t care what clan they came from. If necessary, he could always frighten one into teaching him.

“No, not at this time,” Mara replied, finding the questions odd but not commenting on it. “He was pretty unique, though. Maybe in the McKinny village there’s one, but none here.”

Devin nodded and thought for a moment. If there was no one to teach him, he and Turner would have a harder time hunting for the poison. They would have to rely completely on Turner’s ability to sense dirt. Yet even that would be hard, because most of the houses had dirt floors. They had a long day ahead of them.

“Would you mind if we walked around your garden and house to get a better idea of the difference between planted plants and the earth that is used when making homes?” Devin asked. Mara gave him a look like she thought he was out of his mind, but nodded yes. She didn’t know what type of night human Turner was, but it was about to become clear.

Devin stood. “How great of a difference between the dirt do you need to smell? Will this work?”

Turner shrugged. Dirt was dirt to Devin, but he knew better than to think Turner smelt the same. Having a lycan for a best friend was coming in handy. Turner walked into the ramshackle house and took a whiff. Then he came back outside and took another whiff. He shrugged at Devin while Mara watched in wonder.

“That should be enough. I should at least be able to tell if someone if growing a plant in their place. We’ll have to search for it then, but we will know which rooms to search,” Turner explained.

“What?” Mara asked, still watching Turner intently.

“He’s a lycan,” Devin replied, which pretty much explained it all, and Mara seemed to understand what it meant

Devin hoped Turner’s abilities would be enough to save them. Time was running out. Devin made his way out of the garden and Turner followed, still looking around like someone might attack.

“Thanks,” Devin called back to Mara. She nodded as they turned to leave. They’d walked a few feet before Devin thought of another question.

“And the Ferguson family here in the village … do they currently have a plant magic person?” Devin asked. That was the real truth behind it. If they did, it would be the first person they would need to visit.

“Not right now,” Mara replied. “They exiled their last one years ago.”

That made everything even more complicated. Devin was sure that Maureen was involved somehow, but if she didn’t have anyone to order to grow plants, and couldn’t do it herself, then could it really be her? Did she bring someone in from the other villages? Was it not Maureen at all? Devin didn’t think that was possible. No one in the Ferguson family had been killed, and that could be a coincidence, but Devin doubted that. How was Maureen doing it, then? Was she working with outside help? Devin was sure that no one had entered the village that wasn’t part of it—he would have felt their arrival—but what if someone had already been hidden inside of the village before he got his sidhe powers? There were too many questions to answer. They needed to first be sure the palace was poison-weed free, and then the village. After that he could block the village from people entering and exiting until he found the assassin.

Nessa impatiently waited
in her room. Tara was still playing with Sean, and there was nothing Ronan and Gemma needed as they slept off the poison. She knew the risk of the assassin outside of the room, but figured the more people looking for the killer, the sooner they would be caught. Nessa opened her room doorway and tested the barrier Devin had put around it. Unfortunately, it was still there. It felt like gel to the touch, and pushed back when she pressed it. She wasn’t going to get through it. She was still stuck in her room.

Nessa left her door open and scanned the hallway. Somewhere out there was the assassin, lurking and waiting to kill everyone in her room. She saw no one, but even if it was clear, he had to be there somewhere. She was sure that the assassin was watching because there was no one else for him to target. They had to move sometime. She had all day, or at least until Devin came back, hopefully with good news.

“You don’t want to play?” Tara asked Nessa, sitting beside her.

“No. I want to wait for Devin,” Nessa replied. “You just keep playing for me. I thought I heard that you’ve beaten Sean twice now.” Nessa smiled at the child. She’d felt what Devin was feeling across the bond when he took her from school. Tara was completely innocent of the sidhe world. She deserved a chance to grow up and become a young lady without all of the drama going on around the elite. Devin had done the right thing by bringing the child here to protect her. The strange part was, not even her family had come looking for her. What sort of life were the young sidhe living in the palace?

“He lets me win,” Tara whispered. “But don’t tell him that I know. I like winning.”

Tara didn’t have a care in the world, and Nessa had forgotten what that was like. Even at the same age as the little girl, Nessa was already training. Tara was different. She was allowed to be a child.