Chapter 19

19

" I have a hit."

They were the first words I heard, even before I peered out the window at the golden sun peeking over the horizon. The phone had jolted me awake, and I'd immediately slammed the cell against my ear, my heart clanging against my ribs.

It was Axel. He sounded weary, as if he'd been up all night. He probably had been.

I sat up straight, covers falling off my chest. "A hit on Lugh? You know where he is?"

"Yeah, it took some trying." He let out a shaky breath. "Lugh's not playing around. The magic surrounding him was dark as hell."

"Nevermind that. We'll take care of it." I sucked in a deep breath. "Where is he?"

"Craigmillar Castle. And I don't think he's alone."

R unning through the halls of Castle Wraith, I gathered the sleepy crew. We formed a huddle in the training room, giving each other heavy slams on the backs and whispered words of encouragement. We all grabbed weapons. At least some of us did. Saoirse was going to stay behind, as much as a way to soothe the Court's nerves as a way to stay safe.

We all piled into cars and drove the mile to Craigmillar Castle. In the daytime, the site was much less foreboding than it had been in the dead of night with bloodthirsty vampires racing across the grounds. We parked a couple of blocks away and gathered at the edge of the tree-line, looking up at the crumbling stone walls.

"Right." I glanced at each of them in turn. Boudica, Warin, Nero, and Uisnech. Together, we had to make this work. "Us warriors will fight Lugh and draw him away from the cauldron, as long as it's in there. While we're busy distracting him, Uisnech will find said cauldron. It's daytime, so Lugh won't be able to use his shadow shifting powers against us. All we have to do is trap him."

"He might not be able to shift through shadows, but he's still strong as hell." Boudica nodded. "He will fight."

"Wounding him is fine." I closed my eyes at my words. I hated saying them, but I knew it would be impossible for everyone to get out of this unscathed. " If you can knock him out, all the better. Just don't…"

"We're not going to kill him," Warin interjected. "We haven't gone to all this trouble just to do that. If we wanted to take him down, we'd just go after him with as many swords as we have."

Instead, we'd come with staffs. Long, wooden poles meant to bruise, not to kill. It would be impossible to defeat him with such simple weapons, but that was kind of the point. We didn't want to defeat him. All we had to do was distract him long enough for Uisnech to work his magic.

I turned to the hobgoblin. "Are you sure you can do this? The cauldron needs a sacrifice. We don't have anything as powerful as Lugh's spear."

"There are some rituals I will try," he said with an eager nod. "I...I will do my best."

That was all we could ask for, really.

"Okay," I said with a nod. "Let's go. And make sure to stick with the group."

Quietly, we minced across the lawn and approached an archway that would lead into the depths of the castle ruins. I flicked on my enhanced fae hearing, hoping that we could hear Lugh way before we ever saw him. I didn't know much about nightmare wraiths. Did they sleep? If they did, now would be the perfect time to catch Wraith Lugh in the middle of some shut-eye.

We crept through the archway and found ourselves in a grassy courtyard. Green stretched out before us, leading to another set of castle walls, topped with battlements. The thick metal doors leading into the interior were still in place and shut tight for the evening.

Footsteps soft on the ground, we dashed toward the doors. One had been left open a crack. I glanced at Boudica and Warin, uneasy. Cracked doors that shouldn't be cracked were never good signs.

"Be ready for a fight," I whispered to the others before pushing against the metal door and craning my head around the edge of it.

No one was inside. Instead, we were only met by an ancient twisting tree whose leaves glowed green. We'd entered another square or courtyard of some sort, walls rising high on every side. The lower portions were mostly intact, though the upper floors rose in jagged peaks, roof nowhere to be seen. Rectangular holes stood empty, where the windows had once provided views.

"Um," Boudica said, pointing to a dark corner. "Axel was right. Lugh isn't alone."

We all turned in the direction she pointed. A blood-soaked body lay on the ground, limbs twisted beneath him. I winced and glanced away, bile rising in my throat. The dead man was Quentin. He must have come here looking for the cauldron, and...

Well, it was clear what had happened.

"Lugh's definitely here, then. Which way should we go?" I asked Uisnech.

He pointed at one of the open doorways. I let him lead the way, and we entered a room with a sign designating that it had once been the castle's kitchen. Along one wall sat a massive fireplace, large enough for ten men to stand inside.

Uisnech frowned. "This would have been quite a good spot for Lugh to hide, or for him to stash his cauldron. It provides some shelter from the rain, you see."

"I was in there. Unfortunately, this castle seems to have far too many visitors for my liking," a deep voice growled from the darkness. I whirled on my feet, my heart hammering. Lugh stood before us, a dark cloak obscuring his body and his face. He pulsed with power, shadows oozing from his skin.

I took a step back. "Lugh. We're just here to talk to you."

"Do not call me Lugh," he sneered, his hands curling into fists. "I am not that ridiculous male, and I never will be again."

"Okay." I shot a glance at Uisnech, who merely shrugged. "What shall we call you?"

"Nothing!" He shouted the word and stormed toward me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Warin nock his bow. It was the only true weapon we'd brought, just in case. "You are not welcome here. Get out. Get out before I eat every last drop of your soul."

I shivered, despite myself. His dark power washed over me, threatening to drown me in the depths of his nightmares. Shaking him off, I took a step back. "Calm down. We're not here to cause any trouble. "

"Why else would you be here?"

I wet my lips, hoping his gaze would stay focused on me instead of the little hobgoblin now creeping out of the room so that he could search the castle. My role in this was merely to distract Lugh long enough for Uisnech to find the cauldron. With the other warriors surrounding me and adding to the distraction, we'd have our hands on the bloody cup before he even knew what had happened.

"Like I said, we just want to talk." I held up my hands in a display of surrender.

"Then why is this bloke pointing his arrowhead at me?" Lugh jerked his thumb at Warin.

"A very reasonable question," I said quickly. "He's just being protective. We weren't sure how you'd react to our presence in your...new home?"

Lugh scowled. "You think I would choose a crumbling castle for a home? The King of the Wraiths is owed far better than that."

"Oh, right. I guess you have somewhere better in mind?"

He pressed his lips tightly together. "Do not mistake me for a fool."

"Trust me. I'm definitely not doing that," I replied.

"I know why you're here." He stalked toward me, Warin's arrow following him with every step he took. "You want to trick me into confessing what it is I have planned. You think that if you know, you will be able to stop me."

"Maybe I will," I said, lifting my chin. "Like I said before, a lot of men have made the mistake of underestimating me. Go ahead and join the ranks of those, if you dare."

"And I said that I am not a man," Lugh spat, before whirling away from me.

Warin shot me a panicked look as Lugh left me standing in the middle of the ancient kitchen floor. He headed straight in the direction that Uisnech had disappeared.

Lugh's voice rose loud as he called out, "Oh, hobgoblin! Where did you go?"

"Shit," I muttered. "I don't think we were quite as stealthy as we thought we were."

My heart raced as Lugh disappeared through one of the many doorframes dotted along the wall. I followed him, pulling my long staff from the strap at my back. Uisnech had no idea that Lugh was on to him. The little hobgoblin could be pretty sneaky when he wanted to be, but he was no warrior. If Lugh attacked him...I didn't want to think about what would happen.

When I ducked through the door, I found nothing but another vacant room. Lugh was nowhere in sight. Fighting back a roar, I raced through the castle, poking my head through every door I found.

My fear grew with every step until I finally rounded the corner to find the hobgoblin gripping the stone wall, a grimace flickering across his green-tinted face. Frantic breaths puffed out of him .

"I'm okay." He held up a hand. "He gave me a good punch in the gut, but I'll live."

"Oh, Uisnech." I rushed toward the goblin, my heart squeezing tight. When I reached him, I threw my arms around him and pulled him close. "Thank the Morrigan you're okay."

"The cauldron is gone." Uisnech shuddered. "And so is Lugh."

I ground my teeth together, forcing down the bile that stung my throat. We'd been so close to stopping him. But we'd lost. And I didn't see how we would ever beat him now that he'd fled.

With a defeated sigh, I reached for my phone. "I'll call Axel and ask if he can pinpoint Lugh again."

"No need, my noble warrior." Uisnech's yellow eyes flickered. "I know where he will have gone. Back to Faerie. He's going to gather the nightmare wraiths. We have failed."