Dark Isle (Celtic Legacy Book 2) (6 page)

Faster than I thought she could move, Cora struck out at Luke, her fangs extended. “I didn’t say I agreed with him!” Luke yelped
,
his hands in the air.
Cora subsided.

“So where to, leader of mine?” Luke asked, bowing to me from the waist. Though he was teasing, he was right. I had to decide where we were going to go.

“You ever watch TV?” I asked them. Luke answered in the affirmative, Cora just snorted.

Again we started up the hill. “You know when there’s a crime, or a mystery, the cops always go back to the beginning, where it all started.”

Luke nodded. “Back to the west coast makes sense. There are Fomorii there, maybe we can capture one, question him.”

We reached the gas station and I put a hand on Luke’s arm
.
“
You go inside and see if you can Charm us a vehicle, I’ll . . . well, I guess I’ll just wait
.”

“
Keep an eye out for Fomorii.
W
e
need to keep moving. We can’t stay in any one spot for too long
because
Bres and Ashling will be able to pin point us. It won’t help that you had a chat with Bres last night.”

“You mean they could track us here because I Called him?” My hand instinctively went to the dagger at my waist. It wasn’t much, but it had proven a good deterrent against the Fomorii so far.

Luke tipped his head toward the gas station
’s
front door
. “I’
ll go see what I can do.
”
He disappeared into the small store, the bell clinking as he entered. I waited outside, and turned my face to the sun.

A
loud
throat
-
clearing cough opened my eyes.
The gas station only had one pump, and surprisingly, it was occupied. I half jumped, my hand going to Cora’s five foot length hanging off my shoulders, forgetting for a brief second that anyone who didn’t have Tuatha blood in their veins couldn’t see her.

An older man, grey haired,
with
overalls and mud covered rubber boots
,
stood pumping fuel into his b
eaten up blue Ford pickup
.
The stitching on the breast of his
overalls stated his name was Don
. He
sp
a
t
a gob
of
tobacco
and asked
“
Did I hear right?
You two looking for a ride into town?”

“Um, maybe. Which town are you headed to?” I asked.

“Well, heading to Qualicum, then off to Port Alberni.” He said, spitting again. Port Alberni, that was on the route back to the West Coast.
Perfect, this was absolutely perfect!

“Yes, we’re going to Port
,
”
I said.

He grinned. “Good, I hate making that drive around the lake
alone
. Something about the area
has
been
mak
ing
my skin crawl
lately
.”

Luke came out of the small store with a grimace. I grinned at him, waved him over and we made introductions.

It t
urned out that Don was a bit of a travelling salesman. Except his wares weren’t the usual type. As we piled into his truck, me squeezed into the middle
,
he told us all about his job.

“Inseminating cows. You need schooling for that you know.”

Luke grinned over at him
.
Don’s relaxed, jovial
demeanor
set
ting
us at ease. He talked as he drove, gossiping about his clients, their cows, which ones had good
bloodlines
and so on
,
until my head was lolling on Luke’s shoulder.

“Your girl, she seems plain tuckered out
,
” Don said, his words wafting to me
along
with a faint trace of to
bacco,
which
tickled my nose
.

Luke’s hand slipped up and caressed my cheek. “Yeah, she’s had a rough go of it lately.”

I let out a little sigh and Cora settled her head along my neck.
It’s f
unny to think that the feel of a snake, the weight of it
,
could be comforting
;
yet it was.

Slipping in and out of a fitful doze, I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, until Cora all but screeched in my ear.

“Turn it up!”

“What?” I yelped
,
sitting bolt upright, startling poor Don into hitting the brakes. We all jerked forward against our seatbelts.

“The radio, turn it up.” Cora
snapped
,
and I did as she asked, though Don was stuttering about crazy women as he hit the gas and slid back into traffic.

The radio had some static but the announcer’s voice came through loud and clear.

“Cathedral Grove has long been a tourist destination,
but
the giant trees have become almost a cult hit of late. Several visitors have
claimed they
felt
‘
drawn
’
to the grove and to have
‘
seen
’
dancing white lights and
‘
felt
’
the presence of otherworldliness.
Some residents are pointing to
the
growing number of missing hitchhikers
and are requesting an investigation
.
But as far as RCMP is concerned
,
there’s been no suspicious activity at the site.
”

The announcer switched to a traffic report, and
Cora whispered for me to turn it down.

Something about that report was bothering me. Fairy lights, missing people
;
it seemed to
o
coincidental with what was going on already.

Cora, do you think that what’s happening in Cathedral grove could have anything to do with Balor and Chaos?

A bob of her head
,
and her coils tightening around me was all
the
respon
se I got
. I had to make a decision. If we passed this by we might be missing something important and my gut was telling me not to pass the grove by without at least a cursory check.

We were rounding the last curve of Cameron Lake and Cathedral Grove rose
in the distance
. “Don, could you drop us off here?” I asked.
We could always hitch another ride to the west coast if my suspicions turned out wrong.

“After what that announcer said? Miss, I would sure hate to see something bad happen to you kids.” His face was crinkled with concern. I
patted his arm. “We’ll be okay. If the police aren’t concerned
th
e
n
we don’t need to be
;
I haven’t been to see the grove before. I think I’ve been missing out.
” I gave him a wink and he slowed down, pulling to the side of the road.

“Alright then. You two take care of each other.” Luke stepped out first
,
and as I slid across the seat
to follow him
, Don
touched
my hand.
I paused and looked back.

“That boy, he looks at you like I used to look at my Ma
ry, God rest her soul. Love, it
’
s precious
;
don’t let it slip past you cause you are looking for something perfect.” He gave my hand a squeeze
th
e
n
let me go.
I
shut the door
with a lump in my throat
,
and waved to him as he merged with traffic.

“For a two lane highway, this place is awfully busy
,
”
Luke
said.

Cora let out a low hiss and a thrill of alarm went through me, freezing me to the spot. “What is it?”

“This forest, it feels strange. Luke, is it just me, or do you sense it too?”
s
he
asked.

He opened his mouth
,
but was interrupted by a long low rumble and the ground heaving under our feet. “Damn it!” I snapped as I grabbed at a cement barrier
separating the highway from
Cameron Lake.

The earthquake passed, a low aftershock chasing it deep into the mountain range behind us. Luke held a hand out to me. I took it, our fingers intertwining. “Tell me about this area, Quinn. I think I know what Cora’s getting at, but I am hoping we
’
re wrong.”

He sat down on the cement barrier beside me.

I frowned as I thought about what I knew of the region. “Well, Cathedral Grove has some of the oldest trees on the Island, first growth. So it’s a protected park. The range it butts up against is
Beaufort, I think.” I put my fingers to my forehead. “Um,
there have been a lot of accidents on
Cameron Lake,
and
it’s
really deep
.
I
don’t
think
anyone’s gotten to the
bottom.”

Luke nodded, “Anything else?”

“Well, some people believe there
’
s a lake monster.” I thought they would laugh, but really I should have known better.

“Crap
,
”
w
as
all that Luke said
;
Cora muttered
a
curse that made my eyes widen.

“You don’t think the monster is real do you?” I asked. Luke stood
,
and helped me to my feet.

Cora shifted across my shoulders
and said,
“
Wait.
We should leave the side of the road I think. I feel
like
something is headed our way.”

Her eyes stared out across the lake
,
and I
followed her gaze
.
I
had to
scrub my eyes
, not trusting what I was seeing
. A large hump
ed
back was undulating towards us. Fast.

Before I could take two steps, tentacles
burst out of the water
and streaked
towards us.

“Run!” Luke shouted. He didn’t have to tell me twice. I bolted for the safety of the trees a few yards away.

A tentacle wrapped around my left ankle midstride and yanked me off my feet. Cora was thrown from my shoulders
;
I wrenched my dagger out.
I slashed at the black, leathery tentacle that was
drag
ging
me back towards the water
, but the hide was too thick.

I heard Luke yell to my right and
a tentacle that was flying towards my face was sliced open, spraying me with blue blood
,
thick like oil. T
he creature let out a gurgling cry, its
parrot
-
like beak breaking the water for a split second. Determined not to draw Luke and Cora into more danger, I drew my power forward
,
preparing to hit the water beast with a blaze of fire
.

“Quinn, no!” Luke shouted as
I released the flame, but nothing happened. A small streak of light and then a puff of smoke
.
The creature
blinked a single eye at me, and
smiled
.

I felt my power suddenly sucked
out
, a
s if
the monster
had a tentacle deep inside me.
M
y body
weaken
ed
fast;
I dropped my dagger in the dirt
as my hand went limp
.
My eyes rolled
;
I could feel the darkness reach
ing
for me when I was suddenly jerked free of the creature
’
s grasp, its suction
cups
releasing me with an audible “pop
.
”

Someone lifted me over their shoulder and ran. The world bounced crazily
;
the trees, sky and water
blurred
together
in a
kaleidoscope
of blues and greens
.