Beckett's eyes opened slowly, adjusting slowly to the morning light that was streaming in from the window over her head. She rolled her head in all directions, trying to work the soreness out of the muscles even with the pillows propping her up into an almost-comfortable position. The smell of the coffee sitting on the end table next to her brought Beckett to full wakefulness. She picked up the cup, grateful for its warmth, then sipped the drink. It was still piping hot, which could only mean one thing. "You can come in now, Castle!"

Castle appeared at the entrance to the bedroom, clad in boxers and carrying his own mug. "How was training?"

"Good," Beckett replied as she sipped her coffee.

Her smile never quite met her eyes, which Castle noticed immediately. He crossed the bedroom and sat at the foot of the bed. "What happened?"

"I...I had a visitor at the temple."

That was not the response Castle had been expecting. "Really? Who was it?"

"Roy Montgomery."

Castle nearly spit out his own coffee. "I take it that it wasn't a social call?"

Beckett shook her head. "He was there to deliver a message."

Castle's face fell right alongside his girlfriend's. "I'm assuming this was not a *good* message..."

"No." Beckett pulled down the hand that wasn't holding Castle's cup, squeezing it with her own free hand. "Rick...he said the dragon was coming for me. For *us*."

"Bracken?!" Castle exclaimed, eyes widening. "But you have a deal with him, don't you?"

Beckett shook her head. "Apparently he's not the boss of the operation."

"He's not?"

"At least, that's what Ngawang told me. He said that the dragon was going to be poisoned at the head and come after us."

"Poisoned? Poisoned how?"

Beckett's face darkened as the memory resurfaced, sending a chill down her spine. "The black fog...whatever it was that possessed Jerry Tyson. That's what's going to poison the dragon."

Castle was fighting to keep a knot of fear from forming in the pit of his stomach. "Well at least we have warning they're coming, so we can prepare."

"Yeah," Beckett agreed, "but how?"

Castle didn't have an answer for his partner...but when the phone rang, he no longer needed one. "Beckett?" She answered the phone, memorizing the address as dispatch gave it to her. "Thanks. We're on our way." As she ended the call, Beckett told Castle, "Get dressed. We've got a body."

That knot finally formed in Castle's stomach. "We?"

Beckett nodded. "Apparently, this one's weird enough that you've been called specifically."


Esposito paced the entrance to the crime scene alone, with only the uniform standing guard next to him for company as he waited for his partners. Beckett noticed the discrepancy right away. "Where's your other half, Esposito?"

"On the phone," Esposito replied, tilting his head toward a quiet corner of the hallway, where Ryan was clearly waiting to talk to someone. "He says he might know an expert who can help us make sense of what's going on in there."

Castle's interest was piqued immediately. "Wait, we need an expert?"

Esposito did not share Castle's spark of enthusiasm. He looked far more...haunted. "Go see for yourself, man."

Beckett and Castle signed in and passed under the crime scene tape, turning quickly to enter the apartment at the end of the small hallway. The writer immediately understood why Esposito had looked so uncomfortable earlier. "It looks like a scene out of a bad horror movie..." he exclaimed.

The empty studio apartment looked like someone had set off a human rotary sprinkler, the four walls dripping with slowly drying blood. CSU techs ringed the room, taking pictures and documenting every inch of the spray pattern.

Beckett and Castle headed for the center of the room, where Lanie was carefully examining the source of the pattern on the walls. Castle's mouth dropped open as soon as he saw enough of the victim's face to recognize who it was. "Dear God...Cacaw Te..."

Lanie and Esposito both turned their attention to Castle. "You know this guy?" asked Esposito. Castle nodded.

"Yeah," Beckett agreed sadly, "that's him. Remember that mummy case from a couple of years ago?"

Esposito's eyes lit up with recognition. "Oh yeah..."

"How'd he die?" asked Castle.

Lanie stood up, letting some of the blood re-circulate through her legs as she delivered her preliminary findings. "Overkill," she declared.

"Overkill?" asked Castle. "I don't follow."

"Mr. Cacaw Te here," Lanie explained, "was hit over the head, then strangled, *then* had his throat cut. That's what accounts for the extra wall decorations in here."

Castle let out a low whistle of agreement. "Yep, that's definitely overkill."

"Can you tell which one of those is our actual cause of death?" asked Beckett.

"My guess would be the cut to the throat," replied Lanie, "but I won't be sure until I get him back to the lab."

Ryan interrupted their conversation. "Did you say his throat was slashed?"

"Yeah?" asked Lanie, confused at needing to repeat herself.

"After he was hit over the head and strangled?"

The rest of the Guardians joined Lanie in her confusion. "Yeah?"

"With a rope?"

"Probably," said Lanie. "The ligature marks suggest it. Why?"

Ryan ran a hand through his hair, not wanting to believe what he was seeing. "When I first walked into the scene, it reminded me of an old Celtic legend I had heard of in college. My grandfather is getting his degree in Celtic history, so I called him and asked him to verify the legend for me."

"What legend?"

Ryan hesitated, shuddering before he could answer. "The Lindow Man."

"Hey, I know that name," said Castle. "It was this body that got mummified by being sunk in an Irish bog for something like two thousand years..."

Ryan nodded. "The Lindow Man was killed by being first knocked unconscious, then strangled with a rope, then having his throat slashed to drain his blood."

"Just like our vic..." commented Lanie.

Ryan nodded again. "According to the legend, the Lindow Man died as a ritual sacrifice to the Celtic gods in the hopes that those gods would then stop the advancing Roman armies."

"So this was a ritual killing?" asked Castle.

"I think it might be," said Ryan.

"A ritual sacrifice of a *Mayan* man?" mused Beckett. "That can't be a coincidence..."

Lanie, Ryan and Esposito frowned in confusion at their friend's statement. "Coincidence with what, Beckett?"

Beckett tapped her temple, signaling for Ryan to open a mind-link. I had a training session at the temple last night, she announced to the group through the mind-link. Javi?

Esposito put a hand on Beckett's shoulder, opening up Beckett's memory to the rest of the group...who gasped at the sight of Roy Montgomery and his message. I see what you mean now, Beckett, agreed Castle. A ritual sacrifice of a Mayan man in the beginning of December? After you get a warning about a poisoned dragon causing the end of the world? This can't be a coincidence...

No offense, bro, commented Esposito, but I kinda hope it is.

Me too, agreed Ryan.

Beckett's mind was quickly getting distracted away from their mental conversation as her eye started to pick up a pattern in the design of the floor below them. Ryan closed the mind-link, letting Beckett have her privacy to process her 'hunch'.

Castle noticed the growing change in his partner's focus. "What is it, Beckett?"

"The floor..." Beckett mused, "I think there's a pattern in these tiles..." She traced the outline of a circle on the floor, but was frustrated by the items inside the circle that were blocking her attempt to identify the image.

A lightbulb went off in Castle's expression as he came up with an idea to help his partner. "Can we clear the techs out of the room, just for a couple of minutes?" Lanie and Esposito jumped on Castle's request immediately, asking for both the CSU and ME teams to give them some privacy.

When the room was clear of everyone but the Guardians, Castle closed the door to the apartment. "Ryan," he asked, hoping his friend would get the hint, "can you...lift everything straight up off the floor, just long enough for Beckett to see what's underneath it?"

"Won't know until I give it a shot," Ryan shrugged. He closed his eyes, taking in a deep, grounding breath, then opened his eyes as he slowly exhaled. The body started to levitate gradually off the ground, followed piece by piece by every bit of equipment the ME's crew had left within the circle.

Lanie, Esposito and Castle watched the floating section of the crime scene with no small amount of amazement and satisfaction...until it was clear that Beckett was the only one who was looking at the floor. She then directed everyone's attention down to what *she* was seeing.

It was a black and white, Celtic-looking tile mosaic...of a dragon.

Beckett turned her attention back to Castle. "So much for coincidences."


Comments, as always, make me incredibly happy. So would fan mail from Nathan Filion or Andrew Marlowe, but in its absence I would still be perfectly thrilled to get lots of comments: positive, negative or otherwise. ;-)