A/N: New chapter! Thank you to everyone who commented on the last one (especially those I couldn't thank in a PM) and to everyone who added this fic to their faves/follows - you guys rock! And now on with the new chapter. J

Chapter 7: The Attic

Giving himself a few more moments to try and process everything he had just heard, Arthur took a calming breath and quietly took a few steps away from the door - just enough to make it seem to the two men in the kitchen that he had just arrived at the room and so couldn't possibly of heard any of their whispered conversation. Bracing himself for the front of ignorance he was about to put up Arthur made quick (and sufficiently loud) work of retracing his steps and entering the kitchen, he was certain his expression and actions betrayed nothing to the two relatives he was now faced with. Upon Arthur's entry into the room, both had immediately looked in his direction, Gauis' countenance had given nothing of the serious nature of his recent worries, but then Arthur hadn't really expected it to - after all it was clear that whatever was going on with the family, they were well-versed at hiding it. Merlin was different though, when Arthur had first entered the room he noticed that when the beautiful young man had caught his eyes, for the briefest of moments he looked almost . . . surprised to see him before the impenetrable mask descended over the his emotions once more. There was something about Merlin, Arthur didn't know how he knew but he did, he just knew that Merlin wasn't like the rest of the family, there was something else there when he looked at the stunning raven that he didn't see with the other's, something more. Yes, there was something about Merlin, he just couldn't put his finger on it . . . not yet at least.

In the end it was Gauis that broke the initial momentary silence, bringing Arthur out of his musings on the fascinating creature that was Merlin.

"Mr Pendragon, I trust you slept well."

With great reluctance Arthur tore his gaze away from the boy that was by now resolutely avoiding it and resettled it on the older male.

"Yes, thank you. The room is very . . . comfortable."

"Glad to hear it, would you like some breakfast?"

"Perhaps a little later, I really should start unpacking my equipment if I'm to start any kind of investigation of the property today. Although, I did have a question to ask - that's why I'm here actually - to find you."

"Oh, and what question would that be sir."

"Well, as you know, I didn't have much luck attempting to phone the institute on my arrival here last night - you said yourself that the only way I could get a decent line was to be taken into the town to call. I was wondering if that might be possible . . . today if it's not too much trouble."

"Well, I don't see . . ."

"I'll take him."

Both Arthur and Gaius turned to face Merlin as he spoke suddenly.

"There's really no need, I'm perfectly capable." protested Gauis.

"I said I'll take him. You need your rest Uncle - besides, I need to drop in on Gwaine anyway."

With a nod from the elder it seemed the decision between them was done. Turning to face Arthur Merlin spoke again.

"Do you have a time in mind?"

"Nothing specific, no - but if you already have plans in the town . . ."

"Nothing that needs a schedule."

"Well, I really do have to get on with my investigation this morning so that I at least have something to report. Sometime this afternoon perhaps?"

"Whenever you're ready. I have nothing of urgent importance to do today, although I would prefer to get there before Gwaine's too far into his cups."

"Well, whenever you feel would be best. Just come and find me. And, thank you, I appreciate it." With that Arthur left the kitchen and its occupants behind. After all he had a job to do.

!+!+!+!+!+!

Two hours later Arthur had successfully managed to unpack most of his equipment, deciding upon the most appropriate places to place it as he went. He couldn't deny that the urge to snoop in each of the rooms, to sweep them for tricks or . . . anything that could shed a little light on the family he was working for was strong, but it seemed every time he turned around one of the siblings was close by. It was almost as if they knew his intention and were deliberately keeping an eye on him - so acting on his impulse was completely out of the question . . . for the moment at least. The only reason Arthur abided the burn of eyes watching him so quietly is because he knew he would get his chance, when he got around to performing his thorough investigation, he would require the family to be absent. Then, he could use his time not only to dispel the family's fears, if in fact they were genuine, but also to gain some insight into the mystery that seemed to surround them. For now though, he was simply setting up, so he'd just have to grin and bear the scrutiny.

As Arthur fixed a particularly tricky motion detector in place on the floor of one of the bedrooms he managed to accidentally knock his arm against the leg of the table next to him. Reaching out lightening quick, Arthur managed to steady the table and catch the object that had fallen off before it could smash on the ground. Looking down at his catch, Arthur found himself holding a photo frame, a photo frame that held a very striking picture of Merlin. Arthur found he couldn't look away from the replica of that pale face. Of all the family Merlin was the biggest mystery - it was him that Arthur felt a need to . . . know in some way, he was strangely drawn to the beautiful man and he knew that above all else, he couldn't leave this case, this town, without knowing what the younger man was so desperate to hide. What was it that truly haunted that remarkable man? Even in the dusty picture Merlin's eyes were breathtaking, they seemed to sparkle in a way that made Arthur ache, a deep sense of longing filling him. Without him noticing, his fingers had begun to brush against Merlin's face, grazing the glass almost reverently.

"So did you figure that trying out the psychic approach for yourself was worthwhile after all then?"

Turning quickly Arthur looked up to see Gilli stood in the doorway, a look of pure smug satisfaction on his face.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Well, it's just the way you were fondling that photo - that's what psychics do isn't it? Touch something personal to get a sense of a person's presence or whatever?"

Somehow Gilli managed to make the words drip with sordid innuendo. Arthur felt his patience snap.

"I don't know what you're really implying here and I'm not sure I want to but I don't have time for your little games. The frame fell, I caught it, end of story."

Standing up Arthur placed the photo back on the table before starting towards Gilli.

"Now, if you'll excuse me I still have work to do."

As he tried to brush past Gilli he found his escape stopped by a hand to his arm. Looking down at the hand and then up to Gilli's face, Arthur raised his eyebrow expectantly.

"I'm warning you, stay away from my brother. Whatever fascination you may have with him, It stops now."

"Is that a threat?"

"It is if you want it to be. I'm just giving you a little advice before you dig your way in too deep with this - believe me when I say you won't like where it leads, and by then it'll be too late to get back out."

"And how do I know that you're not just saying this as some sort of twisted game?"

"Let's get one thing straight here Pendragon, I may have been the one to suggest you take the case, but I don't like you. I just don't want to have to deal with the mess when this all goes wrong for you."

"And why should I believe you?"

"Believe me, don't believe me - I really don't care . . . Just don't say I didn't warn you."

With that Gilli released Arthur's arm and walked away, leaving the blonde more confused than ever.

!+!+!+!+!+!

Walking along the corridor between the house's numerous upper rooms, Arthur mentally calculated where he'd set up he'd set up his equipment. Glancing towards the door at the end of the walkway he realized that there was only one room accessible on this floor that he hadn't checked yet. The attic. Moving to the end of the hall, Arthur opened the door and quickly ascended the flight of stairs beyond it, eager to finish setting up so he could get some real work done.

The attic was fairly spacious, but poorly lit despite the daylight hour. The windows were caked in dust and grime and let precious little light into the room. From what he could see the level of dust was much the same on everything. Clearly no one made a habit of coming up here. Arthur moved towards the window intent on wiping part of it clean so that he could see better when a rustling in the far corner stopped him. Arthur turned in the direction of the sound and saw nothing but a chest of drawers and a few boxes with a musty old blanket covering them.

The rustling came again.

Moving slowly, Arthur cautiously made his way over to the corner of the room. As he neared the boxes he could make out the faint outline of something under the blanket . . . And it was moving.

Steeling himself, Arthur grasped the edge of the blanket and, after taking a steadying breath, he pulled.

Arthur jumped back in shock as the blanket fell to the floor and a flurry of feathers and angry flapping wings emerged from beneath it and flew towards him. Stepping quickly back out of the way, Arthur knocked into the chest of drawers, he barely registered the sound of something falling and hitting the floor as he watched the beast . . . the pigeon fly over his head and up into the rafters.

"Fuck." Arthur muttered to himself as he calmed his breathing. Standing up straight from his position leaning against the chest of drawers Arthur glanced down towards the makeshift birds nest he'd just disturbed and caught sight of something laying on the floor by the box. Surmising that this must have been the object he faintly heard drop Arthur bent to inspect it. It was a book, that much was clear - like everything else in the attic there was a thick layer of dust and dirt covering it. Opening it Arthur frowned as he scanned the pages. The book appeared to be written in some ancient, archaic language, one that he'd certainly never seen before - the formation of the letters looked almost medieval in origin. Arthur couldn't help but wonder what the words contained in the book meant and what such a book was doing in the Emrys' house. He didn't know why, but he had the strangest feeling that if he knew the answers to those questions then he could figure out what the family was hiding. Turning the book back to the front page, Arthur's eyes narrowed in on the one piece of writing he could actually read - a name.

Nimueh Waters.

Suddenly, he knew exactly where to start looking for answers.

"Arthur?"

Quickly dropping the book, Arthur covered it with the discarded blanket before standing and turning towards the new arrival.

Merlin stood at the top of the stairs eyeing Arthur with barely hidden curiosity.

"Merlin. Was there something you needed?"

Merlin continued to search Arthur's face for the answer to some silent question for a moment before responding.

"I saw the door open and figured you'd be up here. No one else would have come up here after all . . . I just wanted to let you know that I'm going into the village in about ten minutes, you said you wanted a ride?"

"That's great, thank you Merlin. You go on ahead, I'll only be a minute."

Merlin cocked his head to the side considering Arthur for a moment before finally nodding and retreating back down the staircase.

It was only after he was gone that Arthur felt he could breathe again.

!+!+!+!+!

The drive to the village was mostly silent, and yet Arthur didn't feel uncomfortable. Despite his concerns over the case and the family itself, Arthur couldn't help but feel at ease with the lithe man beside him. The road could have stretched on forever without a single word passing between them and Arthur still would have been perfectly content. As it was the journey ended all too soon as Merlin pulled the car up outside the homely pub that had been Arthur's first real taste of Avalon. Exiting the car, Arthur watched as Merlin put the vehicle back into drive in search of somewhere more 'suitable' to park. Once the car had pulled fully away from the curb Arthur made his way through the doors of the tavern and towards the phone he had used on his first and only visit.

Picking up the receiver Arthur dialled a familiar number and waited for his call to be answered.

"Hello, Albion Psychical Facility . . ."

"Gwen, put Leon on."

"Arthur? You were supposed to call when you checked in with the family last night, what happened?"

"It's a small village, and apparently the house I'm investigating isn't exactly phone-friendly. Could you please get Leon on the phone now? I need to speak to him."

"Sure, just hold on a sec."

A beat of silence followed as Gwen contacted her boss and explained the situation then a masculine but just as well-known voice filtered through the phone.

"Arthur? It's Leon, how's the investigation going so far? You find anything to disprove it yet?"

"Not yet. It's . . . this one's certainly and interesting one let's put it that way. Listen I don't have long – I want to find time to finish sweeping the house before I interview the occupants. I need you to check something for me."

"What do you need?"

"Just some information about a 'Nimueh Waters' you think you could dig something up?"

"Yeah, that shouldn't be too much of a problem . . . why do you think this could impact the case?"

"I think so, I'm not sure yet."

"O.k. Tell you what, I'll look into it - call me back in a day or so and I should have some information ready for you."

"Thanks Leon."

"Arthur? Maybe I'm just imagining it but you sound a little . . . off. Are you o.k.?"

"Honestly? I don't know . . ."

"Look, you know I wouldn't have let you take the case if you hadn't insisted - I told you it was too soon after Uther . . ."

"My father shouldn't effect my ability to do my job."

"Yes, his death should. You're human Arthur, you're allowed to grieve."

"So then let me deal with on my own terms. I'm better when I'm distracted."

"O.k. just remember that you're not superman, as much as you like to think you can, you can't do everything by yourself . . . Just . . . Promise me you'll take care of yourself, o.k.?"

"I promise, anyway, this case seems to be turning out to be quite the conundrum, and you know how I love a good mystery - who knows, maybe solving it will prove . . . therapeutic."

"I hope so."

"Bye Leon."

"I'll talk to you soon, bye Arthur."

Arthur took the phone away from his ear and stared at it unseeingly for a few moments as his mind ran over the conversation with Leon. The monotonous drone of the dial tone was little more than a faint buzz in the quiet of the entryway in which he stood.

"You know, generally when someone finishes a phone call, they put the receiver down. After all, that does seem preferable to just staring at it as if you're not entirely sure what it's for."

Turning sharply in the direction of the unexpected voice Arthur's eyes met with and amused Merlin, leaning against the front door of the pub with his arms crossed loosely over his chest.

"Merlin."

"Oh, so you remember me at least - I was starting to get a bit worried you'd contracted some kind of memory-afflicting illness with the way you were just staring off into space."

"How long have you been stood there?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Both Merlin's face and voice oozed mischievous teasing but Arthur was in no mood for games, after a moment Merlin seemed to pick up on this . His smile dropped along with his arms and he stood up straight from his casual slouched position before speaking again.

"Not long. Only came in about two minutes or so ago - just long enough to see you making zombie eyes at the phone. So you can relax o.k. the details of your confidential business call remain unknown. Happy now?

Arthur could only nod.

"Great, well I don't know about you but I could use a drink - in fact it's pretty much a requirement for coming here to see Gwaine."

With that Merlin brushed past Arthur and walked through the door leading into the bar, leaving the blonde to swallow his worry that Merlin may have overheard anything exchanged during the phone call and trail after the raven haired boy.

The second they entered the main bar area, the gentle, comfortable hums of chatter stopped immediately as all eyes in the room turned their way. 'Great here we go again' thought Arthur. He was beginning to wonder what it was about the people in this town that made them react to him as if he'd walked in covered in the blood of their children . . . except, now he realized . . . they weren't looking at him, not this time, this time the looks of suspicion, fear and . . . horror? Were directed solely at Merlin.

Merlin was obviously well aware that it was his presence that had caused the sudden silence, he seemed to steel himself before making his way over to the bar and Gwaine.

TBC.

A/N: Thanks for reading! All reviews are greatly appreciated! J