CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Sam

It had been a long night, and since everyone else had no idea how to help, they'd all headed to bed at around one. While the three of us had been running on coffee and frozen burritos since two… And we looked it.

Zak, Brian and I were all sitting at the coffee table now. Zak, was sitting on the edge of the couch, dark circles under his eyes, in need of a shave and seemed to be desperately trying to hide how tired he actually was. I watched as he blinked and shook his head quickly, pushed his sleeves back up to his elbows and then continued studying the array he and Brian had been modifying.

Brian, still cross-legged at the head of the coffee table, looked only slightly better. Though I'm pretty sure that was because he'd let his glamour drop completely during the night, took too much energy to keep it up apparently. But it was pretty cool because, well, it was a glamour! I mean, that was shit you only read about in fantasy novels. And judging by how Zak's eyes almost popped out of his skull, I'd say it was safe to say that he'd never seen it before and was just as curious as me.

The glamour drop was also cool because we got a better look at what he really looked like. His face looked almost exactly like his glamour, but without the five o'clock shadow, and was just too gorgeous to be human. His shoulder length hair was still a dirty blonde, but instead of just the simple half up / half down, there were two small Dutch braids on either side which joined together in the back. His skin was still lightly tanned, but gave off a golden sheen under the lights, eyes were still amber but pupilless and his ears were sharply pointed. The thing that was really interesting though was his clothing. I'd expected his skin and hair would change, but he was wearing something completely different. He had a beautifully woven gold torque with dragon heads at the two points. His clothes were surprisingly simple for a Fae royal, I had expected pretty, flowing robes, but no. He was wearing a poorly fitting long sleeved linen shirt underneath a forest green tunic, decorated at the neck, short sleeves and hem with interwoven golden leaves that was cinched at the waist by a wide leather belt which had an ornately carved, wood handled knife hanging on his left hip and two small pouches on the right. To complete the ensemble, he had soft, deer-hide leggings and rough cut, but sturdy looking, black leather boots. Honestly, he looked like every drawing of Ancient Britons I'd ever seen. He was also really proud of the outfit because he'd made everything but the boots and belt, by himself.

Fortunately, his personality hadn't changed with his outfit and he was currently mumbling to himself as he crossed out another word from the incantation he'd been working on.

And then there was me… I could taste my breath, I wanted to rub my eye-balls out and most definitely needed a shower, sitting cross legged on the floor across from Zak and studying what felt like the mythic equivalent of a freshman English text book. I felt like a kid who was trying to fit in at the grown up's table. Probably because I'd been relegated to the 'study – table' almost immediately after Zak had finished handing out assignments, while he and Brian had spent most of the night working on modifying the array that, lest we forget, I had found.

At least that's what I assumed they were doing… I didn't really know because at least eighty percent of the time they were communicating telepathically, with the occasional insult or expletive thrown out, my favorite being when Brian told Zak to 'stop being a shit', and a lot of frustrated noises was about all that I'd heard. But I was definitely going to bug Brian about why he'd called Zak a shit.

I had been called from the study table exactly three times in the whole night. The first was to give my opinion on whether or not they should incorporate a devil's trap from our world, the second was to help solve a puzzle they thought might be useful ( it wasn't ) and the third time was about two hours ago when Zak called me over for a fucking pop-quiz. Which I apparently passed because I got a "nice" from Brian and no nod of dismissal from Zak, which I took as an invite to join the big kid's table. So, here I am.

Zak flopped back against the couch with a sigh, making me look up from the, oh so riveting, paragraph on 'negotiation etiquette and techniques', then carefully picked up the paper that he'd tossed on the paper strewn coffee table. It was the newest version of the array with, what I guessed, were a few more runes from the Spoken, squeezed into the inner circle.

"Well?"

"Huh?" I looked up from the array.

"What do you think?" Zak said to the ceiling, eyes closed, hand squeezing his temples.

"Heh, well… I don't know anything about these Spoken runes," I rotated the array to get a better look at the outer circle, "but, I do know that anything like this would be more likely to succeed if we had her blood or hair, or even a fingernail, to seal it." I pursed my lips and shook my head as I slid the paper back across the table.

Zak gave a tired smirk and leaned forward to rest his forearms on his thighs, "Yeah, you're right…" he sighed and raked his hair.

A reluctant sigh came from Brian, and made the both of us look over. Slowly, he put his pen down and with a look of resignation, reached into one of the leather pouches on his right hip.

Zak's eyes narrowed as he watched Brian and I had a feeling we were about to get another surprise.

"Perhaps this will help…" Brian said softly, and with a slight shake to his hand, placed a lock of silver hair, braided and interwoven with green and gold fibers, gently on the table. His hand hovered over the lock for a second and a shimmer of gold passed over the lock.

"A preservation spell?" Zak arched an eyebrow and grabbed the braid to examine it.

"I'm gonna assume that's Cethlenn's hair?" I nodded to Zak and the braid he was scrutinizing. "Where'd you even get that?"

"It is, and…" Brian cleared his throat and picked his pen back up, "she gave it to me." He answered casually and went back to his notes.

"What?", my eyebrows shot up in disbelief and I took a quick look at Zak, who looked just as confused as me, then back to Brian.

That just didn't make any sense… Making sure you kept all your body parts and fluids to yourself was a general safety rule if you practiced magic. And to give it as a gift? No way. Not even white magic practitioners would just 'give away' organic material. The chances of it ending up in a blood spell were just too high.

"And why," Zak canted his head and glared suspiciously at Brian, "pray tell, would a Dark Fae Goddess, do something so incredibly stupid?"

Brian bit his lower lip and raised his head to look at Zak, "We were all young once, child…" he answered somberly, his demeanor changing from twenty year old guy to ancient Fae, "and the rules of magic were still being written."

"Still being written?" My eyes widened in surprise and my brain couldn't seem to process what he'd just said and by the look on Zak's face, he was short – circuiting too.

Magic was, well, magic. It had always been there, the rules clear. Mostly. The idea that magic had had to be discovered was a thought that had never crossed my mind. Added to the revelation that the rules were discovered / written by Fae teenagers, brought home how inconceivably ancient Brian really was… An easy thing to forget when I'd seen him beat Ezra and Aaron at Mario Kart then told them, and I quote: "Suck it bitches." "So, what you're saying is, she didn't know it was stupid, because blood magic didn't exist yet?" I ventured.

"Oh, it existed, we just didn't know what to do with it. Or what could be done, for that matter."

"Ah, got it."

At this point, Zak regained the power of speech, "So," he twirled the braid between his thumb and forefinger, "why did you wait until now to tell us you had this?" he asked in a tone that was a lot calmer than I'd expected, considering Brian had, yet again, kept crucial information from us.

"It is truly a last resort." He dropped his gaze back to the table and shook his head, "Blood magic is the most vile type of magic," he raised his eyes and nodded at me, "it's one of the reasons your dimension is filled with such repulsive monsters."

I frowned, "Hadn't considered that…"

"I also have a modicum of honor left within me. This," he nodded to the braid Zak was still holding, "is a desperate cheat."

Zak brushed his knuckles against the scruff on his jaw and set the braid back on the table, "You know she won't show you any mercy, right?"

"I do." Brian let out a huge sigh and frowned, then turned his attention back to Zak, "the blood magic is a necessary evil. I accept that, and will do what needs to be done." His face twisted in disgust, "However vile it may be…" He canted his head, "The good thing is she won't be expecting it."

"How do you mean?" I asked.

He looked between the both of us, "Cethlenn knows my feelings toward blood magic," he stated, talking to the table again, "her obsession with it and her general disdain for humans were the main reasons we…" he trailed off.

"Broke up?" I offered.

For a second, he looked at me with a slightly irritated side-eye, then cleared his throat and continued, "Yes. She told me I was foolish and weak for not practicing it and that I was wasting my time teaching my Druids. Too stupid to understand magic." He raised his eyes and gave us a sorry smile. "So," he took a deep breath, "when she sees you two," he pointed his forefingers at us, "a simple Druid and a witch…"

My eyebrows shot up, "A witch?" I looked at Zak, who just frowned and shrugged in a "yeah, basically" sort of way.

"Yes, a Druid and a witch as my companions, she will be overly confident."

"Well, then…"

"Morning kids! Breakfast is here!" the screen door slammed shut and Dean walked in with two big to-go bags.

"Yes!" Brian's eyes lit up and he practically jumped Dean; and just like that, the dignified Fae god was gone and the hungry twenty year old was back.

"Mickey-D's hotcakes, sausage, eggs and a shit ton of hash browns all around," Dean smiled and passed the bags off to Brian, who gave a quick look inside, then headed to the dining table. "Oh, and don't worry Zak,"

Zak yawned and raked his hair, then cocked his head as he gave Dean a confused look, "Aaron told me about your mildly-disturbing love affair with syrup, so I made sure the lady gave me extra." He clicked his tongue and gave Zak a playful wink, who's mouth had fallen open slightly and was staring at Dean with a face that had 'angry embarrassment' written all over it. I chuckled, Aaron was gonna get it later.

"Yeah, this is definitely an excessive amount of syrup." Came Brian's voice from the table, and looking like a living anachronism in his non-glamour garb, put two small to-go bags, presumably full of syrup, on the table.

Seconds later, the door popped open, and Aaron and Ezra came strolling in, each carrying a box full of stuff we might need.

"Hey guys!" Aaron flashed us a bright smile as he set down his box in the far corner of the entryway, then with mock seriousness looked at Dean, "Did you get the syrup?"

"All good." Dean nodded and gave a thumbs-up.

Zak's eyes narrowed as he looked between Dean and Aaron. "Christ." He huffed and headed to the dining table. "Sometimes I really miss the solitude…" he muttered and aggressively grabbed a hotcake box, dug a fork and knife out of one of the bags, then stacked five boxes of syrup on the lid.

"Dude," I grimaced as he sat back down on the couch and shoved some of the papers covering the coffee table to the side to make room for his box, "are you gonna drink those?" He glared at me but didn't answer.

"Close," Aaron went on, coming back to stand next to Dean, "no breakfast food is safe." He shook his head and crossed his arms as the both of them looked down at Zak, who was still very focused on his food.

"Good thing we still got plenty of waffles…" Dean grimaced as Zak proceeded to dump three boxes of syrup on everything but the hash browns.

"Yeah, well, at least I don't put pineapple on pizza." Zak clipped and gave Aaron a snarky smile while he stabbed a syrup soaked sausage with his fork."

"He's got a point…" Brian interjected, as he sat at the table, casually munching a hash brown and watching us as if we were a tv show.

Zak threw a hand out to Brian, "See? Thank you." He nodded at Brian.

"Happy to help."

Ezra snickered and headed to the table.

"I put pineapple on my pizza." I pointed out.

"Yeah, and it brings shame to our family." Dean muttered and headed to the table too.

Zak smirked, "Well at least we can agree on that."