The Devil in the Crossroads
“Why, Rune? Why, why, why?” Charlie half-dragged her onto the sidewalk in front of the cathedral. “Why would you do that? I just tore her heart out, and then you went and had to make it worse. What did you say to her?”
“I only told her that I was sorry for what had happened.”
Rune blinked innocently at him, but he knew she wasn’t entirely innocent. He didn’t understand her sometimes. Was it jealousy? He loved being wanted by two women, but he had no desire to be fought over if it meant one of them having hard feelings toward him. He didn’t have to be loved by everyone, but he didn’t want to be hated by anyone. It seemed that Rune was determined to let Lilah know of her existence, even before he had to, to drive Lilah away. Almost as if Rune were laying claim to him, even before he had decided to be claimed. Was Rune really that naive, or was it a cruel streak in her that he had missed somehow? Had he been blind to something in Rune because she’d needed him so badly?
“I’m sorry, Charlie. I did something wrong, didn’t I?”
He shook his head. He had never met anyone quite like Rune. There was a raw innocence about her, and it did seem to be more innocence than simplicity. She was a kind-hearted person, sweet and loving, and completely devoted to him. Maybe she had tried so hard to let everyone know her existence because she was insecure. That he could understand. Or maybe it was because of past abuses by the men in her life. That, he could understand, too. That’s why she needed his help so badly.
The mist in the air was fast turning to real raindrops. A few of the droplets had clung to his hair, weighing it down until it drooped into his line of sight. He brushed it back with one hand, spreading the dampness evenly as a dollop of curls clumped together on his forehead. He glanced up and down the sidewalk.
“We can’t stay here,” he told Rune. Between Marco and the Daeganeans, he wasn’t sure which scared him more. “We’ve got to find a safer place. The key. You still have it? My new passport and credit cards are back at the safe house. That’s our best bet. Too far to go back to the hotel, and I’m not sure if the old passport is still usable.”
Nike had shown up on time with the artifact and with supplies, including a change of clothes. Then he’d done exactly as he’d promised Rune and made sure the safe house was empty for the afternoon so that she, using the key he’d given her, could extract the artifact. He’d been an idiot though and had been in such a hurry to distract Lilah with a sightseeing tour of Dublin that he’d left the safe house without pocketing his new passport and credit cards. He could’ve taken them when Nike and Illyria were waiting for him, but he’d been too befuddled to think of them. Later, at the courtyard, he’d asked Rune to grab his identification packet from where he’d left it on the table, but in her quick effort to extract the canvas bag with the authenticated Lost Teachings inside, she’d forgotten the second item she was supposed to retrieve.
Rune reached into her pocket and brought out the ornate key with the runic fob. Smirking, she dropped it into his open palm.
“My Charlie, do you think it’s safe to go back there?”
He sighed. “No, but all of my stuff is there and back in our hotel room. Either I go back to the safe house for my passport or back to the hotel for my old one. I don’t have a choice other than that.”
She made a face. “The passport at the hotel isn’t even real.”
“Rune, please stop snooping. You know I don’t like that.”
She shrugged. “As a woman, it’s my right to go through your phone, your luggage, your—”
“No, it is not your right. I don’t care what has happened to you in the past that makes you believe that. I need some privacy.”
Lilah had given him privacy, and he’d never even had to ask. Of course, she could empath all his secrets, but it wasn’t the same as intentionally spying on him.
“If you don’t have anything to hide, then—”
“I have a lot to hide, and it’s mostly because of you. But I’m not hiding anything from you. Rune, please respect my privacy for a change. I don’t like it when you hack into my social media accounts or go through my luggage or listen to my voicemail.”
She hung her head as if she had been lectured by her first-grade teacher. “Sorry, Sweet Charlie. It’s my job to watch out for you. Make sure you’re okay. Make sure you’re not hanging around the wrong people.”
Charlie almost laughed. Both Lilah and Rune thought each other was the “wrong people.”
“We need to find a low-key place to hang out before you meet your brother. Get off the streets and out of sight.”
Rune nodded. “There’s a coffee shop around the corner. We can go there.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the cathedral door. The last thing he needed was for Lilah to come outside and walk up on the two of them standing there with the artifact literally on Rune’s back in a canvas bag.
Or, God forbid, if Nike caught them there. That woman was ruthless.
Besides being caught with The Lost Teachings, he didn’t want to prolong Lilah’s pain. He wouldn’t be sharing a room with Lilah tonight anyway. He would probably never share a bed with her again, maybe not even air. He felt terrible about what he had done to her. He wasn’t through his crossroads yet, and there was still time to turn back, though his perception of dead-center of the crossroads kept moving. Every second put him farther away from Lilah and closer to Rune.
The crossroads is moving with me?
On the other hand, once he had had a chance to look at the artifact and Rune had a chance to hand it over to her brother, maybe Rune would be free then. She wouldn’t need him anymore, and she wouldn’t really care anymore.
Rune wove her fingers through his and pulled him forward. “This way,” she said.
He stumbled after her. Life had been a nightmare lately. If only he could wake up and know that it wasn’t real, that he had put his head down in the library and fallen asleep there and dreamed all of this and that he would open his eyes and Lilah would be there to scold him for sleeping on the job. Not something he normally did, but then, neither was this.
The coffee shop Rune had in mind was a two-story glass storefront with adequate table space on the lower floor in front of a counter, two refrigerated shelves of soft drinks and water, and a narrow staircase that led both downstairs, presumably to restrooms, and upstairs to a narrow balcony level of four tables, none of which were occupied.
Rune turned to him with her hand out. “I haven’t eaten all day. Is it okay if I get a cup of coffee and a pastry?”
His heart sank. Of course, Rune would have to ask for money from him, just as she had to ask for money from her brother. She had nothing. Nothing but him.
He dug into his pocket for coins and handed her a fistful of euros, saving the paper money he had left for emergencies. “Get whatever you want,” he whispered in her ear. “I can’t have you being hungry.”
“Would you like something, too?”
“No, but you go ahead. I’ll wait for you upstairs.” He glanced out the glass windows at the sidewalk and hoped that Lilah hadn’t followed them. Then he thought better of it. “Actually, Rune, why don’t you give me the bag, and I’ll meet you upstairs.”
She paused for a moment, almost as if she didn’t trust him, and then she shook it off. “Sure, honey, I’ll be right up. Save me a seat.” She smiled and blew him a kiss as she walked toward the counter. Her steps were springier than before. He didn’t have to be an empath to see the happiness in her that signaled all her dreams were coming true.
Charlie picked the table in the farthest corner of the balcony area. If he couldn’t see the sidewalk, then probably no one there could see him. It seemed safe enough for the moment. He placed the canvas bag on top of the table and pulled out the familiar symbol-encrusted satchel.
All Charlie needed was a few minutes with it. Someplace quiet. If Rune could grant him that, then maybe there was still a chance he could improve his future. Hers, too. And Lilah’s.
The first time he had removed The Lost Teachings of Dead Monks from the satchel, the book had been wrapped in cloth and encased in a plastic wrapper. This time, the contents were also encased in plastic. Thicker than before. He felt through the fabric to what felt like bubble wrap around something hard.
“What are you doing?” Rune hissed from half-way up the staircase to the second floor of the coffee shop.
Charlie froze. It wasn’t as if he had done anything wrong. Well, other than steal a very valuable and dangerous artifact and be a horrible person to the woman he had only days ago planned to marry, but nothing that he had done wrong to Rune.
He waited for her to climb the stairs and join him at the table in the corner of the loft area. Rune carefully set down her paper cup full of steaming coffee. She placed her butterscotch pastry and napkins beside the cup and stood over him.
“I’m making sure it really is The Lost Teachings of Dead Monks, Rune. It would be a shame if we went to all this effort for nothing.”
“As long as you weren’t looking at it without me.”
The unusual harshness in her voice had softened but the paranoia was still there. He frowned. He’d done nothing to her to deserve that.
He stopped suddenly. “I need a favor.”
“Anything for you, my sweetheart.”
“Rune, I need five or ten minutes with this book. I need… please understand… I need to make something happen for me, and this book is the only way I know of to do it. I need to fix some things.”
“Like what?”
There it was again. Suspicion in her voice. Her eyes, narrow.
“I don’t want to leave things bad between Lilah and me.” Before Rune could protest, he added, “And I don’t want Dr. St. Augustine to fire me.”
“I don’t want your employer to fire you either.”
“Could you grant me a few minutes to try and make that happen?”
He didn’t know how to ask her to walk away from him for that long, to not stare at him while he tried to meditate his world into a better place, one where Lilah still cared about him, but understood and forgave and was still his friend if not wife. He couldn’t imagine losing Lilah, even if he was throwing away everything they had. When he was with Rune, he wanted to be with Rune, and when he was with Lilah, he wanted to be with Lilah. If there was some way to have both in his life, he wanted it. As long as neither was mad at him.
“That’s insulting to me.” Rune’s jaws tightened enough that her voice barely managed to escape her lips.
“What is?”
“You want to use the magic in this book to get Lilah back, don’t you? She’s the one you want to be with.”
“I want to be with you, Rune.” He snickered, then smiled broadly and kissed her forehead. “I think I’ve proven that to you, but I need for things to be okay with Lilah and with my boss. If it’s not okay with either of them, then whatever you and I decide to do will be that much harder. I would have to rethink my livelihood.”
“You mean you might not be involved with your Dr. St. Augustine’s library?”
“Librarian jobs aren’t that plentiful, Rune, and if I get fired, then my career may be over.”
“You would lose access to the library in Florida?”
“As an employee, yes. Probably as a patron, knowing Dr. St. Augustine and how protective she is of Lilah. I might go to jail for what I’ve done, too.”
Rune eyed him warily. “Okay, Charlie, if you say so.” Then she nodded. “You’re right. You’re right, my sweetheart. You’re always right.”
He laughed under his breath. That was something he never heard Lilah say to him, but Rune said it all the time. He liked that she said it, too, even if it wasn’t true. He loved the way Rune doted on him and made him feel special.
“Have you called your brother since you left the safe house?”
She shook her head. “Let’s take a look at the book first. Then I’ll take it to meet him. You can stay here.”
“You will come back, won’t you?” He swallowed the rising fear. If he lost everything else and still saved Rune from her brother, it would all have been worth it.
“I hate it when you doubt me. It makes me feel awful. As if you don’t trust me.”
He sighed. “I trust you. Why wouldn’t I?”
Maybe he shouldn’t, but his gut told him such a naïve and loving woman couldn’t be pretending. The person he didn’t trust was Marco. Somehow, Charlie wondered, once Marco had the artifact, would Rune really be free? Would he be free? Or would Marco be greedy enough to insist on attaching his sister to him, to Charlie, so that there would always be one more book to be filched from the library?
Would The Lost Teachings be their escape from Marco? That, more than anything, was what Charlie needed to meditate on. Not that Lilah would be forgiving or that Dr. St. Augustine would be understanding, or even that Rune would be free of her brother, but that he himself would be free of Marco. That there would be a way out of all the mistakes that he had made in the last three months.
Charlie tried to tear into the thick plastic but no joy. Rune tried on the other end of the package using her obscenely long nails to dig into the plastic, but still it didn’t give.
“I have an idea.” Rune half-tiptoed, half-ran down the steps to the first floor and returned with a sharp knife. She sliced into the empty part of the wrapper, fast enough that Charlie cringed. Maybe to her, it was just an artifact worth money, but to him, as a librarian, he was still concerned for the condition of the book.
“We should wash our hands,” he suggested with reverence.
She licked confectioner’s sugar from one knuckle and set down the knife. “Mine are clean enough.”
“No, I mean, really, we should.”
Rune rolled her eyes at him. She had never done that before until today.
“Charlie, it’s not going back to the university, and it’s not going to be sold at some highfalutin auction. This old book is now for private use, and a smudge won’t hurt it.”
He started to argue with her, but as she ripped the plastic wrapping, the next tuft inside wasn’t plastic wrapper but bubble wrap.
“Here, I’ll get it.” He motioned her out of the way and cut the plastic sheath the length of the package. He pulled out the rectangular object inside, wrapped in bubble wrap and strapping tape, that he never could have torn through. Using the borrowed knife, he sliced through the tape on both ends, then peeled off the triple wrap of protective covering.
The object inside wasn’t a book but instead a plaque from a gift store near the remains of the Scholar’s Library. The plaque was made of heavy wood with a Celtic cross carved into it and two words. One was the word hope and the other was in Irish Gaelic; it was probably a translation.
“Shit!” The coffee cup next to Rune’s hand hit the wall with enough force to flatten the cup. Brown liquid splattered in a circle around the spot where the cup had hit. Rune whirled on him, teeth bared, bottom jaw jutting out.
Charlie pushed backward. His chair squawked against the floor. He’d never seen Rune angry before. Below the balcony, several new customers looked up, concerned.
“Damn her to hell!” Rune grabbed the plaque with both hands and turned to hurl it at the wall, but Charlie wrested it away from her.
“Rune! Calm down!” He knew better than to tell an upset woman to calm down, but he couldn’t help himself.
“I will not! Do you have any idea what she’s done?”
“Shh. Rune, please. We can’t afford to call attention to ourselves.”
Why was she yelling? And so loud? Hell, he was upset, too, but he wasn’t losing his shit in public.
He grabbed her hands and drew them to his lips. “It’s okay. It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”
“That bitch—”
“Stop. Just stop. You can’t blame Lilah for this.”
“Like hell, I can’t!”
Charlie felt the stares of other patrons below. He’d never heard a profane word from Rune, other than “Fuck me, daddy.”
“You all right up here?” The coffee shop manager stood at the top of the stairs and narrowed his eyes at Charlie as if Charlie were somehow to blame.
“Fine,” Charlie called over Rune’s shoulder as he pulled her to him. “We just got bad news. That’s all.”
The man twisted his jaw to one side as if the gesture would help him determine the truth. He sized them both up as Charlie rocked Rune in his arms. She was still stiff to Charlie’s touch, but the manager was satisfied enough to go downstairs until he saw the brown spiral of coffee on his white wall.
“Somebody’ll be sorry for that.”
Charlie nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
“No, I think ye’ll be leaving. Now.”
Charlie gathered the plaque, satchel, and wrappings and crammed them into the canvas bag. He started to clean up the trail of sugar from the pastry and napkins and pick up the knife, but the manager shook his head and pointed down the stairs. Rune crammed the napkin-wrapped pastry into the bag and glared back at the manager.
“Go. And don’t ye be coming back here.”
Charlie had to guide Rune by the forearm, tugging her after him down the steps, one at a time. She said nothing. He could tell she was still seething. He pulled her onto the sidewalk outside where the rain had started again.
On the sidewalk was the last place he wanted to be. He didn’t want Lilah to see him—and he wasn’t sure what would happen if Rune saw Lilah. His not-so-natural redhead certainly had more fire in her than just in bed.
What if she really did attack Lilah? He forced the thought out of his head. Lilah was a trained warrior and could take care of herself. It had been so much easier to believe that Lilah had been surprised by Rune’s intrusion and gone on the offensive. Until now.
Halfway down the block was a bank building with a large, covered entrance where several other people had ducked inside to wait out the rain. Charlie pointed, and Rune sullenly walked beside him toward it. He was willing to run or at least try to shield her from the elements, but she seemed determined to get wet. By the time he had her under the cover of the stone archway, her mascara had drizzled down both of her cheeks. The bruise on the left side of her face was no longer as angry looking as it had been a few days earlier but red splotches on her face made it look fresh. No wonder the coffee shop manager had glared at him. He probably thought Charlie was the deliverer of that evil blow.
“Where to now?” Rune asked. Her bottom lip trembled, but he didn’t know if it was in anger or frustration.
“I’m not sure. We need to find your brother.”
She winced. “No! It’s all lost, Charlie. Everything. He will kill me. Don’t you understand? You’ve got to talk to Lilah and find out where that book is. It’s my only hope.”
Talk to Lilah? No, they were done talking. Rune had seen to that with her need to rub her victory in Lilah’s face. Lilah would never speak to him again. Not unless he could steal a few minutes with the book all to himself and set things right.
Rune was correct: all was lost.
“She won’t talk to me now. I don’t think she has the book anyway. Maybe the blondes. Or that Raven dude.”
“We have to get that book, Charlie. Whatever it takes.”
“Look, let’s go see Marco. I’ll take the blame for everything.”
“He’ll kill you.” She grabbed his face and held him still as her eyes searched his. All the anger had dissipated. “You’ve been so good to me. I can’t let anything happen to you. You’re my champion, Charlie. You’re my everything.”
Guilt pulled at him like quicksand. How did he ever get into a situation where anything he did would mean letting someone down? He was the one who always helped, who found the harmony for everyone. Now, instead of being a peacemaker, he was the cause of so much hurt.
“Let’s think this through. Lilah and I were to pick up the book from the senator and take it to the Scholar’s Library to our contact there, that Raven guy. Raven was to authenticate it, and apparently he took it elsewhere, so it wasn’t destroyed when the library ex—” He swallowed the word; he didn’t want to send Rune into a crying jag over her sister-in-law. “When the library building was destroyed. The original plan was that he would authenticate it and deliver it to us at the Cliffs of Moher, and then Lilah and I would courier it back to Florida to deliver to Dr. St. Augustine.”
“All that’s changed.”
“Maybe not. Lilah’s still headed to the Cliffs of Moher. To meet someone. Why would she go there if not for The Lost Teachings? One of those blonde priestesses said she’s going back without me. Lilah doesn’t trust me anymore.”
“If she’s going to the Cliffs, then maybe we can catch up with her there.”
Rune clenched her fists, and that worried Charlie. Better he tried again than let Rune confront Lilah.
“Okay, I’ll talk to her.”
He pulled out his phone and then thought better of it. He’d seen the look on Lilah’s face, the hurt that went all the way to the bone. He would never forget the pain in her eyes. She wouldn’t talk to him now even if she could find her voice. He’d hurt her, and she’d been hurt so many times that she was a walking, open wound. A wound still bleeding.
Every time she’d lost at love had cut just a little bit deeper, and there was no way she’d walk away unaffected. Worse, she was likely to have a relapse to those days when she’d called herself a monster undeserving of love. He’d not only chosen someone else over her—for reasons that even he didn’t understand—but he’d not been able to be honest with Lilah about his confusion until he was too far gone and no longer had any idea of how to fix it.
Except for some kind of magic book that was supposed to ensure the reader got what he… What? What the reader wanted? What the reader deserved? What the reader was most certain would be the future? The sixteenth-century monks had believed it after centuries of positive attitudes turned negative. They’d watched their world fall apart, and their fears come true.
And then there was the senator, a buddy of a damned Daeganean priest. The senator had been an honorable man, compassionate and positive, and able to make a tremendous difference in the world.
Charlie wasn’t like that. He was more like the unintentionally self-destructive monks. Charlie wasn’t as confident as the senator had been and certainly wasn’t on good terms with any long-haired Daeganean priests. Or black-and-pearl-wearing priestesses. What he needed was—
“Emry.”
His witch friend. She wasn’t a priestess of Daegan but maybe a High Priestess of The Morrigan would be powerful enough. He’d asked her once why she hadn’t picked a goddess from her own heritage, but she’d said The Morrigan, a Celtic death goddess, had chosen her and not the other way around.
He swiped through his phone until he found her avatar and thumbed the button, motioning with the other hand for Rune to keep quiet.
Emry answered on the second ring. “Charlie? Dark Mother! What have you done?”
Charlie snickered nervously. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what have you done? I’m not judging you, but do you have any idea how badly you’re fucking up?”
Uh-oh. The only person who could unnerve him more than Lilah and her empathic spying was Emry and her psychic eavesdropping. Judging or not, was Emry upset with him, too? Was anyone happy with his existence right now?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I, uh, I had an argument with Lilah.”
“I know.”
“She called you?” Already?
“No. I was meditating and saw you dancing with a devil in that crossroads you’re always talking about, and then you walked off into the sunset with stolen treasure. Please tell me I took one too many allergy pills and have been hallucinating.”
Again, Charlie snickered. “I think I shouldn’t have told you I felt like I was in a crossroads. You’re letting your imagination run away with you.”
“I still see you at… Charlie? Are you married?”
“No!” He almost shouted into the phone. It hadn’t come to that yet. Not quite. He could still walk away. Maybe walk away to jump off a cliff, but he could still walk away. If he could get hold of the book…
“What I’m seeing concerns me. You’re in deep poop, dude.”
Jesus. Between Emry’s psychic spying and Lilah’s unintentional antennae that picked up every emotion he had, no wonder he felt like building a wall around himself to keep everyone out. He loved working for the library, but all the psychics, empaths, priests, witches, and other weirdos he dealt with every day didn’t exactly lend to a normal life.
Was that really the life he’d wanted? That’s what had been bothering him the more he got to know Rune. Nothing would ever be normal with Lilah. Nothing he ever did would be enough for her to see him the way he wanted to be seen and love him the way he wanted to be loved. With Rune, it was all so simple.
He just didn’t want Lilah angry at him. He didn’t want her to hurt.
But he wanted out.
Out of everything.
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