“Good evening, Allison.”
I smiled, the image of him playing the little instrument at odds with his hulking figure. Aodhan was the son of an Irish chieftain. During our time together he’d told me a few stories of the battles he’d fought and also his love for music.
“Is Liam inside?” I asked, nodding toward the door that led into the house.
He sighed and ran a hand over his buzzed head. “Yes. Diarmuid and Eithne are here.”
“Diarmuid’s here? What’s going on?” Diarmuid was Niamh’s adviser, like a second in command. He was keeping watch over the portal to Tír na n’Óg in Wheelwright while she was away. He was bonded to Eithne, a healer and former handmaiden of Aoife. I’d met them a couple times when my mother was missing. They were the only Danaan’s I knew who were bonded for love.
“Nothing much,” Aodhan said, eyeing the door again. “Diarmuid is giving Niamh an update from the guards in Thunder Bay.”
“All right,” I said, trying to think how I should ask my next question. “Something happened tonight. I need to tell you about it, but I don’t want anyone else to hear.”
He frowned, but gestured for me to follow as he led me out of the garage and down toward the street.
“So, while I was working, Deaghlan came into the store.”
He stopped walking and raised his brows.
“You know how he is around me.” I laughed nervously. “Well, this was worse than usual. He was glamoured to look like Ethan.”
Aodhan pressed his lips together and put both of his hands on his head before he began walking again.
“But he let his glamour down, let you know it was really him while he was there?”
“Yeah. I guess I should’ve known it wasn’t Ethan, since he was smiling at me.”
He glanced at me, a deep furrow in his brow. “I don’t know how to make him understand there are things going on here more important than his amusement.”
“The thing that’s really bothering me is that I thought I could see through glamour. Couldn’t Aoife be hiding in plain sight, glamoured to look like my grandmother or something?”
He stared straight ahead as he marched up the sidewalk. It was hard to see his face in the dark, although anger poured off of him in waves.
“I know this isn’t what you want to hear,” he said, his voice low. “But, you can’t trust anyone. You’re right, Aoife could be anywhere. You’ll see glamour if you’re looking for it. But you always have to pay attention. Look twice at your friends. Don’t take anything for granted.”
“Allison?”
I spun around to find Liam walking behind us, concern etched on his forehead.
“I saw your vehicle in the drive. Is everything all right?”
“Um, yeah. I just needed someone to talk to in private. But I want you to know, too.” I told him about Deaghlan.
“Aodhan’s right,” he said, looking down at the street as he passed a hand through his hair. “When I was catching up to you I heard him say you mustn't trust anyone. Not for now, at least.”
An uneasy routine formed in my life over the next week. School began again, I ran just about every morning, and worked a few times at the store. I saw Liam nearly every day, but we didn’t make any plans to find Aoife. He told me only one of Niamh’s guards was back in place in Thunder Bay watching for Aoife. We were pretty much stuck doing nothing until we knew what we were dealing with.
Friday afternoon I came home from classes and grabbed the mail. Inside was an invitation to the engagement party for Nicole and Jeff the following weekend. Operation Bride was on. Being the quintessential Italian family, the Magliaros were having the party at Angela’s Ristorante, which belonged to Jeff and Ethan’s Uncle Al.
When I brought the mail into the house, the rich scent of barbecue sauce hit me. My grandmother made the most delicious pulled pork in the entire world.
“I smell heaven,” I said as I dropped the stack of mail onto the sideboard. Gram smiled over her shoulder from where she washed her hands at the sink.
“There’s my Allie-girl. How was school?”
“Not too bad,” I said as I followed the sweet smell into the kitchen. Gram had her big crockpot out, filled to the brim with pork, which meant we were having company.
“Are we having a party?” I asked, breathing deep.
“Aunt Jessie and Uncle David and Nicole and Jeff will be eating with us. Kind of a mini-engagement party.”
It smells great,” I said, kissing Gram on the cheek before retreating to my room to start my homework.
It seemed like I had just sat down when I heard the door close and muffled voices came from the front hall. I finished up my Statistics homework and put my books away in my backpack.