Carrier of the Mark (22 page)

Áine eyed him suspiciously. “And my shopping?”

Fionn tried to look stern. “Shopping can wait until Sunday. We have far too much to focus on today.” He stared pointedly at her in his rearview mirror.

She smiled sweetly at him. “Righty-o.”

When we pulled into Trinity, Fionn had to give his name to the security guard at the gate. The barrier was lifted and we were waved through. We parked, and I was happy to get out and stretch my legs.

Fionn led us purposefully across the cobbled drive and through the campus. It was beautiful, but the others, who’d all seen it before, continued without a glance. We turned down a little road into a vast square of grass and trees with what looked like a bell tower at the center. The square was surrounded on all sides by impressive stone buildings. Fionn made his way to one of them and approached a door tucked away in a corner. As we got near, a small man with white hair and a beaming smile walked toward us, his arms outstretched.

“Welcome, old friend. It is so good to see you again,” he said, hugging Fionn and straining the seams of his brown tweed suit.

Fionn smiled. “Hugh, it’s good to see you too. Where are Will and M.J.?”

“In the crypt, buried in books. I haven’t been able to get them out of it since we heard the news.”

Hugh turned to us. “You’re all looking so well. And this must be the elusive Megan. My, aren’t you the rare find.” He tipped his head to me. “It’s an honor and a privilege. Welcome.” He took a handkerchief from his breast pocket and dabbed at his shiny pink face as he turned toward the door. “Come, let’s go to the crypt and see if we can prize the others out of there, so we can get some lunch.”

We followed him through the ornate wooden door and into a grand office. He closed the door behind us and locked it. We made our way to the back of the room where Hugh unlocked a small door and held it open for us. Inside, a rickety staircase led down into a storeroom full of old books and broken equipment. Hugh came in behind us and went over to a bookshelf. He pulled back a panel, and turned something. Suddenly one of the old flagstones shifted and revealed a wooden hatch in the floor. Hugh pulled it open and stood back.

“After you.” He indicated the hole in the ground.

He had to be kidding. I wasn’t going down there. But the others started off without hesitating. Adam, sensing my reluctance, went before me, stepping down onto old stone stairs that were very narrow and curved around, so that you couldn’t see the bottom of them. They were lit only with very dim wall lights. Adam was already nearly out of sight, so I scurried to catch up with him and grabbed his hand. There was no way I was letting go of it down here.

Hugh, who was behind me, gasped. I glanced over my shoulder at him and saw his smile had disappeared and his brow was furrowed. Weird.

The farther down we went, the smaller the steps got. They eventually led into a tunnel with an arched stone ceiling. At the end of this tunnel was a big wooden door. Hugh walked past us and knocked on it twice. We heard the sound of a huge metal bolt being pulled back, and the door swung open. It was bright inside and my eyes struggled to adjust to the light.

“Welcome, welcome! Come in,” a voice from inside called to us.

Adam turned and smiled at me. “You ready?”

I was still a bit dubious, but I squeezed his hand. “I think so.”

A tall man with a gray beard walked toward us.

“Fionn, good to see you again so soon.” He shook his hand firmly. “How is my favorite family?”

He smiled around at Adam, Áine, and Rían. He hugged them all individually, stopping to talk briefly with Áine. I looked over for Hugh and noticed that he was standing behind a desk speaking in hushed tones to a rotund man. They each looked from me to Adam. I held Adam’s hand tighter and tried to tuck myself in behind him.

Adam looked at me. “What’s up?”

I pulled him closer so I could speak into his ear. “That Hugh guy keeps looking at me weird.”

Adam glanced over to where Hugh stood, but just then the tall man approached me from the other side.

“And you must be Megan. It is wonderful to meet you. I have so much to ask you.”

Fionn came over. “M.J., I think Megan is a little overwhelmed. You can ask her all the questions you like, but let’s have lunch first and give her a chance to get to know you.”

M.J. was obviously reluctant to wait until after lunch. “I’m sorry, Megan; it’s just that we have so much to learn from you.” M.J. looked over to where Hugh was still talking to the other man. “Will, come over here and meet Megan.”

The fat man with the half-moon glasses stood up. “I’m on my way.” He shuffled over, eyeing Adam’s hand in mine before greeting us. He led us to a huge mahogany table in the center of the room. “Why don’t you all make yourselves comfortable here. We will be ready to go in a few minutes.” With that, he rushed back to Hugh.

The table had ten high-backed chairs around it, made of the same shiny dark wood. We all sat down and M.J. immediately started talking with Fionn. I looked around, drinking in the room.

It was like nothing I had seen before. The arched ceilings were supported by vast stone pillars. The walls on all four sides had floor-to-ceiling bookshelves made of the same dark, glossy wood with ornate carvings. Some of the shelves were behind locked metal grilles. There were six huge chandeliers hanging from the central point of each of the arches. In the back of the room two large desks with green leather tops had been pushed together. Brass lamps with green glass shades illuminated piles of books.

“What is this place?” I whispered to Adam.

“This is the crypt,” he answered.

I looked around nervously. “Does that mean there are bodies buried here?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” he assured me. “It was built as a storage facility and meeting place for the Order of the Mark. This used to be a monastery called All Hallows. It was built on echoed land given by the Order to the All Hallows monks. They protected the crypt and its contents until the monastery fell into disrepair. Then in 1592, when Trinity was founded, the monastery lands were given to the college, but All Hallows ensured that the crypt would be secure. When building commenced on the site, the crypt and sections of the old monastery were hidden beneath the college foundations. The crypt’s existence was wiped from all records. Over the centuries there have been many different keepers of the crypt, all working here in Trinity. Very few people know of its existence, so now you’re part of a privileged group.” He beamed down at me. “Welcome to the club.”

Will and Hugh were leafing through their books on the big desks. Hugh glanced up at me nervously again, but looked away quickly when he saw I was looking at him. He and Will were still in the middle of a heated discussion under their breath.

I leaned into Adam. “Adam, I get the distinct impression that Hugh doesn’t like me.”

He looked up at them suspiciously. “M.J.,” Adam interrupted M.J. and Fionn’s conversation. “What’s up with Will and Hugh? Is there a problem or something?”

M.J. looked over to the two men at the desk. “What are you two fussing about over there? Everyone’s hungry. Let’s go have lunch. We have reservations,” he reminded them.

I couldn’t just sit at the table any longer, so I got up and walked over to a bronze statue that was mounted on a marble pedestal. It was a nude of a rather voluptuous woman.

Adam came up behind me. “It’s funny that you’re drawn to her.” I turned to face him. “That’s Danu, mother of the original Tuatha de Danann.”

I looked back at the bronze and studied her features. “She’s very beautiful. What an amazing history your family has.”

He put his arms around my waist and kissed the top of my head. He leaned his chin on my hair and rested it there. “It’s your history now too.”

“Can we get out of here?”

“Sure. The others can follow us.” Adam took my hand and we started toward the door we had come in through.

Hugh, Will, and M.J. were standing in our way, staring at us.

Adam half smiled at them. “What’s going on?”

Hugh walked to the door and locked it. He turned to face us. “Adam. We need to talk.”

F
ionn stepped up beside us. “Is there a problem?” The three men looked uncomfortable. Hugh’s pink face was now a bright red. He took a step forward with his hands in the air. “We just noticed, er, that Adam seems to have developed a
personal
interest in Megan.” He cleared his throat and pulled at the collar of his shirt. “And it appears the feelings are reciprocated.”

“And?” Fionn inquired impatiently.

Hugh trembled a little. “I’m so sorry, but this cannot be allowed to continue.”

Adam snorted incredulously. “What! What does my relationship with Megan have to do with any of you?”

Will moved beside Hugh, his skin visibly paling. “How long has it been going on?”

Adam laughed. “That is none of your business.”

Hugh peered at Fionn. “Have they been intimate?”

“How would I know?” Fionn said. “What is all this about, M.J.? You had better explain yourself before I take my family and drive out of your lives forever.”

M.J. pointed at Adam and me. “They cannot be together. A physical union between two Marked Ones is completely forbidden. The result of it could be apocalyptic.”

Fionn looked at him scathingly. “So you’re telling me Megan and Adam can’t be together, ever?”

Hugh was visibly worked up. “Don’t underestimate this, Fionn! A physical union between two Marked Ones is unforgivable—the results of such a union are terrifying. Who knows what events—or creatures, for that matter—would follow?”

“Creatures?” Áine’s voice piped up from behind us.

“Yes, creatures. If Adam and Megan were to produce a child, it could spell the end of the world. The strength and power of two such parents would produce something of immense force that could not be controlled.”

A flush of embarrassment passed through me. I couldn’t believe that three strange old men were talking openly about my nonexistent sex life. I’d only known Adam for six weeks—we’d only been together for two! And they were talking about some monster baby that I was destined to produce. Wanting the shadows to swallow me, I tried to hide myself behind Adam.

“I can’t believe you’re spouting this crap!” Adam snorted. “We’re seventeen, for Christ’s sake! Even if any of this rubbish turned out to be true, children aren’t exactly on the agenda right now.”

“Adam, just you two being together when fully evoked will trigger the imbalance,” M.J. said.

“How do you know that?” Adam asked.

“It’s in the Druid Scribes. Transcriptions tell clearly of a fire element and a water element who ignored—”

“Stop right there.” Anger seemed to flare up in Adam. “This is rubbish. Everyone knows the Druid Scribes are full of crap; they’re all fairy stories and folklore.”

“What are the Druid Scribes?” I asked. As mortified as I was, if there was something that held information about my relationship with Adam, I wanted to see it.

“It’s a testament of the Marked history. It’s been passed down through the generations of the Order, with each one adding entries of significance. It’s here, in the crypt,” M.J. said.

“Can I read it?”

“Most of it is written in a druid script, which can only be deciphered with a key. And even the knowledge of
that
has been lost. It’s only been partially transcribed,” Adam said.

“How was the knowledge of the key lost?” I gasped.

“Anú. When she wiped out half the Order she took out the senior transcriber,” Adam explained, rolling his eyes impatiently.

“I need to see it.” I looked back at Adam.

Adam’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t listen to them! This is all rubbish.”

“Adam, even the partially transcribed sections give us enough to know the consequences.” M.J. said, glancing from Adam to me.

“What consequences? What happened?” I asked.

M.J. went to his desk and picked up a vast leather-bound book and flicked through pages until he found what he was looking for. He put the book down on the huge table and tapped wildly at the page. “It was recorded here, in 1303. A male fire element called Áed fell in love with his cousin Bébinn, a water element. The results were dire. Their powers combined—they fed off each other. The Order tried to separate them, but their elements took over. The seas of Northern Europe froze over as the elements played havoc with the climate, and an ice age struck. Áed and Bébinn would not listen—they couldn’t be stopped. The entries recording the phenomenon are difficult to translate, but we’ve been able to capture snapshots.”