I Dream of Dragons (Boston Dragons) (10 page)

Frustrated, Amber raked her fingers through her hair. “I’m sorry.” She lowered her voice. “I need you to be on my side, Ms. Muse. I know you’re into music and Rory is a musical genius or something, but I’m supposed to be learning from you. And here you are enjoying my nemesis.”

“Point taken.” Euterpe strolled into the room and closed the door behind her. “Have a seat. What do you want to learn?”

Amber scowled. “I need to learn how to leave this room undetected and then return with no one the wiser. I have shit to do.”

“I don’t think he’s preventing you from using the bathroom…”

Amber whooshed out a deep breath, realizing the muse might be rather literal. “I meant to say, I have
things
to do.”

The muse smirked. “I knew what you meant.”

Oh, great. A muse with a literal sense of humor. Spare me.

“Let’s take it slow,” Euterpe was saying. “Think of where you want to be, but before you go, make sure no one else is there.”

“My old apartment is where I need to go, and no one else will be there… I’m pretty sure.”

“Until you know how to hover in the ether and check to make sure you’re alone, you’ll need to find a place where you’re guaranteed not to be discovered.”

“How about my walk-in closet?”

“Is anyone apt to be in there?”

Amber was tempted to make a smart remark until she realized that potentially the movers could have arrived, if her neighbor had managed to get them to come instantly. “Let’s call it highly unlikely.”

Euterpe nodded. “In that case I’ll go with you and hold you in the ether until you can check the area without being seen. I can’t stress enough how important it is not to be caught appearing and disappearing.”

Amber nodded. “Okay. How do we do that?”

Euterpe took her hand. “Close your eyes and picture your closet.”

Amber did.

A few moments later, Euterpe said, “Now open your eyes.”

Amber found herself staring at the fluffy blue bathrobe she’d hung on the back of her closet door.

Euterpe dropped her hand. “We’re here. I took a brief look around the place and didn’t see anyone.”

Amber’s mouth had gone dry and she was barely able to speak. “How…how did we—”

“How did we find your tiny closet that you laughingly call a walk-in?”

“Hey, I’ll have you know it’s rare to have more than a tiny closet in Boston apartments.”

“My sisters and I love clothes. We have several walk-in closets all over the world. They’re called retail stores.”

Amber’s jaw dropped. “You steal your clothes?”

Euterpe frowned. “Certainly not. We merely borrow what we need for a few hours and then return them. Haven’t you ever been shopping and had a clerk tell you she had the item you were looking for in your size, only to return from the back room confused, saying she must have been mistaken?”

“Huh. That’s because one of you muses was wearing it?”

“Yes. At least you know you had good taste.” Euterpe pulled out a navy-blue-and-white color-blocked designer dress. “Why did you buy this? It’s the wrong color for you.”

“No, it’s not. It looks fine.”

Euterpe swiveled the hanger so she could see the back. “It might be cute on the right person, but you’re not that person.”

Amber examined the garment. It’s true she didn’t wear that outfit often, but not because it looked bad on her. “Oh, I see. The dress is all right, but the person wearing it is all wrong.”

“Exactly.” Euterpe looked pleased that her charge had understood.

Amber sighed. “Well, if you don’t mind, I’d rather get what I came for. We can dissect my closet another time.”

Euterpe shrugged. “As you wish. I’ll stay here and see if I can find something that will flatter you.”

She’ll see
if
she can find
something?
Amber pushed her way out of her closet in disgust.

Heading to her charging station in the kitchen, she unplugged and wrapped up the cord. Her stomach rumbled. “Christ, I’m starving,” she muttered.

She found one of her reusable grocery bags and opened her fridge.
Let’s see. Yogurt is something I can grab and eat in my room.
She loaded all the yogurts into the bag.

Ah, snacks.
She didn’t eat a lot of junk food, but she had a few packages of chips and pretzels. She wouldn’t even have to leave her room for those.

“Wait a minute,” she said aloud. “I’m supposed to be learning how to travel in the blink of an eye. I ought to be able to pop into restaurants whenever I want to.”

She tossed the snacks into the bag anyway. There was no telling when she might need a midnight snack and wouldn’t want to get dressed and find a restaurant or a convenience store.

Euterpe breezed around the corner with an ivory blouse that Amber didn’t recognize.

“Where did you find that?”

Euterpe held the item up against her. “Lord and Taylor,” she said, then giggled. “See? Even the gods need a tailor.”

Amber rolled her eyes. “Listen, I have a few things to get me by, but I still don’t really know how to pull off that travel trick by myself.”

“I know, and I’ll teach you. I will. But right now we should get back before you’re missed.” She thrust the blouse at Amber. “Try this on.”

“Why?” Amber glanced down at her serviceable gray sweater and blue jeans. “There’s nothing wrong with what I’m wearing.”

Euterpe shook her head. “There’s nothing right with it either.”

“Argh.” Amber swiped the blouse out of Euterpe’s hand and marched to her bathroom. She pulled the sweater over her head and tossed it onto the floor. Then she let the silky cream material float over her head. Her eyes shone in the mirror. She could tell in an instant that she looked better and suddenly felt a surge of confidence. She grabbed her brush and quickly ran it through her hair. Yup. As much as she hated to admit it, Euterpe was right. She looked much better.

Deciding to give the muse the thanks she was due, she strode back toward the bedroom and almost tripped over a suitcase. “Sheesh. Where did that come from?”

“I put it there. You needed a few other necessities, so I packed for you.”

“But how would you know…”

Euterpe tipped her head and smiled at the blouse and its wearer.

Yeah, she probably did know what to pack. Still, there were a few items the muse might miss. “What about my toiletries?”

“I got you all new products. That bargain junk will dry out your hair, and the makeup was about a year old.”

“Oh.” Amber was torn. She didn’t like people making decisions for her, but the muse was probably right—about everything.

“Okay. Well, I guess we can come back later if I need anything else.”

“Sure.” Euterpe looked put out.

“What?”

“You didn’t even say thank you for the blouse. I bought that for you with my own money.”

Amber slapped herself upside the head. “I’m so sorry. I was about to thank you but I got distracted. It’s beautiful. You really do have wonderful taste.”

The muse smiled. “I know, don’t I? You look amazing in it.”

“Thank you.” Amber picked up the suitcase. “Well, let’s get back.”

“Put that down and we’ll go.” Euterpe nodded at the suitcase.

“Put it down? But I need these things. You said so yourself.”

“And how would it look if you walked out of your bedroom with all these new things when fifteen minutes ago you had nothing but your purse and the clothes you were wearing?”

Amber dropped the suitcase on the hardwood floor with a plunk.

“So I should leave this for the movers?”

“No. I’ll leave your apartment and come back with it and your bag of snacks in about three hours. Muse lesson number two…everything needs to look as normal as possible.”

Amber didn’t like it, but she certainly could see the wisdom in not angering the goddess or raising suspicion in others.

“Okay. Sounds like a plan.”

Euterpe grabbed Amber’s hand, and an eye blink later, they were in her empty bedroom.

“Wait! My charger. That’s what I went there for.”

“And you’ll have it in three hours,” Euterpe said.

* * *

Ballyhoo had disappointed the archeologists and they’d finally left the little town. Finn breathed a secret sigh of relief.

On a stool at O’Malley’s, he sipped his Guinness and waited for his friend Patrick. He knew he’d have a hard time convincing Patrick to go to Boston with him, but having company would be so much better—and safer. From what he’d heard, American cities could be unfriendly places and some were downright dangerous.

The door opened and Pat strolled in.

“Paddy, me boy,” Mr. O’Malley called. “Shall I pour you a pint?”

“Do you have to ask?”

“Actually, I do.” He chuckled. “The missus doesn’t want me drinkin’ me mistakes anymore.”

“Where is your lovely wife?”

“She’s at home. Her cousin is visitin’ from America.”

Finn’s ears perked up. “What part of America?”

“Some big city in the middle of the country. Chicago, they call it.”

“Ah.”
’Tis a shame it’s not Boston.

O’Malley dried one of the beer glasses as he talked. “The Yank is doin’ some kind of genealogy trip. Wantin’ to trace her roots and all that…”

As O’Malley droned on, Finn thought about how to propose a trip going the other way. He knew Patrick’s family had been roughly split in two during the famine. Half went to America, and he thought he remembered Pat telling him that many wound up in Boston.

When O’Malley finished his monologue, Finn asked, “Pat, have you ever wondered what happened to your family that went to America?”

His friend considered the question as he took a long swallow of Guinness. “Never much thought about it. I didn’t know ’em. They left a hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a decade.”

“But you must have cousins over there. Perhaps many by now.”

Pat shrugged.

“Well, wouldn’t you like to meet ’em?”

Pat scrunched his forehead and studied his friend. “What are you gettin’ at? I know you well enough to believe you aren’t merely passin’ the time with idle chatter.”

Finn draped an arm casually around Pat’s shoulder. “Ah, it’s probably nuthin’…”

“What’s nuthin? You haven’t said anythin’ of importance yet.”

“Well, I heard on the radio that some big, hotshot businessman from Boston was runnin’ for president over there. I think he had your last name. People were makin’ a big deal of it, sayin’ he’d only be the second Irish Catholic American president, with John Fitzgerald Kennedy bein’ the first.”

“No kiddin’.”

Pat seemed interested. Then he abruptly changed the subject. “Hey, did you find whatever the English bastards were after in those cliffs?”

“Ah, no. And if I had, I wouldn’t have told ’em about it.”

“Good lad,” said a man about four stools down.

Finn peered at the stranger. He’d need to lower his voice. The bar wasn’t busy enough to drown out a private conversation. But whispering would be considered suspicious.

“’Tis too nice a day to sit inside a pub,” Finn said to Pat. “What do you say we find one of those picnic tables out front?” He hopped off his stool. “C’mon, Pat.” He leaned in close. “I have somethin’ to tell you in private.”

Pat swiped his beer off the bar. “Sure’n we can talk to these idjits any time. Let’s go be social with the sun.”

Finn and Patrick settled onto the picnic table and raised their faces to the perfectly blue sky. The warm rays on Finn’s face comforted him and made him feel braver.

“So, you were going to tell me something,” Patrick said.

Finn sighed. It was now or never. “Do you believe in the little people?”

Patrick stared at him. “Little people? What are you talkin’ about? Dwarves?”

“No. I mean the
little
beings of
Ireland
. Leprechauns.”

Patrick raised his brows and then burst out laughing. As his laughter died down, he shook his head at his friend. “Ah, you’re playin’ with me. What’s this really about?”

Finn dropped his head into his hands. “I have to tell someone or I’ll explode. You’re my best mate, Patrick. If I tell you and you don’t believe me, t’will be a shame, but not the end of the world.”

“I’m beginnin’ to worry about you. I think you’d better tell me. I promise, whatever it is, I won’t breathe a word.”

Lowering his voice, Finn leaned in and said, “The leprechauns, they exist! I’ve seen one…maybe two.”

Patrick stared but didn’t tell Finn he was daft. That was a good start.

“It was out by Shannon’s place. I rode out there a few days ago and found the ruin on the cliffs that the traveler said might have been a castle.”

Patrick nodded slowly. “I remember you sayin’ that. Then the archeologists wanted you to go with them and investigate. You said you didn’t find a thing. Just some caves.”

“That’s so they’d give up and go home, which is exactly what they did.”

“What has this to do with leprechauns?”

“That’s where I found one. In a cave with a bloody pot of gold. And I caught him in a lie, which was apparently as good as catchin’ him with me bare hands. He was supposed to give me his gold, only I swapped the gold for information on where to find Shannon. She’s in Boston, like some of your family.”

Patrick groaned.

“Come on. You didn’t expect me to want gold over me own fiancée, did you?”

Patrick clapped his big hand over Finn’s shoulder. “I’ll tell you what I think. I think you’ve been missin’ that girl so much that you’ve finally gone ’round the bend.”

“Feck. That’s what I thought you’d say.”

“Then I didn’t disappoint.”

Finn stewed quietly while Patrick leaned back and let the sun shine on his face.

“I suppose you’ll want to go to Boston…”

“Yes.” He had to convince his friend he wasn’t dotty. “Patrick, I hadn’t planned on tellin’ you the whole of it, but I trust you. I hope that our friendship means enough that you’ll give me the benefit of the doubt before pronouncin’ me a lunatic.”

Patrick sat up and looked Finn in the eye. “I believe
you
believe. Is that all right for a start?”