“Half-Sidhe, actually. Or maybe more,” Khel said as the brothers sat with jaws hanging open. “I am pretty sure your mother was half Sidhe herself, if not more.

“Ana?” Thea seemed to have kept her voice.

“You know her?” Rai added.

“We’ve met. Tall, strong, whip-smart and beautiful. All words that describe her, wouldn’t you say?”

“No way. She would have told us!” Math argued.

“Are you sure about that? How do your neighbors feel about Sidhe? What do they say around their fireplaces at night?” Ulric asked, resentment clearly seeping through in his voice.

Neither brother answered. The Sidhe steal babies. They drink souls. They haunt forests and caves and prey on lonely travelers and misbehaving children, quenching their thirst with blood. They are beautiful demons. It made a certain sense that a Sidhe would not advertise her presence in a probably hostile crowd.

“I don’t know what to say,” Math said. “I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it. But also believe that your ghost stories are twisted and faded versions of the truth. We – and you – are not horrors in the night. What you saw today, those were horrors in the night. We are the same as other men, just a little more in control of our own destinies.”

Rai sat quietly, digesting. After a moment, he looked at Thea, a worried expression on his face. Thea responded by sliding closer to him. She put her arms around his neck, pulled her mouth close and talked softly into his ear.

Math could barely hear her words over the crackling of the fire. Should he be able to hear them at all? He wondered. Would a normal man be able to hear a whisper across from a crackling fire? He didn’t know.

“Sidhe or no Sidhe, you are my man,” Thea finished.

Rai visibly relaxed as his fiancee whispered and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

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“So what now?” Math asked.

“Now we ask you to help us slay the dragon,” Khel asked.

“The dragon that you don’t know how to slay, or even how to imprison?” Math replied.

“With the key you don’t even know how to use?” Rai added.

“With one scion less than you need?” Thea couldn’t resist joining in.

“That’s right, on all counts,” Khel said with a smile.

Math and Rai looked at each other. Neither could think of anything more to say.

“Let’s get to sleep. Ulric and I will split watches. We’ll talk more in the morning,” Khel said.

“No, we’ll all take a watch,” Rai argued. Math and Thea nodded in agreement.

Precautions arranged, they settled themselves for a night of fitful sleep. Khel and Ulric pulled spare blankets from their pile of camp supplies. The night was fortunately somewhat warm, so they wouldn’t freeze. Rai tossed Math his own blanket as well, letting him have two. He shared a single one with Thea and they used each other for additional warmth.

Math lay under his blanket unable to sleep until Rai tapped him on the shoulder.

“Your turn,” he said.

“Got it. Couldn’t sleep anyways,” Math replied.

“Me neither. This is crazy. What, we’re going to go off on some strange adventure with a couple of strangers claiming to be magical forest people?”

“Definitely crazy. But on the other hand, I’m pretty sure we really did just get attacked by mythical underground monsters. Magical forest people aren’t much more of a stretch,” said Math.

“So what are you thinking? Do we go?” Rai asked.

“I don’t know. Ma is still recovering, and Thea’s got Walter to worry about. I don’t see how we can,” Math said.

“You’re right. I don’t know how we can turn them down, but I don’t know how we can leave town, either. How do we make that choice?” Rai asked.

Math thought for a minute. “Well, if we’re leaving we need to pack, so either way we need to head back to town. And we don’t even know where we’re supposed to go to deal with this key. Let’s get back home and talk to Mom and Walter and decide then.”

“Yeah, that’s a good plan. We’ll think about it later. Ok then, I’m going to try to sleep. Good night.” Rai moved off to Thea’s blanket and climbed under. He wrapped an arm over her and pulled her close. Whether he slept or not, he lay quietly next to her.

Math stayed awake for his shift, pondering the strange news he’d just heard. It was hard to believe but didn’t seem as farfetched as it would have a few weeks ago. He sat still, trying to pull fragments of stories and fairy tales about the Sidhe from the back of his mind and piece them together. The myths ran the gamut between completely ridiculous and possibly true. He suspected the truth was somewhere in between. After a time, he tapped Ulric on the shoulder, waking the man for the next watch. Math climbed under his doubled blankets and eventually sleep overcame his restlessness and he drifted off.