Gifted Thief (Highland Magic #1)(66)

‘I wouldn’t worry about it, Lex. I don’t think there’s anyone except the Bull and me who can see it.’

She pouted. ‘That’s two people too many.’

‘What am I?’

I turned to Speck. ‘Dark blue. And Brochan is…’

He held up his hands. ‘I don’t want to know.’ He paused. ‘Tegs, have you thought about how you came to have this Gift?’

I frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s a bit of a coincidence, isn’t it? You take the Bull’s true name and now you have the same Gift as him?’

‘I’ve never heard of that happening,’ I said slowly. ‘But it does seem to make a kind of sense.’

‘Let’s face it, you could write down everything all four of us know about the Sidhe and it probably wouldn’t fit on the back of a stamp. Maybe it’s not just the true names that have power. Maybe if give away your true name, you also give away part of that power.’

‘I’m sure the Bull would have realised if his Gift had been diminished.’ I nibbled my lip. ‘What happened with Bob…’ My voice trailed away.

Speck scratched his chin. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Teleportation. It wasn’t until after Bob had teleported me to the Bull that I could suddenly teleport myself. And others, too. The Bull seemed to think it was strange that I could bring him along with me.’

‘You think you absorbed some of the genie’s magic too?’ Lexie’s eyes were round. ‘That’s so cool!’

Speck nodded. ‘Osmosis.’ When he received a funny look from Lexie, he scowled at her. ‘What? Just because I paid attention in school when you were too busy partying…’ She thumped him and he let out a small screech. ‘Stop doing that! You know I don’t respond well to pain.’

Brochan gazed at the pair of them with an expression of long-standing sufferance. Then he turned back to me. ‘Maybe the Gift you received is one of learning. You learn what other people can do.’ He drew in a breath. ‘It would make you incredibly powerful, Tegs.’

‘I can think of a few Sidhe who wouldn’t be very happy about that.’ I shrugged. ‘I didn’t learn pyrokinesis, and those fireballs were flung at me after I received my true name.’

‘That was immediately afterwards. Maybe you weren’t ready.’

I shrugged. ‘Unless someone else uses their Gift on me, it’s not a theory we can test. I’m certainly not about to ask for anything else from Bob.’

Lexie gasped. ‘What if you caught wish-granting from him?’

‘You make it sound like a disease,’ I grunted. ‘And I don’t think that would be possible. Wishes are specific to genies. Teleportation, however…’

‘Hello darlings!’ Bob sang. ‘My ears were burning so I knew you were talking about me.’

I stared at him suspiciously while Brochan sneezed. ‘Why did it take you so long to get here?’

‘I was in the library doing some research.’ He reached up to the tips of his ears; tiny flickers of flame were dancing around them. ‘Scorchio!’ he hissed.

‘Your ears are burning,’ Speck said in wonder.

Bob threw him a scathing look. ‘I already said that.’

We glanced at each other. ‘Ear we go,’ I grinned.

Everyone groaned. Bob settled down on the back of a chair and pulled off his shoes. He started to examine his toes, picking out miniscule bits of fluff.

Lexie turned away. ‘That’s disgusting.’

‘You’d probably like to know what I discovered in the library,’ he said, holding up a greenish ball to the light before chucking it over his shoulder with a shrug. Speck jumped back about a metre.

No-one said anything. ‘Oh come on,’ Bob complained. ‘Aren’t you going to ask me?’

I exchanged a look with Brochan. ‘Go on then,’ I said finally. ‘What did you find out?’

‘Well,’ he huffed, ‘if you don’t want to know…’

I rolled my eyes. ‘I do.’ It was probably some pointless fact about genies’ feet, which was why we were being subjected to this display of toe picking.

‘To all intents and purposes,’ Bob declared, ‘the Adair Clan doesn’t exist.’ He pulled his socks and shoes back on and stood up, looking around as if he were expecting applause.

‘We know that,’ I told him. ‘It’s hardly news.’

‘You misunderstand me. There’s no record of the Adairs. Some books have pages ripped out of them. Others just have a blank space. I am certain that you could scour every piece of paper in that place and you wouldn’t find a single mention of them. Isn’t that curious?’

I paused. ‘They’re being wiped from history.’ I licked my lips. ‘I’m being wiped from history.’

Brochan pursed his lips. ‘Very few cultures do that. Most prefer to remember their mistakes so they don’t repeat them.’ He gestured towards me. ‘And the Adair Clan is, in effect, still here. Erasing you doesn’t make sense.’

‘Why would someone do that?’

‘Because in a generation or two, it’ll be like they never existed,’ Speck answered.