H ello Frances dear." Morgan had let herself into
the loft. "Killer, you are such a good boy." She
let the exuberant dog wag his tail in greeting until she
was sure it would fall off as she scratched behind his
ears. "Such a good boy you are, guarding the loft from
all the bad guys."
"The mutt sleeps most of the day." Frances said.
"If anyone guards anything, it's that stupid cat."
Ty, who had been sleeping on a cross beam in the
ceiling stood up and stretched. First his front legs,
followed by a back stretch and arch finalizing in rear
legs and tail. It was a ritual he loved. His days of
guarding Frances were over and he was glad. The man
never shut up. He was constantly trying out spells in
an attempt to get out of the cage. At first it was
amusing, but after awhile it was like the buzzing of
bees, annoying to the tenth power. He jumped onto the
cage setting it rocking wildly before daintily landing
on the kitchen counter. "Meroww." He said and butted
his head against Morgan's hand.
360 Magical Moonlight
"You are such a bad boy." Morgan laughed. "I'm
taking your prey with me, my furry little friend." She
unhooked the birdcage from the ceiling. "I'm taking
you to Victoria. I'd let you out Frances, but after what
you were up to, I really can't take the chance."
"Morgan, you can let me out of here and make me
large again. You know my powers have been reduced
if not taken away. I'm your relative for crap's sake."
"Yes you are dear and you were going to attempt
to destroy my son. So I'm not really inclined to give in
to your pleas. In fact, if I was given the choice, you'd
be setting up camp in one of the out villages on one of
the planets in the next universe." She chuckled.
"Unfortunately my sister objected."
"You're a very hard woman. I can't believe you
told my mother about this." Frances said. "Liam, well,
I wouldn't have killed him."
"We'll never know how far you'd have gone, now
will we." Morgan said pulling a cover over the
birdcage. "If I were you, I'd keep quiet until we reach
your home. If I hear one word from you, I'll truly
make you into a bird, perhaps one of those nasty little
green ones." She glanced around to make sure
everything was in place. Killer looked somehow guilty
sitting where he was in the bedroom doorway. "Killer,
what are you up to?" Morgan asked. "You look guilty
about something." She walked across the hardwood
toward the dog that lay down with his front paws over
his eyes. "Don't hide from me Killer, I know you're
up to something."
ER Bryant 361
Morgan had to step over the dog in order to get
into the bedroom. She stood still looking around,
nothing seemed out of order. Killer crawled along the
floor until his nose rested on her foot. "What is it?"
she asked the dog. And then she saw it. The tell tale
glow in a dark recess near the head of the bed. "Oh
my gawd." She picked up the amulet. "Liam, when
did the amulet find you?" she asked out loud. The
black jade was warm in her hand, she could feel the
pulse of the heart of thing and she knew it would be
matched to her son. Yet the amulet was supposed to
belong to Aiden. Everyone knew that.
"Killer I wish you could talk. I'd sure like to
know when this happened. Morgan placed the amulet
under the pillow she knew was Liam's. "This is an
interesting development."
She leaned down and patted the dog. "Thank you
for letting me know. I'm sure it was hard for you to do
this to Liam." She patted his head again and Killer
whined softly. "But you have to understand. Liam
didn't find the amulet. The amulet found Liam." She'd
known immediately that Liam was linked with the
amulet. It had his aura all over it.
"We need to let the amulet do its work in bringing
Liam and Aiden together. I'm sure that's what's
happening." Though Morgan wasn't sure. The amulet
had never been out of the Mac Ruaidhri Clan's line,
yet here it was apparently linked closely to Liam.
She picked up the cage and making sure the
animals were inside the loft, Morgan left. She was still
working out what she was going to do about Frances.
362 Magical Moonlight
And the first thing was to get the little rotter out of the
loft.
Not too far away, Aiden read a report he'd
received from the legal department at his firm. He'd
asked them to have one of their investigators look up
Ashley Hicks. He hadn't trusted him from the moment
he'd first met him. And he especially didn't like the
way Liam seemed pulled in each time he heard the
banjo player's music. Considering he wasn't Wahjee,
Aiden ruled out magic.
According to the investigators preliminary check,
Ashley Hicks was a student on a full music
scholarship. His parents had both died in a fire a
month before he'd graduated from high school. The
fire investigation had shown arson and while the
house was insured, as were the lives of the parents, the
insurance companies were still looking into it.
So if all goes well, little Ashley Hicks will be
rather wealthy. Aiden pondered the idea. Maybe he
should look into the fire and also find out some
information on Hicks' parents. He'd ask legal to check
into their background as well.
He was startled when Daniel walked into his
office. "Hey Aiden." He threw himself into a chair.
"The door was closed. When a door is closed it
means you either knock, or you stay the fuck out of
the room." Aiden glared, closing the file folder in
front of him and carefully placing it in his bottom
drawer.
"Aiden, I think that as your friend, your best
friend since high school," Daniel began, ignoring
ER Bryant 363
Aiden's previous words. "That you need to stop doing
what you're doing and get your life back. It isn't right,
what's happening."
"Danny, I don't have any fucking idea what
you're talking about." Aiden stood up. "I have a
meeting in five minutes. I'll talk to you later."
"But that's just it, you won't talk to me. You say
you will, but you won't."
"You need to get a life Danny. I know you and
the boyfriend aren't a couple anymore, but you need
to find yourself someone."
"That's just it Aiden. It's always been you and me
against the world. Since Liam came along, you've
forgotten your family, your friends. You've forgotten
what we mean to each other."
"I remember everything Danny. I know vividly
what you and the family think about me and what I
want and need. And I know what Liam knows about
me. See there's a difference. He knows me Danny,
knows me and he has since the first night we were
together."
"Fuck Aiden, what does he know? He's just a
damn twink who doesn't know enough to go home.
He's using you. He should have damn well died. At
least you'd have gotten over it." Daniel's last words
faded and he found himself face down on the floor of
something that was rocking wildly. He thought it was
an earthquake and looked for Aiden, only to find
himself in a strangely round tent that reminded him of
a birdcage, staring into a face that looked a lot like an
older Liam.
364 Magical Moonlight
"Welcome to my world." Frances said with a
giggle.
"Where am I?" Daniel stammered, holding on to a
support wire in his rounded prison.
"Beats me." Frances grinned. He wasn't going to
make things easy for the human. He was Wahjee after
all. The stink of fear permeated the birdcage. "What
were you doing last?"
"I, I was talking to my friend, Aiden, in his office.
Am I dead? Was there an earthquake?" Daniel looked
around. "This place, it smells like my mom's old
canary cage."
"Interesting that you'd know what a canary cage
smells like." Frances snorted "And to think that until
now, I managed to go without that knowledge."
Morgan felt the added weight and smelled the
slight smell of ozone when Daniel had appeared. She
knew that it wasn't going to be something good.
Cautiously she peeked under the cage cover. It was
Aiden's friend that had been slung into the cage. She
pulled her car over and jumped out. She didn't need to
be overheard when she called the handsome boyfriend
of her son.
"Aiden, it's Morgan Taylor." Morgan began.
"You didn't happen to have zapped your friend in
with Frances did you?" she tried to smile, but it wasn't
showing in her voice.
"Shit, I'm sorry Morgan, he just pissed me off
and I reacted. I know better." He paused. "How did
you find out?"
ER Bryant 365
"I'm taking Frances to Victoria, I thought you
knew."
"Shit," he repeated. "I'll zap him out of there.
Sorry."
"I suggest you do so quickly. He is chatting with
Frances."
"I'll do it. And Morgan, thanks for the warning. I
don't suppose you can keep this quiet can you. Liam
will never let me forget."
These words made Morgan smile. Aiden did care
about what Liam thought. "I always found dear, that
keeping secrets never works out. I'd suggest you tell
him when you get a chance."
"Point taken. Thanks." Aiden hung up, sighed and
leaned back in his chair before concentrating and
zapping Daniel back to where he'd been sitting.
"Daniel, I don't want to hear you say shit like that
again. Liam is important to me and if you want to stay
my friend, you'll remember that fact." Aiden carried
on as if nothing had happened.
Daniel, sprawled on the chair he'd been sitting
on, looked around Aiden's office, terrified. He jumped
up and turned around, his voice squealing deep inside
of him like some kind of wild teakettle boiling on the
stovetop.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Aiden asked,
doing his best to look concerned. "Are you having
some kind of seizure?"
"I was in a birdcage." Daniel began. "With, with
that cousin of Liam's."
366 Magical Moonlight
"Daniel, when was this? Last night? This
morning?" Aiden's voice was soothing.
"NO, NOW, I WAS IN A BIRDCAGE AND IT
WAS MOVING AND LIAM'S COUSIN WAS
THERE AND IT SMELLED LIKE MOM'S OLD
CANARY CAGE."
"Jesus, when you flip out, you don't fool around."
Aiden got up and went to his friend. "Maybe you've
been staying up too late getting the comic book store
off the ground. Do you want me to call Rick or
someone to come and get you?"
Daniel shut his eyes and allowed himself to be
steered back to the chair he'd been in. He sat down
gingerly; his ass still ached where he'd landed on the
floor of the birdcage. "I was there Aiden, it really
happened."
"Daniel, you've been in my office for the last
fifteen minutes ranting about my boyfriend."
The word boyfriend was enough to distract
Daniel. "You don't do boyfriends." He began.
"Actually I apparently do." Aiden was satisfied
he'd changed the subject. "Liam is my boyfriend,
though I do think that since I'm long out of high
school, another descriptive word could be found.
Though I'm not sure I like partner; it sounds rather
business like, and what I have with Liam is much
more fun that business." He grinned at his friend.
"But he's so much younger than you are." Daniel
began again, all thoughts of birdcages faded from his
mind. "He's a kid, for gawd sake."
ER Bryant 367
"He's mine." Aiden's words were final. He
walked around his desk and sat back down. "I'd
suggest you remember that Danny." The warning
again was made very clear.
When Daniel finally left, Aiden sat back in his
chair and closed his eyes. He never used magic for
just the reason that had happened. He'd learned at a
very early age that he was more powerful than most
Wahjee and the forces he could summon to do his
bidding were potent.
Daniel headed to the diner when he left Aiden's
office. He was still shaken from his daymare, as he
was beginning to call what had happened to him.
Bulge loomed ahead so he stopped in to see Evan. His
friend was always cheerful and full of life.
"Hey Daniel." Evan cooed as he gave him a brief
kiss before hanging up something bright and purple
with red streaks. "My, don't you look a fright. Sit
down and take a load off, Evan is here and willing to
listen."
"I just saw Aiden." Daniel began. "He says Liam
is his boyfriend."
"Interesting, but old news." Evan picked up
another shirt to hang, this one see through and bright
orange.
"He doesn't do boyfriends." Daniel grumbled.
"That's because he never found anyone
interesting enough to be his boyfriend." Evan grinned.
"Though there were plenty in the wings waiting, moi
included." He pointed to himself. "Ah well, a gay boy
can but dream."
368 Magical Moonlight
"I was in a birdcage." Daniel blurted out. "With
Liam's cousin."
"Oh, really?" Evan looked at Daniel and shook
his head. "Dear, you shouldn't do drugs from someone
you don't know. You just don't know what's in that
shit."
"I didn't." Daniel looked gloomy. "I was in
Aiden's office and we were talking and the next thing
I know I'm lying on the floor of a stinking bird cage
and then I'm back in the office."
"Sounds like some bad acid to me." Evan shook
his head. "I heard there was some going around, but I
didn't think you actually took acid. Who knew you
were so daring." He smiled and patted Daniel's
shoulder.
"It fucking happened." Daniel's voice had taken
on an air of desperation.
"Of course it did." Evan gave his friend a hug and
rolled his eyes. "Now why don't you go to the diner
and get yourself a nice cup of tea. I'll stop in on my
break and we'll talk."
"Okay." Daniel stood up and headed out the door.
"It did happen." He mumbled to himself.
By the time Evan was able to break away from
Bulge, Daniel was in full voice at the diner. He
walked in to hear. "And I was in this giant birdcage
with Liam's cousin. He was all covered in feathers. I
could feel the cage swinging; it was almost like being
on a ride at the carnival. And then the next thing I
know I'm back in Aiden's office on the chair." He
paused for breath.
ER Bryant 369
"Hi Bobby, I see Daniel is telling you about his
little adventure." Evan pushed into the booth beside
his friend. "Lisa." He smiled up at the waitress who
was looking at her son with concern.
"Daniel honey, maybe you should take some time
off." She began. "You've been working too hard." She
felt his forehead.
"Boys." Aiden said as he strolled through the
door. "Lisa." He kissed her cheek. "Move Danny, I
want to sit on the inside."
"Why do you always have to sit there?" Daniel
whined like he always did.
"Because I've been sitting there for sixteen years,
why change a good thing?" Aiden drawled, settling
himself. "The usual Lisa." He ordered.
"Aiden, did you notice anything unusual when
Daniel was in your office?" she asked.
"Other than he had a spaz attack, no." Aiden
leaned forward. "And you have to admit guys, that
isn't unusual." He chuckled.
"This isn't funny Aiden. It really happened."
Daniel looked on the verge of tears.
"Of course it did Danny." Aiden patted his hand.
"Now can we get some lunch here? I don't have all
day." He was sure Liam would never let him live this
day down and wondered just how long the news of
Danny's visit with Frances would take to reach his
lover's ears.
