I couldn't have been out for very long, because it was still raining when I opened my eyes again, and Emrys was just pulling me into a sitting position against one of the portico's columns.

"There you are," he said cheerily. "Welcome back! That was quite a bolt of lightning, if I do say so myself, and I'm something of an expert." He winked.

"Thank the gods," Ken's voice said from nearby. "Caley, are you all right?"

I turned my head to the right slowly - my neck felt stiff and horrid - and saw him with his hands pressed against the invisible barrier that prevented him from passing through the front door. Above me, there came a weird grinding of stone as the gargoyle atop the portico once more settled into its crouch with its wrists resting across its knees.

Its right hand, I noticed, was missing, and the stump of its wrist looked melted. I'd have to get that fixed. Or fix it myself with magic.

"I..." My voice broke when I tried to speak. My throat felt raw. "I th-think so..."

The chill of the rain was starting to sink into me again, making me shiver and setting my teeth to chattering a little. Emrys made a flourishing gesture with his hands and a waterproof cloak appeared out of thin air, which he draped over me. "There now. Have a good look."

He helped me shift, and I saw Ariana standing over von Einhardt's blackened remains, the flames just succumbing to the rain and smoldering pitifully.

"D-did I do that?" I asked, feeling as dazed as I probably sounded.

"You did, Caley," Ken replied. "I'm very proud of you."

He was proud that I had killed a man. No, that wasn't right...he was proud that when push came to shove, I had been able to follow his teachings and defend myself. With a little help.

I reached up and touched the portico's column, feeling a wave of affection and relief from the Hall as I did so. I patted the pillar gently and murmured, "Thank you."

I closed my eyes for a moment as my arm dropped to my lap again. Aside from various aches and pains, the only thing I felt was exhausted relief that it was over. There was no room in me at that moment for regret or remorse, no disgust with myself at having taken a human life. Just relief. I wondered what that said about me, then decided to table that line of thought until I'd had some rest.

The crunch of boots on gravel made me open my eyes again, just in time for Ariana to crouch down in front of me. She held out her hands cupped around something, and when I held mine out, she gently deposited Sparkle's limp little body in them. As I cradled her in my hands, her eyes fluttered open and she looked up at me, blinking dazedly. "Caley? Is it over? Did I get him?"

Ariana chuckled softly and hunkered down beside us in the rain, smiling. "It's over, Sparkle…and Caley got him. She got him good."

Running footsteps made us all turn and look up to see D.T., in full police foul-weather regalia, sprinting down the drive toward us. She skidded to a halt on the gravel and stared at the Bentley and the still-smoking corpse beside it, then slowly walked the rest of the way to us, eyeing Ariana and Emrys warily. "I got a call from someone named Ken who said I had to get here ASAP. The front gate is a disaster…I couldn't even pull my car in. What the hell happened, and who are these two?"

I smiled tiredly. "Constable D.T. Burroughs, meet Ariana Pendragon and Emrys Hawkins."

Ariana rose and offered a hand. "Constable."

"Pendragon?" D.T. asked, shaking her hand uncertainly. "Like…"

Ariana glanced at me.

I smiled. "She's been read in, as the saying goes."

"Like King Arthur, yes," Ariana said. "My father."

D.T. nodded dazedly, then looked at Emrys. "Emrys." She narrowed her eyes. "Like M- "

He held up a warning finger. "Don't say it. Yes, precisely."

Ariana snickered.

"It's a perfectly good pseudonym!" Emrys protested, then gestured at D.T.. "She's at least part Welsh, I can hear it in her accent, and you told her who you are. It's not fair!"

Sparkle giggled, which started me giggling, and in a moment all of us were laughing…D.T. included.

D.T. sobered first, turning to look at the remains of von Einhardt and the black Bentley. "Well," she said, "this needs to get swept under the rug double-quick. I know a guy who knows a guy who can deal with the car…"

"I'll take care of the human remains," Emrys said, rising. "If you'll take Caley inside?"

"Help me up," I said.

Ariana and D.T. got me by the elbows and helped me to my feet. I wavered a bit as the world wobbled, and my head and ribs throbbed unpleasantly.

Sparkle made an unhappy sound. "I'm too tired to heal you, Caley, but as soon as I've rested a bit I can."

They kept me steady to the door, where Ken was now waiting with a stack of large bath towels. "I've laid a fire in the kitchen, and have a kettle on." He took the cloak and wrapped one of the towels around my shoulders as I came in, deftly wrapping Sparkle in a little hand towel before offering a second bath sheet to Ariana, who took it and began toweling her hair.

"Thank you," I said softly to him.

He shook his head, visibly frustrated. "When you needed me, I was unable to come to your aid."

"But you did," I replied firmly. "You brought help. And without your training, I wouldn't have been able to do any of what I did today. It may have been a near thing, but I was able to defend the Hall today, and that's down to what you taught me."

The tension and distress on his face melted away as I spoke, and he smiled a little. "You're welcome, Caley."

D.T. had stayed just outside the door, staring in at the impossible foyer beyond. I smiled. "Come in, D.T., and get dried off and warmed up."

She did, slowly, as if she expected the room - or maybe the whole Hall - to vanish in a puff of illogic. Then she jumped a little as Ken drifted over and offered her a towel.

He smiled. "Ken, Caretaker of Oakwood Hall, at your service. Thank you for taking my call, and thank you for coming."

D.T. stared at him for a long moment…then poked a finger into his chest, exactly the same way I had when I met him.

He sighed. Ariana laughed and Sparkle giggled. I just smiled and said, "Yes, he's a ghost."

"Basically," Ken added.

D.T. stared at him for a moment longer, then thrust her fists in the air with a cheer of, "Yes! Ghosts are real!" She did a little dance, then started shedding her rain gear, which Ken collected and hung on a coat tree by the door as she dried herself off.

Ten minutes later, Emrys had joined us and we were sitting around the small kitchen table by the fireplace, which D.T. was still glancing admiringly at every so often. We all had mugs of steaming tea, and had put a serious dent in a plate of sandwiches that Ken had delivered to the table.

Sparkle was sprawled on a plate that had briefly contained a half-dozen chocolate chip cookies. She had immediately devoured three of them before connecting herself to the Master Key and doing something that had healed most of my injuries. I still felt tired and achy, but my ribs, throat, and head no longer hurt, and all of the tiny cuts I'd had from splinters of wood and steel were gone.

Emrys had been very impressed. Sparkle had promptly returned to the plate to devour the other three cookies before sprawling out.

"So," D.T. said, "let me see if I have this straight. After we chased him out of the pub last night, von Einhardt came here and knocked on the wards, had an unidentified associate of his summon a giant boar to batter down the front gates, and then rolled up in his now-damaged but still stupidly expensive classic Bentley a few hours later to demand entry."

I nodded and sipped my tea. "Right so far."

"Ken," D.T. continued, "who cannot leave the Hall…" She glanced at him for confirmation, and when he nodded regretfully she resumed, "called Ariana and myself for help, while von Einhardt beat the stuffing out of you." She nodded to me.

I grimaced. "I did my best, but he was at least eight times my age. I'm pretty sure I didn't stand any kind of chance, and he was just toying with me."

"Quite likely," Emrys said, and plucked a third sandwich from the pile.

Ariana rolled her eyes. "You keep eating like that, and I'll be rolling you from place to place."

"I'm a growing boy," he protested.

"Yeah, about that…" D.T. said, diverted.

Emrys sighed. "Look, every so often I retreat to a safe place to rest and regenerate. I age just like everybody else, but I can reverse it with a few months of meditation. Well…this time I really got into the meditation, and stayed in it too long. Woke up as a teenager. It sucks. But in a couple more years I'll be completely legal again and done with all the hormones."

"Until then, he's a menace," Ariana said without any malice, then reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Gerrof!" He said around a mouthful of sandwich, swatting at her hand.

D.T. rolled her eyes and forced herself back on topic. "Anyway…with the Hall's help, Caley caused von Einhardt to do a very creditable impersonation of a charcoal briquette, and we all arrived too late to do anything except help with the cleanup."

"That's the long and short of it," I said with a nod. I had carefully left out the revelation about von Einhardt being my great-great-grandfather. It wasn't something any of them needed to know…though I suspected Emrys - and maybe Ariana - already did. They'd both had that look about them as I was explaining what happened that said they knew I was leaving something out.

They hadn't pushed, thank goodness. I needed a lot more time to process the information before I talked to anyone about it.

Emrys said something that sounded like "Brf bddy," then put a hand over his mouth and held up one finger as Ariana made a disgusted face. He finished chewing, swallowed, and said, "The body has been removed from the premises and dealt with. There are no traces of von Einhardt for anyone to find, except his really quite lovely old Bentley."

"If we can get what's left of the front gate removed," D.T. said, "I'll get the car towed to the nearest impound, and it'll disappear in a couple of days."

Ariana gave her a long look. "That's an interesting thing for a police constable to offer."

D.T. smirked. "I'm the Oakwood constable. Things are weird here."

"And we mostly like it that way," I said, reaching over and patting her hand on the table. "Thanks, D.T.."

She smiled. "No charge, Caley. It won't be the first time a piece of potentially troublesome or embarrassing evidence has disappeared from impound or an evidence locker." She frowned. "Which…honestly, says something not very good about the police." She sighed. "Still, at least it's for a good cause this time." She looked at Ariana. "Anyway, I may not be a constable for much longer. They stuck me out here because I've been on the fence about the job. Might as well use up the favors I'm owed while I can."

"Ah," Ariana nodded. "I understand that. I've gone through phases where I couldn't stand my work." She smiled a little. "Stick with it, if you can…protecting people is a difficult line of work, but a rewarding one. Especially if you can stay here in Oakwood."

"Anyway," Emrys said, "with a bit of repair work, that Bentley is still a lovely old automobile. Shame to dispose of it."

Ariana turned a very serious stare on him. "What happens when the ICOA finally decide to make proper contact with Caley and discover the vehicle on the grounds?"

Emrys shifted and looked embarrassed. "Ah. Yes, well…clearly I didn't think that one through." He sighed. "Constable Burroughs, don't trouble yourself on this matter. I'll deal with the vehicle shortly, and there will be no trace of it left to find. Terrible shame to remove such a classic from the world, but…" He trailed off mid-sentence and frowned. "Bother. It occurs to me that someone like von Einhardt may have…excuse me." He rose and hurried out of the kitchen.

The rest of us, as one, turned our gazes on Ariana, who shrugged. "Just because I've been working with him on and off for centuries doesn't mean I understand him any better. Not only does he rarely share what's actually going on in his head, I'm not entirely certain he's completely sane to begin with. He'll tell us what occurred to him in due time…or won't, as he will."

D.T. looked uneasy. "I'm not comfortable with that thought."

"Nor am I," Ken admitted.

Ariana sighed and wrapped her hands around her tea mug. "You get used to it. He means well."

We sat in silence for a moment before D.T. said, "If you don't mind my asking, what do you two do?"

Ariana smiled. "We travel. There are a lot of supernatural threats in the world…monsters, demons, spellcasters who manage to fly under the ICOA's radar…when they become problems, we deal with them. As many as we can, at least. I'm sure there's plenty more that we don't manage to deal with, and people we never even know are in danger, but we do what we can. It keeps me going, and puts a positive spin on a curse that might otherwise have driven me mad." She idly patted the hilt of her sheathed sword, which leaned against the table beside her.

Then she gestured over her shoulder at the door. "And I try to keep that one out of trouble."

From somewhere outside, there was a loud bang and the sound of a teenager swearing in Welsh.

Ariana pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed heavily. Then she stood up, collected her sword, murmured, "Excuse me," and left the kitchen.

D.T. looked at me, then up at Ken, then stared down at her mug. "I feel like I should be running one or both of them into the station for something, but I can't imagine what."

Ken chuckled softly. "From some of the stories I've heard, I believe that's a normal police response to them. But they seem to do a lot of good in the world."

I smiled at D.T.. "You said you were looking for a bit of weirdness in your life."

"You, Sparkle, Ken and Oakwood Hall would've been quite sufficient, thank you," she said, then drained the remains of her tea. "I'd best get back to work. Obviously I can't file any of this officially, but I'm glad you called anyway. Even if I didn't get here in time to help in any meaningful way."

"You came," I said, "and helped pick up the pieces. That's a lot in my book."

She smiled and rose…and to my surprise, Sparkle picked herself up and flitted up onto D.T.'s shoulder to whisper in her ear. D.T. looked shocked for a moment, then blushed and cleared her throat. "Yes, well…thank you, Sparkle."

Sparkle flitted back down to the table and curtsied, smiling impishly.

"Do I want to know?" I asked.

D.T. shook her head. "Probably not." She hesitated. "Are you sure you don't want me to run you to the hospital to get checked over? If you hit your head…"

"I used the…the…" Sparkle made a frustrated noise and looked at Ken.

"Sympathetic link," Ken offered.

She nodded. "Yeah, that. I used that through Caley's collar to heal her once I was rested."

"Fairies recover stamina faster than humans," Ken said.

"We have very fast meh…mehbat…" Sparkle stumbled over the word.

I smiled. "Metabolisms?"

"Yeah!" Sparkle said, and sat back down on her empty plate.

D.T. chuckled. "All right, then. See you soon?" She asked me.

"I don't know that I'll be up to jogging for a few days," I said, "even with Sparkle's healing. And there's work to be done getting new gates installed, modern security, I have to figure out how to repair the wards…"

D.T. nodded, and I thought she looked a bit disappointed.

"Why don't you come by for breakfast tomorrow morning?" I asked. "Ken always serves more than I can possibly eat, even with Sparkle's help. Half-past seven?"

D.T.'s smile returned. "That sounds great. I'll see you then."

Ken drifted after her. "I'll see you out, Constable."

"Please," she said as they left the kitchen together, "call me D.T.. What are you made of, exactly?"

Ken chuckled and closed the door behind them.

Comfortable silence settled over the room, and I sipped my tea, ignoring my aches and pains in the secure knowledge that they'd be gone before too much longer. I glanced down at Sparkle, who was watching me, and smiled. "Told her I might be interested, did you?"

Sparkle's impish smile brought out adorable dimples. "Maybe." She drew out the end of the first syllable, then giggled.

"Convenient, that," I said. Well, there'd be time enough to figure it out now.

At which point it really sank in that von Einhardt was no longer a looming shadow on my horizon. Undoubtedly, the ICOA would come looking for him at some point…either following his trail, or to formally make contact with the new Guardian of Oakwood Hall. But I would deal with that when it happened, and there was nothing that said I'd have to let them in.

There was the lingering question of von Einhardt's mystery associate, who'd summoned the boar…but somehow I didn't think I had much to fear from that one with von Einhardt himself gone. Heck, I didn't even know if they actually existed. Von Einhardt might've made it up to cover his own exhaustion, and that was why he'd toyed with me rather than just turning me into a smear on the front door.

If he'd really been that powerful in the first place. Who knew how many lies he'd told me.

I sighed. Too many unknowns. At some point, perhaps I'd find a way to separate the truth from falsehoods. For now, the important thing was that the man was no longer a danger to me, to Sparkle, or to the Hall.

Still, it would be wise to keep my eyes and ears open. And maybe see what - if anything - I could learn about my father's ancestry.

Ken came back in then. "Emrys would like to raise new gates for the Hall before he and Ariana leave, and asks that you assist with that before you collapse. He can't help with the wards, but just closing the wall would go a long way towards restoring the Hall's security."

"That," I said as I pushed myself to my feet, "sounds like an excellent idea."

The gates that Emrys and I transfigured out of the remains of the old ones - and some materials that Emrys summoned from somewhere - were more elegant than what had been there, with swirling abstract designs running between the vertical bars. The oak leaf and ivy crest in the center of the gates now had a stylized phoenix rising behind them, its wings spread protectively.

After that, Ariana and Emrys departed, promising to visit whenever they had time. Sparkle led me to our bedroom, and we collapsed into bed together. Once again, I was asleep almost before my head hit the pillows.

This time there were no threats looming. With Sparkle there to keep the nightmares away, nothing disturbed my sleep.