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council members briefly before returning to face Birdie. “We’re contacting you, Birdie, because of the splendid job your granddaughter did in protecting the secret of the Book of Ballymote. We’ll be calling on the Warrior and the Guardian as well.”
    Birdie kept her poker face, but inside, she was screaming. Not a quest right now. Not with her daughter’s hearing so close.
    “I have long known that she was the Seeker of Justice, despite protests of her nomination,” Birdie said.
    Aedon flicked his eyes to the left. To someone offscreen. “Yes, well, she certainly proved she has all the makings of a Seeker, but a true Seeker shall not be declared until he or she has reached full power, and even then, only on the old soil. It isn’t as simple as confirming a Guardian or Warrior. There is much more power at stake where a Seeker is concerned.”
    Birdie shot a fiery look at her old friend. “She was declared, Aedon, months past, for the very task you mentioned not a fairy’s breath ago.”
    “You and I both know that was a desperate, temporary situation. But she can still prove to be the Seeker. All she has to do is recover the cauldron. I understand her birthday is this very day. Has she performed a dedication?”
    “Tonight she will.”
    “Good. And with twenty-nine years of your training, I’m sure, she’s more than prepared. We would like her to leave as soon as possible.” Aedon smiled.
    Birdie didn’t flinch. “She will recover the cauldron, Aedon, on one condition.”
    Aedon looked at Birdie. “We don’t make deals, Birdie.”
    “You will if you want the cauldron back.”
    Aedon sighed. “Always so stubborn. Go on.”
    “Upon its return, you release my daughter and officially coronate my granddaughter as the Seeker of the age.”
    Aedon looked around the table. There seemed to be no objections. “All in favor, say aye.”
    Birdie heard several ayes.
    “Opposed?”
    “Nay.”
    Aedon looked past the screen to someone out of the camera’s eye.
    Birdie didn’t have to see her. She’d know that icy voice anywhere.
    “What is your protest, Tallulah?” Aedon asked.
    “Stacy Justice is no more Seeker than I am Pirate Queen,” Tallulah said.
    That slithering snake.
Birdie cleared her throat. “Aedon, I have the right to face the protestor.”
    Aedon’s mirror shifted, and Tabby’s face came into the camera’s trajectory. She looked like a broken vase glued back together poorly. She was wearing a red satin hat the size of a toboggan.
    “My grandson, too, has all the makings of a Seeker,” Tallulah said. “I assert that he be allowed to search for thetreasure as well. Whoever recovers it first shall be known as the true Seeker.”
    Birdie’s anger took control of her voice. “You’re on, Tabby.”
    Aedon looked at Birdie. “This is unusual, but perhaps an effective strategy.”
    He consulted with the rest of the council, and Birdie saw a sea of heads bob up and down. Her adrenaline had dissipated some, but she didn’t dare waver. She was a Geraghty, after all. And Geraghtys showed no fear.
    As the council agreed that two would be better than one for this mission, and Aedon’s gavel slammed against the oak surface of the table, Tallulah shot Birdie a sinister smile.
    Birdie spun the frame and cut the connection. She stood there, staring at the black mirror for a heartbeat or two.
    Silently, she asked,
Dear Danu, what have I done?

Chapter 5

    Birdie turned to face her sisters.
    Lolly simply stared at her, mouth agape, but Fiona was incensed. She crossed over to Birdie and said, “Do you have any idea what you have done?”
    Birdie straightened out her skirt. She couldn’t turn back now. “I have secured my daughter’s freedom.”
    “At what cost, Brighid?”
    Fiona never addressed Birdie by her full name, and it made her blanch.
    “Stacy’s training is not complete. She isn’t ready,” Fiona said.
    Birdie said, “All she needs is to rededicate herself. The rest will fall into