Something Old, Something New

1

They were a ways away from Cornwall, so Merlin started to let his eyes fall closed again, only to get punched in the shoulder.

"Nope. If I don't get to sleep, neither do you."

"I hate you."

"You love me." He didn't contradict her. She was definitely his best friend, and he had let her closer than he had let anyone since the days of Camelot. It truly saddened him to think that he would have to leave in a year. If he didn't, people would start to question how he still looked so young. Iris had already started, but for now it was just teasing. He's already been at this job for too long, but it was by far his favorite, especially with Iris here.

Iris turned on the radio. She flipped through the stations for a while before making a sound of disgust and turning it off again. Nothing good was every playing at two in the morning. She maneuvered so that she could fish her phone out of her pocket and tossed it into Merlin's lap.

"Don't choose anything bad." Merlin rolled his eyes, and plugged the phone into the speaker system of the car, flipping through Iris' playlists. They were all classic rock. Merlin wasn't a huge fan, but he wasn't about to risk her wrath by choosing something he liked. He pressed play and a loud song echoed through the car. Iris scream-sang the entire way to the beach. Merlin was about ready to shoot himself in the head if he'd thought it would do any good. He'd been shot in the head before. His magic had kept him from dying, but it hadn't helped with the pain. 

Iris was a terrible singer, and, for some ungodly reason, she decided that she liked showing off her awful voice any chance she got. Finally, he stepped out of the car, in a considerably worse mood than when they had left. It wasn't helped along by the fact that Iris was still humming. 

"I will shoot you," Merlin threatened as they made their way toward the flashing lights of police cars, pulling their gloves on as they walked.

"Not in front of all of these witnesses you won't." She skipped away. Merlin shook his head and followed, ducking under the crime scene tape with a nod to each of the officers standing in front of it. It was too early for any bystanders to be here, but they'd come once the sun rose, and all of them would want to get a look at what was going on. It was simply human nature. 

Iris was already down the narrow path and examining the body. That girl could move. Merlin made it down and stood beside her, examining the dead woman. He caught his breath at the sight, a brief flash of recognition going through him. Iris noticed.

"What? You know her?" she asked, voice surprisingly gentle. Merlin shook his head no, because he didn't know this woman, but that didn't mean she didn't look an awful lot like someone he used to know. He turned to one of the officers. He turned to Freya, the crime scene tech. She was taking photographs that they would examine later for anything they missed upon their original inspection. 

"Do we have a name yet?" he asked. Freya turned her attention to Merlin and Iris.

"Drivers license in her wallet says her name is Elodie Adams. She is twenty three years of age." The same age as Morgana had been before Merlin...he pushed the thoughts aside.

"Cause of death?" he asked.

"The coroner's not here yet, but I'd say she was stabbed." Freya gestured to the gaping wound in the woman's stomach. Iris looked skeptical.

"With what?"

"A sword," Merlin answered immediately. Iris laughed, and then seemed to realize that he wasn't joking.

"You're serious?" Merlin nodded, feeling with utmost certainty that he was right. Iris shook her head in something like awe, and Merlin knew she was resisting the urge to smile.

"Okay. So she was stabbed to death by a sword on the beach." Freya shook her head.

"No, she was dumped here. There's not nearly enough blood around her body to indicate that she was actually killed here." Iris nodded.

"She was stabbed by a sword and dumped on a beach. That's weird, but it's not that weird." She sounded disappointed. 

"She was also probably redressed, but she's not the weird part," Freya said, brushing a strand of caramel colored hair out of her face. Merlin noticed that she had died the tips purple. Last week it had been blue, the week before that, pink. Iris' face lit up once more. Merlin rolled his eyes. Merlin noticed that the girl was wearing a black dress in a style that hadn't been used in many hundreds of years.

"Show us," Iris said, completely ignoring the redressing fact and rocking on the balls of her feet. Freya smiled, and Merlin noticed the sparkle that was there whenever she looked at Iris. He wished they would stop dancing around each other and just get together already. It was exhausting watching this whole thing unfold. They were both totally oblivious. 

Freya led them a little ways down the beach. The body was very high up, still mostly in the dunes. Whoever put it there had obviously wanted it to be found.

"The water's going to wash it away soon, so we got some pictures with a drone, but look." Merlin looked, and he had to fight down the panic that rose up, and the hope that rose up with it. The waves lapping at the very edges of the letters, there were three words written in the sand, drawing as if by a stick. 

'The Wronged Priestess'

"Well what does that mean?" Iris exclaimed, but Merlin feared that he already knew what it meant. The girl was the same age as Morgana. They were both pale, with long dark hair. Elodie Adams had been wearing a black dress that looked like it belonged in medieval times. Merlin stayed silent, but he could not completely quell the mix of emotions tumbling through him. Iris was looking at him expectantly.

"Hm? Oh. No clue." Iris' gaze lingered on him for another moment. She knew something was wrong.

"Oh," Freya exclaimed, as if just remembering. "Her drivers' license was also of the American type. She's from Tampa, Florida." Now that was interesting.

"We should start there. We're not going to figure out whoever did this by standing around the crime scene. Whoever it was obviously had this whole thing planned out to the letter," Merlin said, letting his mind work. He had been many things in his very long lifetime, including every manner of surgeon, a teacher, an archeologist, a teacher again, but this, being a detective, it was by far his favorite, and he was good at it. Iris was just as good.

"Right. We figure out why Ms. Adams was here and-"

"Who might have wanted her dead, although-"

"This doesn't feel personal towards her. More like it's a message for-"

"Someone else." Freya had been watching the two of them like a tennis match this whole time.

"How do you guys do that?" she asked when it became apparent that they were done with their mind meld. Merlin and Iris shrugged simultaneously. "So weird," Freya said, shaking her head fondly before going back over to the body. The coroner was making his way down the dunes. 

"Ready to go?" Merlin asked, all tiredness gone. Iris nodded, smiling that smile that always adorned her face at the start of a case.

As they walked back to the car, Merlin considered his options. He couldn't tell Iris that he had magic, could he? She wouldn't believe him. Modern people didn't believe in magic. It still existed obviously, but all the real magic users had gone underground. Merlin hadn't seen a druid in over five hundred years, a witch in a little over fifty. So, even if he told her, she wouldn't believe him. He supposed he could prove it pretty easily, but he also wasn't sure he was ready to tell her. It would change everything.

But everything's already changing. You know what this could mean right? He could be coming back. 

Shut up brain.

He'd just have to figure it out. If he had to tell Iris then he would, but they weren't there yet. He tried to ignore the memories of the last time he had kept his magic secret from his best friend until it was 'necessary.'