Faint mist hung over the sea, making it feel like the small vessel was sailing through an extension of the clouds that hid the sun from the world today. Waves lapped at the boat, sprinkling Merlin's face and glasses with cold droplets. He wiped the lenses with his undershirt and shivered.
"Are we there yet?" he asked for the n-th time, not expecting a response.
"Aye," the elderly captain answered.
Merlin did a little backflip in his mind and promptly put his glasses back on. Sure enough, dark shapes were emerging within the foggy horizon ahead of them - the infamous Flannan Isles. Even before the puzzling disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers, a phantasmal aura was rumored to loom over the remote islet, attracting tourists and paranormal investigators alike. While all they could do was theorize about what could have happened to the island's only residents, Merlin could provide answers.
Seeing the rocky isles ahead sent a wave of excitement and nerves through him, which tied his stomach into a knot. The boat was hit by another wave, and he tasted bile.
"Which islet is Eilean Mor?" he asked, craving the dry land.
"The one we're sailing to," the old man answered, looking at Merlin sideways with a puzzled expression.
Merlin forced a smile and stepped away. He pulled a yarn beanie over his wind-chilled ears, and faced the only other passenger on their small vessel. "We're almost there, Miss Star."
The whole journey, she sat on that wooden crate with her back turned to him. Merlin wasn't sure what he'd done wrong to warrant the silent treatment. She couldn't have figured out his secret, could she?
"Did we get off on the wrong foot?" he asked. "We could start over. Hello, I'm Merlin Herkimer, but you can call me Merlin. It's nice to finally meet you in person."
She spared the islands a passing glance, fixed the flowery scarf covering her head, and finally faced him. He smiled and offered his hand, which she gripped and held prisoner, her eyes reduced to slits. He met her gaze as an equal. She couldn't possibly know that he wasn't fully human. Black hair paint covered his unnatural ruby-red demon hair while his glasses blurred out the strange pattern of his irises, but she eyed him as if she could see past the disguise.
The waves lapped against the boat while he waited for her assessment. If he still had a tail, it would have been nervously jerking behind him, but he'd gotten rid of that thing for a reason. These judgmental stares used to end with him unjustly getting kicked out of most establishments while those who recognized he was an Incubus cambion only wanted to use him.
"You're younger than I thought you'd be," she said.
He sighed in relief. Age. She was concerned about his age! "I'm old enough to make history."
Seagulls squawked above them while the fish-scented breeze ripped at the sails. Merlin tried to exude confidence, ready to be judged for his personal achievements and not for his heritage. Solving this mystery would provide a story worth telling, and an award-winning reporter like her would spread it to all corners of the world. She could make him famous.
Miss Star glared at him, not easing her vise grip. "In the letter, you claimed to be a seasoned supernatural investigator."
"I may be only twenty-two, but I make up for it with skill. I'm a master magus and the best magitech inventor in the realm."
She pursed her lips, thinking about it. "Bold claim." She gave him a final bone-crushing squeeze before letting go. "Let's hope for your sake that you didn't waste my time."
Merlin cradled his hand and flexed his fingers, which throbbed like a flaring sunhole. "I'll do all the work. All you have to do is write the article."
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She rolled her eyes so hard, her eyelids fluttered. "Is that all I have to do? Let me tell you something, kid. Writing articles about the supernatural without being accused of fraud is a delicate job, so you better find me a good, sound theory about what happened on this island, and none of that invisible-portal-to-another-realm conspiracy nonsense. We need a story people can understand and relate to, something that can be proven."
"Magic and science I plan to use are not relatable to most but don't worry, Miss Star. I can solve any mystery." He tapped the leather bag slung over his shoulder, thinking about his newest invention safely tucked inside. "We'll both get famous from this partnership."
She offered her hand with a smirk. "Shake on it?"
His hand throbbed at the memory, so he tightened the grip on his bag, ignoring her gesture.
They arrived at a weathered stone dock, where a tall man rushed to help the elderly captain tie the boat to the bollards. The island was even smaller than Merlin imagined, but he couldn't see the famed lighthouse from this spot.
"I get it why they call it the eeriest of the Flannan Isles," Miss Star muttered, watching the seagulls circle the rocky landscape. Her tan coat looked too classy for this rugged environment.
The tall man held out his hand to help her get off the wobbly boat, leaving Merlin to scramble out on his own. Ever since he got rid of his tail, he'd become a lot clumsier than he thought he could be, so he took care to not fall into the freezing water. The solid ground under his feet felt like a blessing after this journey.
"They're waiting for you," the tall man said, gesturing at a two-person trolley stationed at the bottom of a steep hill. "Don't take long. Storm's a-brewing."
They left the captain to unload the lighthouse supplies with the mustached man and made their way through the mud.
"The lighthouse first, Miss Star?" Merlin said, offering his hand to help her get into the trolley.
She gracefully hopped inside without assistance. "Lighthouse it is."
He banged his knee getting in but smiled as if it didn't hurt. The trolley's mechanism squeaked when he started hand-cranking it up the hill. The repetitive motion would be easy to replicate with magic, he thought. He drew a couple of runes on the metal panel in front of him, which lit up under his touch and animated the handle to do the hard work for him.
Miss Star gave him a sideways glance, eyebrows raised, and he winked at her. He had a lot more tricks up his sleeve.
Not having to do the dirty work gave him time to look around. They passed by white sheep grazing on the peak. A shaggy ram with impressive, curled horns stood in front of the flock, ready to attack the moving car.
"How did the sheep get here?" Merlin mused, seeing that nothing but short grass grew on the inhospitable island.
"Local shepherds swear their sheep produce better quality wool when fed here," Miss Star answered, holding onto her scarf as a strong gust chilled them to the bone. "They drop them off, do the chapel ritual, and get off the island, afraid of the evil spirits. Only the lighthouse keepers have the balls to live here."
"What ritual?"
She pointed at a set of flat rocks stacked into the shape of a building too small to stand in.
"The chapel was built centuries ago to ward off evil. The superstitious folk crawl around the chapel on their knees in an absurd ritual and light a candle inside." She scoffed. "Like that could help them if a supernatural evil was here."
She rolled her eyes at the idea and looked ahead at the lighthouse they were approaching. Merlin squinted at the chapel but saw no evidence of runes used to provide magical protection. The roof was sagging. Bits of grass grew between the weathered stones as if the island wanted to claim the rocks back. It didn't look like much, but it was worth checking out later.
Merlin rubbed his palm over his glowing runes, which erased them and stopped the magic, allowing the momentum to carry them the rest of the way. Their trolley bounced off the stopper before coming to a halt. They climbed out and fell in step to continue the rest of the way on foot.
"It's been over a week," Miss Star said. "What clues do you hope to find that the investigators missed?"
"Nine days exactly," he corrected her. "Good, mystic number. If anything supernatural happened here, a mystic day will help me uncover it."
She half-scoffed, half-laughed, and shook her head. "You, magi-types love your mystic mumbo-jumbo."
He didn't mind her disbelief. Soon enough, she would recognize his expertise along with the rest of the world. It was time to put his invention to practical use and solve this mystery.
