Chapter 29

Thomas stepped to the side of the street and hailed a taxi.

“The guards that have been sent should arrive at the beachfront near West Street and Tenth, we will need to meet them there, most have not been to this part of the world in a very long time if at all. “ Mr. Stuart said. “The last thing we need is the media alerted to a group of wandering Mer on the streets of Manhattan.”  I couldn’t help but laugh. 

“Then well take them to the hotel?” I asked. “I can’t see all of us fitting into my tiny apartment.”  Mr. Stuart nodded, and Thomas stepped to the curb to hail us a taxi. “How soon will they be arriving?” 

“They were instructed to wait there, that we would be along shortly.” Mr. Stuart said. “So, I imagine they are already in transit and should be there even now.”  We entered the taxi; I leaned forward and spoke to the driver.

“Can you ask your dispatch to arrange for three more taxis to meet us at Tenth and West, near the service road entrance?” I asked him.  He nodded and got on his radio to dispatch requesting the additional taxis to meet us at the designated location. Upon our arrival, ten men in clothing ranging from designer suits to blue jeans were milling around the area, suitcases and duffle bags in hand. They all wore personal illusions so that it was unnoticeable to the human eye that they were indeed Mer, but a Mer can usually tell another Mer, most magic isn’t strong enough to hide from each other.  

Mr. Stuart gathered them all up into a small group, “Hello guys, we’re going to get you checked into the hotel, and then we will plan the rest from there, so if you will all pick a taxi and follow us, we’ll get you settled in.” He announced. One of the guards, a tall gentleman even by our standards, started assigning men to their taxis.  I would later come to know this man as Rayner, he was a bit older than most of the other men. He had long dark black hair; his eyes were the color of ice. Everything about him spoke of his years of being in the Royal Guard, from the way he carried himself, to his attention to detail. Mr. Stuart instructed the drivers that we were going to the Washington Square Hotel, with luck we could get at least two of the double rooms they offered, and the other guards could come back to the apartment with us. Without reservations, it was going to be a touch and go situation. 

Rayner assigned four men per car, and joined Mr. Stuart in the remaining taxi for the trip to the hotel. He and Mr. Stuart knew each other quite well as it turns out. 

“So, how have you been Bob,” Rayner asked Mr. Stuart.

“Not too bad Ray and yourself?” Mr. Stuart replied. 

 “Not bad, I hear we are assigned to keep the Prince and Princess safe, and to investigate an attack on the Princess by an ex boyfriend?” 

“Yes, that’s the intention, unfortunately we haven’t gotten them moved into the large house yet, so we have no room to put you up at the apartment. “ 

“Ah, I wondered what was with the hotel.” Rayner said. 

We came to a standstill in traffic, which is not uncommon in New York, and which is why I usually tried to avoid the main thorough-fares, if you can stay off the main roads you do ok to get around, though ideally, if you can walk or take the subway it’s even better. 

“From my understanding of what my son said, there are four bedrooms that can be used by the guards for quarters and a command post when they get settled into the large house, as well as one guestroom.” Mr. Stuart continued while we sat gridlocked in traffic. “I will return home and bring some clothing and such once we are in the other house, so you can add me to your forces as needed; I would like to help find this guy.”  Rayner nodded and looked out across the traffic.

“Is it always like this?” he asked, “It’s been a very long time since I’ve been in this neck of the woods.” 

“I really don’t know, I’ve only been in town a couple days myself.”  

“It sure has changed, I don’t remember it being this big or this crowded.” Rayner let out a hearty laugh.  Mr. Stuart smiled and shrugged.

“Yes, it has.” He paused for a moment. “My grandmother has spared no expense, whatever we need; she’s agreed to pay for.”  Rayner nodded. “I assume all of the men have the proper documentation to allow them to carry firearms both exposed and concealed?” 

“Yes, which brings me to the question: How dangerous is this guy that attacked The Princess?” 

“I don’t know Ray, I honestly don’t know.” Mr. Stuart sighed, “He almost killed her, it was touch and go as to if I could heal her at all, and then it took longer than I expected for her to heal completely from what he’d done.” Mr. Stuart looked away, his face going sullen “I haven’t told the kids, but I sensed strong magic connected to it, I don’t think he was working alone, but I didn’t have time to trace it, and now it might be too late.”  

“We’ll see what we can do, Bob.  If we can’t trace the magic, we may have to wait until something else happens, Goddess forbid.” Rayner turned his attention to the traffic, and learning the lay of the land around the hotel as we pulled up to the front entrance. 

Thomas got out of the taxi, “You stay here while I check on the rooms, and I’ll be right back.” Thomas said

 The driver got on the radio and told the other drivers to wait. Thomas stepped back out the door motioning for us to join him, so I and eleven men piled out of the remaining taxis, and into the reception lobby of the Washington Square Hotel.  The young lady behind the desk was awestruck at my troop of handsome men, as we checked them in to two double rooms. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us as we walked through the lobby to the elevators, all of us cramming into a single car to go up to the fifth floor. 

We found the rooms, and everyone began to settle in a bit, stowing away their gear, checking out the beds, the view, and the cable channels. No one was to leave unless instructed by Rayner. I noticed that in each room a silver scrying bowl was set up so that everyone could communicate between themselves and the grotto, and of course my apartment a few blocks away. 

Rayner, and another guard, Owen were coming back to the apartment with us, to be further filled in on what was going on, as well as to take the first official shift of Princess sitting.  I was beginning to wonder about the whole situation, I was also beginning to understand what being a Princess meant, it’s not that the rich and famous use limos for the look, it’s that in order to move the amount of people that follow them around, their entourage they actually needed that much room. I felt my days of being a simple girl from the Midwest were at a close, and all of a sudden my life was going to change very drastically. I was never going to be able to keep the fact that I was a Mer Princess under wraps. But, how were the school and media going to handle it?  There were starting to be too many people around me to keep them all quiet, some one was bound to slip up and let the cat out of the bag.  I knew I was about to become the biggest news story in a very long time, and this time it wouldn’t be a hoax only covered by the tabloids about some mystery sighting, it was going to be the real thing, with Thomas and I in every picture to prove it.