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"Is she gone?"

"One sec" Audrey, our tour leader and co-owner of Sgt Patty&039;s Lonely Hearts Club Tours, peeked out fro explorer to scan the irass, watching with appreciative oohs and aahs as fireworks etched brilliant paths into the equally colorful night sky Children ran around with the usual array of sparklers, the fireworks spitting glitter as they trailed brief-lived i heavy around us, slowly dissipated by the breeze blowing in from the water

"I think that&039;s her over on the other side She&039;s been prowling around all night looking foror another"

"She didn&039;t see the trip out to the ruins," I admitted

"Happy?" Audrey snorted "She bitched sothe fireworks, I decided it just wasn&039;t worth it, and canceled the trip just to suit her She certainly ought to be happy Oh, lord, she&039;s spotted Magda and Ray They haven&039;t seen her, poor things, and she&039;s ht for them I wish I could just refund her money and boot her fro to piss off a client"

I patted Audrey on the arm "You have my sympathies, and I wish I could help you with the truculent one, but I&039;m pretty much Denised out I think I&039;ll toddle back to the hotel"

She turned a distraught face to o! The fireworks aren&039;t over yet, and after that there&039;sa ro, now, do you?"

I thought of the two men whoave her a griht You have fun, though"

"I&039;m sorry if Denise has made you feel uncomfortable," she said, clearly upset

"Don&039;t be It&039;s not your probleirl and can handle myself, even with Denise I&039;, and then all the wandering around the town I did this afternoon Happy Iceland Independence Day!"

"You, too," she said, watching me with a rueful look as Iin wasn&039;t large, but its city center was filled with narrow little streets that twisted and turned upon the to find my way to the top of the town, and had to backtrack to the still-brightly-lit ain on a street I hoped led to the shts of the square and wasmy way down a narrow, dark street that I had a horrible suspicion I&039;d just been dohen a dark for me to simultaneously juht up, causing

The e while I clutched the heart that seeod, you scared ive theure was still for a ies, madam," he said in a voice heavy with an Icelandic accent "I did not see you, either Here are your things"

"No har at my feet for the contents that had spilled out of my purse

"You are a tourist, yes?" the h, with a freckled face and the sa convinced was standard in Iceland "Just here for a few days, unfortunately Oh, thanks" I tuckedthe books fro else at ht hit his pal held there

I looked in surprise at the object he held: a narrow silk cord fro, a sreen flashing fro it to admire it better "Is it an opal? It doesn&039;t look quite like an opal"

"It is a moonstone," the man answered, his voice kind of choked

It looked like a bookes and cover of a book, but rather than a char from the end, as I&039;d seen before, this one had the moonstone

"It&039;s very pretty Did it come from one of my books? I didn&039;t knoas in there I&039;ll have to take it back to the bookseller He probably didn&039;t realize this was tucked away inside - "

The hter "You didn&039;t tella last couple of chuckles before he took my arm and steered ht you were just an ordinary tourist"

"Um" I didn&039;t quite knohat to say to that It seemed odd to insist that I was, in fact, perfectly ordinary, but I had a suspicion that the nice Icelander thought I was someone else "I think maybe there&039;s soenuine happiness "We&039;ve been expecting you, you know The Zenith said you&039;d arrive today, but we thought you&039;d be here earlier I suppose you felt it necessary to maintain your cover as a tourist?"

"OK, noe really are talking at cross-purposes" I stopped, not willing to get myself any more lost than I had been "My name is Pia Thomason, and I really aood," he said ad me forward "I am Mattias I am the sacristan"

"Sorry?" I said, unfamiliar with the word Would it rip and turned around to run back to the holiday crowds? With everyone down at the waterfront park enjoying the celebrations, the toas all but deserted

"It means - let me see if I can translate it for you - keeper of the doors, yes? You understand?"

"A doorkeeper? Is that so a little since Mattias was hauling ently but persistently up one of the steep stone roads "Like at a hotel, you ht word Doorkeeper sounds better I aht"

I tried to reion of the area, but drew a blank "Ah I assuain "You wish to play? I will play Yes, it is a religion, a very old one Its origins are in the Basque region We were once known as Ilargi, but noe are called by the na of the darkness"

"Ilargi?" I asked, startled at the familiar word I peered up into the face of the e me up the street "Isn&039;t that the name of the woods outside of the town? The place with the ruins?"

"Woods?" His blond brows pulled together "I do not understand Are you testingmy heels in and stopped him a second time He faced ns of hostility or, worse, madness He had to have me confused with someone else "I&039; person I do not understand half of what you are saying"

"It is I who alish is better than , and I haven&039;t a clue about your responses For exaahead of us It was a srey stone that sat at the top of the street

I relaxed a s that Mattias was no threat despite his confusion "Is that your church?"

"Yes We will go in now"

I hesitated, trying to figure out how to get through to hiht I was

"It is all right," he said, takingme up the steps to the church door "I am the sacristan I a the church carefully It looked perfectly normal, not at all out of the ordinary

"Not &039;who&039; the sun You know, the sun in the sky?" he said, pointing upward

"Oh, the sun You er you think you&039;re the sun?"

"Yes"

I switchedht he was the sun, perhaps it would be wiser to let hi with his claims until I could slip away

The church did much to reassure my nerves It, too, looked perfectly ordinary, and was pretty much as I had expected from my visits to other ancient Icelandic churches - a small anteroom that opened out into thedown the middle and on either side of two banks of pews At the far end stood the altar It wasn&039;t until I was halfway down the aisle that I realized that so The church was decorated with the usual crosses and symbols of Christianity, but over these had been thrown small black cloths embroidered with silver crescent rip Had I stue cults in Iceland? I had thought they were pagans before Christianity swept through Scandinavia - perhaps this was a pagan cult? "I think this is far enough"

"Mattias?" A wo froed, with salt-and-pepper hair, and eyes that practically snapped as she bustled down the aisle toward us She continued in what I assu the Zorya," Mattias interrupted her "She is English"

"Ah my name isn&039;t Zorya It&039;s Pia, and I&039;m really terribly sorry to intrude, but I think Mattias has me mixed up with someone else," I explained to the woman She looked perfectly norrandure All but her eyes, that is

Those intense dark eyes examined me for a moment before she asked Mattias a question

"I am sure," he answered "She bears the stone"

"Youup the silk bookmark

Kristjana&039;s eyes widened for a moment, then she nodded "You are very welcoins to dawn," I said slowly ascleared "It&039;s this, isn&039;t it?" I waved the bookently in the dim interior of the church "That&039;s where all the confusion comes from I&039;m happy to tell you that this isn&039;t s to no one, but you are its keeper now, and you uard it well We have estured toward the back of the church "You will come now and we prepare for the first cerelanced as casually as I could ht of the half-open front door With an expression I hoped bore no indication of my intentions, I shuffled backward a few steps "This is really a lovely church I like the roup worships?"

Mattias frowned a little as Kristjana watched me, her face expressionless I hoped neither of the backward, toward the door, in tiny little baby steps

"The Brotherhood are children of the h we do not worship it," she said carefully "We are of the light We spread the light It is through the light that we cleanse the world"

Hairs on my arms started to prickle at her words I had no doubt now that I had soet an cult They didn&039;t look dangerous, but I felt it iser to make as feaves as possible before I dashed for freedoh us, the light cleanses darkness fro, as if she was speaking a catechises evil"

"We definitely need less evil in the world," I agreed, and shuffled a few feet closer to the door If either of the, they didn&039;t co the power on behalf of us all"

"You said that word before," I said, slapping a pleasantly curious look onout with a hand behind me to feel for the door I was still too far away to touch it "What exactly is a Zorya?"

Kristjana didn&039;t even blink Mattias shot aze on his companion

"There are three Zoryas who rule the skies - ht Auroras, they are called by the Westerners, but the Brotherhood call them by their true na" This had to be soan cult Who else would worship the northern lights and the ht Zorya&039;s ar That is why youto a stop "Wed? Excuse me?"

"You must wed the sacristan, the sun," the woman said She nodded toward Mattias "The Zorya has little power until she has taken a husband and been recognized by the Brotherhood"

"Wed as in lish was not as good as I had assumed

"Yes, marry Zoryas are aled It is the way"

A horrible suspicion dawned that both relieved and annoyed me "This is part of the tour, isn&039;t it? You&039;re not so a lot of hand waving and mystical mumbo jumbo to distract ht?"

"The Brotherhood are earnest in their intent to cleanse the world of evil," Kristjana said, an annoyed look flitting across her face

"I can see you are" I crossed my arling with my own irritation Howeverwith their silly production "You can tell Audrey fro I les&039; tour, but I&039; to do so, no matter how handsome the participant is"

Mattias&039;s frown cleared He sether sexually"

"Uh-huh," I said, unsure of whether I should be offended or amused by the scenario At least I didn&039;t have to worry that they were strange cultists ould perform who knehat sorts of acts upon my person

"I a it was a point he needed to drive home So to speak

"Well, I&039;m flattered and all, but as I said, I&039;m not really that er desperate Not that I&039;d have to be desperate to want to hook up with you, Mattias, but I&039;m sure you knohat I mean"

"No, I don&039;t think I do," he said, the frown having returned

I ignored that, s a couple more steps backward "Well, this has been fun, but I think I&039; I&039;ll be sure to tell Audrey just how good you guys were, though And thanks for the plump-but-still-attractive comment It&039;s always nice to know that there areadvertiseht!"

Identical startled expressions manifested on their faces as I turned and walked out the door Either they had believed their acting was enough to suck me in or, as more likely, Audrey told theree to just about anything in order to have a date with a handso was just how close to the truth that was "After all, you&039;re on a tour et much more desperate than that," I told myself My conversation was short-lived when I heardcalled behind me

Mattias stood at the door of the church The older woman shoved him out of the way, pointed at me, and snapped out an order He looked surprised for a moment, but ran down the steps with a set look on his face that triggered a sudden spurt of adrenaline

What if they weren&039;t set up by Audrey? What if they were, in actuality, a creepy cult that seriously believed I was going to er simply becausesaround a corner into a darker street, hoping to lose Mattias despite the fact that he was much more fit than me, not to mention probably quite faing into a lit street, screa on its brakes and squealing to a stop a few feet away I didn&039;t wait to apologize, just gathered my tattered wits and sped across the ree that ran between two tall stone buildings

A ed Mattias I was already out of breath and had a suspicious pain in et away, please letfootsteps as I ran blindly through the still e around frantically for some way to escape Mattias I had to double back soed from behind a different church, I spied a narrow set of stairs that led down to a s e that spanned the area, ainst the cold stone I covered

A few seconds later, a shadow flashed on the ground next to me, paused for a moment, then flickered pastmy breath, until black spots threatened to dance beforespot and peered over the edge of the railing toward the street, en

People were starting to appear frooing to the central square, where sounds of a band war up could be heard "The fireworks must be over," I mused aloud, "which means if I stay put, there will be a lot of people I can use as cover That sounds smart"

"Excuse me, could you help us?"

At the soft voice behindas my heart just about jumped out of my chest for the second time in an hour "Holy cheese and crackers! You almost scared me to uh"

The two people who stood beforeto ent wo fool, but that&039;s just what happened The man and wo, soulful eyes, clung to the man&039;s arm as she peered up at uely re a loaisted dress, while he was in an old-fashioned-looking suit and a fedora But what hadto a startled stop was the fact that the two of them were translucent, allow about thees sohost" reverberated around inintensity

"We&039;re lost Can you help us?" the wo up at her man