Page 6 of Harnessed in Gold

I arch a brow. It’sBrownhill, no S, and it’s twomiles up the highway.

“Brown’s. Hill,” Leo says, spacing the words far apart. “It’s supposedly a literal hill.”

Wait, so it’s Brown’s possessive? B-r-o-w-n-apostrophe-s? “Is Brown the founder of the college?” There’s no disguising my embarrassment at not knowing.

“Actually, no. He was the founder of Alderford.”

“But Brownhill was named for him?”

“No,” Rime cuts in with a grin. “It was named for his hill.”

“That the college is built on?”

Leo sighs. “Maybe, maybe not.” I must look as irritated as I feel, because he quickly elaborates, “Henry Browne—that’s Brown with ane, by the way—was on the 1587 Roanoke expedition. He was a member of the Lost Colony.”

“He’s the one who brought the whatever-it-is out here?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“Because it was recorded in the Nàdarian archives that the weapon was brought to the Subworld and given to an Englishman named Henry Browne to hide.”

“Archives Brier also has access to,” Rime adds with a frown.

“But an Englishman named Henry Browne?” I argue. “There had to be a million of them at the time. How did you know it was the Roanoke Colony one?”

Leo massages his temples. “It’s a long story.”

One both of us are too tired for right now.

“Okay, then.” I sip my cold coffee. “Explain more about this hill.”

He uncrosses his legs and sinks back into the couch. “Somewhere in this area is a mountain or a hill—or, who knows, maybe even just a slope—that was known colloquially as Browne’s Hill.” He waves a hand at the endless, rolling, blue-green mountains visible through the sliding glass door. “The problem is, no one knows which one it is.”

A sudden ringtone startles us all.Myringtone. I ignore it, butLeo’s eyes dart to my suitcase where I stashed my phone. His jaw tenses. We both know who’s trying to call me.

To drown out the chimes, I nearly shout, “But you think the weapon’s there? On or in this hill?”

“Yes,” he grinds out, still eyeing my suitcase.

“Why?”

The ringing stops, and Leo exhales. “Because why else would a hill be notorious among the locals?”

Confused, I ask, “So the locals knew about the weapon?”

“No, but they would’ve known about all the strange phenomena the weapon could’ve caused.”

The last gulp of my coffee goes down all wrong. I’m so overwhelmed, I’m shutting down. “Strange phenomena?” I wheeze. Leo’s brow dips. Damn him, he knows I’m freaking out. “But Rime said the weapon isn’t dangerous.”

Leo glares at the guy sitting next to him.

Rime glares back. “I meant that it wouldn’t detonate or anything. She was acting like it was going to blow up right underneath her.”

Leo scrubs a hand down his face and gently explains to me, “It’s imbued with fae magic. Powerful, unnatural magic. It would give off tons of energy.”

I shift nervously in my chair. “What kind of phenomena are we talking about here?”