chapter 3

Saoirse put down the phone and her heart sank. Why did she just agree to drinks tonight? She planned to watch a movie and hide in bed. She sighed, puffed on her vape and opened the shopping bag on the kitchen table. Two litres of coke zero, whole loaf of crusty bread, carrot batons two pots of hummus and a pack of fluffy iced buns. She felt hungry just looking at it.

She brought the shopping over to the coffee table, lay on the sofa, covered up in the blanket, turned on the television to watch daytime game shows. She ripped off a big chunk of bread, dipped it in the hummus and started eating.

She took big bites and chewed with her mouth open, now nobody was looking. She spat out crumbs trying to shout out quiz answers and didn't stop eating. She took deep mouthfuls of cola when the bread dried out her throat. Alone, she let herself burp out loud.

When the bread an hummus was finished, she still didn't feel full, although wasn't starving anymore, so she opened up the carrot sticks and slowly are them, whilst watching her show. The questions now became harder and maybe the food was making her a bit sleepy. She tried to sit up to concentrate more, but that just felt heavy and made her burp. She rolled on her back and instead opened the iced buns, put them on the sheet and picked at them slowly until she fell asleep.

Two hours passed and the door swung open. Rachel came home and Saoirse woke up, startled.

"Hey hey! I'm finally done. Do we have any wine in?" Rachel said immediately.

Saoirse muttered and pointed to the cupboard next to the fridge.

"Have you been asleep all afternoon? well that's lucky for some."

"Shush! let my brain wake up a little."

Rachel opened the cupboard, took out a bottle of pinot grigio and poured a glass to the top. "Want one? nothing wrong with wine for breakfast."

Saoirse shook her head and yawned.

"Eh, don't you go back to sleep, we’re getting dressed up and going out. Come on, sit up I want to use the sofa too."

Rachel went over to Saoirse and pulled the blanket off, all the empty food packets flew out and littered the floor. Saoirse tried to grab the blanket back but fell off the sofa with it and suddenly felt exposed.

"Damn, where did that come from?" Rachel said.

Saoirse felt Rachel's eyes were staring at her bare tummy, She looked down, but her hoodie had risen up and bunched around her chest, so She couldn't see anything below it. She tried to protest but let out a sickly cola and hummus flavoured burp.

"Well, I think that burp explains it. You'd be brave to wear a crop top tonight, girl."

Saoirse wriggled around on the floor and stood up. Her hoodie fell back down covering herself up, but now standing she was aware of how tight and heavy her tummy felt. "No, maybe. I don't know." She said, still feeling half asleep.

"Doesn't offend me, just the pubs don't serve pregnant women." Rachel stuck out her tongue and laughed.

"They serve you, don't they?" Saoirse snapped.

Rachel laughed "natural curves on me. Suspicious bump on you. Glass of white?"

Saoirse nodded and let Rachel get her a drink.

Rachel then drank and moaned about how boring her day and her job as a whole was.

Saoirse finished her drink and head out to have a shower.

She turned the light on, let her hair down and took off her hoodie and jeans. She looked at her whole body in the mirror, she had slim legs, toned bum and perky tits, but in the middle there really was a round, tight, solid looking tummy bulge. It was much more prominent than she imagined. She clasped it in her hands and tried to push it in, but I was too solid. She felt embarrassed by herself for ruining her perfectly sculpted stripper's figure for the sake of a few hunger pains. Nothing to do now but hide it as best she could, once she had a shower.

She felt more awake after washing her hair and turning down the shower temperature to cold for just a minute. She dried off and wrapped the towel around her head, before streaking discretely into her bedroom. She changed into some tight, blue underwear, sat on the pouffe in front of her mirror and plugged in her hairdryer and straighteners.

She blow dried her hair with one hand and held her vape in the other. As she looked in the mirror her eyes kept being drawn down to her stomach. It was just weird seeing herself look like this, not only was it solid and round, but her navel had been stretched from a vertical slit into a rounder shape.

She straightened her hair afterwards until it was sleek, shiny and very long. She tied the back into a loose Celtic knot and then took out her normal day makeup and contoured her face.

Feeling more confident with herself again, she went to get another glass of wine. She could hear Rachel was still in her room. There was only a tiny drop remaining in the bottle, she poured it out anyway and took it to the sofa and sat down. Sticking out under the sofa was her phone, she slid it out and with it she spotted a piece of white cardboard. It was the melon man's business card. She felt flushed, it was his fault she looked so bloated right now.

She downed the wine. Fuck it, she entered his number into a new text message, held up her phone above her head, made a pouty face and ensured her tummy was clearly visible, but from this normal selfie angle it just didn't make her tummy look prominent enough. She paused, lowered the camera below her belly, made sure it looked as round as possible, but without blocking out her tits and face and took the picture. "Pity I'm not dancing tonight... winking emoji" and send.

She went back to the room with her phone, put on some music and rummaged through her wardrobe, eventually picking out a high waisted skirt and paired it with a slimming, well fitted shirt. Tummy hidden now.

She met Rachel in the kitchen by the front door, She had curled waves into her hair and wore black denim jeans with a flowing red shirt and thick belt combination. Saoirse stared a little at Rachels outfit and for the first time she appreciated how she dressed well enough to flaunt her curves and hide her belly.

//

Christian was lying down on a bench in the sauna at the pool, he was wearing black shorts which seemed a little too baggy on his tall, slender frame. His back was aching from carrying the stone back to the hotel and he really hoped swimming, or the sauna would help loosen his muscles, but it wasn't, He was thinking now about booking into the spa in the morning for a deep tissue massage. After a few minutes of hot, dry air he started coughing and had to leave.

He dived into the deep end, did another ten lengths of the pool and went to get changed. He shampooed and blow dried his hair in the changing rooms and put on black shirt and black trousers and took his wet sports bag back to the penthouse, dumped it on the bathroom floor and took out a black waistcoat, black tie and gold cufflinks to complete the outfit. He swung a suit jacket over his shoulders and picked up his phone from the bedside locker. Unusually for him, there was a text message waiting, unknown number.

He swiped open his phone and stared at the picture. It was the dancer from Desire, but her hair and makeup were normal. Also, the belly was huge, it was even bigger than it looked at the end of the night. Christian tried to remember her name. Dawn, Dusk. He kicked himself not knowing what to save her as. He just saved her as X for now. But he was now really puzzled, why did she text him this? especially if she wasn't even working that night, was she flirting with him? did she think he would ask her over for a private and expensive dance?

He closed the phone not knowing how to reply, feeling excited but cynical. If she wanted to do a private show then that would be great, but she couldn't come here, it would be too uncomfortable to feel like someone was watching them. Maybe he could ask for some privacy or try and shut away the other resident for a while.

"Are you around?" he asked the room.

"Yes." said the voice.

"Just checking." He sighed. He wished there was some reliable information about the supernatural, but any research he read about it claims the supernatural does not exist, or the ones that do claim evidence seem faked. "I'm going down to the restaurants; will you help me with the book later?"

"I will try."

Christian took his phone and wallet and left the room.

//

Saoirse sat with Rachel, and both had pitchers of neon cocktails. Brook Bar was the trendiest pub in the town, with clean, white, plastic furniture, blue lighting and playing modern dance music, the other pubs were dives for old men to drink alone, quietly.

Saoirse didn't pour a glass out, she stuck the straw straight into the pitcher and drank as much as she could as quickly as she could.

"Okay now we're out I need gossip from the club, name names here."

Saoirse coughed. "You know I'm not doing that again, you're the worst for keeping this information secret."

"Oh, I only told Dad to stop wasting his money there and he's not been back since."

"Yeah, I know, Maria's pissed about that, He was a true gentleman, apparently." She laughed. "But no, you don't need to know who comes in anymore. Doctor patient confidentiality."

"Okay, okay, weird stuff, how do you earn your tips?"

"Okay" She whispered "well they do like to see me wear a slutty habit and a lot of people do want a nun to give them a bit of a spanking."

"Girl, that's nothing, I'd be down for a sexy nun or priest, love a uniform." Rachel paused. "Not you, obviously."

"Well, I don't know, it's just fantasy, the old ones just want to remember what their wives used to look like, it's not that dodgy."

"Oh yeah? You were playing with melons last night, you stunk this morning."

"That was a one off." Saoirse felt uneasy about telling her anymore.

"Ah come on. What was that about?"

"Okay a guy came in looking for a plus sized dancer, Jack told him some bullshit, so I had to stuff my tights with foam. When he found out that I wasn't his type I kind of offered to eat a melon for him, because he looked rich."

Rachel said nothing and bit her lip, trying not to burst out laughing.

"I got paid a nights wage for one dance, it's not the worst thing ever."

"I don't know what to say, Girl. It does explain that gut you're trying hide."

Saoirse snorted on her drink. "I should just call you in next time someone wants to see a fat arse jiggle in their face."

Rachel laughed "Yeah, you should have done, I'd take the money any day if I thought I could get it." She did a terrible dance jiggling her tits across the table.

Saoirse laughed. "I am not seriously giving Jack your CV."

"Ah come on now, so what was he like? weird old guy with a moustache?"

"Oh no, Young guy, well dressed, not the usual sort."

"Oh, so he was a hottie, looking for something strange?" Rachel winked. "Anyone local."

"Nope, British guy, never seen him around."

Rachel stopped. "Wait, young, British, well dressed, rich... I know him, he lives in the penthouse at Lios Na Greine."

Saoirse looked awkwardly. "Shush! I'm really not supposed to tell you who they are."

"Oh that guy is strange, Girl. He hardly ever leaves the room, he's banned cleaners from entering and drags mud and God knows what else through the place every day."

Saoirse blushed and took his business card out of her purse. "He's an archaeologist."

Rachel took the card and looked at it. It was the same guy booked in for sure. "Why is there a lone archeologist out here, alone, in the arse end of Ireland anyway? no crew, doesn't look like much equipment and can afford to stay in a penthouse... I think he's stealing treasure or something"

Saoirse snatched the card back off her. "This is why I shouldn't talk about work, you're too nosey. He's probably out here doing legitimate work."

Rachel took out her phone. "I'm googling him. Dr Christian Spender." She went silent and read through the entries.

Saoirse tried to look over at the results, but Rachel held up a finger to keep her back. "Anything."

Rachel shook her head. "He has a Wikipedia page, looks like he really is an archaeologist. Hes written a bunch of papers on Viking sites around Orkney Islands... blah blah... his first book was a bestseller about Vikings settlements in North Sea islands... Now it looks like He's due to publish another book looking for the truth behind Celtic mythology due for be released in two years time, called 'Searching for the Selkie'.

Saoirse looked pleased. "That explains everything."

Rachel seemed disappointed that he really was just a boring nerd. "Doesn't explain his taste in women."

Saoirse took out her phone and typed something, she showed Rachel some Google image results. "Selkies are chubby seal mermaids from Celtic mythology, they can shed their skin to change between human and seal form." The Google results showed a collage of drawings and paintings of chubby women with grey skin, lying on rocks, some where the women had crumpled seal skin around their feet."

"Fine, I give up, he's a real archaeologist and he's out here looking for fat Irish mermaids in strip clubs." Rachel slapped the table and took a drink from the pitcher.

Saoirse nodded. "Okay, that isn't normal. But He's living his best life and he's not hurting anyone. Let's get shots?"

//

Christian set up two laptops on the coffee table and was reading articles about Morrigan and the Otherworld.

"When you met with Morrigan, what form did she take?" He asked

"Three women in one body, in the same space at the same time." came the voice

"I'm not sure my artist would like that. Did They, or She speak to you?"

"I can't speak the same language as the Tuatha De Dannan"

Christian ran his hands through his hair. "Of course not. Why were you killed? I mean if you don't mind me asking."

"We all were. I don't know why."

"Sorry, I know this sort of thing would be difficult to remember or even explain, but I do need to make progress with this book, or I'll go bankrupt. But it is strange that the Gods would erase the fae folk without warning."

"We lived apart from them, We never really knew their true minds."

"I suppose that's to be expected. Do you need a bit of time to think?"

"I can't think very well, when I don't exist."

"True enough. Oh I'll just scan the Morrigan stone and send that to the department, see if anyone can translate it, I can't think of a single thing to write."

He took a sip of coffee, looked through his bags for a few LED torches and a digital camera, stuffed them in his pocket and picked up the heavy stone and waddled his way out of the room, into the elevator and into the dining room, listening to make sure he couldn't hear staff footprints.

He took the rock to a circular table, swiped off the tablecloth and dropped it in the centre on a lazy susan, he heard a slight crack and once again double checked for night staff. He set up an array of torches around the stone and slowly rotated it, taking pictures as it turned. When it was fully scanned, He carefully replaced the tablecloth and snuck the rock back to his room.

He uploaded the pictures to one of the laptops and let the computer generate a full 3D model from them. The progress bar said this would be an hour, so He went to lie in bed.

He kicked off his shoes and turned on the television. He suddenly remembered he never replied to the text from earlier. He stared at the picture and thought about jerking off but couldn't do that here in case he was being watched. "Looking great! thanks for the message. When will you be back at Desire?". That'll do.