Simon continues the story. You notice that he often glances at Cormac as he speaks, as though looking for the older boy's approval.
"When the British came to Ireland, the Wicklow Mountains were one of the areas they found hard to control. There were too many places for Irish rebels to hide among the hills and valleys, and too many ways for British soldiers to disappear. Ballyavon in particular gained a dark reputation. But even so, little by little, moving out from the Pale around Dublin, the British put more and more of the mountains under their control. By the eighteenth century, the Anglo-Irish peer Mad Jack Dunbar was granted the lands around Ballyavon.
"Mad Jack Dunbar seems to have rejoiced in his reputation as a blasphemer and a maniac. He claimed he could smell gold in the hills around Ballyavon and wasted much of his fortune digging mines across the valley, none of which ever yielded a profit. He founded a fraternity known as the Sons of Perdition who were infamous for holding wild, sacrilegious orgies at their meeting place, a hunting lodge in the Wicklow hills."
"It's your aunt's place now," Kitty puts in. "The Wolf's Head. My uncle Joe works there."
"Let us know if you find any creepy black magic stuff. Or if you're planning any orgies," Daniel adds.
I wink. "You're all invited, if so."
I frown. "Is it true, what Kitty said? Aunt Maire never mentioned it."
"That's so fucking cool! I'm going to start searching the place tomorrow."
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