“Old ones?”
“Magic in the blood, magic bonded. The old ones no one talks about any more. Our ancestors were gods and goddesses, myths and legends of old Lia Fáil, our fair Ireland. We believe that is where we come from, all of us of the isle.”
Aileen’s eyes flashed just like Riley’s mom’s did when she was indignant or made to stand up for herself. The woman certainly looked the part of a goddess about to do battle.
Her grandpa was beaming. “I told you, darling. We have magic in our line.”
“Your grandpa is right, Riley.” Aileen’s face softened, and she hugged Riley to her. “And we will help you use it.”
“I don’t even know where to start. I’ve so many questions.”
“And I’ll try to answer every one. Me and the whole lot of the Order are at your service.” Aileen walked her over to the door and shrugged into a coat and pulled it tight about her. “You are magic, my dear, magic that fair announces itself as soon as you are seen. But we can help cloak you, teach you, show you the old ways, old paths. If you’re ready.”
Riley looked at her grandpa. The one thing her magic might help her do that she badly wanted was to find her dad. “I’m ready.”
Her grandpa nodded. “It is time, lass, as I said, to talk of many things. And speaking of paths, I thought we’d cut through the field and out, down past Mangan’s,” he addressed Riley as he opened the kitchen door. “Thought you might want to look over the land a bit. See an old haunt of ours from our knee pant days, where me an’ Sean learned of magic in his father’s books."
Riley followed them outside into the courtyard. “Sure, Grandpa.”
Aileen breathed a long strand into the air and swirled her hand through its dissipating fog. "You two should stop in at the pub tonight and get acquainted, Riley."
"Maybe another day, Aileen. We'll likely sneak a sweet bun from Mangan’s and come back here to work on some training." He turned to Riley."Mangan’s grandson started up a little eatery. I was sad to see it go the way of progress, but his wife says to me, she says, what else were they to do with the place?”
“She was a Worley, you see, stuck on coin they are,” Aileen supplied. “But she knows an Irish cream from an egg cream. And they have the best bangers and mash.”
“True and they do,” her grandpa agreed. “Maybe you would like to save our remaining stew for tonight and take a meal at Mangan’s on our way back, hey, lass?”
“Take him up on it, dearie. Your gran-da’s a fine cook, I’m sure, but there’s things as he can cook and things as he can’t. If I were you, I wouldn’t miss out on a sweet thing from Mangan’s if I got the opportunity.”
“You’re welcome to join us,” her grandpa offered Aileen.
“Thank you, no. Next time, though. I’ve already left Eric running the shop once today. Twice will just kill him.”
They walked past the middle landscaping in the driveway, and her grandpa pointed out the fountain that Sean’s father had built. “He built it for Sean’s mom. She liked to sit here and paint in the courtyard. You could try it maybe one day.”
“I can see to it that we get you some supplies when you get settled, dearie. If you’d like.” Aileen pulled a coin from her pocket and tossed it into the fountain as they passed. “Brings good luck,” she explained, looking over her shoulder at Riley. “Don’t you know about luck? That’s magic too.”
“I guess.” Riley shrugged. Luck wasn’t something she believed in. Then again …
“Here.” She handed Riley a coin. “Toss it in, and you’ll someday find your way back.”
Riley rubbed the coin between her fingers, feeling its unfamiliar lines and recesses. The surface felt different as she went through the ritual. Rub the coin, flip the coin, make a wish. She’d tossed hundreds of pennies into the waters of Central Park, making wishes with her dad, planning together. They never passed a fountain or pond without tossing a penny or sometimes a subway token. Riley bit her lip and made a wish. Please let me find him.
Without having to think about it, she flipped the coin high, watching it arch and glint in the sunlight before splashing into the peaceful blue-green. When it touched the bottom, it wavered on its edge before resting near a piece of something metal that had rusted and bled onto the stone surface of the fountain’s bottom.
“Water’s a great force. Sees all, it does … shows all.” Aileen spoke softly and walked on ahead to put her arm around Riley’s grandpa.
Riley was glad for the ensuing silence. As they picked their way through the field, she became engrossed in the world around her. Each gust of wind brought a new scent, each cloud a new shadow, each rustle a new sensation of having really heard the world for the first time. Near the pond, the ground pulled slightly, clinging to her boots and throwing off her balance. As they approached, the pond sent up rings of ripples as pale mouths came to the surface of the watery depths to feed.
“They’re like pets, those fish.” Her grandpa pulled some bread from his pocket and tossed it in. “Trained ‘em, I have.”
The wet slap of something caught her attention. On a rock at the pond’s edge, an orange-bellied lizard reared on its back legs and slunk over into the grass.
“Eww.” Riley shuddered and gave the area a wide berth.
“What is it, lass?” Her grandpa and Aileen turned their attention to her.
She pointed to the pond’s edge. “Just a gross looking lizard with a nasty orange belly over there.”
“That’s a newt you’ve seen. Rare it is and good luck, too. My Eric has wanted to catch one for years. Magical creatures. Powerful sign, it is. Even if they are a bit less than appealing to some of us.” Aileen wrinkled her nose and then winked at Riley. “You’ll have to tell him you’ve bested him, and you only here a day. He’ll pout the week out.”
“Ireland is showing you her treasures, lass. You’re privileged.” Her grandpa walked over to the pond and peered into the water. “Wish I’d have seen it.”
When they neared the wooded section to the left of the field, he stopped. “When last I was home, you could see mostly saplings, newly started woodlands all around the island, except for here in this old wood. The trees are older still now, holding on to the secrets of nymph and fae. Our secrets, the land, the old ones, gods and goddesses of the past.”
He stared off into the cloaking trees, peering past the few boulders that marked an opening in the tangle of limb and leaf. Riley tried to see farther in but could not make out the shapes past a few feet. No one said anything else. They turned as if synchronized and continued in silence.
When they were in sight of Mangan’s, Aileen put her fingers in her mouth and whistled. Two men in long brown overcoats came around the corner of the house and walked out to meet them.
“Yes, mum, what do you need with Fergus and Jay?” The shorter of the two hastily tugged off his cap, twisting his hands and nudging the other to follow.
“Well, Fergus,” Aileen addressed the taller man, “I need you to tell Millie that I will not be getting by today, but tomorrow she can count on me as the rain. And Jay, do stop agitating so. I want you to fill the wheelbarrow with potatoes from my larder and wait for me to come and relieve you of it before you off. Do you be hearing me?”
“Yes’m, old Jay won’t forget this time.” The little man started to salute and then, thinking better of it, bowed and ran toward the cluster of shops visible in the distance.
“You got him a hopping for sure.” Her grandpa let out a laugh as he watched the man blunder over the fence that bordered the street. “After you, ladies,” he said as he opened the gate by the sidewalk.
Aileen sighed and swept through. “Fergus and Jay will be dead drunk by noon unless I put off paying them. So, I have about an hour to get what work I can out of them. If I didn’t keep them, no one would. And they are the best.”
“They are. I’m going to pop over to the pub there.” Her grandpa gestured to the bright green building with the flashing neon sign. “I
want to see if your husband will be so kind as to sell me a pint of Guinness for my ailments and what have you. Riley, I leave you in Aileen’s hands. You two girls will get on just fine.”
“Fine by me. Riley and I will go do a few tests. Yes?”
Riley nodded. The sooner the better. “Yes, let’s get started.”
She followed Aileen to her shop, The Acorn. It was painted a glaring scarlet with a large Oak leaf and acorn etched into the glass of the window. Above the door, a weathered sign read, Ta failteromhat. Riley made a note to ask what the meant.
Aileen caught her eye. “Oh, that, huh? It just means welcome generally, is all.”
“Ah.” Riley wondered if Aileen’s gifts included mind reading.
Inside, the scent from the low burning candles mingled with the musk of old iron and aged wood. The light was a pulsing amber shimmering against the reflective glass and marble. All around the interior, the shelves and displays overflowed with trinkets and baubles and painted wooden signs with Irish blessings.
“These wait for the discerning tourist, you see. They want something that screams Ireland, so they buy a shot glass with a shamrock on it.” She turned and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Eric! Step lively, son.”
A crash sounded beside them, and Riley turned. A pale boy emerged from behind the purple curtain at the register. He brushed his dark hair out of his eyes and put his hands first on the counter and then into his pockets. He tried to sit on the stool before freeing his hands once more and finally decided to cross his arms over his chest.
Aileen tapped her nails on Riley’s hand and waved at her son to come closer. “This is Riley, Eric. Say hello.”
“’Lo, there, Miss.” Eric glanced up and seemed to rest his gaze somewhere behind her.
“Nice to meet you.” Riley waved.
Without uncrossing his arms, Eric raised his fingers from the crook of his right elbow and looked down at the floor. Aileen sighed and gently pushed Riley toward the back. “He’s really not that shy. Though what he lacks in the graces, he makes up for in brains. Just loaded with them. If it’s in a book, Eric probably knows it. Spends all his hours poring over them. He gets his word lust from his father. From me, he gets the shyness." She pointed toward the neon sign. "Something you may be wanting would be over here.”
They stopped near the back entrance, which was double locked with an iron bar across it and one of the little souvenir signs hanging from its knob.
“And here,” she said, gesturing wide, “are my treasures.”
The shelves were lined with a dark blue fabric that draped into a V in the middle. Riley glanced over their contents. Music boxes similar to hers caught her eye and she picked one up. It opened easily and played flute notes. Propped in the corner was a wooden cane that looked like a totem. Riley could not resist running her fingers over the polished surface. A glass case on the left shelf held beautiful silver jewelry. Below it, two stuffed birds made up the mad menagerie of animals carved from stone and wood and a few forged of metal.
“These are things of power.” Aileen took a key from her pocket and opened the jewelry case. “Centuries of craft distilled to objects that draw the energies.”
She eased a ring out of its foam slot. “It’s safer to see how you react with magical items like these. Very tame, mostly for fun. Want to try?”
Riley nodded and accepted the ring in her palm. Her mind flashed, and the shop was gone.
She was standing by a violent tide. The foam rushed toward her bare feet, its icy groping waves sucking at her toes. All around her the ground was draining away through an hourglass that imprisoned her and the whole world. Panic settled over her. Her hand sought her necklace.
There was the sensation of being tugged in two directions and then silence. She blinked, and the shop seemed to form itself out of thin air around her in a void.
“Did you see something?” Aileen was peering into her face.
Riley released her necklace. It bounced against her chest, its clattering charms deafened by her thick coat.
“The sea,” Riley whispered. She looked at her palm and realized she was no longer holding the ring. Aileen tucked it back into its case.
She faced Aileen. “How did you do that?”
“Concentrated magic. You’ll learn to make them maybe. Here, try this one.” She lifted out a pewter ring with a griffin’s head surrounded by two purple jewels.
“No.” Something felt deeply unsettling about the ring. It had a tangible pull. Riley stepped back, jarring the rack of postcards behind her. She wanted to flee.
“Don’t be frightened, now. I told you there were energies drawing to you. You are coming into your own, dear. You can do this. You were born to it. Your powers are waking.”
Riley took a deep breath. “Okay, but not that one.”
“Okay, I felt the pull to give it to you, but choose something that calls to you.”
Riley studied the case. Her gaze kept returning to the metal bird. “That one.”
“Interesting.” Aileen picked it up and held it over Riley’s palm. “I’m right here with you. See what you can feel from this.” She placed it in Riley’s hands and said something else, but Riley heard her as if from a distance. Her ears were ringing. Her throat was tightening. Her eyes were failing her. The whole world blurred into brushstrokes. She tried to flee, but her legs were glued and her arms refused to obey her mind. And suddenly she was in a small ornate room strangely lit by lights that seemed to move… and she was not alone.
8
She remembered seeing the man she’d fought at the festival and screaming. Then nothing.
When she came to, lying on a long table in a bright room, she screamed again. Someone touched her arm, and she slapped at the hand with all her strength as she tried to sit up.
“You oughtn’t to move so fast, Miss.”
She looked for the voice and struggled to bring her eyes back into focus. “Who are you?”
“Eric, Miss. From the shop. Aileen’s son.”
His face swam into place in front of her, and the world became clear again. She swayed, and his grip steadied her.
“Thank you.” Riley grasped the side of the table.
“Don’t try standing just yet unless you want to hit the floor. It’s cobbled stone, and that would be considerable hurting.” He was still holding her shoulders. “You good?”
“No.” That man had been there. She’d seen him. She was not good. “Where am I?”
“Our kitchen, Miss. We brought you here when you reappeared and fainted. You were clear out for ten minutes.”
It felt like she had been asleep for days like the time she’d had the flu and her mom made her a healing tea. She slept the whole week away then, in fitful dreams and fevered nightmares. It was mostly the same now, except her strength was back. She flexed her fingers. Maybe she was even stronger. She felt physically strong at least.
She looked around the kitchen. The walls were lined with colorful dishes in dark jewel tones. There were copper pots hanging from the ceiling and collections clustered around the room. Dozens of salt and pepper shakers filled the space above the stove, and to the right, on the counter, sat cookie jars shaped like fruits. There was little space left bare, except for the half wall by the door where the paint was brighter in one spot. A missing picture, no doubt.
“Same thing happened to me. Got traveling sickness.” Eric pulled a stool up close and perched, half on, half off. He reminded Riley of a nervous bird. “Only I threw up the first time I projected.” He laughed. “Projected, you know, double meaning there? Puke your guts out?”
He kept laughing, vibrating the stool against the floor.
“That’s not what happened. What do you mean, projected?” Riley put a tentative foot on the floor and pressed down. No, that wasn’t safe just yet. She steadied herself on the table. Eric offered her his hand.
“When I first projected, I panicked and tried to come back too fast. Made me throw up, and I pas
sed out in it.” He gave Riley an admiring look from under his bangs. “You did way better than I did. Though mum didn’t know you’d disappear like that. And she probably should have just let you use your own charms there.” He pointed at her necklace.
Riley looked down at the charms and at Tsura’s ring on her hand. Was that how she was supposed to use it too? Wouldn’t the gypsy’s ring have done something by now if so?
“I hope you don’t mind. I tried out the key you’ve got there. Took me to an empty flat somewhere. There was a note with your name on it. I didn’t read it, though, honest.”
“Where?”
“An apartment. I don’t know. I didn’t stay to find out, Miss.”
"Are you for real? Miss this and Miss that?"
Eric looked confused. “You mean the way I choose to talk?”
“Yeah, it’s not exactly modern.”
“I’m not exactly modern.”
The door swung open and banged against the refrigerator. Her grandpa and Aileen rushed in. Another man in a cloak followed them and shut the door.
“Grandpa!” Riley jumped down from the table. Eric grabbed her elbow, and she shook him off. “He was there.”
“Who was where? Are you all right?”
“The man I fought. He was there. Wherever that bird sent me, he was there.”
Her grandpa drew her to him and hugged her tightly. “Ah, darling, I can’t believe it. Are you okay? Did he see you, try to contact you? What happened?”
“I don’t know. I screamed and then I woke up here.”
“Where did she go?” He asked Aileen.
Aileen shrugged. “It’s an old shop room with no doors. Someone from the order gave it to me a long time ago. None of us ever could crack who had made it. There must be a secret passage or exit somewhere I’ve never found. I can’t imagine how someone else got there. It’s been abandoned for decades as far as I can tell. Are you sure someone was there? You weren’t just scared, maybe thought of him?”
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