by Casey Morgan
Soon they had me backed into a corner. I panted and tried to catch my breath. Holding out a hand to keep them from advancing on me, I told them, “One more kiss each but that’s it!”
“How now, lass?” a small voice said close to my ear.
Startled, I turned around and looked down into the eyes of a real live leprechaun. Devin O’Mally was about four feet tall. He was clad in a red and green plaid suit and a matching cap. Looking exactly as I had always imagined a leprechaun would look, the little man pulled his pipe out of his mouth and tapped it on his foot. The ashes that fell to the ground were gold.
“I’m sorry. You startled me,” I explained, putting a hand to my chest and trying to slow my breathing. “I’m Keira. We were hoping to meet you here.”
Devin scratched his graying beard and regarded me with wary eyes. “Ye were looking for me?” He chewed his pipe harshly and put his hands on his hips. “What for?”
“We…” I stopped and looked around.
The four elves, who were just crowded around me, were about ten feet away now. All were standing behind a three-foot rock wall in the ruins. Each brother’s amber eyes were wide open. Seth clutched the wall with tense hands.
I sighed. Apparently, my big strong elves were scared of a little leprechaun.
I looked back to Devin. “I’m sorry,” I said again. “Please excuse my companions. Yes, we were looking for you because I need to ask you about how to remove a curse.”
The leprechaun circled around me till his back was to the boys. “A curse ye say, lass? Are ya sure what ya want has nothing to do with me pot of gold?” As he said gold, he jumped. Turning quickly, he threw his arms out at the boys. Flower petals burst from his hands and floated gently towards the Hallister brothers.
All four elves quickly dropped to their knees behind the wall.
Devin laughed so hard he snorted and started to tear up. “Ye lads are as shaky as a bunch of sprites around a starvin’ ram!”
I giggled a bit. The boys had dropped so quickly it was like they thought Devin was going to burn them to a crisp. I shook my head.
Devin wandered over to a part of the ruin that had several piles of rough rocks. He dusted off a pile and sat down. “Come on, lass. Gather yer gents and have a seat.”
I walked over to the low wall and regarded the four elves on their hands and knees. “Come out of there,” I hissed. “You are embarrassing me!”
Connor popped up onto his feet first. The rest of the brothers followed. Soon the four of them were standing and brushing themselves off.
I walked back over to Devin and took a seat on a pile of rocks near him.
“Thank you for listening, Mr. O’Mally,” I said. “Bridget Hennessey told me to seek you out.”
Devin nodded. He took a small bag from his pocket and packed his pipe with gold colored tobacco. “Good woman, Bridget is,” he said with a smile. “Now what’s this about a curse?”
Connor and his brothers shuffled into the room where we were sitting. Connor took a seat near mine, but the rest leaned against the wall.
“It’s the McDonnells, Mr. O’Mally,” Connor started to explain. “They caught Keira in a witches circle during the wedding yesterday.”
“Since that point, every time someone says something bad about the McDonnell family then I feel this electric pain in my body. Either in my head or stomach,” I told the little man.
The leprechaun looked at me with bright green eyes. “What’d ya do to get them to put such a nasty curse on ye, dearie?”
“She didn’t do anything…” Seth started, coming away from the wall to defend me.
I waved a hand to stop him. “It’s okay, Seth.” I turned back to Devin. “I was drunk. I got lost in town and came upon them dancing in the town square. I ended up saying things that I had heard and well, I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”
The little man nodded and puffed on his pipe. I waited for him to reprimand me, but he didn’t. “Now, Alibe is a pretty skilled witch,” he explained. “Do ye remember how he cast the curse?”
I blinked a bit and thought back to that night. “It was all a bit of a blur. There was Alibe and the five boys. They made the same spell gestures. Then they all started to blur together. Like I was surrounded by multiple copies of Alibe.” I looked to Devin, who nodded, so I continued. “Then there was a fog that burned my insides…”
The leprechaun held up a hand to stop me. “What color was the fog?” he asked.
“Green. I tried not to breath it in, but I had a spell dampener stuffed in my mouth.”
Devin tutted. “That Ailbe is bad news. I’ve been after the Luck’s Hollow town council to get him out of here for years, but they just keep letting things slide. This might be the last straw for them to finally kick all the McDonnells out. Only priests and other religious folk are allowed to use spell dampeners.”
Tavish came up and put a hand on my shoulder. “Ailbe should be arrested. He had to have stolen that spell dampener off the local vicar. And then to tamper with it so it could touch skin, that’s a crime too, right?” he asked looking to the little man for confirmation.
Devin nodded. “I’ll talk to the council,” he said again. “But first thing is first, curse dearie. Tell me more. What did the fog do?”
I thought back to yesterday evening again. “It formed into orbs and then the orbs flew away. I didn’t see where too.”
“Orbs ye say?” The leprechaun took a long drag off his pipe and looked thoughtful. “How many were there?”
“Five or six. Everything was very blurry at that point.”
“Okay,” Devin said standing. “A fractured curse like this is anchored with those orbs. To remove it is pretty simple. Ye just have to find those orbs and destroy them.”
“Destroy them how?” Seth asked, stepping forward and crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“A simple dissipation spell will do for each orb, but the lass here needs to have the orb in her hand when the spell is cast.” The leprechaun paced and bit. He was so light, I noticed that the grass didn’t bend under his feet. “The trick is to find the orbs. Now, Ailbe is powerful but not powerful enough to send the orbs out of Southern Ireland. So, you should be able to find them all in a week or two.”
My breath caught. “A week or two? I wasn’t planning on being out here that long.”
Connor looked at me with sad amber eyes. “Really?”
Ugh. I really need to watch what I say.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “My plans were starting to change but my original ticket was for Friday night.”
Seth nodded. “Four days from now. Maybe if we all help, we can find the orbs faster. How do we locate them Mr. O’Mally?”
I smiled to myself. The boys were relaxed now, and they seemed to really trust the leprechaun. Mr. O’Mally smiled too. He must be thinking the same thing.
“Well, laddie. I might be able to help ye with that.” He waved his little hands out and directed us to gather around him. The boys and I stood and formed a circle. “Now this is your basic map spell with a twist. Ye elves do know how to do a map spell?”
The boys nodded. I did as well.
“Okay. Then the pattern goes: maps spell, conjoining twist, and a containment flourish. Keep you eyes and minds open. Follow along. I will draw on you where needed.”
We all took deep breaths and relaxed. I made sure my shoulders were down. I wasn’t often part of magic circles, two in two days was quite a record for me.
Devin started the spell with a broad wave. Together we weaved our fingers through the map spell; index finger twisting around the ring and pinky finger three times then over the middle finger. Next came the conjoining twist using both hands, after that I had to follow Devin’s hands closely. I really needed to a spell refresher course. Maybe if I had kept up with my magic, this whole situation would have never happened.
The air grew thick around us. It felt similar to the day before. I had to catch my breath and calm my ne
rves. Another fog started to form around us, but this time it was white and didn’t burn my lungs.
At the end of our finger movements, the white fog coalesced into a rough ball that swirled above Devin’s right hand. He looked at it a few moments and then up to me.
“Okay, lass. We need something to tie this locator spell to. Do ye have a necklace or broach?”
Stupidly, my hand went to my throat. I knew I wasn’t wearing any jewelry, but I felt to make sure anyway. I shook my head.
The leprechaun looked around. “Fellas?”
The elves looked at each other blankly. They felt around in their pockets. One after one, they came up empty handed.
Finally, Seth pulled something out of his pocket and held it up. “Will this do?” he asked.
I looked closer. In Seth’s grasp was a comical sheep keychain. It was shaped like a cartoon ram with goggly eyes.
“It’s from me shop,” Seth explained with a shrug, when I gave him a questioning look.
Devin gave a little nod and took the keychain. He danced his fingers in a spell that I didn’t recognize, and the white fog sucked into the tiny little sheep. Then he handed the keychain to me. It was slightly warm.
“When ya hold this in yer hand and ask, ye will get an image of where the closest orb is,” Devin explained. “Since ya are American, ye might not know what ye are seeing, but the lads here can help ye figure it out. Can’t ya boys?”
There was a round of weak “Yes, sirs,” from the elves.
I giggled at their discomfort, then leaned down and offered my hand. “Thank you Mr. O’Mally,” I told him.
He took my hand, gave it a hardy shake and then smiled at me. “Ye are more than welcome, Keira. Come by and see me anytime ye like.”
He winked at me and was gone.
Chapter 8
Ronan
The leprechaun left just as quickly as he came. Me ma had always warned us lads to give Devin O’Mally a wide birth; he was about the most powerful being in these parts. I had never tired to talk to the leprechaun before and I had definitely never tried to seek him out, that being said, he seemed like a nice enough man. At least we had a starting point now.
Keira dangled the little sheep keychain in her hand and stared at it, blue eyes wide. “This has been the most magic I’ve done in ages,” she admitted. “I’ve been a bit rusty.”
“Me too, to be honest,” I agreed. “I get lazy about it with all our modern conveniences.”
“What do you see, Keira?” Seth asked.
She looked up at him blankly.
“With the sheep,” Seth clarified. “Where is the first orb?”
“Oh,” she said. “I guess I need to ask.” She looked at the keychain again. “Where is the closest orb?”
The air around us got heavy and Keira sucked in a deep breath. Her eyes were blank and yet, she was looking around. It was like we were watching her have a dream.
“I’m not sure where I am. There is water all around me and some kind of plants are waving in the current. It has to be a lake or the ocean.”
Kind of getting the picture that she was, I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “Can you look up out of the water, darlin’?” I asked. “Do you see any kind of building around?”
She nodded. “There is a shack looking building. Small. One story. White plaster walls on the outside and maybe a thatch roof?”
“I think I know where ya are,” I told her.
Keira dropped the spell and blinked at us a few times. She put the keychain in her pocket and we all started walking towards the van.
“Where are we going, lad?” Seth asked.
“I’ll show you.”
When we got to the van, I pulled out my laptop. I searched the web until I found a tour, I had set up for some folks a few weeks back. I turned the laptop, so Keira could see.
“What’s this thing?” she asked, pointing at the computer screen and then reading. “Oh, I see. That’s very unusual. It’s a seaweed workshop. You learn all about seaweed, how it’s harvested and eaten. You get to eat quite a bit too.”
“Ewww,” said Connor. “Eating seaweed. Seriously?”
“That sounds interesting,” Tavish said.
“I mean, I suppose,” said Connor trying to change his tune, but then he looked at Tavish with his eyebrows raised. “Seriously?” Tavish nodded. “Anyway, what does seaweed have to do with anything?”
“Is that a real thing people do?” Seth asked Tavish. “Eat seaweed. I mean, it’s a weed.”
“Oh, there’s all kinds of uses for it,” Tavish explained. “You’ve eaten sushi, right?” Seth shook his head. “You’ve seen sushi, right?” This time Seth nodded. “That green bit they wrap around the rolls. That’s seaweed. It’s flattened out and dried. It’s good for the body. Bit a roughage, ya know.”
I flipped through a few of the pictures on the tour’s website. The tour started in a white plaster hut with a thatched roof. After finding a picture, I showed it to Kiera.
“That’s it!” She confirmed. “That’s the place the spell sheep showed me!”
“I’ll book us on the tour and we can use that to find the orb.” I got out my phone and made the arrangements.
Tavish took the laptop from me and continued to look over the tour’s website. “It says here, it’s a super food,” he read. “That sounds interesting. I’ve never harvested seaweed.”
“And we have to harvest it too?” said Seth with a grown. “I hope there’s a steak on the side. A bit of surf and literal turf.” He winked at Keira, who giggled.
“All right lads and lass,” I said, after everything was scheduled. “We’re all set. We have an appointment this afternoon. Let’s get on the road.”
We got back in the van and headed for the seaweed adventure. Keira was in the backseat with Connor and Tavish, which Seth and I didn’t care for. This was the disadvantage to taking my van. I had to drive. Sure, she had kissed each of us, but she hadn’t decided which one of us she liked better yet. In the backseat, there was a little teasing and a little flirting going on. The boys no doubt knew that physical contact was important on a date, so they were trying their best to hold Keira’s hand and get touchy-feely by putting their hands on her knees.
In the passenger seat, Seth was muttering to himself. He seemed annoyed he didn’t get to be in the back seat. I could understand his annoyance, but we would have other times to get Keira’s attention. We just had to be patient.
The lass seemed to sense our displeasure. She leaned forward on occasion and making sure to chat with us a bit. She also employed the same tactic of showing interest by touching Seth and I both on the shoulder and lingering there as long as she could. It was, I thought, a clear signal. She was interested in all four of us and I was going to take advantage of that if I could.
I got to thinking during the drive to the shore. This week certainly turned into something interesting. One day, I’m sitting in the travel agency, alone, lamenting my lack of business and social life. The next day, not only do my brothers introduce me to this angel, we all are off an adventure.
God! I couldn’t stop staring at Keira when I caught glimpses of her in the rearview mirror. Her smile was so easy and bright. Her nose scrunched slightly when she laughed. The way her strawberry-blonde hair curled slightly at the ends and framed her heart-shaped face was like a halo. I had never seen anyone so lovely.
We arrived at the Seaweed Workshop. A lovely old woman named Tulip ran the place. She gave us a rundown of all the various edible seaweeds and what to look for. I have to say, me and the other lads felt the talk was a bit dry. Keira was absolutely fascinated for some reason. Here she was, a witch from New York, the most exciting place on Earth, and she was happy to have traveled all the way here and learn about some old waterlogged plants. I’ll never understand it, but Tulip did do her best with the material at hand.
Connor was making a big show of pretending to be fascinated. That was all a ruse. He didn’t care. If the
Vikings or someone from history didn’t harvest seaweed, I could guarantee you Connor didn’t give two shits about it.
Tulip gave us some rubber boots and we preceded to wade out into the water and try to pick some seaweed. We each got a bucket as well. To be honest, even though I recommended this activity to a bunch of people, I had never done it. It was kind of a lot of work. Plus, how were we going to find the orb in the miles and miles of seaweed off the coast?
Keira enjoyed everything about it. She got splashed by the surf but didn’t care. Even in rubber boots, messy hair and disgusting seaweed in her hands, she was an enchanting creature. She was like a mermaid that had grown legs.
“Hey,” Tavish said, nudging me with his arm. “Stop staring at my girl.”
“What? That’s my girl,” I assured him with a grin. “Ya introduce me to that enchantress and think I won’t fall in love with her? You’re balmy.”
“Hey, don’t fall in love with her,” whispered Connor. “Ya all are not even in this. I met her first at the wedding reception. I have dibbs. Tell ‘em, Seth.”
Seth looked extremely worried or maybe sick. He was standing stock-still holding two handfuls of seaweed and shaking a bit. His face was turning red and his eyes were tearing. Then he started sneezing every time someone picked up some seaweed and put it in a bucket.
“Seth,” I whispered. “What’s wrong with you, lad?”
“I think I’m allergic,” he whispered back, trying to endure it. “I didn’t know you could be allergic to seaweed.”
“You didn’t eat that sample Tulip gave us, did ye?” Connor asked. We all gathered around him except for Keira, who was a few feet down doing her own thing.
“No, it looked disgusting,” he whispered back.
“Oh, my God,” whispered Connor, trying to make sure Keira didn’t overhear. “I don’t believe this.”
“What?” asked Tavish.
“Don’t you see?” Connor asked pointing at Seth who was rubbing his eyes raw. “He’s got the allergy and he endured it to do this. She’s going to love that!”
“Oh, bollocks, you’re right,” agreed Tavish. “I wish I had a seaweed allergy. I don’t even know a good stew for this stuff.” He looked disgusted at the bundle of seaweed he held in his hand and then dumped it into his bucket.
