Black Pool Magic

by Jennifer Willis

  “Yeah.” Thor smacked his lips and tried to wring out his beard as he stood dripping on the pavement. “Now I smell like the bloody river! Still preferable to getting incinerated, but wouldn’t you rather have me throw a ball for you to fetch?”

  The dragon reared back both heads, cheeks puffed out, and took aim at Thor once more.

  “Thor!” Freya and Freyr yelled in unison from the far end of the bridge.

  Thor regarded the dragon’s twin heads and took off across the bridge at a fast clip. The dragon let loose a double-barreled fireball that caught the flapping tail of Thor’s wet shirt as he dove off the end of the bridge and onto the street.

  Loki jumped onto Thor and smothered the smoldering sparks with his own body. Thor rolled over and pushed Loki off of him.

  “That’s quite enough of that.” Thor staggered to his feet. Still dripping wet, he checked himself for any obvious signs of injury. The back of his shirt was a black-singed hole, and what was left exuded an impressive quantity of steam and smoke. He dropped the fabric back into place with a disgusted snort.

  “So, did you just get blasted by a baby water dragon, or did you eat raw chili peppers for lunch?” Freyr asked.

  Thor stared at him blankly.

  Freyr stomped his foot. “Oh, come on! The man looks like he’s got hot smoke coming out of his butt.” He waited for laughter that never came. “Okay, the joke was weak, but it’s the best I could do on short notice.”

  “You stay up at night coming up with these witty retorts?” Thor asked.

  “Boys!” Freya shouted. “Another time, all right?” She hustled down the street toward Dublin Castle.

  Sally glanced up each narrow cross-street they passed. “Maybe Clare went back to campus?” she asked Niall. “Maybe she has some magick wand or other implement at the apartment she thinks might help?”

  Niall shook his head. “You give her too much credit. Even after all the silly accusations and insults she’s hurled at you.”

  Sally wore a frustrated smile. “Well, I’ve been where she is.”

  “Excuse me,” Loki offered from behind them. “At your most naïve, Sally, you were at least earnest in your work.”

  “She’s an immature, overconfident brat with no sense of humor,” Thor cut in. “You’ll be well rid of her.”

  “I’m worried about my roommate, okay?” Sally shot back.

  “I have no opinion on the matter,” Phelan chimed in. “But you can quite easily draw a parallel between the situation of Sally and her friend, with their petty bickering and the large comparative gulf in their magickal abilities, and the differences between the Irish humans and the truly native races of Éireann. You see—”

  “Thanks for sharing.” Thor clamped a strong hand on the pooka’s shoulder. Phelan grimaced under Thor’s grip and fell silent.

  Sally put her head down and pushed forward. “I just hope Clare’s okay.”

  The group plowed through the pedestrian traffic clogging the roadway—with more people pouring out of pubs and from side streets to stand at the river’s edge and gawk at the two-headed dragon.

  Thor stopped. “You think we should warn them?”

  “They’ll figure it out!” Freyr shouted back.

  Thor called to a group of college kids pressed against the stone railing over the Liffey. They were laughing and snapping photos of the purple dragon. “Folks, you might want to keep back a bit!”

  The dragon blew a huge fireball into the air, igniting a row of international banners above the kids’ heads. They shrieked and leapt back from the river’s edge.

  “Yeah, they’ll figure it out.” Thor ran to catch up to the others.

  After a heated debate about which gate would offer the best access to the Black Pool, the group fell silent as they approached the castle grounds from Dame Street.

  Sally stood dumbstruck next to Freya as they looked up at the faerie-covered fence in awe.

  Tourists and administrators fled Dublin Castle in horror as Tuatha de Danann of every race swarmed over the buildings’ exteriors and clung to the iron bars of the gates. The dull hues of stone, brick, and plaster were blotted out by creatures of all colors of the rainbow, their wings and armaments colliding and smacking against each other as the faeries battled with one another to get inside. They bickered and laughed and sang as they swarmed.

  “They shouldn’t be able to do that,” Freya said. “The bars are made of iron.”

  Freyr whistled through his teeth.

  Sally pushed past Freya and Freyr. Clare was still nowhere in sight, and repeated calls and texts had gone unanswered.

  “I have a really bad feeling about this.” Sally paused at the sight of so many winged, pointy-eared, green-skinned, orange-furred, and even flower-shaped creatures thronging together. For all their bustling, the faeries ignored Sally and her friends.

  Even stranger, the place fell instantly silent—save for the strains of an ancient song coming from deep within the castle grounds.

  Sally took a deep breath and marched forward. She tried to ignore the small hands that grabbed at her clothing as she squeezed through the gate.

  “Sally!” Freya shouted.

  Sally picked up speed once she was inside the fence. She heard the rattling bars as the others squeezed through the gate and came storming after her as she raced toward the castle gardens.

  Faerie creatures covered nearly every square inch of the historic and administrative buildings she passed, and she had to swerve every few paces to avoid running over smaller creatures on the pavement. They were all heading in the same direction.

  Sally stopped abruptly beneath the stone arch that separated the Garda Memorial from the garden’s grass circle.

  Badbh stood at the center. The grass rippled like water, and Badbh’s silver and black hair cascaded behind her in rhythm with the waves. Her arms were open wide in welcome to the faeries who swarmed toward her, leapt onto the liquid grass, and then disappeared beneath the surface.

  Bloody and still, Clare’s body lay beneath Badbh’s feet.

  Sally’s breath caught. Clare’s slit throat gaped open.

  “No!” Sally screamed. “Clare!”

  Niall rushed to her side and followed her gaze. “Oh! Go stróice an diabhal thú,” he hissed.

  Sally turned to him. From his tone alone, she could make a guess as to his meaning.

  She felt the others fan out around her. She looked over her shoulder and caught Thor’s eye.

  “I’ll be well rid of her?” Sally hissed.

  “Child, I had no idea,” Thor said. “I meant you could change roommates. I never meant this.” Thor cast a hot glare in Badbh’s direction. “She will be avenged.”

  “Badbh!” Freya yelled at the top of her lungs. “Grandmother! You must stop this!”

  Badbh’s expression turned solemn as her gaze shifted to her twin grandchildren standing side-by-side at the edge of the grass. She lowered her arms and extended a single hand to them.

  “Children. Heirs of Danu,” Badbh called in a deep voice that sent chills down Sally’s spine. “I am glad you have come. It is time, young ones, for our people to return to their former glory and to rule their own land.”

  Heimdall stepped in front of Freya and Freyr. “Badbh! Sister of The Morrigan! I am Heimdall, the Golden One, son and emissary of Odin the All-Father!” he shouted over the wind that whipped around the grass. “You are in violation of the Vanir treaty with the Æsir! You have spilled innocent blood! Cease at once or risk reigniting the conflict between our peoples!”

  Badbh blinked at him while her hair swirled behind her. She threw her head back and laughed as more faeries stepped across the boundary from pavement to grass and disappeared into her cauldron beneath the green.

  “You’re too late,” Badbh replied.

  “Every creature that steps into the cauldron will rise up larger and stronger than ever,” Freya told Heimdall. “There’s no telling how many have entered the Black Pool already.” S
he looked at Clare’s pale body and the deep gash across her throat. “That poor girl never stood a chance.”

  “If you had any true concern for your precious treaty, you would not have set foot in Vanaheim!” Badbh shrieked. “First you took away my grandchildren, then you sent your magick here ahead of you to taunt me. Ages-old agreements between ancient beings no longer interest me. The world now is not as it was.”

  “Which is why you need to end this, now!” Heimdall stepped closer to the edge of the grass.

  “Heimdall, be careful,” Freya warned.

  He gestured toward Sally and Niall, and then to the city beyond the castle walls. “These people know little of your kind. They have built up great nations, traveled to the moon and into the ocean depths since our conflict came to a negotiated end. How do you imagine the Vanir would fare in such a world?”

  Badbh laughed as a new wave of faeries dove into the rippling grass. “I care not for these human creatures.”

  “She just wants her homeland back.” Phelan peeked out from behind Loki. “I don’t think she harbors any special malice toward human beings, though I don’t imagine she has much patience for them, either.”

  Loki motioned Phelan forward. The pooka approached Heimdall and avoided making eye contact with Badbh.

  “Don’t misunderstand me.” Phelan leaned toward Heimdall and lowered his voice. “I am no loyal subject of The Morrigan there. In fact, I’d go so far as to say she’d sooner have my head on a platter than bid ‘Good Morning’ to one such as myself.”

  Heimdall kept his eye on Badbh and gestured for the pooka to continue.

  “But those are internal politics, as they say,” Phelan added with an awkward chuckle. “My point is that there’s no sense in trying to bargain with her. She’s made up her mind to reclaim this ancient land.”

  “YOU!” Badbh’s eyes darkened as her gaze settled on the pooka.

  Phelan cringed and started backing away from Heimdall and the grass circle. “I think I will be taking my leave now, if you don’t mind. This isn’t the most fortuitous place for myself at the present moment.”

  “YOU!” Badbh shouted again. Her voice echoed off the surrounding buildings as another wave of faeries dove into the sacred pool.

  “Here’s what I don’t get,” Freyr leaned toward his sister. “All of these pixies, sprites, banshees, and others are going into the pool, right?”

  Freya nodded and kept her eyes on Badbh, still standing atop Clare’s bloodless corpse.

  “So if Grandmother really has found a way to reactivate the cauldron of rebirth, how come no one is coming back out of it?” he asked. “Isn’t that kind of the point of this whole thing?”

  Badbh raised her arm and pointed at Phelan. “Thief! It was you who stole my sisters from me.”

  “Sisters?” Sally turned to Loki. “I thought you just had her bracelet?”

  Thor turned to Loki with murder in his eyes. “You want to explain yourself?”

  “Ah, yes.” Loki scratched the back of his neck. “As I recall, it was more than a simple cuff. Those stones of power, the two eyes of the eel bracelet—they linked the sisters of The Morrigan. Bound them to the Black Pool.”

  Dumbstruck, Thor stood staring at Loki. After centuries of suspicion, Thor had finally caught the trickster in the act of betrayal—after coming to hope that he never would. It was a guilty and empty triumph.

  Phelan froze in his tracks. He looked around at the others, then back at Badbh. He shrugged and offered her a half-bow.

  “Technically, it wasn’t me, myself, as it were.” Phelan looked up from beneath his brow. “It was my cousin who did the actual taking of the item in question. Technically speaking.”

  “Thief!” Badbh cried out again. The rings of faeries around her became agitated, infected with their goddess’s outrage. They turned away from the grassy pool and started creeping toward Phelan.

  “I mean, yes, of course, I was involved in the apprehension of said bracelet.” Phelan backed away. “And given that we hadn’t first secured your permission, I can see how you might assume thievery in such a case.”

  Loki stepped in front of Phelan to act as a shield against the approaching faeries.

  “I don’t think you’re helping yourself very much,” Loki offered.

  “You’re the one who orchestrated this!” Phelan spat at Loki and then gestured to Badbh. “Tell her!”

  Loki sighed. He glanced at Badbh, then turned back to Phelan. “We all have our roles to play.”

  Phelan dropped forward in a flash of silver light and transformed into the growling black dog. Sally instinctively took a few steps back from him.

  “Cursed, bloody Wargs,” Thor spat.

  “This is not the most appropriate time to bring up old scores,” Loki said. “Settled or unsettled.”

  “So tell me more about this eel cuff?” Sally was surprised her voice didn’t quaver as she stepped forward to address Badbh.

  “Careful, Sally,” Freyr warned.

  “I take it that it was something particularly precious?” Sally walked a few steps around the circle, trying to distract Badbh’s attention away from Phelan. As Badbh tracked her movements, Sally saw the faeries slow in their approach toward Phelan.

  “Something powerful?” Sally continued. “A special connection you had?”

  Badbh’s smile grew broader and colder.

  “It is no immediate concern,” Badbh waved a hand at Phelan, and the faeries intent on him turned and headed again for the pool. “Merely a matter that will be rectified once more pressing issues are resolved.”

  I know it was you, a dark voice echoed inside Sally’s skull. It knocked her back a few paces. Sally stared at Badbh. The Morrigan’s lips hadn’t moved. She eyed Sally with that same, icy smile.

  You were the one who woke me, the voice continued. Not this pathetic creature whose body was given as the pedestal of my resurrection.

  Sally looked to Heimdall, Freya, and Loki, but it was obvious no one else could hear Badbh’s dark whispers. These words were intended for Sally alone. She looked down at Clare’s body, now slowly sinking into the grassy pool. Sally felt sick.

  I felt your spark when you first arrived in this land, little witch, Badbh continued. You should have come to me then, to make your introductions and pledge your allegiance.

  Sally swayed on her feet. Her gaze was locked with Badbh’s. She wanted to turn away. She wanted to cry for help. But she was frozen in place by those dark, blazing eyes and cold smile.

  “I, I,” Sally stammered aloud.

  I have you to thank for my awakening. Badbh assaulted Sally’s mind with powerful thoughts that ran over each other, throwing at her images of the empty cauldron beneath the gardens and of the original Black Pool formed by the meeting of the Poddle River with the Liffey.

  Your friend carried that ridiculous talisman, with the power of my sisters locked inside, Badbh continued. But it was your power that brought me back and infused me with new strength.

  “No, I, that’s not . . .” Sally tried to shake herself loose. Tears streamed down her cheeks but she couldn’t move her hands to wipe them away.

  You are my witch now, aren’t you, little one? Badbh extended a hand to Sally. Destiny brought you to my shores. Your name will be praised by the Tuatha de Danann for all eternity for your courageous role in helping to restore this land to its former light—

  “Grandmother, don’t!” Freya grabbed Sally by the shoulders and yanked her back from the edge of the grass.

  Sally looked down at her feet, astonished to discover that she’d been traveling toward the pool.

  “How?” Sally looked up at Freya, then glanced back at Badbh.

  That’s right, the goddess gestured her forward. Come to me. Become Éireann’s first witch in this new age. Take your place beside the rightful King of the Vanir.

  “No!” Freya placed herself between Sally and Badbh, breaking the connection. “You cannot have this one.” She pulled Sally backw
ard and turned her away from Badbh. “Sally? Sally!” Freya shook her violently. Sally’s entire body stung as she felt herself come back into focus.

  “What happened?” Sally pressed a hand against her wet cheeks.

  “Sally, just hang back here with me, all right?” Freyr took Sally by the arm and pulled her away from the grass circle.

  Sally found herself standing outside the memorial archway with Freyr on one side of her and Loki on the other. But the faeries kept marching toward the pool to cast themselves into Badbh’s cauldron. Sally felt numb when she realized how close she’d come to disappearing into the same dark waters. What would have become of her in Badbh’s cauldron? She shuddered, and Freyr rested a hand on her shoulder.

  “You have already taken innocent life in your insane quest!” Freya shouted at her grandmother. “The Vanir cannot be restored with a body count.”

  Badbh laughed. She shifted her clawed toes on top of Clare’s body. “This was a willing sacrifice, granddaughter. There is no more powerful magick.”

  “Did she say Clare willingly offered herself to be slaughtered?” Sally pushed herself away from Freyr and Loki. She surged forward and locked an angry glare on Badbh, no longer concerned about hearing the dark goddess’s voice echo in her thoughts. “You must have tricked her! There’s no way Clare would die for you!”

  Even as the words left Sally’s mouth, she wasn’t entirely sure they were true.

  Hands gripped her arms. Loki and Niall pulled her back again from the rippling grass circle. Another wave of faeries rushed past and dove headfirst into the pool.

  “She wouldn’t have done that!” Sally looked up at Niall. “Would she?”

  Niall pressed his lips together in a hard line. “She wanted very badly to be a real witch, as she called it, and to practice magick in earnest. Irish magick. Though she had no understanding of what that was.”

  Sally was startled by a sudden flash of light at her side. Phelan appeared in his human form. “Begging your pardon, miss, at such an inopportune time . . .”

  “Out with it,” Niall commanded.

  Phelan cleared his throat. “It’s just that, as you know, I was the one who sold her that silly talisman to begin with, and, well, if I had known . . .”