"So who's your friend here in Asheville?"
I really don't expect him to reply. But in a few seconds, a text comes in. I'm so glad I silenced my phone.
He answers, "Another of the Tuatha dé Danann. She's called Ériu."
A woman. "You two having fun?"
The reply text is just one word. "Jealous?"
Idiot. I type back, "You wish."
"She actually likes fun, unlike someone else I know. So refreshing to be around a real woman."
He's baiting me. He can suck it. I turn off the phone and put it under my pillow.
Now I feel even less like sleeping.
4
STREAM
Zane
The next day, as we're driving back home, Frank's car turns off the road at an unexpected spot— a sign that reads "Bat Cave."
"What is he up to?" I follow him in my truck. The other car in our caravan, the one with Arden, Julio, and Carmen, is already so far ahead we can't see it. "Baby, call Frank and find out what the hell he's doing."
Aislinn calls Frank and puts him on speaker. "Frank? Why are we turning here?"
"Maisie wants to see a bat cave," says Frank. We can hear Maisie's excited voice jabbering in the background.
"Frank, you know that's not actually a bat cave. It's just a town called 'Bat Cave,'" Aislinn says. "Arden told me about it."
"Wait, so no bats?" Frank says. Maisie lets out a whine of disappointment. "If it's called 'Bat Cave,' there's gotta be an actual cave somewhere around."
"There is, on Bluerock Mountain, but it's a protected area. Humans aren't allowed there," Aislinn says. "How do you not know this? You used to live around here."
"Yeah, well I didn't have a car then, so I didn't get to explore the mountains much," he retorts. "Anyway, Maisie really wants to check it out. I say we sneak in."
"Nah man, not a good plan," I say. "We could get arrested or something."
"Let's just get close. See if there's a trail."
"No, Frank."
"We're going."
And that's how we end up traveling Chimney Rock Road, and then branching off to some other smaller roads, and then finding a spot to park so Frank and Maisie can walk into the forest.
"What are they thinking? I can't believe they're following through with this. He must be nuts for this chick."
"Or just nuts," says Aislinn. "Come on, we should go with them."
"And get in trouble ourselves?"
"And make sure they don't get lost," she says.
Aislinn can find anyone or anything. She got that power from a pixie, who ended up dead. The Life-Stream she took from the pixie keeps her human during the day— but damn that's a rough way to get it. Still, I don't ever wanna see Aislinn in monster form again. Once was plenty.
Aislinn could find this bat cave easy enough if we looked up a picture of it; but she won't, not with some endangered bats holing up in there. We're just gonna keep Frank and Maisie from losing their fool selves in the woods.
Laurel rolls down Frank's back window. "Ya'll crazy to be goin' after them," she says.
"We won't be long," Aislinn answers.
Mike pulls Laurel back into the car, and she yelps with delight. I smirk. They'll be just fine.
We walk after Frank and Maisie. Maisie is dancing through the underbrush, squeaking about her shoes being not right for this, and Frank keeps touching her, with the excuse that he's keeping her from falling. He's swishing those blond bangs of his with a boy-band flair, and Maisie's just eating it up, loving his vibe.
Aislinn and I hang back a ways, taking our time.
"So, that was pretty hot last night," I say.
She blushes, and it makes her even prettier. "Yeah."
"Too bad Arden had to come in when she did."
"Yeah. She had a point though. Said it wouldn't be the right place, you know. Someone else's rental house, on their couch, where anybody could walk through. Not really how I want it to be."
"I hear you on that." I think it sounds just fine. I even had a little backup plan in my pocket for just such a situation. But the lady gets what she wants.
"We should hurry," says Aislinn. "They're moving out of sight."
Here in the mountains, it's all tall trees like pillars towering up over our heads, and shorter young trees, with a thin scatter of green leaves, growing up under the big ones. Through it all grow the bushes— some of them skinny, wired with thorny vines, others with big old leaves the size of my palm. A few wild rhododendrons still bloom on the slopes, big purple clusters with long narrow leaves.
It's not too hot under the trees, even though it's June. I guess the branches and leaves act like natural air-conditioning— plus we're still technically in the mountains, and it's usually several degrees cooler up here than back home.
A jay cries overhead, loud and startling. Maisie yelps.
"Just a bird, Maisie," says Frank.
"Oh, okay. Where's the bat cave?"
"I'm taking you to it, honey," he says. He angles his phone, looking this way and that. "I think we need to go there."
Looks to me like he picked a random direction and pointed.
"A'right guys, time to head back," I say. "C'mon Frank. We're never gonna find this cave, and if we do, we'll get in trouble. Let's go."
"Oh look!" Maisie exclaims, and she starts off, running ahead in her ridiculous shoes. Why girls think they gotta prop their heels up on spikes is something I'll never get.
The stream up ahead, the one Maisie saw, is pretty dope, with big rocks tumbled all along its edges, moss growing on them, old branches and trunks crisscrossing the cold water. Aislinn's face lights up, and she's gone to climb them in a second. I follow her, remembering the first time we hung out, when I made her climb on the rocks to the middle of the river.
She's like a cat, moving lithe and quick ahead of me. I want to take my time and enjoy the view of her, but I got to watch my footing. When she pauses on a moss-covered rock, I catch up, balancing right behind her and slipping my arms around her waist. She inhales, a kind of excited gasp. I lean down and kiss the side of her neck.
She twists around in my arms till she's facing me, pressed close, her fingers traveling up my arms to my shoulders. She laces them behind my neck and pulls me in for a kiss. Fire in my stomach, rising to my chest and lungs. I barely breathe.
Then she breaks loose and she's skipping away over the rocks to the other side.
"Yo, Z," says Frank. "Bet I can jump from this rock to that one. Bet you can't."
"Oh, it's on," I say.
For a while it's a game, betting each other who can leap the furthest to the biggest rock. Finally, he misses a jump and steps ankle deep in the stream. I make it.
"Oh, yeah, I win!"
Frank tosses back his hair and yanks my arm, making me stumble into the water.
"No fair, dude!" I hate hiking in wet shoes.
He runs, laughing, and I'm after him in a second. Aislinn sits on a huge boulder, swinging her legs and smiling at us like she's watching kids at play.
"I'm tired of this," Maisie whines. "Let's go back."
"Nah baby, let's go just a little further," says Frank. "Just five minutes, and if we don't see it we'll turn around."
She pouts her lip at him, but she lets him take her hand and lead her across the stream. Aislinn and I lace our fingers together and follow them.
Without any real directions or a map, we're bound to keep trekking round and round through this forest, never finding the bat cave. If it weren't for Aislinn's creepy pixie thing, I'd be worried; but I know she'll get us back to the cars somehow.
"A little further," Frank says again. "I got a good feeling about this."
Not five minutes later we come into a huge clearing.
And I see that once again, my normal life and Aislinn's world of magic have crashed together.
5
FRIENDS
Aislinn
I've never seen anything like it.
Someone— a lot of someones— have cleared a big space out in the middle of the forest. There's trampled black earth and dead leaves underfoot, and nothing grows there— not even a hint of a weed or a blade of grass. It's a perfect circle.
All around the circle are massive stones, tall as Zane. Some sitting up on end, partly sunken in the earth for stability. Others lying horizontal, but placed, not fallen.
In the middle, there's an immense stone, larger than all the others, with a flattened surface. It's stained red-brown, the color heavier on the flat part and fading down the sides.
Frank swears.
"What is this place?" Maisie asks, hanging on Frank's arm.
A strange buzzing sensation hums over my skin— the feel of magic. It's very faint, as if the magic isn't active right now. But there are definitely leftover vibes from whatever happened here. I walk forward, through the circle of stones.
"Aislinn!" Zane is warning me to come back, not to investigate, not to dig deeper. Just to leave with him, and be normal and human.
But I'm half-Korrigan and half-druid, and this circle calls to something deep, deep in my blood.
I walk up to the stone in the center and touch it lightly. As I step nearer, the ground squelches; and when I pull my foot back and look at my shoe, it's wet with blood. In fact, the earth all around the stone is soaked with blood, blood that hasn't had a chance to fully dry or be absorbed by nature.
Zane and the others stare in horror, and Maisie yelps.
"Aislinn, get away from there!" Zane calls.
He's trying to keep me safe. But I don't like being told what to do.
"Just a second," I say. I have the strangest feeling that I'm looking for something, even though I have no idea what it could be.
Walking around to the other side of the massive altar, I find it— a hollow in the rock, stuffed with what looks like small stones and clutter. I poke my finger around in the bits of matter, and a whole human fingernail falls out, follow by several teeth, roots and all, and a string of tiny bones. I jump back, wiping my hands again and again on my shirt.
"Let's go!" wails Maisie. "I don't like this place."
But I'm walking, drawn to the far edge of the clearing. There's something dangling from the trees. Several ravens, each one tied by its feet. They hang with black wings extended, glossy feathered bodies glimmering in the rays from the sun as they slowly revolve on their strings.
They can't have been dead long. Whoever owns this stone circle must have visited it early this morning.
Something else is strung from the trees, further back in the woods. A zigzag row of long, thin bones that look like human ribs. Pale, but stained in places with old blood.
I walk back to the others as fast as I can without running. "We need to go."
"That's what I've been saying." Zane catches my hand. "C'mon kids. Follow us."
"Wait, let me get directions on my phone," says Frank.
"Never mind that. Aislinn has a great sense of direction," Zane says. "Go on, Aislinn."
I can't transport all of us, by I can use my pixie power to guide us back. I picture the cars, parked along the road where we left them, but instead of willing myself to be there, I just hold the image in my mind and walk.
Maisie complains the whole way— not without reason, because she's probably getting blisters from those shoes. My own sandals aren't ideal for hiking, but they're better than what she's got.
"What was that place?" Zane whispers to me as we trudge through the forest.
"I'm not sure," I say. "I'm new to all the Fae stuff, so I don't know if it's actual Fae, or just humans that did it. Could be some kind of witchy mountain cult. But there was something legit about it. I could feel the magic in the air. Someone was doing a spell, probably not long before we came through."
By the set of his jaw and the flare of his nostrils, I can tell he's unhappy. I think I know why. He wanted this to be a fun, normal getaway, like that perfect week at the beach with his family. No Fae, no magic, no powers, nothing that doesn't belong in his comfortable world.
I thought he was handling this Fae stuff so well at first; but lately it's become clear that he's not totally okay with what I am. I get it— I'm not either. I've wanted so badly to be normal, for so long. To be free from the Korrigan and have days and a normal life.
But when the Far Darrig gave me my first taste of magical power, I realized how much more there could be. Power gives you choices, and for someone like me, who's had almost every choice made for her the past seventeen years, that's really tempting. It's not something I can just ignore. I took the pixie powers because I had to, but I took the leprechaun's and fenodyree's abilities because I wanted to. Because I needed power, and options. A way out.
And now I'm different. Because of my choices.
Funny how the thing you want becomes the thing that changes you.
We're back at the cars, and Laurel and Mike are standing by Frank's old Buick, looking bored.
"Ya'll took forever," says Laurel, with an exaggerated groan.
"We saw the freakiest thing!" Maisie is practically shrieking. "You have to hear all about it!"
"Can't wait." Laurel exchanges a glance with me as she slides into the Buick's back seat. I smile and shrug. Frank's girl-of-the-week might be silly, but at least she isn't mean, or straight-up dumb like some of the ones we've had to deal with.
Zane and I climb back into his truck. For a while, all is quiet as we drive.
"So, that was crazy," I say, by way of starting the conversation.
"Mm-hm."
Silence.
"I'm sorry," I say, even though none of it is my fault. "I know you wanted this weekend to be magic-free."
"It's okay. I'm just freaked out."
"Me too."
"Really? 'Cause when I told you to come back, to leave it alone, you just went out there and started pokin' around. Any other girl would have screamed if she saw blood on her shoe like that."
"I'm not just any other girl. I thought you liked that about me— a little mystery, or whatever. Something different."
"Yeah, but this? This is like off the charts."
I pinch my lips together to keep the hurt and anger in.
"Just try, okay?" he says. "Try not to be so damn curious about it all. There's plenty in life to think about without delving into the Other Side of stuff. You know that's what came between my mom and my grandma. Gram is into all this hoodoo crap, and Mom grew up with that, and all the weirdness that went along with it. She doesn't like to talk about it— hates anything to do with witchcraft, hoodoo, voodoo, you name it. If she knew you were into real magic—" He shook his head.
"I'm sorry your mama wouldn't like me for who I am," I say.
"Stop it. That's not fair."
"That's what you're saying."
"No—"
"That's exactly, precisely what you just said. If you didn't mean that, why'd you say it?" My head feels hot, my hands sweaty. I can't believe we're fighting like this, and at the same time I don't care. "Just admit it. You hate magic. You hate that I have it. Maybe you're just jealous of me, because you're plain old normal."
"What the hell? That makes no sense. Why would I want magic? It's crazy and stupid and dangerous."
"So I'm stupid and crazy now?"
"No, I— You put words in my mouth that weren't there. Stop trying to understand what's in my head, okay? Maybe I can't say things as quickly or as well as you, but that doesn't make me dumb."
"I'm not the one calling people stupid."
He shakes his head. "Just shut up and let me drive, okay? Talking about it just gets me all worked up and I can't do that and drive safely right now."
"Whatever."
I flip on the radio. There's a guy singing about losing his first love. Great. I switch the station. "Listening goes both ways," says the talk radio person. "You've got to really listen to each other. That's the only way you'll ever—"
I turn the radio off, and we ride in si
lence the rest of the way. The whole time I'm boiling inside. He doesn't understand me, he's being ridiculous, why can't he just suck it up and deal? And then, why am I pushing him to be okay with things that are tough to handle— things that most people don't know exist? Why can't I just back away from magic and let it be, and act like a normal human girl?
Slowly, slowly, I calm down. I'm still angry, but I see his side of it— and I really regret letting my temper take over my tongue.
When we finally pull into the apartment complex parking lot, he looks over at me, like a question. I'm not sure what he expects from me right now.
"Well, I had a good time," I say. "Thanks. The festival, the music, the food— everything was great. We can blame Frank and Maisie for that walk in the woods."
His face relaxes a little. "Fools."
I smile and lean toward him, and he leans to me and our lips fit together so beautifully. It's all okay. We're okay.
I hope so.
After a minute I pull back, slip out of the truck, and shut the door.
"Bye," I say through the open window.
He blows me another kiss as he drives away.
◆◆◆
That night, after I'm sure Arden is asleep, I call the Far Darrig's number.
"Yes?"
It's a woman's voice, smooth and clear.
"Um—" I'm shocked. I have no idea what to say. What do people normally say? Oh, yes. "Is the Far— I mean, is Kieran there?"
"Kieran? Why do you need to talk to him?" She sounds suspicious. Jealous?
"I just— um, we, he's consulting for me, on a project, and I have a question."
"Just a project? Are you sure?"
"Yes, there's nothing else, just a professional— project." I cringe. Even I don't believe me.
"Why are you calling so late?"
"I'm sorry, I've called at a bad time." I want nothing more than to get off the phone with her. "Could you just tell him to call me?"
"I suppose I could do that," says the voice, and mid-sentence it switches into the Far Darrig's low, velvety tones.
Druid (Secrets of the Fae Book 2) Page 3
