by KB Anne
Scott pinches my arm, abruptly yanking me back to Newgrange.
I rub the now-sore spot. “What the fuck? Was it necessary to jab your fingers into me as hard as you could to get my attention?”
“With all the wild stuff going on, I couldn’t understand why you were ignoring me. I guess I sort of freaked out and might have,” he pauses, a twinkle appearing in his eye, “overdone it.” He glances around to make sure nosy swan lady, or anyone else, isn’t eavesdropping on our conversation, but he needn’t worry. We’re still cloaked. “I also didn’t want to risk doing any magic. You know I barely have control of it, especially when I’m anxious, and you ignoring me was definitely making me anxious.”
A pain shoots down my elbow as I rub an especially sore spot. “Just remember you’re an oversized ape and freakishly strong.”
A grin appears as he flexes his muscles. “At least my well-tuned body is still my own.”
I roll my eyes as we continue walking across the grass. “Lucky me.”
He falls in step beside me, and the day returns to what appears to be another fruitless search for Breas, and by association Alaric and Lizzie. Or at least I think it does until my face, followed by my body, hits an impenetrable surface and knocks me backward.
“What in the gods?” I groan, rubbing my face, the last remnants of whatever I crashed into remaining.
“What the fuck?” Scott curses, and I realize he also got zapped. Evidently it hurt him more than me because he dropped the f-bomb, which only happens when he’s teetering on the edge or really hurt. I don’t need any excuse to use it.
I reach out with my pointer finger to see what will happen. The tip sizzles when it hits the barrier. I crabwalk away from the shock of it.
“Is it some sort of magic field?” Scott says, gingerly reaching his booted foot toward it. He jerks it back just before reaching the spot where I got zapped. “I can’t do it.”
“Chicken,” I whisper under my breath. Not so that Scott doesn’t hear me, but so whoever is the creator of such mumbo jumbo doesn’t. When Hermione and Harry were on one side of their Shield Charm, they could hear and see the Snatchers. I didn’t want to give anything away to Breas or whoever else might be behind this magic, or on the other side of it.
I open my palms and concentrate on the source of the barrier. “I can feel energy pulsing through it.”
“Is it green energy or dark?”
I close my eyes and concentrate. “I can’t tell. Only that it is really powerful.”
“Do you think Breas is the cause of it?”
“He’s the cause of all trouble, so yeah, I’d say so.” Big deal if Breas heard me. He needs to know that it’s never going to happen between us. And if he causes any harm to Lizzie and Alaric, he’s done. Deep fecking shite.
“Gi, you can’t let your emotions skew your judgment. Concentrate and tell me what you see,” Scott says in the voice he reserves for small animals.
“Enough of the psychoanalysis bullshit. You got zapped too, and the only one I can think of who’s powerful enough to create something like this is Breas. Carman too, but she’s dead and buried.”
Is she?
Great. Brigit has decided to make an appearance. FYI, not really in the mood for you today. Unless, of course, you know where Alaric and Lizzie are.
You know I can’t give you the answers.
How typical that goddess me would place restrictions on what she will share with reincarnated human me. It’s like I automatically set myself up to fail as a reincarnated goddess. Typical.
I just want you to experience life. Remember what it’s like to be human so you can better serve them when you return to the Otherworld.
If you don’t shut up and let me think, it’ll be sooner rather than later, and in all likelihood, it’ll be in a body bag.
You wouldn’t let that happen.
Want to try me?
Anger flames inside me. Brigit’s testing me. I know that. But why did she have to be such a pain in the ass about it?
Because I know what you’re capable of.
Chaos and destruction? Mayhem and bedlam?
No, you have the power to change the world.
Ah yes, the welfare of the world falls on me. Thanks again for that.
“Anytime you’re ready to return to the world of the living . . .” Scott says. The annoyance in his voice further fuels my anger.
“It’s not my fault that I have this thing living inside of me.”
This thing has a name. And her name is Brigit.
“I know that you two have this love-hate relationship,” Scott says, “but we need to figure out what this shield barrier thing is, and if we want to cross it or pass into it or whatever the feck we do with it. Or if we just walk away and pretend that none of this day happened. I am leaning toward the latter.”
My annoyance at Brigit and Scott blossoms into a giant fecking Venus flytrap. “If there’s this magic shield thing it means we’re on the very edge of discovering them. We can’t abandon our search . . . now!”
He raises his hands. “Gigi, you need to calm down. Your anger will destroy you.”
“You certainly aren’t helping to stop it.”
Magic swirls within me and around me. So does desperation. I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that if we don’t find Alaric and Lizzie soon, I’ll lose them forever. In past lives, Alaric and I always found each other, then were ripped apart . . . over and over again, and that is bullshit. I don’t want to wait another thousand years to be together again. What if we don’t get another chance? What if this is it for both of us?
I want Alaric. Now. I want us to be together forever—and that might be foolish and naive, and maybe it’s never going to happen, but thinking about that fucking bastard taking everything from me makes me want to break something. He killed Alaric many times over. He tricked us into releasing Clayone, and now Ryan and Dad are dead and Lizzie’s a werewolf. He killed hundreds, maybe even thousands, trying to get the Vessel of Life from me. He may have even brought Balor into this realm in his wild belief that he could actually take over the entire world.
“Gigi, calm down,” Scott says in a low murmur.
But it’s too late. It’s too fucking late for me to calm down. “I will not have Breas take everything from me!” I shout into the energy swirling around me.
“Gigi. No.”
I ignore him. I’ll use this energy, this magic, to find Alaric and Lizzie. I lift my hands into the air, balling up the energy around me. When it gathers to full capacity, I hurl it at the tourists.
The energy shoots through the air and covers the entire crowd. Their eyes shift into blank stares and they turn toward us and march with one mind. My mind.
“What did you do?” Scott hisses beside me. “You have to stop this.”
“I don’t have to stop anything. I am the Goddess Brigit reincarnated, and it is time that I use my power, my abilities, my curse, to find Alaric and Lizzie.
“But, you saw what the shield did to us,” he says in a small voice. “We’re reincarnated gods. Magic courses through our veins, and still we were unable to penetrate the barrier without it burning us.”
The crowd marches toward us.
“They’ll be fine.” I cross my arms and watch them. My magical energy was fed into the crowd. It would protect them. Wouldn’t it? I shake off the doubt as they approach.
“It’ll be fine,” I say to Scott. “It will be fine.”
“How do you know? How can you be sure?”
“I know.” My answer comes out much weaker than I intended. “I know,” I reply with more confidence this time.
The first of the crowd approaches the barrier. I suck in a breath. Scott’s energy is swirling around him now, beginning to form his own tornado. I can’t worry about him. He’s got his own shit to work out. I need to find Alaric and Lizzie, and this is the best way I know how.
Scott’s hands twirl in the air.
“No,” I shout.
“Stop.”
But it’s too late. Whatever Scott brewed up while I was distracted shoots through the air and hits the crowd. Our energies mingle together. Two young children approach the barrier. I swallow hard.
“I didn’t expect young kids to be here,” I say in a low undertone.
“You saw the same tourists I did. You saw families and the senior citizens, and still you sent your energy without knowing what would happen when they hit the barrier.”
“You’re no better than I am. You sent energy at them too. What did yours tell them to do? Because it hasn’t slowed them down or made them change direction. If anything, they’ve sped up.”
Two boys and a girl hit the barrier at the same time, but instead of being thrown backward like Scott and I were, they immediately turn around and start running in the opposite direction. More soon follow, some hitting the barrier before turning around, others just following the rest of the crowd with our combined energy swirling above them.
We watch with morbid fascination as the entire crowd now runs away from the barrier toward a large pond.
“What are they doing?” Scott asks in alarm.
Before I can reply, three young men and an old woman wade into the water. The rest of them soon follow. The kids that led the pack toward the barrier are now ankle deep, then knee deep, then neck deep in water.
Why don’t they stop?
“Stop,” I scream, but they ignore me. They’re making their way to the middle of the lake.
“Do something,” Scott hisses as he takes off in their direction.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“You’ve got magic. Use it,” he shouts over his shoulder.
If these people drown, it’ll be my fault. I sent them into a magical frenzy. I commanded energy that I had no control over, and Scott added to it. I watch in horror as more and more people disappear under the water. I need to do something. I have to stop them.
I take a deep breath to ground myself. I gather the energy around me and this time I ask for Brigit’s help. Tingles ripple through my body when she answers my request. We join as one, and a light, positive energy bursts through me and toward the water. It first hits Scott and a young boy he’s trying to pull back to shore, but the kid’s putting up a fight. As soon as the energy hits them, the boy stops. The dazed look disappears. The new magic worked. The energy spreads out across the water. Soon heads break the surface and I know that they’ll all be okay.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
Now you see what we’re capable of. We’re capable of beauty and giving life. But, if we use it with anger and frustration, we are capable of causing harm to the very ones we have vowed to protect.
I reach my hand out to touch the shield one more time just to see if it’s there. My fingers crackle with electricity, but there’s not the zap and sizzle from before.
Who is the source of this magic? Why are they trying to keep us out?
Maybe it’s not that they want to keep you out, but they want to keep others in. While most of the portals throughout the world have disappeared, some still exist. And not all of them lead to the Otherworld.
What other places are there?
There are preserves for rare magical creatures on this world.
Unicorns and fairies. I can deal with them. Any glitter-farting ones?
There are also prisons. Similar to what your mother used to trap Clayone. Also what you used to trap him.
Dread turns my blood cold.
You mean there are more monsters out there? More monsters that me or somebody else could accidentally unleash?
When you feel powerful magic, you must be wary. Breas, while a god, does not command magic as well as you or Scott will once you’ve been trained. He possesses many limitations.
Can you just tell me where Alaric and Lizzie are?
I can tell you that they’re not together, and they’re not controlled by the same entity.
Does Breas have one of them?
And surprise, surprise—silence.
“I think that’s enough searching for one day,” Scott says, wringing out his shirt. “I’d say that’s more than enough.”
How do I tell him that there are magical preserves and prisons in this world? That there’s more crap than we even thought?
Another day perhaps?
Yes, another day.
8
Six of Pentacles Reversed
When Caer came to, she found herself tucked beneath a blanket but still sitting in front of the fire. She blinked a few times to clear the clouds of fuzziness still buzzing around in her head. It felt like the spiders that always appeared when the leaves began to fall had woven their way through her brain and she needed to strip away the webs before returning to herself. At last she shook her head to clear the final bits out.
“You were saying?” Gallean said to her. She could hear the laugh in his voice and refused to give him the satisfaction of believing he had gotten one over on her, which he most certainly had.
“Show me how to do that,” she said, swinging her open palms up into the air to see if she could gather her own energy. She tried pushing out, pulling in, returning it to the ground, but she was incapable of conjuring anything except air. “Why is it that you can conjure energy and perform magic spells in the Land of Shadows when no one else can?”
He lifted another energy ball and blew it over to her. She braced herself for the tingle and the blackout. This time it hit her stomach and she erupted into giggles. Yes, giggles. She couldn’t believe it. The last time she had laughed with such abandon was when she had played hide-and-seek with the children down in the village. She shuddered as the memory of that day drove her laughter away as quickly as it had come.
“Stop messing with my emotions. And you didn’t answer my question. Why is it that you can conduct magic in the Land of Shadows and no one else can?”
He drew his folded fingers to his face and rested his chin on the tips of them. “Gathering energy is not the same as magic. I cannot conduct magic in this realm.”
She couldn’t believe he was lying to her. He was capable of many things, but lying? She never would have suspected he’d stoop to that level.
“How do you explain the magic you’ve placed along your borders? And the seomra de rúin . . . isn’t that magic? And why are the brother and sister coming if not to learn magic from you?”
“Did you learn magic from me?”
“No, but—”
“Then why do you believe they’re coming here to learn magic?”
“Why else? You’re Gallean, the most powerful wizard of them all, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t give myself that label. And though I will train them to use their magic, they will not be able to use it here.”
“Then why are they coming? Why do you need to stop training with swords and knives and play around with energy balls instead?”
“Because an individual must learn to control and manipulate their own energies before they can manifest magic. By being in this realm, I’ve been able to pull inward and practice my other skills that were underdeveloped in the other realms. I overcompensated with magic rather than mastering my other strengths.”
“And they are?”
He waved a lone finger in the air. “In due time, dear. And I did not create the seomra de rúin. Individuals from other realms who seek something from me do. All they need is a familiarity with my keep. But it needs to be an exact likeness or the seomra de rúin will collapse in on itself before the guest arrives.”
“Why was I able to enter?”
“That is a question that will be answered another time. Now, we have much to accomplish before my other guests arrive.”
* * *
Caer blew at the cold embers, hoping to spark life back into them. Normally, at this time of the evening, her cave would be warm and her belly would be full. Her unexpected day of training with Gallean had changed her in more ways than she fully understood. More ways than she w
ould admit to herself. She shivered, tugging the fur tighter around her as she waited for the fire to catch. Gallean had offered her a room at his keep. Not a permanent living arrangement though, because she couldn’t be seen once the brother and sister arrived, but a place for the period until then. When she had questioned him about their exact arrival, he’d waved off her inquiries as if he couldn’t trouble himself with such rudimentary details.
Caer had considered taking him up on his offer. His company, albeit frightening when he was provoked, soothed her. But she needed solitude in order to mull over everything the old wizard had revealed to her. She couldn’t fathom how he had known of her presence for years. She believed she could manipulate the space around her and disappear. And even when she was invisible, she was always careful not to make a sound when she watched his training sessions.
If he could see her, how many others could? All the inns and houses she’d snuck into to steal a loaf of bread or chunk of cheese while the people slept . . . She always figured the worst that could happen was, if someone woke up and they happened to walk into the room, they’d see nothing more than maybe a leg of lamb floating out the door—though most things she touched disappeared along with her. Now, she wasn’t so sure. After all, magic couldn’t be used in the Land of Shadows, and going invisible seemed an awful lot like magic. But when she disappeared, it never felt like she was conducting magic. She remembered what magic felt like when she had lived with Mathair Mhór and the old woman conjured a spell. Going invisible felt more like an extension of her, not something unnatural. She shuddered at the realization that if she hadn’t been invisible all the times she entered a village, she ran the risk that someone might have informed Balor of her whereabouts. He had spies everywhere. Could he be on his way now?
She glanced around the cave. She had her sword and knife, a few logs, and a garrote. Should she leave and search for somewhere new to hide? Was there a place she could escape to where she’d be safe from him? She paced around the fire, jumping at every noise. She couldn’t rid herself of the fear that Balor would find her.
