by Jodi McIsaac
Cedar was sure that any woman who had met Felix in his godlike state would have a very difficult time forgetting him.
Jane’s expression took on a definite sour note. “You okay?” Cedar asked her.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered, sweeping a strand of black and red hair behind her ear. “Just reading.”
Cedar yawned and stood. “I haven’t heard Eden in a bit. I’m going to go check on her.” She poked her head into Eden’s room and found her daughter fast asleep, sprawled out on her bed among several books and stuffed animals. She thought about waking her to brush her teeth and then laughed to herself. The fate of the whole world was at stake, and she was still worried about Eden getting cavities. She grabbed a spare blanket from the closet tucked it in around her sleeping daughter’s shoulders. “Good night, my heart,” she whispered, kissing her gently on the forehead.
When she came back into the living room, Finn and Jane were huddled around the computer screen. Felix had tilted his head back against the sofa, his eyes closed and the hint of smile on his face—probably thinking of that milkmaid, Cedar mused.
“Young Eden seems very independent,” Liam said, standing and stretching.
“She is—too much so, if you ask me,” Cedar said. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to properly meet her. I think she’s just glad to be back home for a bit with her old toys again.”
“So I cannot persuade you, then. You are going to search for the Lia Fáil and then return to Tír na nÓg.”
“Yes,” Cedar said firmly. “There’s no other choice.”
“I admire your perseverance,” Liam said. “And forgive my intrusion… I know it’s a decision only you can make. I just have your best interests in mind. Think of me as a concerned friend.”
Cedar gave a half-hearted laugh. “I can always use more of those. And I do appreciate your concern.” She tried unsuccessfully to suppress another yawn. It was late—very late.
“I think it’s time for me to take my leave,” Liam said. “I have to be on a plane back to Dublin very early in the morning. If you’re determined to do this, I’d like to help. It’s been a long time since my people have looked for the Lia Fáil, but I may be able to find some information that can help. And I’ll try to find out more about Nuala’s arrangement with these druids she claims to have on her side.” He handed her a white business card. “This is how you can reach me.
Cedar looked at the card in her hand and then burst out laughing. “You’re a librarian?” she said.
Liam cocked an eyebrow at her. “I am. And why is that funny?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just that I always thought being a librarian would be a rather boring job, and you seem far from boring.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment. But being a librarian at Trinity College is far from boring. It’s one of the most respected libraries in the world, and we have many priceless ancient manuscripts and artifacts in our possession. I also belong to the Irish Antiquities Society. But not to the Order of Druids, in case you were wondering.”
“Why not?”
“Because they’re all fakes,” he said. “No true druid would ever flaunt his or her identity like that. Being a druid is a sacred trust, not a costume party at Stonehenge.”
“Thank you for your help,” Cedar said, walking with him to the door of the apartment.
“I almost forgot,” he said, reaching into his pocket. “I was going to leave it here with your friend Jane in case you came back. But now I can give it to you myself.” He held out a silver bracelet, from which dangled half a dozen tiny charms. “It was hers,” he said, and Cedar didn’t have to ask who he meant. “She let me keep it as a remembrance, but I think it belongs with you.”
Cedar fingered the delicate charms and slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. “It’s beautiful,” she said. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”
He smiled. “I have many memories that will never tarnish,” he said. “I know she kept secrets from you, especially about her years with me. Perhaps someday we can sit down and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“I’d like that,” Cedar said. She closed the door behind him and went back into the living room, where she was surprised to find Jane and Finn arguing.
“It’s still your place,” Jane was saying. “You two should sleep in the big bed, and I’ll kip on the sofa. Stop being so damn stubborn.”
“No, I’m not going to have a lady sleeping on the sofa while I’m in a bed,” Finn protested.
“Jane, can I talk to you for a minute?” Cedar said. Without waiting for an answer, she pulled her friend into the bedroom. “Are you PMSing or something? What’s going on? You’ve been touchy all night.”
Jane rolled her eyes dramatically and flopped down on the bed. “Oh, Ceeds, I’m sorry. It’s just… that guy. He sets my teeth on edge.”
“Who, Felix?” Cedar asked. “You just met him.”
“Yeah, but I know his type,” Jane said. “I mean, just look at him. He’s so… gorgeous and preppy and cocky and bullshit.”
Cedar raised both eyebrows at her friend. “Seriously? Are you sure you’re not just flustered because he’s really, really hot?”
“Of course not,” Jane said, making a face. “I just know guys like that. They have their perfect lives and their perfect girlfriends and they don’t understand why someone might want to pierce themselves or get a tattoo or color their hair. He’s wearing khakis, for chrissakes. Believe me, I’ve known too many of his type. Remember Richard at Ellison?”
Cedar only vaguely remembered who Richard was. He had been a project manager at their workplace, Ellison Creative, for about a year, but she hadn’t seen much of him because he was in a different department. Like Felix, Richard had been gorgeous in a Calvin Klein–model kind of way. “I think so. What about him?” she asked.
“Well, he was an asshole, for starters. He used to call me ‘punk girl’—or worse—and ask me if I’d borrowed my clothes from Avril Lavigne. So I hacked into his computer and sent naked pictures of his girlfriend to his other girlfriend. Oh, and also to the HR department. He got fired for ‘improper use of company computers.’” Jane snickered.
“Okay, so he was an asshole,” Cedar agreed. “But Felix isn’t like that. Just because he’s good-looking—okay, really, really good-looking… and immortal—doesn’t make him a jerk. He’s actually quite fabulous. You didn’t meet him before, when he purposefully made himself look like a crazy old fisherman. I bet you wouldn’t have felt this way then.” She was surprised to see this insecure side of Jane. To her, Jane was the ultimate example of a strong, confident, and independent woman. She sat down on the corner of the bed beside her friend and squeezed her hand. “And you are fabulous. Are you sure you don’t want the bed tonight? It’s either that or share the living room with your new best friend.”
Jane looked at her, aghast. “He’s staying here?”
“Where else is he going to stay?” Cedar asked, bemused.
“Oh, fine, but the sofa’s mine. He’ll have to sleep on the floor,” Jane said, getting up off the bed.
“Whatever you say,” Cedar said.
They headed out into the living room, where Finn and Felix were having a hushed conversation. They stopped when the women entered the room. “Everything okay?” Finn asked.
“Yep,” Jane answered, heaving a pile of blankets from the linen closet onto the floor of the living room, as far away from the sofa as possible. “So, where are we going to start looking? And don’t even think about leaving me behind. I’ve got a week of vacation coming, and I’d much rather go on a magical scavenger hunt than drink watered-down martinis with Trekkies at some Vegas casino. Besides, you might need someone with technological expertise.”
Cedar knew there was no use arguing, and, truth be told, she’d be happy to have Jane come with them. “Edinburgh Castle?” she said. “We might as well start at the most obvious place.”
“Yeah, but good luck getting your hands on that st
one. I was reading up about it while you guys were yakking. It’s in the same room as the crown jewels. It’s not like you’ll be able to just walk up to it and step on it, or whatever you need to do,” Jane said. “If I had more time… and I’d probably need to hire some help… I could possibly disable the security system. But it’s hard to say without knowing more about it.”
“One thing we don’t have a lot of is time,” Cedar pointed out. “Although we could probably find the money,” she said, thinking about the precious jewels that were scattered all around her wardrobe back in Tír na nÓg. She could go back and get some, or maybe Riona could toss a few through a sidh. The thought made her smile.
“Here’s my idea,” Finn said, circling behind Cedar so that he could rub her shoulders. “Let’s all go to bed and worry about it in the morning. We’re not going anywhere tonight, and you, my dear, are starting to sway on your feet.”
“It feels strange to be back here,” Cedar said, climbing into bed beside Finn after setting up beds for Jane and Felix in the living room and checking on Eden. “I know we were gone for only a day and a half, but so much has happened.…” She trailed off, staring up at the ceiling.
“Sometimes I wonder if my family and I should have just let you be,” Finn said, propping himself up on his elbow so he could look at her. He was shirtless, and Cedar could feel the heat emanating from him. “Maeve wanted you to have a safe, normal life. That’s hardly what you’ve got now.”
Cedar smiled at him and trailed the tips of her fingers across his chest. “Normal lives are highly overrated. I love that we’re a family again and that I finally know who I am.” She pulled him down and kissed him softly, and then deeply, reveling in his body’s response to her.
“Well,” he said, his lips leaving hers and traveling down her neck, “I can promise you that you won’t have to deal with any of this alone.” He nibbled on her collarbone, his hand sliding along her side and pulling her close. “I will… always… be with you.”
“Mmm, even when I look like your grandmother?” Cedar asked, arching her back and suppressing a moan.
She felt him smile, his lips against her skin. “I told you, we don’t know what will happen. You’re perfect, and you might stay this way forever. And if you do age… I’ll just take some of Felix’s aging potion and age right along with you.” He was now kissing her stomach, and she wrapped her fingers in his wavy hair.
“You will not,” she said. “I forbid it. I want people to think I’m some kind of sexy cougar grandma.”
He looked up at her, one eyebrow raised. “You do, do you?” he said. “I’ll show you sexy cougar—” He started to kiss her again but jerked away at the sound of screaming from Eden’s bedroom. Before Cedar could even get up, he was out the door and running down the hallway. When Cedar caught up to him he was kneeling by Eden’s bed. Their daughter was sitting bolt upright, her eyes wide open, still screaming at the top of her lungs, pausing only long enough to gulp for air.
“Eden! Eden!” Finn said. “I’m here. Eden, can you hear me?”
Cedar tried to lift Eden into her arms, but Eden started thrashing so violently that she couldn’t hold her. “No, Mummy! No, Mummy!” she shrieked over and over again.
“What’s going on?” Jane asked from the doorway. She stood there next to Felix, both of them wide-eyed with alarm.
“I don’t know!” Cedar said. “Maybe she’s having a night terror or seizure or something. Felix, is there anything you can do?”
Felix started to walk toward Eden, who was still flailing wildly and screaming. Suddenly, she launched herself off the bed and dashed out of the room, dodging Jane. She swung open the nearest closed door, which happened to lead to the bathroom.
“No!” Cedar cried as she caught sight of the tell-tale shimmering air. “Stop her!” Jane lunged for her, and Felix and Finn both moved so fast that Cedar could barely see them, but they were all too late. The door slammed shut and was once again the plain painted door of the bathroom. Eden was gone.
“Nooooo!” Finn cried out, pulling the door off its hinges and slamming it down on the floor. Cedar stared into the empty room, aghast.
“Did you see?” Cedar asked desperately. “Did anyone see where she went?”
They all shook their heads. “No,” Jane said. “It just looked… dark.”
CHAPTER 6
Eden opened her eyes and reached for Baby Bunny out of habit. But Baby Bunny wasn’t there. She groped around for Elephant or another stuffed animal friend, but all she felt was grass. She sat up blinking in the darkness.
“What’s happening?” she asked out loud. “Mummy?” There was no answer.
She stood up and then froze as she realized she was no longer in her room. At first she couldn’t see anything, but then her eyes adjusted or it grew brighter around her—she couldn’t tell which. She looked down at herself. She was wearing the same clothes she’d had on yesterday, a pair of jeans and a violet T-shirt. The last thing she remembered was lying down on her bed, wanting to read just one more chapter.… But this wasn’t her home on Earth, she could tell that much. It felt different, strange.
Little lights started popping up in the grass all around her. She wondered if they were fireflies, or maybe fairies, the kind she’d read about in books before learning that she was one of them. The lights seemed to move and dance all around her, and she thought she could hear faint strains of music coming from them. Then she noticed another sound off to her left, a bubbling, laughing sound that was emanating from something that sparkled and glowed. Slowly, she walked toward it, the dancing lights moving with her.
When she got closer, she realized that it was a stream. The rocks glowed softly beneath the water, gently illuminating it. She saw something move and jumped. Small translucent creatures were playing in the water. They looked like little people but were only as big as her hand, with huge eyes and thin bodies. Their hands and feet were webbed, and they moved with a fluidity that didn’t seem quite natural, as though they didn’t have any bones. They looked up at her and laughed. “You’ve arrived!” they said in high-pitched voices, and then they dove into the water and disappeared.
“I have?” Eden said. “Where?” She didn’t feel afraid, not exactly, though she knew she should be at home in her bed. She started to climb the hill beside her, hoping it would give her a better look at where she was. The grass was soft and cool beneath her bare feet. As she approached the top of the hill, she thought she could make out a form. It was a huge bed, and there were two people sleeping in it. Eden stopped, quite sure she shouldn’t be here. But her curiosity got the better of her, and she tiptoed slowly forward, quiet as a mouse.
When Eden reached the bed, the first person she saw was a man with a dark goatee, sleeping with his mouth slightly open and one arm flung off the side of the mattress. She stared for a moment at the massive arm, its muscles bulging even in sleep. She didn’t recognize him, so she tiptoed around to the other side of the bed, and then froze in terror.
Red hair was splayed out over the white sheets, spilling over pearl-white shoulders that rose and fell softly. For a moment Eden was frozen in her tracks, and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. Slowly, she took a step back.
Then Nuala opened her eyes. For a brief moment the two shared startled gazes, and then Nuala sat up suddenly.
“Eden!” she gasped. “It worked!”
Eden didn’t wait to ask what had worked, she just turned and ran. She looked frantically for the doorway that had transported her here, but all she could see was grass and the stream. “Help me!” she screamed at the dancing lights, but they just skipped and twirled about her feet as she ran. She tumbled down the hill and chanced a look behind her. Nuala was right on her heels.
“Eden, wait! I’m not going to hurt you!” Nuala called. Eden dodged her grasp by a fraction of an inch and then closed her eyes and thought of home as she jumped feetfirst into the glittering stream.
Nuala stared at the stream t
hat ran through her bedchamber. The glowing rocks at the bottom sparkled and winked at her, but there was no sign of the little girl. She could still picture Eden’s face as she crouched beside her bed. There had been fear, yes… but also hatred.
“Damn it,” Nuala seethed. Her eyes were still fixated on the spot where Eden had vanished, but her mind was whirling. A strange sensation had settled into the pit of her stomach, and she struggled to place it. Surely she wasn’t upset that the girl hated her. What did it matter? The girl was a pawn, a necessary part of her plan. No harm would come to her so long as her parents didn’t do anything stupid. Still, she had thought that Eden might have enjoyed part of their adventure together. How many six-year-olds got to swim with the Merrow? Eden would probably never have seen Tír na nÓg if it hadn’t been for her. Stupid, ungrateful child, she thought. Well, it didn’t matter what the girl thought of her. What mattered was that her plan was working.
“Fionnghuala?” Deaglán came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Is everything all right?”
She turned and looked him in the eyes. “Yes,” she purred. “Everything is fine. Go back to sleep, darling.” She watched as he walked up the hill and climbed back into the bed, falling asleep almost instantly. Then she reached inside her nightgown and pulled out a sparkling stone the color of merlot that dangled from a thin gold chain. Her lips moved rapidly as she softly sang the song that would unlock the stone’s power and activate its other half. She followed the stream until she came to a delicate bench decorated with ivy that sat in the middle of a small copse of trees. She finished the song and waited. After a moment, the colors in the stone started to swirl, and then a face appeared.
