The Choice

by Cindy Cipriano

  I’m not inside the black coffin.

  “Why would you think that?” asked Kenzie. Her voice sounded miles away.

  Calum turned his head and saw her sitting on the chair beside his bed. His father was asleep on a cot on the floor.

  “How long have I been out?” Calum whispered. His throat was dry and scratchy.

  “About ten hours. Here, let’s see if you can drink something,” said Kenzie. She held a glass of cool water to his lips. Calum drank deeply, emptying half the cup in seconds. “Whoa, slow down.”

  “Is Finley all right?” Calum asked, wiping a drop of water from his chin.

  Gus stirred then seeing Calum was awake, he was beside Kenzie in an instant. “Are you okay? We’ve been so worried.”

  Calum realized they weren’t answering his question. He sat up stiff and sore, grabbing his side reflexively.

  “Take it easy,” said Kenzie.

  Calum scooted back, resting on his pillows. He stared into their anxious faces and repeated his question. “How’s Finley?”

  Kenzie sighed. “I think it’s a little early to have that conversation. You need to rest.”

  “How is Finley?” Calum’s voice was firm and his insides burned.

  “Finley didn’t make it back,” said Gus.

  Calum’s mouth went bone dry, but his skin felt clammy. The room began to spin and tilt at odd angles.

  “Maybe now’s not the time,” said Kenzie.

  Calum’s hands shook, spilling some of the water onto his bandage. Using both hands, he gently returned the glass to Kenzie. He lay back on his pillows and squeezed his eyes shut. When he opened them, the room began to settle down into its proper position.

  “What happened?” asked Calum.

  “Finley didn’t come through the threshold with you,” said Kenzie, as if speaking to a wounded animal. “You brought Sun back.”

  A sound escaped Calum’s lips, a long mournful sob. He felt his mother pull him close as she eased herself onto the bed beside him. Gus held both of them in his strong arms, shielding them as Calum broke down and cried uncontrollably. Calum clung to his parents, refusing to return to a world that could be so uncomprehendingly cruel. He fell asleep, clinging to Kenzie’s hand as if his life depended on it.

  Calum woke the next morning to the sound of rhythmic purring in his right ear. Then came the rough licks of Buster’s tongue. For a moment, Calum believed it had all been a dream, a horrible nightmare. He stood shakily and immediately collapsed back onto his bed. The pain in his side mocked him for daring to think none of it had happened.

  “You shouldn’t be doing that. You were cut up pretty bad,” Kira said coolly. She sat at his desk, holding a small picture frame.

  Calum tried to make sense of her hostility, but was distracted by someone behind her. Sun leaned against the wall, staring out the window. Calum was at once consumed with inexplicable rage.

  “I don’t blame you,” said Sun.

  “Don’t do that,” said Calum. “Don’t read my thoughts.”

  “Sorry,” said Sun. “I’m a bit out of practice with manners and all.” He smiled ruefully.

  Calum felt his anger drop a few notches.

  “We’re all angry,” said Kira. “You were only supposed to check things out. You could have been killed.” She strode to Calum’s bed and glared at him.

  “What did you expect me to do? Leave them there?” Calum’s voice was almost as frosty as hers.

  “No, of course not,” Kira said softly. Her fingers traced along Calum’s jaw. She seemed to catch herself and pulled her hand back quickly.

  Calum noticed the long white bandages wrapped around both of Kira’s arms, from her wrists to her elbows. She had been hurt, probably when she pulled him back through the threshold. He softened his tone and asked, “What’s that?” He pointed to the frame in her hands.

  “Sorry, I was just looking at it. Sun said it’s a picture of Finley,” said Kira. She placed the frame on Calum’s bedside table.

  The photo inside the frame was old, taken during Calum’s fourth birthday party. He and Finley had been caught in the act, fistfuls of cake in their hands and frosting covering their faces. “What’s happening to Finley now? What is he doing in the Void?”

  “He’s the Fetch. He took my place,” said Sun.

  Not for long, thought Calum. “And what exactly is a Fetch?” he asked, not hiding his annoyance.

  “A Sidhe who carries the dead from the Otherworld to the Underworld,” said Sun.

  “Look, there’s something else you need to know,” said Kira. “Before you go off trying to catch a Brown Mountain light, Finley was right. Go ahead, Sun. Tell him.”

  Sun looked at Calum and spoke with a deep sadness. “I don’t even know how you were able to get into the Void, but you won’t be able to do that again. The Void adapts. It’s seen what you’ve done, and it will not allow a Brown Mountain Light to open a portal again.”

  Calum thought he would vomit, and was glad his stomach was empty. That’s impossible. Who are these two anyway? Kira? Sun? They don’t know me, they don’t know Finley. I can’t trust what they’re saying. He stared off into space, his eyes finally coming to rest on the photo on his table.

  “You don’t look so good,” said Kira. “Maybe we should get Kenzie.”

  “No,” said Calum, looking at the two boys grinning back at him from the birthday party photo. “I need to be alone.”

  N

  Calum didn’t stir, not even when he heard his bedroom door open. Nor did he look up when someone else entered his room.

  “Feeling better?” asked Uilleam.

  The sound of his grandfather’s voice snapped Calum out of his despair.

  “Everyone wants to come up now that you’re awake,” said Uilleam.

  “Then tell me everything you know before they get here,” Calum pleaded. He knew his grandfather would tell him the truth.

  Uilleam sat on the edge of the bed. “Of course I will. Do you remember the story I told you about the Sidhe who was banished to the Void?”

  Calum nodded. “He added another Sidhe to his clan.”

  “Which is against Sidhe law,” said Uilleam.

  “Sun is the Sidhe from the story?” Calum asked incredulously.

  “Not exactly,” said Uilleam. “Sun was the one who was added. He calls the man who took him the Apprentice. When the Apprentice was being sentenced, he trapped Sun and sent him to the Void in his place.”

  “That’s why Finley kept saying Sun didn’t belong there,” said Calum. “He must have tricked me at the last second and pushed Sun through.”

  “Did you expect anything less from Finley?” asked Uilleam.

  Calum thought about this for a few minutes. “I’m sorry, Uilleam,”

  “Sorry?” asked Uilleam. “What on Earth do you have to be sorry about?”

  “For once again failing to bring Finley home.”

  “Calum, you have done an outstanding job. And one that you never officially accepted.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It amazes me how someone as young as you has done so many good things in such a short time. You not only returned Daniel, but you also saved him from becoming a dark Sidhe. And now you’ve given an innocent boy his life back. It is truly amazing.”

  “I don’t think Finley’s parents will feel that way,” said Calum.

  “You can’t speak for Finley’s parents, no more than you could have spoken for Finley or forced your will on him. He had to make his own choice,” said Uilleam.

  “But we were so close,” said Calum. “He should be home.”

  “And he will be when the time is right.”

  “But everything was right. We had the Brown Mountain light, the blue sand. We were able to open a door where no door existed. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Everything wasn’t right,” said Uilleam. “Remember what I told you? About Laurel?”

  Laurel is the key, thought Calum.


  “Yes. And she must be given the opportunity to repay your favor. Otherwise, things will not be balanced between the two of you.”

  “Where is she?” asked Calum.

  “Downstairs with everyone else. Would you like me to send her up?”

  “Yes, please,” said Calum. “And Hagen.”

  Uilleam bent and kissed the top of Calum’s head, then turned for the door.

  “Granddad,” Calum said hesitantly. “Do you think Finley will make it?”

  Uilleam didn’t turn around when he answered. “Without a doubt.”

  Laurel burst into the room seconds later. She froze a few feet from Calum. He smiled and held out his arms. Laurel sat on the edge of the bed and hugged Calum close.

  “Oops,” said Hagen when he walked into Calum’s room. Laurel released Calum, her face beet-red.

  “Sorry about that,” she said, moving to a nearby chair.

  “I’m not,” said Calum, giving her a half-smile.

  “Some people will do anything to get a little attention,” said Hagen, his eyes cast on the floor.

  Calum laughed then grabbed his side.

  Hagen scratched the back of his neck.

  Calum recognized this nervous habit. “What’s up?” he asked.

  “Kira’s gone,” said Hagen. “She said she’d be back soon, but she had to get Sun home. Apparently, he’s some long-lost gypsy. Well, he’s part gypsy. He’s also part Sidhe. So the story isn’t entirely correct.”

  Calum smiled a weak smile. Good for you, Kira.

  Hagen looked at him curiously.

  Another time, thought Calum.

  “So, what do we do now?” asked Hagen.

  Calum studied both of their faces and knew they would finish this together. “We know where Finley is. Now we bring him home.”

  The Lost

  Book Three of The Sidhe

  Prologue

  “I beg of you. Please don’t do this,” cried the frail man. He was gaunt and looked as if he hadn’t slept in months. “I’ve changed, give me another chance.”

  “I’m in no position to judge you. Nor can I give anyone anything,” said Finley.

  His gaze traveled over the man’s hunched shoulders to the green sky, searching, as always, for any way out of the Void. Finley had hoped he’d leave the Void before he had to push the next depereo into the Underworld. He always hoped this, but to no avail. There was always another depereo.

  The depereo were evil Sidhe who had chosen to use dark talents during their time on Earth. And while each depereo moved on, Finley never would. He was destined to remain in the Void, serving as the Fetch, the solitary Sidhe who ferried the depereo to their eternal home.

  “Please, please,” said the old man, clasping his hands in front of him as if in prayer.

  It wore on Finley when the depereo were awake, begging for mercy. Their pleas made his task more difficult. And, it was harder for him to forget about them after he sent them to the Underworld. Finley rubbed the bridge of his nose, wishing again for a way out.

  “May I go then?” the old man asked, looking at Finley with hopeful, teary eyes.

  Finley looked down at the shriveled old man. He looked like someone’s kindly grandfather. He wondered what the man could have done to wind up here.

  How dangerous could this old man be?

  An odd feeling traveled through Finley’s veins.

  Compassion.

  The feeling disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived, leaving him with his constant companion.

  Desperation.

  Finley reminded himself that the choices this depereo had made during his life had brought him here. Like the depereo who came before him, this Sidhe’s evil ways had put him onto the path that led straight to the Void. This man was already dead. His eternal fate had already been decided. Finley was just tasked with delivering the sentence.

  I should have used the club like Sun showed me.

  “To make sure they’re unconscious,” Sun had explained.

  Finley wondered what had happened to Sun. Was his friend all right after his return to the Realm of Man?

  No matter, Sun was better off. He had to be.

  As long as Sun was far from this place, he’d be safe. Finley knew Calum would make sure of that.

  Sun will find his way in the world.

  “May I go?” the man repeated, dusting grains of blue sand from his palms.

  “There’s nowhere to go,” said Finley. He pulled the man to his feet effortlessly, as though he weighed nothing. As though the man was nothing.

  Just as I am nothing.

  “Please, don’t,” begged the man. “I have money. I will give you anything you want. I’ll do anything you ask.”

  “Don’t you understand?” asked Finley. “I have no control over any of this. There is no bargain that can be made. I’m condemned. Just like you.”

  “But I am powerful. I can get you out of here.”

  “No one can get me out!” yelled Finley. Of all the things the depereo said to him, that was the worst. If a depereo couldn’t change their own fate, how did they think they could change his?

  The man’s eyes glazed over with the realization that his end was near. Finley had seen that look countless times. This man would soon give up and accept his fate. They always did in the end, even the ones who went kicking, fighting, and screaming. In their last seconds, even they accepted their destiny. It was as if somewhere deep inside, they expected no less a punishment for whatever life they had lived.

  Finley hated this man and the hundreds of other depereo who had come before him. He hated that their choices put him in this position. He wished he could forget their faces and their pleas. This brought a wave of guilt, as if it was his duty to remember their faces. The least he could for these desperate souls was to remember each one.

  As if I could ever forget.

  The man stared at Finley, curiously. “How can you bear this?” he asked a touch of pity in his voice.

  “I can’t,” said Finley. He shoved the man hard through the gash in the large black boulder then turned away. Finley walked back to the blood-red forest with the man’s horrified screams ringing in his ears.

  Acknowledgements

  I have received many blessings in my life in the form of some pretty amazing people.

  First, my Creator, without whom I would have nothing, and be nothing.

  I’d like to thank my husband, Andrew.

  Connor, you are a far better example of a twenty-something than I ever was. You are my inspiration and my greatest joy! I am honored and blessed to call you son.

  Thanks also to my sweet daughter (in-law), Stephanie, for always encouraging me in my writing and for being such a blessed addition to our family. You are amazing!

  And sweet, baby Clara.

  What a joy you are to all who know you! Sweet little pumpkin girl.

  My parents for always believing in me and for giving me the strength to get through some tough times, including the most difficult—going on without them. I miss you every day, but because of your examples, I am not lost and I am never alone.

  Many thanks to my brother, Charles Cipriano and bonus sibling, Kristi. My sister, AnnMarie Cipriano Phillips and bonus sibling, Greg. Hugs and kisses to my sweet nieces and nephews, Kristin, Jared, Mary, Nick, Ty, Tinsley, Trey, Sunny, Preston, Sarah, Karen, Hannah, Lila, Harry, Emily, and Megan.

  I love you all!

  Great big thanks and hugs all around to fellow writers for their critiques and support, Lynn Chandler Willis, Demetria Gray, Mark Flemming, Tom Hardin, Sandra Rathbone, and Susie Boles.

  Very special thanks to Sarah Hembrow, my amazing editor who has her hands full in keeping me straight. Big thanks to Rob Johnson and Vulpine Press for giving The Sidhe series a wonderful home and thank you to Claire Wood for a truly beautiful cover.

  Many heartfelt thanks to my readers! I love hearing from you, so please do reach out and let me know what you think about Calum, Hagen, Laurel, and eve
ryone else at Emerald Lake 

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