Truth Seer (Irish Mystic Legends Book 3)

by Jennifer Rose McMahon

  Jayne’s face relaxed and she sent a shy smile to him.

  "It's done then," I stated. "Rory and Jayne. You must be the time keepers. Okay?"

  Rory nodded, knowing he'd be more useful on this side of the portal—protecting Jayne from further trauma and using his knowledge of what he’d witnessed of past visions and mysticism. Not to mention his brute strength and rapid reaction time for making quick decisions.

  "Rory, the eclipse is predicted to occur tomorrow,” I added. “You need to keep close watch of it."

  I checked my phone for the time. It was already 7:00pm.

  Maeve stepped forward. "Tomorrow, if there’s darkness of a total eclipse with no light from the morning sun, we’ll know it’s just as the prophecies predicted. A day without light.” She hesitated. "The final day.”

  "Marking the end of time as we know it,” Rory added with a nod.

  “And if we're successful," I added, "I expect the eclipse will shift off course and return to its original predicted path, light will pass through, and you'll know we’re on our way home."

  Rory stepped closer to Jayne and gave a slight nod.

  I caught worry in his averted eyes though. Worry of what would become of him and Jayne when the darkness fell.

  Interlocking elbows, the four of us formed a human chain and approached the shimmering portal.

  "At the same time, we'll jump at it,” I said. “It should suck us in and then, well, I'm not sure what will happen." I fumbled with my words. "But I'm pretty sure it will involve terror, battering wind, and chaos—if it's anything like my disturbing visions that have blasted me through time before." I cracked a side smile.

  Rory tipped his head to the side. "And if ye get stuck and the eclipse remains on course, what are we supposed to do then?” He glanced at Jayne. “Dive through the portal to save ourselves from the apocalypse?" He huffed.

  “It’ll be your only chance at saving yer sorry ass!” Paul retorted. “Be sure you go first, Jayne.” He chuckled and shook off his mounting nerves.

  Rory’s shoulders squared. “Ya, and then I’ll have to blast through that feckin’ portal ta save your sorry ass from them lunatic Druids,” he retorted.

  I smirked at their juvenile banter, remembering they would always be at odds. It was just meant to be. But at least our common goal kept them civil. That was something.

  Maeve picked up where I left off with my explanation of how the portal might work. "Basically, it’ll feel like you're being ripped apart through time and space in a vortex of loss, loneliness, and full deprivation of your senses," Maeve added with a nonchalant shrug.

  Her cynical description made it clear to me what she had experienced while trapped in the abyss and her memory of it was terrifying.

  Ryan exhaled through tight lips. "Oh, okay. Thanks for the clarification. I feel more ready than ever."

  "I guess we just don't know," I said. "We only know what we've experienced before. But maybe this time will be different." I paused. "Are we ready?"

  Everyone tightened their grip at the elbows.

  "Yes. Ready." All voices ran together in a unified response.

  I looked back to Rory and Jayne. They stood shoulder to shoulder with their wide eyes fixed on us.

  "If the eclipse is inevitable. If you have no doubt that we have failed...," I said to Rory. "Then do whatever you can in the final moments to try to end it."

  His head moved in a subtle shake, refusing my words.

  "Rory," I said, louder. "You must destroy the portal. Do whatever you can to ensure it is closed. Forever."

  He dropped his eyes from mine and gave a small nod.

  "Good," I stated. "If we can't stop it in time at the source of the curse, then at least we'll know you shut it down on this end, stopping their access to you and stopping their ability to complete the curse." I paused, knowing what all of this meant. Time would be saved, but we’d be trapped in the past. But I couldn’t allow it to all be in vain, so I added, “And stuck in their time, we’ll be sure to continue our quest so they have no way of re-enacting the curse. Ever.

  A shudder ran through me as I considered my own commands. We could be trapped in the past forever if the portal was destroyed. But, if it wasn’t, there would be no future anyway.

  I ran my hands into my hair, acknowledging to myself that Rory and Jayne would be the sacrificial lambs. Staying behind could be their death sentence. But the four of us, moving through the portal, could also meet a bad end.

  It was a gamble that hopefully would have a winning result. There was just no way to know for sure how it would unfold.

  “And if it reaches a point where there is nothing more you can do, if the end is inevitable,” I said to Rory and Jayne, “Jump through the portal. Save yourselves.”

  Rory waved his hand to me as if he had it under control, or maybe he just didn’t want to think about that possibility.

  I turned to the others, knowing our plan was in place.

  "On three, we make the leap," I said.

  We tightened ranks, hip to hip, elbow to elbow.

  "One. Two. Three!"

  And we jumped forward into the wobbling light of the portal.

  Chapter 15

  All shapes and sounds blurred into streaks of light and droning hums of the universe as complete weightlessness took us over. As we blasted through a whirling vortex that felt like the center of a tornado, my skin and muscles stretched from my bones as if I was on a light-speed rocket. My elbow remained linked with Ryan's and I prayed Maeve and Paul were attached as well.

  Twisting through the bends in the wormhole, we shot forward at such velocity that my voice cried out, trailing back through the raging force. I clenched every muscle in my body to hold myself together while the intensity continued to grow. Tearing apart into a million pieces seemed to be the next stage of the journey and I held tight in desperation to reach my destination.

  Like the fiery crash of a high-speed freight train, an explosion of orange and yellow of a thousand suns burst my mind open. I stared into all-seeing realm that expanded through infinity. Calm settled around me as I hovered, suspended in the swirling stream of iridescent colors. A familiar sense of time and space moved through me as my mind opened further, taking in every vibration and wave of consciousness around me.

  I didn't feel lost or out of place. Instead, I felt confident and knowledgeable in my unseen surroundings.

  Slowly, the sensation of my body returned to me and it settled onto a cold, stone surface. Some of my weight returned, causing me to use my muscles to hold myself up. And then the iridescence spread out and hovered in an orb around me.

  Around us.

  A gasp escaped my lips as my eyes traced the lines of Ryan’s head and shoulders. And then Maeve’s and Paul’s.

  We did it! All of us, together. We were here. Wherever 'here' was.

  Our heads lifted and we silently greeted each other with relieved eyes and trembling smiles, still shaking off the mind-blowing extremity of the journey.

  The familiar orb of whirling color expanded around us, opening up enough space for us to stand and walk. The stone-slab floor beneath our feet resembled the feel of the labyrinth we had left far behind us.

  For a fleeting moment, I worried that maybe it hadn't worked. Perhaps we were still at the tomb and hadn't actually travelled anywhere. The portal may have been faulty or possibly tampered with somehow, and unable to work correctly. Insecurity rose in me as I considered the millions of minute details that could go wrong and the exponential impact it could have on our ultimate destination. I thought about the butterfly effect.

  I glanced at Maeve.

  For a moment, I was sure I noticed a purple hue around her. I couldn’t be sure, though, whether it was a reflection from the iridescence of the orb or not. But then her eyes locked onto mine and widened as she looked all over me in wonderment.

  Looking down at my hand, I saw a similar purple luminosity cast around my arm. Maeve gazed at her own hand then
, saw her same purple glow, and looked back at me with a smile of confidence.

  We were connected.

  Together, all four of us, we could do this.

  "Is everyone okay?" I asked as I walked the circumference of our space, inspecting our surroundings.

  Paul dropped his hands to his knees and leaned over. "Can't say I was fully prepared for that mind-blowing odyssey.” His head shook as if he was trying to wrap his head around what he had just experienced.

  "Yeah," Ryan agreed, rubbing his own face. "First time's a bitch."

  I trailed my fingers along the edge of the orb, creating streaking lines in the hues that resembled an oil slick.

  "We need to push through this energy barrier. To get out," I said. "It's the only way we'll know where we are and if the portal actually worked."

  We gathered along the shimmering forcefield and lifted our hands to it. Together, we pushed and fell right through to the other side.

  I stumbled from the unexpected lack of resistance and landed on my knees, blinking into the pitch black. We clicked on our headlamps simultaneously, allowing streams of light to break through the darkness.

  "No!" I shouted, looking all around at the familiar walls of the hidden chamber. We’d only blasted out of the labyrinth, right back to where we started. "We're still here!"

  I threw my hands down in frustration and paced along the limestone walls. My head fell back as I realized our mission had failed and I had no clue what our next step would be.

  I moved toward the exit of the hidden portal chamber in defeat but doubled back when I couldn't find the opening. With a second glance along the blank wall, my stomach clenched in claustrophobic panic.

  "We're trapped," I called out. "The door's been sealed shut."

  Ryan pushed through and ran his hands along the wall, searching for the seam of the door.

  "It’s here." He held his fingers in a groove. "We just need to pry it open."

  I pulled my dagger out of my boot and chiseled at the seam. Ryan did the same with his knife. Paul pushed on the stone slab as we worked along the subtle grooves of the outline of our freedom.

  Our scraping and jabbing made little impact on the tight seal but we kept at it. Sweat formed on our brows—from the exertion, but more from the panic of potentially becoming a permanent addition to the lost catacombs.

  I pounded on the slab with my palms and cried out. “Rory! Jayne! Get us out!” My voice reverberated through the chamber and mocked us in our isolation.

  Terror fueled me further as I continued hacking at the seams along with Ryan. Then, with the force of my adrenalin, my knife wedged in and found purchase.

  “I’m in,” Ryan shouted at the same moment. “My knife is stuck in the groove!” He jimmied it out. “Keep going, Isobel.”

  As we jabbed our knives into the stony lines of the door again and again, gravel and grit fell from its weakening edges. Finally, we could wedge the blades in deep and get a good hold.

  “Okay, hold your dagger firm and pull,” I said to Ryan.

  We propped our knives into position and used them as wedges. With the sucking sound of a vacuum seal being broken, the door gasped and shook.

  Its secure lock had been released.

  Ryan reached for my hand and squeezed it in relief. I exhaled for miles as we acknowledged our success in finding the possibility of an escape.

  The four of us placed our hands on the stone slab, and pushed together.

  In an instant, we lightened our efforts as the stone wall glided with ease like it was on rollers. Our sighs of relief filled the chamber, followed then by the sounds of our joyful voices.

  We barreled out of the confines of what had almost become our final resting place, and fell into the catacomb chamber. We gathered at the altar, panting from our efforts, and searched in silence.

  Rory and Jayne were gone.

  I glanced all around the space, searching for clues of their whereabouts, and then my spine straightened in alarm.

  The catacombs were different.

  The stacked doors of the burial chambers were missing. The sacred space was barren, except for the altar that stood alone in the center.

  The tomb was empty.

  As if it were…new.

  We moved through the tunnel that led away from the altar chamber and stopped at the feet of the statues of the Guardians. I stared up into the face of the closest one and examined its clear features. His ghostly eyes were more prominent than I remembered, as if freshly chiseled from a newly excavated block of stone.

  Paul turned to the narrow passageway. "Let's get out of here," he said. "Something's not right."

  I stepped backward away from the Guardian and my eyes dropped to its hand. Its fingernails held deep lines of detail where I only recalled eroded, faded lines before.

  Stepping further back, I bumped into Paul.

  "Sorry," I mumbled. "It's just...don't you see it?" I gazed back at the statues. "They're newly carved."

  Paul turned his attention from the exit to the huge stone statues. His eyes narrowed as he inspected the hand and then the eyes of the nearest one. He dropped the light of his headlamp to my face.

  "C'mon," he said. "Something strange is happening."

  My heart rate tripled. He was right. Something strange was going on. And I knew exactly what it was.

  We'd made the leap.

  I scrambled to the opening to the clearing. "I think it worked," I called back to the others as I glanced around the corner of the dark passage.

  My eyes widened as I stared at a set of rough stairs, different from the random stones and slippery surfaces we were used to. The stairs held differing heights and widths, as if built for pure function over aesthetics, but they were clearly in place to facilitate ease of movement in and out of the tomb.

  Without being able to contain my excitement any further, I flew up the steps toward the faint light of day high at the top. The others followed close behind, exclaiming their confusion about the new ease of climbing out.

  Our memory of the access of the passage was much more difficult. It was as if, in our time, the earth had shifted the stairs into an unrecognizable mess of debris. Erosion, frost, wind, and rain. All of the elements had taken a toll on the construction of the entryway to the tomb. It had been the only part exposed to the outer world above. But inside, everything remained untouched, only affected by the unforgiving pressure of time itself.

  Pulling myself out of the hole proved to be easier than before. The space hadn't collapsed to a narrow crevice, so it allowed for ample movement for a person of any size.

  I glanced around me as I crawled out, and pulled in the glorious view of the clearing. Its condition was exactly as I remembered with the huge boulders around the perimeter in exactly the same placement, though in my memory some of them were leaning or keening over more. But in general, the space held the same sacred feeling of ethereal magic.

  Mist coated my face as I absorbed the incredible green hues emanating from the grass in the clearing and the hills all around. A salty breeze hit my face from the sea and I glanced out toward Clare Island. As I inhaled the fresh, moist air, the others crawled out of the hole and joined me.

  "Jesus," Ryan whispered. "It's unchanged. Like it's been here for a thousand years, never touched." He glanced around him. "What the..."

  All heads turned in the direction of his stare.

  We looked toward Doona Castle. The ancient cemetery. Our vehicles. But nothing was there. Only the beach, crashing waves, and vacant dunes.

  "We're here," I stated.

  "What?" Ryan twisted toward me.

  "We're in the past," I said. "Doona Castle doesn't exist yet."

  Just as the harrowing words left my quivering lips, a primal growl filled the clearing, causing us all to jump and snap toward it. My eyes grew wide as I stared at a figure coming from behind the boulders—arms lifted high with a sword held in attack mode. He barreled toward us in a frenzy, but then his specific target
became clear.

  Me.

  His eyes fixed on mine as a murderous scream tore out of him. Everyone moved out of the way as they grabbed for their various weapons. But I stood frozen, staring into the eyes of my assailant.

  His gruesome form sent terror through me. His monstrous skin looked melted as if his entire body had been burned beyond recognition. Smears of scarring twisted his face into an unrecognizable sight of morphed features, depicting only pain and suffering.

  But I held his eyes with mine, unflinching.

  Because I knew him.

  In an instant, his name flew from my lips as I jumped from the swing of his sword.

  "Murt!" I cried.

  He barreled past me, following the weight of his sword from his broad swing. Spinning around, he set the sword high over his head again and charged.

  The shock of him charging me with a deadly weapon sent panic through me, but at the same time, it sent understanding.

  It was Murt.

  He had to be the one who told the Druids of the failure of their first curse. He told them what happened at the solstice and so they formulated their current, more powerful assault.

  I knew someone must have brought word back to the Druids. Word of the failure of their original curse. And now I knew who.

  It was Murt.

  And he barreled toward me, sword drawn, with vengeance in his murderous glare.

  I reached for my gun, pulled the safety, and aimed directly for his chest. Then, remembering Rory's brief instruction on avoiding the heart region when tasing someone, I shifted slightly upward.

  And fired.

  In a loud pop, two sensors flew out of the gun. One stuck to the front of his shoulder and the other attached lower down at his ribs. And then in the same blink, he dropped to the ground like a stone, shuddering in convulsive jolts.

  I ran to his quaking body and grabbed his sword from the ground next to him. I passed it to Ryan as we all gathered around Murt and stared.

  Paul's eyes moved from Murt’s twitching body to his sword in Ryan’s hands.