by Tara Maya, Elle Casey, J L Bryan, Anthea Sharp, Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, Alexia Purdy (epub)
“Hello Meghan,” she said in a frighteningly calm voice. “I am so glad you could finally make it. Welcome to Eile.”
I can’t say how I did it, but somehow I managed to speak, asking the question I should have asked to begin with, “Who are you?”
She crossed her arms and arched one of those perfect eyebrows. If anything, her unearthly beauty and overwhelming presence was magnified here, on this foggy, wooded hillside full of stone columns.
“Oh, I have a few names,” she said nonchalantly. “Some call me Neaim, others Macha. I’ve also gone by Badb on occasion.”
I was confused. There was something familiar about those names, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I think it had mostly to do with my aching head, but I must admit a good deal of it was because of the fear I felt brewing in my heart. This woman was dangerous. I could feel that more than ever now, as if she had a hurricane brewing within her and she was just waiting to unleash it at the right time.
“But,” she continued, “you might know me best as the Morrigan.”
And at that moment it dawned upon me just how stupid and suicidal crossing into the Otherworld had really been.
“Where is Cade?” I whispered, my head lowered so she wouldn’t see my fear. The Morrigan was Cade’s girlfriend!? Just how much had he been keeping from me? And who must he be to be dating one of the most powerful of the Celtic deities?
“I have sent him off on a tedious mission so that we might have a little one on one time together,” the woman, no, the goddess, answered. “You see, I’ve been looking for you for a long time Meghan, and he was supposed to bring you directly to me if he ever found you. But he was becoming distracted, so naturally I reassigned him. Sorry about that little fib earlier, but you really were being very difficult. I had to get you to cross over somehow.”
Wait, what? What was she talking about? She had been looking for me? Oh wait, she was the raven . . . But why had she been looking for me? And what did she mean Cade was getting distracted? By what? And how had she reassigned him? I braved a glance at her, but her eyes were unreadable. Terrifying, sadistic and now those very eyes were phasing from violet to crimson.
“What sort of mission did you send him on?” I braved, my voice quavering a little. “And what do you want with me?”
The last conversation I’d had with Cade came screaming back into my mind. “Some people would rather see you dead than risk learning whether or not you are a threat.”
Oh Meghan, what have you done . . . ?
“This conversation grows tiresome,” the Morrigan said rather boorishly, “time to finish the job Cade failed to do. Silly, sentimental little boy,” she continued as if I wasn’t there anymore. “I really must have a word with him about that.”
She started to wander off, the skirts of her black dress taking on a life of their own, stirring and mixing with the mist around her feet. I realized they were made of shadow and smoke and something else . . . death.
“Wait!” I croaked, reaching out with a trembling hand. What did she mean finish the job Cade had failed to do? And how could he be with someone like her? True, she was a beautiful goddess, but from what I’d learned from my research, she loved nothing more than to reign down war and strife upon those she ruled over. How could the Cade I know, the thoughtful, caring Cade, care about someone so twisted and cruel? Because you don’t really know him at all, do you Meghan? a little voice inside me said. Perhaps he’s been playing you all along . . .
Despite my wretched state, my stomach had the nerve to give off a twinge of pain and regret when I conjured Cade to my thoughts. I knew my conscience was right, that Cade had probably used me, but it still hurt nonetheless.
The Morrigan turned her head and peered back at me from over her shoulder, her perfectly plucked, black eyebrow arched in annoyance once again.
“No, you miserable fae strayling, you do not address me,” she all but hissed. “I am the Queen of Darkness and I have decided you may no longer exist.”
Real fear gripped me then, not just at this terrifying being’s words, but at the fact that she seemed to grow larger in size, the darkness she so claimed as her own spreading out from her like a black mist to dance and mingle and curl along the ground and in the trees surrounding us.
I could have sworn I heard voices whispering then.
Beware Meghan! Beware! they seemed to say.
It took me a whole five seconds to realize it was the oak trees.
Beware Meghan! they warned. But I was afraid it was too late.
The Morrigan closed her eyes and let her shoulders relax; her arms to drift away from her body. She lifted her face to the grey sky and began chanting, a deep, resonant melody that made my blood freeze and my breath catch. The words she spoke were ancient, archaic, and although I couldn’t understand them, I knew their meaning.
The earth beneath me trembled slightly and the oaks, once so still and solemn in the mist, began quaking as if in fear. The sound of splitting rocks filled the air and the clouds above began to swirl. I decided right then and there that this whole strange scene had to be just another nightmare. Only, this one felt real.
A strange crackling began to blend with the cacophony of chanting, rumbling and rustling, and when I dared take a good look at the changing scene around me, I nearly screamed. Dark figures had started crawling from the small middens dotting the hillside, looking like some horrible horde of grotesque cicadas unearthing themselves after their seven years of dormancy.
The creatures that crawled forth out of the earth were something from a horror movie. Some looked like corpses of bony goblins, vaguely resembling human beings. They walked like spiders and insects, ropes of fur and hair hanging from their rotting flesh. Some had violent, red eyes while others seemed to have no eyes at all. Jagged teeth and long snouts, horns and leathery wings adorned the bedraggled gargoyle-like demons. As they drew closer to our stone circle, hissing and spitting and growling in rage, the Morrigan continued her endless chant, her cruel laughter tainting her ancient words as she called upon her minions to do her dirty work. A horrible smell soon followed them and I had to cover my mouth and nose to keep from gagging.
Screaming in terror once again, I tried to scramble to my feet but I think my leg might have been broken. Wincing in pain and fighting back tears, I darted my eyes around to look for something to defend myself with. A chunk of rock, possibly broken during the initial earthquake of the Morrigan’s calling, lay within arm’s length. I launched myself at it, falling on my stomach. At first I thought to throw it at the closest faelah demon, but then another thought came to mind. If I threw it at the Morrigan, would it distract her?
Without giving it another thought, I drew back and launched the stone with all my might. It flew towards the Celtic goddess but bounced off some invisible force field surrounding her like a bird smacking into a window. She didn’t even falter in her chanting. I had wasted a perfectly good projectile and now the creatures were moving closer.
Just then a terrible baying broke through the scratching and hissing of the creatures. My stomach curled up in dread once again. The corpse hounds. The Cumorrig. I knew that sound well and any shred of hope or bravery I might have had left fled in the next instant.
Swallowing hard and trying to see through the blurry tears pouring from my eyes, I snatched up a fallen oak branch and huddled near the stone slab I had woken up against. I would fend them off as long as I could, but I knew I was a goner. I thought of my family, my mom and my dad and my brothers. They would come home to find me gone without a trace, only a note saying I’d be out late. I would become another one of those lost girls, abducted by aliens or murdered and well disposed of. How long would my family search for me? Would they ever give up, even when they never found me?
Finally, I thought of Cade. Oh how I had trusted him. Why had I trusted him? Why did he have to betray me? I gasped and my sobs grew stronger as the creatures inched closer. The hounds were getting nearer as well and I coul
d hear their yipping as their excitement grew. My impending demise approached, and the Morrigan continued to chant her death song.
The first hound circled and snapped at the closest faelah demon. For a few minutes a fight ensued, but the corpse dog easily won, tearing the wings of the creature to shreds. The sound of its pain made me even more nauseated. The Cumorrig moved in, panting and growling, squaring its shoulders for attack. I closed my eyes and waited for impact.
A sharp pain in my leg was the first sign my death was occurring. I screamed and beat at the dog with the stick, but it did no good. Like a swarm of sharks waiting for that first drop of blood to hit the water, the other hounds and creatures swarmed in. I felt them tearing at my clothes and hair, the dull sting of their sharp teeth, twisting my arm almost to the breaking point. I screamed and fought back.
Despite the pain, I was able to make contact with the branch and chase off a few, but there were just too many. I felt my strength sapping, but just before I drifted towards unconsciousness, a shout of sheer anger and desperation split the air. The creatures of darkness blanched for a second and the Morrigan’s incessant chanting faltered.
I heard a feminine gasp and the rustling of feathers followed by a loud, furious cawing. The dogs began yowling again and I could feel more than see the demons retreating to their holes. They weren’t fast enough though, for something terrifying swept into my circle of stones and started to wreak havoc.
I cracked my eyes open as far as they would go and saw the strangest thing in front of me. Of course, it was only my delirium. Cade was standing there, looking more terrifying than I could ever remember. He seemed to be growing larger, his thick hair forming into spikes, as if some imaginary hand was adding hair gel and forcing it to stand on end. For some reason, the hair stylist decided to add dye to it because I could see beads of dark red gathering at the tips. I chuckled, coughing on blood. Who would want to dye Cade’s hair red? It was already that color.
It was when Cade’s body started distorting into the most grotesque shapes I had ever seen this side of some zombie apocalypse movie that I decided my brain must be shutting down, and that this was the death throes I had been expecting. It was like watching a car accident in slow motion or witnessing a cartoon character from one of my brother’s favorite shows going bonkers. I had no desire to witness it, but like a drug, the macabre scene drew my eye like a moth to the flame.
An unknown amount of time passed and I could no longer see Cade, but I could still hear what was going on. He must have been ripping the Cumorrig and the demon things apart, because I could hear them wailing and screeching in pain. The racket probably would have hurt my ears, that is, if I could still feel anything. A blur of pale fur swept by, emitting a sharp bark. Fergus!
Suddenly, the horrible screeching stopped and all was still. I wondered if Cade and the creatures had killed one another, but a few minutes later I felt the presence of someone or something approach. Someone strong scooped me up and cradled me against their chest. Cade. Unfortunately, I was too numb to enjoy the experience, or to remember that he had a girlfriend and that he didn’t care about me at all.
“Meghan!” he breathed close to my ear, his voice sounding harsh and broken. “Oh no, stay with me darling girl.”
I’ll try, I thought, but I think you’re a bit too late. Why was I being so reasonable? This was the guy who was dating the Morrigan, the same guy who had apparently lied to me. So why didn’t I push him aside? Oh yes, that’s right; I was in shock and since I probably only had a few minutes left to live, I wasn’t about to reject the attentions of the guy I’d been pining after for the last several months. Immortal or not, the faelah had gotten the better of me and I was definitely dying.
Cade gently pushed his hand up against the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my snarled hair. He was saying something against my ear in that archaic language the Morrigan had used and he was planting kisses on my temple. My stomach fluttered. Not with nausea this time, but with a warm joy. Could it really be happening, or was I imaging it?
Oh, please kiss me for real, I thought.
Then I almost felt like laughing out loud, if I were even remotely close to being fully conscious. There I was, dying on the boundaries of some mystical Otherworld, and all I could think about was this dangerous infatuation I had with some Faelorehn hunter who supposedly was in a relationship with a powerful and beautiful Celtic deity. It was official then: my brain must be fading away with the rest of me.
Cade was no longer speaking but his lips were moving from my temple, to my cheek, to the corner of my mouth that wasn’t stained with blood, trailing kisses the entire way. I waited for his lips to finally meet mine, but fate was cruel and I died before I could experience that first and last kiss.
* * *
Bright lights flashed far above me and it felt like I was floating. I heard urgent voices, shouting and barking out orders. Was I in heaven? Hell? Knowing how my life had been going for the past several months, I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up in either place.
Eventually, the flashing lights stopped and I detected one steady, bright glare. A sting in my arm, the sound of metal clattering on metal, more voices, an incessant beeping sound and then my awareness faded away again.
I woke in a hospital room, completely disoriented and utterly confused. There were hospitals in the afterlife? A nurse came over to check on me, grinning and making some comment about getting my family. I was alive? After all that had happened? Wait, what had happened? I couldn’t remember. All I could recall was that I had been so sure I was dying. Guess I’d been wrong.
Mom and Dad looked ragged, as if they had been up a week straight. My brothers came bounding in, all of them either drying their eyes or trying very hard not to burst into tears.
They explained to me that I had been attacked by some stray dogs or coyotes near my high school. A man driving by saw it all and managed to pull the dogs off of me, then drove me to the hospital. My parents were disappointed that he hadn’t left his name, but apparently I had been lucid enough to give him my name and address.
I had only been in the hospital for the night, though it felt like a week. I had plenty of bruises, some deep lacerations that needed stitches and my left leg had been fractured. I had also hit my head pretty hard but they patched me up, put a cast on my leg and proclaimed me fit enough to leave the hospital.
Mom set me up in my bed once we got back home and brought me a pitcher of sweetened iced tea with lemons. She positioned the pillows so that I could sit up and read or watch TV or work on the variety of crossword puzzles and word searches she’d gathered for me.
“The doctor said you should take it easy for the next few days to make sure you don’t suffer any more after effects of your concussion,” Mom said.
I nodded. Just doing that hurt.
She let out a troubled breath and shook her own head. “A pack of dogs, I can’t believe it. What is a pack of dogs doing wandering around the neighborhood?”
She sounded so disbelieving, but not in a way that suggested she didn’t believe what had happened to me. There were a few junkyards in the industrial neighborhood on the other side of the highway, but they only kept one or two dogs to warn off any miscreants. Most dogs around here were either friendly or fiercely guarded their own yards.
She shook her head again and said, “I just hope Animal Control finds them before they can hurt anyone else.”
Her voice was shaky and I knew she was trying hard not to burst into tears. My mom was tough, she had to be with all my brothers, but when something serious happened she let her emotions show.
I sighed and rubbed my arm. It was sore where the IV had been and where the nurses had given me a rabies shot, just to be safe. I grimaced. I couldn’t wait until everyone at school heard about that. I predicted a whole new onslaught of nicknames coming my way.
Mom kissed me on the top of my head once more, her eyes shining with the emotion she was trying so hard to keep at bay, an
d then instructed me to send her a text on her cell phone if I needed anything. I told her I would be fine, but I picked up my phone and held it up to reassure her. Casting me one last smile, she made her way up my spiral staircase and disappeared through the trap door.
Feeling overwhelmingly blessed about my current state of existence, I huffed a great sigh and leaned fully into my pillows. If my parents had any idea what had really happened . . . I screwed up my face. But what exactly had happened? It was still all a blur to me, the details at least, but I did recall crossing over into the Otherworld and then being almost immediately attacked by a contingent of monsters. I had done something to defend myself, something pathetic like picking up a rock or a stick. I really needed more practice with the lessons Cade had been giving me.
I cringed at the thought of Cade. Had that really been him when I was certain I was dying? Had he really managed to thwart the Morrigan and chase away her monsters and hounds? Or had that just been another one of my delusions? Had he really held me in his arms and had he truly kissed me before I lost consciousness? And if so, could everything that the Morrigan said to me be a lie? Duh Meghan, she lured you into the Otherworld to kill you. Time to re-evaluate your opinion about Cade . . . again.
I sighed and turned my head towards the sliding glass door that looked out into my backyard. It was early evening and the shadows of the trees were painting gray streaks across the lawn. It didn’t matter if Cade had come to help me, for I had a terrible feeling I would never see him again.
Tears pricked my eyes and an ache worked its way up into my throat. As I drifted off to sleep, three thoughts surfaced to my mind. First, I prayed to whatever gods existed that the memories of my ordeal wouldn’t haunt me during my sleep. Second, I asked those same deities that the Morrigan would think I was dead and therefore wouldn’t come back for me. And lastly, I hoped with all my heart that Cade was safe somewhere in the Otherworld. Despite my mixed feelings towards him and regardless of the fact that the Morrigan seemed to have a significant amount of control over him, I only wished him well. Perhaps I really did love him, for why else would I feel this way towards someone who very well may have forsaken me?
