The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1)

by D. S. Elstad

  “Wait a minute…” he muttered. He then stood up and began pacing around the room. Something had been summoned up in his mind. When he stopped I moved closer to where he stood, his eyes intensified as he grabbed my hands.

  “What is it, Dad?” I asked.

  “Something pulled him into the lake! It’s like I can see it all clearly now. Da said he fell into the water but…” he paused again and began pacing once more, running his hands through his hair. I could see the memory flooding back in a torrent of emotion.

  He sat back on the chair and put his head down, resting it in the palm of his hands. I didn’t want to speak and take his mind away from the memories that had been buried for so long and were now allowed to resurface. After a few minutes he once more looked up and whispered, “Oh my God.”

  I sat back down and felt my heart begin to race. His words were soft, but the thickness of whatever it was that was revealing itself to him was heavy…and disturbing.

  “Something pulled him into the lake, just like something had pulled the oar out of my hands. When he stuck the other oar into the lake I saw him jerk back, as though something had grabbed his oar, like it had mine. But he didn’t let go. He must have been fighting it, trying to keep hold of the oar. All these years I thought he’d fallen in but…I remember now.” He stared at me with focused eyes, looking at my face, not seeing me but the distant memories of his past.

  His eyes would lock onto mine, then slowly search the room, as though he was so absorbed in thought that he wasn’t even aware of what he was looking at. He then continued his recollection, void of any emotion. “He went into the water. He was struggling. We weren’t very good swimmers yet. Da had only just begun to teach us. I leaned out of the boat to see him… he was trying hard to stay afloat. I reached for him…he was so close, our fingertips touched.” Tears now filled my father’s eyes, his voice cracking.

  “I almost had him. He was so close…the look of panic on his face, the water rushing in all around him.” Tears began streaming down Dad’s face, yet he continued.

  “A wave pushed the boat away from him and I stood to jump in. Da had reached the boat by that time and pushed me down, yelling at me not to move. He dove into the murky water, trying to find Joseph. He dove and came up at least twenty times. He kept calling out for him. I couldn’t see Joseph anymore. I tried to get out of the boat again and Da screamed at me to stay put. He kept diving… and coming up alone.”

  My eyes became clouded and unable to focus as I fought to clear my vision from the onslaught of tears. The lump in my throat cut off my voice and made it impossible for me to say anything to my father. There was nothing I could say. The raw emotion playing out on his face and entire body didn’t need a response. The only thing I was able to do was to grab hold of him and be there to share the horror that had changed his life forever.

  So much sadness flowed from Dad. I knelt down beside him as he sat hunched over in his chair. I wrapped my arms around him and felt him rest his head on my shoulder. The quiet sobbing only stopped long enough for him to catch his breath, then continued for a long time.

  Once he was unable to cry any more tears he sat up, exhausted and pale. He brushed my hair from my face and motioned for me to sit down. I pulled my chair close to his and rested my head on his shoulder.

  “They weren’t able to find his body for two days. It had washed up on the shore of one of the little islands in the middle of the lake. Ma wouldn’t let me see him. She and Da went to the lake when they got the call, and I stayed with Eagan.

  “After that, all I remember is how quiet everything was around the house. We all just kind of walked around like nothing happened and like Joseph had never been there. It was very weird. Shannah was the same, still loving and protective, but Da, he changed. He became an angry man. He drank too much and would stay out late and not even come home sometimes. Ma would always make excuses for him, saying that he would come around.

  “The older I got the worse it got. Somehow I felt like he blamed me for the accident. I even blamed myself for the longest time. Finally it got to the point where I couldn’t live there with them. Da tried to start a fight with me one night after he’d been drinking. It took everything I had to walk away. Ma continued making excuses for him. I had to leave or else the next time he wanted to fight… I would have.”

  At this point Dad was calm and introspective. The remembered emotion of his childhood trauma had taken it out of him, and I hoped it had a cathartic effect. He slowly stood and looked out the balcony window. I watched him, feeling proud of the man who was my father and understanding him in a way I never thought I would. I realize no one knows how they would handle a tragedy, but I felt confident in the fact that my dad would be there to support Mom and me and that he would handle the situation differently than Conor had.

  It didn’t make me love my grandfather any less; it just added to the respect and admiration I had for my own father…he knew when to walk away. Dad turned and reached back to grab his jacket.

  “We should go see Conor,” he said, his voice hoarse from emotion.

  “Are you up for it?” I wondered, tossing my pile of tissues in the trash.

  “Yeah. Eagan was right; now is the time for building bridges. It happened so many years ago. My dad was hurting and said and did some stupid things, but that was then. I can’t judge him anymore but I can forgive him…and I have.” He reached his hand out to me and I took it and held it tight. He pulled me close and whispered softly in my ear, “Thank you sweetheart, for being here with me.”

  “I love you, Dad,” I whispered back.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Dad stood at the doorway to Grandfather’s hospital room before he entered. He rested his hand on the doorjamb and lowered his head, almost as if he was praying. When he walked into the room he was pensive but without hesitation he embraced Grandfather as he lay in his bed.

  “Jacky, so good to see you again. Twice in one day!” Conor said in a breathy voice.

  “Hello, Da, I brought you a visitor.” Dad nodded his head to me while I stood in the doorway.

  “Well, hello, Willow! Please come in here. This truly is a good day now,” he exclaimed, reaching his thin, trembling hand to mine.

  I stepped over to the side of Grandpa’s bed and bent down to hug him. He returned my hug with a very tight squeeze which surprised me, considering his weakened state. He held onto my shoulders as I lifted away from him and held me in place for a moment. He stared deeply into my eyes and smiled broadly.

  “You look so much like her, my dear,” he said, in a half whisper.

  I knew he was referring to Grandma. I smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, Grandpa, that’s a huge compliment.”

  “Indeed it is, darlin’, indeed it is.” He closed his eyes momentarily, then asked Dad and me to sit and visit with him.

  Dad was a different person with his father now. He’d been concerned about Conor before but now he was relaxed and genuinely seemed to enjoy their talk. After we got details on how Grandpa was feeling, the conversation turned to cheerier subjects. The two reminisced about learning to golf and how Eagan was a terrible golfer but a great teacher. They shared some tender recollections of Shannah, with Grandpa then telling Dad about his own parents and how they didn’t like her at first. “But, they grew to love her more than me!” he joked.

  While the two of them were talking I received a call from Uncle Eagan. Dad took the phone and went into the hallway while Grandpa and I visited. After a few minutes Dad returned.

  “Da, I have news from Eagan about the autopsy.”

  “Oh?” Grandpa asked nervously, sitting up in his bed.

  “Eagan said that Jim Fitzgerald went to do the autopsy but found no just cause for performing one. He detected early signs of tissue degeneration perfectly in line with the amount of time that Ma has been deceased. He also noted heart disease, which explains why she died and none of the tissue samples revealed any strange substances. He r
escinded the order for the autopsy and recommended immediate re-burial.”

  Grandpa drew his hand up to his heart and took a deep breath. “Praise the Lord,” he exhaled.

  “Your mother would want nothing of that. She didn’t like the idea of someone coming in and…” he paused, looking my way, “and, doing what they do. This truly is a good day, Jacky. Mother can rest in peace now.” He smiled and laid his head back on his pillow closing his eyes.

  I felt a huge amount of relief as well. It was good to know that our theory about the Triquetra keeping Shannah’s body preserved was correct. Who knows what the authorities might have discovered if they had gone ahead with the autopsy.

  Dad joined me at the side of Grandpa’s bed and put his arm around me. We stood there waiting for Grandpa to open his eyes again when the lights inside his room began to flicker. Grandpa immediately sat up. The lights in the hallway flickered, as well as the machines in Grandpa’s room. Everything went off for a split second, and then charged back on.

  Grandpa looked worried. “What is it, son?” he asked Dad.

  “Looks like it was some kind of power surge, Da. The hospital must have a generator. It’ll be fine,” Dad reassured as he stepped over and checked Grandpa’s oxygen.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said. He walked into the hallway and caught up with a nurse. I could hear him questioning her about what just happened as they walked. I moved over to Grandpa’s side and grabbed hold of his hand. He smiled up at me and repeated Dad’s, “It’ll be fine.”

  I nodded and turned my head towards the hallway and focused all my auditory senses in that direction. After a few minutes of turning my head here and there, kind of like turning a radio dial, I was able to reconnect to my father’s voice along with the nurse’s.

  “We’re not sure, Mr. Whelan; maintenance is checking out everything right now. But no worries; we have a back-up generator that will keep us up and running for hours.”

  “That’s good; let me know if I can be of help in any way. I have some electrical knowledge and have refurbished a generator or two in my day.”

  “Good to know, sir, I’ll pass that along.”

  Dad’s footsteps echoed back to the room. I looked down at Grandpa who was studying me intently.

  “You’ve got the gift, don’t you, dear?” he asked, surprising the heck out of me.

  Before I could even answer, Dad stepped back into the room and grabbed the remote to the TV. He jumped through the channels to the news and caught the latest weather report. It was saying that a major winter storm had moved into the area and had taken out power in most of Killarney. People were being advised to stay inside and tune into the radio station which would most likely be able to weather the storm.

  Dad turned off the TV and used my phone to try and call Eagan. The phone was dead; no signal.

  “Wait here with Da, Willow; I’m going downstairs to maintenance and see what I can do to help.” He looked down at Conor and smiled. “A little storm won’t hurt anyone, right, Da?”

  Grandpa smiled back and nodded. “You see what you can do, son.”

  After Dad left the room I sat at Grandpa’s side. I looked into his eyes and saw a trace of a smile. I hesitated to bring up his comment about having the gift –it turned out I didn’t have to, because he wasn’t ready to let it go.

  “You have it, yes?” he inquired again.

  “Have what, Grandpa?”

  “The gift…that’s what your grandmother called it.” He leaned forward and pulled my arm in order to draw me closer to him. “You can change, can’t you…and hear things at great distances?” he said, in a whisper.

  I looked into his pale-blue eyes and felt an awkward silence come over me. I wasn’t sure if or how to respond. He drew me in even closer until his lips were at my ear.

  “It’s fine, Willow; I know all about the Fomorians and Balor and…the Triquetra.”

  I pulled back and studied his weathered, tired face. “Yes, Grandpa, it’s true.”

  He sank into his pillow, closing his eyes. “I never thought I’d see this day, when the power would pass on to someone else. Shannah died protecting it, you realize?” he asked, tears now filling his eyes.

  “I do realize, Grandpa. I didn’t know whether or not you knew.”

  “Of course I knew. You can’t be married to someone for fifty-three years and keep something like that a secret, although she tried.” He reached for the button to raise his bed and positioned it so that we were now sitting pretty much nose to nose. I leaned in as close as I could without making him uncomfortable.

  “I’ll never forget the first time I saw her as a wolf. I darn neared grabbed my shotgun and put a bullet in her as she stood in the kitchen with her head in the refrigerator. I couldn’t imagine why a wolf would be in our kitchen with its head in the refrigerator! She knocked me down, then changed right there in front of me. She laughed, saying I wouldn’t be fast enough to do her in. And you know what? She was right. A speedier creature I’d never seen.” Grandpa leaned back into his pillow, smiling at the thought of Grandma. Then his expression grew serious.

  “I’m worried for you, dear. It’s a tremendous and dangerous responsibility and you’re so very young. Shannah was given the gift, or as I called it the curse, when she was twenty years old. Her grandfather had held it for a very long time. She tried to keep it from me, but how can you hide something like that from the people you live with?”

  I thought about Dad and the narrow escape I had in the hotel bathroom. I couldn’t help but wonder if he had any idea that his own mother had the gift.

  “Does Dad know, Grandpa?”

  “Psshh, no,” he answered, shaking his head. “She would never allow that, even after what happened to Joseph.” He stopped himself and looked deeply into my eyes and squinted.

  “Do you know about Joseph?”

  I bit my lower lip and swallowed hard. I hesitated going into the story, considering what Dad had told me about his reaction to the whole event and the way he abandoned his family emotionally at a time when they really needed him. I fought my reluctance because I knew I most likely would never have another chance to hear his side of the whole thing. I mean, Dad was only five at the time; this was a chance to hear what happened from an adult’s perspective, and from the only other person who was there to witness the whole ordeal.

  “I know what Dad has told me, that Joseph was his twin and he died after falling into Killarney Lake.”

  “Aye, a tragedy.” Grandpa closed his eyes and rubbed his eyelids. He pulled his blanket up to his shoulders, then rested his hands in his lap.

  “Grandpa, can you tell me what happened?”

  He suggested that I close the door and keep my ears open, “As only you know how,” he said.

  After a long drink of water he cleared his throat and told me the story pretty much the same way it had been told to me by Dad. He omitted the part about something knocking him down and instead said he fell; also, no mention was made of the boys losing their oars to some mysterious force that yanked Dad’s out of his hand and pulled Joseph into the lake.

  When I asked him about those details he grew silent for a long time. He closed his eyes. The only sound in the room was the low hum from the machine hooked up to his arm. I wondered if he fell asleep. Then he opened his eyes again and sucked in his lips. He looked over to the door then back at me.

  “Something did block my way,” he said finally. “I didn’t know what was happening. I fell down to the ground and was held there. When Joseph began screaming, whatever it was that held me, let go. When I looked up, I saw the boat heading farther into the lake. But it wasn’t just drifting, it was being dragged. Something had it. I rushed to the boat and saw Joseph go in. Jack was going to jump in after him but I knocked him down. Poor Jacky. He tried hard to save his brother.” Grandpa wiped tears from his eyes.

  “I pushed the boat back, trying to get it to shore; then I kept diving, looking for Joseph. He should’ve been there.
I was only seconds away from him when he went into the water. He should’ve been there.”

  The lights began to flicker again. I stood to check and see what was going on in the hallway. Passing nurses assured me everything was ok, that the flickering was normal. When I returned to the room Grandpa had the TV on again. The picture was scattered and only came on for a second. He flipped the remote off then looked at me with renewed intensity.

  “You realize what all this is, don’t you, Willow?” he asked, grabbing my arm.

  Without giving me a chance to answer he continued, “They’re trying to rise. The weakness in the Triquetra is giving them the chance they’ve waited for. Shannah tried to hold it off after Lucy left, but…” he paused.

  “Don’t worry, Grandpa, the Triquetra has been restored with all three parts; there’s no missing piece,” I assured him.

  He tried to smile. “That’s good, my dear. When a new guardian replaces an old one, the Fomorians try to take advantage. I’m afraid that’s what happened with my dear boy Joseph. Shannah had taken over the Triquetra from her grandfather but never used any of its powers. She hadn’t even tried changing to the wolf. She was torn about being a guardian and being a mother. She thought if she held off on changing it would keep the powers at bay. That didn’t happen.”

  “Grandpa, are you saying that Joseph’s death had something to do with the Triquetra and the Fomorians?”

  “Yes.” He fumbled around with his blanket, pulling it up higher to his shoulders. A chill ran down my spine, which at first I assumed was because of our conversation, but quickly I realized that the temperature in the room was definitely getting colder.

  “Shannah believed they’re what held me down that day and pulled the boat out into the depths of the water. They tried to get both of the boys by dragging out the boat. They’re what pulled Joseph in. If Jacky hadn’t let go of his oar he would have gone too.”

  “But why? Why would they go after your sons; why not go after Grandma herself?” I wondered.