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

by D. S. Elstad

  “Yes, if you don’t want to take this on, Quinn, then that’s fine. No one will hold it against you.” Aaron sighed as the wind picked up and thunder started rumbling over the lake. “Let’s get you back home.” He motioned for us all to follow him.

  Bram, Aaron, and I made our way to the car and got inside while Quinn remained at the shoreline, kicking pebbles into the glistening waves. The moon had peeked out from behind the clouds and was reflecting on the slow moving currents of the lake. After a few minutes he signaled for us to come back and join him. We stood alongside him on the shore.

  “Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I’ll do it. Guess I’m still getting used to the idea of the whole shapeshifting thing, ya know?” he whimpered, looking up to Bram.

  “I know, mate, this isn’t easy. But you’re not alone.” Bram grabbed Quinn and hugged him, then pulled me in to join them. The strange charges of electricity became more pronounced as the three of us held onto each other.

  Quinn looked up with a shocked expression that quickly turned into a sly grin. “What a rush.”

  Bram and I laughed while Aaron stepped over and mussed Quinn’s curly red locks. “Good to have you on board Quinn,” he said just as a jolt raced up his arm. He quickly drew back his hand and shook it out. “You three carry quite a charge… that is brilliant!” he added with a huge smile crossing his lips. Another interesting aspect of being guardians just made itself known to us.

  “Do I have to take my clothes off? Because if I do, Willow, you may want to turn your head,” Quinn snickered as he stood at the shoreline, waves lapping up at his feet.

  “No, I don’t know how or why, but I always shift back into my clothes, so no worries. Are you ready?” Bram asked, holding onto Quinn’s shoulders.

  Quinn let out a deep exhale. “As ready as I’m gonna be,” he answered, clapping his hands in front of him, psyching himself up.

  He stepped forward a few feet. The waves had his shoes submerged now, under a few inches of water. His chattering teeth let us know how incredibly cold it was. The word hypothermia jumped into my head but I had to remind myself that he was safe, that the cold would have no effect on him thanks to the shifting and the Triquetra.

  “You’re sure this is gonna work?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

  “Positive,” Aaron replied.

  “Just picture the pilot whale, Quinn,” Bram added.

  “Can’t I picture a great white shark?” Quinn retorted.

  “You can, but it ain’t gonna happen,” Bram laughed.

  Bram, Aaron, and I stood away from Quinn and watched as he stepped cautiously into the frigid water. He started hyperventilating and Aaron reminded him to slow down his breathing. When he did that, he continued into the water.

  “Just dive in!” Bram urged. I punched Bram’s arm and mouthed the words, Stop, let him do it. Bram smiled and nodded, “Ok.”

  The moon once again peeped out from behind the influx of clouds and glistened on the water. It was a wild thing to see…Quinn standing waist-deep in the lake, his arms held high as he eased himself in with his back towards us and the moonlight playing on his red hair.

  Once he was up to his neck he turned to look at us, teeth chattering still, and asked, “Have I changed yet?”

  “Focus on the pilot whale,” Aaron shouted. “Close your eyes and visualize the whale.”

  Quinn closed his eyes. A distant clap of thunder made him jump and look towards the sky. The moon disappeared behind the clouds and snowflakes started falling. Quinn closed his eyes again and then, slowly at first, almost imperceptibly, he began shifting, his shape stretching out and contorting. He rose about three feet out of the water and I could make out the distinctive bulbous head of the pilot whale.

  He dove into the lake and stayed down in the water for a few seconds before rising and jumping into the air. His deep gray shape silhouetted against the darkness of the lake. He dove again and splashed so much it reached us standing on the shore.

  “He did that on purpose… or should I say, porpoise,” Bram chuckled, jumping back from the splash.

  I loved watching him jumping and diving. He looked so free. I forgot for a brief moment why we were there and what we needed to be doing. It was just nice to see Quinn shift and connect with his alternate self. I remembered how it felt when I saw myself in wolf form for the first time. It was so exhilarating…and frightening.

  After watching him for about twenty minutes, Aaron called out and told him it was time to go…to shift back. Quinn swam as close to the shore as possible and lifted his rounded head out of the water, opened his mouth and emitted a laughing sound.

  “He’s really getting into this now,” I said.

  Aaron went to start the car while Bram and I watched Quinn begin his transformation. He was swimming in circles when his shape began to shift back to the Quinn we knew. He lifted his head out of the water and started heading back to us on the shore. He wasn’t shivering; in fact he was laughing and talking a mile a minute about how much cooler a whale was than an eagle or a wolf. Bram and I just looked at each other and smirked. “Right,” Bram said under his breath.

  After Quinn reached the shore, we marveled at how warm he was. He was still excited and rambling when another clap of thunder made us all jump. It was followed by lightning which appeared to strike right in the middle of the lake. We looked out onto the lake and could hardly believe our eyes. A geyser seemed to be sprouting from the middle, about one hundred feet away, directly from the spot the lightening had struck.

  As we watched the geyser, it began spinning like a tornado and stood off the surface of the water a couple of feet. It just stood there, spinning. Aaron jumped out of the car and joined us at the water’s edge. The spinning rose and fell, almost as though it was building some sort of energy. Lightning struck it once again, and this time a vision began appearing. I recognized the face as the one that had appeared to me in the mist.

  Thunder rumbled, followed by two more lightning strikes. Aaron grabbed my hand and ordered us all to get into the car. We ran, pausing only long enough to look back and see the laughing face. Thunder boomed again and this time I heard the words “Guardians beware,” followed by horrific laughing.

  We pulled up to the driveway at Quinn’s house. His bedroom was in the front of the house and there, peeking out of the curtain, was Kelleigh. Her face became animated when she saw us. She disappeared for a second then returned to the window and crawled out. She ran up to the car carrying a blanket.

  I opened the back door and scooted over so she could join us. Once she got in the car she looked past me to Quinn and handed him the blanket.

  “Here, I thought you’d need this,” she said excitedly.

  “Why?” he asked.

  Kelleigh looked her brother over, then reached and touched the top of his head. “Did you do it? You didn’t do it, did you? You chickened out. Bloody, Quinn! I knew I should have gone. You’re too immature for something like this!” She was screeching now, so much that I was sure their parents must have heard her.

  “Kelleigh, shhhhh,” I commanded, putting my hand over her mouth. “He did it, he was amazing!”

  She then leaned back and studied Quinn intently. He sat there, easing his hands back behind his neck and resting his head on them. “I was amazing, yes, I was,” he shot back at her, pride oozing from every inch of him.

  “But, you’re dry,” Kelleigh observed.

  “I know! I dried up right away after I got out of the lake.”

  The two went back and forth for minutes, with Quinn explaining in detail his transformation while, up in the front seat, Aaron and Bram were having their own exchange. I leaned forward to see what they were talking about.

  Aaron felt as though the appearance of the image on the lake probably drained the Fomorians for the time being and that it should be safe for us all to return home and try and get some rest. The weather had definitely eased up after that, and, while we sat there, the electricity began flickering on
in Quinn’s house and the houses nearby.

  I rested my chin on the back of Bram’s seat. He reached his hand back and tenderly stroked my cheek. It felt comforting. I held onto his arm, closed my eyes, and lost myself in the conversations in the front and back seats. I even fell asleep for a few minutes when I heard the door open.

  Quinn and Kelleigh were getting out of the car. Kelleigh went up to the bedroom window and waved wildly before climbing inside. Quinn reached his head back into the car, “See you in the morning, Willow, just send me a mind message if you want to chat.” He sniffled and grinned, then signed good-bye to Bram and went into the house.

  Bram opened his door and joined me in the back seat. He sat close and wrapped his arm around me. I laid my head on his shoulder and felt happy for the quiet warmth of the car.

  We pulled up to the hospital and sure enough, Dad’s car was still in the parking lot. I prepared myself as well as I could for what Dad might have to say. Aaron looked back and tiredly said goodnight. The plan was to meet bright and early, find more answers, and come up with some kind of strategy for dealing with the Fomorians. Hopefully the night would be calm and allow us all some much-needed rest.

  Bram walked me to the hospital entrance and we stood inside the foyer before going into the reception area. He held my hands and looked deeply into my eyes.

  “Hello,” I said to him in mindspeak.

  “Can you hear me?” he asked.

  I nodded. It was surreal to be able to speak to each other this way.

  “I’ll come get you tomorrow morning at eight. Get in touch if there’s anything, ok?” He furrowed his brow, those brown eyes looking more intense than ever, reaching into my soul.

  He started to lean in for what I thought was going to be our first kiss, but then the sliding door opened to a security guard who nodded, then squeezed past us.

  I buried my head into his chest and laughed. “Probably not the most romantic spot for our first kiss, eh?” his voice echoed in my head. I nodded and kissed him on the cheek.

  I watched as he made his way back to the car and continued watching while he and Aaron drove away. My heart was full and content. To have found someone like Bram in all of this craziness was such a blessing. I wrapped my arms around myself and headed into the hospital in search of Dad.

  He lay there, fast asleep on the reclining chair the nurse had showed me, covered up to his chin with a pale green blanket, my note lying on his lap. I looked over at Grandpa, who was also asleep. He looked even more peaceful than before. His coloring looked much better; gone was that sickly-looking paleness he had had earlier. I touched his hand and found it to be warm. His cheeks had a bit of a reddish tint. I once again checked the thermostat…a comfortable seventy-two degrees. I wasn’t sure if it was the generator that was now powering the hospital or if the power had come on, but either way, things seemed a whole lot more under control here as well.

  I was shocked to see that it was 1:00 a.m. The past few hours had flown by. I felt relieved seeing Dad sleeping. I hoped that meant he was ok with my being gone, or else he would have been out searching for me. I stood at the window and looked outside, flashing on what had happened at the lake. Quinn had done it; he shifted. All of our pieces were now in place and yet I still hadn’t a clue as to what that meant. What were we going to do now?

  “Willow?” Dad whispered softly, lowering the blanket and rising from his chair. He joined me at the window.

  “Hi, Dad,” I whispered back.

  He took me by the arm and motioned to the hallway. We walked out; then he led me down to an empty waiting room. He closed the door, glaring at me. I sat down on the sofa and prepared myself for the worst.

  “Where have you been? I really didn’t need this tonight!” He complained, smoothing back his tousled gray hair.

  “I’m sorry, Dad, I really am, but–”

  “But what? You had to rush out on a night like this to see your boyfriend, knowing full well what I was trying to do here. I certainly didn’t need to have to worry about you on top of everything else.” He paced angrily.

  “I know, but something very urgent came up and –” He cut me off mid-sentence.

  “Very urgent? VERY URGENT? Something more urgent than keeping an eye on your grandfather while I try and help keep this place powered up? Something more urgent than that?” His voice boomed, bouncing off the walls of the little room. I began chewing my fingernails, that nasty habit that always made an appearance when things got tough

  As a rule my dad didn’t get angry. I could count on one hand how many times I ever saw him lose it. He was the master of self-control. He would walk away before he’d ever lose his temper. Now I had a good idea where that came from. He didn’t want to be like his dad.

  He continued pacing and reprimanding; his voice would grow loud until he controlled himself. Then he’d stop, take a deep breath, and unleash on me some more. I sat there, staring at the floor, feeling sick to my stomach. I hated seeing him like this but, at the same time, I hated that he was this angry. He had no idea what I was going through and he already had his mind made up that there was no possible explanation for why I had to leave.

  I sat there and took it, waiting for him to run out of air and just let it all come to a rest. But he didn’t, and the more he didn’t, the angrier I became. He threw the “I expect more from you,” line at me again and it was then that I couldn’t control myself any longer.

  I stood up and went over to the door, clicked the lock on the knob, and then turned and faced him. Finally, he was quiet, trying to figure out just what I was up to. He stared at me, mouth half-opened. “Why’d you do that?” he asked with a confused look replacing the angry one.

  I crouched onto the floor, one knee down, and placed my hands directly in front. I lowered my head and closed my eyes, visualizing my alternate self. The forest danced across my field of vision and I felt an indescribable peacefulness at the sight of it. I began losing myself in its essence. The smell, the sounds, the taste of the forest, all flooded my senses. I slowly raised my head, and judging by my father’s expression, I wasn’t quite the Willow he was used to anymore.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “I still don’t understand this, not one bit of it,” Dad groaned from under the sheets of his disheveled bed. He sat up and pulled on his t-shirt before swinging his legs out from under the covers. He sat there on the edge of the bed, watching me go back and forth from the bathroom to the table, getting myself ready.

  “Well, join the club, Dad,” I answered as I brushed the tangles from my hair. “Two weeks ago, I was in high school just trying to get through the day. And now, well, you know what I know.” I stopped moving for a minute in order to make eye contact. He was staring at the floor. When he looked up, I noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and puffy.

  “Did you sleep at all?” I wondered worriedly.

  “Eh, some, I guess,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “So now you’re going with Bram and his dad?”

  “Yeah, we’ll pick up Quinn. We have to come up with a plan. Aaron knows more about this than anyone. Well, almost anyone.” I stopped and checked the time; Bram would be arriving any minute. “Dad, Grandpa knows everything, like I told you. He may know even more than we realize but I hesitate talking to him about it all until he’s feeling better.”

  “Did he say if Eagan knows?” Dad asked.

  “I didn’t get a chance to ask him. But I have a feeling that he doesn’t. Please don’t mention it to him ok? Not yet anyway, until we can be sure about who can know.”

  I did a quick check in the mirror. Even though I only had a few hours’ sleep, it definitely helped. The circles under my eyes were less pronounced and some of my natural coloring was coming back. I saw Dad watching me through the mirror. I spun around and sat beside him on the bed.

  “It’ll be ok, Dad, I just feel it. Now that Quinn is on board with this, the Triquetra is complete and that’s a huge part of the battle.” I searched his e
yes for understanding.

  “I know Wil; it’s just that… I’m supposed to protect you, not the other way around. There must be something I can do. Aaron is helping; what can I do?” he asked, as he took hold of my hands.

  “If there was anything, I’d ask you, Dad. Aaron is there because he knows the history. He can’t do anything to help us in any other way. It’s up to us now, just like it was up to Grandma and all the other guardians who came before her.”

  His eyes looked so sorrowful that I wished there was something more I could say or do to make this easier, but there wasn’t. I knew there was one other person who needed to know, who might be able to help Dad accept the inevitable. I handed him my phone. “Call her, Dad.” If anyone could help him now, it was Mom.

  Just then there was a knock at the door. I kissed Dad on the cheek and told him I’d see him soon. He grabbed my hand as I passed in front of him. “Please, please, be careful,” he said, not wanting to let go of my hand.

  “I will,” I promised as our fingers pulled apart.

  I stood alone in the front yard of Bram’s house. He and Aaron and Quinn were inside, talking strategy. I needed some fresh air. The sky was that beautiful shade of blue that only appears in the fall, and the air had a chill to it that made me think of the upcoming winter.

  I love the fall and winter. The cooler temperatures and shorter days just make me happy for some reason. Standing outside in the crisp air gave me hope for some kind of normalcy to return to my life. I’ve gotta get through this, I reminded myself. If Grandma could do it, so can I.

  I closed my eyes and let the sun warm my face against the chill of the air. It felt like heaven. I flashed back to a time when I was about seven and Mom had taken me to the reservation to visit her cousin, Winona. While the two of them visited, I played outside with Winona’s son, Luka. He was nine and a small, sickly kind of kid. I’m not sure what was wrong with him but I remember Mom saying to be kind to him because he had already suffered too much in his young life.