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

by D. S. Elstad

  “Tracks? What kind of tracks?” I asked.

  “You name it; animal, human, and some I’ve never seen before. Large and deep, like whatever had made the tracks was heavy… really heavy.” Bram pulled himself up and bent forward, taking hold of another bottle of water.

  “I got close to the top of the sidhe where I thought an opening may have been. The whole thing was covered with grass and weeds except for a long stretch of rocks embedded into the very top. They formed a straight line and ran about three meters. Plants were growing in between most of the rocks except for a couple of them at the edge. Looking closer at them I could see they’d been moved. The plants around them had been smashed and the dirt was loose. I lifted one and, and then…” Bram paused as he looked at me, his face growing pale once again.

  “What mate, what did you see?” Quinn was now kneeling on the floor in front of Bram, signing frantically to him.

  Bram stared at Quinn and raised his hands in sign. He stopped speaking and signed wildly to him, his face growing red with emotion. After Bram finished recounting what had happened, Quinn stumbled back and sat on the floor, looking shocked.

  I shook his shoulder. “Bram, what did you see?” It felt weird the way he stopped talking and only signed to Quinn, like he didn’t want to tell me. I leaned down close to his face and asked again, “What did you see?”

  He shook his head. “No,” was his only answer.

  “What do you mean, No?” I asked, feeling a rush of color come to my face. I was getting angry and couldn’t understand his hesitation.

  He stood up and went to the stairs leading to the basement and called for Aaron. I’d never heard his voice with that kind of tone. Quickly Aaron and Kelleigh ascended the stairs and joined us in the living room. At this point Bram wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. He began signing furiously, this time to his Dad, his intention clear…he didn’t want me to know what he saw.

  “What’s going on?” Kelleigh asked as she came and stood by my side.

  “I wish I knew,” I snarled, growing increasingly impatient. “Quinn, what did he tell you?”

  Quinn sat down on the couch. He stared up at me with nervous eyes, “I’m sure he’s got it wrong, Willow, he’s got to have made a mistake.”

  “Ok now, that does it!” I snapped, walking over to Bram and Aaron. I grabbed Bram’s hand and stood between the two of them. “What is going on?”

  “You need to tell her, Bram,” Aaron ordered his son.

  Bram looked down at me and cupped my face in his hands. I could feel Aaron take hold of my shoulders. My heart began racing as Bram stared into my eyes. He looked at Aaron again with such a worried expression I felt as though the world was coming to an end. “Tell her, son,” Aaron said.

  Bram once more looked deeply into my eyes then took a deep breath.

  “Willow, when I lifted the rock, I was able to lower my vision into the earth…into the sidhe. It was nothing but dirt and rocks but then it eventually opened up into a cavern. It was pitch dark but I could make out movement in there. I squinted my eyes and let them get accustomed to the light and after a minute I was able to distinguish shapes. Some were hideous, like things out of a horror movie… but then, sitting in a circle were human shapes. Four of them. One of them was speaking but I don’t know what he was saying. I zoomed in closer, hoping to be able to read his lips or something, and then as I pulled in close and saw his face…I realized…” Bram cleared his throat and looked away from me back to his dad.

  I grabbed his hands from my face and yelled, “What…you realized, what? Tell me!”

  “All right!” he yelled back, then took another deep breath, “I realized the person talking, leading the others in some kind of ritual, was…Willow, it was your dad.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Bram’s eyes moved to the floor. He was still visibly shaken and tried to compose himself. I stood there in front of him, holding onto his hands, the words replaying in my head. He mumbled, “I’m sorry,” then tried to hug me.

  I pushed him away and swung around looking at Aaron, “I don’t understand! What’s going on? There’s no way my dad is one of the Fomorians!” I hissed. Rage began building up at the thought anyone would even consider such an idea.

  “No, of course not, Willow, I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for it. We just need to relax and figure this out.” Aaron took hold of my arm and led me back to the couch. “Please sit, let’s all relax.”

  I couldn’t sit so I stood in front of the fireplace, my arms folded across my chest. I felt so angry with Bram that he didn’t tell me right away, that he assumed it really was Dad down in the sidhe. Even Quinn had suggested that it must be a mistake. Why did Bram assume the worst?

  Aaron proceeded to drill Bram about what exactly it was that he saw. When he came to the part about the figure who was leading the ritual, the one he thought was Dad, he nervously looked my way. I avoided making eye contact, instead placing my focus on Aaron.

  “This is incredible,” Aaron began. “The fact that you’re able to descend into the sidhe gives us a tremendous advantage over the Fomorians,” he signed to Bram, who had now taken his place beside Quinn on the sofa.

  “How so, Aaron? It’s cool that Bram is able to spy on them but if we don’t even know what they’re saying, how’s that going to help?” Quinn asked, grabbing a bottle of soda.

  “The ancient pages show a ceremony taking place over what could be the very sidhe Bram transported to. Remember the part we read…about the four corners? They must not join and the lights of the sky must not reunite. Plus the fact that Bram saw four human figures participating in some kind of ceremony means that this document can give us a clue on how to stop the return.”

  Aaron bent over, picked up the tattered folder, and removed the encased cloth, laying it on the coffee table once again.

  He knelt on the floor and pointed out the picture. I walked over to the table and knelt down beside Aaron. The figures on the fabric appeared to be standing around a mound of earth with their arms raised up to the sky, each one strategically placed at a corner.

  “I wasn’t clear on the significance of this picture – until now, that is,” Aaron said.

  “Is this them joining the four corners of the sidhe?” I wondered, waving my hand over the cloth.

  “I believe so, yes,” Aaron declared.

  “So what are the lights of the sky then?” Quinn asked, kneeling down next to me. “The stars?”

  We all looked at the cloth for a few seconds, trying to interpret its meaning.

  “No, not the stars,” Bram said, kneeling on the other side of the table, in front of me. “Lights of the sky, that’d be lightning.”

  Bram then pointed out one particular figure with jagged lines emerging from its hand. “This looks like lightning to me.”

  “Exactly,” Aaron mumbled. “It all fits, what with the weather phenomena we’re experiencing and all. Of course the lights of the sky would be lightning. So if each of these figures join together and summon up lightning, I imagine that it would pass from one to the next, thereby joining the four corners.”

  Aaron ran his finger above the cloth illustrating the path of the lightning. “Reuniting the lights of the sky… which in turn would bring about the return of Balor’s Eye. That explains the tremendous amount of lightning storms along with all the other strange weather. They’re getting ready to join the four corners of the sidhe and connect each corner with lightning.”

  Aaron grabbed a notebook and pencil and copied the picture that was on the cloth. He then added lightning bolts from the hands of each of the figures showing how the lightning would connect.

  “But Aaron, I don’t get it,” I began. “I thought that the sidhe was where Lugh could be found, not the Fomorians. How is it that they’re down there, and would Lugh really hide the Eye right under their noses?” I almost laughed when I heard myself say that.

  “That sidhe was one of many the Tuatha used when they w
ent into the Otherworld. As I mentioned before, they created another home for themselves, another land to dwell in, undetectable by humans or any other beings. Think of the sidhe, not so much as a single place but a pathway, kind of like underground tunnels. Since the Tuatha no longer inhabit the sidhes, the Fomorians must be traveling all through them now as they’re gaining strength. Not only are they building their numbers but they’re in search of the Eye.

  “And this particular sidhe is the doorway in and out, like the front door of a house. It’s a very fortunate coincidence that Bram saw them there. That tells me that we’re on the right track as far as that being a possible hiding place of the Eye. But it also suggests that they’re getting ready for an attack. If the four corners are represented by the humans Bram saw, and creatures of all shapes and sizes are now appearing, that means the time is near, very near.” Aaron’s brown eyes narrowed as he looked to each one of us with a sense of urgency.

  “Well, now that you’re saying that, Aaron, I think this might interest you…” Kelleigh placed her tablet on the coffee table and brought up a page she had bookmarked. “After Bram told us about Balor and the Fomorians I did some research. Of course there wasn’t anything about Lugh and the Triquetra and the shapeshifting thing but there was this text, written in Celtic, which appeared in a 17th-century poem. It caught my eye because when I translated the title. It read, “The Light of the Eye.” I was researching anything ancient Celtic to do with an eye. Anyway, here are the parts I could translate…”

  Skills blessed with was he…heir to the race who called Toraigh their home…to the north by the sea lays the object of grief.”

  Aaron stared at the screen, transfixed by the words, mumbling each one over and over. He glanced at Kelleigh for a second, and then ran downstairs. When he returned a few minutes later he had another book in his hands. He opened the worn volume to a page at the end and read aloud in the ancient language. He sat the book down then grabbed hold of Kelleigh hugging her tightly.

  “Kelleigh, my girl, you’re a genius!” he said excitedly. “I’ve seen this verse before, but only skimmed over it thinking it didn’t apply – but with your translation, it all makes sense.”

  Aaron put down the book and took hold of Kelleigh’s tablet. “This part, Skills blessed with was he, this is referring to Lugh. Along with being known as the God of Light, Lugh was also known as the God of all Skills. He didn’t start out with the Tuatha; he earned it by being an exceptional craftsman. He fashioned the very Triquetra hanging around each of your necks.”

  Aaron nodded his head towards Bram, Quinn, and me. Each one of us reached up and took hold of our pendant. Even though we knew that Lugh himself was the one who created the Triquetra, it suddenly took on a whole new meaning and I clutched it even tighter.

  “And this part, heir to the race who called Toraigh their home.” Aaron knocked himself on the head. “How could I have missed the meaning here? Of course the race this refers to is the Fomorians who lived on Tory Island –which is another name for Toraigh –with Lugh being the heir, since he was the grandson of Balor, the leader of the Fomorians!” Aaron exhaled deeply then grabbed hold of Kelleigh again. “Brilliant girl!” he said rubbing her shoulder vigorously.

  Kelleigh blushed and smiled then looked over at Quinn with raised eyebrows. “Do you hear that, dear brother?” Quinn laughed and kept interpreting for Bram.

  Aaron continued, “And finally, ‘to the north by the sea lays the object of grief.’ This most definitely is speaking of the Eye which would be the object of grief and –”

  “And which is laying to the north by the sea somewhere,” finished Bram. “So much for thinking it’s in the sidhe. I’d say that’s talking about Northern Ireland. That means we only have to search one sixth of the entire island,” Bram said with frustration in his voice. “The sidhe was one thing, it was doable; but how are we going to search the entire Northern coast?”

  Aaron handed the tablet back to Kelleigh, then picked up the book he had retrieved from the basement and gave it to her also. He opened it to the poem. “This is the poem, The Light of the Eye. Is there any way you can translate the rest of it? It may give us a clearer idea of where along the coast the Eye might be located.”

  Kelleigh took hold of the book and narrowed her eyes as she studied the text. She bit her lip and stared, her finger tracing along the yellowing page. “I can try. This looks to be a little different from the version I found on the internet.”

  “Whatever you can do…” Aaron said encouragingly.

  Without a word or even a glance up from the book, Kelleigh made her way downstairs.

  “While Kelleigh’s doing that we should still keep our focus on the sidhe. Anything we can discover about the Fomorians will only help.” Aaron began pacing around the room. I wanted to ask him about Dad and what he thought might be behind the figure Bram saw in the sidhe, but the distracted look on his face told me now wasn’t the time.

  The rest of us sat there silently, staring at the antique cloth on the table, when Bram spoke up. “I can return to the sidhe and scope it out…see if the Fomorians have a clue as to where the Eye is.”

  “That’s a good idea, son; even if we’re able to stop them before they resurrect the Eye it would still be beneficial for us to know its exact location. This reprieve we’ve been given with the weather is a blessing, but also a forewarning. The next storm that comes is going to be the big one. They’re going to try and take control. We must be ready.” Aaron once more picked up the cloth and placed it back in its leather binder. He left the room and went downstairs.

  Bram came over to where I stood and took my hand. “Please, Willow, I’m sorry if I hurt you by not telling you what I saw. It was such a surprise to see your dad there.”

  “It wasn’t my dad!” I verbalized in both my voice and in my head, shooting the thought directly at him.

  “Ok, ok, well, whatever it was, I wasn’t sure how to tell you,” he answered; an expression of apology filled his face.

  “I don’t know what you saw, Bram. The fact that you right away assumed it was my dad is what hurts. Think of what we’re dealing with here. You know my dad and you know me; saying he’s part of all that is like accusing me as well.” I was still angry and my heart started racing. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down. To feel this angry at Bram seemed so wrong.

  “All I know right now is that we need to get ready. I don’t know about you two,” I added looking between Bram and Quinn, “but I feel about as prepared to do battle with Fomorians as I do to drive a spaceship. How are we supposed to get ready to fight a force like that when we don’t even know exactly how to use our own powers? ”

  Quinn stood next to me. “I know how you feel, Willow. I guess what we better do is to stop talking and start learning how to control these mad skills of ours.”

  Hours later we were well into refining and getting accustomed to the abilities we each had inherited. I was feeling comfortable using my hearing to tap into conversations happening great distances away. Quinn had suggested that I try and tune into somewhere in the US and see if I’d be able to hear what was going on. I felt like I needed to look at a map to get an idea so Bram showed me a world map hanging on the wall of Aaron’s office. My eyes landed on New York and there I focused. After a few minutes I tapped in on a conversation between a guy and a girl who were arguing. She was angry because she thought he was interested in her friend and he was vehemently denying it. It felt kind of creepy listening in but, at the same time, I was thrilled to know I could do it.

  Bram had been using the map himself and was able to pinpoint places to see with his ability. As long as he had an image of its location he could transport himself visually to it. He told me he had been to London, Moscow, Paris, and Santé Fe.

  “Santé Fe?” I asked, feeling less angry at him.

  “Aye, I wanted to see where you came from.” He smiled, his brown eyes pulling me in once more.

  “And what’d you think
?” I wondered, moving closer, wanting to completely let go of any anger I had towards him.

  “Well, from what I could see, it’s nice. But, considering it’s the middle of the night over there, it was kind of hard to tell. I think the best thing would be to go there in person and you can show me around,” he replied, taking my hands in his.

  I lost myself in his eyes and allowed the feelings of regret to take over. “I’m sorry, Bram, I really overreacted.”

  “Naw, you didn’t. I know how I’d feel if someone said that about my da, I’d have been just as mad. I’m sorry,” he spoke in a whisper.

  He pulled me close and leaned down, kissing my lips lightly. It was only for a few seconds, but it was our first kiss and it was perfect. I smiled and rested my head against his chest, the sound of his heartbeat echoing in my ear. I let myself visualize for a split second Bram and I together in Santé Fe, showing him around the place I called home. It made me feel so happy and more determined than ever to beat the Fomorians and move on with my life.

  When we returned to the living room we were surprised to see Quinn laying face-down on the floor. He jumped up and told us he was practicing his swimming. He had been trying to tune into what his feeling ability may be and thought it would help to be in whale mode.

  Bram suggested that he focus on sending out some sort of sound waves, just like the pilot whale does with its echolocation.

  “Ok, just how would I do that?” Quinn scoffed, and then went into clicking and squeaking sounds. He hadn’t had any luck in trying to distinguish how his ability worked. He’d been trying to send out vocal sounds in an attempt at getting them to return to him.

  Bram explained, “Maybe that’s not how your echolocation works. I think you’re trying too hard, mate. Quit using your voice. You need to get more into your head and use your feelings. Think about the pilot whale. He sends out something like thought waves that bounce off whatever they happen to hit, then they come back and let the whale know what lies ahead.”