“No!” I screamed, shaking her and sobbing against her neck. “Don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
My whole body heaved with wracking cries, hot tears streaming down my face. With one last hiccupping sob, I gathered up my energy, throwing it around Eamonn and my mother. I would get help. Maybe it wasn’t too late.
“Elizabeth, look out!” Eamonn choked from across the room, sitting up, blurry-eyed, blood running in rivers down his neck.
A hot, slimy hand gripped my shoulder, burning me like a brand, and I whirled around.
Gede towered over me, fully formed again, his razor teeth bared in a dark smile. “You think your Fae powers can kill me, aisling?” His claws tore through my skin, and I writhed in pain as his other hand pulled at an invisible string inside my chest. He threw back his head and laughed, the sound echoing in my ears.
“I am a god.” He thrust his face near mine, the smell of sulfur suffocating my lungs. “You will bow down before me. You will—”
He paused, staring down at his hand gripping my flesh. Flames burst against his fingertips, searing hot. His yellow eyes widened as the fire pulsed up through his arm.
“No!” he cried.
But an inferno engulfed his body, his wings turning to waves of red flames. The heat burned my face, my clothes singing and crackling. Gede screamed and a hole in the floor appeared, sucking him inside. His talons scraped tracks into the marble floor, and he gave me one last snarl before he burst into a cloud of ash. The darkness swallowed him, and then nothing remained but a black mark on the white tiles.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Eamonn crawled up next to me. “What the bloody hell—”
I grabbed the Druid, holding his hand to my mother’s belly, warm blood oozing between our fingers. “Tell me you can heal her!”
He blinked rapidly, taking in the bright red stain blossoming on her white dress. “I’m sorry, I—”
A loud wind rushed through the tower, and both of us tumbled against the floor, the room shaking as if a giant earthquake had torn apart the castle.
“Elizabeth, we have to go now!” He shook me hard, the roar of the wind growing.
I glanced down at my mother’s stomach and gasped. The bullet hole in her belly had grown wider, a spinning vortex forming, its gravitational pull drawing us inside.
“This whole place is going to implode. Your mother was the only person holding it together!” Eamonn shouted over the vacuum. “We need to go!”
Gathering every ounce of energy I had, I closed my eyes and sent us back into the glass cube of the tesseract. Water filled my nostrils, and I choked for breath as I emerged, clutching my mother’s body tight against mine.
Her head lolled back, her dark hair spiraling around her like seaweed. Her skin hit the air, and her body broke apart like crumpled paper, turning to ash.
“No…no…no, please…” I cried, trying to hold her together. Waves of water splashed around as my mother’s body faded to nothing, her white shift the only thing remaining. It sank to the bottom like a ghost. I dived down for it, but a hand gripped onto the back of my sweater, pulling me up to the surface.
Eamonn clutched me tight against his chest, drips of water falling from his eyelashes. “She’s gone.”
I pounded my fist against the glass, screaming, my knuckles bruised and bloodied.
From faraway, I heard Eamonn’s voice, could feel him trying to stop me, but I pushed him back, the pain so satisfying as the cage splintered and cracked.
One of the tubes broke loose, and the whole cage collapsed to the floor, shattering around us. Eamonn’s face came into view, and he shouted at me, glass glittering in his hair. But I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t see anything. The only thing I saw was my mother jumping in front of me, her body doubling over as the bullet pierced her abdomen.
“Get up!” Eamonn shook me, but I wrenched away, staring past him, my mind still in that cold tower, watching my mother bleed out. She gave her life for me. Again.
“We have to find Finn and Malachy,” Eamonn whispered. “Finn needs you to come back.”
Finn.
The world came rushing back, and I stared at the mass of glass and piping scattered around us.
“What…?” I couldn’t form words. Language seemed so pointless.
“The tesseract fell apart without your mother’s energy.” Eamonn’s eyes flitted over to the white dress crumpled in a pile of shattered glass. He placed a hand on my shoulders. “I’m so sorry.”
I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, allowing Eamonn to lift me to standing. “You’re right,” I said. “We need to find Malachy and Finn. We need to—”
“You need to stay right where you are,” a voice echoed behind us.
My skin bristled, a burst of rage tightening my chest.
Amergin.
The bard swept into the chamber, Fianna warriors in black leather surrounding the periphery, weapons ready. Aoife and Niall weren’t too far behind, and Aoife threw her black hair over her shoulder with a smirk, unfurling her whip to the ground.
My mouth dropped open as Grainne moved through the throng of Fianna warriors, her face pale and drawn. She took one look at Eamonn and her eyes widened, sweat beading on her upper lip.
“Eamonn?” she breathed, taking a step forward.
Niall edged in front of her, grabbing her arm. Grainne whirled around, her hand on the pommel of her sword. Amergin raised a hand in warning, and she backed down, her eyes never leaving the Druid.
A shout rang out in the chamber and Anny Black stumbled through the line of Fianna, gemel crisscrossing her body. She fell to the floor on her knees, her straggly hair in curtains around her.
“You broke it!” she snarled at me. “Curse you, nasty Fae!”
Niall lifted her to standing with a savage tug.
“Where’s Malachy?” I demanded. My powers had depleted completely fighting the demon, but I dug deep, trying to scrape up the last of the energy in the well of strength in my core. Blood and glass covered my body, my clothes singed and shredded. “Where’s Finn? What did you do with him?”
“I’m here, Elizabeth.”
The Fianna parted to reveal both Finn and Malachy bound in gemel, their púca disguises faded away. My heart leaped into my throat, and the room tilted, the edges of my sight blurring. Waves of dizziness ate at my consciousness, and I squinted, trying to focus on Finn’s face. He swallowed hard, taking great gulping breaths. His skin was a washed-out shade of gray, and his bound hands trembled.
Eamonn crouched beside me, his hand on my back. “Elizabeth, we need to be ready to travel out of here.”
Yes, travel. That would have been the best course of action, but something dark crawled beneath my skin, eating at my powers and replacing it with an incredible rage that threatened to boil over. Small, animalistic sounds filled the chamber, and I shook my head, realizing I was the one making those noises.
Glass crunched under booted feet, and the scent of the ocean surrounded me as Grainne’s strong arms held me close. “It’s all right, Elizabeth. It’s all right…” she whispered in my ear.
“Get away from her, Grainne!” Amergin shouted.
She hesitated but stood, only moving a foot away. She eyed Eamonn, her hand resting on her sword, tense and ready.
“Did you really think you could unleash the witch’s beasties without attracting the London authorities? Thank heavens we were here to clean up your mess.” Amergin raised his chin, a horrible smile spreading across his face. The bard raised a hand and the Fianna soldiers closed in like creeping shadows. “The fairytale is over, Elizabeth. You and your entourage will come with us to Trinity and answer for your crimes.”
Finn bolted forward, his hands still bound. “That’s not what we agreed!”
“Agreed?” I whispered, his face blurring out of focus. What had Finn done?
My mind swam with questions, but nothing made sense against the pounding in my head. Tremors shot through my body, a
nd a wave of nausea twisted my gut. I stared down at my hands, my breath coming out in short gulps. Small particles of glass had wedged deep into my lifeline in my palm, and they sparkled and shimmered like pixie dust. I could fly away. I could, but a great storm surged deep in my core, building in my chest, and the more I reached for my power, the more it overwhelmed me, like a dam bursting.
Grainne bolted in front of Eamonn, her sword slinking from the sheath with a flash of steel. “Don’t you touch him!”
“Silence!” Amergin’s voice boomed through the chamber. “Elizabeth will be an excellent trade for any Fianna in the Fir Bolg’s custody, and Mr. Moray has a lot to answer for, according to our American government liaisons. As for the Druid.” The bard narrowed his eyes on Eamonn. “He knew the price he would pay if he dared to return to the mortal world.”
A loud buzzing filled my ears, my whole body shaking and vibrating. Amergin’s smile filled my vision, the bright ivory of his teeth gleaming in the dim light. His saturated blue eyes burned like an oil slick over the sea. He wanted to break me, but I was already broken, my power shifting and sputtering wildly like a geyser about to go off. I hung my head low, curling into my chest, the deep pressure too much for me to contain. From faraway, Finn’s voice called to me, but I was gone. All gone.
I raised my head to the ceiling and let out a scream. Bolts of energy sent the Fianna scrambling to the edge of the wall, weapons clattering to the floor. The debris from the tesseract shot upwards, millions of shards of glass tinkling along with the screech of twisted metal. I let out another roar and threw everything at Amergin with the last of my power.
His eyes widened, and he threw up his cloak, Fianna barreling in front of him to catch the brunt of the attack.
“Elizabeth!” Finn called to me, crawling from the end of a long dark tunnel, his fingers reaching out. Shadows flapped across my vision, sucking him into some dark oblivion, and he screamed my name over and over again.
My body prickled with heat, a great inferno rising from some deep, primal place inside me. My mother was dead. How could no one see this? How could no one know what this meant? Remnants of her billowing ashes still tasted bitter on my lips, and I gulped and swallowed, but the flames consumed me, threatening to rip me apart.
Malachy’s face swam into view, his bound hands clasped as if in prayer. “Get us the hell out of here!”
Yes. Fly away. Escape.
A great calm swept over me, and I grasped at the source of my power, preparing to travel out.
Fingernails dug into my shoulder, and I whirled around to face Aoife, her heart-shaped face bloodied with shattered glass ground in her cheek. I barely had enough time to register the brass pipe in her hand when pain exploded in the back of my head. The room swayed, and then the darkness took me, and I knew no more.
Chapter Thirty-Four
A dull ache pounded in my head, my cheek pressed against a cold concrete floor. My eyes flittered open, and I tried to move my hands, only to find them locked up in gemel handcuffs.
“Shit,” I muttered beneath my breath.
“Oh, good, you’re awake,” Malachy chirped. “Just in time to meet your doom. The Fir Bolgs should be coming any minute.”
“Shut up, Malachy,” Finn growled, gathering me close to him.
I breathed in the smell of leather and laundry, and a ripple of calm passed through me, my fingers pressing into the lapels of Finn’s jacket. Blinking the crust out of my eyes, I spotted Malachy along with Eamonn and Grainne huddling together in the corner of the cell, all equally cuffed. A black figure crouched in the corner, and Anny Black turned her dark eyes toward me, her lip turned up in a sneer.
“Finn?” My voice sounded like gravel, and I coughed, rubbing the side of my face with my arm.
“Yes.” He squeezed my shoulder.
“Is it true? Have the Fir Bolgs taken Teamhair?”
“It’s true.”
My chest tightened, and I sat up, holding my head in my hands. “If I hadn’t… Oh God.”
My mind traveled back to the moment when I agreed to Gede to give up my soul to save Finn. How could I have been so stupid? So reckless? How could I not have known that in the end, the demon would find a way to take everything from me? I should have told Finn. I should have gone after my soul first, made myself whole again. Now it was too late. For my mother. For me. For everyone.
Finn’s gemel cuffs clinked together as he reached out to touch my back. “If you hadn’t what? Eamonn told me how you destroyed the demon, how you tried to save your mother. What you did was very brave.”
I snorted, bitterness burning in my chest. There was no point in telling Finn why the demon had appeared in the fourth dimension in the first place, seeing as though we were all about to die.
Lifting my head, I turned to face Eamonn. “Is the demon dead?”
He shrugged, staring at his lap. “I don’t know. You can’t really kill a demon with manmade weapons or enchanted ones. The only way to kill a demon…well…”
My skin prickled. What if he came back? What if he went after my mom in the afterlife? “What?” I pressed.
“Through very ancient magic. Well, it isn’t really ‘magic.’ It’s more like faith, but the old Christians wouldn’t use that term, either.”
“Máirtín…” I whispered, the monk’s face flashing up in my memory. He had almost refused, saying he wasn’t a priest, not really. But whatever divinity he possessed, it worked on me. “It was the blessing he gave after…”
“After what?” Finn pressed.
“It’s…” I shook my head and waved him away. “It’s a long story.”
I looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep the tears from welling up in my eyes, but it felt impossible. My mother was gone. Tír na nÓg lost. Because of me. And now all of us were going to die. A horrible sob escaped my lips, and I buried my head in my arms, pulling my knees against my chest.
“Shhh, Elizabeth…” He smoothed his hand up and down my arm, but his touch sent a rush of bile up through my throat. If he knew what I had done…if he knew the terrible choice I had made for him…
Grainne scrambled over to me and whispered. “There now. We’ll sort this out.”
“How?” My voice came out in a high-pitched whine. “I don’t know how to break through these!” I held out my wrists and shook them in her face. “I don’t know how to do anything!”
Her forehead knitted together, and she stared helplessly at me.
“I killed my mother, Grainne. I killed her…” I burrowed my face into my knees again, wanting nothing more than to retreat into the shadows of the cell. The walls echoed with my sobs, and I didn’t care. I had nothing left to give.
“When I was a young woman, about your age,” Grainne’s low voice filled the tiny room, “I returned from a run to find everything lost. My neighbors, they were too afraid to help. They—”
Her voice broke, and I looked up through the curtain of my hair. She ran her hand back and forth over the straps of her boots.
“I had to collect the swaying bodies of my children from where they hanged. From the tree outside our house. What was left of them. My beautiful and quiet Margaret. My sweet Sean. My funny little Tom. I buried them myself. My skin turned black from the earth. Took me all night. And there’s not a day…” She trailed off and grabbed my fingers with an abrupt gesture, lacing them with mine.
“There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t wish I could have taken their place. Not one day.” Her green irises shimmered bright against her reddened eyes. “What your mother gave you is a gift. If I could have given it to my children, I would have. A thousand times.”
I shook my head, holding her fingers tight. “But she’s dead. She’s dead because of me.”
She pressed my fingers against her heart. “No. Your mother loved you. And that kind of love is a gift. You just take it. That’s all. There’s nothing for it in return.”
Her green eyes bore into mine, and a renewed strength surged d
own my spine. Pushing my fingers back into my lap, Grainne flashed me a dazzling smile.
“And come on now. Sure, you can do anything,” she said. “I’ve seen you stop an army. Kill a Dark Lord with naught but your Jedi mind tricks. You can do this.”
I stared down at the gemel cuffs across my wrists, my gaze shifting to Finn. “I’ve tried. I’ve kind of broken through a few times, but every time, I’ve failed…”
He smiled, curling my fingers into his palm. “Then perhaps this time you could fail better?”
I snorted, wiping the snot from my nose with the back of my arm. “That’s the story of my life.”
“See! You’ve had a lot of practice.” Grainne nudged me with her shoulder. “You just need to concentrate.”
A low, sickening laugh rumbled from the corner, and Anny’s cloaked body shook as she sat up. “If you’re placing your bets on that witless girl, Fianna, you’re going to be sorely disappointed.”
“You have a better idea?” Grainne snapped.
My eyes flitted over to Anny. I actually wondered if she did.
“Do you know how to break through these?” I asked.
She sat up, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “You think if I did, I would be sitting around listening to your whinging and bellyaching?” She nodded to Eamonn. “You should ask the Druid. It’s his folk that makes them.”
Eamonn let out a deep breath, staring at the bonds. “It’s a paradox, I’m afraid. I can’t undo the enchantment without magic. And since my magic doesn’t work…”
“Well, great. Then we’re as good as fucked,” Malachy said, pacing the wall of the cell. “It was nice knowing you all.”
I stared at the floor, wriggling against the tight metal binding my wrists. “We’re not fucked,” I said under my breath. “I just need to think.”
“Well, think faster,” Malachy said. “We’re running out of time.”
“That’s not helping!” Finn roared.
Malachy raised his bound hands. “Just trying to keep things moving here.”
Children of the Veil (Aisling Chronicles) Page 35
