by Tom Mohan
“I can’t kill you,” he hissed in her ear. “The Prince wouldn’t like that. But I can hurt you, so my advice would be to behave yourself.”
Liza fought to clear her panicked mind and put her thoughts together into something coherent. “I don’t understand. Why?”
Jacob twisted her head and shoved her down. She barely managed to get her hands in front of her before her face slammed against the floor. “I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”
He grabbed her left wrist and jerked it behind her back. His other hand grabbed her by the hair again, and he pulled her to her feet. He twisted her around so that they stood in front of the vanity mirror. The look in his eyes caused Liza to gasp. She could see the bloody knife still held in the hand that was wrapped in her hair. “You haven’t had to live in the shadow of this holier-than-thou family. You haven’t watched your mom be a slave to people who don’t care about anything but themselves.”
He jerked her toward the hallway door and guided her through the house to the kitchen. She cried out more than once as he twisted her shoulder beyond its limit. In the kitchen, Jacob bent her over the counter. He released her arm but kept his other hand wrapped tight in her hair. She felt his weight against her and heard him digging through a drawer.
“Put both of your hands behind your back.”
Liza hesitated a moment before doing as she was told, the image of the knife protruding from Ruth’s chest still fresh in her mind. She felt something wrap around one of her wrists before hearing the unmistakable sound of a zip tie as it tightened. He took another one, passed it through the first, and secured it to her other wrist, lashing them together.
Then he spun her and used his body to press her against the counter. He squeezed her chin with one hand while holding the other in a large fist in front of her face. “You make any noise, give me any trouble, any at all, you’ll regret it. Got that?” His breath wafted over her face. It smelled of garlic. She nodded her understanding.
“Good. Time to get this show on the road. You think you’ve seen some weird stuff? Well, baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This party’s just getting started.”
• • • • • • •
THE FINN HOUSE sat silent, empty except for the three still forms sprawled on the bed. Ruth Yoder’s shallow breathing was a ragged whisper. Fresh blood oozed from the wound in her chest, flowing from beneath her blouse, down her arm to drip onto the limp hand of Cullen Finn. As the blood made contact with his flesh, his finger twitched and he gasped. Then all was still once again.
• • • • • • •
CULLEN GASPED. POWER flowed through him like an electric current. His body, moments ago exhausted almost to collapse, now surged with energy.
He scanned his surroundings. Everything looked brighter and clearer than before. He inhaled another deep breath and took in the living scent of Tír na nÓg. As quick as the euphoria had come, it crashed. Physically, he still felt wonderful, but his mind had latched onto the cause of his renewal, the only thing that legend said could do something like this—sacrifice.
Someone had given of themselves for him. Given dearly, if he guessed right. Who had it been? One of his children? An Old One? There were only so many who could have given him the strength he now had, and he mourned the thought.
The sound of the approaching wraiths pulled Cullen from his thoughts. He was surprised that they had not caught up with him already. He started the way he’d been going but then paused. He felt a pull from his left, as if something familiar were drawing him that way. Ana? He didn’t think so, but his heart sped at the prospect of finding his wife in this alien land.
He thought his travels through the Mist had made him somewhat an expert on the land of the fae, but he’d found his knowledge somewhat lacking. Everything was different in the dimension he now wandered.
Since the direction of the pull was away from the pursuing wraiths, he decided to follow it. In the distance, he heard the shrieks of the fairy creatures intensify. They, too, felt something different. Cullen had the impression they didn’t want him to find whatever was drawing him.
As he moved, the pull grew stronger, more familiar. He increased his pace, legs pumping smoothly as he navigated the hazards of the forest floor. He felt a part of the place, as though he’d spent his entire life here.
Ahead, green light filtered through millions of leaves cut through the shadows. Cullen raced toward it as the shrieks of the wraiths grew frenzied. He spied a shadow coming at him from the right and veered away without going too far off his intended target.
Another shadow reared up before him, the glowing eyes of a wraith locking with his. Cullen had no time to change course or slow down. He felt something warm and wet hit his face. The wraith screamed and fled as fast as it had appeared. Cullen wiped at the wet spot and saw a streak of red on his hand. Blood? His gaze flashed above him, but only the canopy of trees was visible.
Again, he felt a surge of strength. He offered a prayer of thanks and dashed from the cover of trees into a clearing that was so bright he had to squint. He slowed his pace to a walk and then stopped altogether to gaze at the scene before him.
Something deep within Cullen knew that what he saw was real, though his mind refused to accept it. The oldest legends, those mostly lost and thought of as little more than myth, spoke of such a place, but even they did not take it seriously.
Still in awe, he started forward, the wraiths a distant memory.
Brianna Finn sat in the comfort of her favorite chair, yet she felt no comfort. She caught herself fidgeting with her bracelets and forced herself to stop, only to begin again a moment later.
Everything she’d ever known was changing. Her ability to reach out into the world, to know what was happening at a level few could fathom, was all but gone from her. Her phone was as dead to her as it would have been to anyone else. The only sense she still seemed to have was that of the world just beyond her house.
That awareness brought her no comfort, either.
Brianna knew that the presence she felt was in the human world, not that of Tír na nÓg. No, what she felt was human—too many humans with their attention focused on her little house. Never before had anyone paid it any mind. No one had ever seen her or her house as anything more than a cozy place where all were made to feel welcome. Now, suspicion and fear radiated from them like a physical assault on her senses.
What if they come in? Worse yet, what if they drag me out?
Brianna jumped as the knocking at the back door resumed. It had been silent for most of the day, though it had kept her awake through the night. Even when it wasn’t there, she heard it. She had no sense of awareness from that direction. Whatever hid behind that door remained a mystery.
Brianna had never felt so alone. Nothing had prepared any of them for this scenario. Her family had always been as one, their collective talents and abilities reinforcing one another—a force beyond human understanding. Now, the family was fractured. With Conall’s death, things could never be the same again. Brianna resumed her fidgeting as her unknown visitor continued its incessant knocking.
• • • • • • •
TIME PASSED. HOW much, she did not know. Her thoughts had been distant and confused, of things known, things suspected, and things simply feared. Brianna could feel the confusion and mistrust radiating from the growing crowd outside her house.
How many Old Ones have fallen? That was the only explanation. The Old Ones possessed the magic that hid the peculiarities of the Finns and Halden’s Mill from notice. Without them, people would start to wonder about this family that had been around for so long, longer than any could remember, yet had aged hardly at all in living memory. They would also remember the strangers who’d come to town, hundreds over the years, seeking something of which they knew little but craved all the same. Most were colorful characters, characters who asked many questions before traveling south toward the Finn farm. The good folks of Halden’s Mill would be starting to wond
er about those people.
Brianna jumped as the phone beside her rang. It was the first time in almost twenty-four hours, and her hand snatched it up. “Hello?”
“Hi, Brianna. It’s Paulie!”
Brianna’s heart sank. “Hi, Paulie. How are you today?” As much as she loved the young man, Brianna needed word from her family.
“I’m right as rain,” Paulie said.
The exuberance in his voice brought a small smile to Brianna’s face. Paulie always could make her smile.
“Can I come over?”
Brianna almost said yes. She felt so alone in her little house. Loneliness was something she’d never known before. Her world was disintegrating. She felt so vulnerable on her own. Her knowledge and family had always been her strength, and now both were gone. “No, Paulie, this isn’t a good time. I’m sorry.”
“Is it because of the people looking at your house?”
Brianna sat back and closed her eyes. “Yes. You should keep away from those people.”
“I want to come in. I have something to show you.”
Brianna smiled. Paulie always had something to show her. “What do you want to show me?”
The line was quiet for a moment, and she could picture the look on his face as he thought something through. “It’s in your house.”
Brianna’s eyes snapped open. “What’s in my house, Paulie? What do you want to show me?” She fought to push down the renewed fear his words had awakened. This was Paulie, after all. He could simply want to show her a picture of himself that hung on her wall. She knew it wasn’t that, though. Some part of her special awareness still worked, and she knew what Paulie wanted to show her was not something she wanted to see.
Brianna jumped again as the knocking started up, and then she realized it came from the front door. “Is that you at the door, Paulie?”
His laughter came through the phone. The sound quieted the pounding of her heart. “Of course it’s me, silly Brianna. I knocked. Can I come in?”
Brianna could think of nothing that would dissuade him. “Yes, Paulie. You may come in.”
The door opened, and Paulie entered, followed by the sound of voices muttering from out front. How many must be out there for their voices to carry like that?
Paulie closed the door behind him and stepped into the room. He was Batman today, though he seemed to have lost his cowl. As always, his shy face looked at the floor between them. “Hello, Brianna.”
“Hello, Paulie,” she answered, as she always did. “You look very handsome today.”
He blushed and looked up, his eyes never quite meeting hers. “You are very pretty today, Brianna.”
“Thank you.” The almost ceremonial greeting now out of the way, Brianna’s mind swarmed with questions, none of which the simple man would be able to answer to her liking. Still, she felt better having him there. “Are there a lot of people outside?”
He scrunched his face, thinking, then nodded. “A million.”
She smiled. “A million, huh?”
He continued to nod. “Yep.”
Brianna knew there were not a million people in that half of the state, but Paulie knew that a million was a big number. A lot of people, then.
“What are they doing out there?”
Paulie’s face scrunched again, then brightened. “I think they want to visit you. Do you want me to let them in?”
“No!”
Paulie’s face turned from excited to hurt at the tone of her voice.
“I mean…I’m sorry for yelling, Paulie. I don’t have any cookies ready, and they will probably want cookies.”
His smile returned as though it had never left. “We can make cookies!”
Oh, how I wish it were so simple. She wondered if it ever would be again. “Didn’t you come here to show me something?”
Paulie thought about it. “Oh, yeah, my friend wanted me to take you to him.”
“Your friend?” Brianna knew Paulie had few friends in town and none that he had ever expressed interest in introducing her to. More than a couple people in one place tended to confuse him.
Paulie nodded. “He says someone wants to hurt you, and you should come see him. Why would anyone want to hurt you, Brianna? You’re nice.”
“It’s nothing for you to worry about. Anyway, I can’t leave the house. You know that.”
“Yep.” His voice fell to a whisper. “Our secret. I never told anyone.”
“Who is your friend, Paulie?”
“He says you have to come see him. He says you can leave.”
“Paulie, you know I can’t leave. You’ve seen what’s out there for me.”
Paulie’s face paled. One time he had dared to sneak a peek out the front window. That brief look had given him nightmares for weeks. “Not that way, silly.” He pointed toward the kitchen, toward the back door. The door that went nowhere though something had been knocking on it. “That way. My friend is out there.”
Wow, this is even better than I’d hoped for,” Jacob said as he pulled his truck to the side of the road across the street from Brianna’s house. “Bigger crowd than I expected.” He turned to Liza and smiled. “A lot of out-of-towners, like you. With half of the Old Ones dead and the rest scrambling to find a way to save their own miserable lives, Tír na nÓg is drawing people here like ants to honey. I gotta admit, I’m rather proud of myself. So far, everything’s gone pretty much as I’d hoped.” He put his hand on Liza’s thigh and squeezed. “Very soon now, I’ll deliver you to the Prince, and he will reward me with Fallon. I’ve got some special plans for her.”
Liza shuddered at Jacob’s touch. Her wrists were still zip-tied, and Jacob had used his belt to lash her ankles together. He reached over and brushed a finger across her face. “Almost time for you to meet your groom.”
She flinched away from him, and he laughed.
“You have no idea who you are, do you? After all you’ve seen, you still have no idea. Well, I’m not going to ruin the surprise. I’ll let your soon-to-be husband do that.”
“You’re crazy,” Liza said.
“Not crazy. Enlightened. I know what you don’t. You have an idea, though, don’t you? You’ve felt it. The call of Tír na nÓg? Yeah, you’ve felt it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you don’t. That was the point. No one was to know until the right time. Those guys supposedly sent to kill you out in California? We sent them. They were supposed to bring you here. Not quite how we planned, but it worked out. That idiot Marcas had already found you, but he was too stupid to know what he’d found. I think Brianna had a clue, but Brianna and I have never been close.”
Liza suddenly understood. “You’re afraid of Brianna. That’s why you won’t go in her house.”
“Not afraid—cautious. She got you to come to the Mill, where we were able to prove beyond a doubt you were the one we were looking for.”
“I’ve never been anywhere near here before.”
Jacob grinned at her. “You’re right, you haven’t, but I’m betting that mysterious father of yours had. Tír na nÓg is in your blood. Remember your first night in the hotel? That dream you had wasn’t completely a dream. They took a sample of your blood. Trust me—we know more about you than you do.”
Liza thought of the scratch on her leg, and her dream flooded back to her as the memory slid into place. “What are you saying?”
“You won’t believe me if I tell you, but you will when the time comes. You won’t have any choice then.” He opened his door and climbed out of the car. “Don’t go anywhere,” he said before slamming the door closed, leaving Liza alone inside. She pulled at the zip ties and belt, but she knew there was no way she was getting free from them. He’d bound her feet with her ankles crossed. Even if she did manage to wrench the door open and get out of the car, she would only flop around on the ground, unable to stand. She watched as Jacob strode toward the crowd. The windows were partially down, so she could hear
some of their mutterings.
“What’re you doing here, Jacob?”
“You’re a friend of theirs, ain’t ya?”
“Some mighty strange happenings, Yoder. Know anything about ‘em?”
None of them were aggressive toward him. They just wanted to know what side he was on. Liza watched as Jacob raised his arms and motioned for them to quiet down.
“Listen everyone,” Jacob said when the noise had subsided. “I’m as confused by this as the rest of you. Yes, it’s true, I was a friend of the Finns. My mother works for them. But I now know we were deceived.” He paused and stared at the ground, as though ashamed of his association with the Finns.
Liza wanted to scream at them to not listen, but she knew they would pay no attention to her.
“The Finns are not who they have led us to believe,” Jacob continued. He had the crowd’s attention now. All eyes were locked on him. “I don’t know the whole of it, but I do know that a few days ago I was blinded to the truth, but now I see clearly, as I’m sure most of you do as well.” He moved so that Brianna’s house was behind him, a suitable backdrop to his speech.
“I have lived in the Mill my entire life. Many of you standing here have known me that long. I have known the Finns my entire life. So have most of you. In all that time, none of them have changed. Not at all!” His voice rose as he drew the crowd in. “Have any of you seen any changes in them? Have they aged? Been sick? Has any one of you ever seen Brianna Finn outside of that house?” He spun, pointing at her home. There were mumbles of agreement from the crowd.
Liza couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Jacob had known the Finns his entire life. They had been his friends, had supported him and his mother when they needed it most. How could he betray them like this? Hatred contorted his face as he stirred the crowd. What had brought him to such a place?
Movement in the trees across the road drew her attention. A lone figure stood in the shadows. She thought he looked like the specter from the woods—Johnny Caperelli.
