Brighid shook her head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into Cailleach Bheur. The order of the changing of the seasons is as old as the earth itself.”
“Well,” I said, “in all fairness, we can’t blame her entirely for this whole mess. The real villain is a crazy Creavit wizard who wants to take over the human realm. He talked Cailleach into freezing North Carolina solid.”
That stopped Brighid in her tracks. “Cailleach does not have the power to do such a thing,” she said, “and most certainly not after the waning of her powers has begun on the solstice.”
I gave her the short version of the Amulet of Caorunn story. “The artifact has the power to restore that which has faded,” I said. “In this instance, I think it actually prevented Cailleach’s powers from fading on schedule.”
“That explains a great deal,” Brighid said. “Cailleach grows stronger until the exact moment of the Solstice, which signals the beginning of her yearly diminishment. If that natural cycle were to be interrupted, she might well be able to achieve the effects you describe.”
“Can you stop her?” I asked.
“Yes,” Brighid said. “Cailleach cannot deny me the passing of the season when I summon her, but we must be in the same realm for me to issue the call.”
One trip to the Human Realm coming right up — but not before Aquila made a surprise announcement. He wasn’t coming with us.
“No way,” I said. “We have a deal. You and Brenna both get to leave the In Between.”
The gryphon titled his head in what I’d come to recognize as a smile. “An arrangement I know you will honor,” he said. “I can easily access the Moss Forest, and we can speak via mirror until I am ready to leave. I must pack my books and papers and conclude my business affairs here. I’m afraid I am not nearly so mobile as Brenna, and, of course, there is the matter of placing one such as myself in the Otherworld. That will not be an easy matter. I would prefer to live somewhere with access to scholarly materials.”
The sorceress laid her hands on his wings. “You are coming, Aquila,” she said, her voice cracking. “You promised you would not leave me.”
“And I will not,” he said softly, “but we must be practical, my dear. My form presents challenges. Arrange a place for me to settle, and I will follow you.”
I don’t think any of us realized the depth of the bond between the two of them. The genuine distress on Brenna’s face was painful to watch. When I touched her arm, and she turned to look at me, there were tears running down her cheeks.
“I’ll talk to my grandfather,” I said. “Shevington is a sanctuary city. He will make a place for Aquila there.”
“But I am not allowed in Shevington,” she protested.
“You weren’t allowed in Shevington when you were Creavit,” I said. “No one will stop you from going there now. I’ll take you myself.”
“Our separation will not be a long one,” Aquila assured her. “Go now. Take up the fight with these valiant souls against the wizard Chesterfield. He has harmed you as he has harmed them. You are no longer alone, Brenna. You have comrades in arms.”
No one said anything as the gryphon lifted his massive wings and rose into the air. Brenna watched him until he disappeared into the distance with her arms folded tight across her chest.
“Are we ready?” Greer said quietly.
“Brenna?” I asked.
With a curt nod and a last longing look toward the horizon into which Aquila had flown, she came to stand beside me. We all joined hands and Greer flew us to the Moss Forest.
True to his word, the Golem didn’t bother us; in fact, he didn’t even show up. As we approached the spot where our confrontation with him occurred, the doorway to the fairy mound materialized. That’s when Brighid balked a little.
“We are to step into that blackness and trust that it will return us to this fairy mound you tell me is your home?” she asked.
I couldn’t blame her. She had been dragged into an icy pond by a stag and plunged into the Middle Realm against her will. If I were in her position, walking straight into a jet black rectangle wouldn’t have been high on my list of fun things to do either.
“Nothing bad is going to happen,” I promised. “It’s just like walking through any doorway.” I held out my hand to her. “Come on. We’ll go together.”
Myrtle was waiting for us as promised, with my mother and Gemma at her side. Brighid and I came through first, followed by Greer and Brenna — then Chase, Lucas, and Tori.
At the sight of her daughter, Gemma rushed past us all and engulfed Tori in a tight embrace. I couldn’t hear what Gemma said, but Tori’s muffled voice kept repeating, “I’m okay. I’m okay.”
When I hugged my mother, I said, “What’s that all about?”
“The pocket mirror,” Mom said. “It started transmitting when you entered the Middle Realm. We heard most of your exchange with the Golem, and we saw Tori fall. The last image before the glass shattered was her blood. We didn’t know if she was alive or dead.
Poor Gemma. She’d had to live with that for . . .
“How long have we been gone? I asked. “For us, it was two days.”
“About twelve hours,” Myrtle said. “The Mother Tree began to feel the heat from the Jar of Prometheus approximately six hours ago.”
Brighid, who was still standing next to me, dropped into a low curtsy. “Aos si,” she said formally, “thank thee for coming to my aid.”
“Arise, Daughter of Dagda,” Myrtle said, “and welcome to my home. We have need of your assistance.”
“Which I will gladly render,” Brighid replied, “but first, may I be allowed to contact my father and sisters?”
“Of course,” Myrtle said. “I will give you access to the mirror in my quarters.”
From behind me, I heard Tori say, “Mom, let me go. There’s someone I want you to meet.”
As we all watched, Tori introduced Gemma to Brenna. “Mom, this is Brenna Sinclair.”
Gemma pursed her lips. “We’ve met,” she said.
“No,” Tori said, “you haven’t. That Brenna doesn’t exist anymore. Grams here saved my life, and she’s kickass cool. Give her a chance.”
I’m not sure which part shocked Gemma more, the idea that Brenna helped Tori or that Tori called the sorceress “Grams.”
Brenna has a tremendous capacity to stay cool under fire. She held her hand out to Gemma and said, “May we begin again?”
“Did you really save my daughter’s life?” Gemma asked.
“Not alone,” Brenna replied. “Her friends rescued her after the fall and brought her to a safe place where my friend and I were able to heal her wounds.”
“She’s just being modest,” Tori said. “My leg was gashed open all the way down to my knee. There was blood all over the . . . ”
Tori was so wrapped up in her story, she didn’t notice the way all the color drained out of Gemma’s face. “Tori,” I said, “back off on the gory details.”
“Huh?” she said. “I’m just getting to the good part.”
Brenna intervened. “I think your mother has grasped the essence of the story without having to hear an embellished version. Am I correct?”
“Completely,” Gemma said, “and thank you . . . Brenna.”
Not exactly effusive, but I knew Gemma well enough to know the thaw in her feelings toward her living ancestor had started.
While Chase and Lucas chained and locked the doorway to the In Between, the rest of us followed Myrtle back to the lair. Before my father even had a chance to say hello, Rodney jumped off Beau’s shoulder, hit the table twice, and vaulted toward me. I caught him mid-air.
“Whoa!” I said laughing. “You’re getting a little acrobatic there aren’t you?”
Rodney’s whiskers twitched in delight as he ran up my arm and instantly buried himself inside the collar of my shirt.
Beau regarded me with open pride. “I knew you would be victorious, Miss Jinx,” he said. “Welcome home.”
Beside him on the floor, Duke’s tail wagged wildly.
“It’s good to be home,” I said, as all four of my cats appeared out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around my ankles purring loudly.
Darby winked into sight beside me and threw his arms around my waist, hugging me fiercely. Glory hovered just over his head. “Tell me everything!” she said breathlessly. “And don’t leave out a single detail.”
Festus, who was sitting in his usual spot, tried to sound casual, but I heard the worried tone in his voice when he asked, “Where’s the boy?”
“Securing the door to the In Between,” I said. “He’s fine.”
“Harumph,” the old cat grumbled, trying to hide his visible relief, “never occurred to me that he wouldn’t be. He’s a McGregor, isn’t he?”
“You okay, kiddo?” Dad asked, finally managing to get past everyone, including his wildly excited pack of dogs, to get his arms around me.
“I’m good,” I said, kissing his cheek. “We all are. Everybody, this is Brighid, the Queen of Summer.”
After the introductions had been made, and Brighid spoke with her family, we were ready to summon Cailleach Bheur. From what Dad and Beau told me, conditions over our heads remained unchanged.
“So,” I said, “where are we going to have this confrontation with Cailleach?”
To my surprise, Myrtle said, “Here in the lair is fine. Cailleach is an old woman. She is no physical threat to any of us.”
Brighid moved into the open space between our work table and the temporary bedroom, closed her eyes, and began to sing. The words were in a tongue I didn’t recognize, but they filled my ears with the sound of buzzing bees and my nose with the scent of blooming spring flowers. The light in the lair warmed to the golden hue of a sunny afternoon, and suddenly an old, wizened crone leaning heavily on a gnarled staff stood a few feet away from Brighid.
“Cailleach Bheur,” the Queen of Summer said in a voice, redolent of a meadow in full bloom, “my time has come, and thine has ended.”
“Do not be so sure of thy ascendency, Daughter of Dagda,” the old woman cackled. “The scales do not rest so evenly between us this day as in days of old.”
We could all see the reason for her brazen confidence. The Amulet of Caorunn rested against the rough fabric of her gray cloak.
“That artifact doesn’t belong to you,” I said, stepping beside Brighid. “I’m giving you the opportunity to surrender it willingly.”
In my peripheral vision, I saw Mom, Gemma, Tori, Brenna, and Greer join me in a ragged line. I’ll give Cailleach credit. Even facing four witches, the baobhan sith, and the Queen of Summer, she remained defiant.
“I had no hand in the acquisition of this amulet,” she said. “It was given to me.”
Honestly, I don’t know what would have happened next if the Amulet hadn’t decided to settle the matter itself. It broke away from Cailleach’s neck, shot across the space between us, and found a new home — with my mother.
When the amber pendant touched her body, and the clasp of the chain closed around her neck, she simply became . . . more. Her hair rippled as if caught in an invisible current. The few gray hairs that had begun to show at her temples darkened and the fine lines around her eyes and mouth smoothed away.
“Mom?” I asked uncertainly. “What just happened?”
When she answered me, I saw the strong, confident line of her body and the light of newfound strength in her eyes.
“The Oak and the Rowan have become one.”
Epilogue
We came back to the lair the day before New Year’s Eve. Brighid could have warmed the weather instantly, but we all agreed that would only create more confusion for the human population. As is, entire meteorological careers are going to be built around studying “the Freak Freeze of ‘15.”
As North Carolina slowly thawed, the citizens of Briar Hollow began to return to their homes, and the life of the town edged toward normal. That’s when we started to understand how terrifying the incident had been for people at the mercy of the elements.
The customers who came into the Witch’s Brew those first couple of weeks in January, talked like converts at a “prepper” convention. They felt like they’d seen a rehearsal for the end times and were justified in laying up survival supplies in case it ever happened again. We sold them hot coffee and listened to their stories, unable to tell our own.
We’d taken a risk and entered an unknown realm to save the lives of not just the Mother Tree, but also the Grid that holds the realms together. We served the higher purpose of the Natural Order and put our lives on the line doing it. Beyond all the magical outcomes you already know about? No one in Briar Hollow died. I wish we could say the same for the rest of the state.
Gemma and I kept a close eye on Tori to the point of annoying the hell out of her. Although she protests that she can barely even remember getting hurt, I see the slight limp when she’s tired and the way she rubs her arms at the end of the day when the mended bone aches.
We aren’t the only one who watch her. Brenna Sinclair is living with us for the time being. The fairy mound obligingly merged two of the temporary bedrooms to make a small apartment. Everything else in the lair shifted back to normal, although the comfort station for Dad’s dogs is still in place. He drops them off here while he and Mom are working on their new place so Duke can have some play time with living contemporaries.
As for Brenna, when we have to make an introduction, we tell people she’s Tori’s aunt. Truthfully, they are building a relationship. The sorceress has an affinity for computers and Tori is teaching her more. I have to say I’ve grown to like our former enemy, too.
Now that the weight of the Creavit bargain has been lifted from her soul, there’s an oddly youthful curiosity to Brenna’s nature. She and Greer are a riot together. The two of them cut a wide swath through the courts of Europe in their day and often regale us with tales of their exploits during evenings around the fire in the lair.
On New Year’s Eve, while we were still iced in, Lucas took me off to one side and told me he thought we needed to slow things down between us. “I’m not a blind man, Jinx,” he said. “When we were in the Middle Realm, I saw that you still don’t know how you feel about Chase. Figure it out. I’ll be here one way or the other.”
The grace with which he handled what could have been my second nasty breakup, is a blessing. For that matter, Chase is behaving himself, too, which I also appreciate. He’s not pressuring me, and the awkward politeness between us has gone back to easy camaraderie. Where is all of that going? I don’t know, and I’m not forcing myself to figure it out just yet.
As predicted, Barnaby was not happy with me for striking a bargain with the Dark Druid to repeal the Agreement isolating the inhabitants of the In Between. Thanks to me, my grandfather can no longer put off getting involved in the affairs of the Ruling Elders. I have been warned that there are convoluted Fae political negotiations in my future.
But, by the same token, Barnaby also came through with allowing Aquila to settle in Shevington. Workmen are remodeling a house near Moira’s workshop to accommodate the special needs of a gryphon. Brenna can’t wait to be reunited with her friend, although I think she’s still nervous about going to the Valley for the first time.
When we told Katrina Warner what happened with the Amulet of Caorunn, she took the news in stride. “The amulet has a mind of its own,” she said. “If it’s chosen your mother in the name of an alliance between the Oak and the Rowan, then that’s how things will be.”
I’m looking forward to meeting the Women of the Trees at their next gathering in Edinburgh. As for the two Mother Trees, they haven’t announced the terms of their alliance to us mere mortals, but they will, in their own sweet time.
In private Dad told me that the transformation in my mother since she was chosen by the amulet isn’t so much something new, as the return of the qualities she had as a younger woman. “She’s like she was before the accident and
before we lost Connor,” he said. “She’s like her mother.”
When I related the conversation to Festus, he agreed, reminding me again that Grandma Kathleen had enough power to “curl your whiskers.”
As for Chesterfield, we haven’t heard a peep out of him. Cailleach Bheur retreated to the high lonely places, and Brighid is back with her sisters, going about the business of warming the earth as it moves toward real spring.
When most of the snow had melted, and temperatures had returned to the mid-40s, I took a walk high in the mountains. It felt good to be outside, breathing the clean air and not worrying about the next metaphysical catastrophe.
I found myself standing on a bluff overlooking a rocky ridge line. In another couple of months, I will have been living in Briar Hollow an entire year. I came here to take over my aunt’s eclectic general store and instead, have discovered new worlds and new challenges.
People make New Year’s resolutions and break them all the time, but standing there that day on the mountainside, I made a promise to myself I intend to keep. To live every adventure that comes my way to the fullest. Something tells me I won’t be running out of chances to do just that anytime soon.
About the Author
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. As a writer, Juliette's goal is to create strong female characters facing interesting, challenging, painful, and at times comical situations. Refusing to be bound by genre, her primary interest lies in telling good stories.
Six of Juliette's series are currently available. The Jinx Hamilton Mysteries opens with Witch at Heart, a lighter paranormal tale featuring a heroine who possesses powers she never dreamed existed. Jinx has been minding her own business working as a waitress at Tom’s Cafe and keeping up with her four cats. Then she inherits her Aunt Fiona’s store in neighboring Briar Hollow, North Carolina and learns that her aunt has willed her special “powers” to Jinx as well. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step and Jinx has a major problem. She’s a new witch and she has no earthly clue what that means — until she’s given the opportunity to use her magic to do a good thing.
The Amulet of Caorunn (A Jinx Hamilton Mystery Book 7) Page 29
