“You had them. I kept in touch with me mother by letter, as there were no phones on Inishbofin back then. She knew all about ya, Shay, but I never again talked with me father. It was a bad situation. He didn’t even let me know that me mother had passed on when she did. I had to learn that from a neighbor that knew our family. They were the ones who wrote to tell me she was gone, not him.”
There was deep pain and sorrow in Nanny’s eyes and she looked down at Meg. “So now, with that crash and you seeing the banshee, I know that me father has left this world. The spirits know—they look after our family and are never wrong. I’ll make a call into his neighbor to go and check on him.”
No one moved or said a word. They were all staring at the fire and letting this new information settle. After a minute Meg got up and hugged her grandmother, and the family soon followed her in a big group hug. After, everyone sat back down and sipped their tea in silence. Finally Nanny Sullivan looked out of her window to the ocean and, out of nowhere, said, “Looks like a storm is brewin’. You better get back on the Muirín and head home.”
“Nanny, there is not a cloud in the sky,” Eileen challenged, after looking out the same window and not seeing anything.
“I wouldn’t mess with your Nanny, Eileen. She has never been wrong about the weather.”
Everyone helped wash and put away the dishes, and the Murphys were soon saying their goodbyes and walking out the door of Tír na nÓg. On their way out Nanny grabbed Meg while the family continued without them. Before she could say a word, Meg told her “I promise I will guard our compendium forever, Nanny.”
“I know ya will, dear. But remember, it’s just a tool. What you have inside of you is a greater treasure than that old piece of metal.”
Meg turned to leave and paused her glance at the horizon on the Atlantic in front of her. For a second, she thought she saw dark clouds looming. But just as fast as she saw them, they were gone, replaced by the clear, blue sky meeting the rolling ocean waves. She looked back at her grandmother, who again gave her the same strange smile she did when they first walked into the cottage. Nanny gave her a hug and said, “Happy birthday, Margaret Grace,” emphasizing her middle name in a weird way. Meg walked to the sailboat wondering what had just happened.
8
Happy Birthday
It was a somber sail. Everyone was withdrawn and in their own world. Meg let her mom take the helm for the ride back. She needed it. Meg had seated herself up near the bow, staring at the compendium and processing everything that had happened: the crash, banshees, unknown great grandparents, and great uncles lost at sea—it was a lot for an eleven-year-old girl to take in. Meg knew her mother was having a hard time with it all, too, because she noticed the telltales luffing much more than they normally would with Shay captaining.
They sailed up the Atlantic side of Fishers Island. The wind had died down a bit, enough to make the sailing a little more relaxing, even if not enough to slow them down. By the time they rounded the eastern tip of the island and were heading back towards Connecticut, the sea had done its job and everyone was a little more at ease. Sean made up a song and was singing from his seat. At that everyone smiled and started talking again.
“I loved the old stories from Ireland growing up but I never thought I would live one… a banshee… The vision of that woman is burned into my brain right now… I have never heard about the crash before,” Mark said.
“Banshee is Irish for fairy woman. Bean, pronounced ban, meaning woman, and sídh, pronounced she, meaning fairy. They are said to be caretakers of the noble Gaelic race in general, or anyone with a Mac or an O before their name.
‘By Mac and O
You’ll always know,
True Irishmen they say.
But if they lack
The O and Mac,
No Irishmen are they.’
It’s a silly old rhyme, but Nanny used to say it when she would tell me stories of the banshee.”
“But Nanny is a Sullivan,” Eileen said.
“Her maiden name is O’Flaherty, Eileen.”
“Oh. So banshees guard families?” Meg asked.
“Yes, the old Irish families, and in the folk tales banshees also guarded the fairy gifts given to those families. Some families had the gift of music; some had the gift of art.”
“What about the gift of the sea and navigation?” interrupted Meg.
“I’m not so sure about that. Navigation is more of a learned skill than a gift. But we do have a love of the sea don’t we?” She winked at Meg. “A banshee wails a sad and sweet cry called a keen, which is copied by women all over Ireland at funerals and wakes. Ooohhhhh, woooohhhh,” Shay did her best banshee keen.
“I’m scared, Mom,” admitted Meg. “I can’t get the vision of her out of my head either, or that wail.”
“Banshees aren’t scary things,” she smiled and tilted her head to the side. “They are friends of the family they guard. They supposedly walked the earth with the family, possibly even being a long-dead member. The banshee keen is one of sadness, because she no can no longer follow her friend. As a banshee, she is stuck between this world and the otherworld.”
“How do you know so much about this stuff, Mom?” asked Eileen.
“Nanny and your grandfather, God rest him, told me all of the Irish legends and stories when I was little. In the winter we would sit in the big room around a roaring fire and tell stories and read books until the spring came again. It was like going to Ireland every year when the weather got cold. Kings and queens, fairies and ghosts, battles and cattle raids were my entertainment when I was your age, Meg.”
“I want to hear more,” said Meg.
“Me too,” added Eileen.
“All right.” A smile crossed Shay’s face. “I’ll tell you all the tale of an Irish princess who sailed the seas with a magic compendium she received on her eleventh birthday…”
“Aw, Mom!” complained Meg.
They all had a laugh, and then listened to Shay make up a fairy tale about Meg as they sailed towards the restaurant in Stonington.
* * *
The village of Mystic is part of the larger town of Stonington, which is situated on a harbor that was also once a very busy seaport. On the docks at the tip of the peninsula that makes Stonington Borough, as the locals call the old part of town, there is a restaurant where the Murphys held all their celebrations—birthdays, anniversaries, hallmark holidays. It did not take much for Shay and Mark to come up with a reason to go there. Just a short ride from their house by car or by boat, it was their favorite place to go to eat. The Murphys were always given a prime table, on a corner of the deck that extended out over the water.
The sun was shining brightly and the temperature was warm for October. The deck was filled with people soaking up the sun and fresh air on the last of the nice days before shutting themselves up for the winter. The owner of the restaurant stopped by their table, as always, to say hello and talk to Shay about the next shipment of her scallops. When the business discussion with Shay was done, he took their order for dinner. Mark and Shay ordered steaks. The owner always kidded them about coming to a seafood restaurant to order beef, but that is what they always had. Meg’s parents said they spent enough time around seafood at work so they never wanted to have it for dinner.
Meg, on the other hand, loved seafood. She had the most wonderful seared scallops (her mom’s, of course) and a big plate of French fries. Their dinner was finished off with a chocolate cake brought out by the wait staff as they sang “Happy Birthday” to Meg. The whole crowd on the deck helped with the singing. Then Shay went down to the Muirín and came back carrying gift bags.
Meg’s birthday present from her dad was a book by her favorite author. She loved to read and already had quite a large library of books that she kept in a chest in her room. Reading was a way for Meg to go to places she could never dream of and live stories that could only be possible in an author’s imagination. She was not like most kids her a
ge who spent time zoned out in front of a TV or computer. Meg read most anything her parents let her, in both hardcopy and on her electronic reader, which was last year’s birthday present. Her e-reader was full of books from antiquity, which she downloaded at first because they were free. Soon enough, however, Meg found herself truly enjoying the classics.
Meg’s mom gave her something she had been waiting a long time for: scuba lessons. You were not allowed to learn to scuba dive until you were ten, and even then you were only allowed to learn under a certified diving professional. Shay did not want to get Meg diving under water too early, so she had always promised that she would let her scuba dive when she turned eleven. Meg had been snorkeling for as long as she could remember, but swimming around the surface of the water with a big plastic tube in her mouth never was as cool to her as diving deep for hours with a tank. She had been very much looking forward to reaching the age of eleven so she would finally be able to go down and dive with her mom. The crazy thing was, even though Meg finally got what she had been waiting for forever, all she could think about at the moment was what had occurred earlier that day and the compendium that hung around her neck.
Meg stared down at the oversized ornament. On her small frame, it looked a bit silly. “Mom, what is this letter on the front?”
“It’s a G in Gaelic script.”
“What does it stand for?”
“I don’t know, and have always wondered that myself. Your Nanny would always smile and change the subject whenever I asked her. Maybe it’s the initial of one of our ancestors or maybe she doesn’t know.”
Meg took her eyes off the compendium and looked out on the water. The setting sun was shimmering on the surface of Fishers Island Sound making the island look as if it was magically floating out in the distance. She looked at her family and her gifts and decided that it had been a good birthday, even with all of the strange events.
They left the restaurant just after the sun set, sailing back home in the dusk, and were almost back to “Sweet Haven” when the weather suddenly changed. Clouds came in from nowhere and it started to rain, just as Nanny had predicted. The wind picked up and thunder clapped in the distance as they pulled the boat up to their dock. No one bothered to get into the foul weather gear Shay had packed; they just tied the boat up and ran into the house through the downpour. By the time everyone got in the door, they were soaking wet and tired from the day’s events. They all retreated to their rooms and went to sleep, not noticing that the answering machine on the kitchen counter was blinking.
9
Want to Go Somewhere?
Meg woke up the next morning a little groggy from a night of heavy dreaming. Although she had had many dreams during the night, she remembered only one. She was swimming under water and below her in the sea bed she could see the compendium resting in the sand. She was swimming as hard as she could but there was a strong current pushing her away from her birthday present and she was unable to reach it. The shining brassy object eventually disappeared into the dark water in front of her and she was heartbroken for losing it. After the dream Meg shot up in bed, reaching out from her covers in panic, only to be comforted upon seeing the compendium on the nightstand where she had left it.
Meg dragged herself out of bed and took the compendium in her hands. She went to put it on but decided that it was too big for her to wear all the time, so she placed it at the bottom of her old toy chest that was now filled with books. She went downstairs for breakfast.
Everyone except Meg’s sister was at home. They were all very busy when Meg reached the kitchen. She walked in unnoticed, trying to figure out what was going on. Her mom was on the phone and her father was on the computer. Eileen was probably at soccer practice and Sean was in his high chair crying for attention. Meg made herself a bowl of cereal, poured a glass of orange juice, and sat down at the table to listen to the conversation that was going on around her.
“I know I promised you a delivery by next week, but a family matter has come up and I won’t be able to get them to you until the week after… I know you’re desperate, but as you know, I’m a one-woman show, so if I’m not around there are no scallops…Try the distributor…I know they’re not as good, but you are just going to have to wait.”
Meg’s mom was obviously doing business, but what has happened that she’s unable to make her deliveries? And her dad, who normally by this time would have been long gone and out on his boat, was staring at the computer screen with a pencil in one hand and a mouse in the other, clicking and writing at the same time.
Shay got off the phone and asked, “Mark, what do you have for me?”
“Tomorrow from Logan and…” The phone rang and Shay held up her hand to stop him while she answered the phone.
“Mark, it’s your sister.”
He picked up the phone. “Hey, Molly, thanks for calling me back… Yeah, mostly Sean, just for a week… I can’t stop fishing, and Eileen can take care of herself, so I need help with Sean.” There was a long pause. “She’s actually going with her mother.”
Mostly Sean? She’s actually going with her mother? What, exactly, was going on?
Just then, Shay, who had taken up Mark’s place at the computer, noticed Meg at the table.
“Morning, honey. Make yourself some breakfast. I have some exciting news to tell you,” she said, not looking up from the screen.
Meg shook her head as she looked down at her half-finished bowl of cereal. She turned to Sean and said, “Parents!”
Her dad hung up the phone, “Okay, so Molly is going to come up, stay here at the house, watch Sean while I’m out, and help with Eileen. She’s happy to spend some quality girly time with her.”
“I want to spend girly time with Aunt Molly too!” chimed in Meg.
“Oh, Meg, I don’t think you will care about time with Molly when you hear what your mom has to tell you.”
Shay walked away from the computer and stood next to Mark. “I got JFK tonight, and a much better price, Mark. Hi, Meg. Want to go somewhere special with me?”
“Um, I guess. Do I have a choice?”
Shay told Meg about the message that had been left on their answering machine. Nanny Sullivan had called the house last night while they were at dinner and confirmed that her father—Meg’s great grandfather—had indeed just died back in Ireland. His neighbor had found him after Nanny called to ask them to check, and arrangements were being made for his funeral. Nanny was too frail to fly and Shay really wanted to go to Ireland to represent the family at her grandfather’s funeral. She decided it would be a great trip to take Meg on to learn about their family history together.
“Ireland? Really?” Meg was thrilled with the idea but still taken aback at the suddenness of it all.
“We are flying out tonight. So you need to get back upstairs and pack a bag for a week.”
“What about Eileen? Why isn’t she coming?”
“I asked her. But she has her big dance competition next week, and a soccer tournament, so she wanted to stay home. Plus,” Shay raised one eyebrow, “Inishbofin is an island reachable only by ferry, and you know how we feel about motorboats, so I chartered us a sailboat to get there. It will be a good chance for me to teach you how to use the compendium while seeing the place where we came from. It will be great!”
“Are you forgetting something?” asked Meg.
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m in school. What about school?”
“I’ve already emailed your teachers. They’ve given me all of your school work for the next week, and you are going to do a presentation on our trip when you get back, for extra credit.” Shay saw the worried look on Meg’s face. “Don’t worry. You’ll have plenty of time to do the work on the plane.”
“Extra credit. Great,” said Meg patronizingly “You really thought of everything, didn’t you.” She thought about it a little longer and said, “Well, a trip to Ireland for Halloween sounds pretty good to me.”
“Oh no
! I totally forgot about Halloween! Mark, you are going to have to take pictures of Sean and Eileen trick or treating, and maybe you should cancel our annual party.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take plenty of pictures. Just because you two get to have fun in Ireland doesn’t mean we can’t have fun back here.” Mark did a little dance, which made them laugh. “If you guys want to catch that plane, you’d better get a move on and get packed.”
Meg and Shay dashed up the stairs leaving Mark and little Sean on their own. Meg realized she had not seen her dog yet that morning and yelled “Fiiiinn. Finn, come here boy.” The dog appeared at her door, tail wagging. “Okay, boy, listen. I’m going away for a week so you are going to stay in Daddy’s room,” she scratched the dog behind the ears and he looked up at her with sad eyes. Finn was a shaggy, white mutt they had saved from the pound a few years back. When she was little Meg had shown an interest in every dog she saw. Since her sister was so busy and out of the house a lot, her parents decided to get Meg a playmate. Shay named the new dog Finn, which meant white in Gaelic. And since then Meg and Finn had been inseparable from the moment he joined the Murphy family.
Finn sat and watched Meg as she packed her bag. She opened her toy chest and picked up the compendium. Carefully wrapping her special gift in a tee shirt, she placed it in an inside pocket of the book bag that she was going to take with her on the trip.
“How’s it going in there?” her mom called out from down the hall.
“Fine, Mom,” Meg yelled back. “I still can’t believe we are doing this.”
Meg heard her mother shuffling down the hall. Shay stepped in the door and handed her a little blue booklet.
“What’s that?”
“It’s your passport. Surprise! We were actually planning to go to the Caribbean for Christmas this year, but it will have to wait for next year, I guess. Don’t tell your sister, though. It’ll have to be our little secret.”
The Pirate Princess: Return to the Emerald Isle Page 5
