Samhain

by Rebecca F. Kenney

  We stand there, looking anywhere but at each other.

  "This is awkward," I say.

  He laughs and rubs his hand over his hair. "Yeah. We should— let's go."

  When we reach the office, Kieran is examining the heavy locks and runes on the closet door.

  "This is going to be a beast to get open," he says. "She used every protective rune and knot I know of, so my magic isn't going to work. And these locks— Aislinn, do you think you can break them?"

  I whisper the spell to activate my strength and twist at the locks with all my might. One snaps off, but the other two won't give.

  Kieran is crouching by the door, eyeing one of the locks. "I might be able to pick this," he says. "But the other— that's a tough one."

  "Here's an idea," says Zane. "Why don't we just go through the wall?"

  Standing up, Kieran runs his hands over the wall. "You might be a genius."

  "We need a hammer or a mallet," I say. "I could break a bone if I try to brute-force through it. I may be strong but I'm not invincible."

  "I'll find something." Zane hurries out of the room.

  "I wish I had my lockpick set," I say.

  Kieran glances up. "I was just thinking the same , although these seem too complex for my skill. You know how to pick locks?"

  "Had to learn— part of being Korrigan is sneaking into places and stealing Life-Stream from helpless babies. At least that's what I was taught. I'm not very good, though; I can only handle simple locks."

  "I can teach you more," he says, his face brightening.

  Smiling, I shake my head at him. "Stop that."

  "Stop what?"

  "Being so eager to teach me everything. It's too cute."

  "Cute?" He rises and steps closer, so he's in my space, towering over me. "I'm not cute. Devilish, handsome, talented, irresistible— never cute."

  "Whatever you say." I back away from him. "Whenever I tell you I can't do something, you're always like, 'I can teach you!' with this look, like you're a puppy who just got handed the tastiest chew toy ever."

  "I do not."

  "Yes, you do. Come on, let's help Zane find something to smash this wall. Maybe there are tools somewhere in the basement closet."

  On our way to the basement door, I pop my head into the living area. "If you guys have keys to Maeve's secret closet, now's the time to cough them up, or else we're tearing down the wall to get to it."

  Gillian curses at me, but Magnolia says, "Just as long as you pay for the repairs."

  "It will be taken care of," Arden promises.

  I wonder if Maeve trusted any of them with the keys to the closet. Probably not. She would have picked Gillian or Arden as her confidant, and I know it isn't Arden. Gillian might know where the keys are, but if she does, she won't tell, out of spite.

  It's likely that the only keys are either hidden in the house or were on Maeve the night she died. I didn't see a purse with her— she probably left her wallet out in her car. The police are probably still trying to identify her body, after discovering her ID was fake.

  When we get to the basement, Zane is already there. He holds up a regular hammer he found in the closet. "Best thing I could find," he says.

  "It'll take forever with that," says Kieran.

  Walking over to the wall, I move the concealed panel that hides the controls to the trap door. I type in the code, the one the Korrigan entered every night just before dawn, for years. A section of the floor sinks down, then slides away, revealing a black hole. I push the button for the lights, then the button that unfolds the ladder.

  Kieran and Zane are still arguing over the best way to knock down the wall.

  "Hey boys, want to see something?" I say.

  They both come quickly and stare down into the concrete dungeon below, with its cracked concrete floor and its walls deeply scarred by my demon form's claws.

  The sight of it chills me. But it's a faraway horror, because I'm free of this. I don't ever have to go back down there.

  "Damn, girl, that's messed up," says Zane.

  Kieran just looks, his eyes narrowed and dark. Then he turns away. "Let's get through that door," he says.

  And then I have a brilliant idea.

  "Zane, was there a drill in that tool closet?"

  "Yeah."

  "Bring it, and the biggest drill shaft you can find."

  6

  HAPPIER

  Zane

  Aislinn's idea is simple— drill a big hole right through the wall next the closet door, straight into the closet. Then she's gonna look through the hole, get a visual, and transport to the other side of the door.

  Thankfully, the closet isn't reinforced with steel or anything, like a vault might be. It doesn't take me long to drill a series of holes through the drywall and hammer out a gap big enough for Aislinn to slip her arm through. She turns on a small flashlight we found and slides that through the hole first, so it lights up the room beyond. Then she peers through the gap herself.

  "I can barely see," she says. "But it might be enough for a jump."

  "Be careful," says Kieran. "We don't want you getting stuck in the wall."

  She takes another look, and then she's gone.

  "Aislinn!" Kieran calls.

  "Here." Her voice is muffled.

  I peek through the hole and see the flashlight beam bobbing around. "She's in!"

  Suddenly a light flashes on in the closet. A second later Aislinn appears in Maeve's office again.

  "I've got it now," she says. "I can take you in, one at a time." She looks from one of us to the other.

  "You go first," says Kieran to me, with a nod.

  Aislinn steps close and puts her arms around me. Damn, I miss her. Don't think about it.

  A weird buzzing, and then I'm inside the closet. It's a huge walk-in, with built-in shelves and drawers, all labeled in some language that's probably Gaelic.

  Aislinn vanishes and comes back with Kieran a second later. His jaw drops. "Look what she's got here!" He touches bottles and boxes, then pulls open a drawer. "Kelpie teeth. See how huge they are?"

  "What the hell is a kelpie?" I ask.

  "Man-eating horses. They're so huge, and black, and beautiful," says Aislinn, her eyes lighting up. Apparently he took her to see them.

  "Sounds awesome," I say, pulling open a drawer. "And what's this thing?"

  "Finger bones and webbing from a merrow," says Kieran, leaning over what looks to me like some dry sticks and cobwebs. "That's centuries old, from the look of it."

  There are papers, photos, even hard drives and flash drives. Aislinn transports back and forth about a dozen times, taking loads of the stuff out to the office.

  "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting! Don't you think it's exciting Kieran? I can't believe all of this is here— maybe we can find out more about the Korrigan's lives through the ages, about the people they knew, places they lived— oh! And my parents! There's bound to be something about my mom in all this, right? I can't wait to dig through it all and find—"

  "Aislinn." Kieran says her name in this intimate way that makes me twist up inside. He takes both of her hands. "You're using too much magic. Calm down, take a break. Let's just look around for now. Remember, you have to save enough energy to get me and Zane out of here."

  The way they look at each other. Damn. They may not be official, but they're together, and there's a light in her eyes when he gazes at her like that— a kind of happy, excited glow that she never had with me.

  "Right," she says, a little breathlessly. "Okay. What exactly are we looking for?"

  I remember. It was my dream, after all. "Bone of the demon, blood of the goddess, heart of the earth," I say. "And some old spell, lost in time or whatever."

  "Zane, you're wearing the amulet, right? Look around and see if anything calls to you."

  I give him a hard look. "Weird, man. Really weird."

  "I know, but just try it."

  "I'm not a seer or whatever, man. You know,
I just wanted out of this whole thing. I got college now, okay? And it's stressful, you know?" I'm wandering around as I'm talking, touching stuff, taking things off shelves. "First day, they smack you with all this crap, this whole list of everything you gotta do in the semester, and it's a lot, dude. A lot."

  "I know," says Kieran, and he says it like he really does know.

  "You been to college?"

  "Every century or so, just to brush up on what's new. About ten years ago I completed a few degrees so I could study the difference in the ageing process for humans versus my race."

  "You had time to do all that and still terrorize people?"

  He laughs. "The terror was a hobby, not my passion."

  I gotta respect the guy for going to college that many times. "How does your brain hold all that info?"

  "It doesn't," he says. "I lose some of it over time. What's that you're holding?"

  I glance down at the football-sized lump of rock in my hands. It's silvery gray, with golden flecks and a dark red seam running through it. "I don't know."

  "Where did you take it from?" asks Aislinn.

  I point to the drawer, and Kieran reads some Gaelic gibberish. "It says this is a sample of the Earth's outer core, taken by the coblynau of Wales. You'd know them as tommyknockers, Fae creatures known for their mining skills."

  "How is that possible?" says Aislinn. "Nobody could survive being that close to the Earth's core, not even Fae."

  Kieran shrugs. "The tommyknockers are one Fae race I know very little about. Maybe they have a unique protective magic."

  "So what are we saying?" says Aislinn. "Could this be—"

  "The Heart of the Earth." As I speak the words, I know them to be absolutely true. This piece of rock I'm holding was once part of the center of the world, before a Fae miner carved it right out of the earth's heart.

  From its resting spot on my chest, the medallion thrums, a pulse to let me know that some magic is acting up in here.

  I don't want to be Seer or whatever. Just wanna go back to my dorm and do the reading for my classes tomorrow, and forget about all this. It's getting late, and I still got an hour's drive to do.

  Pointing to the amulet, I ask, "You sure I have to keep this thing?"

  Aislinn must see the trouble in my face. Her green eyes are all sympathy and worry for me. "I'm sorry, Zane. You can take it off if you want to, really. Just put it away somewhere and keep it safe, please. Just in case we get stuck and we really need it to figure this out."

  "A'right, well, I gotta get going. I found you guys the heart thing now, so you can take charge of it, right?"

  Kieran nods, and I hand him the stone.

  "I'll take you out," says Aislinn.

  And the next second, we're standing beside my Ford pickup.

  "Thanks for doing this," she says. "I know it was not fun, for you especially."

  "Hey, I'm not the one that got thrown into a wall," I say. "You sure you're okay, girl?"

  "I'll be fine. If not, Ériu can fix me up the next time she comes to work on Kieran."

  "Your world is so weird." The words pop out before I can stop them.

  She makes a face. "Yeah. Count yourself lucky to be mostly out of it."

  "You good, though?" I ask. Because I really want to know that she's okay, that she's happy.

  "I am," she says. "At least, I will be after we get through this whole Samhain business."

  "If he's ever not good to you, you know I'll give him hell."

  "I know. But he is."

  Nodding, I climb into the truck. "See ya round. Tell Wynnie and Arden goodbye for me."

  She waves, and I turn the Ford around and head back down the long driveway.

  In an hour I'm back at my dorm, a co-ed building for first-year students. It's not home, but it's not bad. My parents want me to have the experience; plus freshman students that don't have family within a certain radius gotta live on campus anyway.

  I'm walking across the res hall plaza, and the shape of somebody catches my eye— tall, with great curves, and really long braided black hair. She's sitting on a low concrete wall, reading something on her phone.

  Laurel.

  I knew she was around on campus, but we haven't seen each other much. Looking at her gives me a warm feeling, like home. Instead of walking up to the res hall doors, I swerve her way.

  "Hey, girl," I say, sitting down next to her.

  A big smile spreads over her face. "Hey, Z, where you been? I haven't seen you around at all."

  "I been around. We must have different schedules."

  "And it's a big place. Walking everywhere's gonna get me in top shape real fast."

  "You settling in okay?"

  She shrugs. "My roommate isn't great, but that's life, right? She likes to have friends over, loud friends."

  "So? You like loud people. You like everyone."

  "Uh-uh. No. These girls are max annoying, Z. And messy— boy, you would not believe the mess that I have got to live in. And you know I like things organized."

  "Yeah, I do."

  "How's your roommate?"

  "Quiet. He put all these animal rights posters up soon as he got in, told me he's vegetarian. I'm like, I'm cool with that, but that's not me, right? I like meat."

  She laughs. "At least he's got a social conscience or whatever. And quiet. That sounds good to me."

  "You come over anytime and chill with me, girl," I say.

  "I just might," she says. "Hey, you wanna get lunch tomorrow?"

  "Hell yeah."

  We set up a time and place, and then I head for my room, a smile on my face. Just seeing her feels good. It's enough to help me forget all the magic crap for a while and just be a normal college guy, making lunch plans with a girl.

  7

  CHANDELIER

  Aislinn

  "We're sure this is the Heart of the Earth?" I ask, running my finger over the rock in Kieran's hand.

  "Zane seemed sure. He got that look on his face, that 'I hate magic but it's happening to me right now' look." Kieran smirks.

  "Go easy on him," I say. "It's not something he was ever prepared for."

  "I thought I behaved well around him today."

  I sigh. "You did. Thanks."

  "Anytime." He gives me this smile that makes my breath stop for a minute.

  "So what do we do with the stone now? We need to hide it, right? Seems likely that this is one of the relics Stanley wanted from Maeve. And if that's the case, Malcolm and the others who escaped probably know about it."

  "You're sure you didn't get Malcolm, when you killed the others?"

  I shake my head. "He escaped. And he's one of the higher order druids, one of the Vates. I didn't see June that night either, and there were a handful of others who got away from me."

  I don't like talking about it, reliving what happened. Thinking about the bloody chunks of what I thought was Kieran, all over the floor of the sacrificial chamber. Remembering the empty faces of the druids I drained, and their limp bodies. Picturing Maeve, bleeding out in the observation room.

  He must see my reaction. His fingers lift my chin, tilting my face up to him. "Do you regret it?" he asks simply.

  "No. And yes."

  "They deserved death," he says. "For the human sacrifices, and for what they did to Wynnie."

  "I know. Whether it was my place to give them death or not is what bothers me. According to the Morrígna, it wasn't in the grand plan."

  He snorts in disgust. "Grand plan. Is there a grand plan? Who makes it? Why? I believe we make our own destiny, Aislinn. And to me, what you did was beautiful. Incredible. I wish I could have seen it."

  "Don't wish that. It was horrible. I was crazy, just— insane with—" With grief. Because I love you, and you were dead.

  His voice, gentle. "My death affected you so much?"

  "You know it did."

  He's probably a breath away from asking why, from pushing me to say what I feel. But I can't, right now, or I mig
ht break down in tears. And we have something bigger to think of.

  "We have to hide this," I repeat, pointing to the stone. "In case Malcolm and the others come looking for it."

  "If they know where it is, why haven't they already come for it?" he asks.

  "Maybe they needed time for something else? Other preparations? I mean, we still have weeks till Samhain— maybe they figured why not leave it here, where they know its location, until they're ready to use it."

  "They may also have gone into hiding," Kieran says. "Once the police scoured that compound, they would have found evidence, things that might connect Malcolm and the others to crimes that occurred there. He could be laying low from all that."

  "Are we sure it's them, planning to open the Second Gate? It could be someone else."

  "They may have someone else helping them, yes. But from what I've heard, the druid sect we encountered is the most radical in the country, and Stanley told me my death on Samhain was going to be part of something big."

  His death.

  I reach out and touch him, stroking those precious fingers of his that hold the stone. "I'm glad you're alive."

  "For now." The words are dark, but his eyes crinkle at the corners as he smiles. Then the smile fades— he's looking deep into my soul with those silvery gray eyes of his, and I'm getting lost in the depths of him, in the magic of his gaze. Our bodies, our souls are magnetic, and the space between us is pulling, pulling us together.

  "You found something?" says Arden, striding into the room.

  "A lot of papers," I say, breathless. "And something else. We think it's the Heart of the Earth, like in Zane's vision."

  "Why are you still holding it?" she says, sharply. "We need to find a place to hide it. And I've got to beef up the security in this house, in case those druids come looking for it. Stop standing around and let's get to work!"

  While Arden tinkers with the security system, Kieran and Wynnie and I load up the papers and some of the relics I took from the closet. Most of the relics, hard drives, and other mysterious items stay in the closet— now that I know what the inside of it looks like, I can transport back here again anytime.