When the Audi is loaded up, I go back to the great room. Gillian is standing by the kitchen island, downing a full glass of amber-colored liquid. I remember what Arden said. She's grieving.
Despite everything she's done to me over the years, I want to help; but maybe I'm not the right person to do it. In her mind, I've caused her pain and trouble since the day I was brought to them.
"The stuff we're taking— we'll bring back what we don't need," I say. She ignores me.
Magnolia and Gemma sit on the couch, arms around each other. I walk over to them.
"I want to say that I'm sorry for the loss of Maeve," I tell them. "I truly am. You were all together for ages, and it must be horrible to lose someone you've looked up to for so long."
Magnolia nods. "I miss her strength. I've been her servant, her cook and her cleaning service, since I was very young. I don't know what I am now, or if I have the courage to try being someone new."
"You do! You can!" I say. "We'll help you. You can do anything now. What about you, Gemma, what do you want to do?"
Gemma smiles, but the expression doesn't reach her eyes. "I'll do what I always do. I'm the party girl, remember? I'll take a spa day, and then find a couple men to screw it all out of my head."
"Okay then."
"You'll join me, right, Gil?" Gemma calls to her twin. "This one calls for a set of especially nice-looking humans."
"I'm up for anything, as long as I can drink while I'm doing it," Gillian answers; apparently Kieran's muting spell has worn off. She has climbed onto a barstool and she's reaching up to hang empty wine glasses on each curved peak of the chandelier over the island.
"You should all be careful, though," I say. "The druids may come here, looking for the Heart of the Earth."
"You mean that old tommyknocker stone, the one the Far Darrig was cradling so carefully?" Gillian cackles with laughter. "Maeve bought that centuries ago, and no one has ever tried to take it. It's worthless."
"You knew it was here?"
"I was with Maeve when she procured it. I don't think she ever told anyone else but me about it. We had secrets, the two of us." She swallows more of her drink. "She trusted me more than anyone."
"Not with the security, or the money," says Arden, coming into the room. "Or the identities, or the other paperwork we've had to forge over the years. That was all me."
Gillian stands still for a minute. Then she leaps lightly down from the island and chucks the glass in her hand straight at Arden. It shatters against the wall right next to Arden's head, sprinkling her hair and clothes with shiny shards.
And then Arden flies at Gillian, smashing her back into the kitchen island. Gillian yelps in pain as her back hits the edge of the counter. Seizing an empty wine bottle, she smashes it over Arden's head. Arden stumbles back, dazed.
"Stop it! Stop!" I yell, and then I whisper the spell for my fenodyree strength and run to Gillian, pinning her arms back. She screams and lunges, trying to break free. Then she says another spell, one that freezes my body for a second. But I push the magic away, off my skin, as I once did with the Far Darrig's more powerful spell.
In the few seconds it takes me to break free, Gillian is on top of Arden, and they're fighting on the floor, all flying hair and ripping nails and shrieks of fury.
Kieran walks in. "What the hell is going— oh." He crosses his arms and watches, grinning.
"Kieran!" I say. "What are you doing? Stop them."
He holds out his hand toward the snarling tangle of the two Korrigan. "But— catfight."
"Seriously? You're just going to stand there? Fine."
I'm about to go in again and force them apart by sheer strength, but then Wynnie runs past me, a blur of black hair and thin limbs. She's on Gillian's back in a second, and she bends down and sinks her teeth into Gillian's shoulder, right by her neck. Gillian shrieks, trying to hit Wynnie, and Arden slides out from under the twin, covered in blood and glass.
Then Kieran leaps into action, pulling Wynnie off Gillian's back. Wynnie turns on him, fierce as a hellion, her lips and bared teeth gleaming red with blood. Swift as thought, Kieran touches her forehead and tells her to sleep in Gaelic, and she sinks to the ground.
Gemma is already at her twin's side, offering a towel to staunch the bleeding.
"I'm sorry, Gillian," I say. "Kieran has a friend who can heal that, if you like."
"I don't want healing from the Far Darrig's friend," Gillian says, her voice full of hate. "How dare you bring that crazed monster in here? Get her out, and don't any of you come back here again!"
"You're not the queen," says Arden, through the blood streaming from the cuts on her head. "And this house is in my name as well as Maeve's. We'll be back anytime we want."
"We'll go," I say quickly. "Magnolia, do you need help with this?"
She's white-faced, her pale eyes wide, but she shakes her head. "Gemma and I will take her to a doctor. You should leave."
Kieran picks up Wynnie, and I help Arden out to the car. We use the blanket from the back seat to wrap around Arden, so she doesn't bleed on the upholstery. I notice a spot of blood on the blanket already, from when Kieran cut himself on the way back down from the kelpies' mountain.
"This is turning out to be our 'bloody wounds' blanket," I tell him.
"Every car should have one." He grins.
We take Arden to an urgent care clinic that's open late, so the doctors can pick out the glass and clean her up. I think they assume she was in some kind of bar fight. Meanwhile I take Wynnie into the bathroom and help her rinse the blood from around her mouth. She's quiet as I do it.
"Thanks for trying to help," I say. "But next time, maybe don't bite people's necks."
"I hate her," she says.
"Who, Gillian?"
"Yes. She beat me. When I was little."
Sighing, I blot her face with a paper towel. "She did the same to me."
"She was attacking Arden. Arden is nicer now than I remember. She never seemed to care much, before."
"I think they each developed their own way of dealing with things, over time. Like, Gemma— she seems silly and shallow, but I think it all started as a way to deal with pain. And Arden just went cold, emotionless, like Maeve did. And Magnolia just keeps her head down, does her work, and depends on everyone else for the rest. I guess, if you act a certain way long enough, you become that person."
"Can you ever change back?"
"Maybe." I think of Kieran. He's not necessarily changing who he is— just adjusting a few things, polishing them a little, for my sake. "I think you stay who you are, underneath it all. You just have to strip away the layers of what's happened to you, if you want to get back to the real you."
Wynnie stares at herself in the mirror. "That was me, once. The party girl. I did it all, because nothing mattered. Nothing ever changed with them, it was always the same. So I got out, and I did everything new, everything they told me was stupid and wrong— I did it all to the limit. Until I destroyed myself. And then the nightmare really began."
"Listen, I'd like you to talk to somebody," I say, as gently as I can. "Someone who can help you process it all. There might be, I don't know, a pixie who's also a psychologist, or something. If I can find someone, will you go?"
She nods. "I don't want to talk about it, but I think I need to. Like you said, to process. Move on. Get back to my real self, if she's even someone I want to be."
"She's someone I'd like to know."
We go back out to the waiting room and sit with Kieran, waiting for Arden. When she comes out, the blood and glass are gone, and she has just a few stitches for the cut on her head. Other than that, and a couple of fingernail scratches here and there, she looks fine.
"Got a notification while I was waiting," she says. "One of my searches came back with a result. Your mystery person, Múireann, is a murdúchann."
Kieran's eyes light up. "A merrow?"
Arden nods. "She lives on the coast, near the Isle of Palms. I
have her last known address."
"Address? Wouldn't she live in the water?" I ask.
Kieran looks amused. "Merrows can change form. They love the ocean, so they stay near it; but they enjoy living on land, too."
"So it's the little mermaid, with the best of both worlds?"
"Yes."
"Does this mean we're going to the beach?"
He winks. "Pack a bag."
8
BACK
Zane
"We have to go out of town to track down a Fae," Aislinn tells me over the phone. "And we need somewhere safe to hide the Heart of the Earth till we get back."
"Why not just take it with you?"
"Kieran doesn't want to leave it in a hotel room."
"You're not leaving it at my house." I'm not budging on that point.
"No, of course not! And we can't leave it with Laurel, either— some of the druids saw both of you. We have to give it to somebody they'll never suspect."
"Let me think about it," I say. "Listen, gotta go, I have a lunch date."
"You do?" She sounds genuinely happy for me. "With who?"
"Laurel."
"Oh. Is this like a date, date? Or just lunch?"
"I don't know, and I can't talk about girls with you, Aislinn."
"I'm sorry. Of course not. Okay, you guys have fun. Hey, see if she has any ideas for hiding the stone."
Yeah, no. I didn't want to involve Laurel with all this crap in the first place. I'm not discussing it with her over lunch.
Except Laurel brings it up herself, not two seconds after we sit down. "So how're all the magical peeps? I haven't seen any of them since school started. Aislinn and I text, but it's not the same."
I tell her everything I know in as few words as possible. She watches me, chewing, and nodding from time to time. Laurel even looks good when she's eating— I can't help watching her those beautiful lips of hers moving— it's distracting.
"You seem not thrilled about this whole deal with the visions and the magical stone," she says, waving her fork for emphasis.
"It's just— one reason Aislinn and I broke up was the magic stuff. She just couldn't let it be, always had to be chasin' the next thing. Like, I just want a normal relationship, you know?"
"What's a normal relationship?"
"Okay, whatever."
"No, really, I'm serious. What the heck is a normal relationship? I've never seen one. All relationships, they got their ups and downs and challenges. I'm not sayin' y'all should've stayed together— I think it's better how it is, cause she obviously in love with Kieran. I'm just sayin' maybe your idea of relationship needs a little work. I know mine did."
"Yeah?" I poke around at my food. This conversation is getting uncomfortable.
"Zane, I made a big mistake, doing what I did, when I did it. Breakin' things off with us."
I look up, into her dark eyes. One hand is playing with the ends of her long black braids, like she's nervous.
"You had your reasons," I say.
"I did. But I'm sorry I hurt you."
"Hey girl, I wasn't heartbroken. But I did feel like we had something, and we didn't give it a chance."
She looks down at her plate, tilting her head first one way and the other as she rearranges her food in perfectly symmetrical piles. "Well, if you ever wanna give it another shot, you let me know."
I take a beat to absorb what she just said. Aislinn and I aren't getting back together, that's clear. And Laurel— man, she's Laurel. Smoking hot. And I've known her since we were kids. She may be a little OCD and over-organized, but she's also smart, hilarious, and damn talented.
But I'm just not there yet. I'm not ready to jump into another thing with a girl, especially when that girl and I already have history.
"I'd say 'yes' right now," I tell her. "But that wouldn't be fair, cause I'm not feelin' ready yet, you know? I gotta take a little more time. My sister Ada told me I jump in too fast, with my whole heart, and I'm realizing that's true. I need to slow it down. And I'm not gonna ask you to wait till I'm ready, cause girl, you fine, and somebody's probably gonna snap you up before I get my head in the game— but I can't do this yet."
I don't know what her reaction will be.
What I don't expect is the brilliant smile that flashes across her face. "Zane Percy, you are gettin' smarter!" she says. "That's not a boy's answer— that's a man's answer. You keep that up and I just might wait around for you."
I don't know what to say, so I take a huge bite of my food, and she laughs. "So this stone, this Heart of the Earth thing— they need somewhere to keep it?"
"Yeah, and it can't be with anyone who was at the druid compound," I say. "It's gotta be someone the druids don't know."
She bites her lip thoughtfully. "This might seem weird, but what about Julio? He knows nothing about all this. None of the druids would know him."
"So I just give him the stone and ask him to hang onto it?"
"Ask him to hide it, and keep it safe for you. Make him understand it's important, but don't tell him what it is. The less he knows, the better for him and everyone else."
I shrug. "It's as good a plan as any." I'm about to text Aislinn when Laurel says, "Don't text. Call her. Texts would be easier for someone to see if they're poking around."
After lunch, I walk Laurel to her next class. It's good to talk to her about normal stuff, just class and the pros and cons of our co-ed dorm, and roommate issues. When we get to the lecture hall, she says, "Thanks for lunch," and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. Then she disappears through the doors, and I'm standing there like an idiot, with a big grin on my face.
I wipe her lipstick off my cheek, but I can still feel the kiss. It's there when I step outside to call Aislinn.
She's worried about putting Julio in danger, but I remind her that we're all in danger. If she and Kieran can't stop what's coming, everybody's going to be in a crapload of trouble. My parents, my sisters, my brother-in-law, my nephew, my friends— they'll all have to face the things from my nightmares.
I will do anything to keep that from happening.
Aislinn transports to my dorm later, after I text her a photo of my room. My roommate's out, so it's safe for her to show up out of thin air like she does. She's carrying a backpack.
"The stone is in here," she says, handing it to me. "I'll come with you to Julio's. I'll need to conceal his house." That's one of her pixie powers. She can locate stuff magically, as long as she has an image of it in her head; and she can also hide things from other pixies.
"Do you even need to hide it from pixies?" I ask. "The druids don't know what the stone looks like, do they? So they can't hire a pixie to find it, cause they don't have an image."
"We don't know," she says. "Maeve could have sent them a picture. Best not to take chances."
I text Julio, and he tells me he's out of school, just chilling at his house with Carmen.
In minutes Aislinn and I are walking up his driveway. I carry the backpack to the door while she starts circling the house, whispering concealment spells.
It's weird— when I'm wearing the stone on my back, the medallion on my chest feels charged— electric or something. There's like a buzzing on my skin, right where sits. Like the two relics are connected, somehow. Or maybe old Cathbad the druid seer is trying to tell me something. I don't want to hear it, whatever it is.
When Aislinn finishes hiding the house, we knock. Julio's mom lets us in, and we go up to Julio's room. He's got a sweet setup— three computer screens and a big gaming rig, a couple of big beanbag chairs, and some cool fan art from his favorite games. He and Carmen look rumpled when we come in— we probably interrupted a make-out session.
"We need to ask you somethin', man," I say. "It's gonna sound weird, but— here goes." I hand him the backpack. "I need you to hide this somewhere. Keep it safe."
"Dude," he says, eyes widening. "If this is some like, drug thing, I'm out, okay? I don't roll with that kinda crowd, man. I stay safe
, for my girl and for my family."
"Julio! Chill!" Aislinn says. "It's not drugs. It's a kind of— heirloom— that belongs to my family. My grandmother died, and some people want to steal it. So we need to hide it somewhere they'll never think to look."
Julio unzips the backpack and peeks inside. "A rock? You want me to hide a rock for you? Is this some kinda joke?"
"No," says Aislinn. Her green eyes are serious, intense. "Julio, this is not a joke. This is incredibly important, and we can't really explain. But it's nothing dangerous, or illegal. We just need you to put it somewhere, right now, and then leave it in that spot till we come for it."
"You guys have gotten so weird," he says.
Carmen nods. "I agree with him. Weird. What is this thing, anyway? Some kind of space rock? Alien rock? Gemstone?"
"None of the above," Aislinn says. "But it's one of a kind. Please Julio, hide it somewhere right now, and promise you'll keep it safe, just until I come back for it."
She's pleading, and Julio seems ready to give in. He looks at me for confirmation.
"Yeah, bro." I nod. "If you can help us out, man, that would be awesome."
"Okay." Julio pulls out several flat storage bins from under his bed and rolls them to the side. He stuffs the backpack with the stone under the bed, and with his leg pushes it as far back as he can into the rear corner of the space. Then he puts the bins back and looks up at us. "Good?"
"Yeah, thanks."
He grins. "Go on, you locos, get outta here. Me and my girl got some things to do."
Aislinn and I say goodbye to his mother and then slip quickly into the backyard, behind the shed, where Aislinn can transport us without being seen. We do a halfway jump behind a city park restroom building, then back to my dorm room.
She glances around, taking in my posters and my things, and my roommate's stuff. "I like it in here," she says. "It's comfy. Do you like it?"
"Yeah, it's cool. Different than home, though."
She nods. "How did lunch with Laurel go?"
Didn't I already tell her I didn't wanna talk about girls with her? "Lunch was fine."
Samhain Page 7
