****
"She just died!" Rae was beside herself, "I thought she was asleep. There was no bleeding—nothing." She could count on one hand the lives who were lost to either mothers, or babies. Aine should not have been among them!
"She knew that she would not survive this birth," Kellan said through her tears, "she said it was the way she would want to leave this world—by bringing in another."
Rhoswen and Vevila walked over to sit with Kellan. Dara looked around confused wondering where Alana was. Scared, she realized that she couldn't feel her. She started to panic, but then as suddenly, she could feel her again. She frowned in puzzlement and huddled at Kellan's feet.
Kellan suppressed her fear as she realized that she was truly the eldest, her sisters depended on her. Their Aunt Caryn was an unknown. She didn't even glow with magic, mama and papa could light a room from their personal flush. She had only started staying with them when their mama had gotten sick with this pregnancy. Up until then, they only saw each other at special celebrations. She didn't know much about Uncle Arlen, just that he blew glass—though she did remember his big grin and his tendency to tell the wildest of tales, totally different from the ever serious Aunt Caryn.
Rae watched the unity of the sisters and knew that they would be okay. Kellan was strong, she would hold them together—but more so—the sisters trusted in her. The bond was very apparent.
"She didn't say anything to me," Terah was saying between sobs, "she just told me that she needed a wet nurse. That she didn't have enough milk this time. It was true enough, look how thin she is—was."
Terah had been excited about joining Aine's family. She was ashamed to admit, but there were times when she was extremely envious of Aine's daughters. There was so much love in this house. She loved visiting here, riding the donkeys, laughing as they played in the cold pond. She loved to hear Uncle Keegan's stories and listen to Aine sing. Those days were the happiest of her life—and now they were gone—forever.
Alana and Kane ran into the room, their faces were flushed with excitement. They stopped abruptly looking around at the sad, teary faces.
"What is it?" Alana asked.
"Mama just died," Dara told them with tear filled eyes.
Rae watched sadly as the twins hugged into each other crying. Kane sat down on the floor and stared dry eyed into the stone floor, her fingers circling the grooves between the tiles.
"And what about the baby, Haley?" Kane asked quietly.
"She is perfect," Terah answered with a sad smile.
"We've been cut off," Alana said with shock. "Mama did this!"
"What are you talking about?" Kellan asked confused.
"The earthquake," Kane told her.
"What?" Kellan frowned at them.
"You didn't feel it?" Alana asked astounded. "How could you not? It knocked Kane and me right to the ground."
The others just stared at them.
"You need to see this," Kane said, getting to her feet.
"This isn't the time for games," Terah told Kane condescendingly.
"Games?" Alana faced Terah, her blue eyes flashing, her hands clenched into fists. Every since Terah had arrived, she had acted loftily with them. Alana assumed it was because she was older than they. It had gotten old real fast.
The two cousins faced each other. Terah scratched her brown hair uncertainly—her smoky blue eyes turned to alarm as she took in Alana's crazy red hair and furious eyes. She frowned as she noticed the dirt on Alana's dress. Terah felt confused. She had not meant to make anyone angry. It was just that Kane tended to get on her nerves. She just wasn't a normal child. She was always coming out with the strangest things—earthquake indeed!
"Enough!" Kellan called out. "Kane, what must we see?"
"It's outside by the wall," she said glaring at Terah.
They all walked out toward the wall.
"What the heck is that?" Dara exclaimed looking at the raised portion of the yard.
"It get's stranger," Alana told her. "Climb up over the wall and look back."
"I'll not be climbing up there," Rae told them. "You just climb on up and tell me what you see."
Alana and Kane watched as the others climbed over the wall and stared back. Shock radiated across their faces. Alana would have laughed if she hadn't felt so scared.
"What is it?" Rae asked them, feeling scared.
"They can't hear you," Alana told her. "It's the ocean. It's as if this land doesn't exist."
"Oh my!" Rae exclaimed.
Dara climbed back over the wall to sit on the edge with her feet swinging downward.
"I can even smell it," she said and closed her eyes. "If I didn't know better, I would swear that the ocean was really below me, and I know that it's a long ways from here."
"Look over there," Vevila pointed, "isn't that rock, Norman's Point?"
"It is," Kellan agreed, "and it looks right, as if the earth had fallen between here and there, mama somehow shifted the image of the ocean to this point."
Dara jumped toward the surf below, only to find herself beside Alana and Kane.
"Dara!" Kellan cried out rushing to the edge. Dara reached up and patted the earth just in front of the wall where Kellan could see it.
"Oh yah," Kellan said feeling silly.
"That was braver than me," Alana told her. "I didn't let go until I felt the earth securely under my feet."
"I could feel you here, silly," Dara told her.
Kellan, Vevila, and Rhoswen climbed down to join them. They stood quietly looking around, trying to understand what they had just found. Terah was still above, too scared to climb down.
"What are you girls doing?" Caryn called out.
They were going to be a handful, Caryn realized. Aine had let them run a little wild up here. She sighed—it would be her job to make ladies out of them. At least they were pretty girls, not a wren in the bunch. Caryn was once again amazed by all the variations in the children, blond, brunette, red head—blue eyes, green eyes, those eerie violet eyes, different noses and mouths, and yet it was obvious that they were family.
She came out further and stared at the broken earth. She had just found Aine's design under the bed. It was very complex. She had frowned at the time, realizing that she might not be able to decipher it. She shivered reflectively. She had hoped there would be no need to decipher it at all. She looked at the raised ground. Obviously, here was part of that puzzle, and it gave her the hee-bee-gee-bies.
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