“This won’t be easy,” I said. “And I can’t promise that no one will get hurt, but we’ll do our best to protect you all from Carman and whatever she brings with her.”
“Boone,” Sean muttered, loud enough for me to hear and loud enough to snap the villagers out of their stupor.
The room erupted into a deafening hubbub, insults flying around like monkeys in a zoo flinging poo at each other.
I was contemplating flipping a table on its side and hiding behind it when Mrs. Boyle slammed the end of her shovel against the floor. The metal sent a boom through the room, silencing everyone. We turned to stare as the tight-lipped old woman stood and assumed a pose that looked like she was channeling Gandalf in his ‘you shall not pass’ stance from the Lord of The Rings movies. I’d only ever heard her shout Irish swear words, so whatever she was about to say had to be good.
We all stared at her, holding our breath, waiting for her pearl of wisdom. Then…
“You have my broom.”
I made a face and glanced around the room. Broom? Like she was swearing her sword to us? I didn’t even know if that was a thing without a round table and a castle. Or a fellowship en route to Mt. Doom.
“I think that means she’s cool with all this,” Mairead said, breaking the confused silence.
Heads began to nod, and one by one, others began to stand.
“Blasphemy!” Father O’Donegal shouted. “This is blasphemy of the highest order!”
“Oh, shut your pie hole, Finnegan,” little Mary Donnelly declared.
“Your name is Finnegan O’Donegal?” I exclaimed. “Anyway, remember that time at my mother’s funeral when your cat sat on the altar and licked its balls?”
“He let his cat lick his balls at my funeral?” Aileen exclaimed.
“Blasphemy!” Mairead called out from the peanut gallery.
“Sit down, Finnegan,” Roy said, shoving the old minister down into his seat. “Let’s hear what these girls have to say. If some witch hell-bent on destroyin’ Derrydun is on her way, then I want to know about it. I had enough trouble with that fox!”
“You believe us?” I asked. “You really believe us?”
“Unless this is some kind of mass delusion, and Aileen isn’t really standing there, then I’d say we believe you,” Mark Ashlyn said.
“It sure explains a lot,” Maggie added, smiling at her dad. “All these years we thought you were just weird.”
“They are weird,” Mairead called out.
“I thought the devil lived inside them,” Grace, Mairead’s mother, stated.
“Weird but worth fightin’ for,” Roy declared. “What’s the plan?”
Reaching for the calico bag full of crystals, I said, “We’ve made talismans to protect you. They’re not foolproof, but they’re the best we’ve got.”
Mairead took the bag from me and helped hand them around. Mary Donnelly gasped as her crystal flared, shining a golden light through her fingers.
“Mo dhia,” she whispered.
“Father O’Donegal,” I said, holding out a crystal. “Will you take one?”
He scowled, then glanced around at the other villagers. “The Bible teaches tolerance,” he said after a moment. “Also forgiveness, love, and understandin’.”
I grasped his hand and placed the piece of glowing yellow quartz into his palm. “Then we’re on the same page.”
He nodded. “Aye.”
Standing, I moved toward the bar where Aileen had retreated to. She was sipping a glass of whiskey, and I wrinkled my nose. I was sure I would never get used to the stuff. Maybe that was the Australian coming out in me. I’d gladly have a beer instead.
“What now?” I asked, watching the villagers compare crystals. All in all, they’d taken the whole ‘Derrydun was about to become a magical battleground’ thing pretty well.
“We watch,” Aileen replied. “And we wait. Carman will come soon enough, and when she does…”
“We’ll be ready.”
Chapter 17
It felt like summer.
The sun was warming my shoulders, and I shivered as a bead of sweat trickled down my spine. My black hair was twisted into a loose braid that I’d pulled forward so the breeze could cool the back of my neck. My toes dug into the earth, rocks and leaf litter scratching the soles of my bare feet.
Glancing up, I saw the hawthorn towering above me, its branches laden with tiny white blossoms. The barest hint of green shimmered through the petals, rendering depth to the scene.
I stepped forward, knowing this was a dream…or a vision sent to me from the ancestor spirits. There was no way I could tell the difference. Besides, after this long enduring the latest episode in the Crescent TV series, I kind of just went with it.
Glancing over my shoulder, I checked to make sure I hadn’t been followed. The forest was silent, and the village beyond hadn’t even noticed I’d skipped out on the Beltane festival early. Good, that meant I had time.
The door was back, the cast iron dark against the trunk of the hawthorn. I was going through again, that much was obvious, but why? Was this a premonition or a glimpse of the past? My thoughts didn’t seem to be my own, yet…
Everything inside me was screaming to not open the door as my hand reached out. Don’t open the door! My fingers curled around the latch. Open the door, Skye.
I twisted, the latch unhooked, and I pulled…
White light streamed through the opening, and I stepped through, the sun blinding. Raising my arm, I covered my eyes and breathed in the perfumed air.
“I was hoping you’d come,” a voice said.
“Don’t open the door!” I shouted.
I sat bolt upright, my chest heaving and my thoughts all fuzzy. I was back in my bedroom, the first rays of dawn clawing at the sky.
“Skye?”
I glanced down at Aileen, who’d been asleep next to me. She was wide awake now, pushing to her elbows and frowning at me like I’d sprouted a second head during the night.
Rubbing my eyes, I attempted to recall the dream. It was clearer this time, the nonsense only misting half of what I’d seen.
“I had another dream,” I murmured, picking the grit off my eyelashes.
“Of?”
“The hawthorn… And…” I gasped as I realized what I’d seen. “The doorway. I went through…”
Aileen was in full sit-up mode by this stage.
Beltane, bare feet, blossoms on the hawthorn. They were all things I’d never seen or done. I didn’t recognize the voice, either. I was hoping you’d come. It was very male, but it wasn’t Boone.
“What did you see?”
“Nothing, I…” I blinked, but I was pretty sure that was the moment I woke up. It was always the way with dreams. The money shot was always left out, like humanity’s curse was to always be left wanting more. Except for sex dreams, but that was another story I didn’t want to discuss with my mother.
“It was me, but it wasn’t,” I went on. “Like I was living another life, but it was still like I am now. But not…” I frowned, my shoulders sinking. “Does that make any sense.”
“A little.”
“Then why am I dreaming this? It can’t just be a psychological thing, right? My subconscious could be manifesting the things I’m worried about… That’s a way stress can manifest…”
“You don’t need a therapist, Skye,” Aileen said. “I think someone’s with you.”
“What?” I immediately grabbed my boobs and tried to hide them even though she was the only one looking at me. Someone was… All those showers and naked posing in the mirror and…ohhhh sex with Boone. O. M. G! “Are you serious? Who?”
“A Crescent,” she replied, laughing at my reaction.
“An ancestor?” I rolled my eyes. “Now they want to help. Typical. It’s kind of pervy.”
“They are sticklers for showin’ up on their own terms.”
I flopped back into bed and buried underneath the covers. If Aileen were right, t
hen how long had this spirit been piggybacking my life? It was super creepy, but it explained a lot of things. The nonsense dreams for one, and the random voices I’d been hearing. Oh! And my magic had been flaring up more than usual. I’d assumed it was just growing pains, but it could totally be some wayward spirit short-circuiting my magical motherboard.
Flinging the blankets off me, I sat up again. “I could speak Gaelic!” I declared. “When I got angry with Sean after Boone left, I ranted at him in Gaelic! The only word I know how to say is shit.”
Aileen scratched her head. “Everyone always learns the curse words first.”
“Why?” I asked the dark room more than my mother. “What do you want from me?”
“Skye,” Aileen said, placing her hand on my arm. “We don’t know if someone’s there. Not for sure.”
“Then how do we find out?”
She sighed and glanced out the bedroom window. From the look on her face, I wasn’t sure she knew. I’d hoped Aileen was a know-it-all witchy almanac when she’d shown up, but her knowledge was limited. Not as much as mine, but she’d been in the same position as I had once. A lifetime of study and still the entire power of the Crescent Legacy was beyond her. So much had been lost in the wake of Carman, I couldn’t fathom it.
Finally, she said, “Let’s take a walk.”
“But it’s too early,” I complained. “Five more minutes!”
“Bein’ early won’t hurt our plans,” she said, whacking me on the shoulder.
I dragged myself out of bed and moaned as my feet hit the cold floor. There was definitely a freaky spirit tagging along because I hated feet and that included mine.
“I call the shower first!” I shouted, darting out of the bedroom and down the hall.
Closing myself in the bathroom, I flipped on the light and stared at my reflection.
“Hello,” I whispered. “Who might you be?”
And in true Crescent ancestor spirit, nothing answered me. Nothing at all.
Carman would arrive any day now.
Outside, the air was still, crisp, and full of anticipation. The calm before the storm. It was the ultimate cliché, but it was true. The whole village was jumping from foot to foot like they all had the runs, and I was feeling pretty much the same. It was so bad that the Topaz was out of toilet paper.
Instead of going straight up the hill to the tower house, Aileen and I detoured via the main street. The lights were on in the teahouse, casting a warm glow out into the misty dawn. We could see Mary Donnelly within, stocking up the sandwich counter with ingredients. She’d already topped up the muffins and cookies, and my mouth began to water. Double chocolate chip! The village would be well fed this week, that was for sure.
I turned at the sound of hooves clomping on asphalt and saw Fergus and his entourage emerging from the ghostly tendrils of fog that clung to the landscape.
“Good mornin’, Fergus,” Aileen said, holding the calico bag she’d brought along with us against her chest.
Stopping beside the donkey, I scratched behind her ears as the Jack Russell stood and wagged his tail. The little dog had a crystal attached to his collar, and the donkey had one stitched into the lining of her coat. It wasn’t until last night at the village meeting I’d finally learned they were named the very obvious Jack and Donkey.
After we’d revealed the truth about the Crescents, we’d given everyone a crash course in spotting fae and craglorns. Without inherited magic to guide them, having talismans would make it a great deal easier. While acting as a layer of protection, the crystals would also react to any supernatural juju by warming, so not only were they useful in our quest to protect Derrydun but they were also handy on a cold day.
“Mornin’,” Fergus rasped, burying into his coat.
“Anythin’ out there?”
“Quiet,” he replied, glancing at me. “More than usual.”
“Thanks, Fergus,” I said, rubbing Jack on the head.
More than usual. They were on their way then.
“We appreciate your help,” Aileen added.
We’d arranged the village to be on the lookout for Carman’s coming, and they were out in shifts, patrolling the forest and the roads. A lot of people were still skeptical of our story, but I was kind of glad about that. Blind acceptance wasn’t the greatest thing even though it would’ve been easier. Free will, free thought, and earned trust were more valuable prizes.
We let Fergus go on his way and walked toward the traffic lights before turning north and climbing upward past the limit of Roy’s farm. The fields were empty. The flock had been herded into the sheds by his cottage further to the west.
“Aileen?”
“Hmm?”
“You know how I was able to take back my magic from the craglorn?” I said as we climbed the hill. “If there’s any chance of capturing Carman, then I could help give the witches back their stolen Legacies.”
“Perhaps, but it might not work out that way.”
She didn’t have to say it. We might have to kill her to stop her from opening the doorway. Take her out, and the rest will fall. It was the surest way to end this war before it got any worse. Still, I didn’t like knowing all those witches would have lost their magic forever.
“And Boone?” I asked. “If Carman dies, he’ll die, too?”
Aileen nodded.
I let my head fall into my hands and swallowed a sob. My knees wobbled beneath me, and it was all I could do not to fall into a heap. So much had happened in the last few days, and after so long waiting… It was all too much. The thought of losing Boone forever was like taking a hot poker to my heart.
“Do you want to save him?”
“I love him, “ I whispered. “Even after all of this…” I toyed with the ring on my finger, twisting it around and around.
“There’s good in him, Skye,” my mother reassured me. “Even with his amnesia, it wouldn’t have been enough to stop his true nature from shinin’ through.”
“But I thought his wolf form was his true nature?”
“It’s what he is,” she explained. “Not who. If Boone were evil, then his story here in Derrydun would’ve been as different as night and day.”
“You’re saying…”
“I don’t believe he came here out of spite or because it was some kind of plot.”
“Then why?”
“Because it was his destiny.”
Destiny… It was such a strange word. To think everything we were doing had already played out on some mystical level was infuriating, yet calming at the same time. I wasn’t sure I would ever fully understand this life. Why magic was the way it was, how we could exist, and what the point of it all was, but maybe that was it. We weren’t supposed to know everything. No one should wield absolute power. No one at all.
I scoffed at the irony and wiped my tears. It was the journey that mattered, not the destination. Boone was right. He always was, after all, and so was Aileen. I saw it now as clear as the Legacy flowing through my veins.
“Then we have to convince him to come home before Carman dies,” I said, my hopes rising. “Because Derrydun is his real home.”
“Sever her link to him…”
“And he’ll be free to live or die as he chooses.”
The tower house loomed above us, and I stared up at its ruined walls, a chill spreading through my bones. It was about to become the central computer in another kind of magical network, not unlike Skynet from the Terminator movies.
It felt like I’d come full circle. From the first time I’d faced a craglorn with Boone to the eve of the ultimate battle. This time, the tactics were similar but on a grander scale. By recycling the crystals I’d used in my failed barrier, we could create the largest web Ireland had ever seen. It would trap Carman inside—along with the ancient hawthorn and the whole of Derrydun—and then we would skewer her. There were more moving parts than that, but it was the ‘too long, didn’t read’ version. Trap. Skewer. Bam!
If it did
n’t work, plan B was to improvise.
I opened the metal door that closed off the ruin from wandering tourists and allowed Aileen to enter first. Following her into the darkness, we re-emerged into what would’ve once been the main hall. It was open to the sky and the weather, and I squirmed as I watched my mother walk the perimeter of the room. Finally, she stopped in the center.
Taking the large chunk of clear quartz out of her bag, she placed it on the ground and turned it around until she was satisfied with the placement.
“Can we resell that?” I asked, studying the spiked facets of the crystal. It was one of the largest geodes in Irish Moon and was worth almost four hundred euros.
“After a cleansin’, yes.”
“Good. I’ve been trying to improve the shop’s bottom line.” I blew out a long breath. “So we aren’t actually activating the spell yet?”
“It’ll lay dormant until we need it,” Aileen replied. “It should be undetectable on this kind of scale.”
“Should be?”
She shrugged and rose to her feet, her eyes misting with tears.
“I’m not that insolent, am I?” I made a face. “It is a four-hundred-euro chunk of crystal we’re just leaving out here. The word should at a time like this—”
“You’re everythin’ I ever imagined,” Aileen declared, wiping away her own tears.
“Errr…” I squirmed, not liking the attention. I could never take a compliment without wondering when the punch line was coming.
“I thought of you every day,” she went on. “Wonderin’ what you’d be like, if you were as feisty as me or calm like your father.”
“Aileen…”
“You’re the one, Skye,” she declared, grasping my shoulders. “After a thousand years, you’re the one who’ll lead us all into a new age.”
“You’re really freaking me out,” I muttered. “Do we have to do this? I’m not a savior.”
“Skye, you need to hear this.” Her expression turned serious as she stared at me. “When the time comes, open yourself.”
“Open myself?”
“When it happens, you’ll know.”