He fell back onto the sofa and came up clapping. “Brava!”
“Well done, lass. Now, me.” Jay stood up and flung his cap to the floor. His hair stood on end and began to smoke. Riley watched, entranced as the fire from the fireplace dimmed and Jay caught on fire. He pointed his finger and sparks shot across the room, spiraling toward her.
Riley threw up her palm and invited the fire to land there. She felt the tingling along her veins, moving up to her arm and onto her head. Her hair raised and she could hear the hissing as it ate at the air. Not again.
She walked over the fireplace and tried to release the fire back to the logs. It wouldn’t go. “A little help,” Riley said and heard her voice come out in sibilant sizzles. She could taste ash and smoke.
“Stay calm, lass.” Jay held her hands and opened his mouth. He sucked in the fire, drawing it out. Sensation returned to her hands when he finished. She watched as he dropped her hands and spat a lustrous ember into his own palm. He threw it into the fireplace. “Maybe next time, you won’t invite it so warmly, hey?”
Riley sat back on the couch. She felt like her whole body was trembling.
“What do I do if that happens again? Jump into a lake?” Riley wiped the sweat out of her eyes.
“Not unless you plan to be extinguished forever, my lass. No one since Finan the Brave has fully wielded the power of stream and sea.” Jay spat and sparks squirted out between his teeth. “Shall we try again?”
“I think that will be sufficient for today.” Fergus pushed a cat off his lap. “Where do we take her now?”
Jay shrugged.
Emma spoke up. “Belle can take care of things at the castle, but she can’t go everywhere with her, and we should probably cloak Sean, too. Take her to Aileen’s and put a cloak on her and Sean.” Emma handed Riley a refilled glass, only the liquid was scarlet this time. “Take at least a few sips.”
Fergus and Jay put their caps back on and rose. Jay bowed to Emma and held out his hand to Riley. “Let us away, lass.”
Riley took a gulp of the bright red liquid and coughed. It tasted like sulfur at first, and then the sensation of cool spring water soothed her parched throat. Emma raised her glass to Riley and shimmered away to nothing.
“She’s good with exits.” Jay gripped Riley’s hand. “I’m good with entrances.”
Riley felt fire again. It coursed through her mind, eating away at her fears and filling her with an overwhelming desire to feed its core. The Acorn hazed into existence all around her. She saw Eric’s startled face and heard Aileen gasp.
The fire subsided, leaving her hungry and alert. Jay released her hand and bowed to Aileen. “Evening, mum. I do be dropping off a package for your ladyship’s keep.”
“You right scared me, Jay.” Aileen picked up the peacock feathers she had dropped. “I guess I expected you to come through the door, not flame in like a phoenix.”
“Sorry, mum, just doing me business, right enough. Fair is you watch and I guard.”
“Well, and thanks to you then, and evening, too.”
“Mum.” He bowed and nodded to Eric.
“Thanks.” Riley swallowed against the weird feeling in her throat and extended her hand for a shake.
“Ah, my fiery lass.” He kissed her hand. “A shake I ne’er give a pretty lady’s hand, less it wears a round of gold or an empty glass. Even then, I’m easily won over. Fair you well.”
He walked out into the street and vanished in front of the display window.
“He’s drunk, isn’t he?” Aileen handed Riley the feathers and showed her how to fan them. “Always so full of it, though, I rarely can tell the seam.”
Aileen swept through the curtains behind the register. Eric smiled weakly and held the broom motionless in front of him. The silence lengthened liked pulled taffy, strung to its breaking point between them. Riley started to speak and burped out a chain of smoke signals. Quickly, she willed them to form into hearts and sent them over his head.
Eric grinned. “Good one.”
“I had a good teacher.” Riley felt the tension ease. “I want to show you something cool.”
“Lay it on me, Miss.” He propped the broom in the corner with the cane.
Riley took a deep breath and rushed it out, breathing slowly into a long, languid finger of air. She arched it toward him and let it curl around his face, whisking through his hair and caressing his cheek. Eric closed his eyes. Riley let the flow dissipate in a tender hush at his ear.
“How’s that for manipulating?” Riley smiled.
Eric’s eyes remained closed.
“Eric.”
“Mmm, very, uh, good.” He looked dazed, his eyes dreamily seeking her face. “I liked it very much, indeed.”
“Thanks. How is he?”
She hated the look that possessed Eric’s face at her question. He looked hurt.
“He’s been asking for you, Maiden of Mist.” Eric raised his thick eyebrows and mocked with his mouth. “Why must he be on about you like that? I mean, you must admit, he is a little obsessive.”
“Obsessive? Because he calls me that?” Riley flushed. “Are you jealous?”
“No.” Eric crossed his arms and shook back his unruly bang. “Yes, maybe, but he’s too old for you, literally very old. Though I guess girls still choose the bad boys of magic over the humble, brilliant, yet devastatingly handsome academics.”
Riley couldn’t help smiling.
“Sure, laugh at my plight. It’s not to be tolerated, Miss.” Eric busied himself at the postcards, turning his back to her. “He’s in the kitchen. Just remember he’s near eighty and eligible for discounts on food stuffs and whiskey on senior’s night.”
The kitchen was brighter than Riley remembered. William and Sean sat at the table nursing hot mugs of tea. Sean rose as she neared the table, pulling out a chair for her and taking her hand in his.
“Words cannot do justice to what I owe you.” Sean bent his head over her hand and kissed each knuckle. “You saved me, and now I will save you.”
“He thinks he can defeat Brown.” William sipped his tea and bit into a buttered scone.
“I can.”
Riley glanced at William who shrugged and offered her a scone.
“Have you eaten, girl? I didn’t think so. Here, have a scone and some tea. You can sup with Aileen and Eric. Sean and I have almost finished.” William pushed the tray over to her. “Sean, son, drink your tea. It will help make you well.”
“I want aught but to drink in the evening and the maiden’s face.” Sean rose and bowed to her. “Would you walk with me, maiden? Evening is harping a tune for us to ramble in her shade.”
“Sure.” Riley let him pull her to her feet.
“Don’t go far. The cold is not your friend, son,” William cautioned. “Nor is the night. And don’t go too far. You’re cloaked, but stay vigilant.”
Riley was glad for the warm lining of her jacket. She kept her hands in her pockets as they walked. Sean looked darkly handsome in William’s cloak. It caught each gust of wind and sent the folds flapping out behind him.
As they passed Mangan’s, Sean stopped and touched the building’s stones.
“I know these well.” He ran a shaking hand over the door’s lintel and down to the stone face of the building. “All is changed, except stone.”
His face was drawn, his eyes distant.
“What of my mother?”
Her heart broke for him. “Your mother married Brown and moved back to England, I’m pretty sure. And we know nothing of your sister. There are no records.”
“She died the same night that Brown found us on the balcony. The same night he trapped me in my own walls. He told me when I came home from Mangan’s party. She was gone to a better place, he said, and smiled that devil’s smirk.” Sean hit the side of the building. “I curse myself that I could not help them in my time, but I will take revenge in my hand and serve it to Brown.”
“I’m so sorry, Sean.” A tear sl
ipped down her cheek and Riley raised her hand to wipe it off. Sean stopped her.
“Let me take your tear, Maiden.” Sean traced its course to her chin and lifted it off onto his finger. Riley watched transfixed as the smear of liquid rose from his fingertip into a perfect teardrop.
“You can manipulate water?”
Sean lifted her finger to his.
“Many have unraveled its currents. I am but one.” He dropped the tear onto her fingertip, keeping it connected to his. “We are water and earth and air, and what is a part of you can be shaped by you. It’s no more difficult than breathing.”
The teardrop stretched between their fingers, growing and narrowing to a needle’s shape. He pulled away and Riley tried to keep the needle on her tip. She thought of her tear as an extension, like her breath, and willed it to change its shape. The needle swayed and she felt like a plate juggler as she moved with it, trying to keep it balanced.
“What do I do?”
“Be its master.”
Riley tried to give her thoughts to the needle. As you were, she thought and froze as the needle dropped into a perfect tear. Sean lifted it from her and placed it on his own cheek. It absorbed into his skin, and he smiled.
“You are part of me, Riley of the Mist, and I would be part of you as well.” He grazed her cheek with his knuckles and lowered his mouth close to hers. Their lips were almost touching. “I have waited a lifetime for this.”
He parted her lips with his finger, and Riley closed her eyes for his kiss. His nose touched hers as his finger swept up to draw tiny circles on her forehead and push back her bangs. Sean moaned softly, his breath again caressing her waiting mouth, and lifted her up against his body. Her feet were inches from the ground.
“Maiden,” he whispered and settled his mouth over hers. The kiss intensified. He stroked the back of her head with his thumb and pressed himself to her. Riley’s eyes flew wide at his kiss so hard against her mouth.
His eyes were closed, the lids still tinged purple. She watched his colors spinning and blending. His mouth softened against hers, and he tenderly held her to him. A brilliant white light enveloped them. Riley closed her eyes again and let his embrace warm her.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
“For what?” she asked. Her voice was low and yielding, and she felt a blush steal up into her face.
“For saving me. I will return the favor, I vow to you now. I will take his life from him and destroy his hold on the living and the dead.”
For a moment his colors met, and a blackness blocked out everything behind him. Riley blinked and they were back, spinning clockwise around him. His head fell to her shoulder.
“I take no more liberty, Riley, save the sweet lips you offered me.” He kissed her so softly she wondered if he had stopped short again.
Her eyes locked on his. He pressed his lips harder to hers as they held each other’s gaze. He drew back and cupped her chin in his hand. “One day, I hope to offer you what your heart desires. And to lay at your feet the whole of the world.”
She felt guilt descend like a bird of prey. It pierced her heart and caused her to flinch. Was this what she wanted? Had it been an inevitability after all, as Eric said?
As though he were reading her thoughts, Sean whispered, “It is fated, maiden. You and I in this moment, in this time. No matter the circumstance, we are connected, tethered by more than time can fight or death can sever.”
Riley shivered.
“Fear not. I ask little. That you have given, I will cherish. That you may offer, I will take. For that you hold back, I will wait. I am patient as time and stone, and as stubborn.” He turned her back toward Mangan’s.
Riley’s voice quavered. “Sean, I don’t know . . .”
He held up his hand. “And if you never wish me yours, I will live out my life still at your service should you have need.”
He stopped at Mangan’s side gate and looked longingly across the field toward Donahue castle. He took her hand and kissed it.
Suddenly, he stumbled against her and his speech slurred. As she caught him and struggled to shimmer them both back to Aileen’s, his words caught in her ears.
“Brown nears.”
23
Sean had finally but fitfully fallen asleep on the couch. William watched him from the doorway, moving so that Riley could steal a glance inside.
The morning light streamed over the scene. Sean had sweated through the blankets and struggled against William’s pushing him to lie down, but now he slept in tosses and turns. He shifted as she looked in and reached his hand out in his sleep.
“I’ve seen only two cases like him these many years. Non-magic, of course. And they were not well men. One a detoxing addict who never came to terms with reality, another a psychologist who to this day fights hourly against his demons. Sean will not rest, even asleep he fights,” William said. He put his hand on her shoulder and she met his eyes. “And searches, he does, girl. Are you sure his is a friendship you want?”
He had stressed the word friendship. Riley dropped her gaze to her twisting hands.
“I don’t know what I want. It’s just …”
William interrupted, “Your age and his are two different ages. A caution is all I give you, girl. To thine own self be true, a wise man once penned, but no wiser was written than know thyself.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Riley whispered.
“Until then, why don’t you take Sean to see Carter at the hospital this morning?”
“Is he well enough for that?”
“A little shimmer and you’re there. Taxing on you maybe, but he’ll be fine. Might do him good to see an old friend or two.”
William went over to the couch and gently nudged Sean’s shoulder. Sean shot up with his hands fisted in front of him.
“Easy, there, champ. Riley’s come to take you to see an old friend. Her grandfather, a great friend of yours, Carter O’Donnell.”
“Carter O’Donnell, your grandfather?” Sean wiped his damp forehead on the blanket. “I knew him well, my poor friend. He lies ill?”
“He had a heart attack,” William responded, and took a stack of clothes off the coffee table and handed them to Sean. “Go clean up and change. These should fit you well enough. Then Riley will take you there.”
“I can travel myself, but I’ll be happy to accompany you.” Sean ran his hand across her back as he left.
“I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder, especially over six decades.” William cleaned off the couch and left her there.
Riley sat down and put her head in her hands. She didn’t want this pain in her chest or the berating of her own mind against her. She buried her face in the cushion and wept silently. Her body was tired, her mind was a muddle, and her heart was torn in several pieces. Emotions stole through each piece. Guilt for her grandpa and Eric, fear for herself and her family, love, hatred, compassion. They warred for space in the chambers of her heart. Riley sighed deeply and tried to clear her mind. She slowed her breathing and her pulse and waited for calm to steal over her. The meditation helped, but she opened her eyes still feeling lost.
Aileen rapped on the wooden frame of the doorway, waving the smoking bundle of herbs over her head. “Hey, dearie. Sean is waiting for you in the kitchen. Carter knows you’re coming. Fergus is there now. You should go.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Riley reached the doorway and turned as Aileen voiced a question.
“Do you love him?”
“Who?”
Aileen smiled and wafted the smoke toward Riley. “That’s the question, isn’t it?”
* * *
Sean held tightly to her hand as they shimmered into her grandpa’s room.
The hospital bed was empty. Fergus came toward them and ushered them over to the chairs.
“He’s gone for some tests. He’ll be right back.” Fergus winked at Riley and disappeared with a snap of his fingers.
“Who was he? His face ha
d a familiar cast.” Sean looked at the place where Fergus had stood and rubbed his temple. “Powerful, obviously. Should I know him?”
“I doubt it. Just relax. Grandpa will be here soon.”
“Grandpa. I cannot get used to that title on my best friend. What does he look like?” Sean edged up on the vinyl seat. “What will I possibly say?”
He stood and looked out the window at the parking lot below.
“I’m in another world here. And I stand waiting to say what I know not to a man I do not know but knew so well. Ah, Riley, what shall I say?”
“Hello’s good to begin,” her grandpa’s voice interrupted. He got out of the wheel chair the nurse was pushing. “Thank you, angel. Would you shut the door for me?”
Sean was frozen by the window, only his eyes appeared to move. They swept over the hospital gown and the various taped lines on her grandpa’s arms and rested on the smiling face.
“Sean.” Her grandpa reached out a hand. Sean rushed forward then and shook her grandpa’s hand and embraced him.
“My old friend. Truly grown old. I cannot wrap my mind around this absurdity.”
“My young friend, grown not a day past what I last saw of you at Donahue castle’s door. I have searched the world over for a trace of you, and here you were in your own walls.” Her grandpa was crying, but he didn’t seem to notice. “I’m sorry I could not save you, Sean. I have little magic, as you know. I never had your ability, nor your zeal.”
They embraced again, and Riley felt her own sadness grow.
“Forgive me, Sean. I just let Brown have you that night.”
“If not for you, I would still be trapped there. I thank you, my friend.”
“Not me, Sean. My granddaughter deserves the credit. It’s her great power and her great heart that are to be thanked. My darling lass.” He reached over and squeezed her hand. “She it is who saved you. I, well, I am the one who didn’t protect you when I should have. I’ve never forgiven myself, but I hope you will.” He sat on the bed and pulled the sheets over him.
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