by CK Dawn
We crossed the pub, and I flicked off the lights as we went. Outside, Hannah fumbled in her bag for the keys as I waited. The only light came from the orange streetlamps, and in the distance, the green glow from the single set of traffic lights. The street was empty, and all the shops were dark, but I knew strange and wonderful things still lingered out there, and not everyone was aware of the eyes that watched.
“You’re a wise man. Anyone ever tell you that?” Hannah declared, turning the key in the lock. The mechanism clicked, and she glanced at me, raising an eyebrow.
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “I’m more like an animal behaviorist than a wise man.”
Hannah laughed, her face lighting up. “And our Sean is a rare animal indeed.”
“Careful,” I said playfully.
“Would you walk with me?” she asked, nodding toward the forest. “It’s so pretty on a night like this, and I know you like to wander there, too.”
I frowned, not realizing she knew I ventured into the wilderness at all hours past midnight.
Hannah laughed again. “C’mon, Boone. It’s a small village. People talk…and they see more than you might realize.”
Hesitating, I began to fret she’d seen me walk into the trees as a man and fly out as a gyrfalcon. Or worse still, seen me change, bare ass and all.
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re not hiding any dead bodies out there are you? Is that why you left wherever it was you came from to live here? The Guard was getting too close to finding out you were a serial killer?”
Her lips quirked, signaling she was taking the piss, and I rolled my eyes. “Hardly.”
“Then let’s walk. Since you’re not an axe murderer, what harm could it do?”
Sighing, I lowered my head, my hair falling into my eyes. “Lead the way, then.”
She smiled brightly and nodded toward the path that ran between Molly McCreedy’s and the handcrafts store next door.
The track ran behind the shops, along the side of the stream that ran through the parkland by the coach bay, past the church and its ancient graveyard, and then into a stretch of the forest I’d become familiar with in my nighttime wanderings as a fox.
The hawthorn that sat in the middle of the road protected this part of the village, and the air felt cooler as a result. The safety net was thinner here, so it was a place I didn’t venture to often. Still, I wasn’t worried walking the path with Hannah. I knew she lived a little further along and well within the limits of where I was able to wander.
We followed the stream for a while, the bubbling water calming in the silence. Our feet crunched on the earth below, the scent of the wilderness floating all around. The damp smells of dirt, the sweetness of the fuchsia, and the crispness of the unpolluted air…it was beautiful. I felt at home among all of it. To nature, I was insignificant, its ancient power eclipsing anything I’d ever been or would be. I was a blip on its surface while it would go on living long after my bones rotted away.
Stepping out into a glade, silver light poured over us, and I turned my face upward.
“Oh, the stars are so pretty,” Hannah said breathlessly, her face tilted up toward the sky. “Don’t you think, Boone?”
I peered at the thousands of tiny silver pricks of light and nodded. “Aye. To be sure.”
Signaling she was far from done with me and her evening walk, she sat gracefully in the middle of the glade, her eyes trained upward. Reluctantly, I sat beside her, respectfully keeping my distance. This was becoming more and more like a romantic date, and it put me on edge. Hannah was lovely, but…
“Why don’t you talk about where you were before?” she asked abruptly. “Was it that bad?”
“It’s not worth mentioning,” I replied with a shrug. “It doesn’t seem to matter all that much anymore.”
She tilted her head to the side, her fiery curls brushing against her cheek. “What about your family? They don’t matter?”
“Honestly, I don’t remember them.”
“Really?” She frowned, her eyebrows knitting together. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen mine, but I remember everything about them.”
“Why haven’t you seen them?” I asked, turning her questioning around.
“Distance, mainly. It’s not that I don’t want to, but sometimes, circumstances just make it impossible.”
“I’m sorry. It sounds like you miss them.”
Hannah shrugged, glancing back up at the stars. “A rock and a hard place… What can you do? Sometimes, things are the way they are just because it's the way they turned out.”
I could relate to that in more ways than she would ever realize.
“Boone…”
I turned to face her, the uncertainty in her voice unsettling.
“There’s really no chance for us?” she asked, lowering her gaze. “I’d very much like to… Well, you know.”
“Hannah…” Bowing my head, I grimaced. “I just… You’re beautiful and sweet… I just don’t see you that way.”
Silence stretched between us, and I fidgeted nervously, pulling at the grass by my feet. If I were cruel, I would lead her on and take the comfort she offered for a night or two, but I wasn’t like that. Breaking her heart was never something that would appeal. It wasn’t in me to take when I wasn’t able to give.
“I think it’s time to reveal myself to you,” she mused, standing before me.
Perplexed, I watched as she began unbuttoning her blouse. Oh, no. When she said reveal, she meant…
“Hannah, what are you doing? I can’t…”
She smiled and allowed her blouse to fall to the forest floor. Then her bra followed, and her skirt, and the rest of her underthings.
“Hannah, I think you shouldn’t—”
“Shhh,” she murmured. “You’ll see soon enough.”
All at once, I sensed magic in the air, and then there was the sound of snapping bones as she began to shrink and sprout red fur.
I rose to my feet, my eyes wide with shock. She was changing and not into just any creature. She was changing into a fox.
“You’re the fox from the field,” I said, shaking my head. “You were the one who came…”
“Come,” she said, her voice husky as her face elongated, her nose turned black, and her freckled cheeks sprouted whiskers. “Come and see…”
For a long time, I stood and watched her. She’d completed her transformation and contentedly sat and waited for me to make up my mind. I wasn’t surprised considering she’d tried for four days to get my attention.
Weighing up my options, I knew there were two ways this could go. I could find a companion in Hannah as a shapeshifter, or she could be leading me to my doom. The doom part sounded rather bad, but the temptation of not hiding my true nature was more alluring than anything I’d ever felt.
Loneliness was something I’d struggled with since learning I had to keep my magic a secret, and belonging was all I’d ever wanted. There were others out there like me, but I was alone in my plight. Aileen was a witch, and we had that connection, but as a shapeshifter, I had no one.
I was a part of Derrydun, but I was still separate.
If Hannah was revealing herself to me, then with her, I might have a chance at being understood. Besides, she might know others like us and had been attempting to lead me to them all this time. More importantly, she might have the answers I’d been searching for since my new life began. Who was I?
That was why I began to change. Call it a leap of faith, but I had to know one way or another. The call in my blood was too strong not to.
Hannah didn’t make a sound as I transformed, waiting patiently as my flesh and bones snapped, twisted, and reformed into the first shape I’d ever been. The fox. Running…
I sat on my haunches and licked my paws, easing into the last intricacies of my fox shape. When I was done, I glanced at Hannah and bowed my head. I was ready.
Turning, she trotted off through the forest, leading me toward an unknown destinati
on, and this time…I followed.
Thirteen
The darkness came alive with shade and depth when I was in my fox form.
My eyesight was sharper, my hearing attuned to the undercurrents of nature, and my sense of smell was heightened. Ahead, I could see the outline of Hannah’s fox form as she led me through the forest. Her tail hung low, and her footsteps were lithe as she leapt over fallen logs and weaved through trees, taking me to an unknown destination.
Whatever she wanted to show me was still a mystery, but she’d become desperate enough to reveal her true form in order to get me there.
The closer we ventured toward the edges of my known world, the more uneasy I became. I wanted to trust Hannah, but her reluctance to confide had me on edge. Was she the sweet barmaid I’d always known, or was she something more sinister?
I felt the boundary of the hawthorns before me, and I stopped, my snout brushing up against the invisible veil. I could feel the hum of magic before me, and beyond that, nothing. One more step and I would be exposed.
Hannah sensed my uneasiness and turned, her gaze meeting mine. Seeing I’d halted, she sat on her haunches and waited for me to make my decision.
Before me, there was untold danger, but there were also answers. Behind, there was Derrydun and safety. Did I want to know the truth of who I was badly enough to brush with death? I’d come to terms with the life I led now. I was Boone, but it was only a small part of who I was…of who I’d been.
That was why I stepped across the boundary.
Hannah led me on, weaving her way through parts of the countryside I was unfamiliar with. The air seemed colder outside the influence of the hawthorns, but in the distance, I could feel the presence of another. It seemed there were many places of sanctuary for me across Ireland, and I was grateful to know it.
Finally, we came to a halt in the middle of a clearing. Above, the stars shone through the bows that hung overhead, their leaves rustling in the breeze. There was nothing here, and I wondered what she would gain from bringing me to this place.
Hannah stopped, sniffed the air, and began to change. It was strange to watch another shapeshifter morph into a human form. The elongating of her limbs, the shedding of her fur, the growth of her russet-colored hair… I wondered if I looked just as strange. Not wanting to dwell on it, I initiated my own transformation, turning my back to give her some semblance of modesty.
“I knew you would come,” Hannah said behind me as I stood on two feet once more.
Turning, I met her gaze. She stood across the clearing, naked and shimmering, her hair wild and fluttering around her delicate face as if she were alight with an unearthly fire. There was something about her that didn’t quite make sense, and my head began to throb the harder I tried to unravel the mystery.
“You’re a shapeshifter?” I asked, attempting to keep my gaze from falling to her nakedness. “Like me?”
“I can change my shape, but I’m nothing like you,” she replied, her lips curving into a wicked smile as her eyes raked greedily over my body. It seemed she liked what she saw.
“Then what are you?”
She prowled across the clearing, her feet making no sound on the litter on the forest floor, and stood before me. Without uttering a word, she placed her palms on my chest and caressed my skin, her teeth tugging at her bottom lip.
“Hannah…” I murmured.
“You’re no fun,” she complained, letting her head fall back. “She said you were the most cunning…and loyal.”
“Who?” I asked, grasping her wrists. “Who said that to you?”
“You should at least kiss me once,” she said. “Pretty boy Boone, with your handsome pouty lips. Imagine what they could do…down there.”
“Who are you?” I growled, shaking her.
Hannah’s fiery curls shook back and forth, and she began to giggle hysterically.
“They really gave you the works,” she chortled. “I’m a fae, you dolt. I can’t believe you didn’t recognize me, but I suppose that was the point.”
My eyes widened, and my grasp slackened on her wrists. She wriggled free and slid her body against mine, taking the opportunity to borderline molest me.
“Who are you to me?” I asked, attempting to extract myself from her wandering hands.
“I’m Hannah,” she replied. “I could be your Hannah…if you want. There’s still time to go back.”
“Hannah,” I said, becoming rather uncomfortable. “Why did you bring me here?”
“The hawthorn is gone,” she said. “I needed it to survive. It’s too risky to feed off the tree in the village, and it would be a death sentence to even approach the ancient hawthorn in the forest behind the tower house. Aileen would skin me alive, she would, but if I were yours, then I could stay.”
Could it be that Aileen didn’t know a fae had been living under her nose? I’d spoken to Hannah many times at Molly McCreedy’s and had never sensed anything magical about her. Not once.
“You’re not making any sense…”
“Without the tree, I had to do something,” she went on, her fingers tracing over my face. “I’m sorry, Boone, but I was desperate. It is life or death for me, you know. I’ve waited a long time for someone like you, but I’ve waited for a chance to go home longer.” She mewled softly, then kissed me on the lips. “We could’ve had a great deal of fun, you know. Flying, running, making love in whatever form you wanted. I was up for anything…”
I shoved her away with a growl. “What have you done?”
Hannah pouted. “I think the question is what have you done, Boone?”
“Me?” I couldn’t remember a single thing from my past. My first memory was of fear and running. I’d always believed I was the victim, but what if I was the bad guy? What if I was running from my punishment? What if I’d done something terrible?
“She wants you.”
“Who?” I exclaimed, my patience wearing thin. “Who wants me?”
“Carman is coming, and there’s no stopping her,” Hannah said. “She will reign over this realm and open the doorways. This world of technology and humanity…gone.”
Carman… She was the thousand-year-old witch Aileen had told me about. The witch who’d betrayed her kind and who had been banished from ever returning to Ireland. What did she want from me? Was it just my magic she wanted to suck from my bones, or was she the force I’d been fleeing the night I landed in Derrydun?
“The doorways… Is that the only reason witches are being hunted for their magic?” I asked. “What have I got to do with a world I don’t belong to?”
Hannah’s playful expression crumpled into pure anger. “The doorways should never have been closed! I’ve been stuck in a thousand different lives, watching and waiting for my way home to open. But it never does… You know what it’s like to be trapped. You know.”
Growling, I strode forward and grasped her around the neck, my fingers digging into her throat. I was tired of her games, her trickery. I needed answers like I needed air to breathe. Hannah had lured me here to be caught by Carman, and I had no idea why I deserved to die—if I was to die at all. There was no way I was going down without a fight.
“Who am I?” I shouted at the fae. “Who am I?”
A searing burst of magic erupted from her, and her body began to change. Her soft pallor morphed into the rough texture of bark and wood, her eyes shining emerald and her hair threading into long twisting vines. Opening her mouth, a primal cry burst from between her lips, and branches exploded out of her back.
I let her go, stumbling backward in surprise at her sudden transformation. Her mind reached out and thrust into mine, cutting deep as she sank her claws into me.
Falling to my knees, I roared in pain as branches whipped around me, throwing me across the clearing. My back hit the trunk of an ancient oak, my head cracking painfully. Before I could move, shards of wood pierced my flesh, slicing through both arms and legs, pinning me in place.
My entire body shu
ddered, and my bones snapped…but they didn’t reform. My limbs dangled uselessly, blood oozing from the wounds Hannah had inflicted. Everything was pain and fire. Fire and pain.
“Don’t try that again,” she said angrily, her voice vibrating through my veins and into my soul. “You can’t change, Boone, I won’t allow it.”
Raising my head, I saw her clearly for the first time. She stood tall, her entire body resembling an ancient tree, her body covered in bark and moss, her hair tangled ivy, and her eyes…they glowed iridescent green in the darkness. Several branches had erupted from her back and stabbed through my flesh, growing so fast it was impossible to get out of the way.
A hazy memory nudged the edges of my mind. Her kind didn’t live on the shores of Ireland, but a lot of things had changed in the last thousand years. What was she? I sifted through the haze, trying to find the name of her true form, for that was what stood before me. Her true skin.
“Spriggan,” I whispered. “Trickster, shapeshifter, fae of the forest…”
“So you do remember me,” she said with interest.
“Hannah…” I moaned. “Don’t do this. Do you think she cares about you?” I had no idea what Carman wanted with my magic or me, but I had no other recourse but to bluff.
“Carman cares,” she said, fire in her voice. “When she has you, she will reward me with what I need.”
“Magic?” I asked. “Not even she has enough to open the doorways. You said it yourself. Do you really want to keep sucking the life from hawthorns like a parasite the rest of your life? Because that’s the only reward you’re getting if you hand me over.”
“Lies!” she cried, her ethereal voice tearing at my psyche. A branch burst from her back, growing and twisting over her shoulder. “You don’t even know what you’ve done, and you call me a parasite?”
“Then end it if I’m such a stain on your kind,” I said aggressively. “End it.”