Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  I decided to try his parents’ house. His father picked up, and I asked if Ethan was home.

  “No, I haven’t heard from him.” He paused. “But didn’t he leave with you not too long ago?”

  My breath caught in my throat. He hadn’t left with me, but if my dream was turning out to be true, he thought he had. I had to think fast.

  “Uh, yeah. He just dropped me off, and now his phone is going to voice mail,” I lied. “I can text him. Thanks, Mr. Magliaro.”

  I hung up and looked over at Aodhan. “They think Ethan’s with me. I think Breanh really has taken him.”

  “Eithne and Diarmuid went back through the portal a few hours before we arrived. Your father needs a healer immediately, so I’ve arranged to go with him to TÍ r na n’Ó g to find Eithne. We’ll find your friend and bring him home, too.”

  He stood and gestured for me to follow him. I exhaled, and swallowed back my fears. I had to be stronger than that. “And what am I supposed to do? Just sit here and wait?”

  Aodhan didn’t answer. Instead, he led me outside, where Tagdh was opening the weathered wooden door of a flat-stoned entryway. The structure was dug into a low hillside, assembled with moss-covered stones held firmly in place by the earth surrounding them. A still unconscious Liam lay in the grass just to the left of the hill. Niall was talking in a low voice to BlÁ ithÍ n just a few feet away.

  Tagdh turned around as we approached. He nodded respectfully at Aodhan.

  Niall bent to gather Liam in his arms again, and he and BlÁ ithÍ n joined us at the door.

  “We ready?” she asked.

  “Let’s go.” Aodhan said. He nodded at me. Okay, I guess that’s my answer.

  BlÁ ithÍ n went in first, glancing back at us as she walked. Niall ducked through next, walking sideways to keep Liam’s limbs from hitting the frame.

  Inside the door, crumbling stone steps led down to a dim root cellar. The arched ceiling was made entirely of rock, and old wooden shelves lined the stone walls. Each one held dusty glass jars and bottles, some broken and lying on their sides.

  An acute sense of dÈja vu struck me as I looked around. This room was from one of my dreams, too. The only difference was that in my dream, Liam had been leading the way.

  I turned and looked at Aodhan. He also was from my dream—the gigantic man, I was positive. He looked back at me blankly.

  The room was only about fifteen feet long. At the far end, BlÁ ithÍ n placed her hand on the stones and blinding light filled the space. I reflexively turned away, but Niall and BlÁ ithÍ n walked into to the light and disappeared.

  Squinting and averting my eyes to the floor, I took a deep breath and followed.

  The light swallowed itself, and we appeared in a gathering room of sorts. In the center of the room was a wooden table long enough to seat ten. The edges were carved with spiraling flowers that matched the scrollwork on the chairs. The whitewashed ceiling arched up, supported by thick, knobby roots. The room itself felt wild, like a part of nature.

  As I examined it, I realized that the tree that was attached had actually grown to form the room’s frame. Windows showed hints of trailing flowers in a multitude of colors just outside, and on the wall was a little alcove that held a sphere similar to the one I’d seen in my dream. I walked toward it, looking at the little shimmering ball. Inside were only bubbles that sparkled in the light.

  Niall and BlÁ ithÍ n disappeared through a hallway in search of Eithne. No one had said it in quite as many words, but it was clearly urgent to remove the iron from his body. And judging by the pallor of his skin, the sooner the better.

  Aodhan ran his finger along the flowers and looked up at me. “We need to be armed.”

  I laughed, not because the need for weapons was funny, but the idea of me using a weapon was ridiculous.

  “I don’t really know how to use any weapons.”

  My face flared at the look he gave me, as though what I said was the most preposterous thing he’d ever heard. He smoothed his hands over his buzz-cut and gestured for me to follow him.

  He led me down the same hallway the others had gone through. As I walked, I felt disoriented, as if I went through too quickly and hadn’t taken enough steps. I shook my head and looked back. The length of the hallway didn’t match the amount of time it took to get through.

  We entered a room similar in size and shape to the gathering room, but instead of a table, the room had couches and cushions arranged in a circle. Against the back wall, a stone staircase curved up to a second floor. As I followed Aodhan up, I lost my equilibrium and had to hold tight to the wooden railing to stay upright. He looked back at me, his eyebrows drawn together.

  I laughed at myself, but it came out more like a shaky breath. “Give me a minute, I just got a little dizzy.”

  “Time and space are different in this realm,” he explained. “Your body needs a chance to adjust.”

  At the top of the staircase we entered a room with bronze helmets decoratively set on stone pedestals. Aodhan walked over to kneel in front of a polished stone case. He opened it to reveal three bronze swords and two bronze daggers lying on a cushion.

  “This was once Deaghlan’s weapon collection. When he and Saoirse bonded he inherited the weapons of the High Court, but there hasn’t been a need for them in a very long time.”

  “Which one is Deaghlan again?” I asked. My mind swirled with all the new names to remember.

  Aodhan turned and looked at me, swallowing roughly. “Niamh and Aoife’s father.”

  BlÁ ithÍ n appeared at the doorway then. “We need to go to the Bruidhean. Eithne isn’t here.”

  Aodhan rose and handed me a scabbard before sliding one of the swords into a strap across his back.

  He cast a look at BlÁ ithÍ n.

  “In English, Bruidhean means Fairy Palace,” she said. “It’s the home of the King and Queen.”

  I nodded as I flipped the dagger in my hand. I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to do with it.

  “You never know what they’ll do,” Aodhan said, his voice thick with disdain. “It’s best to be prepared.”

  I followed them out of the room, muttering to myself. “I guess I could poke someone just as well as anyone else.”

  ***

  The sky in TÍ r na n’Ó g was bluer than I’d ever seen it at home. It was like stepping into Oz and I was Dorothy. Everything here was richer, more vibrant than I could have imagined.

  Niamh’s house was built into a low hill. The windows and doors were round and merry like an oversized hobbit hole. The lush flowers I’d seen through the window covered everything, making it nearly impossible to see what the actual house was built from.

  I found it hard to focus on the fact that Liam’s life was in jeopardy or that my mother and Ethan had been kidnapped by a psychotic faerie. Everything in TÍ r na n’Ó g was mesmerizing.

  The sound of the Danaan’s boots hitting the dirt directed my gaze to the dusty path they walked. I took a deep breath and quickened my steps to catch up. Rich, moist air filled my lungs leaving a sweet taste like honey on my tongue.

  Movement on the side of the path caught my attention. The grass and bushes swayed, but with more of a natural grace than by a breeze or wind. I brushed my fingertips along a flowering vine that hung between two low tree branches. I gasped—I could actually feel life pulsing from not only the vine, but the tree it hung from.

  It was enough to alert the others several yards ahead. Aodhan’s hand went immediately to the hilt of the sword at his back. He hurried over to me, and gave me a knowing look when he saw my fingers splayed across the vine.

  “It’s a bit of a shock, no? This realm is utterly different from ours. The plants, the wild creatures, they’re all...aware.” He glanced again at where my hand had been. “They won’t harm you. They’re simply curious, I think.” He reached out his hand to stroke the delicate leaves on the vine, then titled his head toward the others. “Come on. Time to go.”

  A
s we continued over the top of a grassy hill, I could see a valley with a sparkling river snaking through it. Beyond the river, the land was rippled with green hills, and speckled in each hill were doors and windows, similar to Niamh’s. Farther along was a steeper hill, or maybe a low, green mountain.

  “It’s always just as breathtaking,” Aodhan said, quiet enough that I could just make out his words.

  “Is that the br—I can’t remember what you called it.” I could feel the flush rising to my face. “Is this where the king and queen live?” I rephrased.

  “Yes, that would be the Bruidhean,” Aodhan said over his shoulder. He continued walking after the others down the hillside, leading me toward god knows what.

  Chapter 10

  BlÁ ithÍ n reached the round, wooden doors of what they called the Bruidhean first. She pulled on the bronze handle and ushered us in. Inside the doorway was an impressive entry hall. Niamh’s advisor, Diarmuid, was walking up a stone staircase that curled around the room.

  At the sound of the door, he looked over his shoulder at us. He smiled, apparently not surprised to see us, until he saw Niall carrying Liam in his arms. Then he turned and hurried down to us.

  “He’s been stabbed with a steel dagger,” BlÁ ithÍ n explained. “When the dagger was removed, a piece broke off and is still deep in the wound.”

  “Follow me. Eithne is upstairs.” Diarmuid led Niall up the stairs in a flash.

  BlÁ ithÍ n turned and put her hand up. “We should wait here. I’m sure the queen will be here soon.”

  “You are quite right,” called a lilting voice from the hallway under the staircase.

  The skin tightened around Aodhan’s eyes, and I looked over BlÁ ithÍ n’s shoulder, freezing at what I saw.

  The woman from my dream.

  The memory was nothing compared to reality. Dressed in a white gown embroidered with delicate green vines along the trim and waist, the queen of TÍ r na n’Ó g was radiant. Her blonde hair was luminescent. Her skin milky white and flawless. But the most captivating thing about her was her eyes. The light made rainbows along their surfaces, like an opal.

  As she came closer I started to raise my hand to touch her face, just barely stopping myself when I realized what I was doing.

  “Welcome, Allison.” Saoirse’s smile drew me toward her like a flower drawn to the sun.

  I couldn’t speak.

  After a moment of being trapped in her stare, Saoirse looked over my shoulder.

  “It’s been a while, Aodhan.”

  “Yes, my lady,” Aodhan said.

  Saoirse focused her smile back on me then, causing warmth and joy to radiate through my veins again.

  “You’re here to see Niamh?” she asked slowly, each syllable gliding from her lips.

  After a beat, Aodhan spoke, the tension thick in his voice. “We realize Niamh already came to seek your counsel in finding Allison’s mother, but Liam has been injured and needs care.”

  “Yes, Niamh has explained the situation to me,” Saoirse replied, tilting her head slightly to one side. “Aoife has caused many problems.”

  I blinked at Saoirse, who smiled demurely back at me.

  “Why don’t we continue our talk in comfort?” Saoirse asked, walking out of the entryway without waiting for a response, her flowing gown and bell sleeves trailing behind her.

  She led us into a gathering room with high ceilings, and like Niamh’s house, the palace was framed by thick roots from a tree above the hill. Blue fabric was draped along the walls, and although there were no windows, tiny spheres of light were suspended to illuminate intricately embroidered flowers and trees. The effect was like a summer day, even though we were deep in the hillside.

  Saoirse folded herself onto one of the plush divans, gesturing for us to each do the same. She met my gaze and smiled, and I was lost in the strange beauty of her eyes once again.

  “Tell me about your dreams, Allison.”

  I licked my lips, trying to remember what dreams I was supposed to recall. “Well, sometimes I dream of things that might have happened in the past. But some of my dreams are of things that haven’t happened, at least not yet.”

  Saoirse nodded, her sweet expression not changing. “You have the blood of my people. It isn’t potent, but you are gifted with the Sight.”

  “I dreamed that my friend Ethan,” I started to say, but the sound of footsteps and low laughter stopped me.

  Two figures entered the room. Niamh froze in the entryway, her eyes wide. My breath was stolen by the laughing figure behind her.

  My mother.

  ***

  My mother was laughing. But when she stopped, her sparkling green eyes followed Niamh’s gaze to where we sat. The moment our eyes met, time froze, and everything else fell away. This woman was—and yet was not—my mother.

  “In TÍ r na n’Ó g your mother is as she should be,” Saoirse murmured.

  I stood and walked to my mother, even though my whole body felt numb and tingly. She drew her lips in, just like she did when she was playing the violin. She really was my mother.

  “Allison,” she whispered as tears pooled in her eyes.

  I felt my own tears welling as dozens of emotions buzzed around in my heart. Love, relief, awe.

  Her arms came around me and I hugged her back, my own arms shaking. “I never thought . . . ” She sniffled and laughed into my hair. “I never thought this could happen.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said, pulling back to look at Niamh.

  Her eyes flicked between mine and Aodhan’s. He sat completely still, staring straight ahead. The only thing that showed he wasn’t a statue was the trembling muscle in his jaw.

  “I promised your father that your mother would be safe,” Niamh said. “But Breanh can read minds, like me. If I had told either of you that I was taking Elizabeth here, Breanh could have read it in your thoughts. He would have come after you, Allison.”

  For the first time since I’d entered the Bruidhean, I felt the haze lift from my brain. It was quickly replaced by anger.

  “But, you let us worry,” I said, inhaling deeply. “You locked us out and left us with Thunder Bay as our only hope . . . where Liam almost died!”

  My mother gasped quietly. “Liam? He’s here?”

  “He’s going to be okay, Mom,” I said, rubbing her back. “He was already healing when we brought him here.” I had no idea how true that was, but I’d spent my entire life being cautious of my mother’s fragile mental state, and it was a habit.

  I took a breath and refocused on Niamh and Saoirse, Aodhan’s words sounding in my head. They don’t think like you. They’re not human.

  I let it drop. “So, since both of my parents are here, can we break the geis?”

  Saoirse sat calmly watching me from her perch, rubbing her finger lightly across her bottom lip. “From what I’ve seen, Aoife used a fhÁ illan amulet infused with drops of Liam’s and Elizabeth’s blood for the geis. In order to break it, we need the amulet that binds it.”

  Frustration mingled with despair in my heart. The chance to bring my mother back was so close. “Do you know where the amulet is?” I asked.

  Saoirse looked into my eyes. “The amulet is hidden in Aoife’s home, but her lands have become polluted with iron and chemicals—it makes it difficult for even me to see.”

  I shook my head. No. There had to be a way. “But what if I—”

  “Allison,” Aodhan interrupted. “What about your friend?”

  Ethan. Anger licked at my mind for becoming muddled again.

  “Saoirse,” I said. “That’s another reason we’re here. I dreamed of my friend Ethan the other night, and the girl he was with was glamoured to look like me. Something wasn’t right about her—she looked at him... like a predator. And I think—”

  “Perhaps we could take a walk, Allison?” Saoirse asked. “I have something I’d like to show you.”

  Aodhan cut in before I’d even opened my mouth to reply. “Wherever
she goes, I go.”

  I didn’t want to leave my mother, not when I’d just gotten her back. But I knew in my heart that Ethan was in danger—he had actually gone off with that girl, after all—and I needed to figure out a way to get to him.

  “I’ll still be here when you come back, Allison.” My mother smiled at me, the way I’d been dreaming of since I was just a little girl. “And, I’d like to see your father.”

  ***

  Aodhan and I followed Saoirse through a door in the back of the hill. A stone path wound down to a lush garden nestled between the rises in the land. Trees heavily laden with fruit surrounded the garden walls, and the air smelled sweet like honeysuckle and apple blossoms, nearly making my mouth water.

  Saoirse led us to the farthest end of the garden, where a sparkling stream flowed into a pool at the bottom of one of the hills. The water in the rocky pool was as clear as pure glass. Saoirse gestured for me to sit on a smooth, stone bench along the shore.

  Saoirse sat down by my side, folding her slender fingers on her lap. “This is Danu’s Basin. It has been said that The Great Mother herself gained knowledge from this very pool before she traveled to The Land of Promise, Magh Mell.”

  Aodhan stood in the shade of a giant tree, but I could see that his eyes were in constant motion as Saoirse and I spoke.

  “You’re worried about your friend?” she asked.

  “Yes, Ethan.”

  “I am a Seer, but the future can change drastically with one simple decision. The visions I see in in the water, though, are absolute.”

  She held up her hands, and the water in the pool began to move in a circle like a whirlpool. Mist rose from its surface, and I looked over to Saoirse who had closed her eyes. She dropped her hands down, and as they fell, the mist cleared away. On the smooth surface of the water I could now see Ethan, walking into a room of six beautiful women. He was wearing only his jeans, and his eyes were dull, his smile bemused.

  The woman I recognized from my dream led him to a low bed where the others all sat, laughing and smiling at him. They crawled on all fours to get closer to him, their cold, bright eyes filled with lust and something else I couldn’t decipher. They reached out with greedy fingers to touch him and stroke his skin. So many voices were speaking, too fast to understand what they were saying.