by M. C. Cairns
Lost in thought and immersed in an article, she nearly fell out of her chair when someone knocked on her door. "Who is it?" she demanded after she caught her breath.
"Mack. May I come in?"
"I guess." Secretly, she was glad to have someone to talk to who knew more about the faeries than she did but didn't insist that she had to go to war for them.
Mack glanced over her shoulder. "You know you can't believe all that stuff, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know, you can't believe everything you read on the internet." She fell back against the cool leather chair and rolled her eyes.
"It's not just that. Most of that is written by humans and they are almost always wrong. They might get a few facts right, but then they make up all the other stuff and pass it off as truth. And that's only the ones written by sane humans. Don't get me started on the stuff the crazy ones write."
Brianne giggled. "Yeah. I saw some of those. There is some really funny stuff out there. For instance, did you know that there is 'a conspiracy amongst scientists which involves the suppression of faerie data?' Also, 'among those who believe in the existence of the Loch Ness Monster, one popular theory is that it is a big faerie.' I can tell the difference in real and made up stories. But none of them are helping me with what I am trying to find."
"Actually, the scientist one is true," Mack said with a serious face, but a teasing twinkle in his eyes. "So, what are you looking for? Any questions you have, you could ask me or Ian."
"Trust me, Ian does not want to hear what I have to say."
"Then try me. I wasn't sent here to retrieve you and drag you into battle," He winked at her as he perched on top of her desk.
"Okay, let's start with why did you sneak out of the faerie realm just to come see me?"
"Well, that's easy. We are best friends and we would do anything for each other. I mean, we used to be before they wiped your memory. You are still my best friend. Technically my only friend, but still the best." Mack blushed a little at the last part.
"So, that means you know pretty much everything about me, right?" She leaned forward and raised her eyebrows.
"I know everything about faerie you, but apparently I know nothing about this version of you. I am so sorry about your sister. And your dad."
"Don't do that. I hate when everyone feels sorry for me."
"Okay. We won't talk about it. We will only talk about the faerie side of your life. Mack, the all-knowing faerie master at your service." Mack bowed low in front of her.
She snorted. "Since you are all-knowing, you have to teach me who I am, or who I used to be, I guess. I don't really know where to start. What was I like as a faerie? Did I love music like I do now? Did I like all the same kinds of things I do now, or was I completely different? Is the faerie kingdom, or faerie realm, or whatever you call it, like the human world? What are my sisters like? Did we get along or did we fight a lot? Oh, wait! What magical ability did I have? I mean DO I have? I hope it's Life or Death. Those seem like awesome powers to have."
Mack stared at her with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. His ability to speak returned when she took a breath between sentences. “Woah! Slow down!”
She stopped and looked at him apologetically, "Sorry. There is just so much I want to know."
"It's cool." He waved his hand in the air, dismissing her concern. "First thing you need to know is that I don't really know you now, so I can't even begin to compare what you used to be like to what you are now. And I don't want to. You have to make decisions about your future based on who you are now and what you feel is best for you."
"But how do I know what is best for me if I don't know anything about who I really am?" She flopped back in the chair again and pouted.
Mack thought about that for a minute before answering. "I suppose you have a point there. I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to know that you were one of the coolest faeries ever. Super funny. Sarcastic. Always picking on me and making jokes about yourself. You are also one of the smartest faeries I have ever met. You wanted to follow your mother's path to human college; not to learn about humans, but to learn more about science. You were obsessed with how and why things work. And I could tell you how you loved music. You used to sing for the Queen at the royal galas. Faeries from all over the kingdom would come to hear your beautiful voice."
Brianne tried to imagine herself singing in the faerie kingdom surrounded by an audience of faeries, but she couldn't quite make the image appear in her mind. "What is the faerie kingdom like?"
"It's so beautiful that I don't think I could do it justice with my description. There are so many things to see, and feel, and hear You would have to experience it personally to know what it is like."
Jumping out of the chair and grabbing his shoulders, Brianne exclaimed, "That's it! That's what I need to do to help me decide. I need to experience the faerie kingdom. You could take me there!"
"No, no, no, no!" Mack shook his head furiously. "That's a monumentally bad idea. If your mother ever found out we were here telling you about your past, well, let's leave it at you would get to see a faerie funeral. There is no way I am taking you to the faerie realm. I would be signing my own death certificate." He firmly crossed his arms and stomped his foot for effect, but Brianne was not giving up that easily.
"I completely understand," she began sweetly. "I assumed you knew your way in and out of there, but, clearly, you are only able to find your way when you can follow someone, like Ian. If you were smart enough and brave enough to walk between the worlds on your own, then surely you would have come to see me a long time ago. It's okay. Really. I don't hold it against you at all. You can't help being scared. Maybe Ian will take me there. Of course, he will probably escort me straight to the queen and force me to battle, but I guess that's the only way I can learn anything about my true heritage."
Mack looked like his head was about to explode by the time she got done. "Are you serious? You think I am scared to move back and forth between here and home? I do it all the time! I didn't come here sooner because I didn't know where they were hiding you. Even the queen didn't know where you were. Only Ian knew and he has lived under lock and key in the tunnels all these years so no one else would ever find out! But if I had known, I would totally have been here whenever I wanted. I am not scared."
Brianne let him continue, hoping her taunt had worked. "I'm not dumb either. I could tell you the location of every portal between the worlds, and which ones are the fastest to use depending on where you are going. From here to Los Angeles is only two portals and a hike up a hill," he ended smugly.
"So, you're telling me you are experienced in traveling between the worlds and you aren't scared of anything?" Brianne almost had him.
"Of course!"
"And you and I are best friends and you would do anything for me?"
"Yes!"
"So...."
"Wait! That's not what I meant," he backtracked.
"It's what you said," Brianne insisted, grinning from ear to ear.
Mack hung his head and scrunched up his face. "I am going to be in so much trouble."
"Yes! I mean, no. I will make sure you don't get in trouble. We can stay away from my mother and anyone else who would recognize me. Isn't there a portal that would lead to a more deserted part of the kingdom so I could just get a peek?"
Mack’s eyes lit up and a big smile spread across his face. He reached out for the keyboard and began typing. "I am going to take you to a place that will not only let you see the faerie realm, but will let you experience the magic of the gods."
"That's the spirit!" Brianne threw some clothes in her backpack. She tossed the bag over her shoulder and turned her head toward the computer screen. "Where are we going?"
"In this realm, we are headed to Niagara Falls..."
"Niagara Falls? That's hundreds of miles away!"
"Not if you take the right portal. Anyway, in the faerie realm, we are going to hallowed ground. The resting place of THAT treasure,
" he told her smugly, pointing to the computer screen.
Brianne read the title on the screen out loud, "The Dagda's Cauldron: Symbol of Generosity, Selflessness, and Honor."
5
The Detour
S
NEAKING OUT FOR THE SECOND TIME in twenty-four hours wasn't nearly as dramatic as the first time. You really couldn't even call it sneaking out. Ian and Bree's mother were so deep in conversation that they didn't notice Mack and Brianne walk out the front door. Still nervous about getting caught, Brianne looked over her shoulder four times before they made it to the end of her short street. Mack made a left turn, heading in the same direction Brianne had when she escaped on her bike the night before.
"So where are we headed?" Brianne asked when she couldn't see her house behind her anymore.
"To the first portal, of course," Mack replied.
"The first portal. Right." She nodded her head. "Then we will be at Niagara Falls? That's where you said the treasure is, right?"
"First, the treasure won't actually be there. Mainly because the treasures are in the faerie world and Niagara Falls is in the human world, but also because the cauldron is the treasure that was stolen. Second, you need to understand how the portals work. When we go through this first portal, we will cross into the faerie realm. From there, we have to go through another portal to get back out into the human realm. Sometimes it takes several of these jumps from realm to realm to get close to where you want to be."
“Wait, back up. The cauldron is the one that was stolen? Meaning I won’t actually get to see it?” Brianne jumped in front of him and walked backwards.
Mack sighed. “No. You won’t get to see it. Unless we are able to find it, in which case, you will need to know where it has to be returned to and which portals will take you there.”
"How many jumps will we have to do to get to where the treasure used to be?" She turned back around and walked by his side.
"From here to Niagara Falls is two jumps. There, we will jump back into the faerie world, but, as I said before, we will only be close to the Cauldron's resting spot." Mack illustrated each of the jumps with his hands.
"Why can't we jump straight to it? Wouldn't that save time?"
Mack pursed his lips, cocked his head, and took a deep breath before answering, "I'm trying to find the easiest way to explain this. Basically, the two realms exist within the same space, but at different frequencies. It's like when you play a chord in music; the rate of vibration is what gives each note its tone. You hear them both at the same time, but the sound from the higher note is vibrating faster, so it reaches your eardrum more times per second than the lower note. Frequency, right?" He ignored her confused look and continued explaining. "The human world and the faerie world exist in their individual frequencies, except at certain points where nature exists at both of those frequencies, like in a chord, and is a part of both worlds. Niagara Falls is one of those natural portals."
"You're telling me that there is a Niagara Falls in the faerie world?"
"Yes, but it isn't called Niagara Falls, it's called The Maiden's Mist. Long ago, Taranis, god of thunder, lived on the faerie realm side of the waterfalls. One day, when he stepped through the portal to the human world, he caught sight of a distraught, yet beautiful woman floating toward the falls in a canoe, intent on killing herself. He pulled her from the waters and carried her to safety in his home. When he asked why she had put herself in danger, she explained that she lost her daughter and husband to a horrible disease and didn't feel like she could live another day. Taranis felt protective of the sad young woman so he took her into his home, cared for her, and eventually fell in love with her. It is unknown if they ever married, but she gave birth to a son the next year. Although she was the one and only love for Taranis, their son was the love of her life. She spent every minute with him and favored him above all else. Taranis was jealous of the love she gave to their son, so he took him to the falls and tossed him over the edge; however, the maiden saw what he did and jumped over the edge to be with her son for eternity. To this day, Taranis's grief is heard in the thundering of The Maiden's Mist."
"Wow," Brianne whispered, "that is such a sad story. I can't believe he killed his own son out of jealousy. Why are adults so selfish?"
"Many faeries have claimed to see the maiden searching for her son in the mist." Mack stopped at the base of a giant oak tree. "We're here."
Brianne listened so intently to Mack's story that she didn’t pay attention to where they were walking. She looked around and realized they were at the church across the street from the gas station. Turning in a circle as if looking for something she asked, "We're where?"
"The portal," Mack answered. Mack grabbed her hand and placed it on the rough, bumpy bark that covered the trunk of the tree. "Do you feel it? The combination of frequencies from both worlds causes a vibration that only those who truly focus can feel. So, can you? Feel it?"
Brianne's heart skipped a beat. Ever since she was a little girl, she felt a connection to that tree. Every Sunday after church, while her parents were talking to their friends, she would go sit by the base of the tree. When she was young, she'd talk to the tree like a good friend, but as she got older, she felt a connection when she simply sat in its cool shadow. She realized she had never actually touched the tree before. Closing her eyes, she focused on her hand and the rough bark of the tree. After a few seconds, she felt a low vibration begin in her fingertips, work its way up her arm, and spread throughout her entire body. Then she swore there was a soft musical note, almost like the sound of a tuning fork.
When she opened her eyes to ask Mack about the sound, what she saw made her forget to breathe. The giant oak was the only thing she recognized when she looked around. The church was gone, replaced by a large, jagged rock covered in a black mossy plant that she had never seen before. She shivered a little and realized the sun wasn't shining anymore and the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees. The air was damp and musty smelling like the basement in her grandmother's house after a hard rain, but the ground was dry as a bone. All around her were the kind of tall, ominous trees that looked like they belonged in a graveyard or by a haunted house, and the narrow, rocky path they were on only led them further into the graveyard forest.
Taking her favorite tie-dyed hoodie from her backpack, she quickly pulled it over her head and turned toward Mack. "Now I see why you weren't able to describe how beautiful this place is," She raised an eyebrow at him. "You can't describe what doesn't exist. Are we in the right place? Is this the faerie world you claimed to love so much? When I said we could go where no one would recognize me, I didn't mean the most depressing and scary place I have ever been." Scrambling to catch up to Mack, who had already started down the path, she added, mostly to herself, "Oh, sure. Let's go deeper into the scary forest. That has never ended badly in any story I have ever been told. Oh, wait, yes it did. Which one was it again? Oh, yeah...Every. Single. One."
"Are you done being dramatic yet?" Mack glanced back at her as he continued down the path.
"No!" she yelled back at him. "If I stop I will be forced to focus on how creepy this place is and then..."
She froze in her tracks as something resembling a deer leaped onto the path. When she looked closer, she found it was the most frightening version of a deer she had ever seen. Instead of antlers, there was a row of six-inch bone spikes from the top of its head all the way to its tail. Its face looked more like a wolf with glowing red eyes and pointed teeth that only intensified the growl behind them.
"Um, Mack," she managed to whisper. "Help."
Glancing quickly toward where Mack had just been, she discovered she was now alone. Mack must have kept walking when she stopped. Well, if she was going to be ripped to shreds by this mutant beast, she was going to at least put up a fight. Years of survival training, forced on her by her father, taught her not to run; instead, she bent her knees, lowering her center of gravity and preparing her to jump out of the
way. The animal took a few steps toward her before springing forward, opening its mouth wide, and aiming for her neck. Allowing her instincts to take over, Brianne sidestepped the lunging beast, turned to keep it in her sights, and reached out with both hands to deflect any part of it that could hit her. Suddenly there were flames at her fingertips and the deer-wolf thing's tail was smoldering.
Frantically shaking her hands to extinguish the flames, Brianne forgot to keep an eye on the beast. Catching a glimpse of movement in her peripheral vision, she dropped and rolled off the path and out of the way. She snapped her head up, expecting another attack. Instead, Mack was emerging from the woods on the other side of the path, dusting off his clothes. The animal was nowhere to be seen.
When he saw her crouched in the woods like scared prey, he rushed over to her and helped her to her feet. "Are you hurt?" he asked her, inspecting her for injuries.
"N-n-n-o," she stuttered, visibly shaken.
"What happened? One minute you were going on, all dramatic and over the top, and the next I looked back and you weren't there anymore. When I made my way back, you were being thrown into the woods by a smoking fialp!"
Brianne looked at her hands and remembered the fire. Was that me? Did I really have fire on my hands? And did I throw it at that thing? No. It couldn’t have been me. It’s not possible. She had so many questions for Mack, but when she opened her mouth to ask him, it wasn't words that came out. It was her breakfast. And now it was on Mack's shoes.
Dropping his hands to his sides, Mack took a deep breath before asking, "Do you feel better now?"
Wiping her mouth on her sleeve, Brianne nodded sheepishly, "A little. But you have a lot of explaining to do."
"Of course. You throw up on me and I have explaining to do." He threw his hands up in the air and rolled his eyes, but she could see from the grin on his face that he was teasing her. "I’ll answer all of your questions, I promise. But let's get to a more comfortable place to stop first. Do you see the tunnel over there?" he asked as he pointed in the direction he had been walking earlier. "We need to get to the other side of that and then we will talk."