‘She’d be with me.’
‘Agreed! She would!’ Dian hopped up and down delightedly. ‘And that’s what you came over here to find out, wasn’t it? Whether she would agree to stay down here with you! Her answer to my mother’s little dilemma!’
There was no point in denying it. Tony looked away. Never in his life had he felt so helpless as he did now.
‘So it’s a win-win!’ Dian wasn’t finished. He stepped forward in a quick movement and, before Tony could even react, he had tossed the knife casually upward in a short arc. Tony’s hand shot out instinctively and he caught it. Dian spread his arms wide and shut his eyes.
‘So?’ he said. ‘Come on then, Tony. I’m waiting.’
Seconds passed. Dian opened one of Linda’s eyes in an overly exaggerated manner so he could peer in apparent confusion at the man standing well within knife range.
‘Something wrong?’
‘I can’t,’ Tony hissed.
‘Why ever not?’
‘I’d never be sure it was her choice,’ Tony said, every word dragged from him.
Dian blew out a long breath that was almost post-orgasmic, savouring every moment of this. ‘Aye, there’s the rub,’ he agreed with mock gravitas. ‘Chase me from inside your wife and keep her down here, never knowing whether she’d actually have wanted to remain here with you.’
‘She would,’ Tony said, weakly.
‘Then, please, by all means,’ and Dian resumed his former position of surrender. ‘Go ahead and strike, if you’re so confident of that. Of course, speaking as someone who’s sharing her thoughts right now, I can tell you with complete authority that, given the choice between staying with you and going back to the real world, where she would see her son and grandson again, she wouldn’t pause for a single second, Tony. Not a single second. But then … I could be lying, I suppose.’
The phone began to ring. Dian looked over at it, and Tony saw an expression of concern pass over his wife’s face. Something about the phone ringing was unsettling the deity. Reaching down, Dian yanked the phone cable from the wall, and the ringing died immediately.
‘Where were we?’ Dian asked, but his voice lacked the sadistic relish of a few seconds before.
Tony’s mobile rang.
‘No!’ Dian cried, lunging forward.
Tony looked at the caller ID, and he understood. He answered the call–
– and he screamed.
With care, Dian laid the man he’d stabbed only moments before onto his back and stroked his brow. ‘Sssh,’ he soothed as Tony’s body began to convulse. ‘It’s always hardest the first time. Find the senses, and use them; they’ll bring the rest along.’
The convulsions gradually decreased in severity, but Tony’s face was beginning to darken and purple in hue.
‘Breathe,’ Dian said. ‘You must remember to breathe.’
Tony’s body shuddered as he drew in a huge, gasping breath. His heart thudded in his chest. Sweat poured from him. He looked up with red-rimmed eyes into the face of Linda Morrigan and the ancient entity occupying her.
‘Da?’ he said.
Dian cradled his head. ‘Yes,’ he said, grateful tears spilling down his face. ‘Yes Dermot, it’s Daddy.’
REGENT STREET, BELFAST / OTHERWORLD, NOW
‘Look after your mother,’ Michael Quinn’s voice sounded throughout the living room, as Ellie, Danny and Luke assembled around the phone.
‘I will,’ Ellie promised, in a small voice. ‘I’m your Steady Ellie.’
‘You were always much more than that,’ he told her quietly. ‘I’m sorry. Sorry I couldn’t see what you had. Danny is a good man. I thought he was a waste of space. An utter moron. Completely beneath you.’
‘You’re on speakerphone and I’m standing right here,’ Danny pointed out.
‘I was wrong,’ Michael continued, ignoring the interruption. ‘He’s a good man.’
Their time was almost up. Like pressure in the air signalling an approaching storm, Danny could feel the build-up of power that was going to regurgitate Ireland back to reality like a late-night drunken kebab.
He thought of Steve, of his father. It was now likely that he’d never see them again. He put his hand in his pocket, felt the weight of that incongruously functional mobile phone inside and, for a brief moment, considered calling them. He dismissed the idea almost straight away – he had said his goodbyes insofar as he ever could. He simply couldn’t face the thought of more pain.
‘What will you do? Down here?’ he asked Michael.
‘The way I see it,’ Michael said, an audible shrug in his voice, ‘there are going to be thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people down here who are gonna have to deal with a whole new world, whole new way of living. Someone’s gotta lead them. Someone’s gotta take charge.’
‘And,’ Danny started, dismissing his original thought and opting for a more diplomatic response, ‘you think that might be you?’
‘Me? Take that job? Not a chance in hell,’ Michael admitted. ‘But someone’s going to have to work behind the scenes for the poor bastard who does end up taking it.’
With a final goodbye, he was gone.
There were only minutes left now, Danny knew, so they sat, as a family, for a few moments. He had his arm around Ellie while their son sat on the armchair opposite. Danny couldn’t resist, he had to ask. ‘Do you remember?’ he asked Luke.
‘Remember?’
‘What it was like. Being a baby. Being our baby. I mean, it was only a few days ago.’
‘It’s …’ Luke shook his head. ‘Some of it I remember. It’s impossible to describe. It’s like I still exist, but I’ve been sort of scattered. Dispersed. Most of the time the world is this huge place, filled with giant people and it’s just feelings, sensations. When I’m like this, when I’m older, feelings and emotions are kind of diet versions of themselves – muted. Babies aren’t like that. When you’re big, you think, “I’m hungry, I’m thirsty. Fine, I’ll get something to eat or drink.” When you’re a baby, it’s like, “Oh my God, the hunger! Must. Have. Food! Why don’t I have some food right now? What’s going on?’ And then there’s–’ and he coloured suddenly.
‘Yeah,’ Danny said, ‘you used to piddle on me all the time when I was changing you, you little shit.’
‘It wasn’t deliberate,’ Luke said weakly.
‘Forget about it. I’m just glad Ellie isn’t breastfeeding you anymore.’
‘AWWWDADNOOOO!’
‘DANNY!’ Ellie reached across and punched him, hard, in the upper arm, so hard Danny tasted elderberries and smelt Wednesday. He shook his head; he’d almost forgotten the comforting strangeness of synaesthesia. He couldn’t help but laugh, though, and after a few seconds Ellie and Luke joined him. What the fuck else could you do?
‘Um. Can I ask you both something?’ Luke said. He sounded excited.
‘Anything,’ Danny replied.
‘Can I … can I say a swear word?’ their Thor-esque son asked, fairly vibrating with illicit thrills at the mere thought of it.
‘No you fuckin’ can’t,’ Danny tutted.
‘Luke Christopher Morrigan!’ Ellie said, shaking her head. She glanced over at Danny. ‘I dunno where we get him from, swear to fuck.’
‘But …’
‘Fuckin’ disgrace. Imagine wanting to say a bad word in front of his mummy and daddy.’
‘But …’
‘Although,’ Danny mused, winking at Ellie. ‘He has missed fuck knows how many birthday and Christmas presents …’
‘Ma? Da?’ Luke said, getting to his feet. He sounded panicked. Ellie was by her son’s side in an instant, Danny only a fraction of a second behind her, all joviality forgotten.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I feel … strange,’ Luke said.
He was growing younger before their eyes.
Now around sixteen and approaching fifteen fast, Luke looked like someone who’d borrowed a warrior’s costume two sizes
too big for him for Halloween. His parents stood with him as his frame continued to shrink, and despite the extreme changes his body was having to withstand, Luke actually smiled.
‘You’re gonna be our wee baby again,’ Ellie said.
‘You’re smiling,’ Danny said, with some small measure of astonishment.
Luke, now twelve, going on eleven and accelerating, looked up at his parents with wonder. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ he said.
Those words, enough to bring tears to his eyes, were the last Danny heard Luke say before the change fully overtook him. Without quite being conscious of doing it, Danny scooped Luke into his arms, and saw the light of experience and knowledge in his eyes flicker and dim, replaced by the unmistakable gleam of innocence.
Together, he and Ellie held their son tight.
GRIFFIN STREET, BELFAST / OTHERWORLD, NOW
‘Why are you doing this, Dad?’ Dermot said in Tony Morrigan’s voice.
‘For you,’ Dian answered through Linda. ‘For what was done to us.’
‘Not by him. Not by Tony.’
‘He stood by and watched.’
‘He followed his father just as you followed your mother. He’s not to blame.’
‘You were the one who killed him first,’ Dian pointed out mirthlessly.
‘You forced me to.’
‘Did I?’
Did he? Tony asked his oldest friend. He was … not trapped, exactly, inside his own body. When he’d answered the phone, Dermot had flooded into him, overloaded and overwhelmed him, but it had been more out of blind panic than malice. Dian’s instructions on how to access Tony’s senses had calmed things down considerably. Tony had sensed – buried somewhere within that clumsy assault – that Dermot was asking his permission to do what he was doing.
He’d given it.
I hope so, Dermot’s soul replied. I’m sorry, Tony.
Tony thought back to that night, the long drive into the country. His father had been so sure he was in the right, and his father had been a good man. The best man he’d ever known. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean good men didn’t sometimes do bad things. It was just that sort of world.
‘Don’t hate them,’ Dermot begged. ‘You can’t claim to be different from the rest of our people and then hate all humans equally for one mistake. You were a good man and a good father. I loved you. Don’t become this.’
Hearing this, Dian’s face grew pinched with pain. ‘You don’t understand,’ he replied. ‘There’s one more job I have to do.’
‘Then let Tony come up too. Let him be with his wife.’
Dian didn’t reply for a moment. ‘I can’t,’ he said finally. ‘I can’t, even if I wanted to. Once I go up, I’ll let her go. I … I promise. I won’t hurt her, or any of them.’
‘Then let her stay! Let it be Linda’s choice. Go hitch a ride in some other body if you need to.’
‘There’s no time!’ Dian cried desperately and grabbed Tony’s hand. ‘Come with me,’ he said, and tried to pull Dermot out through Tony and into Linda.
Tony and Dermot screamed through one mouth at the horrific sensation, watching in horror as Linda’s flesh began to smoke.
‘Come with me!’ Dian said again.
‘Let go! You’re killing her!’ the words came from both Tony and Dermot.
‘I won’t lose you again!’
Together they lashed out, knocking Linda’s hand away – her skin stopped smouldering almost immediately.
‘You can’t,’ Dermot sobbed. ‘She can’t take us both, Dad. You’ll kill her. I won’t let you do that. For Christ’s sake just let her talk. Please. Let her talk to her husband.’
A violent shudder rippled through Linda’s body and she fell to her knees, sucking in deep, gasping breaths. Dermot stepped aside inside Tony’s mind, allowing his friend full control. Tony was at his wife’s side in seconds.
‘Linda?’
She was shivering as he held her. ‘He’s … he’s still inside me. But he’s lettin’ me talk.’
‘Don’t,’ Tony said, feeling the sting of tears, knowing from the pressure in the air that they didn’t have much longer. ‘Don’t speak if it hurts.’
‘I have to,’ Linda said urgently. ‘I know what he knows. I know why you left us,’ and despite everything, she managed to smile at him, a smile he hadn’t seen properly in years. ‘I know the truth.’
He smiled through his tears as a weight he’d been carrying for over a decade finally lifted from his shoulders. ‘I’m glad,’ he said softly.
‘I want to stay,’ she said. ‘I want to stay with you. When we vote, he thinks he can fool her – make his mother believe that I want to go back.’
He kissed her then, kissed his wife of almost-thirty years. When he finally pulled apart, he looked deep into her eyes and said the most difficult words he’d ever had to say.
‘Do it,’ he told the spark of Dian within her. ‘Fool Carman. Make sure my wife gets back. If there’s any good left in you, please.’
‘Tony, no!’ Linda sobbed, horrified. ‘No! I want to stay!’
‘DO IT!’ he screamed, and the magical pressure finally reached its peak and the permanent twilight outside turned to light – bright, searing light that burst in through the windows and blurred the vision no matter how hard you tried to look away.
IRELAND / OTHERWORLD, NOW
White light burst from the centre of the standing stones and rolled across Ireland. It tumbled across the lanes and byways of the nation, so slowly in places that many had the fortune – or the misfortune, depending on their perspective – to watch it approach, knowing that their lives would change irrevocably when it hit.
There was time, then, in many places, for last words and last goodbyes and last lies – final words of cold comfort for lovers about to be torn apart. Relationships were ultimately defined in the illumination of that approaching truth, for the light did as Carman promised it would; it looked into the souls of those it hit and it got things right every single time.
Almost.
In a terraced house in Belfast, Tony Morrigan found himself embracing thin air. He allowed himself time for one utterance of ‘thank you’ before the tears overcame him.
The Master of Two Worlds
WASHINGTON DC, NOW
‘To begin, let me sum up the events of the last twelve hours,’ the President addressed those sitting around the table as well as the faces on video screens. ‘Last night, at 10.12 p.m. local time, the landmass of Ireland vanished off the face of the Earth, leaving behind only bedrock. Some sort of intangible barrier held back the seas around the island. Early this morning that barrier vanished, and the seas returned to fill the void. At 6.12 a.m. Ireland reappeared in its entirety. Immense water displacement from the instantaneous return of the Irish landmass has caused tsunamis which have devastated the Isle of Man, the western coast of the United Kingdom, the north-western and western coasts of France and the northern coast of Spain. Cities on the Eastern seaboard of the United States are being evacuated – we’re expecting a twenty foot-high, three hundred mile-long tsunami to impact New York within the hour.’
No one spoke.
‘In addition,’ the President continued, ‘around three hours ago, the town of Litochoro in Greece began to experience seismic disturbances which have since spread to the surrounding area. Contact with Litochoro was lost ninety-seven minutes ago. Satellite imagery of the area has confirmed that a massive landslide has swallowed the entire town. The source of this landslide, and of the seismic disturbances, is the mountain behind Litochoro. Put simply, the mountain is growing. It’s already risen in height by nine hundred metres. If it continues to rise, in a few hours time it will overtake Mont Blanc as the highest mountain in Europe.’
He paused.
‘The mountain’s name is Olympus,’ he said.
REGENT STREET, BELFAST ABOVE, NOW
‘Once again,’ the news anchorman repeated, ‘the helpline number for those of you with friends and family left
behind is displayed on the bottom of the screen. Advice from the government is to stay in your homes, at least for the moment. A state of emergency has been declared. And once again, please do not try to travel to ports or airports to leave the country. All travel outside Ireland has been suspended. Anyone attempting to leave the country, even to go offshore, may be …’ and he hesitated, as if not quite believing what he was saying himself, ‘fired upon.’
‘Jesus,’ Ellie said softly. She and Danny were sitting together on their small settee. ‘They’ve quarantined us.’
‘Could be worse,’ Danny said softly.
As if sensing the increase in tension, Luke mumbled something in his sleep. His arms and legs jerked once or twice and he moaned softly. Ellie shushed and soothed him until his breathing returned to normal. She looked at Danny and saw he was watching his son sleep, his expression unreadable.
‘What’s going to happen?’ she said, speaking more quietly now.
Danny mulled it over. ‘Dunno. What do they usually do in films? Send in teams dressed in big yellow suits to kill ET?’
‘I didn’t mean to the country,’ she snapped. ‘I meant us. I mean, we’re back, but … everything’s changed. Everything. My da … your da … Steve …’
‘I don’t know,’ Danny answered, when he felt able. ‘I don’t think anyone up here knows how this works. That’s probably what’s scaring the shit out of them the most.’
‘Not just them. What’s to stop her, Danny? What’s to stop her from trying again? What’s to stop her taking Luke again?’ Ellie said, hugging her child fiercely. Even the thought of it made her sweat, made her tremble.
‘She swore some magical oath or somethin’. Fuck, I dunno, Ellie,’ Danny said, annoyed at the questions but mostly annoyed because Ellie was entirely correct. ‘According to Luke and the Wolves, she can’t fuck about with breaking oaths.’
‘You really think we’re safe?’
‘Put it this way, what else can happen?’ he replied.
WASHINGTON DC, NOW
Completely Folk'd Page 24