by CJ Lyons
The resulting blood feud had led to Maeve's own death years later. While she bathed in a lake, her nephew had murdered her.
Grace shuddered at the memories of the tales, and began to stop Jimmy, but the rapt smiles on the faces of Alex and Kat as he summarized the story about the Kallista for Kat's benefit stopped her. She perched on the radiator, leaning against the window, the cold panes of glass vibrating against her back as Jimmy continued his tale.
His voice was so welcome, it lulled her into a trance as she remembered back four years.
She smiled, her mind filled with the image of Jimmy juggling a full pint of Smithwicks as he tried to teach her to dance at their wedding rehearsal dinner.
Somehow he hadn't spilled a drop even as she tripped and stepped on his toes, finally ending up laughing, rolled up in his arm, his warmth supporting her. After that the wedding had passed in a blissful blur of a dimly lit and overheated church, followed by strange but welcoming faces, loud music, and louder laughter.
Although she was anxious enough that a drink might have soothed her nerves, Grace had abstained. Several of her new in-laws had commented on this with knowing winks and toasts to Jimmy followed by ribald jokes about him being old enough to be her father. Grace had remained silent, although her reason for not drinking wasn't the traditional bridal secret.
With the help of Brother Leo and Jimmy's friend, Paddy O'Dwyer, an archeologist with the National Museum in Dublin, she had a surprise planned.
Finally the ceili band dwindled down to a maudlin accordion player and one of Jimmy's cousins joining in on a tin whistle, the tales of Jimmy's childhood exploits had finished, and Grace had denied knowing "me brother Mickey (or Sean or Brian), he's gone to America, lives in Boston, that's near to Pittsburgh in'nt it?" for the umpteenth time.
She had danced one last dance with Paddy, taking the keys he handed her afterwards and had snagged Jimmy's arm, dragging him away from the bar.
"Time for you to see my wedding present," she had whispered in his ear when he protested that the party was only now beginning. He had blushed and grinned, waving at his friends as he stumbled out the door behind her.
She had fumbled with the room key, suddenly afraid that she had made a terrible mistake. Could she ever hope to give Jimmy the happiness he deserved? She with her restless ways, and both of them so used to being on their own. What if he grew tired of her? What if they drifted apart like so many couples she had known?
Despite his semi-intoxicated state, Jimmy seemed to effortlessly follow her thoughts. He took the key from her, opened the door, then swept her up in his arms to cross the threshold.
"Our love will never die," he whispered amidst the rustle of her silk gown.
They had collapsed on the bed, both too exhausted to contemplate anything more than resting in each other's arms. Grace kicked off her shoes, she swore she'd worn right through the soles with all her dancing.
"Where's my present?" Jimmy roused himself enough to ask.
Grace dangled Paddy's keys before him. "Paddy's lent us his boat for the week."
He collapsed back on the pillows, one hand idly tracing the pearls sewn onto her bodice. "Is that all?"
She felt her face stretch into a wide grin. Jimmy sat up straight, his own smile mirroring hers. "What have you done, Grace?"
"I found it, Jimmy."
He tilted his head, his eyes widening, creases crinkling at their edges. "No, it can't be true."
She nodded. "It is. I found Maeve's treasure. I had an idea, so Paddy took me with a few of his students yesterday."
"I thought you were meant to be at that day spa in Galway. Getting your toes done and seaweed wraps and all."
She laughed, stretching one naked foot up for him to examine. "Do I look like the pedicure type?"
He shrugged. "I thought it was wedding jitters, you know--"
She leaned forward and kissed him thoroughly. No jitters there. As they embraced, his hand closed over hers and he slid the keys from her fingers.
"Have you seen it, actually seen it? Is it what we thought?"
"After I found it, Paddy and his crew photographed it and began a grid. But he says he'll leave the rest to you. As long as you don't muck it up."
Jimmy bounded out of bed faster than a kid on Christmas morning. "Muck it up? I've been working sites longer than--" He ducked under the bed. "Where are my shoes?"
"What do you need shoes for?"
"We'll leave tonight, sleep on the boat. Then come first light--" He came up for air, his head at the level of the bed.
She stretched out, took his face between her hands. "It's not going anywhere, Jimmy. Tonight is ours."
They had gotten a late start the next day and it was well past noon by the time they reached the craggy, deserted island southwest of Galway. Waves battered the small inflatable raft they used to gain access to the cave, making Grace seasick and glad she had abstained the night before. Jimmy didn't seem to mind the raucous motion of the dingy. His face flushed with excitement, he perched on the gunwale, gunning the motor, too excited to wait for the tide.
Grace's eyes welled up with tears and she had to look away. Never in her life had she been able to give anyone a gift that had caused such delight. Approval, gratitude, respect--but never sheer, unadulterated joy.
She brushed her eyes with the back of a hand and found herself looking forward to many years of surprising and delighting Jimmy.
"You okay there?" Jimmy asked, circling one hand around her waist and snuggling her back against him. "Not getting seasick on me, are you?"
A sudden wave made the raft lurch as water sprayed both of them. Jimmy's laugh filled the air. Grace turned and risked sliding off her seat to plant a kiss on his lips.
"Whoa now, I could get used to this marriage thing," he said before turning his attention back to steering. The island loomed over them, a craggy grey-green mass of granite riddled with inlets and caves. "The one on the right is it?"
"Yes. Better to wait for the tide to go out, it won't be as rough." She had to shout above the sound of waves smashing against the cliffs on either side of the opening.
Jimmy laughed again and gunned the engine. "No way. I've waited all my life for this."
Paddy's crew had set up lights, which made navigating inside the sea cavern much easier than Grace's first time there. The ropes she left anchored to the granite wall inside were wet, slippery to climb. Jimmy waited impatiently below while she scaled the slick rock face.
Twenty meters up was the sheltered ledge where the group of sealed vessels waited. The air was crisp, charged with energy. Maeve's sword lay across three of the large clay pots. Despite the wet atmosphere, it was a gleaming color between silver and copper with not a speck of rust to mar its surface. It looked as if its owner had just sat it there three minutes ago rather than three thousand years ago.
"I'm coming!" Jimmy shouted from below, not waiting for her to set up the safety ropes she had brought with her.
Grace dropped her gear and craned her head over the cliff's edge. The sea churned as the tide rolled in, the small dingy bouncing like a child's toy. Jimmy balanced on the edge of the gunwale, reaching for the rope. A rogue wave blindsided him and he careened over the side, toppling head first into the water.
"Jimmy!" Her cry of warning was too late. The coil of the anchor rope tangled around Jimmy's leg as he disappeared beneath the surface. The small boat flipped over, trapping him.
She didn't have time to think or plan, only to react. Ignoring Paddy's carefully laid out grid, she grabbed Maeve's sword and dove off the cliff into the water, barely missing the rocks hidden by the tide. She kicked her way toward the surface.
She shook her head, clearing her vision. Jimmy was nowhere to be seen, only white-frothed water churning around the overturned dingy. The sword was short enough that it didn't slow her much as she swam to the boat and tried to turn it over. Waves pounded her back.
Sucking in a deep breath, she grabbed the line that e
nsnared Jimmy and dove under the boat, following it.
Jimmy was a few meters below the surface, struggling with the rope tangled around his ankle and one wrist. His face was tight with panic and he almost hit her when she approached. Then he looked at her and his panic subsided.
She swiped at the ropes, cutting any that she could reach without slicing into Jimmy's flesh. To her relief, the ancient blade was still sharp, parting the thick nylon easily. Then, Jimmy's body went limp, drifting down. He was still hopelessly snarled.
Grace felt her lungs burning. She wanted to scream, but she pushed her own terror aside. She grabbed Jimmy's belt with one hand as she reached into the darkness beyond him to slash at the remaining knots. Finally he floated free and she kicked hard, propelling them to the surface.
Now the current helped her, launching them forward onto the small spit of gravel that edged the cave. She rolled Jimmy out of the water and onto his back. Straddling him, she checked his breathing. Nothing.
She blew two breaths into his mouth and watched his chest rise. His pulse was there, fast, but definitely there. She sealed her lips over his and gave him another breath. This time a stream of water spewed into her face as he retched and gagged.
Wiping her eyes clear, she rolled him onto his side as he continued to vomit and cough. His color was pale but his breathing steady aside from an occasional cough.
Even though he was out of danger, she could not let go of the handful of his shirt she had twisted in her hand. It felt as if her own heart had stopped during those endless moments of willing him back to life.
Then he opened his eyes, blinking hard, the whites filling with tiny splotches of blood.
"Some honeymoon," he'd said, his voice hoarse and scratchy.
Grace had started crying then, shaking and weeping and generally making a fool out of herself. He had wrapped his arms around her and everything was all right again. It was the first time in her life she had felt true terror.
The first time she'd actually had something to lose that she couldn't live without.
CHAPTER 30
The Great Divide
"What happened?" Alex asked when Jimmy paused for breath. He had just gotten to the part in the story where Maeve's brother killed the two Kallisteans and ordered Maeve to follow him or die.
Grace slipped off the radiator, her butt growing numb, and crossed over to stand beside Jimmy. He slid his hand over her arm, intertwining his fingers with hers.
"Well, now." After a suitable pause to build suspense, Jimmy continued his carefully edited version of Maeve's story. "Maeve and Lothar fought all that day and into the night." It was an exaggeration, Grace knew, but the kids were rapt, hanging on his every word. "Maeve was smaller than her brother, but she was skilled and she had the special sword the Kallisteans had forged for her. Finally, Maeve forced Lothar's sword from him, had him down, her blade at his throat."
"Did she kill him?" Kat shifted, the blanket falling aside as she slid to the edge of the chair.
"Worse," Jimmy said in a low, groaning voice. What a ham. And a ghost telling a ghost story, how fitting. "She walked away."
"Walked away?"
"She decided that the worst punishment would be to leave him to his own companions. He lay there, bleeding, wounded, and they pounced on him."
"Did they eat him too?" Alex added.
Grace shook her head at the boy's gruesome sense of humor. Cannibals seemed to hold no fear for the kids.
"Maeve took the women and children and returned to the Kallista settlement. There they flourished during the year without sun."
"The end," Grace interjected. The children didn't need to know the rest. Not tonight at least. "Time for bed."
The kids flopped back, then Kat sat up again. "Wait. What was the treasure? How did it save the world when Grace found it again?"
Grace took over the story-telling, otherwise they'd be there all night. "When the sun finally returned months later, Maeve and the others decided to split up. Some of the Kallista wanted to try to sail home. The rest followed Maeve to a new home near where she once ruled. She left the treasure on the island and gave the leader of each group a map so that they could lead future generations to it, if needed."
"A map? How'd a piece of paper last three thousand years?" Kat asked.
"Did they have paper back then? Maybe they carved it on a stone," Alex suggested.
"Maeve wouldn't be carrying around a hunk of stone."
"She carved it onto her knife," Grace answered them. "The knife I took from her tomb. It was fashioned of a special metal alloy unknown in Maeve's time--before the Kallista arrived, that is. Her sword was made of the same material, much lighter, sharper, stronger than Lothar's."
"That's how she was able to defeat him."
"Plus she was smarter and better than him," Kat said. Then she turned to Grace. "Where was the treasure hidden? What was it?"
"We had clues to where the island was from Maeve's manuscript. Once I realized that the markings on the knife were a map, I found the treasure hidden in a sea cavern, half way up a cliff."
"And about got yourself killed climbing up there to get it," Jimmy put in from his place beside Alex.
"Did not. Besides, you were the fool who almost drowned." Grace wrinkled her nose at him.
He humpfed in response. Grace shot him a glare. He'd almost died that day, yet he always joked about it whenever he told the story.
Of course, back then, how were they to know that Jimmy's days were numbered? The scent of blood filled her mind and for a moment her own screams drowned out the other sounds in the room.
She shook herself free of the memories. Jimmy was giving her that same half-grin but his eyes narrowed in concern. The kids watched them both eagerly.
"So what was the treasure?" Alex asked.
"Just a bunch of seeds," Jimmy said laconically, his fingers wrapping around hers and giving her hand a squeeze which she returned.
Alex sat upright in bed. "Seeds? That was the treasure? No way!"
"Aye. Well, there was also the secret of how to make the metal alloy. Maeve could have used that to arm her people, could have conquered the known world, especially with others weakened from the two years without a harvest. But she didn't. Instead she united the people in peace, shared the seeds. Maize and legumes--all designed to grow faster and with less light. The Kallista bred them for their long sea voyages so that they could stop for a short while, grow more food and move on. That's how they were able to circle the world three thousand years before anyone else. Maize and legumes."
"What's maize and legoons?" Alex asked.
"Corn and beans," Grace told him with a smile. "The same ones that they are now growing in famine areas across the world. The places hit hardest when Tambora erupted. So the treasure did save millions even three thousand years after it saved Maeve's people."
"No way, corn and beans. Yuck." Alex made a sour face. "I wouldn't eat them if my life depended on them."
"Guess you're lucky you don't have to worry about that. Now, time for bed."
"No," Kat cried out. Grace turned to her and was surprised to see she was shaking, her legs drawn up to her chest. "That can't be the end."
"Kat, what's wrong?"
"I don't want it to end, I don't want to go back." She drew in a shuddering breath and turned her face to Grace. "Please, don't make me go back there."
Grace rushed around the bed to take the girl into her arms. "You're not going back."
"But, my surgery--"
"Don't worry, sweetheart." Grace pulled the blanket up over Kat's shoulders. "In the morning I'll talk to Helman, tell him to leave you down here with Alex until your surgery."
"Really?" Kat looked up at Grace, her eyes wide with hope. "Promise."
"I promise. I'll make sure you don't have to go anywhere near the ECU again."
"Thanks, Grace," Kat mumbled, her eyes drooping.
Jimmy was glaring at her, but Grace studiously ignored him. She leaned
forward and planted a kiss on Kat's forehead. The girl was so exhausted that she was asleep within seconds. Alex's snores filled the room a few minutes later.
"We need to talk," Jimmy said, gesturing to the door.
Grace crept past the two sleeping youngsters and they slipped outside into the quiet corridor. Alex's room was at the far end of the pediatric wing, as far away from the nurses' station as you could get. A small alcove with cleaning supplies and a sink sat across the hallway. Grace left Alex's door ajar and beckoned for Jimmy to join her there, out of sight of any passerby.
"You can't go to Helman," Jimmy began. "He'll lock you up, have you committed and sent off for his miracle surgery before you could say boo!"
"Shh. Hold your voice down. It's all right, I was already planning to see him in the morning."
Jimmy's bushy eyebrows drew together in a frown. "What? Why? Grace, you can't--"
She lay a finger against his lips to quiet him. Then noticed that it was trembling and quickly drew it away. Not before he saw, though. He gathered her into his arms, held her tight, the beat of his heart echoing through her.
God, this was so hard, the hardest thing she'd ever done, harder even than losing him the first time. Her breath shuddered through her body as she fought her tears. Jimmy wasn't helping any, whispering nonsense to her in Gaelic as if she were a child frightened by things that go bump in the night.
Because in Grace's world, things that went bump in the night were all too real.
At last she understood why he had been sent back. There were some things that she could not do alone.
She pushed back, gaining some space. "I need you to stay with them, protect them. I can't be two places at once, Jimmy."
His frown deepened into a glower. "You think I crossed heaven and earth to play nanny? Grace--"
"No. It's the only way. Helman is on the ethics committee. He can guarantee Alex gets what he needs and that Kat is taken care of. He can see that Eve Warden is stopped. I have to go to him."
"Let me. You stay here with the kids. Alex needs you, can't you see that?"
"Why would Helman listen to you?"