Bridger

by Megan Curd

  TWENTY-SIX

  Walking back to the house, Liam was silent. We held hands as Memaw and I discussed the next few days’ worth of lessons she was planning.

  “Of course, all you need to do is see this demonstrated once and you’ll be just fine.” She was ticking weapons off on her fingers that she wanted to instruct me on how to use over the next week. Reese and Mary would probably pass out if they knew I was a master at beheading pixies in seventy-four different ways.

  It was thrilling to take everything in. “Is there anything else I can do?”

  Memaw beamed. “There’s a possibility you will be able to do magic.”

  Liam looked up, interested in Memaw’s musings. “You mean she’ll be able to do real magic? Like pulling rabbits out of hats or serious stuff like blowing things up?”

  Memaw chuckled. “Faerie magic is a bit different than what humans think of when they imagine magic. Basically, I’m assuming Ashlyn will be able to do everything the Changelings are capable of, plus the Glaistigs. That makes her the most formidable human, Changeling, or Glaistig ever. She’s the most perfect hybrid that could have ever been created.”

  Looking at it that way, I was a little of everything, but not quite anything. One of a kind. I had always felt different, but never could have imagined just how right I had been. “So what’s my place?”

  Memaw smiled. “The Glaistig will give you an assignment. I would assume you will assist me in taking down Ankou once you’re completely trained.”

  I nodded. At least he would get his comeuppance for breaking apart my family. “What about Jamie?”

  Liam pulled us to a stop. “You aren’t ready for that fight. Leave that one to me.”

  “Why am I not ready?” I said, indignant. “She killed Dad and tried to kill me.”

  “She was also your best friend,” Memaw said. “You’ll be biased. You won’t be able to look past the friendship you’ve built when it comes down to it, which is what she’s counting on.”

  I looked down at the ground, lips puckered while focusing on taking the stairs up to the deck one at a time. “I could handle it.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Liam said.

  Memaw walked to the back door in front of us, looking back to smile once more. She was so proud. I smiled back, happy to finally understand everything and be able to contribute in some way.

  “You’ll get your chance, my girl,” she said. As Memaw reached for the sliding screen back door, I saw Jamie at the same time Liam did: a second before Memaw turned her head back around.

  “Emily!” Liam exclaimed, pushing me behind him and tackling Memaw to the ground, crashing through the screen door still closed. There was a muffled cry from Memaw as she hit the floor, obviously shocked from the attack from behind.

  I ran forward, the spear still in hand. Liam and Memaw were in a tangled mess on the floor. Leaping over them, I rocked on the balls of my feet, ready to spring when the opportunity presented itself. I twirled the spear to hint to Jamie of what was next to come.

  Jamie grinned, staying casual. Backtracking to the couch against the opposite wall, she put her arm around Chris who was lying there. He had his feet up the way he always did when he was taking it easy. It was as though he had never seen Jamie’s psychotic alter ego.

  Jamie looked as though she was genuinely excited for this little reunion. “Hey there, bestie.”

  Taking three steps forward, I didn’t ease out of my crouch. The tip of my iron spear was pointed directly at her heart. “You lost the label ‘bestie’ after you tried to kill me in Ireland.”

  She took one last step back nonchalantly. “I see iron doesn’t affect you like it does Tess.”

  “Which should be a good indication to Chris I’m not what you’re telling him I am.”

  Chris looked between us, confused. His face said that he had been led on. He never had been able to keep a good poker face. Turning my attention to him but keeping tabs on Jamie’s movements in the corner of my eye, I lowered the spear a hair. “Hey, Sasquatch.” It was the best I could do to start a normal conversation.

  Instead of his usual goofy grin, he sneered. “You lost the right to call me that when you took my sister.”

  I took two steps back, putting my heels up against Memaw and Liam who were still on the ground untangling themselves. Glancing back for a split second, Liam was busy pulling Memaw out from under him. When I looked back to Jamie, she had settled herself on Chris’s lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  Chris didn’t look particularly thrilled about this setup, but also didn’t look completely disgusted. That was irritating. I couldn’t believe he could swallow the lies she was feeding him. I held my hand out in a token of good faith, coming so close to the two of them that we could touch. “You know she tried to kill me in Ireland, right? That’s where all this craziness started. You know all this since you’re buds with her now, I’m sure? I didn’t take anyone; I’m still the Ashlyn you grew up with. We can explain everything if you’d just trust me and stay here with us.”

  He ignored everything as though I’d said nothing at all. Letting my hand fall, I looked around our living room. Everything was still in place; the cream walls were adorned with our family photos. Chris and I were smiling down on us from practically every angle. Someone had even started a fire in the fireplace. It was ironic I had brought Jamie here the first time to meet my family - to become part of it - when in actuality she was going to break us apart. She had done her job well.

  Remembering Chris probably didn’t know everything, I blurted out the one thing eating me alive as I looked into Jamie’s smiling face. “She killed Dad. Did she tell you that story, or did she leave that one out?”

  The results of the information were immediate. Chris’s face crumpled in pain as though he had been burned with a hot branding iron. He turned his face to Jamie, eyes thin as he tried to keep the tears from coming through his eyes. “Tell me she’s lying.”

  Jamie ran her open hand along the side of his cheek, looking as soft and motherly as she could in the gesture. “Chris, do you think I would do anything to hurt you? I was trying to get Ashlyn away from you, so you could be safe,” she said, her skin turning to the green it was the day she attacked me. “I thought it was you and her above the ice. I had been sent to save you and your mother from her.”

  By the end of her explanation, she had shifted to her real form. Chris had obviously seen her this way before; he sat still as she continued to stroke his face and neck, which was becoming more girlfriend-like and less motherly with each passing second. Chris closed his eyes, either enjoying this or doing a very good job of pretending. I was beginning to be nauseated from the display.

  Leaning down and rocking onto the balls of my feet, I prepared to knock Jamie into next week for even thinking of touching my brother. However, before I could completely commit to the motion, Liam called out from behind the rest of us. “Ashlyn, we have a problem.”

  I didn’t take my eyes off Jamie. “Worse than the one I’m looking at right now?”

  “Only if you think Emily bleeding is worse,” he said in a terse tone, obviously trying to stay as calm as possible.

  Refusing to take my eyes away from Jamie, I took one step back. “How bad?”

  “Jamie got a switchblade in her before I could get her to the floor. I fell on top of her, making it worse,” he choked out. “It’s not a human switchblade.”

  Jamie was grinning broadly, Chris’s eyes still closed. How he could sit so contentedly while Memaw was injured was beyond me. “What do you mean, a human blade? Is there another kind?”

  Liam sucked in a breath. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “Ankou gave me some of his worm blades,” Jamie said lazily, getting off of Chris’s lap. She ran another small switchblade between her fingers. “Liam can tell you all about them. Chris and I really need to go. I hope you enjoyed seeing him, but I can’t promise you anything more than this visit. Chris will be very busy soon.” She smi
led and then leaned in to kiss Chris.

  That did it. My legs sprang into action. In the air a moment too late, she and Chris disappeared into thin air. I connected with the couch where she and Chris had been seated, tipping it over. My legs crashed through the window behind the couch. Lying on my back, legs dangling out of the now broken window, I assessed myself. Once I was sure there was nothing wrong but a gash in one leg and broken pride, I clambered out of the shattered windowpane. Climbing over the now up-turned couch to finally look at Memaw and Liam, I let out a sigh of relief.

  It didn’t look so bad. I pulled the tiny glass shards out of my thigh as I walked over. There was a small puncture where Jamie’s blade had connected with Memaw’s collarbone. A tiny trickle of blood had already congealed, sealing the wound back together. In a few moments’ time it wouldn’t even be noticeable. “What’s the problem? You made it sound like she was dying or something.”

  Liam looked up from Memaw, his blue eyes cold steel. “Ash, this is bad. Look at her arm.”

  My eyes ranged down to Memaw’s left arm. About four inches away from the puncture wound, a small bump was moving along the inside of her bicep. Every couple seconds it would stop and disappear for a few moments, then resurface just below the skin, continuing its journey down to her fingertips. It looked like a beetle was underneath her skin. I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “What’s that?”

  Memaw opened her eyes weakly. “You need to get me to Adaire. Now.”

  She gasped in pain. As seconds trickled by, her gasps were becoming more pronounced and only came when the bulge disappeared. My stomach churned. It was obvious that whatever the moving bulge was, it was doing damage to her internally. I looked to Liam for answers. “How? Why? What is that thing?”

  Liam nodded and then got to his feet, lifting Memaw in the process. “The worm blade does exactly what its’ name implies. The blade doesn’t do much damage to a person when cut by it. If left even barely in the skin, though, the blade burrows in and makes its’ way through the person’s body. If you don’t get her to Adaire soon, it’s going to cut all the muscles in her arm to pieces, then move onto the next limb. She’ll bleed internally and be left as a shell. It’s the only weapon that can kill an immortal.”

  My knees buckled. I grabbed Liam’s shoulder for support, the room beginning to spin. This was too much. How much time had I wasted spouting off at the mouth with Jamie? It had cost Memaw precious time.

  “How do we get to Adaire?” I asked. Memaw had never mentioned how to get to Adaire, although it seemed that getting through a crack to Neamar was child’s play. I looked at Memaw, hoping she was still conscious to answer the question because Liam looked like he was completely at a loss.

  Memaw gasped again, grabbing her wrist now. Pulling her hand away, blood began to rise underneath her ivory skin as though she had a blood blister. It was blossoming along the palm of her hand now. The blade was doing its silent damage with terrifying efficiency. “Adaire can only be accessed by a Glaistig through their one portal they’ve created,” Memaw rushed out the words, pain distorting her beautiful face. “Mine is downstairs in your bathroom, Ashlyn.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked. There was definitely nothing mystical or portal-like in my room. If anything, the room was a black hole. Things went in and never came out. Memaw was going to end up dead because of my refusal to pick up after myself. That would be par for the course.

  “In your shower,” she said, her arm falling limply away from her body. She moaned in pain.

  Liam grabbed my wrist. “Ashlyn, we need to go now! The worm just cut the muscles connecting her arm to her shoulder. It’s going to go on to the next body part. We don’t have time to talk.” He was shaking as he watched Memaw twitch in his arms. I was in shock. This couldn’t be happening. Not to Memaw. She was indestructible. One foot in front of the other, we reached the stairs to the basement.

  Reaching the foot of the stairs, I looked around the room frantically. Liam pushed past me. He made a beeline for the bathroom. He disappeared, the lights flicking on. I followed him, all of us squeezing into the small bathroom.

  Liam pushed me to the shower, shoving Memaw into my arms. She winced in pain as I saw the worm making its’ way through her right arm now, doing perfect spirals down her forearm. The blade was making a bloody trail underneath her skin in its wake. “Ashlyn, you have to take her. I can’t cross over. I’ll be here when you get back.”

  I looked at Liam, terrified. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “Emily will show you. I can’t be here for this. I’m human, nothing more.” His voice was frantic. As he went to exit the bathroom, he turned back quickly. “Please be careful. I’m going to be here the minute you get back.” With that, he snapped the door shut behind him.

  Memaw was passed out in my arms. I shook her gently, trying to get her back to consciousness. The blood loss was causing her to slip away, which was making it harder for me to concentrate. The whole scene was quickly becoming a horror film. “Memaw, what am I supposed to do?”

  She looked up at me for a moment before her eyes rolled back in her head. “Focus on Adaire.”

  “I don’t even know what Adaire is!”

  She was fading fast as I stood in the shower almost as clueless as I was ten minutes before. “Then focus on…me.”

  I had gotten as much of us into the shower as possible. Not knowing what to do, pulling the shower curtain shut behind us seemed like a good idea. Frantically searching for the worm, I found it near her right knee. That meant both arms were no more than rubber hoses now. The thought kicked my brain into high gear, yanking me out of my stupor I had been in since breaking the window upstairs. “Memaw! What’s next? How does this work?”

  Nothing. At wits’ end, I closed my eyes tight, thinking of Adaire. It became apparent that wasn’t going to work not a minute after beginning. I had no clue what or where Adaire was. Thinking of Memaw terrified me. All that came to mind was Memaw’s broken body I currently held in my arms.

  Impulsively, I turned on the shower, hoping that was the catalyst. Instead, ice-cold water burst from the showerhead, causing me to gasp in shock. I choked on the water, shaking Memaw back from her unconsciousness. She shook her head and screamed in agony, her leg now a bloody crimson from the knee down. “Ashlyn, you’ve got to get us there! Bridge the gap! Focus!”

  I smashed my eyes shut once more, imagining Memaw in all her beauty. I tried to imagine what Adaire might be like, hoping to get some miniscule detail correct.

  After thirty seconds of pure nothing, I kicked the shower wall in frustration. Instead of connecting with the wall, the kick went full force through air. Slipping on the wet porcelain with the one foot still on the ground, I fell backward, smashing my head against the back wall. I tucked Memaw in tight to avoid injuring her any more than what Jamie had already inflicted. When we hit the ground, though, there was grass underneath us instead of porcelain. Opening my eyes, we had somehow ended up on a sprawling lawn. Sopping wet and completely disoriented, I struggled to get up and found a bare foot on my forehead, pushing me back down onto the grass.

  “You might want to just stay down there, child,” a man’s voice said dryly. “I’m not sure who you are or how you got here, but you’re carrying very important cargo in your arms.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  “Please, take her, she has a worm blade in her and it’s chopping her up alive!” I gushed, not even bothering to inhale. “Her name is Emily McVean and she’s your assassin! I’m Ashlyn McVean, her granddaughter. Please take her and get the thing out!”

  The voice still sounded disinterested, as though I wasn’t holding a woman who was internally bleeding. “I know who she is, love. I've know her longer than you have. A worm blade, eh? Emily must be losing her edge if she let one of those take root. You’re the Assassin’s granddaughter, you say? Very interesting that you made it over without the Glaistig’s approval or knowledge. Obviously Emily didn’t cross you two
over in her condition. You shouldn’t have even been able to come over. I’m curious to see what the committee makes of this.”

  I leaned my head back in attempt to find the man. His big toe nearly poked my eye out as it slid down my forehead. “Dude, if you don’t take her now, I will shove my foot so far up your – ”

  Another voice cut me off. By the sound of it, a woman this time. “Now, now, no need to resort to threats.” I felt the weight of Memaw lifted off my chest. “Take Emily to her room. The healers will be able to mend her from there.”

  The man was clearly bored. “She’s already lost both arms and a leg.”

  “Nothing worse than when she came here after her fight with the Morrigan. Take her now before the young one tries to hurt you. We don’t need two McVeans in the infirmary tonight.”

  The pressure of the man’s foot was suddenly gone from my face. Memaw's weight had disappeared as well. I pulled myself up immediately, searching for where Memaw had been taken and who had taken her.

  “It’s fine, little one. Emily will be fine.”

  I turned around to follow the sound of a southern drawl from the woman who had been talking. I hadn’t known what to expect in this faerie land, but she wasn’t what I had in mind for a faerie. For one, she didn’t have wings. She also had no pointed ears. In fact, she looked amazingly plain. She wouldn’t have stood out on the streets in Fairborn at all.

  She wasn’t an unattractive woman by any means; she just wasn’t a memorable face, either. She looked like she was in her late teens, early twenties. Athletically built, she had her hair cropped short and spiked all over her head. At the roots it was a beautiful blonde like Memaw’s when she was in her immortal form, but at the tips she had dyed it bright purple and pink. Her eyes were hazel and she smiled a gentle smile. Her clothes reminded me of my own; she was wearing faded jeans and a black Aerosmith tour t-shirt dated 1973. I instantly dropped my guard. Her presence exuded safety. I felt as though I had known this woman my entire life, although I didn’t even know her name.