Irish Magic

by Caitlin Ricci

  Ippy lay down in front of her, giving her his back like they normally did when they lay down together. She tried not to think about how weird it was to have Caelum behind her as she stared at the back of Ippy’s head. Maybe selkies were touchy, too—like most werewolves were, Ippy being the exception, of course. Maybe that was it. Could be. She’d almost managed to convince herself of it when Caelum started softly snoring behind her.

  Hannah was barely asleep when the barking of a dog woke her up. At first her sleep-addled brain thought it might be a member of the pack in wolf form bothering her. But when the barking grew louder and she heard a woman’s voice nearby she quickly shook the guys awake, much to Ippy’s displeasure. Caelum was on his feet first, even before she was, and she was surprised when she reached for his hand in the darkness. Too scared to move, they waited, Hannah pushing Ippy behind them as the light of a flashlight crept ever closer.

  She caught sight of the bounding form of a dog jumping through the beam and waited, holding her breath for whoever it was that found them to get closer. They couldn’t run anymore. She hadn’t even considered trying. Caelum squeezed her hand in his and she was surprised to feel Ippy’s hand on the back of her shirt, holding her close as well. She’d known Ippy for years and he was her best friend, but even though they hadn’t even known Caelum for more than a day, she felt connected to him. And she was glad that he was there with them. She brought her free hand up to block the light as it shined in her eyes.

  “Hannah Glass? Is that you, child?” a voice like crinkled tissue paper called into the darkness.

  She gasped and dropped her hand, trying to get a look at the woman behind the voice. “Who are—how do you know my name?” She swallowed thickly, her nerves getting the better of her as she leaned into Caelum’s side and reached behind her to touch Ippy’s hand on her shirt, seeking strength and comfort from them both.

  The elderly woman’s twisted face came into view as she crept forward, and Hannah had to turn away or risk letting out her surprise. She’d never seen anything quite so distressing as the sight of the gnarled, mottled skin that covered the woman’s thin face.

  “Do not hide your eyes child, come, look closer.”

  Hannah shook her head despite the woman’s soft voice. Ippy tugged on her shirt and Caelum added a second hand to the one holding hers. “Who are you?” Caelum demanded, sounding far stronger than she felt.

  “Just a kindly old woman, sent by a father of both wolf and man. One that is quite worried about a little girl who, as I understand it, is in a good deal of trouble when he finds out where she’s gone off to.” There was a smile in the woman’s voice. Hannah could tell. Cold fingers touched her cheek and Hannah shivered as she tried to pull away. But the guys wouldn’t back up and when she looked up at the woman she realized that she was still a good ten feet away.

  The moon illuminated her grisly face now and Hannah tried not to look, but something about her features caught her attention and a heartbeat later she was stepping forward toward the strange woman. “It’s a disguise,” she breathed into the chilled night air. The woman’s face began to crumble around the edges near her throat and Hannah forced herself to relax.

  “I am Cicile. And you are welcome to wait with me until your father arrives to claim you. Come, all of you, come with me now. These woods are not safe for children.”

  Hannah hesitated, not only because this woman was a stranger, but because as the disguise flaked off she saw something else on the woman’s face that made her heart skip. “There’s blood on your mouth,” she said into the space between them. Caelum was beside her a moment later, his much bigger body blocking Cicile from looking at her as Ippy came up beside her. He was smaller than them both, but she welcomed his support as he moved to protect her as well. She put a gentle hand on both of their backs, though she half expected Ippy to protest into her mind. When he didn’t, she wrapped her hand around the waist of his pants, glad to have him so close.

  Cicile wiped at her mouth with one gnarled hand. When she looked at the smeared black fluid she smiled at her hand. “Ah. So there is.”

  “I’ve met one of you before,” Hannah slowly said, the memories coming back to her. She’d been a child, frightened as she stood between her dads and faced down a glowing woman on the outskirts of a forest much like this one.

  Cicile didn’t look surprised. “Oh? Have you, now?”

  Hannah nodded. “I was in Ireland with my dads in a place called Galway Sound. And she was a forest fae. I don’t know if you’re a forest fae, too, but you aren’t human, and I’ll bet my chores for the next week that you’re fae.”

  “Only a week?”

  Hannah licked her lips, feeling emboldened by the moment. “A month.”

  Between one heartbeat and the next Cicile transformed herself, dropping the withered old disguise completely and standing before them as a beautiful woman, her long white hair flowing around her and nearly coming to her knees. Beside her the dog changed, too, becoming taller, leaner as his face lengthened and his ears grew larger. Cicile reached down to touch the bright red stripe that went down the creature’s back. “You are correct, little huntress. I am a forest fae.”

  “She’s not a hunter,” Caelum quickly told her.

  Cicile didn’t bother looking at him. “I have offered your father safety for yourself and your companions until he arrives. Will you deny me?”

  Hannah tried to remember everything she’d ever known about the fae. There was something she wasn’t supposed to forget that her books had told her. But what was it?

  Don’t trust her, Ippy said into her mind.

  Hannah nodded to him. She knew better than to trust the fae after the first time she’d met one at nine years old. They were powerful and scary. Ah, that was it. “I will not make a bargain with you.”

  Cicile only looked mildly surprised, but that expression quickly faded. “Good for me, then, that my agreement isn’t with you.”

  “It isn’t?”

  Cicile shook her head. “Your father is the one that sent out the call for all available otherworlders to find you. I have found you first, and so my price will be taken from him.”

  Hannah gasped and quickly backed up. “Not if you can’t get us,” she challenged, too afraid of what this woman would do to her dad to even think clearly about which direction she should be running.

  Cicile released the creature that had once been her dog and it crept closer, its jaws hanging open and saliva dripping from its fangs. “Do not think to outrun my pet, little huntress. Your father will live, I guarantee you that. I have no quarrel with the werewolves of this nation and know his death would bring about far too much pain for even me to tolerate. I have no time for such quarrels. I simply wish something of him.”

  Hannah relaxed slightly. “Alright. Then we won’t run. As long as you aren’t going to go after my dads or anyone else in the pack.”

  Cicile smiled at her and when her lips parted Hannah got a good look at multiple rows of sharp, tiny white fangs. She shivered and moved closer to the protection of her guys.

  “That is a wise choice, little Hannah Glass. Now, we will sit here and wait for your father to arrive.” As soon as Cicile spoke the words, the dead leaves blew away from the earth at their feet, revealing soft grass. Caelum shrugged and sat down first, with Ippy close beside him. Hannah took her seat last, leaning on them both and trying to get as close to them as possible in the darkness of the glade.

  “I never thought I’d see a hunter in the company of a werewolf and a selkie,” Cicile said as she eyed the three of them speculatively.

  Hannah glared at her. “Because I’m not a hunter.”

  Cicile ignored her, instead asking, “Was it your mother then that carries the ability?”

  “I doubt it. Neither of my dads ever mentioned it. And I don’t have contact with her.”

  Hannah didn’t much like talking about her mom. Not because she had anything against the wo
man, but because she didn’t know her. She’d asked her dad about her a few times when she was younger and having a mom had mattered to her, largely because of how the other kids talked about theirs. But his answers that her mom was a good person but not a great mother had always satisfied her. After all, Evangeline was a great person, but she couldn’t imagine her pack’s second in command as ever being a mother. Some people just weren’t. Didn’t make them bad or anything. She chose to think of her mom like that.

  A comfortable silence fell over the clearing as a small fire sprouted up from the earth between Cicile and them. As long as the woman and her…dog stayed over there, Hannah was fine with them being nearby. “How will your let my dad know that we’re here?” she asked.

  Cicile smiled at her, her pointed fangs showing under her full red lips. “He’s aware.”

  Hannah shivered and laid her head against Caelum’s shoulder. She was surprised he didn’t move away. Ippy leaned back against her and she smiled at the back of his head and stuck her arm out over his left shoulder. It might have looked weird to someone else. Actually, it probably did. But by her giving him her arm and hand like this, he could put them where he wanted them. Plus that way, if he didn’t want to be touched, he could just toss her arm off to the side of him and no hard feelings about that either. As long as he was okay with it. That was all that mattered to her. Instead of pushing her arm aside, though, he brought her hand down to his chest, right by his heartbeat. She blew him a kiss. The fire warmed them and she closed her eyes, giving into the peace it offered after such a screwed up day.

  Well, not completely screwed up. She’d managed to get her selkie, after all. She pressed her face further against his shoulder. He put his hand over hers in the grass. This felt good. Almost right. She liked having her guys around her, though she wasn’t stupid enough to think that it could be this way forever or even the rest of the night. Once her dad came and found them she’d be in a lot of trouble. She doubted that she’d be allowed to see Ippy much after that. At least for a little while. Her dads weren’t cruel, they wouldn’t cut them both off forever. But it might be a while before she got to hang out with her best friend and her—Hannah opened her eyes and looked up into Caelum’s dark gaze. Her friend, she guessed. Escaping from two guys chaining you up would make anyone friends, she supposed. She liked that. Liked the idea of having a friend that was a selkie.

  The fire crackled and she looked across it at Cicile. She was surprised to see the woman watching her as well. “How long will it take my dad to get here?” she asked, growing more uncomfortable by the moment. It wasn’t really that Cicile made her feel that way. Alright, so maybe it was a little. But it was also that they were out in the open and there were still two guys looking for them, hoping to put them all back in chains. And worse. She shuddered, remembering the skins in the trunk and the heads on the walls. Those poor people.

  Cicile looked down at her dog. “Soon, child.”

  Hannah nodded, figuring that answer was good enough. For now at least.

  “You should rest,” Caelum whispered softly to her.

  She shook her head. She didn’t want to rest. She couldn’t, with Cicile watching them. “If you’re tired, you can,” she replied, her voice just as quiet as his.

  I’m tired, Ippy announced, speaking up for the first time in a while.

  Caelum nodded. “You can lie down next to me.”

  It was still really odd, but pretty cool that Ippy could talk to Caelum, too. She didn’t know if he could talk to just Caelum without her listening in on them, but she’d ask him when they didn’t have Cicile watching them. Ippy nodded, looking almost reluctant as the three of them moved apart only long enough for Caelum to find a place to lie down near the fire. Ippy lay next to him, Caelum on his back and Ippy on his belly on the soft grass. She watched her friends get comfortable and soon close their eyes before she met Cicile’s stony gaze. She wanted the woman to know that she was there and watching her. Not that Hannah thought she could do much against a forest fae and her whatever-the-hell-that-was by her side, because it certainly wasn’t like any dog she’d ever seen. But the threat behind her stare made Hannah feel better, like she was doing something to protect her friends. Especially Ippy, who admittedly she hadn’t done a whole lot for since dragging him along that morning.

  Alright, so she really hadn’t dragged him. But her dad was gonna say that she did. And that she should have known better. And that she should have gone to the pack. And that she should have done a lot of things that she didn’t do. She got that. Now. But things had seemed so easy this morning. She’d had a plan. She pulled her knees up to her chest and yawned, the day’s stress finally getting to her a bit. It sucked. They shouldn’t still be out here. They were supposed to be home by now. She had ice cream waiting for her in the fridge and maybe her dads would have ordered a pizza. She’d have done her homework early so she could watch a movie with them.

  That was how it was supposed to be, anyway if everything had worked out—and they hadn’t been kidnapped and stuff.

  Her dads were going to kill her.

  Something broke behind her and she was on her feet a second later, her heart pounding in her eyes. Cicile said a quiet word to her dog-thing and then it was off in the direction of the sound as Hannah went to get up the already groggily awake guys. “I hope its the pack,” she said, coming to stand in front of them. Behind her, Cicile said nothing. Yeah, she didn’t really think it would be them either. But it would have been nice. Ippy was too young to shift, but she wished he could. Instead they waited for a sound, anything, as they heard what Hannah assumed was the dog moving through the woods around them.

  Until the sound of a gunshot broke through the still night air followed by a pained cry. Hannah gasped and brought her hands to her mouth, covering her shock. Had the men come? Had they shot the dog? Cicile moved forward, her face awash with horror and sorrow and from her eyes leaked tears of blood. Hannah quickly moved away from her, running into both Ippy and Caelum. The forest fae was scary when she hadn’t just lost her pet. Now she was terrifying, and Hannah wanted no part of it.

  Still, she felt like she should say something. “Uh…Cicile…I…”

  Cicile turned her head and hissed at Hannah, shutting off anything she might have said after that, before stalking into the woods alone. Hannah held her breath and reached back for their hands. She was glad when each of her guys took one of her hands. Cicile’s glowing form was only visible for a short while until the three of them were left alone by the fire. Hannah looked around, trying to make sure she could see anything that was coming toward them before anything could hurt her. Ippy seemed to be looking around as she watched his eyes go back and forth across the darkness around them.

  Caelum squeezed her hand and she squeezed it back, glad he was there. Glad they both were. She felt safer with them around. Her guys. Their connection wasn’t very old, but to her, at least, it was instantaneous. “Thank you for coming to look for me,” he whispered over the sound of the crackling fire behind them.

  She giggled. It was an odd time to mention it. “Sure. Thanks for coming back with us. My selkie.”

  He grinned down at her. “My human.”

  Hannah hoped the guys would think the blush covering her cheeks was warmth from the fire. But it wasn’t. Something about having Caelum claim her as his anything was major. She liked it, and it made her heart race at the same time, like it did when she and Ippy raced through the woods along the creek at the pack’s summer house. Ippy growled and she turned to see what had caught his attention. He couldn’t really growl, not like her dad or his parents did, anyway. But it was still better than what she could come up with, and it stopped the shadowy force coming toward them. She moved forward, used to getting between Ippy and whatever was trying to hurt him, whether it was someone making fun of him or a car coming too close to them on the street. But she was surprised when Caelum got in front of her, blocking her view. This, she wasn�
�t used to. Sure, there were guys that were older than her in the pack. But they didn’t jump in front of her to protect her like Caelum was doing. On the one hand, it was super sweet. On the other he was taller than her and bigger, and damn it, she wanted to see, too, so she walked around him, ignored his pinched expression and glared into the darkness.

  “Who’s there?” she called into the forest, hoping her voice sounded stronger than she felt.

  Caelum put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from going any further. That was fine by her. She wasn’t going to leave his side. She was smart enough to know where she was safe, and between a selkie and a werewolf sounded pretty good to her. Especially when P came out of the woods with a gun pointed right at them. She froze and even whimpered a little bit. She couldn’t help it as she looked from the man to his gun and back again.

  Ippy tried to come around her, but she pushed him back. He didn’t need to be completely exposed beside them like she was. But her stubborn best friend just went around to Caelum’s other side. She watched them hold hands and pursed her lips. Well, fine then. All for one and all that good stuff. And where was Cicile when they needed her? Surely a forest fae would have some kind of solution to this mess. She expected P to say something, but instead he just looked between them, a slow smile coming to his dry, cracked lips.

  Hannah glared at him, not knowing what the hell his problem was and definitely not liking the silence. She didn’t like not knowing what he was thinking or what he was going to do. But then whispering started in her left ear. It wasn’t any language she knew and it wasn’t very loud, but it still bugged her and she waved her hand at the sound. Until Cicile stepped out of the darkness of the forest to her left, the dog-thing at her side. Hannah was glad the weird furry monster hadn’t actually been hurt. As if knowing what she was thinking, he wagged his tail as he stepped towards her. She pulled her hand away before he could get much closer. As friendly as he might have been with Cicile, she wasn’t stupid enough to think letting him near her fingers would be a good idea.