“Greetings, ladies.”
“Oh, we’re ladies now, are we?” The speaker, a girl with heavy eyeliner and artfully ripped stockings under a black miniskirt, laughed and tossed her dyed black hair out of her face. “That’s a first.”
“And what else would I call you? I’m nothing if not truthful.” Bran reached down to pluck a blade of grass that grew valiantly in a crack at the base of the wall. He held it behind his back and twisted his fingers. Unseen by the girls, the blade of grass wriggled and expanded, pushing upward, sprouting thorns, budding a black blossom. Bran frowned slightly when the magic sputtered briefly, but after a moment he pulled out his creation.
“For you, lady of the shadows. A midnight rose to complement your dark beauty.”
The girl stared at the blossom. Her cheeks colored slightly.
“Are you taking the mickey?”
Bran looked puzzled.
“Would you like me to? I’m not sure where this ‘mickey’ is.”
One of the other girls laughed.
“Go on, take the flower. He’s mad, but he’s got class. You’ve done worse.”
The first girl hesitantly took the rose.
“Thanks, I suppose. Why the costume?”
“These clothes don’t belong here, do they?” Bran looked down at his slim green pants in consideration. “Where can I find better?”
“There’s shops down the road. Go on, find something normal. Perhaps then you’ll be fit to be seen.”
Bran bowed with a flourish.
“Farewell, my lady. May the stars dwell in your midnight tresses.”
The girls laughed, but the first girl patted her hair self-consciously. Bran winked at her and turned on his heel in the direction of the shops.
***
“Would you bring the pepper while you’re up?” Aidan’s mother, Deirdre, said.
Aidan grabbed a pepper shaker from a cupboard in the little kitchen. His vivid copper hair caught the late-afternoon light when he passed by a nearby window to squeeze into an alcove with a small table. There was just enough room left over for two wooden chairs. Deirdre sat in one, a steaming casserole dish in the center of the table before her. Her eyes were tired and her dark hair liberally streaked with gray, but she smiled when Aidan flopped into his chair.
“Thanks, love.” She took the proffered pepper shaker and started to dish out the casserole. “Did you find that suitcase you were looking for upstairs?”
“Yeah, thanks. I put it in the hall. It’s a great big one. Are you sure you don’t want it?” Aidan took a bite of food and then fanned his mouth, blowing out. “Hot!”
Deirdre tutted with a smile. Then she said, “No, it’s fine. I have that other small suitcase. You’re welcome to carry around that beast of a bag.”
“Fanks,” Aidan said, his mouth full. He swallowed. “Mum, I’ll miss your shepherd’s pie.”
Deirdre looked down at her plate.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she said. Aidan sighed and put down his fork. “What will you do with a degree in music? What sort of jobs are out there?”
“Mum, we’ve been through this.” They looked at each other across the table. Aidan’s jaw was set and Deirdre’s lips were tight. “Music is the one thing I’m really good at. I know you don’t believe in me, but I do.”
“Oh love, it’s not that. I know you’re talented. But it’s such an unreliable career. Why don’t you enroll in a more practical course? Something you can get a job in when you’re finished? You remember Mary, her husband is looking for an apprentice—”
Aidan heaved an exasperated sigh.
“Mum, no. We’ve been through this. I want to do this.” He resolutely picked up his fork and dug into his food with deliberate motions. Deirdre worried her lip as she looked at her son, who avoided her gaze.
“If you really want to pursue your music, I’m sure there are good schools in Britain. Why Canada?”
Aidan kept his gaze averted from his mother’s, and looked out the window into the busy street beyond.
“I told you, I want to live somewhere new. I’ve hardly ever traveled, except for that trip to France with you when I was ten. I want to explore and see new things.”
“Why don’t you save up and take a vacation sometime? You don’t have to move.”
Aidan took another bite of his food. When he had swallowed, he looked at her and said, “Look, Mum. Can we drop this? I won’t change my mind, and you won’t approve. Can we just enjoy our meal?”
Deirdre looked at Aidan for a moment, and nodded slowly. Aidan turned his focus back to his plate. Deirdre picked up her fork and toyed with her casserole for a minute.
“I spoke to Mary at work today,” she said with an attempt at a light, conversational tone. “She said that she was visiting her cousin who lives east of Thetford. It’s on their local news—there’s a young man who’s wandering about town. He’s acting very oddly, and they wonder if he’s a patient from the care facility up the way. He’s quite sane at first glance, but then the questions he asks, and the strange things he does,” she paused for a sip of water. “Well, everyone’s a bit concerned.”
“What sort of things?” Aidan raised his eyebrow.
“Oh, trying to take things from the shop by trading his shirt, almost getting run over on the motorway. No one’s called the police yet, mainly because he tends to approach pretty girls and flatter them with lovely little speeches.”
“Ha. What a nutter.” Aidan sprinkled pepper on the remainder of his casserole.
“Mary had a glimpse of him as he was leaving town. She was asking questions about you after she told me the story. Apparently the young man looks remarkably like you. I set her straight at once, of course. She should know better, but the resemblance is supposedly very strong.”
“What? She thought I was running around stopping cars and ripping off my shirt for the girls?” Aidan laughed incredulously. “Honestly, she’s known me forever. That’s a bit rich.”
“Well, quite. I told her I didn’t appreciate the insinuations.” Deirdre cut a green bean and speared it with her fork. “Anyhow, keep your eyes open for your doppelganger. He was headed in this direction, last Mary heard.”
Aidan looked at her curiously.
“I wonder why…” Confusion was followed by a flash understanding. Deirdre, focused on her food, didn’t notice Aidan’s shifting expression. He sat stunned for a minute, then scraped back his chair.
“Sorry Mum, I just realized I’ve got to go.”
“But you haven’t finished your dinner.” She looked up, concern and disappointment on her face.
“I know, I’m really, really sorry. Look, I’ll come by tomorrow, I promise.” He kissed her on the forehead and snatched up his plate on the way to the kitchen, then ran out the door. Deirdre sat in stunned silence as the door slammed shut.
***
Bran stood at an intersection of two highways, surrounded by farmland. He stared down one road, then the other, puzzled, until he pulled the tracker penny from his pocket and rubbed it with a thumb. It glowed briefly, and he nodded in satisfaction. A cow mooed in a nearby field and Bran chuckled with delight.
He continued his slow progress down the road, the midday sun warm on his head. Cars zoomed by, filled with curious passengers who eyed the walking Bran doubtfully. He took no notice, but focused on the inhabitant of the next paddock, a piebald horse who grazed the dry grass with single-minded purpose.
“Perfect,” Bran said, and leaped the dividing ditch to land in the paddock. The horse paid him no mind until Bran softly stroked the animal’s side then vaulted onto its back. Astonished, the horse whipped its head around, but calmed after a few soft words from Bran. A gentle dig to the horse’s side brought the animal to a walk, then a trot.
The ditch approached. Bran eyed the distance and kicked his heels. The horse broke into a reluctant canter. Closer and closer the ditch grew. The horse tossed its head nervously, but Bran laid a gentle hand on its mane.
&
nbsp; They flew over the ditch toward the highway, and Bran’s expression of concentration gave way to jubilation. The horse must have felt the joy of its freedom, because it continued to canter down the shoulder of the highway. Drivers gawked at the copper-haired figure astride the piebald horse as the pair passed under a sign that read Amberlaine, 5 mi.
***
Aidan slowed to a walk, panting. The main street of Amberlaine was quiet in the heavy air of the summer evening. He stopped and looked around as if searching, but the exasperated resignation on his face spoke to the futility of his hunt. He leaned against a lamppost to stare at the blank window of a closed shop, deep in thought.
Shaking his head as if to clear it, he looked at his watch and crossed the street to a nearby corner store. A bell tinkled as he pushed the door open.
Two chatting girls beside a magazine rack looked around listlessly as the door shut. They spied Aidan and immediately gasped and elbowed each other.
Aidan stopped in his tracks and stared at them in bewilderment. A second later, the girls’ faces flushed pink with embarrassment, and one giggled nervously.
“What’s going on?” Aidan asked the giggling girl. She looked at her friend and they both laughed.
“Sorry, we thought you were someone else.” Her friend elbowed her again and they smirked at each other.
“Who did you think I was?” he asked carefully.
“Oh, just this boy. He was in here a minute ago. He was very—nice,” she added lamely as her friend giggled again. Aidan let out a very quiet sigh.
“Did his name happen to be Bran, by any chance?”
Both girls stared at him, wide-eyed.
“Yeah. Do you know him?”
Aidan sighed again, a little louder this time.
“He’s—he’s my cousin. Do you know which way he went? I’m trying to find him.”
“Yeah—you’re Aidan, right? I used to see you at school, before you graduated.” She looked him up and down appraisingly. “So, Bran’s your cousin? Where’ve you been hiding him all these years?”
Aidan ignored her comment.
“Which way did he go? I really need to find him.”
“He headed out toward the old mill. Try that way.” The girl pointed out the door.
“Thanks.”
The girl called out to his retreating back, “Say hello to him for me!” Aidan rolled his eyes as the door slammed behind him to the sound of laughter.
He paced down the road with purposeful strides. He glanced from side to side as he walked, and frowned in disappointment at every person who was not Bran. The road quieted and the sun dropped lower in the sky and still he searched, his face growing more and more despondent.
A hand clapped down on his shoulder and he whirled around. A beaming Bran stood before him, sharp features and copper hair a close match to Aidan’s own. He was dressed in baggy blue jeans and an oversized t-shirt depicting a grinning shark.
“Hello.” Bran’s face was smug. “I finally found you.”
“Bran.” Aidan gaped at him. “What the hell are you doing here?” He visibly collected himself and gave Bran a small shove. “You stole the locket from Gwen, you prat. We were supposed to destroy it.”
“I know! What a waste that would have been. Lucky I saved it.” Bran turned on the spot, arms spread. “And now I’m actually in the human world! It’s amazing here. Those wild metal wagons, and the food, and the clothes,” he indicated his own. “It’s brilliant.”
Aidan looked flabbergasted.
“How long have you been wandering about? And how did you get those clothes? You can’t have any money…” Bran continued to beam at him, unperturbed. “You stole them, didn’t you?”
“I tried to trade my favorite dagger, but the girl at the clothing room started to scream,” Bran said cheerfully. “So I left. If she doesn’t know a good trade when she sees one, well.”
Aidan passed a hand over his eyes.
“All right, just—let’s go back to my place and figure out what to do.” He turned Bran in the right direction with a firm hand on his shoulder.
A truck rolled by, engine rumbling in the quiet summer evening. Its sides advertised a local business. Bran jumped when the truck passed them with a whoosh.
“Wow! That was a big one.” Bran laughed at himself, and Aidan’s mouth twitched. Bran peered after the departing truck and said, “Oh, I wanted to ask you. What do the squiggles on the truck mean? I’ve been seeing them all over the place.”
“You mean the writing? It says ‘Smith Contracting.’ You know, the name of the bloke who owns the lorry.”
Comprehension flooded Bran’s face. “That makes so much more sense. Can you really read the squiggles?” Aidan nodded. “I forgot you don’t have the usual plant inscriptions. It also explains some of the really odd messages in people’s gardens.”
“What do you mean?”
Bran pointed to a stone wall in front of a two-storey brick house. Wisteria and roses twisted together in an attractive mass of vines and flowers.
“Like that one. It says, ‘All meat shoe valley running tree lord.’”
Aidan let out an explosive laugh.
“You must have been confused.” He looked around, then pointed to the neighboring garden where a neat row of petunias and alyssum lined the walk. “What does that one say?”
“Mmm—piglet pennant piglet pennant pignant pellant…” Bran tripped over his words as he spoke faster and faster, and both he and Aidan cackled.
Aidan finally pulled himself together.
“Come on, let’s get back to my flat.”
“Why? The night is just starting! What do you do for fun in your world?”
“We should probably lie low. The police might be looking for you.”
Bran, who clearly wasn’t listening, grabbed Aidan’s sleeve and pointed down the road. Light spilled out from an open doorway, and strains of a fiddle and guitar floated on the air.
“Let’s go there. It’s too early to go to your home.”
Aidan shifted his weight from foot to foot. He glanced up the dark road in the direction of his flat, then toward the welcoming busyness of the pub. Bran pushed him toward the open door and Aidan didn’t resist.
“Come on! Is it so exciting at your house? Do you have a feast to get to?”
Aidan laughed.
“Hardly. It’s only me.”
“Well! We’ll have some music, chat with the humans, eat some human food.” Bran licked his lips. “Do you have anything to trade with?”
Aidan smiled, a genuine one that spread across his face.
“I can cover it. We do things differently here.”
“Oh, I know.” Bran smiled blissfully. “It’s superb.”
“By the way, you said you were looking for me. How did you know where to go?”
Bran dug into the pocket of his jeans in response. He triumphantly held up a copper penny. Aidan glanced at it, one eyebrow raised.
“It’s the penny you made! The tracking one I showed you how to make in the forest, months ago. It can work both ways if you know what you’re doing. Since you made it with a bit of your own hair it has a connection to you.” Bran let a rare frown crease his brow. “I tried to find Gwen first using the tracker ring I gave her, but the signal was too weak, like she was far away.”
Aidan let out a mirthless laugh.
“That’s because she is. She’s in Canada.” Noticing Bran’s confusion, he tried to clarify. “North America? Across the Atlantic Ocean? A long way west?”
“Is there land beyond the sea?” Bran’s eyes popped with astonishment.
“Of course. Gwen’s far away, and you’re certainly not walking there.”
“That’s too bad.” Bran gave a little sigh and grinned at Aidan. “It’d be fun if she were here too.”
***
Gwen jumped when her pocket vibrated. She slid out her phone.
“I just got a text from Aidan,” she said to Ellie.
�
��What’d he say?” Ellie adjusted her backpack onto one shoulder as they walked on the sidewalk down a busy boulevard lined with tall, graceful trees.
“Hold on a sec.” Gwen tapped her phone. Aidan’s message appeared on the screen.
I have a visitor. Name starts with B and ends in ran. Now what?
Gwen let out a gasp of laughter in disbelief.
“What?” Ellie asked impatiently.
“Bran’s come into our world. Remember how he stole my mother’s locket from me, the one that makes portals between the worlds? I guess he used it to make a portal. Now he’s found Aidan.” Gwen’s shock was mixed with another emotion she had a hard time placing—was it jealousy? She wanted to see Bran, to interact with a part of the Breenan world. The feelings surprised her. Her time spent in the Otherworld had been anything but fun. They had hiked through endless forest, been chased by wild animals, and been involved in a precarious case of mistaken identities. At the end Gwen had even had to face her mother who had left her as a baby. Why did she feel a strange longing to be a part of that world once more? It didn’t make sense.
Ellie was bug-eyed.
“Oh wow. So, now what?”
Gwen shook her head.
“I have no idea. Aidan will have to convince him to go back, I suppose. And hopefully get the locket off him in the process. There’s nothing I can do from over here.” She laughed incredulously. “Poor Aidan. Bran won’t be easy to convince.”
“Well, check your phone and keep me updated. Curious minds want to know.”
Gwen’s phone beeped again. Curious, she checked the screen.
“Aidan wants to chat. Here, stop for a sec.” She held up the phone so Ellie could see as well. Aidan’s face appeared on the screen, accompanied by loud chatter in the background.
“Hi, Gwen.” He looked sheepish. “Hope we’re not bothering you. Bran wanted to say hello.”
The screen blurred with motion before it stopped on a familiar face.
“Hi, Gwen, Ellie!” Bran beamed at them. “The magic in your world is amazing. I never want to leave.”
Breenan Series Box Set Page 24