by Jodi McIsaac
Finn stayed silent for a long moment.
“You still don’t think I should go,” she said, feeling her stomach twinge. Cedar waved her foot in the water and watched as the fish swam past, oblivious to the sudden tension above them.
“I told you that I’m going to help,” Finn said. “I was just thinking about Eden.”
“I know,” Cedar said. “If we tell her where we’re going, she’ll want to come…but I don’t know what we’ll run into out there, and she’s already seen too much death. I think you should stay here with her.”
“Oh? And you’re just going to leave a trail of open sidhe around Ériu? Or were you planning on taking the train?”
“I could take Rohan,” she mumbled. “He could close them for me.”
Finn leaned in so that she couldn’t avoid looking at him. “You’d rather bring my father with you than me?” he asked incredulously.
“Of course not,” she said quickly. “But what about Eden?”
“You’re right, she should stay here…with my parents. We won’t be gone long. If you’re going, I’m going with you. We’re a team, Cedar. Besides, you wouldn’t even know where to look for most of these beings. I spent years trying to find them and reach out to them, remember? They’re very good at not being found, but no one knows where to start looking better than I do. Otherwise you’ll just be shooting in the dark. It’s not like Irial is fit to travel; he can’t take you to them.” He stared down into the pond for a few moments, his brow furrowed. “Felix should come too; he’ll know the right questions to ask, and he can collect some more samples—if this actually is some sort of disease, which I’m starting to doubt.”
“Good luck getting him to leave Jane,” Cedar said. “But you’re right—we need him. I just hope Eden doesn’t mind being left behind.”
“Eden will be fine,” Finn said again. “We’ve got the sidhe, remember? And the starstones. If we’re gone for longer than a day, we can come back to see her. And there will be a whole lineup of people who want to spend time with her. She’ll hardly notice we’re gone.”
Cedar reached over and took Finn’s hand. He laced his fingers through hers and squeezed tightly, bringing her hand to his lips. “Look, I know things haven’t been easy,” he said. “I know you’ve been under a lot of stress. And I’m sorry I haven’t been more helpful. I’ve just been so overwhelmed with getting to know Eden and being back in this place. I never thought I’d see it again. And now I’m here, with my daughter and the woman I love, and it’s like a dream come true. But I keep forgetting how overwhelming all of this must be for you.”
“Thank you,” she said softly. “There’s been so much change. It’s been hard. Wonderful in so many ways, but hard.”
Finn nodded. “I know. The three of us have been through a lot. Just being a normal family without some crisis looming over our heads will take some getting used to. If,” he said with a wry grin, “it ever happens.”
“I want that more than anything,” Cedar said. “I hope you believe me. But I have to—”
“I know,” he said. “I wish it could be someone else this time…but I understand how you feel. I do. But when we get back, I want nothing more than to spend some uninterrupted time with you. And we’re going to make this work, whether we’re in Halifax or Tír na nÓg or somewhere in between.”
Cedar smiled. “There’s somewhere in between? Is there another world I don’t know about yet?”
Finn grinned at her and flopped back down onto the ground, pulling her with him. “I was thinking Maui…or maybe that island of Brighid’s in Thailand.”
“Uh huh,” Cedar said, rolling her eyes as she got up. “Let’s go find Eden; it’s past her bedtime. Then I’ll ask Felix if he’ll come with us. We should leave first thing in the morning.”
“Think Rohan will let you go to Ériu without a full legion of guards?”
“He’ll have to,” Cedar said. “He forgets that I can take care of myself now.”
Finn got a wicked grin on his face, and Cedar found herself momentarily distracted by the dimples in his cheeks. “Can you, now?” he said, before tackling her to the ground.
Cedar squealed and pushed him off, amazed that she was now strong enough to do so. But it felt good to laugh; it had been too long. She could tell from the look in Finn’s eyes that he had more than “playing” in mind, so she quickly stood up. She couldn’t get distracted now—not with so much at stake. “Eden,” she reminded him. He gave an exaggerated moan and got to his feet.
They managed to catch Eden and Riona as they were walking home, carrying baskets weighed down with bright red berries.
“Mummy!” Eden squealed and ran to her.
“Mmm, looks good,” Cedar said, taking a bright red berry out of one of Eden’s baskets and popping it into her mouth. “What are you going to do with all of these?”
“Eat them,” Eden answered simply. Her lips and fingers were already stained red.
Finn ruffled his daughter’s hair, and then sauntered over to Riona. Cedar assumed he was going to fill her in on their plan.
“How’s Jane?” Eden asked as they continued toward home. It had been impossible to hide Jane’s sudden appearance and “illness.” Cedar hadn’t wanted Eden to think she’d leave her birthday party for anything other than a true emergency—though, to be fair, Eden had left the party first. But Cedar hadn’t told her about the gancanagh. At that point, she hadn’t really understood the full extent of what was going on.
“She’s doing better,” Cedar said. “She’s spending some time with Felix, and he’s helping her.” She stopped walking and knelt down to Eden’s level. “Listen, Mum and Dad are going away for a little bit. It might only be a day, but it might be longer. We’ll probably be gone when you get up in the morning. You’re going to stay with Rohan and Riona, okay?”
Eden’s bottom lip jutted out. “Where are you going? Why can’t I come?”
“It’s just a quick trip to chat with some people on Earth. I hope we won’t be gone long. You’d be really bored.”
“I wouldn’t be bored. I want to come.”
Cedar was glad she hadn’t mentioned the real reason they were going. There would be no stopping Eden if she thought she might get to meet a selkie or a pixie. “Sorry, baby, not this time. But I’ve got our starstone, so use it anytime. We should be gone for a couple of days at most.”
Finn and Riona caught up to them, and Cedar remembered something else she had been meaning to tell Eden. “This might make you feel better. We met a little boy the other day, and he’s close to your age. I thought maybe you could play with him while we’re gone.”
“Really? A boy my age? Who?”
“His name is Niall. His dad works with Felix. He’s the one who brought us the message about Jane yesterday. He’s nine. I asked Felix who he was, and he thought the two of you would hit it off.”
“Atty’s boy! Of course!” Riona exclaimed. “His mother and I were friends years and years ago, before we left for Ériu. I did hear that she had a son. I’ll take you to meet him after your lessons tomorrow, Eden. I haven’t seen Atty since we got back, so it will be an enjoyable visit for me too.”
“Well, okay,” Eden said, looking excited but nervous.
“Now come, it’s time you were in bed,” Cedar said as soon as they reached their home.
Half an hour later, after a story and several more questions about where Cedar was going, Eden was sound asleep. Cedar stood and watched her for a long time, her gaze lingering on Eden’s long, dark lashes as they rested against her cheeks, and on the steady rise and fall of her tiny chest. She remembered how Logheryman’s limp body had weighed the same as Eden’s. She knelt down and gathered the child into her arms, holding her sleeping form tight. “Stay safe,” she whispered.
When Cedar finally arrived at Felix’s house, Jane was sitting up in bed, a cup of tea clutched in her hands, her eyes bloodshot. Felix was reading to her from A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He look
ed up when Cedar walked in. “How did it go?” he asked. “Did you bring Logheryman?”
“He’s dead.”
“What?”
“He was dead when I got there. Finn and I helped Maggie bury him.”
Felix stared at her openmouthed, as though he couldn’t quite understand what she was saying. Jane was looking down at her sheets, but Cedar could see the tears starting to drip off her chin. She didn’t understand why Logheryman’s death would make Jane cry—after all, she had hardly known the leprechaun. But then her friend lifted her chin and said in a strangled voice, “Is…is he going to die too?” Cedar didn’t have to ask who “he” was.
“I don’t know,” she said.
Felix looked stricken. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “My worry over Jane held you back. You could have left sooner.”
“Well, now we know that this is serious, and for more than one species. Finn and I are going back to Earth in the morning to see what we can find out. We’re going to go see the selkies first. Will you come?” she asked Felix, and he nodded slowly, her news about Logheryman clearly still hitting him hard.
“I’ll come too,” Jane said.
“Are you sure?” Cedar asked, surprised. “I mean, how are you feeling? You’ve only just recovered. Sort of. Have you?”
Jane’s cheeks reddened, and she ducked her chin. “I feel like shit, to be honest, but I know from experience that sitting around doing nothing will only make me feel worse. Besides, I haven’t been on a life-or-death adventure in what? A month?”
“This isn’t going to be like that,” Cedar said. “I just thought we might be able to figure out what’s affecting the Unseen if we see more of them in person. Maybe one of them even knows what’s going on.”
“Maybe,” Felix said, “but I suspect that whatever is ailing them is beyond my ability to heal. Which, I must admit, is a first. Excuse me; if we’re leaving first thing in the morning I should go prepare some things. And I’ll ask one of the other healers to keep an eye on the gancanagh while I’m gone.” He hesitated before opening the door, giving Cedar a concerned look. “Just a heads up—the Council probably won’t approve of this. They don’t like getting involved in the affairs of other beings.”
“Then they don’t have to know,” Cedar said. “I don’t have time to argue with them. I’ll just tell them I’m taking a couple of days off.”
Felix looked doubtful, but he didn’t argue.
“I’m so sorry, Cedar,” Jane said after he had left the room. “That must have been horrible for you.”
Cedar sat down on the edge of her bed. “It was,” she admitted. “I feel awful for Maggie, all alone out there.” She took in Jane’s tear-streaked face. “How are you doing—really?”
Jane’s eyes were fixed on the door through which Felix had just left. “I don’t know,” she said. “It feels weird. It’s like, I know that I like Felix—I love him—and yet I can’t feel it, y’know? All I feel right now is this huge sense of loss. It doesn’t make any sense to me, but it’s there.”
“Does it feel strange to be with him?”
“Yeah. It’s awkward,” Jane said. “I know I should want to be with him, but I don’t. Not yet, anyway.”
“It’ll pass,” Cedar assured her, hoping it was true. “Your feelings for him will return, I’m sure of it. Just hang in there for a little while longer. Don’t do anything crazy.”
“Like go on a scavenger hunt for sick mythical creatures, you mean?”
CHAPTER 8
The first thing Cedar noticed was the wind. She could feel it, but it didn’t cut through her like it once did—before she took that life-changing step onto the Lia Fáil. They were on the island of Inis Mór, off the west coast of Ireland. It was morning, but the sky above them was the color of smoke from a raging wildfire. Dark gray clouds were billowing in from the ocean at an unnatural speed. The ocean was also dark and stormy, whitecaps leaping toward them like the ocean’s teeth preparing to devour its prey. All around them the landscape was covered in flat limestone rocks, thin grass, and weeds trying to eke out a pale existence between them.
“How do we find them?” she asked.
Finn led Cedar, Felix, and Jane down toward the water’s edge. They stepped carefully along the rocks, slick with seaweed, and Cedar noticed Jane awkwardly accept Felix’s steadying hand. The lonely cry of a solitary seagull echoed in the air around them, then fell silent.
“If we explore the caves, we should find them,” Finn said. “Of course, they probably already know we’re here. We’ll see if they want to be found.”
Apparently they did. As they made their way around a bend, Cedar caught sight of a small series of caves under an outcropping of rock. Large boulders jutted out from the stony beach on the far side. Several seal heads popped out of the water and gave several short barks before swimming toward shore. As the Danann and Jane reached the first cave, they saw a woman working her way out of her skin. Another, a male, was doing the same thing beside her. The others remained in their seal forms, but they gathered together on the rocks. Cedar tried to keep her expression unflappable, as if she witnessed seals transforming into humans every day.
Cedar waited for Finn or Felix to introduce their group, but then realized that they were waiting for her. She stepped forward. “Um…greetings from the Tuatha Dé Danann,” she said, wondering if there was some intramagical community etiquette she should know about. “I’m Cedar. The queen,” she added, in case it made a difference. “We heard you were sick, and we came to see if there was anything we could do to help.”
The female selkie stepped forward, and—given that the woman was completely naked—Cedar tried to keep her gaze locked on her eyes. “Thank you,” the woman said in a faint voice. “I am called Syrna.” Her face was pale and her dark hair thin. Patches of it seemed to have fallen out. Even though she’d never met a selkie before, Cedar felt certain this was not their natural condition. “How did you…how did you know to come?” Syrna asked.
“A gancanagh named Irial came to us. He said he had been staying with you up until recently. He is sick as well…and so are the púka and the pixies and the leprechauns.”
“Irial!” Syrna exclaimed. She glared around at the other selkies. “I told you he had gone for help.”
“You told us he went to the Merrow,” said the male selkie standing next to her. “How could he possibly have made his way to Tír na nÓg?”
“He was trying to get to the Merrow,” Cedar said. “But he didn’t make it that far. A friend of ours found him and sent him to us.”
“Is he still alive?” Syrna asked.
Cedar forced a reassuring smile. He was alive when they left Tír na nÓg…but she didn’t know how long he would last. “Yes. And we’re giving him the best care we can. One of our healers is with him right now. We have brought our chief healer with us. This is…well, call him Felix,” she said with an apologetic look at her blond friend. She might be a Danann, but she still had trouble pronouncing his real name.
Felix stepped forward. “I’ve examined the gancanagh, but there is no obvious reason for his illness. The leprechaun who sent him to us has died. Irial mentioned that one of your people has died as well. Have there been any others?”
Syrna shook her head. “Not yet. But Nuri, my grandmother, is very close, we believe.” She gave Cedar a slight bow of her head. “It would do her great honor if you would visit with her, Queen Cedar.”
“Of course,” Cedar said quickly. “Why don’t Finn and I go see her, and Felix and Jane can stay here and examine some of the sick?”
Felix immediately headed toward the back of the cave and started talking with the other selkies, who were pushing their way out of their skins to speak to him. Jane seemed to be taking it all in stride; she followed close behind him, pulling a pen and notebook out of her bag.
“My grandmother is very wise,” Syrna said to Cedar. “She is the eldest of our kind. She has mentioned a theory about this sickness, but I must
admit that I do not understand it. At first I thought it was maybe just…well, just the illness talking.”
“I’m very interested in hearing your grandmother’s theory,” Cedar said. “Particularly since we have so little else to go on.”
“You will have to swim to reach her, I’m afraid,” Syrna told her apologetically. “She is far too weak to swim anymore. We have seaweed to numb the cold if you would like some.”
“We’ll be fine,” Cedar said, hoping her Danann blood would be enough to keep her warm in the North Atlantic waters. She looked at Finn questioningly, and he nodded.
“It’s cold, but it won’t be unbearable,” he said.
Syrna cocked her head. “Have you been here before?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Just a few years ago. I spoke with Nuri then, and a couple of others.”
Syrna nodded slowly. “She said she had met one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. That there was a war in your world, and a few of you had escaped.”
“That’s right,” he confirmed. “But the war is over, and we’ve returned home. Some of the Unseen told me they wanted nothing to do with my people and our conflicts. Nuri said that the selkies would fight for us if the war came here to Ériu. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but I’ll always remember her generosity. I’m anxious to see her again.”
Syrna slipped back into her sealskin and slid into the water. Cedar was surprised when Finn started stripping down to his boxers. He shrugged when she raised her eyebrows at him. “My clothes don’t have any magical drying properties,” he said. “I’d rather not spend the rest of the day soaking wet.” Feeling self-conscious with all the selkies in the cave watching her, Cedar did the same, leaving her jeans, T-shirt, hoodie, and shoes on a nearby rock. Syrna’s head bobbed in the water as she waited for them to join her. Cedar hesitated at the water’s edge. She had visions of her muscles seizing up in the cold—it would hardly be a good introduction for her as queen of the Danann if the sick selkies needed to jump to her rescue.