Among the Unseen

by Jodi McIsaac

  Nevan ignored the question. “When you see the Elders in your dreams, do they speak to you?”

  “Sometimes,” Eden said, wrinkling her nose in concentration. “I can’t remember exactly what they say, though. I think it’s mostly just chatting.” Then she noticed Nevan and Eolas exchange a long glance over the table. “It’s okay, right? I mean, I can’t control what I dream about.”

  “Of course it’s okay,” Nevan said hastily. “It’s just…interesting. I’ve never heard of anyone dreaming about the Elders before. Even I don’t have that kind of connection with them. I’m not sure what it means.”

  Just then the door to the library swung open, and Riona peeked her head in. “Am I interrupting?” she asked.

  “Not at all, come on in,” Nevan said with a wave. Her voice sounded casual, but there was a line between her eyebrows that hadn’t been there before.

  “Hi, Riona!” Eden said brightly. She had tried calling her Gran, but it didn’t seem to fit, so she had just started calling her Riona like everyone else. No one had seemed to mind. She was glad, because none of the Tuatha Dé Danann seemed to use titles like “Mum” or “Dad” or “Uncle.”

  “Did Eden tell you what we have planned for the afternoon?” Riona asked. “I thought we’d head out soon—if she’s finished with her lessons, that is.”

  Eden knew they weren’t done, but Nevan nodded and said, “Yes, I think we’ve covered enough for the day.”

  “Great!” Eden said, jumping up. “See you tomorrow!” She and Riona walked back out into the bright sunshine. “Did you talk to them? Can we visit?”

  “Yes,” Riona said, smiling. “And I’m sure Niall is just as excited as you are.”

  Eden felt a nervous thrill run through her. Riona must have noticed, because she said, “I imagine it must be a bit boring to hang out with us adults all the time.”

  Eden shrugged. It was boring, except for the prospect of her secret lessons with Helen. She’d snuck into Helen’s room this morning for her first lesson, after she knew her parents had left for Earth with Felix and Jane. But nothing exciting had happened; Helen had only asked her more questions about what her older self had said, how often she sensed her presence, what it felt like, and how she used her ability to open and close the sidhe. She took notes in a black notebook, and started drawing strange designs. Eden had tried to hide her disappointment, but Helen had noticed, anyway. She gave Eden another talk about the virtue of patience, and promised that tomorrow they would start some meditation exercises that would help Eden locate and tap into her hidden stores of power.

  “Eden? Everything okay?” Riona asked.

  “Oh, yeah!” Eden said, snapping out of her daydream. “Hey, is Niall named after the story of Niall and the Nine Hostages?”

  Riona beamed. “See, you have been learning! Same name, different person, I’m afraid. Now, it’s a bit of a walk; how would you like to go by pony?” Without another word, her grandmother transformed into a brown and white spotted pony. It gave her a nudge with its muzzle, and Eden giggled. But then she stopped. Ponies were for little kids.

  “I’d rather ride a horse,” she said. In a moment, Riona stood before her again, her eyebrows raised incredulously.

  “Really? Have you ever ridden a horse before?”

  “No,” Eden admitted. “But I bet I can. I’ll hold on real tight, I promise.”

  Riona didn’t look convinced, but after a moment she said, “Okay…we’ll try a horse, but I want you to grab the mane, and don’t even think about letting go. And we’re going to walk, not gallop, do you hear me? No kicking.” Eden nodded to everything, and in a whirl of movement Riona transformed into a beautiful brown and white mare—though it seemed a bit smaller than a normal horse. The mare sank down on her front legs, and Eden scrambled up onto her back. Another thrill ran through her as the mare got to her feet and started moving forward. Eden imagined herself in a royal procession, and she even let go of the mane to give a wave to her imaginary followers. The mare stopped abruptly, and Eden rolled her eyes before grabbing onto the mane with both hands. She enjoyed the gentle sway of the horse’s back as they meandered through a meadow and along a path lined with blooming cherry trees. When they reached a thickly wooded area, Riona stopped and knelt down, and Eden slid off her back.

  “How was that?” Riona asked once she had resumed her normal form.

  “It was great!” Eden said. “But we should go faster next time!”

  Riona laughed. “We’ll see. Who were you waving to?”

  “Oh, no one. I was just pretending. Do you think I really will be queen of Tír na nÓg someday?”

  “Maybe. But your mother will probably be queen for a very long time, so I wouldn’t be in a hurry if I were you. You just concentrate on being the best possible princess you can be.” Riona led the way to the edge of the forest, where it looked as if a huge tree had been uprooted. It was lying on the ground, its exposed roots like a giant sea monster’s gaping mouth and outstretched tentacles. Riona tapped one of the branches closest to them, and Eden involuntarily jumped back as the monster’s mouth grew wider—wide enough for them to walk through.

  “Are you sure this is where they live?” she asked, taking hold of Riona’s hand.

  “Don’t be afraid,” her grandmother answered. “Yes, this is the entrance to their home. A bit different from ours, to be sure.” Still holding hands, they carefully climbed between the roots and into the tree trunk. As soon as they stepped inside, Eden felt a rush of wind, and suddenly she was standing outside a charming cottage covered in leaves and blooming red flowers.

  “How did we get here?” she exclaimed, looking around for the dead tree.

  “Everyone’s home has its own little tricks,” Riona said. She knocked on the front door, which was painted a cheery red that matched the flowers climbing up the sides of the cottage. The door was flung open from the inside, and a woman with a shock of curly red hair grabbed Riona in a tight hug.

  “Riona! At last! I’ve been anxious to see you ever since you returned, but I know you’ve been ever so busy. But now here you are at last, and you’ve brought the girl, just as you said.”

  Riona disentangled herself and made the introductions. “Atty, this is Eden, my granddaughter. Eden, this is Atty.” She looked into the house. “Is Niall here?”

  “Yes, yes, he’s just in the back. I’ll call him over.” Atty tilted her head back and hollered, “Niall!” There was no answer, so Atty grabbed Eden’s hand and led her around the side of the house. “See those trees back there? He’s just in there. He knows you’re coming, so he’ll be expecting you. If you need anything, just holler. We’ll be inside having a long overdue cup of tea.”

  Eden started walking hesitantly toward the trees. She felt suddenly shy, and had to fight the impulse to run back to Riona’s side. Don’t be silly, she told herself. You can go anywhere, anytime, remember? She stepped under the cover of the trees and was looking around for the boy when a storm of small nuts rained down on her. She covered her head with her arms and squealed. When the nuts stopped falling, she looked up. There, several branches above the ground, was a boy with the same mop of red hair as his mother’s. He was laughing down at her.

  “Hey! That’s not nice!” she yelled, balling her hands into fists.

  The boy jumped and landed softly in front of her, as if he had just stepped off a low stool and not a branch twenty feet in the air. “Nice to meet you too,” he said, and then took off running into the forest.

  Eden stared after him for a split second; then she was in fast pursuit. But there was no catching up to him—he was only a blur through the trees, and then she couldn’t see him at all. After a few minutes she stopped, panting for breath, and sat down on a nearby stump. She was about to head back to the cottage to ask Riona if they could go home, when she heard the sudden rustling of leaves. He was heading straight toward her, and she didn’t see how he could possibly stop before slamming into her. She squealed and covered her
head, but when she peeked between her arms, he was standing in front of her, motionless. And still laughing.

  “I bet you think you’re pretty fast,” Eden said with a scowl.

  “I am fast,” the boy said. “When I’m fully grown, I’ll be the fastest of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Want to race again?”

  “No,” Eden said. “I don’t like racing.”

  “That’s because you always lose,” he said.

  “Why are you so mean? I don’t even know you.”

  “I’m not mean,” he said, and he looked genuinely puzzled. “I’ve just never met a human before.”

  “I’m not human!” Eden said, standing up and stamping her foot. She stretched herself up as tall as possible and glared up at him. “Why did you say that?”

  “Well, you were born on Ériu and raised by humans,” he said. “That makes you pretty much a human.”

  “I was raised by the queen, you idiot,” she said. “My parents are both Tuatha Dé Danann, and so am I.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve been in Tír na nÓg for what, five minutes? I’ve been here my whole life.”

  “It’s not my fault where I was born! And you’re not so special. So you can run fast—big deal.”

  “Oh yeah? What can you do? Do you even get abilities when you’re from Ériu?”

  Eden felt like punching this rude boy with his red hair and stupid opinions. “I’ll show you what I can do. I’ll race you after all. Back to where we started.”

  “You’re on,” he said, and without looking back he was off, leaving a cloud of dust and leaves behind him.

  Eden grabbed hold of the closest tree trunk and concentrated. Then she stepped through the sidh and quickly closed it behind her. She was sitting calmly on the ground when the boy arrived moments later. He stopped and gaped at her. “Took you long enough,” she said.

  “Whoa,” he said. “How did you do that?”

  Eden smiled smugly as she stood up. “I can go anywhere, just like that.” She snapped her fingers. “And I don’t need to run. I’m a sidh-opener, just like my mother, the queen.”

  The boy stared at her for a moment longer, and then a sheepish smile broke across his face. He held out his hand to her. “Well, that’s pretty cool,” he said. “I know your name is Eden. Mine’s Niall.”

  “I know,” Eden said, but she took his hand and shook it.

  They stood there looking at each other for a few seconds. Finally Niall shouted, “C’mon!” and headed back into the woods—at a slower pace this time. They spent the afternoon climbing trees and sliding down vines. Niall taught her the names of the plants that were native to Tír na nÓg, and showed her how to make music from the irendal flower, a huge golden plant with petals the shapes of horns. He brought her to a waterfall that fell from the top of a tall tree with diamond-shaped leaves, every branch ending in a clear stream of water. After they’d been outside for a while, he heard his mother calling, and they ran back to the cottage, where a tray of elderberry tarts and a tall pitcher of purple nectar awaited them.

  “Can we stay longer?” Eden asked her grandmother between mouthfuls of tart. Riona and Atty shared a delighted glance.

  “Of course,” she said. “It must feel good to have someone to play with again.”

  “I think Niall is glad for the company as well,” Atty said, reaching over and ruffling her son’s hair.

  “Atty, stop it,” Niall said, squirming out from under her hand. Once the last elderberry tarts were gone, the two children raced back into the woods.

  They climbed up a tree with thick, curving branches, and crawled out to the edge of one of them to see if they could make it dip down to the ground. It stayed as solid and straight as ever, and Eden wondered if it was enchanted, like the tree in her bedroom. She told Niall all about her tree-house room, which he thought was just as neat as his bedroom—designed to look like the mouth of a dragon. Then she had an idea.

  “We don’t have to stay here, you know,” she said. “We could go anywhere.”

  Niall leaned in closer, lowering his voice conspiratorially. “You can open a sidh to anywhere?” he asked.

  “Well, it has to be a place I’ve seen,” she said. “But I’ve seen some pretty cool places.”

  “Like where?”

  Eden thought. Where was the coolest place she’d ever been? “Well, the first time I opened a sidh it was to Egypt—that’s a place that’s really hot, with big old pyramids.” But Tír na nÓg was probably way older than Egypt, so maybe Niall would think it was boring. “Or there’s this place called Disney World, with all these great rides…but it’s kind of just for humans, I guess. It’s not as good as here. Um…” As Eden thought some more, she realized that she hadn’t actually been to that many cool places—at least not places that would impress her new friend.

  “I know!” she said the moment the idea struck her. “Have you ever visited the Merrow?”

  “No,” Niall said, his eyebrows lifting in surprise. “I didn’t think they existed anymore. Are you saying you’ve seen them?”

  “Yes, and they were very nice to me,” she said. It was true; Queen Deardra and the other Merrow had delighted in plying her with sweets and showing her the wonders of their kingdom. It had all turned out rather badly, of course, but that had been Nuala’s fault, not the Merrow’s. She wondered if they would be happy to see her…or angry because she was a Danann. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all, but the look on Niall’s face was enough to sway her.

  “Can we really go see them?” Niall asked, and she nodded fervently.

  His eyes were gleaming with excitement, but then he hesitated. “Are we allowed to? I mean, won’t we get in trouble? Should you ask your parents first?”

  “My parents aren’t even here,” she said. “They’re off on some mission on Earth, I mean, Ériu. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.” She felt a twinge of guilt at this lie, but what better way to prove she wasn’t human than to show Niall what she could really do? “Besides, we don’t need to stay long; we’ll just say hello, and then come right back. Our parents won’t even know we were gone.”

  Niall grinned. “I knew you were going to be cool! All right, let’s go!” He jumped out of the tree, and—just to show off—Eden made a sidh that brought her from the upper branch where she was sitting to the forest floor.

  “I need to think of where we should go,” she said. “It’s probably not a good idea to show up underwater. They have to give you a kiss first so you can breathe.”

  “A kiss?” Niall said, screwing up his face in disgust.

  “Don’t be a baby. It’s no big deal,” she said. “I know! We stayed in a little hut last time. It was really cool. It looks all run-down from the outside, but on the inside it’s like the world’s best aquarium. You’ll see. Let’s use this rock for the sidh. I don’t need to,” she hastily pointed out. “But it makes it easier.” She placed her hand on a large gray boulder and thought hard of the dilapidated old shack where she and Nuala had spent the night. Then she grabbed Niall’s hand and pulled him through before he could change his mind.

  “Where are we?” he called once they had stepped through the sidh. Eden squinted at the shimmering patch of air behind them and it disappeared, like a tiny star collapsing in on itself.

  “I told you, we’re near where the Merrow live,” she said, her hair blowing wildly in the biting wind that was coming off the water. They were precariously balanced on the rocky island, in front of the old fishing hut that served as the Merrow’s guest room. It was darker than it had been back in Tír na nÓg, and Eden felt a chill that had nothing to do with the wind. She yanked on the door, relieved that it would still open for her. “C’mon,” she said. “It’s just down here.” She pulled open the trapdoor and peered inside, then started to climb down the ladder, Niall just behind her.

  When she reached the bottom, she frowned. “It’s changed,” she said.

  She didn’t recognize anything from her time here. It was cold, just like it had
been outside, whereas before the air in the hut had been warm and comforting. The soft glow had disappeared too—the only light was filtering down from the open door to the hut. There were no trays of food or pitchers of sparkling water. It was a cold and inhospitable place, just as it appeared to be from the outside. She ran over to one of the round windows, hoping that they would at least be able to see an octopus or some of the brightly colored fish she had watched before. But the water outside no longer looked like a tropical paradise. Everything was dark, and she could only make out a few rocks and some waving seaweed. Niall came up beside her. “What are we looking at?” he asked. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  Eden felt like bursting into tears. “It was all…different before. Honest!” she said. “There were fish and octopuses and it was really, really pretty!”

  “Well, it’s not pretty anymore,” he said. “Just dark. Are you sure we’re in the right place?”

  “Yes! I’m totally sure. I wouldn’t have been able to open a sidh here if I didn’t know where we were.”

  Niall looked at her skeptically, then shrugged his shoulders. “So I guess it did change. I wonder why?”

  “I don’t know,” Eden said. “It was only a few months ago. Maybe after Queen Deardra was killed…” She was starting to regret bringing Niall here, even if it had impressed him that she knew the Merrow. He didn’t seem that impressed now, and they might be in real danger. It was, after all, one of her kind who had killed the Merrow queen. Maybe they had forgotten about the candies; maybe they had forgotten that she was innocent. She had been so stupid to come here with Nuala, thinking she would find her father. She’d watched the Tuatha Dé Danann—including her father, though she hadn’t recognized him at the time—and the Merrow do battle while she thrashed about in the water. She’d watched as the queen fell with a dagger in her throat. Then Nuala had pulled her back to the hut, and her mum had appeared out of nowhere to save her, until—

  She shook her head to clear it of those horrible memories, memories she had tried to forget. Pressing her face against the glass to look once more, she jumped back with a shriek when something—someone—floated by.