by Vanessa Skye
“So you have some control,” he says. “Good.”
I ignore him. “Mom? Are you okay?”
She sits up straight and shakes her head. “Alex?” She glances at our guest and shoots off the couch. “Baird! Oh, God! Alex is in danger!”
Mr. Arden nods. “Indeed.”
She takes a step toward him. “She is not safe here. You have to help her!”
He gestures for her to sit back down. “I know. And I will.” He sits opposite her, on our only armchair, and crosses his legs.
“What she did is—”
“Impossible. Except, it seems it’s not anymore.”
My mom’s eyes dart around the room as if she, too, is expecting an ambush.
I ease down next to her. “Mom?”
She clutches me to her chest and kisses the top of my head. “Sweetheart! I’m so glad you’re okay. Are you hurt?”
“Me? No, I’m fine…”
“You could’ve been killed! He manipulated me. Used my cell to…he wanted...” She tightens her arms around me. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
I shake my head. “I’m okay, Mom, really.”
“I have to take her back to Tír na nÓg,” Mr. Arden says. “I have no choice.”
“Tír na nÓg?” Mom shakes her head. “But you can’t! She won’t be safe there either.”
He nods. “It’s our only option at this point. There have been at least three attempts made on her life in the last two days alone. She is no longer protected here. I need Nuadha’s assist—”
“She won’t be safe there! And how do you know it’s not Nuadha making these attempts himself?”
Nuadha? The old silver-arm king from the fairy stories?
“You forget yourself, Ní Ghallchobhair.”
I’ve only heard Mr. Arden’s voice sound that hard a few times, in class, and only when he’s really mad.
He stands and scowls at my mom. “That is my king you are talking about.”
“You are right.” Mom nods and drops her head. “I apologize. I’m just worried.”
Mr. Arden sighs and sits back down. “If Nuadha knew about Alys and wanted her dead, he’d come here and do it personally, not send some hapless forest fae.”
My mother nods as tears streak her face.
Mr. Arden reaches for Mom’s hand. “I understand your fears. You have done well keeping her as safe for as long as you have, but we both knew this was a possibility from the beginning.”
She looks into his eyes and pleads with him. “Can’t we just leave? We’ll move away, start again, new names, new everything. Besides, she killed the fae who…”
Mr. Arden is already shaking his head. “We do not know if he was acting alone, or as a part of a larger group.” He holds up a hand when she opens her mouth to argue. “And, as I was saying, we have a bigger problem. Last night was not the only time she has lost control. She barely has a handle on the draoidheacht. Her palms, it’s not eczema. Her skin is splitting in an effort to keep the magic inside. It will not stay contained for much longer. If she stays here, she is a danger to herself and others. You included.”
“My daughter would not hurt me!”
“Enough!” I yell. “Enough talking about me like I’m not here. Enough with the strange words I don’t understand! If someone doesn’t tell me what’s going on, and I mean right now, I’m going to lose my shit!” My palms start to itch and bleed as the skin splits with soft snaps.
Mr. Arden arches a single eyebrow and shoots a pointed look at Mom.
She purses her lips and nods.
“You are fae,” he says without easing into it at all. “Or half fae, I think. I, too, am fae.”
He pushes his curly gray hair aside, and I can see his ears for the first time.
I gasp. “You’ve got…they’re like mine! You’ve been hiding them!” I swallow slowly, my brain refusing to believe what he said. “Wait? Fae? As in…” I can’t finish the ridiculous thought.
“The humans would call you a fairy,” he replies.
A burst of shocked laughter explodes out of me. “That’s…insane. You’re nuts! Fairies don’t actually exist.”
He raises that eyebrow again and directs it at me. “Do you have any other explanations? Because I’d be curious to hear them, Alys.”
“That’s what he called me. What is that?”
“Alys is your true name. Alex is the closest human interpretation. But now, given where we are going, you must get used to Alys.”
“Where is it we are going? You said tier naa…”
“Tír na nÓg.” The beautiful word rolls off his tongue like butter. “It is our homeland, the homeland of the fae.” As he speaks, his American is replaced by a distinctive Irish lilt.
“And Nootha…”
“Nuadha Airgetlám, King of the fae. He is your king, and mine.”
“And draoidheacht?”
“Magic,” he replies. “It seems you have a lot of it. So much, it is literally bursting out of your skin and causing you to bleed. Which, frankly, it shouldn’t be possible given you are in the human realm. Your magic should be limited to a few easy tricks, like minor mind control and manipulation of the elements. Certainly, you shouldn’t be able to use the tine—the fire—to kill another fae like you did last night. Even the very gifted on Tír na nÓg struggle with such a powerful feat. Not that there are many fire users left,” he mutters.
I stare at my hands, which are now clear and healed once more. “Magic?”
“Yes, and another reason we must go. You must learn to control it. Until you do, you cannot come back here. The magic you used against your fellow classmates today to knock them over? You could have just as easily burnt them alive—all of them—which would have been far harder to explain.”
I nod and look at Mom, who is crying silently. “But Mom can come too, can’t she?”
He shakes his head slowly. “She is human. She cannot come to Tír na nÓg. She cannot get through the veil.”
“But…but…she used magic. I saw her! And you called her a nee galla something! Not a human.”
“Ní Ghallchobhair,” he says. “She is a Gallagher—a human guardian of the fae. And she did not do magic. She is a human.”
“Yeah, she did! She used her necklace.”
Mr. Arden turns to Mom. “You had an amulet?”
She nods. “It was given to me.”
“When? By whom? Where is it?”
“Long ago by a young male fae I did not recognize. It was consumed by Alys’ fire.” Mom shakes her head. “We do not have time for this! You must go.”
“I-I can’t go,” I whisper. “I-I can’t leave Mom behind.”
“You have to, I’m afraid. None of us has a choice in this matter.”
“But what if whoever is after me, comes after her? I can’t let that happen.” I cross my arms and flop back on the couch. “I won’t!”
He shakes his head. “They won’t. They want you. If you truly want your mom to be safe, you need to leave here.”
“But why do they want to kill me?”
Mr. Arden stands and paces around the tiny living area. “I do not know why, nor do I know what they hope to achieve with your death, and until I do, you are not safe here. I was charged with your protection, and protect you I will, even if it means taking you back.”
“But I killed him.”
“You killed one of them. There may be more. They could strike again at any moment.” He faces Mom. “Alys smelled pine several times. I believe it was a foraoise fae behind the attacks. It would explain how you were manipulated. A forest fairy,” he says for my benefit.
“I can protect us! I have already proven that.” I stop just short of stomping my foot. I can’t lose Mom!
“Ale—Alys,” Mom whispers. “He’s right. You have to leave. You are my daughter in every way except blood, and I could not stand it if something happened to you because I selfishly kept you here.”
Tears rolls down my face as quickly as the
y do hers. She is all I have. She is my safe haven. It’s only ever been her and me. She’s never so much as had a boyfriend the entire time we’ve been together. Life does not exist for me without her.
“I don’t want to leave you!”
“You must,” she whispers.
“You want me to leave? You don’t want me around anymore?” I choke on my sobs. “You are afraid of me!”
“Never! You are my whole world and always will be. But I am your mother, and there is nothing a mother wouldn’t do to see her child safe.” She looks at Mr. Arden. “You will protect her? You swear it? Even if it means…”
He nods. “Of course. I accepted the charge nearly eighteen years ago, and I take it seriously. I did not come to this realm, with all the frailties it possesses, only to fail now.”
“And Nuadha?”
“She is a fire user. I can convince him she is an asset to him. He will want to study her, understand how and why she has such powerful magic on earth, and what it might mean. I do not believe he will want to kill her. At least…not immediately.”
“Kill me?” The question sounds like a high-pitched squeak. I clear my throat and take a deep breath before asking the next. “Why would your king want to kill me?”
“Our king takes, uh, exception to the result of fae unions with humans. They are not allowed on Tír na nÓg. They are banished to the mortal realm to live mortal lives, as are fae criminals. That is where the Gallagher come in. They must help these fae and half-fae who have no understanding of the human world and how it works. They help them blend in so that humans never learn of the existence of Tír na nÓg.”
“Why doesn’t he like humans?”
“It is complicated, and I do not have time to explain it now. We must away.”
“Now? No!”
He tucks his hands in his pockets and sighs. “Yes, now.”
I recognize that familiar exhaustion shroud from school pulling his shoulders lower, but I don’t care.
“We do not know when the next attempt on your life will come.”
I back away from him. “No. No way!” Maybe if I have a few more days to get used to the idea…
He looks me over, taking in my jeans and dirtied shirt. “Tsk. We will have to secure more appropriate clothing once we are on Tír na nÓg. In the meantime, change into a brown or green shirt, if you have one, and bring a warm woolen sweater in some kind of similar tone. Wear comfortable, sturdy walking shoes, preferably something in a dark leather. Pack nothing else. We can only take what we can carry.” He scowls at me. “You are coming, even if I have to knock you out and carry you there myself.”
My mother stands and wipes her tears. “I’ll pack you some food.”
I change quickly, looking around at the pink ruffled coverlet on my single bed, the tattered, dog-eared books I love to read crammed in the small bookshelf, and the tiny white desk where I do my homework every night one last time.
Hey! The one upside to all this—no more school or homework.
The realization doesn’t make me feel any better.
I sniffle and hiccup as I soak in the normality of it all. Is this really happening? Two days ago, I was a regular kid in high school, and today, I’m travelling to some kind of magical fairyland to meet a king who may, or may not, kill me on sight.
Talk about nuts.
“We must leave,” Mr. Arden says from my bedroom door. “Time is not on our side.”
“Mr. Arden, I don’t know if I c—”
He frowns and steps toward me. “My name is Baird, and that is what you will call me!” He takes a very deliberate breath and attempts a smile. “I will call you Alys. From the second we step onto Tír na nÓg, all traces of your humanity must be gone…for your own safety. The Fae really don’t like humans.”
I look at my blue jeans, green long-sleeve T-shirt, and brown wool sweater. On my feet are sturdy brown hiking boots I’ve never used. “Is this okay?”
He sighs. “No, but it is all we have. We will secure new clothes on the other side.”
We walk out into the living room, and Mom hands Mr. Ard—Baird—a package of food.
“This should be enough for a day or two,” she says in a shaky voice.
“You have served well, Ní Ghallchobhair,” he says with a smile. “Do not worry. I will care for her until such time as she can return to you.”
“When will that be?” I ask.
“I cannot know, Alys,” Baird replies. “It may be some time.”
I start to sob again. “What will you do?”
Mom wraps her arms around me. “I will continue doing what I must—keeping myself busy until you return. I always have my baking, and I will wait here until I see you again, sweetheart. I’ll be right here, I promise.”
I nod as I cry and squeeze her tighter.
“We must go,” Baird softly says. “I am sorry.”
He opens the door, and we walk out.
I take one last look at the women who raised me, the one person I love beyond anything and everyone else, including myself.
Her blue eyes are filled with tears, and she presses a fist to her mouth as if that will stop the sobs.
I know she will break down as soon as I leave.
So will I.
Chapter Six
The front door slams—a fitting metaphor for my life—and it feels as though my existence is irrevocably over.
Baird practically drags me, sobbing, down the stairs behind him.
We hit the street, and the tears almost freeze on my cheeks as the wind whips around me. I smell unseasonal snow in the air and notice the sky darkening with both twilight and an evil-looking storm. Clouds boil and lightning flashes.
“Quickly,” he says.
“Where are we going?”
“Back to the church. We need to travel where the veil is thinnest if you are to reach Tír na nÓg successfully. Pity I do not have time to teach you how to manipulate the full veil, or we could have left from the apartment. But you are inexperienced, and I cannot risk it.”
His fast walk becomes a jog, and I hurry to catch up. “Why are we running?”
“If you still have enemies in the mortal realm, they will know my next move is securing your safety, which means I have to take you through at the weakest point in the veil. We must reach the church before they do. There are no other suitable places in the immediate vicinity, and they will know this.” His face is all frown lines, flattened mouth, and glittering eyes full of worry when he glances my way.
“You’re s-scaring me.”
“Good. You should be scared!” He takes off again, dragging me behind by the elbow of my sweater. “Don’t let the fairy tales fool you. We are not dealing with some silly little Tinker Bell scattering glitter dust and granting wishes. These are true fae, Alys. They are warriors who will kill you without blinking if they desire it.”
My heart pounds in my chest as we run toward the church, and it’s not from exertion.
Baird blasts away a section of the chain-link fence with a flick of his hand. “Where do you go when you come here? Is it the steeple? Where do you feel most comfortable?”
“This way.” I head toward the huge tree near the old gravestones. “This is where I used to come as a child.”
“Good. The veil is weak here. Your instincts drove you to reach out to your true home in this place. Now, watch me carefully.” He reaches down, as if to pick something up off the ground, and wraps his hand around nothing but air. He pulls upward, and…
The view in front of him morphs into a shimmering gray void of nothingness held open by his hand, like a tear in a thick curtain.
I stagger back. Until now, there was still a part of me that believed none of this was real.
The void is like a spotlight in the darkness casting no actual light outward but directing it all inside instead.
“I have torn the veil,” Baird says. “There is now a portal between our two worlds. You must do the same.”
My eyebrows
almost skid off my forehead. “What? B-but can’t I just use yours?”
He groans and shakes his head. “Each tear only works for the one who created it. If you enter this one, you will be lost, neither alive nor dead, between the two places for all eternity. You must make your own if you are to enter Tír na nÓg.”
“I can’t—”
“Enough!” he shouts. “We do not have time for this. Do it now!”
The storm rips the last of the colored leaves off the trees above me then whips my hair around my head until it is a disheveled, knotted mess I can barely see through. Electricity shivers down my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
The air is far colder than it should be for fall, but I don’t know if it’s the freezing wind or fear that has my teeth chattering as I reach for the ground and make the same motion.
Nothing happens.
“No, no! Feel for the veil, with your fingertips. It feels like mesh or a cobweb. It is always there, surrounding you. You cannot see it yet, but there will come a time when you cannot not see it.”
Feeling like a complete idiot, I grab at air. “There’s nothing there!”
“There is! Try a—” He stiffens and looks around.
I smell it, too—the faint scent of pine blowing in the high winds and the feeling of eyes upon us.
“Do it now!” he yells.
Lightning sizzles overhead and a loud crack of thunder follows a fraction of a second later. There is a loud thwack on the earth beside my left foot. Looking down, I see it is a hailstone the size of a baseball. Adrenalin spears through my heart.
“This storm is not natural! We will be killed if we stay here.” Baird grits his teeth and holds a hand up as though it can offer any protection in the face of the wild, terrifying assault.
I can tell he’s struggling to hold open his portal. Meanwhile, I can’t focus enough to find my own.
The ground showers us with rock and dirt as it explodes from both a lightning strike and the killer hail, and the smell of pine becomes overpowering.
“Now, Alys!”
Lightning sizzles again, and the crack of thunder almost knocks me off my feet.
Again and again, I grasp at nothingness.