by Jodi McIsaac
She heard Felix curse. Distant dark figures surrounded them on all sides. As in Scone, they were wearing long robes, their faces obscured by hoods. Cedar could barely see them in the dim glow of the city lights.
And then Eden started screaming again. But this time it wasn’t out of her terror of being burned alive. She had the same wild-eyed stare as the night before, when she’d opened the sidh to Nuala’s home. She was clutching her head, and when Cedar tried to grab her, she twisted away. “Jane!” Cedar cried, hoping her friend could help her hold Eden. “Jane!”
Cedar looked around. Jane wasn’t with them. “Felix, where’s Jane?” she cried. The doorway leading to Cedar’s blazing apartment still gaped open, and Cedar looked at it in horror.
“I thought she was with you!” Felix yelled. He was circling Cedar and Eden, his eyes fixed on the dark figures who were slowly starting to move in on them.
“She’s still in there!” Cedar yelled.
Felix swiveled around, his eyes searching for Jane in the courtyard. “I can’t leave you here!” he yelled, his face twisted in anguish.
“Go!” she cried. “Quickly!” He cast one last tormented gaze at her and Eden before plunging back into the burning sidh.
Eden had collapsed onto the ground and was still clutching her head and screaming as she writhed and thrashed on the cobblestones.
“Eden, hang on, baby,” Cedar pleaded. “Come on, stay with me, I’m right here.”
Seconds later, with a sudden burst of light, Felix emerged through the sidh, a figure clasped his arms. Then Eden went limp and fell silent, and the sidh disappeared. Felix laid Jane’s body down beside Cedar, who stared aghast at the unrecognizable figure.
The tall Danann whirled to face the druids, his face contorted with rage. “Is this what she has you doing?” he roared. “Burning people alive? Torturing children?” He circled around Cedar and her two charges. Cedar held Eden’s limp body, praying for a miracle.
And then Finn came, growing bigger in size as he escaped the confines of the Crown Room. There was a sound like an explosion, and large chunks of stone started to fall from the castle walls. The druids yelled and scattered, their arms held up to protect their heads. One of them wasn’t fast enough, and there was a sickening crunch as his bones shattered under the weight of a great hunk of stone. Cedar looked up, and for a moment the stars were obscured by the spread of dark wings above her. He landed so that his feet were straddling her, though he was now so huge that she would have needed to stand to touch the smooth leather of this stomach. The Stone of Destiny was clutched in one of his talons. He breathed in and then a burst of bright blue flame shot out of his jaws, sweeping in a circle around them. Felix reached under Finn’s great belly and pulled Cedar out, and then went back for Eden and Jane, slinging one over each shoulder.
“Get on his back,” he said.
Cedar knew better than to argue. She scrambled up the scales as best as she could, feeling the heat of fire through Finn’s thick hide. She found a spot where she could hold on to the two horns that were jutting from his neck and then took Eden from Felix. Holding her daughter between her arms, she grasped Finn’s horns in her hands. Felix climbed up behind her, Jane still slung over his shoulder. After a moment, she felt a swoop in her stomach as they took off, flying higher and higher, Finn’s great leathery wings beating the air on either side of her. She squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them and looked down to see the courtyard in ruins, faint blue flames still flickering in places. She closed her eyes again and concentrated on hanging on to her daughter as they soared out over the open sea.
CHAPTER 8
They had been in the air for only a few minutes when they began their descent. Cedar saw the blinking beam of a lighthouse up ahead, and then Finn landed with a jolt. She climbed down, Eden clutched in her arms. Felix had already carried Jane to the ground and was leaning over her. As soon as everyone was off, Finn transformed back into himself. “What happened?” he asked, his face stricken. “The sidh to the apartment disappeared. I knew I had to get out—I looked out the window to see if anyone was coming, and that’s when I saw you in the courtyard.”
Cedar didn’t answer him for a moment. Cradling Eden in her arms, she felt for a pulse, experiencing a wave of relief as she sensed a slow, steady beat beneath her fingers. “She has a pulse. Felix,” she said haltingly, turning toward him. “Is Jane…?”
“She’s alive,” he said. “But barely.”
Cedar looked down at her friend and muffled a sob. Jane’s hair and clothes had burned away, leaving only red raw tissue underneath. It was as though her skin had melted and then cooled in all the wrong places. Felix had taken off his jacket and shirt and was wrapping her up in it. Finn did the same.
She heard faint sirens in the distance and could see the lights of Edinburgh twinkling at them from across the water. They must have landed on a small island.
“There was a fire in the apartment, I think the druids started it—” Cedar started to tell Finn, but Felix interrupted her.
“We don’t have time,” he said. “I can save them both, but I need supplies and a place to work.”
“But Eden can’t open a sidh,” Cedar said. “Where can we go?”
Felix looked at Finn. “Can you get us to Logheryman’s house? He’ll have everything I need.”
Finn nodded. Then Cedar noticed the stone lying at his feet for the first time. “You got it,” she said, her voice hollow.
“Yes, but…” He knelt down and touched it. “It’s not warm,” he said. Cedar touched it too. It was cool, rough, and perfectly ordinary. “Felix, you try,” she said. Still holding Jane, he reached over and placed his hand on it, then shook his head.
“Stand on it,” Finn said, and she did, Eden in her arms. The stone stayed silent.
For a moment the three of them just stood there, the horror of what had happened settling on them like the dense fog that drifted over the island. The relative safety of the apartment was gone; they couldn’t go back there. Eden was unconscious, and Cedar had no idea what was wrong or what the druids had done to her. And Jane…
“It’s a fake,” Felix said. “Leave it here. We have to go. Jane doesn’t have much time.”
In seconds the great dragon was before them again, and they scrambled up on his back, carrying their unconscious companions. This flight was longer, and Cedar closed her eyes and listened to the beat of Finn’s wings as they soared across the ocean toward Ireland. So far their quest had been fruitless, and had cost far more than she’d expected. She held Eden tighter and told herself that Felix could wake her, that he could save Jane’s life. He was the god of healing, after all—surely he could save them. She couldn’t allow herself to consider the alternative.
She glanced behind her at Felix, though the motion made her head swim with dizziness. He was crouched over Jane’s body, his lips moving rapidly. She wondered if he was trying to work his healing magic even as they flew… or if his ministrations were the only thing keeping Jane alive for the voyage to the leprechaun’s house. She turned back around and saw the lights of a city below them. Belfast, she assumed, and felt Finn bank and turn to avoid flying directly over the city. Not that it really mattered. Unless the druids had disabled the castle’s security system, she was pretty sure that their whole escape from the courtyard was even now being studied by Scotland Yard or uploaded to YouTube.
A few minutes later they made a rugged landing in a small clearing in what appeared to be a forest. It was completely dark, and Cedar could barely make out Finn’s hulking outline as Felix helped her climb down. Then she heard a ripping sound and Felix’s voice saying, “Here, light this before you transform.” There was a blast of blue flame, and the clearing around them suddenly sprung into view. Felix was holding Jane in one arm and a burning branch in the other. Finn transformed and took Eden from Cedar, and they immediately started through the trees.
The area was only partially cleared, and there were several stumps that
looked as though the trees had been ripped right off rather than neatly sawed or chopped. Cedar remembered then how Murdoch had taken out his grief and anger over his son Oscar’s death on the trees surrounding Logheryman’s house. She hoped that she wouldn’t have another death on her hands tonight.
They walked silently through the trees to the cottage that had welcomed them only a few weeks ago. The windows were dark, and the torch cast eerie shadows around them. Finn rapped loudly on the door, but there was no answer.
“Logheryman!” Finn yelled. He tried the knob—it was unlocked—and the door swung open with a long creak. Wordlessly, Finn shifted Eden into Cedar’s arms. He cautiously eased himself through the door, and moments later Cedar could see the light of the torch flickering through the windows. Then the windows all went bright, and Finn stepped back outside and extinguished the torch. “It’s empty,” he said. “There’s no one here.”
Felix and Cedar carried Jane and Eden inside. Felix laid Jane on the sofa, and Cedar sat in an armchair and cradled Eden in her lap. She wondered where the leprechaun was, and her stomach twisted nervously. But they couldn’t move Jane, not now. She sat silently as Felix unwrapped Jane’s body from the shirts and jackets and barked instructions at Finn, who went down into Logheryman’s cellar in search of supplies. Felix was muttering to himself—or to Jane. Cedar couldn’t make out what he was saying.
When Finn came back into the room, his arms were full of jars and small linen bags filled with what Cedar took to be herbs and various potion ingredients.
Felix groaned in relief. “Thank you,” he said, starting to sniff the contents of the jars and bags.
“Will those help you heal her?” Cedar asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “She is past the point where I could heal her by touch alone. My grandfather knew the power of every herb in existence. He is the one who taught herb-lore to the druids, though I daresay they probably retained it better than I did. I could heal with a touch, why did I need to know the properties of so many plants? Still, I did not forget everything I learned. At least… I hope not.”
Cedar watched as he continued to examine the herbs that Finn had gathered for him. Then he called out to Finn again. “I need clean linens. Do not under any circumstances use the ones from Logheryman’s bed. Hot water, whiskey, and several bowls. In fact—is there a bath?”
Finn ran off to check and came back nodding, his arms full of more supplies.
“Good,” Felix said. “Find something to sterilize it with—use the whiskey if you have to. Then fill it with hot water, as hot as you can make it.”
While Finn was doing this, Felix measured and poured several of the herbs and powders into a large cracked bowl. Then he yanked out a handful of his own hair and stirred it into the mixture.
“Your hair?” Cedar asked.
Felix nodded. “I need to be in contact with her at all times, it’s what’s keeping her alive. I’m going to submerge her in the hot water with these herbs; they will amplify my power and speed her healing. But I’m not taking any chances. If we are attacked again and I break contact with her, she may die. Having part of my body in the water with her might keep her alive until I can get back to her.”
Cedar shivered at the thought of another attack. But if the druids could find them at Scone, at Halifax, and then at Edinburgh, they could surely find them here.
“How is Eden?” Felix asked, taking his eyes off Jane for a second to look at Cedar. “Any change?”
“No,” Cedar said. “But her pulse is still steady, and her breathing seems normal.”
“Then I do not think she is in any immediate danger,” Felix said. “Forgive me, Cedar, but I must tend to Jane first.”
“I know,” Cedar agreed. “Please, do. She needs you the most right now.”
Finn came back into the room and reported that the bath was ready. Gently, Felix lifted Jane into his arms and left the room. Cedar struggled to her feet, still holding Eden, and followed. She watched as Felix gave the bowl to Finn and instructed him to dissolve the mixture in the water. The water in the bath bubbled and hissed, and lavender-colored steam rose from the surface. Without losing contact with her for even a moment, Felix laid Jane down into the water and then followed her in. He was still wearing the khaki pants Jane had so despised upon first meeting him, but his shirt was on the floor of the front room now, covered in her blood. He cradled her in his arms, then pulled her under the water with him.
“Will it work?” Cedar asked Finn as he reached for Eden. She rubbed the burning muscles in her arms, feeling exhaustion set in as the adrenaline in her system started to fade.
“She’s very far gone,” Finn said. “But I’ve known Felix all my life, and there’s never been an injury he wasn’t been able to heal if he got there in time.” Cedar thought of her mother Kier, who had died of her injuries in Maeve’s arms, and wondered how her own life might have turned out differently if Felix had been there to save her. But her thoughts were interrupted by a splash. Felix was lifting Jane’s head out of the water, and Cedar cried out in relief when she saw Jane’s mouth open to take a gulp of air. She started to rush forward but Felix stopped her with a look. “Not yet,” he said, and then submerged her once more. Three times he repeated this process, and three times Jane gulped for air. Cedar slowly moved to the side of the bath and knelt down. She watched in amazement as Jane’s tortured skin start to knit itself together. Where it had been red, even black, it became a milky white, like the color of a newborn baby. Cedar watched as her friend’s broken body became whole again.
“You did it,” she said to Felix the next time he emerged from the water. He nodded, his wet hair falling in his eyes.
“She will survive,” he said, cradling her head. “Although I’m afraid there is nothing I can do about her hair. It will have to grow back naturally.” Just then Jane’s eyes flickered open. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but nothing came out, only a wheeze. Then she closed her eyes again.
“Is she okay?” Cedar asked.
“Her body is still healing on the inside,” Felix said. “Finn, hand me that bottle, there.” He pointed to a tiny glass bottle that he had brought into the bathroom.
Finn handed it to him, and Felix poured a few drops of a clear liquid between Jane’s lips. “She will sleep for several hours now, while her body finishes healing. But I think it’s safe to remove her from the bath and from my touch.”
Cedar helped Felix lift Jane out of the water and wrap her in towels, and then he carried her back to the sofa and gently laid her down. Cedar blushed as he stripped out of his soaking pants and wrapped himself in a towel, setting himself down on the floor in front of the sofa.
“You look exhausted,” Cedar said. “Can I get you anything?” Felix leaned his head back against Jane.
“Healing takes its toll,” he said. “But I will be fine,” he repeated. “I’ll look at Eden now.”
Finn laid the limp form of their daughter in Felix’s lap. He examined her closely, frowning. “The best guess I have is that she is protecting herself. I think she has disappeared deep inside herself to protect her mind from the druids. They must be affecting her somehow—maybe that’s why she opened the sidh to Nuala last night and why she brought us to the courtyard and closed off all our escape routes. I don’t think they’re controlling her mind… it’s more like they know they’re influencing her movements by terrifying her. The power of suggestion, perhaps.”
“Well, we got lucky in one regard.… I don’t think the druids were expecting to see a dragon,” Cedar said to Finn. “They scattered as soon as you arrived.”
“Most of the druids who are alive today have never experienced the creatures of the old world,” Finn said. “You’re right—I think I took them by surprise.”
“Still,” Felix said. “If you hadn’t arrived, I’m not sure if I would have been able to defeat them all before they got to Cedar or Eden, or whoever they were after. There must have been a dozen of them.”
“We need Liam,” Cedar said suddenly. “He knows how the druids work. He can help us fight them. He said he wanted to help.”
Felix and Finn glanced at each other. “Druids just attacked us,” Felix said. “And you’ve only just met him. How do you know we can trust him?”
“He wasn’t one of the druids who attacked us,” she protested. “And he hates Nuala, remember? We need his help. If she’s sending her druids after us, the best way to fight them is to have one on our side. He can help us figure out how they think and what they might do next.”
“He tells a good story,” Finn said. “But how do you know he’s on our side? We can’t afford to take any chances. We only have six days left.…”
“If he was in league with Nuala, he would have killed me the first time I met him and spared her all this trouble. She’d be queen now and well on her way to destroying humanity.”
“Druids can be unstable—,” Felix started to say, but Cedar stopped him with a huff of exasperation.
“Seriously? You want to paint them all with the same brush? You still can’t get the master-and-servant mentality out of your heads, can you? Not all druids are bad, just like not all of the Tuatha Dé Danann are good.”
Finn and Felix were quiet for a long moment, both of them looking slightly abashed. “You’re right,” Finn finally said. “And we do need help.”
Felix nodded and looked down at the child in his arms. “And perhaps he’ll know what to do for Eden. My skill is with healing, but she’s not injured. I think she might just be afraid to wake up.”
Cedar was wearing the same jeans she’s had on the day before, and when she reached into her back pocket, Liam’s card was still there. She breathed out a deep sigh of relief as she examined it. Trinity College, Dublin. He’d told her that he was flying home that morning, so at least he was in the same country. She went to use the phone in Logheryman’s kitchen. All of their cell phones and laptops had been in her apartment, and had—in all likelihood—been burned to a crisp. She dialed his cell phone number and then realized it was the middle of the night. He picked up on the first ring. She gave him a brief rundown of what had happened and where they were.