by Suzi Davis
“Tell me about it,” I quietly agreed. Sebastian smiled and squeezed my hand. “I’m so sorry to put you and Dad through this Dahlia. I hope to make it up to you one day.”
“He’s your father, Grace. No matter what he said before, he really does want to help you now and he won’t have it any other way.” A fresh wave of guilt hit me, causing me to drop my eyes in shame. Sebastian gave my hand another gentle squeeze. “You two might as well try and get some rest while you can. I’ll get you some blankets and you can lie down on the couches – separate couches, mind you.” Dahlia’s small mouth twitched into a near smile.
“Of course,” Sebastian agreed. I wondered if he meant it.
Dahlia went back to the bedroom for some blankets. I heard her soft voice briefly murmuring in response to my father’s hearty bass as he was apparently between phone calls. It looked like she was fighting a smile as she came back out.
“Here are some blankets for you. You’ll have to use the cushions as pillows I’m afraid. Sebastian, Gordon would like a word with you. Grace, why don’t you help me to make up the beds while the men have their chat?”
Oh no, I thought, my stomach dropping. Sebastian smiled reassuringly at me though, looking totally unsurprised. He stepped around Dahlia with a calm and confident smile, much to Dahlia’s obvious disappointment.
“I’ll be back shortly,” he told me with a quick and cheeky wink before he bravely stepped into the bedroom, the door closing quietly behind him.
I wanted to eavesdrop and listen at the door but I knew I couldn’t with Dahlia still present. She started chatting away, perhaps trying to set me at ease but really she only added to my discomfort as I had no chance of overhearing anything now.
When we finished turning the couches into two makeshift beds, we each sat down upon one and Dahlia flicked on the TV. My eyes kept wandering to the kitchen clock. It was nearly fifteen minutes later that Sebastian finally emerged, his face a little pale, his expression slightly worn but overall, he appeared to be well-enough. I hadn’t heard any shouting so it obviously couldn’t have been that bad… I hoped.
Dahlia quickly said good night and went back into the bedroom, my father’s loud voice clearly audible once more as he grumbled into his cell phone – he certainly didn’t seem too pleased. Sebastian kicked off his shoes and lay down on the couch, pulling one of the fleecy blankets over him. I sighed in exasperation as he closed his eyes.
“You’re really going to pretend to sleep?”
He smiled in response but didn’t open his eyes.
“What did my father want to talk to you about?”
He shrugged. “Oh, the usual. He wanted to know what my intentions were, if I would be able to keep you safe while we’re overseas and he wanted to make sure I understood that if I ever put you in harm’s way again he would rip me to pieces with his own hands.”
“Oh, that’s all?” I replied, my tone coolly nonchalant as I curled up under my own blanket on the loveseat.
Sebastian chuckled, his eyes finally opening. “I believe him too – he’s one of the most determined people I’ve ever had the pleasure of encountering. It looks like we’ll be out of the country tomorrow morning. It’s going to be close but I think we’re going to make it. Your father really does have connections everywhere; he’s already booked us on a 7am flight and he’s just working out the details of our documents now. We’re going to make it to Ireland at least twenty-four hours before the Others do, maybe even more.”
My heart sank. I’d been so focused on the goal of getting to Ireland, I’d almost forgotten that the Others would just as easily follow and chase us there. “Will we ever be able to stop running?” I asked him quietly.
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “We’ll find the answers we’re looking for in Ireland, I know we will. You’ll regain full control and use of your magic, and then we’ll find a way to stop the Others. They’ll never be a threat to us again.”
It sounded so easy. All I had to do was master my ability and find a way to take away the magic that the Others had possessed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Deep down I knew that it would never be that simple. I feared that there really might not be a happy ending for us but I didn’t dare to speak the thought out loud, knowing my pessimism would only upset Sebastian.
I turned the TV off and closed my eyes, listening to the soft and steady rhythm of Sebastian’s breathing and the surprisingly comforting sound of my father’s deep and muffled voice through the wall.
“Good night,” I sighed sleepily, surprised by how heavy my eyelids suddenly felt. All of the stress and emotion of the past few days, not to mention the physical exertion of trying to outrun the Others, was taking its toll.
I barely heard Sebastian’s mumbled response as I tumbled into sleepy darkness.
“G’night… Caoilinn… my love.”
We were woken at four am by my father himself. He announced that all the arrangements had been made and it was time to go. He would take us to pick up our travel documents on the way to the airport and then we would board a 7am flight to Manchester in the United Kingdom. We would stop there for a brief one hour cross over before continuing on to Belfast City Airport in Northern Ireland, the destination that apparently Sebastian had requested. We would arrive in Ireland about 6:30pm local time that very night.
Before I knew it, all four of us were riding through the relatively quiet early morning streets of Toronto, the tall buildings and bright lights whizzing by us in a blur of shadows and lights.
I had expected we would be picking up our forged documents in a seedier part of town so I was surprised when we approached an expensive, upper-class, residential area. My father brought the car to a stop on the road in front of a large white house where he quickly went up to the front door and exchanged an envelope stuffed full of money for a larger manila envelope that had been tucked beneath the doormat. When he returned to the car, he quickly looked through the envelope’s contents before handing it back wordlessly to Sebastian. He smoothly made a broad U-turn and within moments we were headed back in the direction that we had come from.
I stared in wonder at the perfect replicas of my passport and birth certificate (luckily I already had my credit cards and driver’s license) that the large envelope contained. Sebastian seemed amused by his own documentation, whispering to me about how my father had somehow come up with his school photo for the doctored ID. We were both tense and nervous though as we approached Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. The Others were all close enough now that even I could sense the danger that sparked through the air like an electric shock and no matter how convincing the documents appeared to our eyes, I was afraid that they still might not fool the airport staff and customs officers.
“I don’t know how I can begin to thank you for this, Dad. We’ll repay you somehow – we’ll make it up to you,” I assured him as we got out of the car, my meager “luggage” on my back.
“Call me – let me know you’re alright,” he instructed,. “And once this is all over with, I expect you to come visit us in Toronto, properly, before you begin university, of course.” He eyed me somewhat suspiciously as he spoke and I suddenly found myself fighting a smile.
“Of course we will, Daddy.” It was easy to let myself become enfolded in one of his mighty bear hugs. I swallowed hard as I realized this might be the last time I’d ever see my father. Fear and sadness threatened to overwhelm me.
“Thank you, Mr. Stevenson. I’ll never forget this.” Sebastian offered my father his hand. Both mine and Dahlia’s eyebrows lifted in surprise as my father accepted it, firmly clasping Sebastian’s hand in his own with a grudging respect in his eyes.
“You better not. Take care of my little girl.”
Sebastian responded that he would while Dahlia and I quickly hugged goodbye.
My father and Dahlia climbed back into the shiny, dark car. I wanted to stand there and wave goodbye to them but Sebastian was already tugging at my arm,
his sudden urgency alarming as he whispered quickly into my ear.
“The fifth’s here already. We have to hurry.”
Fear shot down my spine. I gave my father’s car one last, longing look and then spun around and half-ran into the huge and busy building.
We glanced over our shoulders constantly as we made our way through the massive airport. We checked in for our flight and picked up our boarding passes with no problems other than the comments we received over our lack of luggage. So far, things were definitely going the way we wanted but I couldn’t help but wonder how long our luck would last.
“I don’t think the fifth has found us yet,” Sebastian whispered as we lined up to go through security. “Something you’re doing must be working – keep it up,” he teased.
“I just really don’t want to be found but that’s nothing new.”
I was feeling cautiously relieved that we’d almost made it to our boarding gate without being discovered but I still glanced over my shoulder at every opportunity, searching the faces of everyone in the nearby crowd and the lineup behind us. I wasn’t sure what I expected to see but I had a strange sense of expectancy that I would somehow ‘recognize’ the fifth member of the Others who had come after us.
We passed through security and into our boarding lounge with no problems or delays. Everything was going quite smoothly, our passports easily accepted as my father had assured us they would be. It was just as we were called by a polite and gentle Irish voice to board our plane when I happened to glance across the expansive room to the boarding lounge across from ours. And that was when I saw him.
My breath caught in my chest, my body was paralyzed by sudden icy fear. For a moment, I was uncertain if I were about to faint or throw up as I watched the slow smirk twist the constantly sneering features of his thin and familiar face.
I didn’t need to speak. Sebastian noticed right away that something was wrong with me and quickly followed my gaze. He was immediately moving in front of me, blocking Walter from my view.
“He’s alone. He can’t hurt us and he won’t follow us. I’m certain he’s only here to observe,” Sebastian calmly informed me, his voice low and steady.
I tried to regain control of myself, tried to calm down but I desperately wanted to flee in fear.
“Don’t look at him. Let’s just board the plane.”
I nodded my agreement, gladly allowing Sebastian to pull me to my feet and protectively shield me under his arm. He angled his body slightly as we crossed the lounge so that he would block me from Walter’s view, as if Walter’s gaze alone could somehow hurt me.
My hands shook as I gave my boarding pass to the pretty, dark-haired flight attendant. I faintly heard her ask if I was feeling alright and I managed a silent nod in response. Sebastian had to take his arm from my shoulders in order to show his boarding pass. I’m not sure what possessed me to do so, but as he lowered his arm, I automatically turned my head to glance in the very direction he had warned me not to.
Walter stood across the lounge from us still, leaning lazily against one of the large pillars that were spaced throughout the room. His smirk deepened as he caught my eye and he wiggled his fingers in a smug, beckoning wave. I just had time to make out the three, carefully mouthed words he spoke before Sebastian’s arm was around me once more. The silent words echoed through my mind like they’d been shouted directly into my ear. See you soon.
Sebastian quickly guided me through the gate and down the hallway that led out to the plane. My heart had started beating again and was now pounding in my ears. I really did feel like I might throw up.
“Are you okay?” Sebastian repeated as we found our seats in first class – my father had instantly dismissed the suggestion that we fly coach.
“Yes – no. I don’t know.” I dropped into my seat, doing up my seatbelt with trembling hands and then tipping back my chair, only to be immediately reminded by a flight attendant that our seats had to remain in their upright position until after the seatbelt sign was turned off.
“Are you sure he won’t follow us?” I asked Sebastian after the flight attendant had moved out of earshot.
“Not until four more of the Others are with him,” Sebastian responded confidently. I wished I felt so sure.
“What I don’t understand is, if Walter was the fifth, then there must have been five of the Others in Victoria the first day we started running. So why did they send him ahead of us? Why did they bother chasing us across the country? What’s the point of all this?” I demanded, my fear shifting into frustration.
“I don’t know,” Sebastian admitted. He reached over the large armrest between our seats for my hand. “There are answers in Ireland. I’m sure of it. We just have to find them.”
“But where do we even begin to look? And what exactly are we looking for?”
“The answers are hidden in both of our pasts, and so we’re returning to the land and the places where our secrets were buried; where we met, where we fell in love, where I left you last…” His brow furrowed as he spoke. I knew it still caused him pain to think of Caoilinn’s death, however briefly.
“I hope you’re right.”
We sat in silence as the other passengers finished boarding. The flight attendant’s words washed over me as she explained the emergency exits and procedures, my thoughts taking me far away. Sebastian was just as still and silent as I, his eyes unfocused, his expression one of faraway concentration. I felt overwhelmed by a hundred different emotions and let myself become lost within a thousand different questions as our plane slowly taxied towards the runway. My eyes closed as the engines became louder and our acceleration began to increase. The force of gravity and resistance pushed me back into my seat as the plane climbed up into the sky and I felt myself falling backwards. Further and further, deeper and deeper I fell, until I was lost within myself and another’s past haunted my exhausted and terrified dreams…
I WATCHED HIM silently - not yet ready to announce my presence. I had been surprised to find him here, in this secret place I only ever came to alone. I stood within the shade of a wide oak on the edge of the clearing across which he paced. He should have been able to see me but I didn’t want him to, not just yet. Perhaps it was childish of me but I enjoyed taking these moments to observe him. The surge of strong and complicated emotions I felt when I looked at him still surprised me and took my breath away.
Seamus was handsome – there wasn’t a woman alive who would reject his tall, strong frame, his dark, mysterious eyes that sparkled when he smiled and his thick, black hair. His appearance alone would never have been enough to attract my attention – it was his heart and soul that I truly loved. His genuine and limitless kindness was a constant surprise to me. His gentle ways, his generous heart, the love and vibrance that radiated from him with every smile and boyish laugh... I was certain there was no other like him and never would there be.
We had met only two moons ago and already I knew that he was somehow caught up in my strange destiny. I felt things when I was with him that I had never felt before – that I had never dared hope I might feel. The love and passion and beauty that he brought to my life, the hope and dreams that he blessed me with – it was near impossible to put to words.
After the first day we had met, I often found myself visiting his sister’s home under the pretense of checking on his baby brother. Seamus was always there, waiting for me as if he had known I was coming, and his sister almost always left us alone. We talked easily during these encounters and those conversations were precious and unforgettable. I found myself opening up to him, charmed by his kind and friendly disposition and entranced by his thrilling smiles. I discovered a side to myself that I had never known existed, and I liked it. When I was with him, I wasn’t the strange and powerful Priestess who was both respected and feared. I was just Caoilinn, a young woman who had never before known love. And as I learnt more about Seamus, as the look in his eyes deepened and the warmth of his casual touch burned deeper a
nd deeper within me, I found myself not just learning of the possibility of love but falling in love myself.
I sighed and stepped forward into the warm sunlight, the faint breeze lightly blowing my loose hair. Seamus’ eyes immediately snapped up to meet mine, not a hint of surprise anywhere in his expression. It often seemed he somehow sensed my presence even when his mind wasn’t yet consciously aware of it. The more time we spent together, the harder it was for me to catch him off-guard and the easier it was for him to surprise me. Not that I truly minded.
I considered him curiously, waiting for him to speak. His lips curved up into a half-smile.
“I’m not sure what I’m doing here,” he confessed with a small shrug.
Guilt immediately flashed through me. It was a strange sensation and one I’d had limited experience with until lately. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how badly I wanted to see you. I thought I had more control-,”
“I know I don’t.” He grinned at my confusion. “I wanted to see you. I followed you to this clearing a few days ago. I left as soon as I had seen where you went but I’ve been coming here every day since, hoping I might see you again.”
“Oh. But why would you do such a thing?” My heart yearned to hear the answer I wanted but I forced my emotions to calm, pushing my own wants and desires aside.
“Because…” he hesitated with the uncertainty of his youth. His eyes suddenly flashed up to meet mine, the love in them so clear and stunning and absolutely undeniable that my heart skipped a beat. “Because I’m in love with you.”
I was speechless in a way that only Seamus could have caused. I slowly shook my head as he moved across the clearing towards me, quickly taking my hands up in his before I could voice my objections aloud.
“I love you,” he repeated, staring deeply into my eyes. His hands felt warm and rough against my cool, smooth skin. “I want you and only you, forever. There will never be another. Caoilinn, I came here to ask you – to beg you if need be, to be my mate.”