“Ok. Honey wheeled to the edge of the white quartz stairwell leading into the catacombs. “Rodney?”
Rodney got up to help her down the stairs.
“You can go too,” Sam said to Tanesha. “Mari? James?”
Tanesha, James, and the fairy got up and followed them into the catacombs. Sam settled back.
“In the meantime, we help Jill,” Sandy said with determination in her voice.
“She needs our help,” Blane said. “She’s very weak.”
They became quiet and started praying for Jill and the boy in her lap. After a while, Tanesha came to get Heather and Sandy. They gave Paddie and Katy to Sam and Delphie and went with her. They returned in full metal armor. Rodney, James, and Mari came behind them.
“Time to go,” Rodney said.
Heather gave Blane a tight hug and followed Sandy to another edge of the bubble.
“Abi?” Rodney asked.
A door appeared and Rodney, James, Sandy, Heather, and Tanesha entered the battle.
~~~~~~~~
Jill’s heart pounded with indignant rage. She touched the boy’s shoulder and he threw himself at her. She held him tight while he sobbed in her arms. While he cried, she stroked his hair and tried to send him her healing capacity. She was glad he couldn’t see her face, because she was too angry to hide her feelings.
She had no idea how to fix this. She didn’t have a clue as to how to make this better for him or for anyone involved. She just knew that this little boy needed her love.
She cursed herself for healing his mother.
She cursed herself for helping his father.
She should have let them rot.
She bit her lip and tried to repeat what Delphie always told her when she was angry — “Everything happens for a reason.”
Reason had nothing to do with this.
She tried to calm herself by thinking of her friends. What would they say?
Tanesha would say something sassy like “That’s some real bull-shit.” and she’d plot some revenge.
Sandy would comfort the child and tell everyone that she was sure “They were doing their best.” In private, she would cry for the child and a world who would let him suffer so very much.
And Heather. Oh, Heather would sigh. She’d nod and ask Jill what she wanted to do.
But Jill didn’t know what to do. She remembered the last time she’d felt this kind of indignant rage. She’d just heard that Trevor was telling everyone that her beloved Katy was an “oops baby” and Jill was a “baby momma.” Jill scowled. Megan had told her to let it go; there was nothing she could do. But going to Trevor’s stupid engagement party had led her to this moment. If she hadn’t gone, she wouldn’t have started dating Jacob and . . .
Jill shook her head.
If she hadn’t gone to that engagement party, everything would have stayed the same. She would have pined for Trevor, felt helpless and abused.
But because she went to the engagement party, she’d had this amazing life with Jacob. It hadn’t been easy, that’s for sure. But everything was really good.
If she’d never gone to Trevor’s stupid engagement party . . .
Jill knew what she had to do. She heard someone moving behind her. She turned to look up the hill. A woman who looked just like Tanesha walked toward them. The woman wore metal armor and carried a heavy sword. Jill was so surprised to see her that she almost didn’t notice another woman had appeared.
“Sandy?” Jill exhaled.
Her best friend was standing next to her. Sandy was also wearing metal armor. Her eyes sparkled and she winked. But Jill’s best friend Sandy couldn’t wink. When she tried, she blinked both eyes at the same time instead of just one. The Tanesha look-alike took out her sword and raised it to her forehead in a kind of bow to Jill. She sheathed the sword and nodded to someone on Jill’s left side. Jill looked over to see Heather. As if to say, we are with you, the Heather-look-alike nodded to Jill.
“How . . .” Jill started. “Did you . . .?”
“You needed your own army,” the boy said.
Jill smiled and the boy blushed.
“Are you ready?” Jill asked.
The boy nodded.
“Take us to the war,” Jill said. “We’re going to sort this out once and for all.”
~~~~~~~~
Jacob pushed a man away from him and stepped forward. Fighting next to Valerie, he felt oddly exhilarated and alive. They were fighting near the center of the battlefield, next to Prince Finegal, and in front of Queen Fand and Manannán. He’d never admit it, but they were having a great time slashing their way through the attacking army. He didn’t think of them as people with families and lives. They were just “the attackers.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Heather, Sandy, Tanesha, Rodney, and James, all wearing full armor, slip out of the protective bubble. They stood to the side for a moment before lighting what looked like a giant sparkler. The soldiers around them stopped fighting to watch. Once they had one lit, they moved to another area to light another.
He felt more than saw movement in a corner of the battlefield. He turned to see armored copies of Heather, Tanesha, and Sandy. He looked back at the people lighting the sparklers and then back at the slow-moving group of women coming onto the battlefield.
And then he saw Jill.
“Jill?” Jacob said in a low tone.
He closed and opened his eyes to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Jill was right there. She was wearing a rough, thin wool dress that dragged along the battlefield. Her dark hair was up in a simple bun. She carried a young boy in her arms. Her head was high as she walked toward the queen. Heather and Sandy walked beside Jill and Tanesha walked behind her. When anyone got too close, the girlfriends dispatched them with great ease.
“Jill?” Jacob said again.
“Jake! Watch out!”
Valerie yelled a second before a crusader’s blade swept toward his skull. Before Jacob could jump out of the way, the sword clipped his chin. He wielded his sword with unpracticed ease and dispatched the ghost crusader. He wiped the blood from his chin and looked for Jill.
From his right, he saw Prince Finegal ride directly toward Jill.
“Kill her!” Prince Finegal yelled. “She’s stolen the prince!”
“Val! With me!” Jacob yelled, and ran to catch up.
When he got to Jill, Prince Finegal pointed his sword toward her throat. Jill gave the Prince a bored look and kept walking.
“Stand where you are!” Prince Finegal yelled.
Jill took another step and Prince Fin’s sword came at her. Jacob caught his sword with his own a second before the blade pierced Jill. The gladiator Heather and Tanesha moved between the prince and Jill.
“What are you doing, brother?” Prince Finegal yelled.
“This is my wife!” Jacob said. “This is Jill.”
“The wench has stolen my brother,” Prince Finegal yelled.
The armies came to a standstill. An unnerving silence fell over the battlefield.
“She will pay!” Prince Finegal yelled.
The fairy army cheered. Jacob looked around to find the fairy army staring at Jill, the girlfriends, and the small child she held in her arms. He pushed past armored Tanesha to Jill.
“Jill,” Jacob said.
Jill turned to look at him. Her face was flushed red and marked with her anger.
“What’s going on?” Jacob asked.
“I’m here to speak with his mother,” Jill said. She shook her head at him. “You will rue the day you helped to heal these evil creatures.”
“What in the name of Hades is she talking about?” Prince Finegal jumped from his horse and tried to charge Jill. He ran into the girlfriends.
“Jill, honey?” Jacob asked. “What’s going on?”
“Why don’t you ask them?” Jill was so angry that she spat on him. “They threw away this son and . . .”
“How dare you?” Prince Finegal said. “Who are y
ou to accuse the queen?”
“Jill doesn’t lie,” Valerie put her hand on his shoulder. “If she says this happened, then it did.”
“What?” Prince Finegal asked. “They did what?”
“You don’t know?” Jill asked. “They gave the boy to the Christians. The Christians have tortured him for centuries and. . .”
“They did what?” Prince Fin’s face was so similar to Jacob’s that Jill knew he was getting angry.
“He’s just a little boy,” Jill said.
“Mother!” Prince Finegal yelled. “We require your counsel. Here. Right now. Father. You too. Now.”
Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-seven
Hawthorn thorn
“Why do you get to demand their presence?” Valerie asked.
“My mother is a fairy queen,” Prince Finegal said out of the side of his mouth. “My father is . . . the Manannán. They aren’t really . . . of the . . . world. Someone has to deal with the real life details of a queendom.”
Prince Finegal shrugged as if that was a sufficient answer.
“Now! Mother,” Prince Finegal yelled.
He turned to call for his father and ran into Queen Fand.
“Mother,” Prince Finegal said. He tried to hide the irritation in his voice.
“Fin,” Queen Fand said. She turned her eyes to Jill. “Who’s this?”
“Jacob’s wife,” Prince Finegal said. “The question is . . .”
“Katy’s mother?” Queen Fand looked intrigued. Prince Finegal scowled at his mother’s mild voice.
“Why?” Prince Finegal asked.
“Kill her.” Queen Fand nodded to the soldiers around her.
At the words, Jill’s armored girlfriends raised their swords to defend Jill. Fand’s army moved forward, but Jacob and Valerie stepped between the army and Jill.
“Hold!” Prince Finegal said to the army.
“Hey!” Tanesha yelled from across the battlefield.
She pointed to Jill. Sandy and Heather took off toward them. Within moments, Jill was surrounded by Tanesha, Heather, and Sandy, plus her duplicate girlfriend army.
“I am your commander. I command you to hold!” Prince Finegal yelled.
The army jostled in place. Jacob saw Rodney and James move among the Christian crusader army.
“Why are you ordering me killed this time?” Jill asked. “Because I hugged your husband or because I know that you gave your child away?”
“Who are you to dare speak to me?” Queen Fand flipped her battle skirt and tried to walk away. She ran into Manannán. Her husband gave her a long look and then looked at Jill.
“Why do you hold our child?” Manannán asked. He glanced at Prince Finegal and back at Jill. He asked Prince Finegal, “This is your brother?”
“It looks like him,” Prince Finegal said. “But he’s older than when he disappeared.”
“Yes, I recall that as well. He was . . . Fand?” Manannán asked Queen Fand. Her back was to him and she didn’t bother to turn around. “How old was Kirk when he was taken?”
“He was just walking,” Queen Fand said in a low tone.
“Why did you give him to the Christians?” Jill asked.
“Where did you hear this story?” Prince Finegal asked. “My father and I were there. We didn’t give the child away. He was taken! These two . . .” Prince Finegal shook his head. “But me? He is my brother, my flesh, I would never give him away.”
“She did it,” the boy said with his face pressed against Jill’s neck.
“What did he say?” Prince Finegal asked.
“He said Queen Fand gave him away,” Jill said.
The girlfriend army and Tanesha, Heather, and Sandy gawked at Queen Fand. The army turned to look at her.
“Mother?” Prince Finegal asked. “Did you give my brother to the Christians?”
Manannán put his hand on her shoulder. Queen Fand turned slightly. She looked at Prince Finegal and then at Jill. She shook her head. They stared at her as she walked off. When she reached Gilfand, she touched his shoulder and walked past. Gilfand walked to Prince Finegal.
“She made a deal for Guinevere,” Gilfand said. “Merlin the druid wanted the luck of a fairy. Guinevere is from our luckiest family of fairies. The king needed to win over a country, create an army, and join the tribes of England. He needed fairy luck. He needed our help. Without us, the world would have fallen into chaos and despair.”
“Who are you?” Jill asked. “Why are you trying to explain that evil woman’s action? This is a child, not a car. She threw him away for political gain.”
Gilfand shook his head. Before he could respond, Prince Finegal stepped forward.
“Political gain?” Prince Finegal pointed his sword at Jill. Jacob batted it away. “No, they stole my brother. I spent a hundred years trying to find him and bring him back.”
At his words, the child in Jill’s arms turned to look at Prince Finegal. The prince smiled at the boy.
“The prince was always fond of his brother,” Gilfand said.
“Before we get crazy,” Tanesha stepped up to Gilfand, “what are we talking about?”
Gilfand gave a sad shake of his head.
“You’re not going to tell us?” Tanesha nodded. “That only means my girl is right. This bitch threw her own child away and every male child born to any of her ancestors after him died. Sure sounds evil to me.”
“You were trying not to swear,” Heather said to Tanesha.
“I’m angry,” Tanesha said.
Gilfand turned and started walking away.
“Let’s get out of here,” Tanesha said. “This is bull . . .”
“Not thrown away . . .” A soft feminine voice came on the wind. Everyone stopped talking. They looked around to see if they could determine where the sound was coming from. “The druid tricked me. He said he wanted a woman for luck. I told him she’d never bear children. He said it mattered not. Children were easy to find. Then . . . they took my son.”
They continued to look around for the source of the voice.
“He was playing in the surf with his nanny, and then . . .”
“The men took him away,” Jill said to the voice on the wind.
“They killed the nanny,” the voice said. “Burned her alive.”
The wind shifted and the voice echoed.
“Burned her alive.”
The girlfriends felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. Heather glanced at Valerie as a tear slid down her cheek.
“Burned her alive.” The words echoed around them.
“You should have known!” Jill said.
“Yes.” Queen Fand appeared in front of Jill. “I should have known he had tricked me. I should have known he meant to take my son so that his king would have a fairy son to carry his bloodline.”
The women stood face to face. Jill could feel the queen’s breath on her face. The queen’s hands moved as if they wanted to hold the boy, but Jill did not let him go.
“You would have known,” Queen Fand said.
“Yes, I would have known.” Jill nodded.
“May I?”
Queen Fand held her arms out for the child. Jill said soft, encouraging things to the boy and he turned to his mother.
“No,” the boy said. “You will kill her like you have the others.”
Jacob moved like lightning. Using his jujitsu skills, he shifted the queen away from Jill. The girlfriend army as well as Tanesha, Heather, and Sandy moved closer to protect them. Jacob’s eyes met Prince Finegal’s, and then Gilfand’s. He gave a slight shake of his head.
“Mother,” Prince Finegal said.
He put his hand on her shoulder. The queen turned to look at him. When she did, the boy nudged Jill. He pointed to something on his mother. Jill looked at the boy. She shifted her chin as if to ask if he could fix it. He shook his head. Jill nodded.
“I see it,” Jill said.
“What is it?” Jacob asked.
“She has a thorn in th
e back of her . . .” Jill gestured to the top of her spine.
Jacob peered at the Queen. Prince Finegal scowled at Jill.
“I noticed the thorn when I was getting my head hacked off,” Jill said. “The men who took the boy all have a thorn in their neck.”
The boy pointed to his mother’s neck. Prince Fin’s hand went around his mother’s head.
“Hawthorn,” Prince Finegal said under his breath.
“The monk did it,” the boy said. “He did it to me to keep me in submission. I had one until . . .”
The boy looked up at Jill, and she smiled.
“What’s this nonsense?” Queen Fand asked.
“Let me,” Jill said.
Prince Finegal held his mother in place. Jill walked over to her. When she set the boy down, he wrapped himself around her waist. Jill’s fingers stroked the queen’s neck. With a flick of her thumb, an ancient thorn from the hawthorn tree popped out of the queen’s neck. The queen’s knees gave out. She would have fallen to the ground if Prince Finegal hadn’t held her up. Manannán caught her in his firm embrace.
A wind swirled around them. The great armies dimmed. Their bodies became wisps of fog and blew in the wind. The girlfriend army disappeared, leaving Tanesha, Heather, and Sandy standing around Jill. The protective bubble blew away. Sam ran across the field to them. Jill and the boy disappeared from the battlefield, remaining in the stream with Blane and Delphie caring for them. As if to protect Jill, Liban and Gilfand appeared nearby. Jill opened her eyes and hugged the boy. He laughed.
With the Christian army gone, Rodney and James walked to where Jacob, Sam, Tanesha, Heather, and Sandy stood.
“Mommy?” Katy asked as she woke up beside her mother.
“Yes, Katy-baby,” Jill said.
“Can we go home now?” Katy asked. “Paddie’s mommy is really worried and I . . .”
Jill held out her hand to Katy.
“I want to see my brothers now.” Katy nodded.
“Let’s go home,” Jill said. “Jake? Val? Are you coming?”
She smiled at him for a moment, and they disappeared. Blane slipped away with them.
“What the hell?” Tanesha yelled.
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