Deaglan's Deception

by Belinda M Gordon

  Matt jogged down the stairs and joined me in the kitchen, his old Marine-issue duffel bag thrown over one shoulder.

  "Should I get clothes for your parents?" he asked. I glanced back at the farmhouse.

  "Not now. They can wear ours for a couple days. I don't want you to have to go sloshing through that disgusting water."

  Matt dropped his duffel bag inside the door of the Manor House as we considered our next move. My phone rang and I hurried to answer it, expecting it to be Tressa. Instead, Rosheen's name came up on the screen.

  "Hey, Rosheen. Have they left?" I asked, not realizing until that moment how much I'd been hoping the Sidhe had gone home.

  "Not all of them, I'm afraid. We have a lot of sick people here. Tressa needs you to bring supplies."

  The sober tone of Rosheen's usually jocular voice expressed the direness of the situation even more than her words. My insides spasmed with anxiety to get to Tressa. I sent Matt to explain to my parents what was happening while I rushed off to find Shamus. I found him in the kitchen, lounging next to the window and smoking his pipe. He stood with a huff when he saw me.

  "Stop. You're dragging mud through the house," he said, outraged.

  "Screw that. We have an emergency here. There are several dozen sick Sidhe on the other side of the lake. They need food and water, but more importantly they need honeysuckle and pinkberry tea." The old Brounie frowned. He surveyed the kitchen, well-lit even by the meager natural light coming through the windows.

  "Heating anything in this kitchen is impossible without electricity."

  I nodded; I had forgotten about that. Nothing on the estate operated on gas. The fireplaces were boarded up, and anything that could create a flame had been eliminated long ago due to Tressa's pyrophobia.

  I rummaged through the cabinets, pulling out anything edible that didn't need preparation: pretzels, cookies, cereal. I even found a dozen muffins our cook had made the day before.

  "I thought Brounies were impervious to heat and cold. How does that work?"

  "I can walk through fire, but that doesn't mean I can create one," he said with a snort.

  "I have a portable stove and a couple butane canisters with my hiking gear. It's not much, but it'll heat water," Matt said as he walked into the room.

  "You have it here on the estate?" I asked. Matt shrugged.

  "I figured what Tressa didn't know couldn't hurt her. It's in the guesthouse." Matt frowned, looking over the crazy assortment of food I had placed on the counter. "After we make the tea, how are we getting it over there? And we need more food, with the numbers Roe was talking about… maybe something with some nutrition in it."

  "Shamus can flit over with some things to get started. My truck will get us over there with the rest; it can drive over anything. We'll figure it out, but if Tressa's with a lot of sick people we've got to get over there as soon as possible. She could hurt herself trying to help them all."

  "I get it; you're in a hurry. But we need a better plan. You work with Shamus to see what he can carry over. I'll call Holly and ask her to bring as many supplies as she can fit into her car. In the meantime, I'll take the truck to scout the best way to get there. The twins will make sure that Tressa's okay."

  He was right; I had to look at the whole picture.

  Holly drove up the long driveway, the backseat of her sedan jammed with cases of water and an extra person in the passenger seat. Matt, in my truck, followed her. I recognized her passenger as she pulled up to the house: it was Lyle. He jumped out, gave me a quick salute, and began pulling the supplies out of the backseat.

  Matt opened the trunk of Holly's car and the two men worked together to move the things Holly had brought to the truck, ignoring the rain pouring from the rims of the baseball caps they wore. Holly, carrying an umbrella, ran up to the porch and hugged me.

  "Well this day is starting out as a mess."

  "There's the understatement of the year." I frowned at Lyle, annoyed at his presence despite the fact that he was being so helpful. "How did Lyle get here?"

  "Yeah, about that… I'm sorry I brought another human into it. The roads are flooded all around the area, and my car stalled on my way out of town. He saw me stranded and got me started again. He insisted on coming along to help."

  "It's like the man can't bypass a woman in distress," I chuckled, shrugging off my annoyance. I had bigger things to worry about.

  We ran out to help them cover the supplies with a tarp to keep them dry. Since Matt had already scouted the route, I got into the passenger seat and let him drive. Holly and Lyle climbed into the backseat. Matt took us three quarters of the way down the long driveway before he turned off at a spot where there was a break in the trees.

  "Hold on tight, everyone. This deserted road goes around the estate, but it's in pretty bad shape. It's going to be a rough ride."

  We got exactly what he promised. Little more than a pathway, the road was full of holes, roots and puddles. Floodwaters covered an area adjacent to the pond. Matt drove through it at ten miles an hour as we all held our breath, praying that the water hadn't washed away the ground beneath it. The truck, which sat higher off the ground than Holly's car, made it through without stalling.

  "Holly tells me your friends were camping out here when the flood hit," Lyle said. "Should we take them to a hotel or one of the resorts? It can't be very comfortable camping in all this rain."

  "I agree, I wouldn't want to get stuck out here, but these people are diehard naturalists and refused to move," Matt said with such authority that even I believed him. At least, I believed he had spent time figuring out how to explain the Sidhe's presence.

  "That's too bad. The weather forecast said this rain should continue through tomorrow night."

  We started up a steep hill. We'd made it halfway up when the right front tire, not getting any traction, began to spin in the mud. Matt reversed, switched gears and tried again, steering us further to the left to avoid the muddy spot. This time the truck made it up. As we crested the hill, the new makeshift camp came into sight.

  "Wow. These people look bad," Lyle said. "Maybe we should take them to a hospital instead of a hotel."

  TRESSA

  I was vaguely aware of the movement around me as I worked my way from person to person, assessing the Sidhe's condition and pushing a bit of my essence into each of them. It wasn't very effective. However, it was the only thing I had at the moment. I could only hope that it would allow them to survive until the humidity in the air dropped down again.

  Ronan and Keelin, with the help of the trees, had extended the canopy to create a space large enough for everyone to get out of the rain. They used the remaining cloths to wrap around the sick to keep them warm. Shamus and Rosheen handed out cups of tea to the people I hadn't reached yet.

  When I came upon Kyla and her sisters, I was shocked to find Kyla in the best shape of the three. In fact, she looked perfectly healthy while her sisters lay on the wet ground, huddled together as they gasped for breath. Kyla watched me anxiously, her eyes red from a day and night of crying, as she waited for me to get to them. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

  "My lady, you must help them. I don't think they will last much longer. They don't respond to me anymore. They barely move. I can't lose them now; not after everything else that's happened."

  I felt a stab of guilt. Perhaps I should have insisted that they go home that first day, when Ronan had given her the pozen seeds. However, remembering what had happened to the rest of her family, who could say which fate was worse?

  "How is it you're not sick?" I asked her. Kyla had no symptoms; no cough, no raspy breath, no yellow rash. I couldn't wrap my head around why she looked so healthy while so many others were so sick.

  "I took a dose of pozen seeds before I went to bed. They're good for two or three days. If we can get my sisters well enough to travel, I'll take them back to Faery before the effects of the seeds wear off. We'll go find and help our parents."

 
; I nodded, approving of her plan, and knelt next to the young ladies. It took more effort to get down than it should have; the incremental loss of my essence had drained me. Looking at the weak auras of the two sick girls, I knew I had no choice but to keep going.

  The sisters didn't react to my conversation with Kyla, nor did they show any sign of acknowledgment as I approached them. They lay curled up together, their eyes closed and their chests barely rising and falling. I brushed back the older one's hair to see her face; her complexion was dull and muddy. She had very little of her own essence left inside her. Without some intervention, she would soon be dead.

  "No, no, no!" An anguished voice cried out. I glanced around to find the person shouting. The woman's long orange hair fell over the body of a man as she attempted to give him mouth to mouth. I tried to get up, intending to run over and help her, but my legs buckled beneath me and I fell, hard, back to the ground. The orange-haired woman also fell; her husband disappeared from under her. Another Sidhe returned home in death.

  The woman wailed as a friend hugged her, trying to console her. A rush of despair overcame me, exasperated by the weariness that threatened to overwhelm my body. These people were sick and dying, all because they had come to this strange place to see me get married. If I, who had lived for several years in the Human World, had never heard of this Blue-Sky sickness, how could they have anticipated this? The magnitude of my responsibility for bringing my brethren here was humbling.

  One of the girls next to me groaned, bringing my attention back to my current patients. My anger spiked at the thought that these sisters might die too. I put my palm on the older girl's chest, closed my eyes and, using a healing incantation, pushed my essence into her. I kept my hand there while I looked for signs of improvement. Nothing happened. I pushed again, the second attempt taking even more effort than the first, but this time she breathed a little easier. I placed my palm on the other sister's chest, about to repeat the process, when Alexander came up behind me. He put his hands under my arms and lifted me like a child, steadying me when my legs wobbled.

  "That's enough of that. I swear, you'd drain yourself dry if I let you." I hugged him and wept, releasing all my pent-up emotions. He held me and let me cry.

  "These people don't have long if we don't do something fast," I said, gesturing with my hand to encompass all the sick fae. He cupped my face in his hands, lifting it until he looked into my eyes.

  "Tressa, my love, you can't heal these people by sheer force of will, much as I know you'd like to try. Holly brought the cold medicine; let's see how that does." He turned me around until my back leaned against his chest so I could see Holly handing out foils of cold medicine and Matt following her with bottles of water.

  Lyle distributed yogurt and granola bars to anyone well enough to take it from him. He smiled and had a cheerful word for everyone, but I watched him with alarm, thinking he would see the residents of the camp in their natural state. Then I remembered Ronan's blanket of glamour. It must still be in place; Lyle showed no signs of noticing they weren't human.

  "Come on; the quicker everyone takes the medication the quicker we'll know how well it works," Alexander said. I grabbed Kyla's hand and pulled her along as I weaved in and out of the people to reach Holly. Alexander got another case of water from the truck. Kyla scurried away from us as soon as I gave her a bottle and some tablets for her sisters.

  Alexander and I distributed the medicine on the opposite side of the camp so that we would meet up with Matt and Holly in the middle, making sure everyone who needed it had gotten their supply. Keelin took Lyle's role on our side, giving out food to help strengthen everyone.

  Within a half hour, all the sick had received one form or another of cold tablets. The atmosphere under the communal tent became lighter as the medicine kicked in and relieved the worst of the symptoms.

  Alexander and I stood arm in arm at the edge of the canopy, watching Lyle and Keelin pass out the last of the food Holly had brought. I gazed out at the fae congregated beneath it, stress and exhaustion welling up and spilled down my face in the form of teardrops.

  After all our work, it was a temporary solution at best. We had no dry clothes for them. They lay on the wet ground. Undoubtedly many would get sick again if we didn't do something about both those things.

  "No more crying, Sweetheart. Not today." Alexander wiped away my tears, rubbing his thumbs across my cheeks. He leaned down and kissed me. "There's nothing more to do here; not right now, anyway. It's time to get you home so you can sleep."

  "I can't possibly leave them!" My eyes welled up again.

  "You have to. You're dead on your feet. You're no good to anyone that way, let alone yourself. The healthy Sidhe can take care of the others, now that they have the supplies they need. They'll be fine for a couple of hours, and we have something else we have to do."

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  I took a long hot bath to ease the cold that had seeped into my bones, saying a silent prayer of thanks that the electricity had returned. I pulled on a fresh pair of sweatpants and a Tressa's Treasures t-shirt before stumbling into bed. Sophia curled up next to me, chatting away about the morning she spent with her grandparents. I put an arm around her and fell asleep with the sweet music of her voice in my ear.

  I woke up alone and disoriented. The clock on the nightstand was flashing, telling me it hadn't been reset after the electricity returned. I reached over, feeling around for my phone. Three o'clock. I had slept for hours, yet I felt nearly as tired as when I had crawled into bed.

  "Tressa?" Keelin knocked gently on the bedroom door. The question in her voice made me think it wasn't the first time she'd called my name. That must have been what had woken me up.

  "Come in."

  "Beauty rest is over," she teased as she pulled me out of bed. "Time to transform into a bride."

  "Bride? We can't have the wedding now. Everything is flooded," I said with a hitch in my voice.

  "Xander's gotten it all worked out. Come on!"

  Keelin dragged me outside and I flitted with her, letting her guide me to our destination. We landed on the sidewalk in front of St. Francis Church. The move was so brazen, to flit into the middle of town, that I scanned the area in a panic that someone might have seen us. No one appeared to be watching.

  I looked up at the large stained-glass window above the church's main doors and shook my head. It seemed that Mother Nature had gone to great lengths to help Alexander get his wish of getting married in a church.

  "Hurry; the priest has given us a limited timeframe before he needs to leave," Keelin said. I struggled to keep up as she jogged up the stairs to the main doors. She led me to a room in the basement where the women closest to me waited.

  Sloan stood near the door, leaning against the wall and looking uncomfortable in her own skin. She wore the finished outfit that had started as a simple drawing a few days ago. Despite the fact that she wore pants instead of a dress, she looked more feminine than I had ever seen her. The deep purple color of her outfit played off her hair beautifully, and the delicate black embroidery accented the tattoos around her neck.

  "Sloan, you look lovely! You'll outshine the bride!" I teased. A smile brightened her face and she stood a little taller.

  "Tressa, we don't have time for this," Rosheen said, gently pushing me into a chair. She brushed out my hair, scratching my scalp with the bristles in her haste. Her fingers moved deftly through my curls, encouraging them to hang softly over my shoulders before placing a crown of flowers on my head and pinning it into place. Next, she assessed my face as she prepared to do my makeup. She shook her head, unhappy with what she saw.

  "You've lost so much of your sparkle. It's a shame we can't take a quick trip to Faery to restore your complexion."

  Sophia came dancing into the room, already dressed for the occasion. She twirled, showing off her flowery chiffon skirt. Neve stood in the doorway behind her, watching her granddaughter with delight.

  "Isn't
this the most beautiful dress ever?" Sophia said, not speaking to anyone directly.

  "You look very pretty," I said.

  She skipped over to me and whispered, "Nana wouldn't let me wear my pink sneakers. But these are almost as nice." She lifted her foot to show off pink ballet slippers.

  "Aye, they look grand; especially with such a fine dress."

  She grinned, putting her foot back on the floor. She pointed her toe as she continued to admire the slippers.

  "Sweetie, I need to get Tressa ready. Can you go wait with your grandmother?" Rosheen asked through gritted teeth, though she did her best not to let her stress come through in her voice. "We don't have a lot of time."

  While Rosheen worked on my makeup, the other ladies did their own. Rosheen kicked everyone out of the room when they were done in order to help me dress.

  "I want to have you completely put together before anyone sees you," she said.

  The dress she had created surpassed my expectations. It was a beautiful seafoam green that matched the color of my eyes, finished with a layer of white lace on top. The underlay had a strapless sweetheart neckline with a natural waist and a full skirt, tea length in the front and floor length in the back. The lace overlay had sleeves to the elbows. It was breathtaking; a perfect blend of the human and Sidhe traditions, just as I had requested.

  The only disappointing thing about my reflection in the mirror was my sallow complexion and the dark circles under my eyes, which made me appear sad for the happiest event of my life. I hoped Alexander could still see how joyful marrying him made me.

  I was putting the necklace that Neve had given me over my head when Sophia came back into the room with Gobban tottering after her.

  "Mr. Gobban's here. He says he needs you." She treated the old Leprechaun differentially, ushering him in and closing the door behind him. She stood beside me, watching as I applied a different lipstick—a fruitless attempt to bring more color to my face.