Reunion

by Jennifer Fallon

  Ren knew this because he'd taken Delphine's memories from her as she died. He also knew the reason she'd gone to such trouble and expense: the Shard's upper floors pierced the Enchanted Sphere, that thin layer of magic which accumulated at around 280 metres above sea level on depleted worlds, like a wisp of fog rising off a damp moor. The Shard would comfortably pierce the layer, making it possible to open rifts in this depleted realm. The Matrarchaí could use this reality without any magic to speak of as their headquarters, while they planned their assault on the magical realms still populated by Faerie.

  There will be no stumbling about on golf courses in the dark and getting shot at on this trip, Ren thought determinedly. They had originally had no choice but to arrive at the same stone circle in Dublin, but now that they knew of the Enchanted Sphere and had Delphine's memories of how to access it, they could use the Shard. There was no need to rely on someone to open a rift for them from the other side. That was assuming, of course, they could leave the same way they arrived. If they couldn't get back to London to leave through the Shard, they would have to use one of the countless stone circles that dotted the other reality. That required someone to open it from the other side.

  Ren was hoping that wouldn't be necessary. All they had to do was collect Darragh and Sorcha, make their way to back to London (which is where the Leipreachán came into the planning) and return home through the stone circle built into the Shard. Chances were good they wouldn't have to confront the Matrarchaí, because the building wasn't due to be opened to the public for another year and the magical stones that would enable the portal between realities to be opened were built into the walls and the floor.

  Ren hadn't given Pete and Logan much time to think about this trip. On the surface the Doherty twins appeared to have adjusted quite well to their new circumstances, but Ren suspected that given half a chance Pete certainly, and possibly Logan, despite his stating otherwise, would be very tempted to try to regain their old lives.

  That wasn't possible, Ren knew from experience, but he wasn't sure Pete had quite come to grips with it yet.

  It didn't surprise him Logan had elected to stay behind and open the rift for them. He'd adapted a lot quicker than his twin brother.

  Ren wasn't sure he even needed Logan - assuming the Shard performed as expected, Ren should be able to open a rift himself with Marcroy's jewel provided the stone circle was intact and pierced the Enchanted Sphere. He couldn't be sure, however, that he could get back to the Shard once he'd located Darragh ... or that when he took the jewel out of the Enchanted Sphere, the magic wouldn't leach from it, making it impossible to get home. Even searching Delphine's memories hadn't helped there. In some things, she was extremely knowledgeable. In others, it seemed she either didn't know, or the knowledge was buried behind a trigger Ren couldn't find and therefore out of his reach.

  That's why he still wanted a backup. Logan knew how to open a rift and he would be the one to guard their escape route. Ren wasn't going to go and rescue his brother, just to get stranded there himself. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to quell the surge of Delphine's other memories threatening to overwhelm him. It was hard, sometimes, to shut them off. She had been such a powerful creature. Carrying her life around inside his head was more akin to being smothered by her knowledge, rather than enlightened by it.

  "Well, ye be needing me after all, then?"

  He opened his eyes to find the Leipreachán, Plunkett O'Bannon standing at his knee, hands on his hips, looking mightily displeased. Ren was never sure if Plunkett was pissed-off because he had been brought to this reality against his will, that an alarming number of humans appeared to know his real name, or if he was just being a Leipreachán and cranky was the status quo.

  "Hello, Plunkett."

  The Leipreachán glanced around, taking in the stone circle lit by the rising moon and Logan standing by the sentinel stone holding Marcroy's precious rift-opening jewel. Pete and Ren were dressed in clothes that clearly didn't belong in this realm.

  "Ye be going rift running."

  "You're coming with us," Ren told him, wondering if it was the best idea he'd had all day or the worst. Trása had taken Plunkett with her when she went looking for him. Plunkett had kept them well supplied with the essentials of modern life and a roof over their heads in that reality, mostly by robbing drunks of their cash and credit cards. Ren wasn't planning to be in his old realm for long enough for hotels to be necessary, but having access to a lesser-sídhe who could still wane in and out of places at will was worth more than all the stolen credit cards in the realm put together.

  Being Tuatha Dé Danann, rather than a lesser sídhe, Ren's ability to wane would be lost once they reached the other realm. He needed far more ambient magic to perform the feat and it simply didn't exist outside of the Enchanted Sphere in that other reality, and even at that level, it was doubtful.

  "And where did ye think to be goin'"?

  "The reality we came from. We're going to get Darragh and Sorcha."

  Plunkett perked up considerably. "I see," the Leipreachán said rubbing his hands together. "And ye need my special skills, I suppose?"

  "Always," Ren said. He glanced at Logan and Pete. "You two sure about this?"

  Ren wasn't asking about the advisability of taking a Leipreachán with them. They both nodded as another Leipreachán waned into the circle. The newcomer - dressed from head to toe like a short, fat ninja - studied them for a moment and then crossed his arms across his portly belly and glared at them with vast disapproval. "Oh, so you be leavin' without me, then."

  Plunkett turned to stare at Toyoda, crossing his arms in the same manner. "It be nothin' to concern ye, laddie."

  Ren found the animosity between the two Leipreachán quite fascinating. They were, essentially, the same being, just different versions of each other. And yet each seemed to resent the other mightily. In the brief time they'd had together, the Leipreachán hadn't formed any sort of bond; they'd decided they loathed each other.

  Is that what happens, Ren wondered fleetingly, when you get to truly see yourself through someone else's eyes?

  "Lady Trása be mentioning nothing about this."

  Ren glanced at Pete and Logan and knew they were thinking the same thing he was ... that the first thing Toyoda would do after they left, now he'd discovered them, was report back to Trása and tell her where they'd gone.

  Trása would be furious when she discovered Ren had gone to rescue Darragh without her. But he had a plan to disarm her rage and Toyoda's appearance was a part of it.

  "He's not going to come with us, too, is he?" Pete asked, before Ren could say anything.

  "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Logan asked, assuming that's why Toyoda was here.

  "How much trouble can one Leipreachán cause in a world without magic, anyway?" Pete said, glancing at Ren.

  "Wouldn't it mean taking him through Darragh's realm," Logan asked his brother. "I thought they had pretty strong feelings about bringing eileféin through rifts."

  Although he had his back to him, Ren could tell from the tone of his voice that Pete was rolling his eyes. "Christ, Logan ... we have Marcroy Tarth's stolen jewel, we've kidnapped one of his mermen and already brought Plunkett through to meet his eileféin in this realm. Are we really going to start agonizing over breaking the rules now?" He frowned then, and glanced around. "Speaking of our kidnapped merman, what happened to him?"

  "He's swimming in the Pool of Tranquillity," Ren told him with a rare flicker of a smile. "He's so drunk on the magic there, I don't think he even remembers he's in the wrong realm."

  It was Nika who'd come up with the inspired solution of letting Abbán loose in the enchanted pool. Although there was an equivalent place in the realm he came from, in Abbán's realm the Pool of Tranquillity was reserved for the highest echelon of the Tuatha Dé Danann, mostly because the magic in the water was so intense, it intoxicated to the point of being dangerous to lesser beings. On his brief visit back to Tí
r Na nÓg to tell Trása he was returning to Chucho - a handy lie that should keep her from seeking him out until he returned home with Darragh - Ren had gone down to the pool to take a peek at the blissfully unaware merman splashing about in the magical water, wondering if they'd ever be able to get him out of it.

  Abbán was no longer a problem. At least, not until Marcroy missed him and realized his jewel was gone along with the merman.

  "Which just leaves the knee-high ninja," Pete said, looking pointedly at Toyoda.

  "He's not coming with us," Ren explained. "I have another job for him."

  The little Leipreachán's chest puffed out a little. "What ye be wanting of me, then, me lord?"

  Ren turned to face the Leipreachán, squatting with his back to Logan and Pete. "You have a safe place for all your treasures?" he asked in a low voice.

  "Why ye be wanting to know that?" Toyoda asked.

  Leipreachán were very tetchy when it came to their treasures. Ren had never heard of one ever sharing the location of his hoard and knew the Leipreachán would fight like a cornered rat if he thought his hiding place had been compromised. He reached into his pocket and took out the large enchanted amethyst. Toyoda's eyes widened at the sight of it.

  "This jewel is very precious to me," Ren explained in a low voice. "I am entrusting you with it. You must keep it safe until I return. On pain of death."

  Toyoda stared at the jewel in Ren's palm and said nothing.

  "Repeat what I said."

  Toyoda's eyes never left the gem. "This jewel be very precious to ye. Ye be entrusting it to me. I must be keeping it safe until ye return. On pain of death."

  Ren placed the jewel in Toyoda's hand. "This is the most important thing you've ever been asked to do, Toyoda. Do you understand that?"

  He nodded, closing his hand over the jewel.

  "Don't let me down." He rose to his feet and turned to look at the others. "I suppose we should get go-"

  "Shit, where did Toyoda go?" Logan cut in.

  There was no sign of the little ninja-Leipreachán. He'd waned himself away the moment Ren turned his back.

  "We have to go," Ren said. "Now."

  Pete nodded in agreement. "How long until he's told Trása everything?"

  "Before we can close the rift behind us if we don't get a move on," Logan suggested, offering Marcroy's jewel to Ren. "You want to do the honors?"

  Ren nodded. He knew Toyoda was headed to his hoard and not to betray him to Trása, but Pete and Logan didn't need to know that. "Stand back."

  He opened his palm and, taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and opened himself to the magic, letting it flow through him. The jewel felt like an extension of his arm, a part of him that was so natural, so right, that before he realized what he was doing lightning was surrounding him and the rift began to open.

  He opened his eyes a few moments later to discover the open rift. Darkened trees and a light mist were waiting for them on the other side.

  Never before had he opened a rift so easily; so intuitively.

  And then he realized why.

  The jewel had opened a doorway into Marcroy Tarth's world. His father's realm. His brother's realm.

  From there they could find their way to the reality where Darragh was stranded.

  But the realm on the other side of that lightning-framed rift was the reality where Ren was born.

  For however brief a moment, he would be home.

  Chapter 25

  "What date is it?"

  Hayley only asked the question to make conversation. She'd been waiting in this hospital room for the better part of an hour as they poked, jabbed and prodded her, took blood for testing and asked her a whole raft of absurd questions that didn't seem to make any sense.

  There was still no sign of her father, which was decidedly suspicious. Brendá had said he was on his way, but that was ages ago.

  "February tenth, 2012," Brendá Duggan added, watching her closely.

  "2012?" Hayley decided she'd misheard.

  "Yes."

  It can't be. I was gone a week ... "Are you sure?"

  Brendá's lips turned up in the briefest of smiles. "Yes, I'm sure."

  "I was only gone a week."

  "So you keep insisting. Where's your cousin, then? He disappeared the same time as you. Has he only been gone a week, too?"

  "How should I know where Ren is? I haven't seen him since ..." She trailed off as she realized she was stepping into dangerous territory again. Hayley knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that any mention of Faeries or magical portals would have her on Murray Symes's couch before she could finish the sentence, probably medicated and certainly treated like a madwoman It worried her a little that nobody had seen Ren since Trása pushed her through the portal, but it was also possible the Faeries had helped him, too, so she wasn't overly-concerned. Even if she'd been worried sick about him, there was no way she could tell this hard-nosed, pragmatic cop about it.

  "Since when?"

  "Since the night he came for me at St Christopher's."

  "Ah ... yes ... back when you were blind."

  Oh Christ, how am I going to explain that away? "He told me he knew people who could help me get my sight back."

  "Did he say who?"

  She shook her head.

  "But you went with him anyway."

  "No. I went with his friend, Trása. I never saw Ren after that. I heard him, though, later on, when the police were chasing us, but I never actually ... you know ... saw him. I was still blind."

  "Where did you go?"

  "I can't remember.

  "And yet you have your sight back. How did that happen?"

  "I'm not sure," she lied. "Maybe I hit my head again in all the excitement."

  "Do you know where you were being held, all this time you were gone?"

  "No." Hayley knew the superintendent wasn't buying a word of her denials. Not that she blamed her. The story reeked. Pity there was no way to tell the truth and not get locked up as complete nut job.

  Before she could answer, there was a knock on the door. Hayley sat up a little straighter, her pulse racing. Maybe her dad was here. Maybe he could explain what was going on.

  But the door opened and a stranger walked in. He was a handsome man with caramel-colored skin. Wearing a sympathetic expression and a suit, he looked like a doctor. The man nodded to Brendá and then smiled at Hayley.

  "Hello, Hayley," he said in a soft lilting brogue that belied his Asian features. "My name is Annad Semaj."

  "Where's my dad?"

  "He'll be here soon."

  "Dr Semaj works for the Gardaí as a consultant," Brendá explained. "He's going to stay and talk to you, while I find out what's keeping your father. Is that okay?"

  Hayley shrugged. What was one more doctor? "I suppose."

  "I'll see you later then," Brendá said, and fled the room so quickly Hayley was certain this changing of the guard was prearranged.

  She folded her arms crossly. "What sort of doctor are you?"

  "I'm a psychologist."

  "So ... not a real doctor then."

  He smiled and sat himself down on the plastic chair opposite the narrow hospital bed. "I have a PhD. Three of them, actually, so I am a real doctor. You could call me Doctor Doctor Doctor Semaj."

  Hayley didn't think that was the least bit amusing. "That's stupid."

  "Call me Annad, then."

  "I don't care what your name is. Why won't they let me see my father?"

  "Because they're confused." He smiled again. It made him seem very likeable, which was irritating because Hayley was determined not to like him. Or trust him. He worked for the Gardaí. He was not her friend. He might even be here to make her confess to something that would get Ren into even more trouble. "The Gardaí don't like to be confused."

  "Is that why they sent you in here to interrogate me?"

  "Of course it is. And for the record, I did warn them you would see right through this rather transparent pl
oy."

  "But you're still here."

  He smiled and shrugged a little. "What can I say? It's my job. I have a mortgage."

  Despite herself, Hayley liked that he wasn't trying to win her over with false promises or pretending he was here for any other reason than to extract the truth from her. "What are you supposed to ask me?"

  "Let's start with where you've been for the past ten years."

  Hayley shook her head. "I haven't been anywhere. It's only been a week."

  "You have no memory of the past decade?" Annad asked. He seemed fascinated by the idea, rather than convinced she was lying, which was a nice change. But still ...

  "From my point of view, a decade ago I was six."

  "That's amazing. So you have no memory of anything that's happened in the past decade?"

  "Like what?"

  "The war in Afghanistan? The war in Iraq? The London subway bombings? Saddam Hussein? The arrival of the iPhone? The iPad?" He looked at her quizzically, apparently stunned by her ignorance. "Not even Kanye dissing Taylor Swift at the VMA's?"

  "Who is Taylor Swift?"

  The doctor seemed quite intrigued by her ignorance. "What is the last bit of news you remember?"

  Hayley shrugged. It was hard to say. She wasn't one to pay much attention to current affairs, even before she'd lost her sight. "I don't know ... oh ... hang on, something happened in New York to those buildings. Some planes flew into them."

  "Nine eleven."

  "Was that the date? You have a good memory if it happened ten years ago."

  "Everybody knows the date," Annad said, not taking his eyes off her for an instant. "It's become synonymous with what happened that day. Do you remember anything else?"

  "No. Where is Ren?"

  "You don't know?"

  She shook her head. "I haven't seen him since ... well, since we left St Christopher's."

  "By we, you mean you and Ren?"

  "No. It was Trása and me. Will my dad be much longer?"