Children of the Veil (Aisling Chronicles)

by Colleen Halverson

  My heart lurched into my throat, and I took a step forward to get a closer look at them.

  She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. His hands drifted over her shoulders, clutching her tight. He broke off the kiss and mouthed, I love you.

  “Look at them,” I whispered to Eamonn.

  “Is that…?”

  “My dad, yeah.”

  “He loved her,” Eamonn said.

  I sniffed, wiping the hot tears welling in my eyes. “Yeah.”

  Niamh ran her fingers up and down Dad’s arms, coaxing him into dancing. He laughed as she jumped up and down, singing the lyrics at the top of her lungs. Snippets of the song echoed in some deep corner of my mind. A great love. A sea. A drowning girl.

  “I love this part!” she cried breathlessly. “I love this part!”

  He sang with her, pressing her face to his chest. My dad never sang.

  “We should try to reach her,” Eamonn said, “while she’s happy.”

  I took a deep breath. “I know…just…I just want to watch them for a second.”

  “Elizabeth…”

  I raised my hand. “One second!”

  The song faded out, the open chord ringing out between them. They kissed again.

  “You want a drink?” Dad shouted over the next song.

  She nodded, flashing him a brilliant smile.

  I gave one last glance at Eamonn and wandered over to her. With a deep breath, I tapped her on the shoulder and she whirled around.

  Malachy’s face sprang in front of me, his clear eyes panicked.

  “You can’t be serious, Niamh!”

  “What choice do I have?” she shouted, her voice high and thin.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat, realizing I was the one who had spoken those words aloud. Me. Not my mother. I placed a hand around my neck and glanced down. My belly was rounded and swollen. I looked up at Malachy, who paced the floor of the underground headquarters of The Children.

  “I’ve agreed to give the American government information in exchange for leaving your child alone, but this…Niamh, are you mad? Your baby needs you!”

  “They’ll never stop hunting her,” she sobbed, rubbing her belly, my belly protectively. Something stabbed me in my ribs, a baby. Not just a baby. Me.

  “Will you at least tell me what you’re planning?”

  I shook my head, tears welling in my eyes. “No one can know. No one can ever know. Please, Malachy. I need you to understand. Please.”

  Please, please, please…

  Shadows ate away at my vision, and my mother’s voice echoed in my head. “Please, please just let me hold her one more time. She’s so beautiful.”

  A blinding fluorescent light burned through my eyes, pain radiating from between my thighs. My chest tightened, a sickening dread settling into my stomach. My fingers clutched on the edge of a bassinet, and I stared down at a small baby, her eyes closed, a tiny pink cap on her head still slick from birth.

  I reached out to touch her cheek, and then the scene blurred, and I stared up at my mother, the perspective switching again. Her lips pressed soft against my forehead, and she felt so warm, so good-smelling. I let out a small cry, a tiny mewling sound.

  Another face swam into view, papery skin deeply lined, straggled hair tangled across her face. Anny Black. I cried out, my lip quivering.

  My mother reached out to me again, but Anny pushed her away, muttering a few words under her breath. A glass dome manifested in her hands and settled over me.

  “My baby,” Mother cried, doubling over. “My sweet girl…”

  The glass dissolved around me, falling with a thousand glowing sparks, dissolving into my skin.

  I shrieked, squirming against the swaddling blanket.

  Mother clutched Anny’s sleeve. “Will that keep her safe? From them?”

  “The cage will keep them out.” Anny shrugged. “But…”

  “But what?” My mother tore at her clothes, and Anny wrenched away, her lips curled up in disgust.

  “But it’s not designed to keep her in,” Anny said. “No cage can do that.”

  “It’s the best you can do?”

  “It’s the best anyone can do.” Anny nodded to the door. “Now come with me. You have a debt to pay.”

  My mother stood up straight, hiccupping and wiping her eyes. She grasped my finger, and I wrapped my hand around hers so tight. Please don’t go, I begged. But it came out as a sputtering, whimpering cry.

  “Good-bye,” she whispered, untangling her hand from mine. “Good-bye…” She turned away and light flooded my eyes. I blinked, hot tears burning my cheeks.

  I floated in that white-hot sea of fluorescent light, pain and grief drowning me in waves. My past collided with my present, but no catastrophic bang, no crash of energy, just the dull thump of an ache, forever. All those years a prisoner. She had done it for me. For me. Then I remembered.

  “Eamonn,” I croaked. “Eamonn!”

  “I’m here, Elizabeth!” His voice echoed through the light, and I snatched at it, grabbing at anything that would drag me out of the blank abyss.

  I blinked and my hand curled around Eamonn’s arm. He took hold of my wrist and smiled down at me with his big hazel eyes.

  “It’s all right,” he whispered. “You’re back now.”

  I shook my head, the world coming into sharp focus. We stood in the middle of Niamh’s room, but it was empty except for some discarded toys, now rotting and broken. My mother lay on a small cot, a thousand wires emanating from her head, the helmet flashing in glowing, pulsing rhythms. We had reached the center of the hypercube. The source of her hell.

  “How did you find her?” I asked, kneeling beside the bed.

  “When you sank into your mother’s memories, her consciousness led me here.” Eamonn ran his hand across his forehead, his eyes scanning the ceiling as if he could find the answers to this crazy place written on the walls. “I don’t know why.”

  “So what do we do now?” My hands hovered over the wires, searching for a plug. An off switch. Something.

  Eamonn shuffled his feet. “I— I don’t know.”

  I whirled around. “What do you mean you don’t know?”

  He scratched the back of his head. “Unplugging your mother could free her, yes, but…”

  “But what?”

  “Well.” He let out a long exhale. “It could also create a black hole.”

  “A black hole? Are you serious?”

  Eamonn paced the floor. “I cannot say for sure, but your mother is what is holding this plane together. You take her out of the equation, and well…things could begin to implode.”

  Christ.

  I took a deep breath and walked up to Eamonn. “I’m going to take you back. This isn’t…” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “This isn’t your quest.”

  “Of course it is.” Eamonn gave me a blank stare.

  “Don’t…”

  He shrugged. “It’s the quest I am on, so…that means ’tis mine. We choose the journey, but we do not always choose where it leads us.”

  I sniffed, wiping my nose. “You’re so Zen, Eamonn.”

  “I’m a Druid. We are trained to see the bigger picture.” He glanced out the window, his eyes sad. “At least I got to see the fourth dimension before I died.”

  “Hey.” I gave him a shove. “No one’s dying here.”

  He raised his eyebrows and gave me a pointed smile. “Right.” Walking toward my mother, he traced the largest wire to my mother’s helmet. “This should be it. Just be ready to travel, all right?”

  Power tingled in my hands, and I nodded.

  He grabbed the wire. “On three…?”

  “One,” I whispered.

  “Two.”

  Eamonn gave me one last look.

  “Three.” He yanked the plug.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I closed my eyes and winced, instinctively raising my fists to my face, anticipating a blast.

 
“Well that was anti-climactic,” Eamonn said, throwing the wire to the side with a clatter.

  I opened my eyes again to see my mother still lying there.

  “Dammit. What now?” I ran my fingers through my hair and paced the floor.

  A gasp and a splutter sounded through the room, and I startled. My mother sat up, her arms flailing, her body wracked with coughs.

  Heart pounding, I raced to her side, clasping her shoulders.

  She bent over, choking up water, the liquid spilling down the front of her dress.

  “Elizabeth?” she croaked.

  “Mom?”

  She threw her arms around me with a great sob, her frail body trembling. I broke down, a horrible cry escaping my lips.

  “Why did you do it?” I cried. “You could have found another way. Why did you do this?”

  She leaned back, her face streaked with tears. “I know, my love. I know. But we can’t talk now. You have to do something for me first.”

  “Of course! Anything!” I crushed her fingers in my palm, and her skin felt so cool, so soft.

  Mother nodded and closed her eyes, letting go of my grasp. She gagged and something glowed in her mouth. She cupped a hand against her lips and out spilled a small, milky-white orb.

  My body shook with recognition, and my hands trembled.

  “Where did you get that?” I cried.

  “The Fir Bolgs had it, but I…I took it back.” She pressed it into my hands with an urgent glance. “You must take it, Elizabeth. Swallow it now.”

  The orb slipped into my palm, and it felt smooth and warm. “But how…?”

  “I prayed to the Goddess Danu. I saw what you did…for Finn. I saw, and I prayed, and I prayed, and I prayed…and she answered. At last, she answered my prayers.” She pushed my palm closed and forced it close to my mouth. “Please, Elizabeth. Just swallow it. That’s all you need to do. Just this one thing. For me. Your soul will find its way back.”

  I shook my head and leaned back. “What do you mean Danu ‘came to you.’ Can a goddess do that?”

  She tilted her head and nodded. “Our Goddess can do anything. She would only intervene if it were fated.”

  “So you being in a prison all this time? That was fated?” I arched an eyebrow. “Why didn’t she—?”

  Mother sighed and pushed the orb closer to my mouth. “I would urge you not to question the Goddess’s gifts. Please, darling. Take it.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at Eamonn, and he shrugged.

  With a long exhale, I turned back to her. “Okay. I just don’t understand—”

  “Please just swallow it.” She took my other hand and clasped it close to her heart. “Please, Elizabeth. You don’t have much time.”

  My mind traveled back to when Thornton fooled me by disguising himself as my mother, and I stood up, my knees shaking. “This is a trick.”

  She darted to standing, still holding my soul toward me. “No, Elizabeth. I swear it. Don’t you feel the ache? Even now?”

  A yearning started in my chest, the longing to be whole. I took a step forward and wrapped my hand over hers.

  Tears welled up in her green eyes, streaking across her face. “It is Danu’s will. Swallow it. Please. Now.”

  The pain in her voice, the primal desperation, stabbed me to my core, and I squeezed her palm, extracting it away from her. With a deep breath, I popped the orb in my mouth and gulped hard. It traced a line of warmth down my throat, like whiskey, before settling into my chest. A sharp pressure seized my lungs, and for a moment, my heart skipped and fluttered. Then I felt the satisfying click of something knitting back together, and I smiled, a sense of wholeness returning to my being.

  Eamonn cleared his throat. “So Danu…just gave you back Elizabeth’s soul?”

  I whirled around, my skin prickling.

  My mother blinked and looked up at the Druid. “Who are you?”

  Eamonn took a tentative step forward. “The Goddess would not simply give something away. She would ask for something in return.”

  I clutched Mother’s hand. “What did you do?”

  “It’s nothing, Elizabeth. Don’t worry about it.” She smoothed the hair away from my face. “You are safe now, and that is all that matters.”

  I stood up, clenching my fists. “Mom, what did you do?”

  “What does it matter?” Her voice rose to a high pitch. “Teamhair is done for. Tír na nÓg is a ruin! You can live in the mortal world. You can bring the dearg-dubh over. It will be fine.”

  I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”

  My mother lowered her head into her hands. “The Fir Bolgs have taken Teamhair. They stormed the gates, and…”

  “What?” I threw my hands in the air. “How did they—?”

  “It was Danu’s price. It was what the Fir Bolg’s demanded. Teamhair for your soul.”

  Ice-water trickled down my spine, and my mouth gaped open. “No…”

  “It was the only way, Elizabeth.”

  I ran my hands through my hair, my heart about to explode in my chest. “You gave away Teamhair? I paced the floor of the tower. “How could you do this? How could you barter my soul for—for—?”

  Mother stood up, her shoulders shaking. “You are my child! I would do anything to keep you safe!”

  “You shouldn’t have done it! How could you—?”

  “Because you are more precious to me than all of those things!” she exploded, her face flushed. She grabbed my hands. “And one day you will have a daughter and you will understand.”

  I shook my head. “I could have gotten my soul back. I could have destroyed that demon Gede. I could have—”

  Mother shook me, her eyes wide. “Don’t say his name!”

  A low laugh rumbled behind me, and all the blood drained from her face, her lip quivering. My stomach clenched, remembering Eamonn’s warning about how our thoughts could manifest in the fourth dimension.

  “No…” I whispered.

  With a sharp cry, Eamonn barreled across the room, shoving us behind him.

  I stumbled to the ground, glancing up to face Gede, his bat-like wings filling the walls of the chamber, his teeth bared. He licked his lips with his black tongue, his bright yellow eyes narrowing on me.

  Eamonn chanted in some strange language, his hands outstretched.

  Gede threw his head back and laughed. A wave of power channeled through my body and down to my fingers.

  Eamonn stepped forward, switching to Latin, but Gede raised one of his talons in a sharp gesture and sent the Druid careening through space. He cracked his head against the wall and slumped to the ground with a groan.

  I blasted my power at the demon, but with a wave and a growl, the energy shattered against whatever invisible shield he’d created. Desperate, I drew my pistol out of its holster, the butt of the gun hard in my palm. I fired two shots and the demon howled, clutching onto its shoulder.

  “You’re mine!” he snarled at me. With a flick of his wrist, he compelled the pistol to fly out of my hand, and it clattered to the floor.

  I dove for it, but I spiraled against the wall by some unseen force. The back of my head cracked against the marble tiles, and black spots peppered my sight, the room slipping away. The tower tilted, and I scrambled sideways as Gede took hold of the pistol and aimed it right toward me. One shot pierced the wall next to my ear, sending shards of plaster and stone to rain on my face.

  The demon laughed, aiming at me again. I stared down the black hole, panting and hiccupping, trying to channel my power to travel out of the tower, out of the fourth dimension. I closed my eyes in one last effort before my consciousness slipped away.

  “No!” Mother screamed.

  My eyes snapped open.

  The demon forced the pistol to fire, the shot blasting my ears with the sound. A blur of a white dress passed in front of my eyes. Red blood splattered everywhere, against the ceiling and the wall. Mother’s body crumpled in half, and she fell to the floor with a
thud.

  My ears rang, the lines of the room distorting together. A scream escaped my lips, my whole body growing cold. I crawled toward her, wailing and sobbing, and cradled her in my arms, her body light as a doll.

  “No…no…” I whispered, clutching her to my chest.

  Gede let out a peal of guttural laughter, his talons clicking on the floor as he stalked over to me. “You are mine now, and you will serve me for an eternity.”

  He raised his clawed hand, his wings beating wildly behind him.

  Something pulled sharp in my chest, and it spurred me to action. I howled, letting my mother go, and rolled to the side. Blasts of energy burst from my hand, and I aimed wildly, trying to penetrate through the demon’s shields.

  His hands blurred, his movements anticipating my own. He pushed back the energy, and I ducked behind a dresser as the bed burst into a shower of splinters and down feathers.

  A dark shadow crossed over my vision, the energy bubbling up through me. It burned in my veins like fire, and I screamed, sending a stream of power right to the demon’s chest. He crashed against the wall, marble raining down around him. He dropped to the ground, a bright white light eating him from the inside. He howled, clutching at his chest and writhing in agony.

  Grasping the pistol with both hands, I aimed for Gede, filling him with lead. Click, click. I wanted to shoot the bastard forever, send him back to hell. I let out a scream, falling to my knees next to my mother.

  The demon stilled, his groans turning to a thin shriek. The white light burned through his skin until all that remained was a blackened shell.

  I threw the pistol to the side and held Mom’s head in my lap. She looked up at me, a trickle of blood on the edge of her mouth.

  “Just hold on,” I whispered. “I’ll take you to Finn. He can—”

  She blinked back tears, using the last of her strength to smile. “I am so proud of you. My brave girl…” Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she closed them, letting out a long exhalation before lying still, her hand limp between my fingers.