Children of the Veil (Aisling Chronicles)

by Colleen Halverson

  Grainne jumped to standing. “Give her a minute.”

  “Guys!” I darted to my feet. “Look, the thing is, I can try to make a small space to get through the gemel, but it drains my power. I’ll never get everyone out of here with what little I can do.”

  “Great.” Malachy rolled his eyes.

  “That’s why I need your help.” I turned to Eamonn. “Do you know a spell that will undo the enchantment? Something you could say once I create the window?”

  The Druid’s gaze flitted to the floor. “Well, see, the thing about that is…”

  “Yes or no, Eamonn,” I demanded.

  “No, I can’t break through them,” he spluttered. “I’m bound to Bel, to his will. Once a Druid manifests a spell into the universe, he or she cannot undo it.” He shrugged. “Sort of annoying, actually.”

  I blew a lock of hair out my eyes. Malachy was right. I didn’t have much time. I closed my eyes, trying to collect my power and focus on the gemel.

  “I know a spell,” Anny said from the corner.

  My eyes snapped open and narrowed on the witch. “I don’t trust you.”

  She shrugged. “Your choice. But I for one ain’t particular to burning at the stake this evening. You want it or not?”

  “Does it involve selling my soul to you?”

  Or some other demon?

  “Elizabeth, stop!” Finn stood up and clenched his fists.

  “Every spell comes at a price,” Anny snapped. “We’re not all children of the sun like this scarecrow over here.” She nodded in Eamonn’s general direction.

  “I’m not going to be beholden to some god.” I shook my head.

  Fool me once…

  “It’s more like favor for favor.” Anny rocked slightly.

  “Don’t do it, Elizabeth.” Finn shook his head.

  “Don’t tell me what to do!” I crouched in front of Anny. “What god are we talking about?”

  She smiled, flashing a row of cracked yellow teeth. “You want to trick the Celts, you call on Bricriu.”

  Familiarity resonated in my consciousness. The old Celtic trickster god, always stirring up trouble. Well, at least he wouldn’t eat my soul.

  Maybe.

  A door groaned open from far off down the hall, footsteps echoing toward us.

  “They’re here,” Malachy said, standing on tiptoe to get a glimpse through the window. “If we’re going to do it, we need to do this now.”

  I nodded at Anny. “Fine. Give me the spell.”

  She leaned in close to my face, and the stench of blood nearly made me gag. She mouthed a few words and something took root in the back of my tongue, tingling on the edge of my teeth.

  The door banged open, and Amergin stepped in, followed by the blond Fir Bolg. I didn’t have time to panic. I closed my eyes and settled into the energy binding my wrists, swimming through the strands of the spell. The darkness stretched out in all directions, the hum of the gemel magic just beyond the shadows. What had Eamonn said?

  You can’t undo what you can’t see.

  But what if that was the point? That I was still trying to use my mortal sight in this spiritual world, this virtually sightless place? I allowed myself to sink deeper into the shadows, and instead of reaching out for the Druid firewall, I allowed it to overwhelm me until I became a part of its complex materials, my soul weaving itself into it until I emerged on the other side of the abyss. And there, the spell appeared, spread out like a birthday cake, the pattern so perfect, so obvious in its immaculate structure. I reached out to it with my mind. I didn’t need Anny’s spell. I didn’t need anything. I grasped the threads, pulling them apart, and I felt the enchantment on the gemel cuffs snap with a satisfying twist.

  “You’re coming with me,” a voice echoed from faraway. A hand clamped down on my arm.

  My eyes snapped open, and I sent the blond Fir Bolg careening back into the hall with the full force of my power.

  “Seize her!” Amergin cried.

  Niall and Aoife charged toward me, but Finn barreled into them with his bound hands, sending them tumbling to the floor.

  “Get us out of here!” Malachy cried.

  I closed my eyes and threw my energy over everyone—Finn, Grainne, Eamonn, Malachy, and even Anny Black. The Veil bent to me, welcoming me in its beautiful folds before settling me gently on the other side. When I opened my eyes again, we stood beside the pool Phelan had brought Finn and me to, the pool where I made my vow to protect his tribe and all the Fae. The clear air of Tír na nÓg filled my lungs, and my eyes watered in the blinding morning light as it filtered through the trees, their fragile leaves shimmering and shaking in the wind.

  Grainne and Eamonn smiled at each other, their bound hands reaching out for reassurance.

  Finn crawled over to me, a wide grin on his face.

  “You did it, my love,” he whispered in my ear.

  I let out a long breath and stared up at the sky, exhaustion rushing through my limbs and leaving me almost paralyzed. All I wanted was to sink into the earth, roll the grass over me and curl up into a tiny ball until I disappeared. Relief and joy of having escaped Amergin mixed with the horrible pain of losing my mother, and the overwhelming rage I felt back in the chamber turned to a heavy stone of loss, sinking deeper and deeper into the pit of my stomach.

  Malachy scratched his head, looking around. “Where the hell are we?”

  Anny muttered under her breath. “Stupid, nasty Fae, dragging me here to the other side. Doesn’t know what I did to escape this filthy place.”

  My ears pricked up as a sharp whistle sounded through the woods, answered by another and then another.

  “Someone’s here.” I sat up. My hands were still bound, but I readied my aisling powers as the trees rustled with movement.

  Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

  A wall of arrows shot inches from my boot. Warning shots. I started back, colliding into Finn’s broad chest.

  “Don’t shoot!” a familiar voice rang through the underbrush.

  “Una?” I shook my head, scanning the tree line for her.

  “Stop!” she screamed, and then her blond head broke through the thick forest, a wide smile dancing on her lips. “Ma’am!”

  She pulled me in with a fierce hug, stealing the breath from my lungs.

  “What are you doing here?” she cried.

  I leaned away to take in her boiled armor, the short sword dangling from her waist. Una no longer appeared as the frail slip of a girl from Bres’s castle. With square shoulders and her chin raised slightly, she looked like a gladiator, and her amber eyes possessed a flicker of confidence I had never seen before.

  “What are you doing here?” I smiled. “You look amazing!”

  Her pale face turned pink, and she placed her hand on the back of her neck. “All the Tuatha Dé Danann have gathered here, and more Faeries are coming every day. We’re building a resistance.”

  I tilted my head. “We?”

  Another rustle through the bushes precipitated General Aodhan, bowing his head to avoid a branch. “Yes. We. All of us. The tribes have united against the Fir Bolgs.” He stood next to Una and glanced down at her, rising to his full height.

  She beamed under his gaze and turned back to me. “We’re so glad you’re safe.”

  I held up my bound hands and returned her smile. “Do you have something that can break these?”

  “No,” she said. “But that lock doesn’t look too sturdy.” Una slipped a knife out of her sleeve and jammed it into the cuffs’ locking mechanism. She squinted, cocking her head to the side and wriggling the knife until the lock snapped open, the cool air hitting my sore wrists. She did the same for Finn, Grainne, Eamonn, and Malachy, but she hesitated in front of Anny Black.

  “What should we do with this one?” She turned to me.

  Finn leaned down, his warm breath hitting my ear. “We can’t let her go, Elizabeth. We have no idea what she’s capable of with her powers.”

  I stared at A
nny, and she met my gaze through her straggly hair. Shrugging off Finn, I stalked over to her, crossing my arms over my chest.

  “I should kill you for what you did to my mother,” I said in a low voice. “No one should have to live like that.”

  “Your mother and I had an agreement,” Anny muttered. “She knew what she was doing.”

  White-hot anger boiled up through my chest, and I took a deep breath as my powers trembled through my hands. “Agreement or not, you are done, Anny Black. You are officially out of business.”

  She raised her chin, her hair falling away from her face. Once again, the uncanny feeling came over me of seeing three women at once. A young girl, a woman, a crone. I blinked, and she returned to her shriveled form.

  “I will let you go.” I swallowed hard. “On the condition you will never perform your dark magic on another person or creature in this realm or the next. If I find out you’re up to your old tricks, I’ll kill you myself. Do you understand?”

  She nodded. “I understand, Fae woman, and Anny Black never forgets.”

  “Elizabeth, you’re making a mistake,” Finn called, stomping to my side.

  “Stay out of this,” I spat, and the venom in my voice burned through the air.

  He glowered but returned to Eamonn, whispering something in his ear.

  I motioned to Una to pick the gemel lock, and she fell to her side.

  Crossing my arms across my chest, I peered down at the witch. “I’ll give you back that spell. In the end, I didn’t need it.”

  Anny smirked, rubbing her wrists as the lock sprung loose. “Ah, ye keep it now. Ye never know when a spell like that might come in handy.”

  Her hands now free, Anny swept her black cloak around her body and then she seemed to crumple in on herself. With a rush of wind, her body exploded into a swarm of screeching bats, and they sailed on the breeze and into the dark depths of the forest.

  “Well, that was weird,” Malachy said.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Night descended on Phelan’s cave, and the whole camp finally settled into sleep, broken only by the faint whinny of a horse or the mumbles of guards changing shifts. Aodhan had secured the place well with the help of Phelan and the rest of the púcas. The Fir Bolgs had taken Teamhair, but they hadn’t penetrated the woods yet, and we needed time to develop a strategy for defeating them. We had a meeting tomorrow to go through our plans, and everything seemed well in hand. We would resist and move forward with a rebellion, and everyone had pledged themselves to me. So there was that.

  Somehow sensing my discomfort around him, Finn had chosen to take first watch so I could rest, grieve, cry in peace if I needed to. And yet, I didn’t need to. He thought the strain between us was due to my mother’s death, but the hollow ache I felt about her loss twisted into a horrible sense of shame and disgust for myself, for what I had done to save Finn. The Heavens have a way of sorting things out, I supposed. One life for another, and in the end my mother paid the price for my own rash behavior. I sold my soul for the man I loved, and the consequences of that choice haunted me.

  A cold sweat broke out on my skin, and I ripped the blankets away, suddenly too hot in the tiny chamber. I needed to feel the night air around me, to stare up into the deep expanse of stars. I threw my boots on and raced outside, taking deep gulps of oxygen, letting it fill my constricting lungs.

  “Ma’am?” Una’s voice called after me, her footsteps soft in the grass as she darted through the woods. “Is everything all right?”

  I walked blindly into the trees, a thick lump rising in my throat. “Go away, Una. Please.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m…” I turned to face her. Her blond hair no longer fell in braids down her back, but it flowed and shimmered loose in the moonlight, and I saw Una as if for the first time, not the beaten down servant I once knew, but a fierce warrior, her chin raised in the air, her shoulders broad with heavy armor.

  Where are you going?

  I had no idea.

  “Do you like soldiering?” I asked her.

  A puzzled look crossed her face, and then she smiled shyly. “I can’t say I’m very good at it. Mostly I left to protect Molly and Deirdre.” She looked up, her hand grazing the pommel of her short sword. “But General O’Rae has been teaching me a few things.”

  I nodded. “He’s a good man.”

  “He’s the best man I’ve ever known.”

  My heart sunk to hear her words. Finn was the best man I had ever known, and I had almost lost him, so many times. And yet, he kept returning to me, as if I wasn’t some walking human disaster.

  “We’re going to need good fighters for what’s ahead,” Una whispered, taking a step forward. “Can’t rely on someone else to save us now.”

  I snorted. Una was right. I had spent this past year stumbling into one battle after another, making things up as I went along. I had power beyond my wildest dreams, but all my failures accumulated on my shoulders like an impossible burden. Finn was the leader, the warrior, the fighter, the one with the plans. Once I had accused him of controlling me, but standing in the dark forest and staring at Una’s armor I realized that I had made myself vulnerable because he was always the backup, the Plan B, the one who could make everything all right. A cold wind shuddered through the trees, and I wrapped my cloak tighter around my body. I didn’t need saving. I knew that. And yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, in some unutterable place, I still longed to give up and cry out for him. Even in this Fae stronghold, with all the bad guys faraway, I felt like someone had pushed me out of a plane without a parachute, and I was falling, falling…

  “What am I going to do?” I said in the faintest whisper. The question settled thick in the air between us.

  Una walked up to me and pressed her hand in mine.

  “What am I going to do, Una?”

  The moonlight glimmered in her eyes, and she crushed my fingers, pulling my fist to her heart.

  “You’re going to do what you’ve always done, Elizabeth.”

  The sound of my name on her lips made me pause. “What’s that?”

  “You’re going to survive,” she said.

  I took a long shuddering breath, pushing back the tears. Una was right. I didn’t have time to wallow in my pain. I had a war to fight. And for that, I would need to learn how to defend myself. Finn could fight by my side, but I had to lead the battle ahead. Like it or not, I was it.

  The bushes rustled beside us, and Una whirled, unsheathing her sword.

  Finn emerged with his hands up, a slight smile on his face. “You are a fierce protector of my lady, Una.”

  “Our lady does not need protection.” Una bowed and, slipping her sword back to her side, she turned to face with me with a solemn stare. “She is strong enough on her own.”

  I patted her gently on the arm. “Would you mind taking Finn’s shift on the watch for a moment? There is something I need to discuss with him.”

  She placed her hand on her heart. “Of course, ma’am.”

  “Elizabeth,” I corrected her.

  She nodded and retreated back into the shadows.

  Finn slipped behind me and crossed his arms over my shoulders, and I settled in the reassuring warmth of his body, nuzzling my cheek against his jacket. For a moment, I forgot everything and listened to his heartbeat, to the rhythms of peepers, the faint crystalline call of will-o-the-wisps in the branches above. They illuminated the patchwork leaves, mirroring the swirling stars across the sky. The dewy grass soaked through my tattered jeans, and I shifted my feet, turning to face him.

  He stroked my cheek and tilted his head, a low sound emerging from deep in his throat. Dark hair brushed across his jaw, framing his perfect face, and his eyes glittered with unfettered emotion. He swallowed and parted his lips before leaning in for a kiss, and I stood on tiptoe to meet him, my hands tightening on his forearms. But in the last moment, I let go and stepped away.

  “Wait.” I bit my lip, cupping my
elbows with my palms.

  “I know you’re hurting, but I am here for you.” He placed his hand on his heart. “Whatever you need.”

  “I know. I’m not…” I let out a long exhale. “I’m not pushing you away or doing any of that stupid stuff I did before. But there’s something I need to tell you. I can’t go on without you knowing. Maybe I can play the Faerie Queen for everyone else, but I can’t do it for you. Not unless you know what I’ve done.”

  He straightened, his brow wrinkled. “Tell me.”

  “It’s about what happened when you were injured, and why that demon showed up in the fourth dimension.”

  Finn took my hand and squeezed. “Yes, Eamonn told me all about that.”

  I shook my head. “He didn’t tell you everything.”

  His hand trembled over mine, his knuckles cracking. “Elizabeth?”

  I took one last look at the sky, and taking a deep shaky breath, I let the whole story spill out of me. Searching for Máirtín, the church, the demon, my soul, the Fir Bolgs stealing it. The facility and the toll it took on my wounded spirit, and how the Fir Bolgs knew just where to find us. I told him about my mother and Danu and how somehow the goddess had answered her prayers through her prison. How Teamhair fell, not because the Tuatha Dé Danann couldn’t defend it, but because my mother as heir to Tír na nÓg, traded it to save me.

  The whole time Finn listened, with his back against one of the giant oaks surrounding the encampment. When I finished, he blinked slowly and paused for what felt like an eternity. The peepers had quieted and only the sound of the night wind whispering through the trees surrounded us. For a moment I wondered if he might ever speak to me again, but then he swallowed and uncrossed his arms.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he said in a low voice.

  My instincts screamed at me to shrink away from him, but I forced my spine to straighten. “Because I knew you would abandon the mission. I knew you would stop everything to try to find my soul, to save me.”

  He shook his head. “No, that’s not the real reason.”

  I threw my hands in the air. “Of course it is. Because that’s what you always do.”