by Tom Mohan
Liza wanted to laugh. “If I remember right, it was before I knew any of this existed that two men broke into my house and tried to kill me. Is that the life you would have me go back to?”
Marcas glared at her but gave no response. Liza wished she knew what he was thinking. It was obvious he didn’t want her there. He also didn’t like the attention Jacob was giving her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about either man at this point. Her anger at Marcas for leaving her felt rather silly now that she knew the truth about his life. He was much more than she’d thought he was. She had a feeling there was much she still did not know.
The door leading from the ER hissed open, and a man dressed in green scrubs lumbered out. He was middle-aged and tired looking, but his face wore a smile and his eyes were bright. He headed straight for the small group and extended a hand toward Marcas.
“Marcas, I wish I could say it was good to see you.”
Marcas shook the proffered hand. “Doctor Gallavan. How is she?”
“She’s still unconscious. We didn’t find any internal damage, which is surprising considering the blow her head took and the bruises on her body. Right now, I’m calling it a concussion. We’ll need to keep an eye on her for a couple days at least. Can you tell me what happened? She looks like a train hit her.”
Marcas and the doctor moved to one side and spoke quietly. Liza saw Jacob and his grandfather eyeing one another, each waiting for the other to break the silence. Liza decided not to wait for them to do it themselves. She walked to the bearded man and held out her hand.
“We have not been properly introduced, sir. I’m Liza McCarthy.” Oh, that sounded way too formal.
The old man sat there for a moment before taking her hand and giving it a quick shake. His hand was rough and strong. “I know who y’are.” His tone was more resolute than rude. It was obvious that he didn’t want her there, either.
“You don’t have to be rude, Grandfather,” Jacob said. “Liza’s been through a lot these past few days.”
“Wasn’t being rude, just cutting through formalities.” He looked up at Liza from his seat. “Sorry if I offended. Didn’t mean to.” He stood, as though not comfortable with his grandson and a strange woman hovering over him. He was shaky on his feet and swayed a bit.
“Mr. Yoder, are you okay?” Liza reached out a hand to steady him, but he shook it off.
“I’m fine. You wouldn’t understand. Nothing to worry about.”
“Grandfather, should you even be here? What about the shield around the Mill? Can the other three Old Ones keep it up?”
“No, they can’t. Nor can four of us. Don’t worry, I won’t stay long, and I left part of me back there in the circle.”
Left part of him back there? He’s right, I don’t understand. Liza hadn’t thought she could still be surprised.
There were few other people in the waiting room, but Tobias kept his voice low. “Hard to believe that was Conall that done this. Such a thing goes beyond my imaginings.”
“He looked much worse than he did when we saw him yesterday,” Liza said.
“Does he speak? What’s he saying?”
Jacob looked at Liza.
“Well, he talks about a prince, and he says that I’m a princess or that I have to die. It seems to depend on his mood.”
Tobias’s face paled. “He speaks of a prince, or the Prince?”
Liza thought back. “He says the prince. Always the prince.”
“Lord Jesus help us,” Tobias muttered.
“What’s it mean, Grandfather?”
“If you’d a’ paid more attention to your lessons and less to what was going on in the world, you’d know.”
Jacob looked annoyed. “Know what?”
“The fae, boy. The Prince of the fae. He’s found a way out.” He turned his glare on Liza. “And found his Princess as well.”
Liza sat quietly in the truck beside Jacob as he drove back to Halden’s Mill. Tobias had chosen to ride with Marcas. Liza had wanted to stay at the hospital, but Dr. Gallavan had assured her that Fallon was stable and would sleep through the night. There was nothing anyone could do by waiting.
Liza thought of Cullen and Ana. Fallon’s parents didn’t even know what had happened to her. Where were they? How could their spirits be trapped somewhere and in deadly peril when their bodies lay safe in their bed?
She closed her eyes and thought over what she knew of the Finn family’s individual purposes. Cullen and Ana could travel the Mist region between the mortal world and Tír na nÓg but were now stuck there. That alone was more than Liza was able to understand. Brianna was the Seer who communicated between worlds and somehow knew things to come, yet her powers weren’t working so well of late. Marcas and Conall could sense those drawn to the evil that emanated from Tír na nÓg and somehow direct them away. They could only do it together as the Twins. And Fallon?
Liza opened her eyes. “Jacob, what’s Fallon’s purpose in the family? They all have special abilities—what’s Fallon’s?”
“Fallon is the Mate. She will take Cullen’s place someday.”
“Who will take Ana’s place?”
“Whoever Fallon marries. There’s only one person in the world she can be mated to. That is that person’s purpose. She doesn’t know who it is, but according to Cullen and Ana, the draw is very strong when the two come together.” He smiled. “I used to think it would be me. I had this huge crush on Fallon when I was a teenager. I’d imagine that one day the time would suddenly be right, and she’d know that I was the man for her.”
“Any chance that could still happen?”
“No, I don’t think so. Anyway, I have my own purpose, and it isn’t to be stuck in this backwoods town. Don’t get me wrong—I love the Mill, but there’s so much more out there, and I want to experience as much of it as I can. I won’t be a servant of the Finns like my mom.”
Liza detected more than a hint of frustration in his voice. Is that what Ruth was, a servant? If so, Liza thought the friendly woman took pride in her role and would never consider it a position of servitude.
“What did your grandfather mean when he said he left a part of himself behind?”
“It’s a thing the Dadai do sometimes. It takes a lot out of them, though. You saw how weak he was in there? He’d left a part of his soul back at his house to maintain the Old Ones’ barrier. I don’t pretend to understand it, but I know it’s dangerous for them to do. You saw how he was shaking, how he could barely stand. He put himself in an incredibly vulnerable position by doing that. Especially with someone out there killing them off.”
“Why would he do such a thing?”
His face reddened. “For Fallon, of course. Everyone loves Fallon.”
You do, too, don’t you? You still love her. An unexpected pang of jealousy jolted through Liza at the thought. She felt a connection to this young man that she’d thought might be more than chance. Why was it that every time she thought she found someone who cared about her, she was wrong? Why couldn’t she just fit in somewhere?
Jacob patted her knee. “Hey, don’t worry about Fallon. She’s tough. She’ll get through this. We all will.” Liza nodded but didn’t answer. Nor did she say anything about his hand that remained on her leg.
Liza’s phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at the caller ID. It simply read, FINN. “Hello?”
“Liza, it’s Brianna. I need you and Fallon to get to my house as fast as possible.” Fear was clear in the woman’s voice. It sounded so out of place, a contrast to her usual quiet, commanding tone.
“Brianna, didn’t Ruth call you?”
“No one’s called me. Why? What’s wrong?”
“Fallon’s in the hospital. Jacob and I are coming from there now.”
“What happened?”
Liza couldn’t imagine being trapped in one’s own home, never able to leave. Then again, Brianna was the Seer. Shouldn’t she have known that something was happening? It was like the murders of
the Old Ones.
“Liza, I asked what happened.”
Liza shook herself out of her thoughts. “I’m sorry. The doctor says she should be fine. I’ll tell you when we get there. Should be less than ten minutes.”
“Please hurry. Come straight to my house. Don’t stop for anything or anyone.” The line went dead.
“Take me to Brianna’s,” she said to Jacob. “Something has her scared.”
“Brianna doesn’t get scared. She’s so disconnected from the world she doesn’t even know the meaning of that emotion.”
A chill ran up her arms. “Judging by her voice, she does now.”
It was dusk when Liza and Jacob pulled up in front of Brianna’s house. A few lights illuminated neighboring windows, but otherwise the neighborhood was quiet. Brianna’s house lay dark except for the porch light that offered a warm welcome but didn’t settle the sense of dread that filled Liza. She opened her door and started to get out of the truck. “Are you coming?” she asked Jacob.
“I can’t go in there. I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
Liza wanted to ask him what was up with him and Brianna, but there wasn’t time. Brianna needed her. She nodded and got out. Closing the car door, she turned toward the peaceful-looking house. Something stirred within her, and she felt an icy touch on her chest. She reached toward the spot and felt the pendant tucked away beneath her top. She pulled it out. It was like holding a piece of dry ice—so cold it burned. She dropped it, leaving it outside her shirt, away from her skin, another puzzle to figure out.
Liza crossed the yard and climbed the steps to the porch, where she paused a moment. This was the first time she’d ever come to Brianna’s house on her own. Fallon always opened the door without knocking and invited herself in. Liza didn’t know how comfortable she felt about doing that. Instead, she knocked.
“Come in, Liza,” came the instant reply. Liza did so, noticing once again the quaint comfort of Brianna’s home. Brianna sat in her usual chair. Aside from appearing even more pale than usual, she seemed her calm self. But her eyes told another story. The woman was terrified.
“Brianna, what’s wrong?” Liza hurried across the room to the chair beside her friend. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Brianna sipped her tea. “Not a ghost. Something worse, I fear.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“First, tell me about Fallon.”
Liza did, beginning with returning to the farm to find that Cullen and Ana were somehow lost in the Mist.
“Wait, Mother and Father lost? How? I know none of this.”
“No one told you?”
Brianna seemed to fold in on herself. “No one should have to. I should know. I always know when anything important happens. But all I knew was that something was wrong. It seems I also find myself cut off in the darkness.” She closed her eyes and turned her face toward the ceiling. “Am I no longer worthy?”
Liza didn’t know what to say, though she doubted Brianna was talking to her anyway.
“Continue, please,” Brianna said.
Liza told her about the run-in with Conall and Fallon’s injury. She considered leaving out the part about Conall calling her a princess but thought it best to include everything.
“The Prince and the Princess,” Brianna murmured. “I have dreamt of them, but the memory is always quite fuzzy when I wake. I remember every detail of my dreams. Every tiny detail. Dreams are where much of my information comes from. I remember little of the Prince and Princess, though. They are powerful. And more dangerous than one can imagine apart—unstoppable together. That is all I remember. I always wake from those dreams with feelings of terror and awe, like standing in the center of a terrible storm, knowing that I’ll be annihilated and yet awestruck by the sheer magnificence and power of it.” She leaned forward and studied the pendant on Liza’s chest. “What is that?”
Liza touched the pendant. The unnatural cold had dissipated. “Just an old pendant that a friend gave me.”
Brianna’s eyes half closed. “Don’t take me for a fool, Liza. I’m not completely in the dark. What is it?”
“A friend gave it to me before I came out here. He said he saw my mom throw it in the trash the night I was conceived. He believes it belongs to my dad. My real dad.”
Brianna gave her a hard stare. “What do you know of your real father?”
“Nothing, really. My mom remembers little of that night, though she swears she hadn’t been drinking.”
“Much like my dreams of the Prince and Princess.”
“Trust me, there’s no connection between your dreams and my mom’s one-night stand.” Liza sat back in the chair, feeling the familiar depression overcome her. “My stepdad never forgave her for it. They were well known in Hollywood at the time, so there was no way to keep any of it quiet. He wanted her to get an abortion, which made perfect sense. Neither of them had any qualms about aborting a fetus. For some reason that she still can’t explain, my mom refused to do it.” Liza felt like she was sinking deeper into the chair. “She never forgave me for ruining her life. It was always my fault.”
“I’ll never understand how humans can devise such rationalizations.”
“My friend Manny would say it’s for that very reason—because we are human.”
Brianna studied Liza a moment. “You think of Manny as your father.” It was not a question.
“How did…oh, yeah. I’m glad to know you still know some things.” Liza smiled when she said it but couldn’t miss the look of pain on Brianna’s face. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Think nothing of it. You are right—at least I still have something. Go on, please.”
Liza shrugged. “There isn’t much more. My parents split up, and my stepdad had almost nothing to do with me. Mom locked herself in the mansion and lived off the alimony her husband was forced to pay her. Of course, there was no child support since Mom never denied the affair or that her husband wasn’t my father. No one ever understood that, either. It was almost like she was compelled to be honest about the whole thing.
“Anyway, between that and her investments from the money she’d made on her movie roles, she didn’t have to worry about working. Surprisingly, she wasn’t much of a spender, either. She paid to keep the house and grounds looking nice and was able to use her sad story to keep her place with the other socialites who had nothing better to do.
“The staff raised me, and, yes, I thought of Manny as my dad. He was always there when I needed him and never treated me like I was any different than anyone else.” She felt herself drifting in the memories. “He could work magic in the gardens and taught me a lot. I’m actually pretty good around plants. Much better than with people.”
Brianna smiled. “That does not surprise me. You have the feel of the land about you. I noticed it the first time we met. I do not believe your biological father was from Los Angeles. I believe he was from much farther away.”
Liza sat up. “What do you mean?”
A loud knocking sound came from the kitchen. Brianna jumped and spilled her tea over the front of her dress. Her eyes were wide.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know.” Brianna’s words were little more than a whisper.
“Is someone else here? Paulie?”
“No. Not in here.”
The knocking came again. Liza thought that Brianna might actually faint. Liza stood and went into the kitchen. It was the first time she’d been any farther than the living room. The kitchen was simple and comfortable. Yellow walls with white trim were covered with more pictures of families and children from town.
Jacob had said that everyone loved Fallon. Brianna obviously had her share of admirers as well. The room was small with a table surrounded by four chairs in one corner, a small stand with a microwave, and a counter covered with cookies that Brianna had been baking. Beyond the sink and refrigerator, an alcove held a small pantry and another door.
The
knocking, louder this time, came from behind that door. Liza backed away into the living room. “What’s behind that door?”
Brianna swayed in her chair. “Nothing. Nothing is back there.”
“There has to be something. A basement? The back of the house? Where does it lead?”
Brianna gazed up at her. “You don’t understand. It leads to the Great Nothing where nothing is, nothing exists. Nothing at all.”
The knocking sounded once again.
Something exists out there, Liza thought. And whatever it is, it wants in.
“You can’t stay here, Brianna. You have to leave.”
“You know I can’t do that. The Seer cannot leave this house…ever.”
“Well, you said there can’t be anything outside that door, either, and it sure sounds like that’s no longer true.”
“It can’t get in. Whatever it is cannot get in. I’m safe here.” Her pale face and shaking hands belied her words.
The knocking had stopped, and Liza found herself moving back into the kitchen. The door looked like any other door, solid and windowless, painted white with a brass knob and deadbolt. “How do you know what’s through there?”
“The mysteries of Tír na nÓg and the Finn heritage are passed down through the centuries. The Great Nothing and much else that we know are part of those histories.” Liza sensed Brianna move up behind her. “The Great Nothing is what existed before creation. It is the very edge of God’s world. A blank canvas, you might say.”
Liza considered Brianna’s words. “I don’t know much about God, but if he created everything, why would there be a void like you describe? Where did it come from?”
“It was always there, since before time.” Brianna’s tone was that of a mother explaining something to a two-year-old.
Liza’s mind was working on something, but she couldn’t quite get a grasp on it. “Never mind. I’m not sure what I’m trying to say. I understand so little of any of this. What matters right now is that, possible or not, there is something on the other side of that door, and whatever it is probably knows there’s something on this side. You aren’t safe here.”