The quiet of the mountain was unlike anything they had in Foss. It reminded him of his father’s house on the lake where he and Gris had grown up. There, like here, you didn’t hear constant cars and sirens. You didn’t smell gas and exhaust. Instead, you heard birds calling, insects chirping, and the rustle of the wind in the leaves. You smelled the smell of pine trees, damp loamy earth, and fallen leaves.
Niall stopped at the entrance to the meadow, looking for his daughter, but couldn’t see her in the meadow. The grass was tall with wild flowers competing for space. Last summer, they’d built small structures for the girls to hide in with the idea being that as they got older, they’d use them for training.
Niall shifted to his cougar form so that he could move more stealthily through the forest. He was so thankful for the small charm that Mags had given him that allowed him to switch from cat to human without losing his clothes. In the woods and with his family it wasn’t that big a deal to find himself naked, but there were some times that a man didn’t want to be walking around with his junk hanging out.
Slowly, he stalked through the forest, his sensitive nose picking up the scent of his daughter intermingled with another. As he got closer to where they’d seen the footprints a few days earlier, he could hear the chatter of his daughter.
“We go bye.” Pause
“I no know.” Pause
“Daddy says we see his home.” Pause
“I wuv you and miss you.”
Niall crept closer to where his daughter stood and was shocked at what he saw. In front of him stood his father and Snowden, the hellhound that Hades had given him to save Thea’s homeland.
“Dad?” he asked, shifting into his human form.
"Niall,” Jake said, his eyes filling with tears. “What a man you’ve become!”
“How? Is it really you?” Niall couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. His father had died years before when helping Thea and the Brownies in the Bog.
“Yes, it’s me. Remember your fifth birthday. We went out on the boat fishing, just you, me, and Gris? You caught that big bass but refused to let me keep it.”
“Yes . . .” Niall said cautiously.
“You were so small, and Gris was ready to go back in. You wouldn’t let me leave until you put the fish in the water. With such a serious expression you said, ‘Daddy, we don’t need to eat him. What if he has little boys to take care of like you?’ I couldn’t resist and tossed it back in. We went back home and had hot dogs instead of fish.”
Niall looked at his father, his body flickering in and out. He remembered that day so well. It had been hot, and he’d caught the fish on the last cast of the day.
“It’s you. But how? You died.” Obviously, he’d died, he thought to himself. How else would he be standing here as a ghost, and for that matter what was he doing here? Niall looked to his daughter and saw her look of awe as she looked at Snowden.
The hellhound was a fearsome creation. He stood as tall as a small pony and his jet-black fur ended in small glowing embers. Naza came barely to the top of his back, but Niall knew his daughter was perfectly safe. As a child he’d taken many rides on Snowden’s back.
“Let’s sit and talk,” Jake said.
“No, let’s go back to the house. Gris needs to hear this and see you.”
Jake looked down at his feet, then back up at his son. “No, he can’t know. Not now, at least. You weren’t even supposed to know.”
“Dad, I don’t understand.”
“Daddy, Papa take care me,” Naza said, her little hand reaching out to take her grandfather’s hand.
Jake ran his free hand through his hair. Snowden laid down at Jake’s feet, closing his eyes.
“I was sent to watch over Naza and Asha. Sort of like the same way the Guardians protect in life. But I was given orders from higher up than a living Guardian can imagine.”
“Where have you been for the past twenty years?”
Jake looked down. “When I left to help Thea, I never would’ve imagined that it was my last time seeing you, Gris or your mother. Had I known . . . . You know the bond that Snowden and I have. While in the Empyrean Realm, Snowden was injured by the Mhularuka. I fought to get to him, but I couldn’t. They killed him, and the bond breaking killed my body. I spent the past twenty years as a ghost wandering the Empyrean Realm.”
“Wait! Twenty years of wandering that place? Why’d you never take a portal home? Or why didn’t you find us when we went through the Bog a few years ago? You could’ve been here with us, like Keyne is.”
Jake shook his head. “I tried, son. I really did. But I could never step into a portal. It was like hitting a glass wall. Three years ago, I suddenly found myself in a . . . Presence. I don’t know how else to explain it. I was in a brightly lit space, so bright that I couldn’t see where I was, or who was talking to me. The voice that spoke was deep and gentle, but I could feel the words reverberating through my body.”
“He commanded me to take charge of the little ones that were just born. That I was to watch, but not interact. Very similar to how we as Guardians protect. The next thing I knew, I was in this forest. I wandered the area for a long while and found that I couldn’t leave. I was tethered to the house, and it pulled at me when I wandered too far.”
“Imagine my surprise when I saw you and Gris here. I cried that first time I saw you. To see the men you’ve become, to not be able to hug you.”
Jake looked down at his granddaughter, setting his hand on her head. “This summer Naza walked into the forest where I sat watching her with your wife. She couldn’t see me leaning against the tree but started talking as if she knew someone was there.”
Niall looked at his father. He wanted to run and give him a hug, to feel his strong arms around him one more time. At the same time, he wanted to scream, to yell, to argue. Life was unfair to put this on him or his father.
“Does Thea know you are here?”
“Yes.”
Niall muttered under his breath,
“Daddy, no bad word.”
Jake laughed at his granddaughter correcting his son.
“I’m sorry, Moppie.” Niall looked to his father. “We have to leave. Can you come with us, since you are supposed to watch over the girls?”
Jake nodded his head. “I guess. I don’t have a choice really. I have to go where the girls go. It’s as if a cord links me to them. I can only leave them when it’s something that will directly protect them. And the further from them I am, the weaker I am. So, I guess Gris will get to see me after all.”
“We’d better go. Gris will be worried about Naza. Can you come to the house with us now?”
Jake stepped towards his son and put his hand on his shoulder. “I would like nothing more than to see Gris and meet your wife.”
Niall couldn’t hold himself back anymore and pulled his father into a hug. “I missed you so much. I have so much I want to tell you,” he said, tears unashamedly running down his face.
Chapter Fourteen
Jake
Niall carried Naza into the house. They’d have to have a talk later about wandering off, but his father showing up made that hard.
“Gris! Rose!” Niall called. As he led his father and Snowden into the house, footsteps could be heard running through the house.
“You found her?” Rose called. She ran into the room and came to a sudden stop. She looked at Jake and then down at the large dog next to him. “Who’s this and what’s that?”
“Rose.” Niall held his hand out to his wife. “I’d like you to meet--”
“DAD?” Gris asked walking into the room. “You’re dead. How?”
Jake looked at his son. Niall and Gris were mirror images, but he had always been able to tell them apart. Gris held himself apart, always slightly serious.
“Gris,” Jake said, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. “I never thought I would get to see you boys again.”
“Let’s go sit down and talk,” Niall said, lead
ing everyone into the kitchen. He needed to keep his hands busy, so he went to make coffee. Everyone found seats around the table. Asha had come in and was sitting on her mother’s lap, looking at the hellhound in fear.
“Assa, it’s okay. He nice doggie.” Naza told her sister.
But Asha stayed in Rose’s lap, her thumb in her mouth, a sign that she was upset.
Gris sat on one side of his father, his hand on the table, almost as if reaching out to touch his father. “Dad, how?”
“I told Niall some of the story. As you know I died while in Empyrean. I don’t exactly know what happened, but it’s as if Snowden and I had our souls ripped from our bodies. We were stranded there, left to wander the realm, unable to leave.”
“That’s until the twins were born. I found myself in a Presence that I cannot explain but was given the task of watching over them. I wasn’t supposed to let anyone know I was there.” He paused to look at Naza and smile. “This little one is able to sense ghosts. One day a few weeks ago while I was watching them play in the meadow, Naza came to the tree I was leaning against and started talking. It took me a bit to realize that she could sense me, even though I was invisible. She kept coming back, and we’d talk for a few minutes before I’d send her back into the meadow.”
“I never thought I’d have the chance to see you two again. Then to find I get to see you, to see your wife and children . . . it about killed me to spend the past three years watching.”
Rose smiled at her father in law. “We haven’t been introduced. I’m Rose.” She held her free hand out to him.
Jake took her hand and squeezed it. “Hi, Rose, I am Jake, these two hoodlums’ father.”
“Gris and Niall often talk about you, their mother, and growing up. I have to say I’m quite jealous with their stories. It seems like they had a great childhood with great parents.”
Jake smiled. “I’m sure that they exaggerate.” He stopped and looked down at his hand. “I wish your mother could be here to see what fine men you are and to meet her grandchildren.”
They all jumped when a door opened and shut. “Jake, good you’re here.” Thea said, walking into the kitchen. “Everyone ready?”
Niall looked over at Thea. “How? Why couldn’t you tell us?” His voice cracked with emotion. To know that his father was still here, to realize the time they’d lost.
Thea came over and stood next to Niall. Her head barely touching the table top, she placed her hand over Niall’s. “I am sorry. Not telling your family of what happened to Jake was one of the hardest things I have ever done. But you know the rules of telling what I see, what I know. It was not my story to tell, and you could not just come to the Empyrean Realm to see him.”
Thea stopped speaking for a minute. “Your mother was one of my best friends. To see her pain when Jake died, and knowing I could have eased it. . . .”
Jake looked around the room. “It wasn’t an easy choice, but in life we sometimes have to keep things from those we love. I’d have done anything to have stayed with you boys as you turned to men.”
“As much as I wish we could take our time with this reunion, we must get going. The portal is set to be sealed once we walk through, and I do not want to be stuck here,” Thea said.
Everyone stood to go and finish the last of the tasks to leave the house.
“I’ll stay with the girls, so you can all do what needs to be done,” Jake said.
Chapter Fifteen
Thea led the group through the woods to the edge of the land. Just beyond the border, a tree stood with a large knot that resembled a door. Thea pushed on a small bark knob that stuck out of the tree, and the knot turned in a silver shimmering portal.
“Ortheus is on the other side waiting. Once we are all through, he will close the portal. No one will be able to come through again until one of you opens it.”
“What do you mean one of us?” Rose asked.
“There are two ways to close a portal. It can be destroyed, or we can close it with a blood bond. Since we may want to return here, a blood bond is the best way. Only one with your blood will be able to open it,” Thea explained.
“How does the blood bond work? How do you get it?” Gris asked.
Thea had to smile at Gris and how his mind was always thinking of strategies and outcomes.
“Nothing like what you are thinking, Gris. I make a small cut and take a few drops of blood from each of you. Then any of your descendants will have access to this portal.”
“Jake, you and Snowden go first. That way one of us is on each side of the portal. Niall and Gris, you each take a twin through. Rose and I will follow last.”
Everyone nodded their understanding and started through the portal.
It was always a shock stepping through the portal. The Empyrean Realm was very different than Earth. The grass here was pink, the sky a light lavender with gray clouds and a bright large moon shining down. They were on the edge of the Bog, a forest spread behind them. Tall pink trees that looked something like pine except the branches stuck straight out and looked almost like combs with their thin needles sticking up and down. Curling up around the base of the trees was a vine with red leaves, lime-green trumpet-like flowers, and purple plum-like fruits pulling the vines downward. The floor of the forest was filled with five-foot tall plants with broad leaves. Bell-shaped flowers on tall stalks shot out from the middle.
“Daddy, pretty,” Naza said pointing at the Bog laid out in front of them. It was a gorgeous setting that didn’t reveal the dangers that lurked in the grass and water.
“Yes, Naza, it’s very pretty. But you need to hold a hand when you’re walking, to be safe,” Niall told her.
Niall turned to see his brother stepping through the portal, followed by Rose and Thea. He laughed to see Asha squirming to get down.
“Down, Daddy,” Asha said.
“No, Moppie,” he told her. “It isn’t safe to run here.”
Thea huggged Ortheus. The tall, greenish Brownie leaned down and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle. Niall always felt awkward when he saw Thea with either of her mates. It was like seeing your parents making out. It just felt wrong.
Thea moved around the group, placing herself at the head of the line and leaving Ortheus to bring up the rear. She led them down a path that wound through the Bog. “It will take a day and a half to walk to the next portal. We will stay at the Keep with my brother tonight and finish the walk tomorrow.”
“Remember to stay on the path and to avoid the Nixies. They will be drawn to the little ones, especially with their demon blood.”
“Thea, why can the little ones enter the Bog, but Cullen couldn’t?” Rose asked.
“Unlike Cullen, the twins have Guardian blood which gives them entrance here. Our portals prevent anyone who does not have some fae blood in them. It isn’t a perfect system.”
Niall looked around the Bog, “How many portals are there? Do they only go to the human realm?”
“I am not sure how many we have. My brother might know the answer. We have three in Canada, seven in the United States, one in Ireland, one in Scotland, one in England and then some scattered throughout Europe. Once, long ago, the realms were all one. But as with every world, the different communities could not get along. The demons gave the Fae a bad rap by impersonating us as they did horrendous crimes. The humans started to hunt us. It was decided that to protect the humans, we would need to live apart. We could not leave the demons unchecked, so the demon realm was created. The portals that lead to that realm were warded against the Fae and humans. The ones that led from the demon world to the human only allowed the lower level demons to escape.”
“But we also had to separate the Fae from the human realm, and that is how Empyrean was created. The portals here are warded against humans and demons. The Brownies have control of all the portals, and no one can enter without our permission.”
Ortheus spoke up in his deep gravelly voice. “That is why the other kingdoms
hate us, and why our borders are so carefully protected. If the portals were able to be used by just anyone, it could wreak havoc in the human world.”
“There are stories that the Black plague was actually the fault of some fae that slipped through the gate without permission. Another time, the Mhularuka managed to get through,” Thea said.
“I remember that. Five of them managed to create a lot of devastation in the Netherlands while I was a child. That’s how I first met Hades and the hellhounds,” Jake said, rubbing his hand over Snowden’s head.
Thea smiled at Jake. “Yes, and without you meeting Hades, we never would have met or had any of our adventures.”
Niall and Gris laughed. Thea had been a part of their lives as long as they could remember. As children they’d loved hearing of the adventures that their father and Thea had had.
“Daddy,” Asha said, tapping Niall’s cheek. “Hungy.”
“Rose, can you get Asha a snack?” He looked over his shoulder to look at Gris and saw Naza asleep in his arms.
Rose pulled a small container out of the bag and handed it back to the little girl. “Asha, be careful not to spill it, and when you’re done, give it to Daddy.”
The little girl quickly took the small package and started sucking it down. “Nummy” she said between sucks. “Deedee, Mommy.” Niall didn’t have the heart to correct her speech. He knew that all too soon his little girls would be talking with the correct pronunciations, and these cute sounds and phrases would just be memories.
“How have the Nixies been over the past few years?” Jake asked Thea. For a long while, the Brownies had lived in peace with the Nixies, a water dwelling species that lived in the Bog. But when Thea’s father had died, the Nixies became a threat to the Brownies. The children could no longer wander the Bog without fear of being taken. The adults started fearing the heart-wrenching songs that the Nixie would sing while on land, Once they reached their majority, Brownies were immune to all forms of magic, but the little ones were not. They would hear the song of the Nixies and follow it to their deaths.
Cherish (The Guardian Series Book 3) Page 5