Scotia's Grave

by T L Harty

  “Wash your hands first. Who knows how much saliva I got on your hand, picking the thorns out. They say saliva is riddled with bacteria.”

  Delvin washed his hands, while I waited, tweezers in hand.

  “Where do you think the thorns came from?” Delvin wondered.

  “They planted a bunch of firethorn bushes around the lagoon last year to help feed the birds. They want them to eat natural foods, instead of the bread everyone keeps throwing out there.”

  While I worked on the thorn, I could feel Delvin’s eyes on me. Every now and again, I would look up at him, hoping he would avert his eyes or look away. He didn’t.

  The thorn gave way. “There you go, all done,” I said.

  “Thanks,” he said softly, still staring.

  “You better go clean your hands again,” I mentioned.

  After using the restroom, I went to get my first tour group. I took a couple of deep breaths because my nerves were getting the best of me. But, I had practiced, knew the script and if I really got stuck- there were informational placards to read from all around the exhibits.

  A small waiting area held each group before their tour. It gave the park guests a false sense of forward momentum and a sneak preview of the large tanks.

  My first couple of tours went off without a hitch. There were three guides on duty today, which meant we were all running without breaks until the fourth guide showed up in the afternoon. Three guides meant three tours an hour. The aquarium could easily entertain four running tours, but we learned in training that the afternoon hours would be busier.

  After performing the second tour of the day, my confidence was high. I opened the doors of the waiting room to welcome my third group, but when the doors flung open, one person stood there. Rick. My stomach lurched upward as he extended a handful of tickets in my direction.

  “Welcome to Marine World’s aquarium,” I started. “Is this your first time here?”

  Rick glanced at my left hand. The disappointment was hard for him to hide, but he attempted a smile. He shook his head, answering my question about this being his first time at the aquarium.

  “Well, welcome to our reef aquarium.” I started the tour, not sure what else to do. “All the sea life you’re going to see today is indigenous to the area. Our first stop is the tide pools. Tide pools can be found up and down the California coast. You’re welcome to touch the animals, but please don’t poke at them or try to pick them up.”

  Rick didn’t look at me. He pet a starfish and touched a few shells, walking around the displays.

  “This next tank represents ocean life off the coast.”

  The next few exhibits were travelled in silence. Rick wandered around, looking at the sea life and reading the placards for information. When we had spent the allotted amount of time in one area, I would move on, signaling him to do the same. At the end of the tour, were signs thanking guests for their visit.

  “Do you have any questions?” I asked.

  He reached out and took my left hand in his. Slowly, he leaned in to softly kiss my cheek. I didn’t know my eyes were closed, until I felt his hand leave mine. When I opened my eyes, the blinding light shone in from the outside, where Rick had exited. I didn’t even see him go.

  Chapter 18- Betrayal

  “Good morning, Sean,” I said, coming into the kitchenette to rustle up some food. “I’m famished.”

  I hadn’t looked into the refrigerator the night before, but was pleasantly surprised to see it stocked with multiple selections. I grabbed some almonds and a little OJ before I got ready for the day.

  “Would you like something? There is plenty here.”

  “We’re not allowed to eat while on duty.”

  “So many rules! Have it your way. I’m going to go jump in the shower.”

  After completing my shower, I spent half an hour getting dressed in my new wardrobe area and closet, traveling up and down the elevator a couple more times than necessary.

  In the bedroom, I yelled down to Sean, “How much longer are you on duty?”

  “I’m here to escort you to breakfast,” the familiar voice answered. “I’m not a guard.”

  I knew that voice, but it didn’t belong to Sean. Moving to the ledge, on the outskirts of the bedroom, I looked over to see Douglas. He waved.

  “I’ll be right down,” I said.

  He smiled ear to ear when I arrived on the first floor of the apartment, taking my hand and kissing it. “Good morning, my queen.”

  “What are you doing here, Douglas?”

  “Clio called and told me that one of the warriors didn’t take his piece of bread last night. She offered it to me and I jumped at the opportunity. Someone is outside the door on guard duty.” Douglas pointed toward the apartment’s front door.

  “Why?” I asked. “Why in the hell would anyone pledge themselves like that?” I waited for Douglas to respond. “That’s not hypothetical. Answer me!”

  Douglas appeared startled by the loud demand. He took a seat on one of the couches.

  “It’s the normal order of things, Muriel. Men have a natural desire for excitement. We want to do manly things…live for the next thrilling adventure. It’s how we’re wired.”

  “I suppose I can understand that, but why give over your heart like that? It makes no sense.”

  “A small price to pay. Don’t feel badly for them. It may be the one time in their lives they know what truly loving a woman feels like…completely and without restraint. I certainly haven’t forgotten.”

  “Hmm,” I muttered, as I walked over to the large window on the other side of the desk. I looked down on the grounds to see the men sparring and working out. My eyes fixed on Liam, doing push-ups.

  “I want you to do something for me, Douglas. Find out why Liam didn’t eat the bread. Be smart. Don’t make him suspect anything. Report to me later today what you find.”

  Douglas stood up. “Yes, my queen.”

  Liam got up from his push-ups, glancing in my direction. I left the window, to open the apartment door.

  “I need to talk to Deidra before going to breakfast. You both can go down.” The guard outside my door ignored my suggestion, following me to her room.

  The room empty, my heart fell into my stomach. Without thought, I placed both hands on the bed, closing my eyes, thinking of my Deidra. A vision immediately surfaced. Owen and Deidra in a car, driving. Straining to see the passing road signs, it appeared they were on their way to Montreal, but the vision became unclear and foggy.

  It concerned me that neither were old enough to drive, until Owen’s driver’s license flashed before me. It showed his age as seventeen! If Bruce sired this child, it happened before my marriage! I willed Deidra to come back. She ignored my pleas, looking out the car window where the scene played out before me. While sporting a crooked grin, she defiantly shook her head no and turned up the music.

  My fists slammed down on the bed. I raced to the dining area to announce an emergency council meeting in fifteen minutes. I instructed the guard following me around to get another pair of hands to help him set up the round, council table in the throne room.

  The clock had never moved so slowly. Bridget and Clio were the first to arrive, followed by Ann, Macy and Tina. The two guards brought in the last of the chairs. I paced as everyone took a seat.

  “We need to do something. Deidra and Owen have left,” I said. “I never should have slapped her, but she was so…so impossible.”

  “I thought Owen already left?” Clio asked.

  “He did, but Deidra used the sweat spell on him to return. He came back and has been hiding in her room,” I explained. “I found him in there last night, right after the bonding ceremony.”

  “She asked to use my car this morning to get you a gift for completing your second ceremony,” Ann said. “I had no idea…”

  “Wait,” Bridget interrupted. “She used the sweat spell on him?”

  “Yes, but I used it and told him not to touch her.�
��

  “Did anyone know Deidra possessed this ability?” Clio asked, looking around the table to blank stares. Clio got up to begin pacing, while Bridget moved to the stone balcony.

  “You realize that if Owen was already under Deidra’s spell that yours has no effect on him?” Macy said. “How did none of us know Deidra possessed this gift?!” Macy rose out of her chair and pushed it over in frustration.

  “No need to worry,” I said. “I can see where they’re at and we can go get them.”

  “I doubt it,” Bridget said. Everyone’s attention focused on Bridget, standing on the balcony with her eyes closed, inhaling a long breath.

  “Deidra came to me some time back, asking for a potion of sorts. She wanted to know if I could blind her to your actions, specifically visions of you and Bruce.”

  “So,” I said.

  “I didn’t have a lot of experience with the recipe, but I did manufacture a perfect combination, blocking her sight. I told her to use it when we went to Florida, too. A teaspoon works for up to twelve hours. I made a gallon of it.”

  “What is your point?!” I asked, getting irritated.

  “It works in the opposite way, too. It makes her invisible to you. There are 768 teaspoons in a gallon. Even if she already used some up, she has enough to block you for almost a year.”

  This couldn’t be true. I closed my eyes and thought of Deidra, my fists balled up so tight that my nails dug into my flesh. Nothing. More focus. More nothing.

  Sniffles broke the silence in the room. Ann held her head in her hands at the table. She looked up, trails of mascara running down her cheeks.

  “Deidra has been asking me a lot about the power of three,” Ann said, “because Tracy hasn’t been around. Specifically, how a great love has to die, in order for it to be considered a great loss. She wanted to know if the death was committed by the one who loves, does that count toward the Celtic three.”

  “She’s trying to rush the process,” Clio said. “Damn it! Let’s all take a seat,” Clio suggested. We heeded her advice, joining Ann and Tina at the table.

  “Absorbing so much information,” Macy mumbled. “Learning our ways…not sharing her abilities…” She slammed her hand on the table.

  “Tell her,” Bridget instructed Clio. “You know she’ll never come to it on her own. I barely believe it.”

  Between worrying about Deidra and listening to all this gibberish, Bridget was right. I looked to Macy, but she fumed. The responsibility most likely fell on Clio, but I had a different idea.

  “Tina, please help me understand everything that is going on right now. You haven’t said a word and I demand truth and honesty.”

  Tina sighed. “Deidra has chosen the dark druid path. She will be a formidable foe. She only lacks the Celtic three and it appears she has her sights on Owen to make that happen.”

  I huffed at the ridiculous notion, looking around for a face that agreed with my disbelief. There were none.

  “Macy, we would have recognized her dark hue, if that were the case,” I said.

  “Not if she’s been taking the potion,” Macy countered. “She must have made her decision a few weeks ago. Tina, tell her about the hospital.”

  Tina shook her head, not interested in Macy’s idea at all. Everyone looked at Tina, waiting for her to speak. Slowly, she began.

  “After the doctor examined you in the hospital, he said if we had got you there even a half hour earlier, the baby would have been saved, but you lost too much blood.”

  “What does this have to do with anything?” Clio asked.

  “Let her finish,” Macy demanded. “Go on, Tina. Tell them what you told me.”

  “When the doctor questioned Deidra’s timeline of when she found Muriel in the field, she told him she called an ambulance immediately. I could tell she was lying,” Tina said.

  “She had no reason to lie,” I said.

  “Yes,” Macy said as close to tears as I’d ever seen her. “She lied because she had chosen the dark way. She lied because she let you bleed in the field for an hour, ensuring her sibling…her biggest threat, would be of no consequence. And we couldn’t see the dark hue because of the potion she’d been taking.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

  “I do,” Macy demanded. “Tina asked Deidra two questions. ‘Do you think your mom was in the field less than a half hour?’ She’s answered yes. A lie. Later that day, after hearing what the doctor had said, Tina asked, ‘Do you think your mom could have been out there for more than an hour?’ No. A lie. Meaning, she let you lay there for over an hour. She waited until her sister died to alert the rest of us that you were in danger.”

  “And she wasn’t just willing to let the baby die. You could have died as well. She’s smart,” Clio said. “Hell, she paid better attention to our teachings than you.” Clio pointed in my direction. “She went to Bridget for a potion and Ann for information and a car.”

  “I never saw this coming,” Ann said.

  “Hard to believe,” Bridget agreed.

  I sat there, taking it all in, trying to deny the facts before me.

  “She experimented with the sweat spell on people at her school before we came here. I never told anyone,” I said. “She hasn’t started her period, but has all the abilities we get at our junction.”

  “What?” Bridget gasped. “How is that possible? I’ve never heard of that before.”

  I shook my head up and down. “I don’t know, but I bet she does. She’s spent a lot of time downstairs with that book.”

  “The Book!” Clio’s eyes grew wide.

  Macy was the first one to race out of the room. The rest of us followed, along with the two guards, posted outside the door.

  When we arrived at the room, Macy rested both hands on the empty case. She looked up, observing all of our expressions when we entered the room. I’d never seen Macy this angry. All of us reacted to this betrayal in different ways.

  “Line the men up outside,” Macy told the guards. “All of them.”

  My mind faded from this scene, thinking about the night I lost my baby. The night Deidra hovered over me right before I lost consciousness. I snapped back to reality when Ann touched my arm.

  We walked through the open, large patio door as the men were lining up. They appeared much taller and more muscular, now that we were all on level ground. The view from the throne the night before deceived. Macy nodded at Tina to join her at her side. The two of them stood before each guard and asked them the same question.

  Do you serve only Danu? Every man answered with one word: yes. When they had gone down the line, and finished with the questioning, Tina and Macy took a few steps away, so they couldn’t be heard. After a couple of minutes, they stood before Douglas once again.

  Tina grabbed his wrist, while Macy asked the question once again, do you serve only Danu? The events that followed played out in slow motion. Douglas said yes and Tina released his wrist. Macy turned around, like she was coming toward us, but reached into her vest to unsheathe a small dagger. She spun around to an unsuspecting Douglas, stabbing him low, in his liver.

  Douglas first looked surprised, but as Macy gave the dagger one, powerful twist, he dropped to his knees in pain, and then fell over, holding his side. I took a step forward, to go to his aid, but Clio grabbed my arm to stop me.

  “You two,” Macy pointed to the two men to her right. “Go bury him in the woods. He’ll die before you get there. There are shovels in the old stables.”

  Macy and Tina moved to their left, now standing in front of Liam. My ears filled with the sound of my heart racing, my breathing became fast and shallow. Tina gently took hold of Liam’s wrist.

  “Why did you choose not to eat of the bread?” Macy asked.

  “Because there is someone else,” Liam answered.

  Macy’s right arm lay relaxed at her side, holding the dagger that now dotted the grass with Douglas’ blood. She looked down and saw that Tina st
ill had ahold of Liam’s hand. I closed my eyes, silently praying Macy would not use her weapon again today. Nor did I want to see the outcome if she did.

  “And will this ‘someone else’ be a distraction to serving your queen?”

  “Never.”

  I slowly opened my eyes to a squint, witnessing that Tina still held Liam’s wrist. Behind the line of men, the two guards were halfway to the woods, dragging a lifeless body to its burial.

  “You’ll be the head guard,” Macy said. “All of you answer to Liam now and Liam answers to me. Liam, you take shift tonight. You’re all excused.”

  Tina and Macy joined the rest of the council in a huddle of sorts. We grabbed each other’s hands and felt the power surge through us. It was a calming force that I desperately needed.

  “As of this point forward, Deidra Gallagher is an enemy of this court,” Clio announced. “Decisions will need to be made because this location has been compromised. A council meeting will be scheduled for tomorrow at noon to decide our next step.”

  “She’s my daughter. How am I supposed to let her go?”

  “Like a queen, Danu,” Clio said. “You must let her go…like a queen.”

  Chapter 19 - Change of Heart

  The twelve aquarium guides at Marine World dwindled down to nine, which meant picking up additional shifts. The summer flew by. After the park closed on the weekends, employees would have bonfires on the beach to blow off steam. I’ve never talked to more people or met such interesting characters. At 19, I’d finally come out of my social coma.

  Packing up for school was done in a daze. The ring that Delvin delivered to me sat on my nightstand. I carefully placed it in my suitcase as though Rick’s feelings were contained in the box and I didn’t want to cause him any further pain.

  “Everything is loaded up in your car,” Dad said.

  “Thanks, dad,” I yelled down the stairs. “Almost done. One last suitcase.”

  After hugging my dad, I fumbled out to the car. Delvin waited there, and helped me with my bag. We hugged goodbye and, for a second, I thought he leaned in for a kiss, so I clumsily flinched to escape the advance. I hopped in the car, waving goodbye and high-tailed it out of there before my life got even more complicated.