Chapter Twenty-Three
The early afternoon light was barely visible through the storm clouds. A few rays in the distant west slanted through and lighted the landscape below. I flew over the rippling waves of Winchester Lake, breathing in the fresh air as the rain lessened and now pattered on my wings. The dock and cabin where Aidan lived with his uncle welcomed me, but I flew exactly as Onora told me during our flight to Winchester from Finias. Over the first ridge behind the Tanner house and on the other side would be a clearing at the end of a mountain path.
Sure enough, I found the clearing. If Onora’s information continued to be correct, there would be a vent cover on the mountain. But for me, finding the cover seemed impossible. I beat my wings, climbing up the side of the mountain, my eyes trained on the crags below.
Was the covering above or below the tree line? Either way, I doubted I would be able to locate the opening at all.
“Trust your instincts,” Onora told me. “You will find him because you have keened him once already. Follow that pull inside of you that is a part of all Ban Sidhe.”
I circled once as I reached the top of the peak, and spiraled back down. If only the top of the vent were not camouflaged to blend in with the terrain.
Think, Morgan. Think, I kept telling myself as I flew my course.
Over and over again, I swept over the mountainside, eyes trained for any faint flickering of movement or light. With the rain pattering, it was difficult to keep focused.
And then I saw it, a glint of silver in the landscape below. The flume’s metal cover spun like a silver mushroom in the fury. I alighted next to my entry point. The slats in the little dome were much smaller than I had earlier supposed. My Transfiguring skill would also be tested with the length of pipe that would lead me to Aidan.
I knew what form I would use before I even arrived at the vent. In my head I saw it, as I did with my other successful transformations.
My crow wings shrank; my body went down, down, down, until I was nose-to-nose with dirt. But really I didn’t even have a nose anymore. I stretched my wings, but found that now they were stiff and light rather than the bendable bird wings I was accustomed to.
Watching the cover twirl round over and over again, I found myself counting the rhythm. I hoped I could time my entry into the pipe. But its spins were inconsistent, the carrying winds making it impossible to simply count to a sustained beat.
Trust your instinct. That’s what she told me, I thought.
My moth form leapt into the air, fluttered slightly and then rushed through the whirling slats. I timed the entry just right and found myself undamaged by the movement of the vent. I was in.
I scurried down as far as I could, my body resisting the pull of the air as it filtered from the room below to the outside world.
It was hard enough to just keep my body in white moth form, travelling down a tube that would crush and kill me if I changed back into Sidhe form too soon. This idea was never too far from my immediate thoughts.
I travelled at least twenty feet and was beginning to see the glimmer of light ahead, but the air’s push was getting to be too much for my folded frame and tiny furry legs to handle.
It’s got to happen now! I told myself, opening my wings and flying down the rest of the shaft with every ounce of strength I had left.
And then just as suddenly, I squeezed through the bars of the grate and flitted in the light of Aidan’s prison.
I tried to remain unnoticed as I scoped the room, wanting to be absolutely certain that Holly wasn’t lurking in one of the corners. But I found no sign of her. Aidan was lying on his bed and thumbing through the pictures held in the plastic sleeves of his wallet.
I hovered halfway to the floor.
I better be in regular form before I say a word to Aidan.
I knew it would be better if he hit me with his wallet when I was almost his size than if I was still moth.
My body stretched out, a sense of relief flowing through my frame. Changing from Sidhe to crow came naturally as though it was just another side to my personality. However, transfiguring into something unequal to the mass of my bird-form was more draining. A crow and moth were definitely vastly different masses.
Aidan carelessly glanced up from his wallet and looked at me. He went back to staring at a picture.
It was not quite the reaction I had anticipated from him. I expected anger or fear, but not complacency.
“What do you want?” he asked, annoyance in his voice more than anything.
Yep, definitely not the reaction I expected at all, I thought.
I pulled the hood up over my head, trying to disguise the blush in my freckled cheeks. But I wouldn’t let him get the best of me, either. I stood straight, arms held solidly at my sides.
“Aidan Tanner, I am here for the second keen of your impending death.”
We stared at each other for a few awkward seconds.
“Ahem.” I felt I needed to repeat myself because he didn’t seem to understand or hear what I said. “Aidan Tanner, I am here—”
“I heard what you said the first time, Bird Brain.” He turned over on the cot, his back to me, and stared at the wall.
Bird Brain? Did he really just call me Bird Brain?
I had no idea what to do next. His understanding was not necessary for the Keen to be successful, but I always pictured this moment being much more terrifying for Aidan than the first Keen. To my disappointment, it was having the exact opposite effect.
“Why don’t you just get it over with and leave?” he gruffly replied to my silence.
“I—I can do that. But– but I thought you would want to know and see. I thought you would care about—”
“Well, guess what? I don’t care. You’re either going to sacrifice me or I’m going to die in here. I figure that either way, it doesn’t really matter. So, if you don’t mind, the sooner this is all over, the better.” He put the pillow over his head, blocking out the light and my dumbfounded look.
I sat down in the rocking chair which was awkwardly left in the center of the room.
After a few minutes, Aidan slowly turned and peeked from under his pillow. “You still here?” he asked.
I nodded, my eyes barely visible under the shadow from my hood. Maybe I looked a little more frightening now. Mysterious harbinger of death. Yeah, right.
“Well, now what are you doing?” he asked. He completely uncovered his face and propped himself up on an elbow.
“Waiting for you to care about something,” I replied, but I pushed back my hood and readied myself to get his keen over and done with.
“Hm. Funny. Last time I tried to care about my own life you seemed to not care much about that. You still freaked out and did your…” he searched for the word, “thing?”
Another silence as I looked away from Aidan’s gaze.
“Hey!” He fully sat up, his eyes wide. He leaned toward me. “Since when do you have green eyes?”
I blushed and turned my head aside, concealing the way the corners of my mouth tried to turn upward.
“I’ve always had green eyes unless I’m doing my thing, as you call it,” I said.
Aidan smiled wide, his freckled cheeks mirroring my own.
We both looked at each other uncomfortably. The petite Sidhe in heavy robes and the human boy all lanky and fiery haired. We were quite the pair.
“So… tomorrow I’ll die?” he quietly asked.
I sadly nodded.
“And nothing I do can change that?”
“Doubtful,” I answered. “Sorry.”
He ran a hand through his hair, scratching his scalp in frustration. “What are my chances of surviving?”
“Millions to one you won’t be around in two days.”
Aidan nodded, seeming to run the numbers through his head. He suddenly stood up. “Well, then let’s get this over with now.”
I stared up at him. I couldn’t believe that he was welcoming his Keen with open arms. For so long I s
truggled with helping to bring the end to a young man’s life. I had mentally prepared for this moment. I could handle someone who was resistant at not wanting life to end, but he just stood there. Accepting it.
“If I can’t stop it, whatever-your-name-is, then I might as well make your life a little bit easier on my way out. Right?”
Where did the fight in him run off to? He sounded defeated, ready for slaughter.
“This isn’t right,” I whispered.
“Dang right it isn’t right!” he shouted, his eyes filling with tears. “But what else are we going to do? You have your job to do, and meanwhile my family is at risk the longer that I live!”
My eyes crinkled in confusion. “They’re hostage?”
“No, they’re being protected from your kind.”
I shook her head, trying to clear it. What he said didn’t make any sense. “That can’t be. What are you talking about?”
“Holly told me all about your ritual. She told me that if it wasn’t me that was killed by your group, that it would then be someone from my family. So you might as well get this over with so I can at least die knowing that they’re safe.”
“Holly told you that?” I couldn’t believe it – the way she twisted what was happening.
“Yes, she told me all about your plan.” He was seething, almost ready to burst.
“Well, she’s a liar,” I replied, matter-of-factly. “Plain and simple. A liar.”
“Oh really? Because it seems that you are hunting me down. Why else would you be in here? Three calls and I’m dead, right? Well, get the second one done already!” He threw his arm in the air for emphasis. “Kill me!”
I openly laughed, covering my mouth to try and muffle the sound. Aidan’s rage flared even further.
“You think this is funny?” he asked, his voice rising.
“Well, kind of,” I said. I smoothed out my cloak, sitting up straight to appear a bit more in control of myself. I really didn’t mean to insult him.
“Great. Just great,” he mumbled, ruffling his hair with one hand.
“Aidan,” I delicately began, “the Sidhe are not killing you. We are actually a protector of sorts.”
“Yeah, right. You expect me to believe that?” he asked.
“No, but it’s the truth. Our clan has protected your ancestors for millennia, followed them across the seas when they migrated, and even settled in wastelands when they spread to unknown wilderness. My kind has sacrificed for your family for generations!”
“Then if that’s the case, are you telling me that there’s no ceremony?” he asked.
“Well,” I hesitated, “not exactly.”
“So there is! And you’re just trying to sweet talk me!” He paced the room much like he did after the argument with his father in the woods.
I worried that he would lash out. But if I knew him as well as I thought I did, he would pummel the stone walls before he would even think of laying a hand on me.
“Why would I sweet talk you?” I asked.
“`Cause… ‘cause…” he struggled for something else to hurl at me. “You’re just using me. Yeah, that’s right! You’re using me as part of some freaky ritual! You going to drink my blood?”
I stood up and laughed. “Yes, I’m going to drink your blood and put your head on a stake. Why don’t you try thinking with your head instead of your ego?”
He stepped toward me, his chest at my chin level. “I’m just going off everything I’ve been told – by Holly, by Erin, and by you. And don’t lecture me about my ego. You’re the one in here with all of the power.”
I stared up at him, coldness in my green eyes. How could he sit there and insult me? “Then I guess there are some things you should know about me.” I shoved his chest away. “I’m Morgan, from a long line of proud Sidhe.”
Aidan stumbled backward, but regained his footing.
I went at him with my finger pointed at his chest. “I’m sixteen human years old.”
One tap on his chest.
“I’ll live for at least another few hundred years, watching your kind fade away one after another.”
Another jab at his chest.
“Ow,” he quietly whined putting a hand on the spot I poked.
But I didn’t stop there. He wasn’t going to push me around like everyone else. “I’ve already lost my mother and father, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again. My sisters think I’m worthless. But above all, I always tell the truth.” My voice blasted his face, “And I don’t need some whiny boy telling me what I am, what I’ll do, and what I know!”
Aidan backed up one last step and fell back on the cot, looking up.
“Understand?” I shouted, my voice shaking.
I felt invigorated. I felt great. It was like I released everything that was bottled up.
He cowered back, delicately thinking of what to say. “Yeah. Got it, Morgan. Got it. Calm down. Sheesh.” He sat up on the cot as I walked back across the room.
I muttered under my steamy breath, “Now I know why Father said I should just stay away from boys and not even talk to them until I’m at least ninety.”
“Ninety?” Aidan asked. “Seriously? You’ll be a shriveled up prune!” He tried to stifle a laugh, but I heard it anyway.
“Don’t be an ignoramus. Sidhe at ninety look like humans in their mid-twenties.”
“Whatever you say,” Aidan said. “Sounds like some lonely decades for you.”
“Well, I don’t think you should really be worrying about me right now,” I replied.
Aidan slid his wallet into his back pocket and sat up on the cot. “Well, Morgan. What should I be worrying about?”
“To be honest?” I waited for his response, wanting to make sure he wasn’t just going to throw another sarcastic remark at me again. But when he nodded, I continued. “The woman you call your aunt? She is far from normal. I can tell you that much from the few times I’ve met her. And if she’s the one who has you here, then I’m sure she can’t be trusted.”
“I was already starting to figure part of that out on my own. But what am I supposed to do?” He looked utterly crushed.
I looked at him sympathetically. “I don’t know. But if you can get out of here, do it.”
“Why can’t you get me out of here? Aren’t you some kind of faery thing? Don’t you have powers?”
I snorted. “I’m new to magic, Aidan. I could barely even make it down that vent without killing myself. If I could have come through the front door, I would have. If I could have appeared by magic in this room, I would have. No,” I sighed, “you’ll have to figure that one out yourself.”
“Then is there anything else you can tell me?”
I shook my head. “I’m afraid I’ve told you everything I can. Aidan,” I walked up and took his hand in mine before I could second-guess what I was doing, “I’ll be there when you go. And when it does, I’ll make sure you don’t suffer. I’ll make sure you arrive to the Otherworld. But that’s all I can offer.”
His eyes warmly looked up into mine. In another setting the whole scene would have been romantic, but his impending death blurred all chance of anything else.
“I guess you need to do your part.” He swallowed hard and pulled his hand from mine. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow, Bird Brain?”
I stifled a laugh. I nodded, took three steps back, and lowered my head. When I raised my gaze again, my eyes were solid red, my face vacant of any childlike smile.
My voice took on the tone of wind whistling on a dark night. “Aidan Tanner, such is the second Keen of your impending death. Upon the third Keen you will meet your end.”
The mountain rumbled. The room shook, and for a moment it was as though the roof would collapse.
Aidan covered his ears, but it didn’t help. My head rose to the orb in the center of the room and my mouth opened, issuing a wail full of horror.
I knew what was happening. I could feel it all like he did. The hair on the back of his neck s
tood on end again, the pain in his ears forced him to his knees as his hands still covered the sides of his head.
And then I was gone. Back up the pipe and into the receding storm, emerging as a moth and swiftly mutating into my more comfortable crow form. Into the air I flew, leaving behind my final echo in the chamber below, “You will die.”