Chapter Twenty-Five
I flew back to the cave to meet Onora, wings beating quickly in the nighttime air. The full moon guided my through the darkness and back to the cave. Onora lay on a blanket next to the orb, her eyes closed, her breathing heavy.
She sure is a piece of work, I laughed as I allowed myself to change back to Sidhe form.
Onora left a blanket out for me, and in the center of it was some flatbread and huckleberries.
Onora always thinks of everything, I thought.
I sat in the warmth of the orb, munching carefully on the meager meal. When I finished, I dimmed the orb so it would maintain heat but allow me to fall asleep.
Not knowing what was going to happen the next day was starting to dig at me. I knew the final Keen would take place then and that Aidan would die, but I wished I could know how he would die. Maybe there was a way I could intervene and keep that from happening. But I didn’t even know if it would happen right after the Keen or hours later.
He’s not as bad as I thought he was. Even a little likeable, I justified as I settled onto the blanket, still able to feel the cold, hard ground.
What will happen if I don’t do it at all? Will he keep living? What would happen to me?
I thought of Mother and Father, and whether or not they could truly be found in the Otherworld like I so desperately hoped. If only my plan would work and I could use Hector to make it through the breached Gateway. The timing had to be perfect for it to work. But as I stared at my sleeping mentor I began to doubt if it would do any good.
Slowly I drifted off – lost in thoughts of pine trees and soaring over mountain lakes.
I woke in the middle of the early morning hours, the room completely dark and bitterly cold. My blanket was pulled tight, and I reached out to touch the orb which I was certain would be in the center of the room.
How would that go out? I wondered.
My mind, half-awake sent me searching with unseeing eyes – the cave was so dark I could not make out a shape. The doorway to the cave was illumined by the moonlight which left its glow on the landscape beyond the hole.
I stood to go to the cave entrance when a corpselike hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the ground.
“Silence,” Onora whispered in my ear. She pulled me close and wrapped another blanket around both of us, not saying another word.
Quietly we sat in the cave, not making a noise. But my heart fell into my stomach the moment I heard the rustling of gravel and dirt just outside the door.
Something is out there, walking around, I frantically thought.
Onora’s breath was on my ear, whispering, “Leeeaaanaaan.”
I could feel Onora’s bones shaking, her breathing barely audible, but I kept my eyes trained on the entrance, ready at any moment to transform and flee.
And then I saw her as she stood in the entrance, her blonde hair stained dark on the ends.
Blood.
The Leanan’s eyes darted around the cave’s interior, a demonic smile on her lips revealing rows of shark-like teeth. She took a step toward the cave, but suddenly stopped, her smile replaced by a terrifying scowl.
”I know you’re in there, Sidhe,” her voice slithered off the walls, her forked tongue testing the air. “Come out, come out! Come out and play in the moonlight!” She howled with laughter, her eyes still searching the darkness.
For a moment, I swore my blood stopped circulating as the Leanan looked right in my direction.
Can she see me? I wondered in fear.
I turned to look at Onora, not knowing what to do and ready to respond to the Leanan’s icy voice, when Onora clamped a hand over my mouth, the whites of her eyes boring into mine. Telling me no.
“Very well, my little Sidhe. You may stay in here until morning, but if I find you here tomorrow, nothing will be left of you except your bones and entrails. I’ve been more than patient with you, little one.”
The Leanan looked about the cave’s darkness, but it appeared that she could not actually see us huddled at the back of the cave. Her voice spoke to the dank walls.
“Oh, and one more thing. Aidan will not die… yet. I have plans for him. So, I suppose your services are not needed at this time.
“Be ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the coming of a new era for the Otherworld. Nothing will stop us now. Not even you, little Sidhe. A new day will dawn.”
With a whoosh she was gone, the cave entrance full of moonlight and a distant patchwork of stars.
Onora slowly eased her grip on my face. “You are the one connected to the Leanan!”
I nodded as Onora stood up to stoke the orb to life once more.
“She is gone now. You can speak. How do you know the Leanan?”
“Holly,” my weak voice said the name out loud. “Aidan’s aunt. The first time she spoke to me I thought she was just crazy. The second time, I knew she was something more, but I thought she was just a human who could see through the Sidhe veil. Why didn’t she come in?”
“I enchanted the doorway. I didn’t know for sure that it would keep her out. I’ve never come that close to her kind before. I’ve only seen their horrid aftermath.”
Onora waved her arm through the chilly air. The once-black sphere glowed to life, its pulsating orange bringing life back to my limbs. I rubbed my goose-bumped arms.
“Why wasn’t she like that before? She never looked like that – day or night.”
“Leanan are like sirens, but more deceitful and deadly. She has the perfect camouflage. Monster she is deep down, but she also possesses the ability to have complete control over her form. Werewolves are driven by the cycle of the moon, but the Leanan merely has evil in its heart. She decides her form every time—she decides when to strike.”
“Why is she keeping Aidan locked up?” I asked. I thought of the hidden space in the mountain, the setup with everything required to survive away from the rest of the world. The supplies, the planning. Holly was keeping him alive for something. The thought curdled my stomach. “No, wait – Aidan!” I shouted and rushed to the doorway, sure I could get to his prison in no-time and rescue him, but when I hit the opening, my body bounced off it and back into the cave.
“Morgan, you cannot save him! It is not your place,” Onora said. She continued casually warming her hands.
“But if she has him in there and she plans on using him for something, I have to try and get him out of there!” I felt I owed him something before he died the next day. He could at least not die at the hands or teeth of the Leanan.
“Holly has more plans than just devouring Aidan. Were you not paying attention?”
“Yes. Something about a new era, but if Aidan’s part of that plan, shouldn’t we free him so that her plan is ruined?”
“I like the way you think, but the best thing we can do is wait until morning and then try to find the Kelpie egg. I am certain this Holly has something to do with its disappearance.”
“Then all the more reason to get Aidan! He knows her better than anyone else around here!”
Onora shuffled around, rearranging the displaced blankets. “You may have a point there, but it will have to wait until morning. The Leanan is much easier to defeat in the daylight. Besides, Hector will not arrive until morning. You will need his help if you are to fight back the demons and souls of the Otherworld.”
“But I can’t just sit here and go to sleep. I can’t just do nothing.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to.” Onora lay back on her blanket, closing her eyes and lowering her hand so the orb burned a lower light.
I sat near the opening to the cave, staring out at the tops of the pine trees as they swayed under moonlight. Somehow I had to save Aidan. There had to be a way.