Chapter Twenty-Seven
The winds over Lake Pend Oreille swirled, clouds billowing and tossing tree limbs in circles about the lake. The surface boiled and stirred waves ten feet high.
I struggled against the storm, desperately clinging onto my two passengers. Their arms were probably be numb from the long ride in my tight grip.
I gently set them onto the shore, shifting back to my Sidhe self and resting from the draining transformation. “You sure this is it?” I struggled to catch my breath as I stared at Aidan who rubbed his arm to gain back circulation.
“Positive. Like I told you, she brought me here, but not out onto the water. This must be the place where she stole it from.”
“It looks like it from all the activity about,” agreed Hector who stared into the dark waters.
“If this is it,” I said, “then Holly will be here soon. She won’t give up so easily when she’s close to loosing the souls of the Otherworld. Your next move, Aid?”
He looked from the emerald axe illuminated in one hand to the green egg in the other. “Simple.” He threw the axe aside, handle clattering on the rocky shore. He held up the green mass. “We take this back to where it came from.”
“But if she never took you out there, how are we going to know where it goes? Let’s just wait for Onora and the rest of the Sidhe to catch up. I’m sure they can take it from here.”
“If we wait, we’ll be dead before they get here,” Aidan insisted. “The longer we stand here arguing, the closer Holly gets.”
“I must agree with the boy,” Hector muttered.
“Then give me the egg,” I held out my hands. “It’s the only way. I can ride Hector onto the lake and search for the Gateway myself.” And maybe still through the Gateway to find my parents, I hoped.
Aidan stared off into the storm across the lake, his red hair blustering about. But his face was serene. “You’ll never find it, but I know I can. I can feel it.”
“What do you mean, you can feel it? Don’t be foolish, Aidan,” I begged.
“It’s like I’m being pulled out there and into the eye of the storm. I can feel it tugging at my chest.”
“Aidan?” I saw his trancelike gaze and waved my hand in front of his eyes, but it had no impact on his focus. “Aidan!” I reached for his shoulder, but before I could even touch him, he bolted for the waves.
I turned to Hector, desperate for help, but he shrugged and darted after Aidan who dove into the choppy water.
Helplessly, I stood there, watching Hector leap into the air, transform mid-flight, and dive in true waterhorse form into the churning lake. So much for our secret plan to go to the Otherworld.
Seconds were like minutes as I watched the surface of the lake. Surely Hector would drag Aidan down to his death, unable to control his beastly instincts.
After all, I had practice with Hector. Hours of perfection it had taken to create the bond, and now Aidan was in the waters with one of its most dangerous predators. I wanted to go in after them, but I didn’t believe I could maintain another form in the storm. I had no other choice but to hope and wait for the other Sidhe.
I paced the shoreline, unsure what to do. They’d both been under much too long. I watched the tossing waves and saw what I feared would happen.
From the bubbling depths emerged long-passed souls floating away and into the clouds. Then came the other creatures I only heard of in bedtime stories. The Red-Man with his trademark cap danced to the shore, ready to play pranks at humankind’s expense. The Fenoderee, naked but completely covered with dark hair, lumbered up the shore, swinging their massive fists and sending dirt and stones flying in all directions.
“It’s beginning,” I breathed in horror, looking to the skies for any sign of the rest of my clan.
But they were nowhere, and Otherworld creatures slowly rose to the Humanworld, ready to take over. The trees came alive around me, their limbs shaking in resurrection.
“Dryads,” I whispered, watching the behemoth tree spirits come to life. I heard about them before, but never witnessed their existence. “The guard must have passed already.” I searched the waters for any sign of the old marcuck, protector of the gateway, and Hector’s sister. Still, nothing.
“Indeed they have,” a slithering voice came from behind me.
Turning, I saw Holly lurking in the forest, coming right toward me, fangs and nails extended. Her body hunched forward like a stalking cat. But before I could do anything except turn around, Holly was on me, an arm wrapped around my neck, teeth poised to rip out my throat. I felt her stinking breath on my skin.
“Let me go!” I screamed. I writhed against the steely strength of the Leanan.
“Oh, my little Sidhe!” she screeched, her forked tongue tickling the inside of my ear.
She held me so tight that I could not gain my bearings. I could not focus enough to shift shapes to save myself from the clutches of the panting beast. I searched the bobbing waves for any sign of Aidan or Hector, but only saw the continued emergence of souls and demons coming to the surface.
“What do you want?” I tried to control my voice. I didn’t want Holly to hear the fear hiding beneath.
“I want you to stay out of my business, but you don’t seem to care. So, I’m taking matters into my own hands to make sure the end of the Humanworld comes to pass.” Her elongated fingernail slid down my cheek, grazing the surface, and left a trail of searing pain in its wake. “You will keen him now, and he will die. He will not take that egg back, and it will not hatch.”
She held my throat with her claws.
“Do it!” she shrieked, but I kept my lips shut tight, tears pouring down my face as I stared at the wind-tossed waves.
In the distance, the flash of an enormous beast leapt into the air. It was Hector, his slick neck arching with power, a desperate Aidan clinging for dear life. They dove again and I searched the surface for them to reemerge. Holly also saw it and for an instant, she eased her grip.
In that moment, I shoved off her, leaping into the air and shifting. I desperately swatted my wings to avoid Holly’s clawing arms. She lunged like she did at Winchester, her fingernails nicking my talon, sending a ripple of pain up my leg.
At least it’s not my wings, I thought as I flew higher in the air to avoid the earthbound Sidhe.
Now Holly had her eyes fixed on the waters, and I knew the look. She was searching for Aidan, and she knew exactly where he was going. There wouldn’t be time for Aidan to place the egg, even if he survived Hector’s carnivorous urges.
Holly stepped onto the water, ready to race across the surface, but then I heard caws and shrieks fill the air. I turned to look, and they flew like angels. The Sidhe clan in bird-forms, their bodies one-hundred times normal size, men riding on their backs between massive wings.
The sky darkened by the flapping of enormous crows, birds of prey, and songbirds who came to help.
Onora swept by and paused to wink at me as she plummeted toward Holly, Quinn poised between her wings with his spear ready to launch. Twenty more flashed by. I reeled and twirled in their flurry.
But I joined the melee, racing toward the shore where Quinn and Keiran already dismounted. They faced Holly who had two giants, who had emerged from the lake, helping her try to fend off the army of Sidhe and humans.
I transformed as my feet hit the shore, tucking and tumbling with the force of movement. I sprang to my feet, in defensive stance, waiting for some kind of onslaught from the thrashing hordes. When none came, I looked around to see my sisters protecting from both sides. Their chants and shouts plummeted spells at green demons which sprang at them with sharp claws and fangs.
I looked out at the waters, beings still emerging from the surface. Hector and Aidan were nowhere in sight.
“I have to go after them!” I shouted to Branna and Bridget over the clashing and bursting of spells.
Branna looked at me from over her shoulder, continuing to pelt ten demons with a voll
ey of sparks. The demons flipped backward, sending flurries of dirt and sand flying. “Don’t you dare!” she yelled to me. “You give his final Keen right now or else all is lost and you will be banished from the Sidhe!” A bulky creature with a single horn protruding from its snout charged the group. Branna swirled her arm like a windmill and sent a sticky web from her hand which crashed into and enveloped the bristly beast.
“This has gone far enough!” Bridget joined in, her arms swirling and blasting at a massive group of more horned beasts which pawed the ground at the perimeter of the circle.
“If he’s not dead already, he will be soon enough! I can’t let him do this alone!” I burst through the line, jumping and somersaulting over the perimeter of creatures that surrounded my sisters. In mid-air I shifted, mind working to desperately hold onto the mold.
In a flash I transformed. My lower body stretched into one massive fish tail. Gills opened on the sides of my throat. I dove into the water and quickly swam through the choppy water, dodging beings which reached for the surface.
I focused toward the activity’s epicenter, sure that the waterhorse nest would be nearby. I wove around a sunken ship, and around a rock bend. Hector circled around the nest in prehistoric form, gnashing at circling demons. Their red eyes glowed and their pale skin was like that of a corpse. They reached with greedy hands, sending volleys of red sparks at Hector and Aidan. Luckily Hector was fast enough to dodge the attacks, but Aidan frantically swam, clutching the green sac in his hands.
Closer he moved to a three-pronged coral which apparently would hold the egg. One of the demon’s sparks hit Aidan’s back leg, paralyzing his foot.
I kicked my fin and swam closer in hopes of helping fend off the attacking creatures.
But from above I heard Branna’s voice as clear as though she stood right next to me. It bounded through the water, muffling all other sounds. “Aidan Tanner, as proxy for Sidhe Morgan, such is the third and final keen of your impending death. You shall meet your end.”
Shrilly, my sister’s voice called out in the skies above water.
I can’t believe she keened him! I thought. For a moment I wanted to burst from the lake and confront her, but I remembered Aidan who was still reaching for the nest.
I kicked as fast as I could, my body struggling to stay in aquatic form as I swam to help Aidan. A few faint bubbles escaped Aidan’s lips as he placed the egg in the coral fingers of the nest.
“You will die,” echoed through the frothing underwater currents.
Aidan turned toward me.
Our eyes met for an instant as one final bubble left his smiling blue lips. His hand waved at me in slow-motion, but then his hand went limp, his eyes were vacant. Red hair swayed in the current, a halo around his pale skin. His head bobbled and sagged.
No, Aidan. Hang on!
I made one last tail flick and held his limp form in my arms, his green eyes like cataracts. Void of any spark.
Upward I rushed. If only I could make it to the surface. I raced for life-giving oxygen as my body began transforming back under the stress. I could save him. Maybe it wouldn’t be too late.
Finally we broke the surface, and I held his head out of the water, watching his chest for any movement.
But he was still.
“No!” I screamed, water trailing down my arms as I beat my fist on his chest. “Aidan, no! You can’t die! You can’t leave me like everyone does!” Slowly I beat his chest, sobbing against his water-soaked hair.
I felt Hector beneath me, his slimy back lifting us from the water as I held Aidan with all my strength. Hector turned back, his head hovering over me as I held Aidan’s frigid body close.
“It’s over Morgan. It’s done,” his calm voice reassured me. “There’s nothing you could have done.”
Still I beat again at Aidan’s chest, hoping for one gasp of air to be released. I bent close, my lips on his, breathing desperately into his unresponsive mouth.
In the Sidhe-tales I knew, he would have opened his eyes, the gold flecks sparkling in his green irises once again. He would have kissed me back, grateful for the girl who saved his life.
But this wasn’t a Sidhe-tale.
It was the result of who I was, a Ban Sidhe.
How did I think his death would come about? Did I really think that I would watch his spirit float off and send me a fond farewell? Would it be poetic?
It was none of those things. None of those at all as I stared down at his lifeless flesh in my arms, rusty hair clinging to his skull like a grotesque mask.
As Hector swam to the shore, my tears fell.
How can someone be taken, just like that? I demanded to know.
But I did not only cry for the loss of the boy I barely knew who noticed my green eyes and called me “Bird Brain.” I also mourned for my parents who I would never see again.
While the sobs burned my insides, I knew I would survive. I would make sense out of all of this. Aidan’s death would not go unnoticed like the disappearances of my mother and father.
No, things would be different.