Chapter Thirty-One
One week later, and we were still cleaning up the mess from the breach at the Otherworld gate. My sisters were busy with their new roles as goddesses and Queens of the Otherworld. When we said goodbye at Finias, we knew we would only see each other in passing until I decided to join them for good in the Otherworld.
But I had business to take care of before I could join them.
There were so many unanswered questions about my life, my powers, and my parents. I couldn’t rest until I found answers. Then, and only then, could I fulfill the role I avoided for so long.
I stayed away from Pend Oreille, even though my sisters told me over and over that it would be best if I just faced my fears. But I couldn’t bring myself to go back to that place. Not after everything that happened there. Not after I felt Aidan’s life fade in my arms.
I knew if I walked those shores there would be an empty sorrow inside me that would resurface and never let me go.
So for that week I kept rounding up souls and creatures, meeting my sisters outside of the cave where Onora and I stayed that stormy night not so long ago. There I handed over the misplaced Otherworldians, and my sisters escorted them back through the depths of the lake back where they belonged.
But I couldn’t go near the waters’ edge and reopen that wound.
As Bridget flew off with the most recent group of vagabonds, Branna stayed behind to have a word with me. Branna – my sister who had always doubted me, and made me feel like I meant nothing to her. But she helped me the moment I couldn’t do what was expected. In the back of my mind I always knew Branna cared about me at some level, but ever since Mother and Father left, she was cold to me. I couldn’t look past her harsh words to see that she dealt with their disappearance by distancing herself from everyone else.
Her hand rested on my shoulder. “Morgan, your choice about when you join us is yours to make. I respect that, but I think it would be best for your well-being to come with us to the Gateway.”
I shook my head.
I couldn’t believe she was asking me to do this… again. “I just can’t do it,” I said. I looked up into her dark eyes once more. “I hope you understand.”
Branna’s expression became more serene. “Father would want you to face that fear so you could move on,” she said.
Yes, she played the guilt card.
I glared at her, but the coin around my neck kept me from saying something I would regret.
“It’s time to move on,” she pressed further.
I stared at Branna. She took my place and risked her own status in the Inner Ring to make sure my job was fulfilled. Didn’t I owe her something? Couldn’t I at least trust her?
Reluctantly, I agreed.
As we flew toward Lake Pend Oreille, I saw the shore was no longer dirtied with blood. The air was fresh with pine. I saw the very spot where Aidan’s body laid until his uncle snatched his limp form into a bear hug. The drum beat loudly in my chest again.
I was reliving Aidan’s death again. I struggled to keep my tear-blurred eyes clear. But the moment was broken by Branna’s voice.
“Ready?” she asked over her shoulder as we approached the water’s surface, her body transforming instantly into Sidhe.
No longer did my sisters and I struggle to Transfigure in order to traverse various elements. We could keep our Sidhe forms and manipulate minor details to adapt to our surroundings. That was the gift of our newly anointed statuses.
My sisters had plenty of practice going between the human world and Otherworld. They assured me that the crossover was simple once I made it through the expanse of water on both sides of the Northern Gateway.
We plunged into the water in our Sidhe forms, our make-shift gills doing the work for us as we made our way to the stone archway that marked the crossing point between worlds. I searched for the young kelpie who now swam the lake’s depths, protecting the Northern Gateway with its marcuck partner.
The green-flippered kelpie emerged from around a corner, its disproportioned body, limbs, and head twisting and spinning like a child at play. Beyond the creature, I spied its old nest. The three-pronged orange coral still stood where we left it.
But now a black-cloaked figure stood beside the archway, his hand holding a glowing green axe. My heart jumped and then sank.
The Inner Ring told me Aidan’s axe went to an O’brien relative, and he was half-Sidhe. It made sense that the new marcuck was a relation. But still my heart deceived me, and now it ached as I stared at the protector of the gate—guide of the dead.
His gaze met mine from under his black hood, and then he pushed it back to reveal a red mop of hair which danced in the current.
His freckled cheeks beamed, and his familiar green eyes smiled just for me.
“Hey, Bird Brain,” he said and smiled, his arms open to welcome my broken soul. I rushed to him and Aidan’s cold embrace held me tight under the waves of Lake Pend Oreille. It was then that I knew I would heal.
Despite the unanswered questions which riddled my life, I found solace in the hope of a higher purpose. I had time on my side to find the answers I needed. Until I found out what happened to my parents, I would continue searching.
In the end, I would make it. Aidan would make it. Just not the way any of us imagined.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to my husband and daughter for their extreme amounts of patience as I spent hours writing, editing, or simply needing think-time.
To the Chix – Anna, Anne, Becca, Bonnie, and Pam – I could not have persevered through my writing lulls or smoothly edited without your insight, laughter, and great company.
To my family, friends, and students for believing in my writing.
To the state of Idaho for lending me the backdrop on which I weave.
About the Author
Christy Thomas lives in Meridian, Idaho with her husband, daughter, and one crazy labradoodle, Mr. Darcy. She teaches high school language arts and writes fiction. Christy loves camping in the various landscapes of Idaho which help serve as inspiration for her novels.
She has written several novels and has two more in the works. She is the author of Sidhe’s Call, the first in the Keening Trilogy.
Connect with Christy online:
Blog: https://ampletimetowrite.wordpress.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Christy-G-Thomas/159517344125778
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