Dark Isle (Celtic Legacy Book 2) (12 page)

The Fomorii leader began to pace in the water, one hand to his chin, the other swirling the ocean’s currents. “What do you propose?”

“
My
daughter is a child of the serpent. The stars have been read
;
she is the one we have waited for . . .”

“Then why do you need me?”
s
narled Balor.

“Because if the Tuatha have their way, they will convince her to destroy the Fomorii
, which is not as it should be
. We need her to have a reason not to.”

Balor lifted his eyebrows. “A reason?
” His fingers drummed on his arms. “
Like a lover?”

Lir shook his head. “No, something more powerful than that.”

The waters around us gurgled and I held my breath, hoping to hear the rest of the conversation. I was in luck.

Violet eyes flashed. “You mean someone who means more to her than anyone else.”

“Her mother is . . .
” Letting out a deep sigh
,
Lir went on
.
“
L
ess
than motherly
. I chose poorly.
However, it has presented us with
the perfect solution.
If Darcy were to have a second child, then my daughter will
not
be
alone
,
and she
will have
a reason to protect your people.”

Very slowly, Balor nodded. “Yes, I can see that
;
a
child of mine, a sibling to her.
I have no qualms with that.
”

I closed my eyes, pinching them shut tight. “Ashling.”

They continued to speak and finally I understood the promise Balor had spoken of to the Banshee Queen.

Lir stepped closer to his rival. “Nuadha wants my daughter dead
;
he believes that he is the answer to the prophecy. Promise me that not only will you stay your own hand from harming her, but that you will stay Nuadha’s from harming her too.”

Balor grunted. “Why don’t you protect her?”

Shaking his head, Lir took a deep breath, the water around him swirling. “The oracle forbade me from contacting her. You know that even I cannot cross that barrier.”

“So be it. I will protect her as best I can from Nuadha, and I’ll not harm her myself. You have my word.”

The waves receded and I was
shifted
again.
Everything was dark
;
I couldn’t feel anything
;
then a
sharp pain suddenly struck me and
my limbs
stiffened. Letting out a low moan my eyes fluttered
,
and for a moment I could see Luke sitting beside me, his hands working a cloth over my face and shoulders.

Then I was outside myself again. I looked down to see f
estering pus seep
ing
out of
the bite wound,
and I watched
the black sludge that slipped past my lips
with grim horror as my body shook with a violent spasm.
Luke’s mouth formed words that
I still couldn’t hear
, but it was easy to see what he was saying
.

“
She’s s
lipping, we’re losing her!”

Aednat
spat out a mouthful of venom and bent to take another. But when she saw the trickle leaking from my mouth she stopped and stared at me, her face unreadable
. Fear whisper
ed through me.
Finally she sat back on her heels and punched the ground.

The world went fuzzy around me again
; I blinked
and when I opened my eyes I saw
I’d been
brought
to a house, one I recognized
.
The white rough stucco covered the outside walls and a somewhat
dilapidated
porch was covered by an even more
dilapidated
roof. But it was a place where I’d spent much of my childhood
,
while my mother had
partied
with her friends.

“This is my grandfather’s home
,”
I said.

Yes.

The d
oorknob rattl
ed
as I turned it
and
a wash of warm air circulated out and around me, beckoning me in.
The familiar feel of cold hard tile on my bare feet took me back to when I was a little girl.
Looking down at myself, I
realized I
was wearing a grown-up version of my favorite sundress from childhood. Eyelet lace edged the bottom and blended into the cotton skirt
, which
was covered in cherries. I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my lips.

I peeked into the doorway on the left, Grandpa’s bedroom. It was empty. Stepping through the doorway I let my fingers trail along the edge of his hard wood dresser. The picture frames held shots of Ashling, mostly, but also one of me.

You were always s
o serious.
I froze. That hadn’t been the multitude of voices, but a single male voice. “Grandfather?” I whispered.

Yes, Quinn. I be
here now. I be grateful for ta
rest. My mi
nd has been gone far longer, ta
fear of ta Fomorii ate at me ‘til I was a shell of me former self.

“Why am I here? What is it that I need to see?” I asked.

Go to t
a
far side, ta night stand has a picture of your grandmother in it.
Excitement filled me. I’d never known my grandmother
;
she’d died long before my time and there were no pictures of her that I’d ever seen.

I jumped across the bed, the faux fur blanket just as I remembered it brushing across my bare legs. Almost there
,
I stopped and grabbed a jar that rested on the shelf cut into the
headboard
. I cracked the jar open and took a deep breath of the
camphor
oil, the scent filling the room. The rush of memories rocked through me
,
and then a tear did slip out past my defences.

“I remember when I fell off my bike. You rubbed my leg with this and said it was magic
,
”
I whispered. “You said . . .”

That the smell would frighten away the monsters.

I hiccupped a laugh; put the jar back and
slid the rest of the way across
the bed
. The nightstand had a lock on it, just as it had growing up. “How do I get in?”

Just put your hand on it, t
’
will open for you now, Quinn.

I put my hand out and he kept on speaking while I waited for something to happen.

Your grandmother, she was a
spitfire
, all piss and vinegar. We
loved hard and fast, fought ta
same way
,
and when I last saw her, gah.
He paused and I w
aited
.
We fought
;
I didn’t want her to let Darcy go to Balor. Your grandmother she thought it was best. So I put a curse on her. And
I never saw her again. It is ta
only regret I have. Go on now, open it up.

My interest peeked beyond
reason;
I wrenched the drawer open and pulled out a leather bound photo album. It was tied shut with two strings of black lace.

“Does she look like me?” I asked.

Open it and see.

The leather creaked as I flipped the book open.
The first picture
was of
my grandfather
with
a woman on his arm
; she was holding
a child. I stared at the small bundle
,
wondering if they’d known their daughter would grow up to be
so self centered
. Then I turned my attention to the woman
who must be my grandmother
.
My smile vanished. I held the book out at a distance. The photo was a black and white, so I couldn’t be sure. The woman looked
up at me
from the page
, a soft smile on her lips.
Her eyes were d
ark
,
and
her
long wavy hair was pulled over to one side of her neck.
I knew
h
er face,
though we’d
only just met.

“What colour is her hair?” I asked, my voice breathless
, catching on the words like a rough hand against silk
.

Red, like
t
a
cherries on your dress.
Shaking I put the book down, unable to see anymore. Tears streamed down my face as I whispered her name.

“Cora.”

I thought that
after
seeing th
at
photo
I’d be thrown back into my body, that I’d start to wake up, but that wasn’t the case.

“Why am I still here?” I asked, wiping the tears off my cheeks with one hand, clutching the edge of my
sundress
in the other.

The voices spoke in unison again, my grandfather’s voice blending into the chorus.

This was so you would know your past, to help you know who you are. Now we will show you the future
—
one last thing. The hardest thing. A piece of the
prophecy; what is to come
.

“I don’t really have a choice, do I?” I stood up and stared around the familiar room, breathed in the scent of the old farmhouse. A very large part of me wanted to hide away here, prete
nd that
I was a little girl
; the monsters weren’t real, and my sister was safe. That of course couldn’t be, not if I wanted to prove Bres wrong, not if I wanted a chance at getting Ashling back
.

“Okay. Let’s see this thing you have to show me.” How could it be any worse than realizing your grandmother had been
transformed into a snake
by your grandfather
,
and you’d just let her die defending you? No, it couldn’t be worse.

Right?

Wrong.

Once more we stood at the edge of the water where I’d seen Lir and Balor speaking, but this time there was a battle lined up. Fomorii surged in the waves, their green and black bodies
undulating through
the water. At the edge of the beach stood a shining mass of people, covered in armour and brandishing swords and other weapons.

My jaw dropped as I stared at the person in the front. It was me
,
and I had a sword in one hand that shone as if it was on fire
, just like the one Nuadha had held
as he’d curse
d
the Fomorii
.

“What is that?” I whispered my question.
A
t that moment
,
I truly understood the
saying
about quiet and pins dropping. It had nothing to do with
silence
, but the feeling of anticipation, the
pause
before the lightning
’s
strike.

That is Excalibur
—t
he
one weapon that can end the evil that
will soon
stalk the land and water
,
if Balor has his way
.

“Wait, I thought it was Balor that I was supposed to fight
,
”
I asked, a sudden feeling in the pit of my stomach warning me that this was going to be bad. Like, really, really bad.
There was a
flash of light; I blinked
,
and
in that moment
the battle
began
. In the middle of it
were
Ashling
and I
, locked in combat.

She held a sword as black as Excalibur was bright and the blades hissed as they met over and over.
We seemed to dance across the sand, our bodies in tune with our weapons. My mouth was dry
;
I knew what was coming, this was what Luke had warned me about
, this was what Bres had seen
.

“I don’t want to see this
,
”
I said
, whimpering, not caring how cowardly I sounded
.