Rua (Rua, book 1) (8 page)

The creature grabbed her leg and pulled hard, sending Celeste flying to the floor. She landed on something squishy, and it screamed in protest. She screamed along with it.

Something yanked on her left arm and shoulder, pulling her to her feet. A cold hand covered her face.

“Celeste, look at me,” the voice said.

She focused on the source of the voice. Rylan. Half in, half out of her window. He dropped his hand from her mouth.

“What are you doing here?”

“No time. You need to come with me.” He extended his hand, green eyes blazing.

She hesitated, glancing at her door, where the pounding caused by her father’s attempts to enter grew louder and louder.

“He can’t help you. I can.”

She took his hand.

He clapped his other hand over hers, then lifted her up and out through her window. She landed hard on the grass, panting, surprised at his strength. The crows flew in big black circles above them.

“Now what?” she asked.

“Run.”

She followed him into the darkness.

Chapter 8

“Where are we going?” she asked.

He didn’t say anything, but he kept moving through the line of trees surrounding her subdivision.

“Hey, I—” She stumbled, catching herself with her hands and knees.

He crouched beside her. “You okay?”

“Fine.” She pulled herself to a standing position, ignoring his offered hand.

“I guess I kind of forgot you were in a nightgown and barefoot.” He stared down at her midnight blue painted toenails.

She curled her toes under, meshing them into the dirt.

He saw the look on her face. “Oh, hey. It’s okay. I’ll get you some shoes.” He rested his hand on her arm.

When his skin made contact with hers, heat flushed up her arm. The purple flames appeared in her palms. “Oh, I…”

He jerked his hand back. “My car’s right over there.”

She followed him again, bare feet scraping against the dirt, leaves, and twigs from the trees. Finally, the trees gave way to the back of a strip mall. Bright streetlights crowded the medians, lighting the closed stores. A lone black sports car basked in the glow of the lights.

“Come.” He opened the passenger door and gestured for her to get in.

She glanced down at her scratched legs then looked at the driver’s seat.

He was already sitting in it. He started the car, full lips, thick hair, and profile strong in the shadows.

“How’d you do that?” she asked him.

“What?” One side of his mouth tugged into the tiniest of smiles.

“Close my door, cross the car, then get into the drivers seat in under a second,” she said.

He glanced pointedly at her palms, where the purple light still flickered. “How do you do that?”

She turned away from him and watched his reflection in her window. Tires squealed as he peeled out of the parking lot.

“Where are we going?”

“My house,” he said.

She stole a look at him. “What about those things?”

“We only have a few minutes before they find you. They travel differently from humans.”

“What are they? What do you mean?”

“They are
Sidhe
,” he said.

“What?”

He turned his full attention back to the road, giving her a chance to study his profile again. The silence stretched between them, but soon he parked in the driveway of an old Victorian home with peeling paint.

“Follow me.” He led her past a columned front porch and through the unlocked front door.

She followed him down a long dusty hallway that crowded against a steep staircase.

He stopped in front of a door underneath the stairs. It was a small entrance, maybe four feet tall.

“Seriously?” She paused in front of the door.

“Trust me.” He opened the door. Dark dirt steps went down into the darkness.

He shut the door behind him then flicked on the overhead light. It was a small space, filled with packed dirt held back by crooked wood beams. Handmade wood shelves lined the walls, some stacked with old preserve jars. He followed her eyes as they traveled around the room, finally resting on him.

She sank to the floor. Her mind stretched past her “okay” capacity. She was close to losing it, and she knew it.

“Most of them have a hard time coming through the earth,” he said.

“The earth?”

“Underground. Traveling underground.”

“What is this?” She thrust her palms in his direction. The purple flames rolled around her hands and wrist.

He took her hands in his, running his finger down her palms. “This, I’m not sure. I’ve not seen this before.”

“You have no idea?”

He pulled her off the ground until they stood across from each other underneath the naked light bulb. “It’s a manifestation of your power. I’m just not sure what that is, exactly.”

They stood in silence. She was sure she was blushing, and the flames danced in delight on her hand.

He dropped her hand abruptly then walked away from her, as far as he could in the small space.

“What am I?” she asked.

He picked up a preserve jar off the shelf, rotating it in his hand. “I’m pretty sure you’re
Tuatha de Dannan.
”

“What?”

“
Tuatha de Dannan
. The People of the Mists.”

She shook her head. “I’m not getting this. Signal not received.”

He put the jar down. “This is worse than I thought. No one, um, said anything to you? Contacted you? Explained this to you?”

“No.”

He paced the room.

“What does this mean?” Tears ran down her face before she could stop them. “I feel sick. I’m followed by birds and shadows and nightmares. And then there’s this!” She thrust her hands out.

He stayed where he was.

She dropped her face into her hands. After a few minutes, she calmed down enough to lift her head.

He was sitting next to her again. “It means you help the
Sidhe
cross back and forth to the other world. It means you keep the bad ones in other world. It means you have a great power.”

“What does that mean? What are
Sidhe
?”

“Those that can cross over between this world and the next. Some of them look human, some look quite different, like the ones in your room. Most are benevolent. Some are not,” he said.

“Why are they around me?”

“Because you are
Tuatha de Dannan
. Your ability to open the portal between this world and the next was activated when you turned seventeen. They are following you because some want your help to get out of the other world, others want to go back.”

“What? This doesn’t make any sense. This isn’t right.” She scooted away from him. “No. Not happening.”

“Stay calm. I’ll explain everything I can,” he said.

She jumped away from him. “Wait a second, how can I tell who wants in and who wants out? This is crazy.”

He was still crouched on the floor, even though she wasn’t there anymore. “I don’t know. I don’t know how it works.”

“Then how do you know what I am?” she asked.

“Because I can sense it, just as you could sense me. You know, with your headaches.”

“Sense what?” she asked. “What exactly are you?”

He didn’t respond.

Her feet tapped with the urgency to move. She made a perimeter around the room with her feet, heel to toe. She closed her eyes, relaxed her arms at her sides, palms up. When she completed the circle, she opened her eyes.

Rylan stared at her.

“What?”

“How did you know how to do that?” he said.

She looked down. Purple flames had traveled from her palms, wrapping luminous purple light around her arms. On the ground, a faint purple light marked the circle she’d drawn with her feet. She put her arms in front of her face, watching the light shimmer on her skin. “What did I do?”

He closed the space between them and grabbed her arm. He stared at the shimmery purple on her skin then bent over to examine the glowing line on the floor.

“I think this is protecting us,” he said. “Do you feel better?”

She went through her internal system check. Headache: gone. Voices: gone. Nausea: gone. Even the sting from the scratches on her feet had lessened. “Yes. I think I do.”

“Whoa. I guess I’m okay because I’m on the inside.”

“Why? What are you?”

He backed away from her, but she caught his arm, the purple flames lapping at his skin. “Tell me.”

He pulled out of her grasp then used two fingers to trace a line down her arm, from the inside of her elbow to her wrist. “I’m half-
Sidhe
, half-human.” He pressed his palm against hers. “The result of an unholy union.” He met her eyes again. “This stuff feels incredible, almost like static electricity.” His eyes were their usual bright green, but flecks of gold sparkled in his retina. “Wow,” he whispered.

Things moved inside her she didn’t even know existed. His skin on hers sent the tinglies through her body. Before she could comprehend her thoughts, the purple light intensified and stretched, tendrils wrapping around his wrist.

“Whoa!” He jerked both of his hands back.

She turned away from him.

“I’m sorry, I –”

She cleared her throat to cut him off. “Doesn’t matter. Tell me everything you know.”

“Okay. Ask me questions. If I know the answer, I’ll tell you,” he said.

“What are exactly are the
Sidhe
?”

“Have you heard of the Fae?”

She pivoted so she faced him again. “The Fae? As in fairies? You’ve gotta’ be kidding me.”

He held up his hand. “There’s no such thing as fairies, but the
Tuatha
and
Sidhe
are where that legend comes from.
Sidhe
are entities who can pass from this world to the next.”

“What’s the next world?”

“You know – the other side. The spirit world, heaven, hell, the land of shadows, nirvana, jannah, the next realm. Whatever you want to call it.”

“Why do they need help to go back and forth?” she asked.

“Some don’t. Some can pass back and forth with no help at all. Some need help, particularly if they are weak, sick, or not 100%
Sidhe
, like me.”

She nodded as if she understood. She was still trying to wrap her head around what he’d said, but she didn’t want him to stop.

“There’s more. Some need to be kept out of this world. That’s part of your gig.”

“How do I tell which ones need to stay out?” she asked.

He shrugged. “There are some notable bad ones that I can tell you about, but other than that, I don’t know.”

“What do I do?” she asked.

“We need help. We need to find someone who can train you.”

“Do you know anyone else like me?” she asked.

“It’s not that simple. There are only five
Tuatha
on earth at any given time.”

“What? That makes no sense.” She twisted her hands together. “I can’t do this. This isn’t real.”

“Most
Tuatha
are identified at birth, then trained their entire lives,” he said. “That’s why we need help.”

She walked around the small room, her mind working for the answer she felt just beyond her grasp. “Oh!” She snapped her fingers. “The counselor. At school. She told me that soon that I would need help, and gave me her number. She could read my mind.”

He yanked her roughly to him. “What? What’s her name? What do you mean she could read your mind?”

“Ouch!” She pulled her arm back. “She says her name is Dr. Ramone.”

“What else?” He spoke through a clenched jaw.

“Her eyes were weird. Something was…off and it scared me. She read my thoughts, said I didn’t need to fear her, but there would be a time soon when I would need help and to call her.”

“She was at our school?” His brows furrowed together, making a line between his eyes.

She resisted the urge to smooth it out with her finger. “Yes. When I asked the front office, they said the regular person is out on maternity leave. She was subbing. Why? Why are you freaking out?” She moved to the edge of the circle to leave the room.

“Wait!” he yelled. “Don’t leave the circle. There’s something I need to tell you. We can’t trust her, at least not yet.”

“Why?”

“With you, there are now six
Tuatha
in the world. That means one has to die.”

“What? That’s crazy” She moved towards him.

“If there are still six by the next summer solstice, the oldest one dies,” he said.

“Okay, so? That’s not me.”

“No, you don’t understand. If the oldest one is not ready to go, or one of the other ones doesn’t want to become the next in line, they may try to kill you, so there are only five again, especially since they have no idea who you are.”

She slammed her foot on the ground, sending a wave of light over the ground. “Why? Why would they do that? What’s so freakin’ great about being
Tuatha
?”

“Because, you can live forever.”

Chapter 9

“What?” she said. “No, that’s not….” She backed away from him.

“Celeste, don’t leave the —”

But she was already running. She stepped out of the circle of light, ran up the stairs, and threw open the cellar door. She ran down the long, narrow hallway and was out the front door in a matter of seconds. She ran down the steps, past his car, and on to his neglected lawn. She collapsed on her knees in the packed dirt, tears running down her face.

“Celeste!” Rylan was down the front porch steps and by her side before she could even blink. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”

She answered between cries, “No.”

“Please, come back inside.”

She stood. “No. I don’t want this. I didn’t ask for this. It’s too much and I can’t do it. I won’t!”

“It just is, Celeste. I can’t change it.” He gestured to the front porch. “We need to go inside, keep you safe. Come on.”

“No. I want to go home.”

He started to answer, but his eyes widened. “Run!”

Dark movement filled the air and swept around her. The birds converged, thousands spinning around her in a massive whirling vortex.