The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1) (28 page)

Fifteen minutes later, someone rang the bell at
Aaron’s house.  Quinn jumped up excitedly.  Bram stared at Quinn as
he crossed the room and opened the door.

“All right, I’m here now, show me these papers so
I can get started with this,” Kelleigh ordered, pushing her way into the living
room.

Bram and I stood staring at her while she stripped
off her jacket and gloves and made herself comfortable on the burgundy sofa.

Aaron stepped back into the room carrying a bowl
of chips and some fruit.  “Hello, Kelleigh,” he said, looking her over
curiously.  He sat the food down on the coffee table and began clearing
off the layers of paperwork.

“No, here, let me help you, Aaron,” she offered,
jumping up and taking hold of the priceless documents, tossing them aside.

Aaron grabbed her wrist, “Please Kelleigh, these
items are extremely fragile.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, of course they are.”  She
put the papers down carefully and for the first time since I’d met her, she
actually blushed.

“Aaron, I thought Kelleigh could help you
translate this.  She’s really quite good at it.  She was able to find
answers to some of these things before we knew that Bram was a part of it
all.  And you could use the help, couldn’t you?”  Quinn joined his
sister and put his arm over her shoulder.  “She’s anxious to help out in
any way she can…since she wasn’t able to take on the shifting part, I thought
you may be able to use her help,” he repeated, trying to convince Aaron to
allow Kelleigh to join in.

I thought it was very sweet and thoughtful of
Quinn to want to include Kelleigh.  She was pretty heartbroken about not
being the guardian and this did seem like the perfect job for her.

Kelleigh kept her eyes lowered and folded her
hands in front of herself.  She looked like someone who had just been sent
to the principal’s office.  I wanted to laugh.  She was really
working it.  Aaron stepped over and put his hand on her shoulder. 
She raised her head, batting her big blue eyes.

“Of course you can help, sweetheart,” Aaron said
smiling, looking over the top of his glasses, “I can’t think of anyone better
suited to take on this challenge.” 

“Thank you Aaron, you won’t regret this!  I
am quite good with languages and I’ve studied olde Irish so I do think I’d be
very helpful.  Oh, and I’ve brought my tablet so I can do major
research.  You do have internet, don’t you?  Oh what am I saying, of
course you do, everyone does.  And also I…”  Quinn poked her in the
arm and shook his head no.  Kelleigh stared at her brother and was just
about ready to get into something with him when she stopped herself, looked
back at Aaron, and smiled.  “Thank you, Aaron, I’ll do my best.”

Aaron chuckled and reached back down to the coffee
table and continued picking up the papers.  “No one can know anything
about this, right, Kelleigh?” he said, glancing over his shoulder.

“Of course not,” she answered, then joined Aaron
in cleaning up.  He took her aside and began the task of explaining to her
the intricacies of the documents in his possession. She followed him as he led
her downstairs to show her the rest of the artifacts and to set her up with
some research he needed done.

I sat back down on the sofa and rested my head
against the jacquard cushion.  Bram sat by me and Quinn alongside
him.  We were so quiet, each one of us lost in our own thoughts about what
lay ahead and how we would deal with it.

I decided to try and use my mindspeak to
communicate with both of them simultaneously.  It seemed like we’d better
get a full understanding of what our abilities were and how to use them. 
I knew that I was able to hear external things occurring miles and miles away,
but my mindspeak also gave me the ability to tap into peoples’ minds, hear
their voices inside my head, and, thereby, communicate with them.

 I tried to get into Bram’s head to see if I
was able to read his thoughts but it didn’t seem to work that way.  The
only time I was able to actually speak to anyone was if I directed my internal
voice their way and engaged them in a conversation.  So, simply reading
anyone’s thoughts wasn’t part of my ability.  In a way I was relieved at
that.  I was afraid I’d be trying to read minds way too often, especially
Bram’s.  I focused on the two of them and began sending out my voice.

“Bram, Quinn, I’m just trying to see if you can
hear me at the same time,” I explained.

Both their heads jerked in my direction which made
me laugh.  The look on their faces was priceless.  Once they got over
the initial shock of the three of us being able to communicate all at once, we
could engage in conversation.  It was just like being on a telephone
conference call.  The only disconcerting thing was the fading in and out
between them, but it was something I could learn to deal with. I continued
communicating with them to see how long I might be able to hold on.  We
went back and forth for about two minutes, according to Quinn’s watch. 
That felt good.  If we needed to get messages to each other, that should
be enough time.  After practicing for about a half hour we determined that
I needed at least five minutes between each session for my ability to recharge
itself.  I was excited.  This would be a huge asset.

Bram decided he needed to work on his visual
ability.  He knew he could narrow his sight to distances in and around
town, but up until now he’d never tried to go any farther.  He stood up
and said he was going to focus his visual ability on Dublin since he had been
there so many times. He knew that, for his ability to work, he had to think of
a specific area and zoom in to it with his mind’s eye or his
eagle’s eye
as he called it; then he’d be able to see it in real time. He closed his eyes
at first but then opened them, saying that didn’t help.  Instead he
focused on a picture that hung above the fireplace.  Without blinking his
eyes, he stared at the picture then a smile of satisfaction spread across his
face.  He nodded his head up and down and we knew he was in Dublin, only
visible to him.  Five minutes passed before he began blinking his eyes and
looked over to Quinn and me. 

“Incredible,” he said softly. “It was as though I
was there, flying.  I literally moved through the city the way I do when
I’ve shifted.”

Quinn stood up and patted Bram on the back. 
“That’s brilliant, mate!” 

Bram visited a couple more spots visually and
discovered that, like me, he needed a few minutes between each session to sort
of recharge the ability.  He felt confident in the fact that he could use
this new skill comfortably and when needed.

“Hey, wait.  Your dad said that you could see
inside of things as well, right?” Quinn began. “How about trying to see inside
of something?”

“Like what?”

We all grew quiet trying to think of somewhere
where Bram might try out his ability even further when suddenly it hit me.

“I know!” I jumped up and stood in front of Bram.
“Try the sidhe.  You know, where your Dad believes the Eye is.  Do
you think you can?”

Bram raised his eyebrows as he watched Quinn
interpret my suggestion. “Never know unless I try,” he answered
excitedly.  “Only thing, I’m not quite sure where it is.”

“Do you need to know the exact location before you
can see it?” Quinn asked.

“Not sure, I’ve only done this a few times and it
was places I’d been to…just like now with Dublin.”  Bram twisted his mouth
in concentration.  “The sidhe is in Killarney Park, and, I’ve been there a
million times so...”  He motioned for us to sit back down as he directed
his eyes back to the painting above the fireplace.  He stood unblinking
for quite a while before we saw the change in his posture. 

I nudged Quinn and pointed out to him how Bram’s
shoulders had lowered and his knees were bent, almost as if he were getting
ready to jump.  Judging from what he had done a few minutes earlier, he
seemed to get into a position almost like he was getting ready to fly when he
had successfully transferred his vision to another location.

He froze in that position for almost ten minutes,
then began blinking rapidly and breathing hard.  He slumped down and
almost fell to the ground when Quinn and I rushed over and grabbed him, helping
him to the couch.  He kept blinking and staring past us.  Quinn shook
his shoulders fiercely hoping to jog him out of the trance he seemed to be in.

“Bram…Bram, are you ok?” I asked in mindspeak,
worried at the growing paleness crossing over his face. 

He nodded yes and then began coughing.  I
grabbed a water bottle and held it up to his lips.  He focused on the
bottle and eagerly took it, downing the entire contents in one long
swallow.  Once he put the bottle down I was relieved to see he was with
us.  His eyes shot back and forth between Quinn and me. 

“I found the sidhe,” he began, leaning to the edge
of the sofa.  “I circled around it a few times just to be sure it was the
one we’re looking for.  But I knew it was.  Something inside me knew
it was.  I landed away from it and noticed tracks.  They were all
over.”

“Tracks? What kind of tracks?” I asked.

“You name it; animal, human, and some I’ve never
seen before. Large and deep, like whatever had made the tracks was heavy…
really heavy.”  Bram pulled himself up and bent forward, taking hold of
another bottle of water. 

“I got close to the top of the sidhe where I
thought an opening may have been.  The whole thing was covered with grass
and weeds except for a long stretch of rocks embedded into the very top. 
They formed a straight line and ran about three meters.  Plants were
growing in between most of the rocks except for a couple of them at the
edge.  Looking closer at them I could see they’d been moved.  The
plants around them had been smashed and the dirt was loose.  I lifted one
and, and then…” Bram paused as he looked at me, his face growing pale once
again.

“What mate, what did you see?” Quinn was now
kneeling on the floor in front of Bram, signing frantically to him.

Bram stared at Quinn and raised his hands in
sign.  He stopped speaking and signed wildly to him, his face growing red
with emotion.  After Bram finished recounting what had happened, Quinn
stumbled back and sat on the floor, looking shocked.

 I shook his shoulder.  “Bram, what did
you see?” It felt weird the way he stopped talking and only signed to Quinn,
like he didn’t want to tell me.  I leaned down close to his face and asked
again, “What did you see?”

He shook his head.  “No,” was his only
answer.

“What do you mean,
No
?” I asked, feeling a
rush of color come to my face.  I was getting angry and couldn’t
understand his hesitation.

 He stood up and went to the stairs leading
to the basement and called for Aaron.  I’d never heard his voice with that
kind of tone.  Quickly Aaron and Kelleigh ascended the stairs and joined
us in the living room.  At this point Bram wouldn’t even make eye contact
with me.  He began signing furiously, this time to his Dad, his intention
clear…he didn’t want me to know what he saw. 

“What’s going on?” Kelleigh asked as she came and
stood by my side.

“I wish I knew,” I snarled, growing increasingly
impatient.  “Quinn, what did he tell you?”

Quinn sat down on the couch.  He stared up at
me with nervous eyes, “I’m sure he’s got it wrong, Willow, he’s got to have
made a mistake.”

“Ok now, that does it!” I snapped, walking over to
Bram and Aaron.  I grabbed Bram’s hand and stood between the two of
them.  “What is going on?” 

“You need to tell her, Bram,” Aaron ordered his
son.

Bram looked down at me and cupped my face in his
hands.  I could feel Aaron take hold of my shoulders.  My heart began
racing as Bram stared into my eyes.  He looked at Aaron again with such a
worried expression I felt as though the world was coming to an end.  “Tell
her, son,” Aaron said.

Bram once more looked deeply into my eyes then
took a deep breath. 

“Willow, when I lifted the rock, I was able to
lower my vision into the earth…into the sidhe.  It was nothing but dirt
and rocks but then it eventually opened up into a cavern.  It was pitch
dark but I could make out movement in there.  I squinted my eyes and let
them get accustomed to the light and after a minute I was able to distinguish
shapes.  Some were hideous, like things out of a horror movie… but then,
sitting in a circle were human shapes.  Four of them.  One of them
was speaking but I don’t know what he was saying.  I zoomed in closer,
hoping to be able to read his lips or something, and then as I pulled in close
and saw his face…I realized…” Bram cleared his throat and looked away from me
back to his dad.

I grabbed his hands from my face and yelled,
“What…you realized, what? Tell me!”

“All right!” he yelled back, then took another
deep breath, “I realized the person talking, leading the others in some kind of
ritual, was…Willow, it was your dad.”

Bram’s eyes moved to the floor. He was still
visibly shaken and tried to compose himself.  I stood there in front of
him, holding onto his hands, the words replaying in my head.  He mumbled,
“I’m sorry,” then tried to hug me. 

I pushed him away and swung around looking at
Aaron, “I don’t understand! What’s going on?  There’s no way my dad is one
of the Fomorians!”  I hissed.  Rage began building up at the thought
anyone would even consider such an idea.

“No, of course not, Willow, I’m sure there’s a
logical explanation for it. We just need to relax and figure this out.” 
Aaron took hold of my arm and led me back to the couch.  “Please sit,
let’s all relax.”

I couldn’t sit so I stood in front of the
fireplace, my arms folded across my chest.  I felt so angry with Bram that
he didn’t tell me right away, that he assumed it really was Dad down in the
sidhe.  Even Quinn had suggested that it must be a mistake.  Why did
Bram assume the worst?

Aaron proceeded to drill Bram about what exactly
it was that he saw.  When he came to the part about the figure who was
leading the ritual, the one he thought was Dad, he nervously looked my
way.  I avoided making eye contact, instead placing my focus on
Aaron. 

“This is incredible,” Aaron began. “The fact that
you’re able to descend into the sidhe gives us a tremendous advantage over the
Fomorians,” he signed to Bram, who had now taken his place beside Quinn on the
sofa.

“How so, Aaron? It’s cool that Bram is able to spy
on them but if we don’t even know what they’re saying, how’s that going to
help?”  Quinn asked, grabbing a bottle of soda.

“The ancient pages show a ceremony taking place
over what could be the very sidhe Bram transported to.  Remember the part
we read…about the four corners?  They must not join and the lights of the
sky must not reunite.  Plus the fact that Bram saw four human figures
participating in some kind of ceremony means that this document can give us a
clue on how to stop the return.” 

Aaron bent over, picked up the tattered folder,
and removed the encased cloth, laying it on the coffee table once again.

He knelt on the floor and pointed out the
picture.  I walked over to the table and knelt down beside Aaron. 
The figures on the fabric appeared to be standing around a mound of earth with
their arms raised up to the sky, each one strategically placed at a corner. 

“I wasn’t clear on the significance of this
picture – until now, that is,” Aaron said.

“Is this them joining the four corners of the
sidhe?”  I wondered, waving my hand over the cloth.

“I believe so, yes,” Aaron declared.

“So what are the lights of the sky then?” Quinn
asked, kneeling down next to me. “The stars?”

We all looked at the cloth for a few seconds,
trying to interpret its meaning.

“No, not the stars,” Bram said, kneeling on the
other side of the table, in front of me.  “Lights of the sky, that’d be
lightning.”

Bram then pointed out one particular figure with
jagged lines emerging from its hand.  “This looks like lightning to me.”

“Exactly,” Aaron mumbled. “It all fits, what with
the weather phenomena we’re experiencing and all.  Of course the lights of
the sky would be lightning.  So if each of these figures join together and
summon up lightning, I imagine that it would pass from one to the next, thereby
joining the four corners.” 

Aaron ran his finger above the cloth illustrating
the path of the lightning.  “Reuniting the lights of the sky… which in
turn would bring about the return of Balor’s Eye.  That explains the
tremendous amount of lightning storms along with all the other strange
weather.  They’re getting ready to join the four corners of the sidhe and
connect each corner with lightning.” 

Aaron grabbed a notebook and pencil and copied the
picture that was on the cloth.  He then added lightning bolts from the
hands of each of the figures showing how the lightning would connect.

“But Aaron, I don’t get it,” I began. “I thought
that the sidhe was where Lugh could be found, not the Fomorians.  How is
it that they’re down there, and would Lugh really hide the Eye right under
their noses?”  I almost laughed when I heard myself say that.

“That sidhe was one of many the Tuatha used when
they went into the Otherworld.  As I mentioned before, they created
another home for themselves, another land to dwell in, undetectable by humans
or any other beings.  Think of the sidhe, not so much as a single place but
a pathway, kind of like underground tunnels.  Since the Tuatha no longer
inhabit the sidhes, the Fomorians must be traveling all through them now as
they’re gaining strength.  Not only are they building their numbers but
they’re in search of the Eye.

“And this particular sidhe is the doorway in and
out, like the front door of a house.   It’s a very fortunate
coincidence that Bram saw them there.  That tells me that we’re on the
right track as far as that being a possible hiding place of the Eye.  But
it also suggests that they’re getting ready for an attack.  If the four
corners are represented by  the humans Bram saw, and creatures of all
shapes and sizes are now appearing, that means the time is near, very
near.”  Aaron’s brown eyes narrowed as he looked to each one of us with a
sense of urgency.

“Well, now that you’re saying that, Aaron, I think
this might interest you…”  Kelleigh placed her tablet on the coffee table
and brought up a page she had bookmarked.  “After Bram told us about Balor
and the Fomorians I did some research.  Of course there wasn’t anything
about Lugh and the Triquetra and the shapeshifting thing but there was this
text, written in Celtic, which appeared in a 17
^th
-century
poem.  It caught my eye because when I translated the title. It read, “The
Light of the Eye.”  I was researching anything ancient Celtic to do with
an eye.  Anyway, here are the parts I could translate…”

Skills blessed with was he…heir to the race who
called Toraigh their home…to the north by the sea lays the object of grief.”

Aaron stared at the screen, transfixed by the
words, mumbling each one over and over.  He glanced at Kelleigh for a
second, and then ran downstairs.  When he returned a few minutes later he
had another book in his hands.  He opened the worn volume to a page at the
end and read aloud in the ancient language.  He sat the book down then
grabbed hold of Kelleigh hugging her tightly.

“Kelleigh, my girl, you’re a genius!” he said
excitedly.  “I’ve seen this verse before, but only skimmed over it thinking
it didn’t apply – but with your translation, it all makes sense.”

Aaron put down the book and took hold of
Kelleigh’s tablet.  “This part,
Skills blessed with was he,
this is
referring to Lugh.  Along with being known as the God of Light, Lugh was
also known as the God of all Skills.  He didn’t start out with the Tuatha;
he earned it by being an exceptional craftsman.  He fashioned the very
Triquetra hanging around each of your necks.” 

 Aaron nodded his head towards Bram, Quinn,
and me.  Each one of us reached up and took hold of our pendant. 
Even though we knew that Lugh himself was the one who created the Triquetra, it
suddenly took on a whole new meaning and I clutched it even tighter.

“And this part,
heir to the race who called
Toraigh their home
.”  Aaron knocked himself on the head.  “How
could I have missed the meaning here?  Of course the race this refers to
is the Fomorians who lived on Tory Island –which is another name for Toraigh
–with Lugh being the heir, since he was the grandson of Balor, the leader of
the Fomorians!”  Aaron exhaled deeply then grabbed hold of Kelleigh again.
“Brilliant girl!” he said rubbing her shoulder vigorously.

Kelleigh blushed and smiled then looked over at
Quinn with raised eyebrows.  “Do you hear that, dear brother?”  Quinn
laughed and kept interpreting for Bram.

Aaron continued, “And finally, ‘to the north by
the sea lays the object of grief.’ This most definitely is speaking of the Eye
which would be the object of grief and –”

“And which is laying to the north by the sea
somewhere,” finished Bram.  “So much for thinking it’s in the sidhe. 
I’d say that’s talking about Northern Ireland.  That means we only have to
search one sixth of the entire island,” Bram said with frustration in his
voice.  “The sidhe was one thing, it was doable; but how are we going to
search the entire Northern coast?”

Aaron handed the tablet back to Kelleigh, then
picked up the book he had retrieved from the basement and gave it to her also.
He opened it to the poem.  “This is the poem,
The Light of the Eye
. 
Is there any way you can translate the rest of it?  It may give us a
clearer idea of where along the coast the Eye might be located.”

Kelleigh took hold of the book and narrowed her
eyes as she studied the text.  She bit her lip and stared, her finger
tracing along the yellowing page.  “I can try.  This looks to be a
little different from the version I found on the internet.”

“Whatever you can do…” Aaron said encouragingly.

Without a word or even a glance up from the book,
Kelleigh made her way downstairs.

“While Kelleigh’s doing that we should still keep
our focus on the sidhe.  Anything we can discover about the Fomorians will
only help.”  Aaron began pacing around the room.  I wanted to ask him
about Dad and what he thought might be behind the figure Bram saw in the sidhe,
but the distracted look on his face told me now wasn’t the time.

The rest of us sat there silently, staring at the
antique cloth on the table, when Bram spoke up. “I can return to the sidhe and
scope it out…see if the Fomorians have a clue as to where the Eye is.”

“That’s a good idea, son; even if we’re able to
stop them before they resurrect the Eye it would still be beneficial for us to
know its exact location. This reprieve we’ve been given with the weather is a
blessing, but also a forewarning.  The next storm that comes is going to
be the big one.  They’re going to try and take control.  We must be
ready.”  Aaron once more picked up the cloth and placed it back in its
leather binder.  He left the room and went downstairs.

Bram came over to where I stood and took my hand.
“Please, Willow, I’m sorry if I hurt you by not telling you what I saw. 
It was such a surprise to see your dad there.”

“It wasn’t my dad!” I verbalized in both my voice
and in my head, shooting the thought directly at him. 

“Ok, ok, well, whatever it was, I wasn’t sure how
to tell you,” he answered; an expression of apology filled his face.

“I don’t know what you saw, Bram.  The fact
that you right away assumed it was my dad is what hurts.  Think of what
we’re dealing with here.  You know my dad and you know me; saying he’s
part of all that is like accusing me as well.”  I was still angry and my
heart started racing.  I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself
down.   To feel this angry at Bram seemed so wrong.

“All I know right now is that we need to get
ready.  I don’t know about you two,” I added looking between Bram and
Quinn, “but I feel about as prepared to do battle with Fomorians as I do to
drive a spaceship.  How are we supposed to get ready to fight a force like
that when we don’t even know exactly how to use our own powers? ”

Quinn stood next to me. “I know how you feel,
Willow.  I guess what we better do is to stop talking and start learning
how to control these mad skills of ours.”

Hours later we were well into refining and getting
accustomed to the abilities we each had inherited.  I was feeling
comfortable using my hearing to tap into conversations happening great
distances away.  Quinn had suggested that I try and tune into somewhere in
the US and see if I’d be able to hear what was going on.  I felt like I
needed to look at a map to get an idea so Bram showed me a world map hanging on
the wall of Aaron’s office.  My eyes landed on New York and there I
focused.  After a few minutes I tapped in on a conversation between a guy
and a girl who were arguing.  She was angry because she thought he was
interested in her friend and he was vehemently denying it.  It felt kind
of creepy listening in but, at the same time, I was thrilled to know I could do
it.

Bram had been using the map himself and was able
to pinpoint places to see with his ability.  As long as he had an image of
its location he could transport himself visually to it. He told me he had been
to London, Moscow, Paris, and Santé Fe.

“Santé Fe?” I asked, feeling less angry at him.

“Aye, I wanted to see where you came from.” He
smiled, his brown eyes pulling me in once more.

“And what’d you think?” I wondered, moving closer,
wanting to completely let go of any anger I had towards him.

“Well, from what I could see, it’s nice. 
But, considering it’s the middle of the night over there, it was kind of hard
to tell.  I think the best thing would be to go there in person and you
can show me around,” he replied, taking my hands in his.

I lost myself in his eyes and allowed the feelings
of regret to take over.  “I’m sorry, Bram, I really overreacted.”

“Naw, you didn’t.  I know how I’d feel if
someone said that about my da, I’d have been just as mad.  I’m sorry,” he
spoke in a whisper. 

He pulled me close and leaned down, kissing my
lips lightly.  It was only for a few seconds, but it was our first kiss
and it was perfect.  I smiled and rested my head against his chest, the
sound of his heartbeat echoing in my ear.  I let myself visualize for a
split second Bram and I together in Santé Fe, showing him around the place I
called home.  It made me feel so happy and more determined than ever to
beat the Fomorians and move on with my life.

When we returned to the living room we were
surprised to see Quinn laying face-down on the floor.  He jumped up and
told us he was practicing his swimming.  He had been trying to tune into
what his feeling ability may be and thought it would help to be in whale
mode.