Through the Door (10 page)

“She was gorgeous—stunning, actually. I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was tall and thin, like a supermodel, and she had the most amazing wavy long red hair.”

Cedar thought of the woman she had encountered outside Rohan and Riona’s house, and the way she had looked at her with such hatred. Could she be the woman who had taken her child?

Rohan stood up. “Thank you, Jane,” he said. Then he turned to the others. “And now we know.”

There was a stunned silence in the room. Then Anya said, “Are you saying you think
Nuala
took the child?”

“That’s a hell of an accusation! How do we know she’s telling the truth?” Murdoch said, jumping to his feet and pointing at Jane.

“Why would she lie?” asked Riona.

“Because maybe she’s the one who took off with Eden or lost her or got her killed, and now she’s trying to cover it up!” Murdoch yelled, pointing a finger at Jane, who sat frozen.

“Jane has never met Nuala!” Riona said. “And she described her perfectly. She must be telling the truth.”

“Nuala is hardly the only woman in this world with red hair. How do we know you didn’t tell this woman what to
say?” Murdoch demanded of Riona, coming closer, thrusting his chin out. “He said this was your idea. How do we know you’re not just trying to pin the blame on her?”

Rohan turned on Murdoch, burning with suppressed rage. The other man seemed to grow smaller as Rohan stared him down. “We have the proof of it right here! You think we would lie to all of you about something like this?
Think!
Riona has it right. Nuala has every reason to want that child. But the longer we spend arguing about it, the more dire the situation becomes.”

Cedar finally managed to find her voice. “Who is Nuala? Is she the woman I saw at your house? She looked like she hated me. But why? Who is she? What would she want with Eden?”

Several glances were exchanged around the room.

“I’m sorry, Cedar,” Riona said. “I didn’t realize the two of you had crossed paths. Yes, Nuala was at our house yesterday, before you came. She came back after you left, and demanded to know why you were there. I’m afraid I told her about my suspicions regarding Eden. She wanted to come with me to your apartment to find out for sure, but I said no. Nuala is unpredictable, and I didn’t know how she would react. But I guess we know now. I think…I believe Nuala wanted Eden to use her ability to open a sidh for her.”

“Where to? And why did she need to take her?”

“To a place that isn’t safe for any of us,” Rohan answered.

“I think you’re right,” said Nevan from her seat on the floor, cutting off Cedar’s next question. “I don’t want to believe it any more than the rest of you do, but look at the facts: there’s a witness, there’s a motive, and I think she’s actively blocking me. Everything I send just bounces back. It all looks pretty guilty.”

Jane frowned at the pixie blonde on the floor. “What do you mean, she’s blocking you?” she said.

Nevan raised an eyebrow, and then Cedar jumped as she heard a voice in her head.

Hey, Cedar. Hey, Jane.

“Whoa! Did you hear that?” Jane asked Cedar.

It takes a little getting used to.

Cedar didn’t take her eyes off Nevan’s lips, which had not moved.

“Are you reading our minds?” Jane asked.

Nevan smiled, and Cedar heard,
No. I can speak directly to you, but I can’t read your mind. And if you concentrate hard enough, you can shut me out. It takes some practice, though.

“Whoa,” Jane said again. “Who the hell
are
you people?”

Rohan looked as if he had forgotten Jane was there and had just been uncomfortably reminded. “I think you should head home, Jane. Let me walk you to the door.”

“Are you kidding me? No way,” Jane protested, looking at Cedar for backup.

“We are grateful for the assistance you’ve provided,” Rohan said. “However, from this point on, this needs to remain a family matter. Having one outsider is going to prove difficult enough.” He looked at Cedar when he said this, and she bristled at the insinuation.

“Cedar, I am not leaving you alone with these people. Tell him I’m staying,” Jane demanded.

“Of course you can stay,” Cedar said. “She’s staying,” she snapped at Rohan. “Now tell me more about Nuala. She told Eden that Finn sent her. Did he?”

“No, Cedar,” Riona said, her face anxious. “I can assure you, Finn had nothing to do with this. Nuala must have just been using him as a way to get Eden to go with her.”

“Then why does she want Eden? If she just wanted her to open a sidh, she didn’t have to take her.”

As she had half-expected, the faces in the room all turned toward Rohan. “We’ve told you all we can right now” was all he said in response.

“You haven’t told me anything at all!” Cedar shrieked, her fear and frustration boiling over. “You’re all just sitting here! You say I shouldn’t involve the police, yet you spent the whole night searching and came up with nothing! Now we know it wasn’t an accident. Eden was kidnapped by one of your people, and I want to know why! How else am I supposed to find her? Tell me, damn it! This is all your fault!” She punctuated her last few words with a series of hard punches against Rohan’s chest. Then she stepped back, breathing hard.

When he spoke, there was no anger in his voice, but rather something akin to pity. “Yes,” he said. “Yes, it is our fault. And so it is
we
who will take full responsibility for fixing our mistake. There is no need for you to be involved any further. We are perfectly capable of finding Eden and returning her to safety. And when we have done that, we will take full responsibility for her. She needs to be raised as part of this family—her true family.”

Cedar’s face was a storm of emotion, and her voice was low and dark when she spoke. “You’ll take
full responsibility for her
?
Part of this family?
I. Am. Her. Family. I’m all the family she needs.”

“Rohan, this is hardly helpful,” Riona said as she stepped between them. “Cedar, what he means is that we will help
you with Eden. We’ll teach her about who she is and her place in our world. You won’t have to worry about her.”

“No. I’m done with this bullshit. Get the hell out of my house.
Now.
”

“Cedar,” Riona began, but the others had already started heading toward the door.

Nevan walked over to Riona. “It’s her place,” she said with an almost respectful glance at Cedar. “And she’s right, we’re just sitting here. We’ve got to get moving if we’re going to track down Nuala before she gets too far.” One by one, they left. Cedar slammed the door behind them and turned to face Jane.

“Holy shit, Ceeds,” Jane said. “Who are those people? What kind of spell did that woman put on me? Is she a witch or something?”

“I don’t know,” Cedar said. She grabbed fistfuls of hair and pulled. “I feel like I’m losing my mind. But this is happening—it’s real. And the magic is real too. Damn it, Jane, I need those people. They know Nuala, and I can’t find Eden without them! But my mother says I shouldn’t trust them, and I’m so angry and scared and confused.
What should I do?
”

Jane hugged her tight. “I don’t know. I would have thrown them out too. But yeah, maybe you do need them. In any case, you’re not going to find Eden if you drive yourself mad. You need to focus—and rest. Why don’t you lie down for a bit, get some sleep. Then we’ll decide what to do next.”

Sleep was the last thing on Cedar’s mind. But she nodded to Jane and went into her door-less room. She sat in the back corner of the walk-in closet, where she curled up into a ball and dissolved like a sand castle hit by a ten-foot wave. She writhed in pain, her mouth open in a soundless scream. Over and over
again, she drew her knees up to her chest, trying to stem the flow from what she was sure was a fatal wound.
Eden’s gone, she’s gone, and it’s all my fault.
Eventually, her voice clawed its way to the surface and her moans and cries ripped through the air. Then Jane was there beside her, holding her together, and the two of them cried and clung to each other for what felt like hours. When Cedar finally lifted her head from her hands, she saw that Jane had fallen asleep on the floor beside her. She got up stiffly and covered her friend with a blanket.

She felt completely spent, but her mind was clearer than it had been all day. She picked up her phone and her purse and headed out the door. She stood still for a moment in the hallway, then went back inside and wrote a note for Jane saying she had gone out, and then another one for Eden.

Eden,

Call me. Stay here. I love you.

Mum

She laid the notes on the table and headed back into the hallway and down the stairs. The fresh air hit her in the face like a splash of cold water. She looked at the time. It was already late afternoon.

She started walking downtown but reversed her course and headed in the other direction, toward Eden’s school. She walked by the library on the way and went inside, but the memory of coming through the sidh with Eden made her stomach recoil, and she quickly retreated.

She dug out her phone and called Maeve. It rang several times, and she had already started formulating a message in
her mind to leave on the voice mail when Maeve suddenly picked up.

“Cedar?” she asked, breathing heavily as if she had run for the phone. “What is it? Have you found her?”

“No, but we know who took her. Where have you been? Why haven’t you called?”

“Someone
took
her? What do you know?”

Cedar recounted what had happened between Rohan and Jane, and the conclusion they had reached about Nuala. When she finished, there was a long silence on the other end of the phone.

“Dear God,” Maeve finally whispered.

“Mum, they seem sure that Nuala has Eden, but they didn’t say why, except that she wants Eden to open a sidh. Do you know anything more?”

“No, I don’t. But we need to find out,” Maeve answered. “Where are you now? Are you with them?”

“No,” Cedar said. The fresh air had cleared the last vestiges of cobwebs from her mind, and she knew what she had to do. “They all left. Well, I threw them out. But they know Nuala; I can’t do this without them. I’m going to call Riona. But first I’m coming over, okay? You said you have ways to find her, and I want to help.”

“You can’t, Cedar. I’m not at my apartment right now,” Maeve said.

“Well, where are you, then? I can meet you anywhere,” Cedar said, her voice rising in frustration.

“It doesn’t matter. Look, I made it very clear what I think of you being involved with those people, but if you insist upon it, the least you can do is keep me informed of what they’re
doing. They may have
some
use,” she said acidly. “If you find out any new information about Nuala, call me at once.”

Maeve hung up, and Cedar stared at the phone in her hands. She sat down abruptly on one of the swings in the school playground, wondering if anything in her world was as it seemed. She leaned back on the swing and looked up at the sky, dotted with white, puffy clouds that seemed totally out of place on such a day.
Hang in there, Eden,
she thought.
I’m going to find you.
Then she dialed Riona’s number.

It was getting dark when Cedar pulled up at the Fox and Fey. She walked around the back and was relieved to discover she could still see the descending stairs, even without Oscar’s buoyant presence. She hesitated at the big wooden door, wondering if she should knock. Then she squared her shoulders and shoved her way inside.

She stood still for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the near darkness. She noticed a couple of clusters of people sitting in the corners of the pub but couldn’t make out who they were. Then she heard a voice coming from behind the bar.

“Cedar, m’dear! Get yerself over here so I can pour you a drink.”

She headed to the bar, where the friendly face of the barkeeper waited for her.

“What’s yer pleasure, then?” he asked.

“Just coffee, please. It’s Felix, right?”

The old man grinned, a wide smile punctuated by two gold teeth and one black one, as he turned around and grabbed a carafe and a mug.

“You’ve got it right,” he said. “Felix Dockendorff at your service, ma’am.” He placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of her and plunked down a bowl of creamers and sugar. “How about some food, then? I make a mean fry-up.”

“No, thanks,” Cedar said, taking a creamer. Her stomach, already tied in knots, revolted at the thought of food.

He patted her hand and leaned forward, speaking in a voice just above a whisper. “Listen, I just want to say that I’m real sorry about yer troubles.”

Cedar wasn’t sure what to say, so she settled on, “Oh.”

Felix nodded gravely and continued. “But don’t you worry, m’dear. We’ll fix things up right, don’t you doubt it for a second.”

Cedar stirred cream into her coffee and watched it swirl into beige. “Yeah. Speaking of which, do you know where Rohan and Riona might be? I called, and then I went by their place, but no one was home. That’s why I came here; it was the only other place I knew to look.”