Dark Isle (Celtic Legacy Book 2) (16 page)

“You did good with the power bolt
,
”
I said, touching his hand. He let out a snort.

“I think you just have a knack for the high voltage moves.”

I started to ask a question
but
Aednat
jumped
out at us from behind a tree
, scaring me into a girly shriek. “Good reflexes
,
”
s
he
said,
laughing
. My knife was gripped, my fingers holding the bone handle for all I was worth. I hadn’t even realized that
I’d Called it.

“Don’t do that, Aednat
,
”
I said, putting the knife back into its sheath.
“Stop acting like a little kid.”

Her lips twisted up in a snarl. “
Aednat is
not a child.”

“Then don’t do things that make me think of you that way. If you want to be treated like an adult, act like one.” I’d had that conversation more than once with Ashling through her teenage years; the words flowed naturally when it came to Aednat.

B
right spots of colour lit up her cheeks, her anger
made her eyes glitter like two brilliant gemstones, emerald and sapphire. “I AM NOT A CHILD!” Her shout stilled the birds around us, but it didn’t faze me.
Her anger seemed to make her forget to speak in third person, at least for that moment.

“Could have fooled me
,
”
I said
,
and pushed past her. I wouldn’t tolerate Ashling’s bad behaviour growing up
,
and I sure wasn’t going to tolerate Aednat’s
—e
specially
if she
was
very old and just showing us a childlike body. That was even more reason for her to act like an adult.

Silence reined for sometime after that, none of us speaking, though Luke gave me a wink a
nd a smile. I squeezed his hand and let go of him so I could
focus on making small flames o
ver and over again above my fingertips
. I worked at it until I was sweating.

Slipping up beside me, Aednat put her hand in mine.“Aednat is sorry. You are right
;
Aednat
need
s
to be more grown up. Friends?”

I smiled down at her. “Of course, that never changed.” With a squeal that made me think she had no idea what it meant to be an adult, her grip tightened on mine.

With a jerk,
she pulled me forward to a curved arbutus tree, the bright red trunk twisted over in an almost perfect arch
, just like the one that had brought us here
. “
This is the right archway
,
”
s
he
said. “This gateway takes us back to Enchanted forest, close to water’s edge.” She was tugging hard on my fingers; I dug my heels into the dirt.

“Wait, we need a plan, we can’t just go charging in there again.” The
remembered
feel of the water beast
’
s tentacles on my legs sent shivers through me. There was no way I wanted to face that
creature again
if I didn’t have to.
I could too easily recall the feeling of my power being sucked through me
, and into the beast
.

Luke nodded. “Aednat, can you sing to the
lake monster
, be-spell it for a time?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Luke though seemed determined. “Come on Aednat, you were the queen, surely you have some powers left?”

Though I thought perhaps I should step between them, I was curious to see how this played out. Something about Aednat’s lack of power seemed strange, even if she had been usurped.

The banshee glared at Luke. “
Aednat
know
s
how to lure beast. Large chunks of Tuatha.” She spat at him.

“Hey!” I said, “We are all on the same side.”

I crouched down so that I could look Aednat in the face. “We need your help. Please, can you lull the beast?”

Luke’s hand brushed along the back of my neck, sending a not unpleasant shiver down my back. “Thank you
,” he
murmured, quiet enough that only I could hear him.

Snorting, Aednat shook her head at me
, then after a moment nodded
. “I sing to baby beast, you and Shining boy dive for Lir.” She snapped her fingers. “Like that, we get him out. He can tame baby beast for real.

“That’s a baby?” I squeaked out.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a baby or not
, Quinn
. You aren’t going
,
”
Luke said, loosening his sword, checking the blade over.

My eyebrows climbed.“What did you just say?”

He didn’t make eye contact with me
;
instead
he
focused on his sword. “You aren’t going. You’re hurt
;
it’s too dangerous. I’ll go, you stay here.”

“I’m not staying behind, Luke. You can’t make me.” God, that made me sound like such
a child, but it was the truth.

Luke frowned. “I don’t think you
understand. We are going to have to run hard, which you haven’t been able to do since you’ve been bitten, then swim hard and maybe have to fight off the creature.
I know you could do it under other circumstances, but you’re too weak right now; you’re injured.”

“You are not leaving me behind.” I held my ground.

Be careful you don’t overestimate yourself, Quinn
,
Cora said.

I put a hand on the archway and looked over my shoulder at him.“I’m going
;
are you coming with or staying
here
?”

His jaw twitched
and I could see the struggle in him.

“You said I would lead and you would follow. Are you backing out of that now?” It was a dirty shot, but I refused to be left behind.

H
e gave me a sharp nod,
his eyes almost sparking with anger. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.” He
handed me the flask of Fairy Honey, the cap already unscrewed.

“Here, take some more of this
;
it will help you make the sprint
and swim
,
”
h
e
said. I took it from him, the flask cool against my skin, the scent of lavender and honey swirling around me, then took a deep gulp of the drink.

“Why isn’t this affecting me worse?” I asked, immediately regretting the fact that I spoke out loud.

Luke tipped his head to the side. “
Your body must be adjusting to it. But you’ve only had it once or twice, right
?”

Face going red under the memories that surfaced, I tried my best not to think of Bres
’
half
-
naked body
,
muscled and glistening in the firelight. I’d been hurt and he’d given me a dose of Fairy Honey to help me through the pain. Only it’d been much stronger
,
and
it
had acted more like liquor than medicine.

“
Umm… yeah
.” No need to share
that memory
with him, though he could probably guess. Which
,
by the way his face darkened and eyes narrowed, he was doing at that very moment.

He gave a small grunt, reached for my hand
,
and started towards the archway where Aednat stood waiting.

Following her through, we stepped from one forest into another, though there were subtle differences. Where we’d come from there’d been birds singing, a breeze blowing, the sounds of life on the edge of my
senses
—
though I didn’t realize it until they were gone.

What had once been Cathedral grove
, and was now an Enchanted forest,
was silent like an old house the night the power goes out. The stillness was so unnatural that I couldn’t help the adrenaline that spiked through me. I let go of Luke’s hand, feeling the need to be ready for anything.

Aednat crouched behind a mid-sized cedar tree and beckoned us closer. She lifted her hand and pointed. I followed her direction with my eyes. There, only fifty or so feet away
,
was the shoreline of Cameron Lake and
floating
in the middle was the “baby” beast. Laying sanguine in the water, it sunned itself at the surface, tentacles floating and flipping randomly.

“
Aednat will s
tart to sing then you run and swim
,
”
Aednat whispered. “
You will have
enough time to swim to Lir
;
then
Aednat
must go. Bad
Queen
will know
Aednat is h
ere.”

Crap, so we had to make it to Lir or we were toast. A small
fission
of excitement thrilled through me
along with the fear
. I was going to meet my father,
face to face,
a man I’d long thought dead.

Luke touched his fingers to my chin and placed a kiss on my lips, his words only for me. “Whatever happens, swim hard
;
no matter what happens you dive fast and deep. Don’t worry about anything except getting to Lir
.”

I nodded and gave him a hug, holding him tight for a brief second.

Aednat took a
big, exaggerated
breath and began to sing, her voice gathering strength as the beast lay in the water, his body stilling even more.

“Now!” Luke said,
half
yanking me to my feet. We sprinted the
short distance across the beach
and dove into the water, the ice cold chill of the lake slamming into me, making my muscles contract. A twinge from my shoulder slowed me down as I forced myself to swim deeper, knowing that holding my breath wasn’t an issue. Of course,
we’d found that out the hard way, Ashling and I
;
all
Tuatha
and Fomorii
could hold their breath under water
indefinitely
.
Aednat’s voice reached us even under the water, her tones weaving words I didn’t understand with a tune I’d never heard. Yet there was a part of me that recognized both
the melody and words
as a long ago lullaby
.

Luke motioned for me to set the pace, so I took the lead
. We swam right
under the tentacle
d
beast, its body blocking out the sunlight making the depths even darker.
T
here were no fish to be seen, no life except for the creature above us, which was not exactly reassuring. My shoulder began to ache with each stroke, the bite from the
Banshee
a
wakening with the exertion.

The pressure of the water intensified
, the light from above faded,
and then the worst thing that could have happened, did.

Aednat stopped singing.

With the burst of fear whipping through me, I forced myself to swim faster, not really knowing how close we were to the prison that held Lir.

Call your
F
ire forth, Quinn. And calm yourself
;
the beast likely doesn’t even know you’re here
,
Cora said, her words calming me, if only a little. I didn’t slow my pace though. With an effort, I called up a ball of blue flames, an orb that I pushed ahead of me, lighting my wa
y. Of course, that made me visible from above,
but there was nothing I could do about it
.

The water began to swirl around me, as if something far larger was making ripples in the water. Not good, not good at all. A heavy weight brushed against my left leg
and I made the mistake of looking back over my shoulder. The “baby” was right behind me
;
Luke was nowhere to be seen
.

I didn’t wait for
the creature
to figure out that I could
be its next meal. Putting the last of my reserves into overdrive, I swam
hard
for the bottom of the lake, though even as I thought that, I remembered that Cameron lake was supposedly bottomless. Shit.

There was no way to communicate with Luke
,
even if I still had him in my sights
, no way to explain that I’d made a mistake
;
but then, Aednat had assured us that Lir was do
wn here. The creature’s tentacle
bumped against me, then recoiled. It seemed as uncertain as I was.
Maybe it was still dopey from Aednat’s singing.
I kicked harder, the water beyond icy cold, the temperature seemed to have
dropped into arctic climes
.