BRIDGER (18 page)

Life was significantly different because there was finally a
reason
behind all the madness.
 
Plus, in all honesty, it was pretty cool to have all of the newfound abilities.

Memaw, Tess, and I had been having ‘girl’s nights’ when the guys went away to ‘work’.
 
However, with Desmond and Liam specifically protecting Tess and me, sometimes it was a little hard.

Tess was practically prying Desmond from her leg.
 
He was all but wrapped around her massive body, begging us not to go.
 
Her attempt to be kind did nothing to curb his desire to keep her from taking one step out of the door.
 
“Desmond, I understand you’re my Protector.
 
What I need for you to understand is that I will beat you over the head until you’re senseless if you don’t let go of the back of my shirt.”

Finally Memaw stepped in and told him to go find something productive to do with his time. After she made it clear that she was more than capable of looking after Tess, Desmond finally allowed us to leave the house in peace.

What Desmond didn’t know was instead of going out to eat, Memaw had been teaching us more about the faerie world.
 
Tess was ages ahead of me – quite literally – but since my appearance it had also thrown a lot of things into question.

Things such as what was I in comparison to Tess.

There was no question that I was undoubtedly more powerful than Tess.
 
The only question was how far these newfound abilities extended.

Leaving out the front door, we feigned a walk to the nearby restaurant that was open twenty-four hours. Once out of the guys’ eyesight, we doubled back through the trees lining the road.
 
Making sure we were far enough away to not be overheard, our practice session began.

Not long after starting, I was already dripping with sweat.
 
It was hard work trying to be a human chameleon, which was exactly what Memaw and Tess expected tonight.
 
Apparently with the right amount of focus, shifting completely into someone else was possible.
 
Tonight’s target was Tess.

“Try again, Ashlyn.
 
You can do this,” Tess encouraged, slapping me on the back.
 
I stumbled forward from the force Tess put behind the gesture.
 
She chuckled.
 
Looking back at her, she had propped her large frame against an oak tree.
 
I shot her a look before Memaw commanded my attention once more.
 

“Concentrate, Ashlyn.”

Focusing, I turned back around to face Tess.
 
She smiled when I squinted my eyes in frustration.

Suddenly there was a current of electricity running along my skin.
 
I inhaled in shock.
 
That was new.

“Ash!
 
Your hair!” Tess exclaimed.

Grabbing a handful and pulling it toward my face to be able see it, I screamed in disbelief and excitement.
 
“It matches yours perfectly!”

Tess clapped her hands together.
 
“
You
match me perfectly.
 
Ash, you’re a flat out mirror image! Emily, do you know what this means?
 
We can send her in to do reconnaissance and they’ll never know once she gets this down.
 
We could find –”

“Don’t. Even. Think. About. It,” Memaw said, making each word its own sentence.

Tess wore a look of indignation.
 
Pulling herself away from her tree, she argued with Memaw.
 
“Why not?
 
We’ve never had an opportunity like this.
 
Ashlyn is more Changeling than anything else, although obviously your abilities have been passed on somehow.
 
If she’s able to take shape at will –”

Memaw cut her off again.
 
“That’s not something I’ll allow.
 
It’s not her job.
 
She’s not a search and rescue party, she’s my granddaughter. We’re not throwing her to the wolves like that.”

Tess and Memaw were both looking my way. Tess was wearing a look full of hope, while Memaw looked like she was staring out of a grave.
 
Memaw changed the subject.

“Once we know what you’re capable of, we’ll go to the Glaistig and see what they say.
 
They will undoubtedly offer you a position.”
 
Memaw said.

Tess smiled at the comment, but I was nonplussed.
 
“What’s that mean?”

“That if you’re intriguing enough, if you have abilities of use, the Glaistig will want to give you immortality,” Memaw said.

My brain was going ninety miles an hour.
 
Immortality?
 
Sounded good to me.
 
“Since Liam’s my Protector, will that free him of his duty?”

Neither Tess nor Memaw spoke.

Finally, Tess looked at Memaw, the color drained completely from her face.
 
“Emily, please tell me you didn’t allow my baby to make that vow.”

Memaw stared into Tess’ eyes, remorse clear in her expression.
 
“Was there any other choice, Tess?
 
He’s old enough to make that decision on his own.”

“Why was I not involved with the decision?”

“I wasn’t aware he didn’t tell you.”

Watching the conversation, it was obvious there was more here than met the eye.
 
Tess was getting more upset by the minute, and Memaw was almost physically shrinking as Tess began to cry.
 
“Do you not know what you’ve done to him, Emily? You knew what he was signing up for and you let him.”

I stepped in, hoping to console Tess.
 
“Well, if I take immortality, Liam will be immortal, too.
 
Then we’ll all be okay.”

“No, Ashlyn, we won’t all be okay,” Tess said as she turned her back to Memaw and began to walk away.
 
“If you’re mortal, he’s connected to every injury you face, even to death.
 
If you take immortality, he dies.”

FOURTEEN

Walking back to Tess’s house, Memaw grabbed my arm and held us still in the tree line.
 
“You need to shift back, Ashlyn.”

I had been walking in a stupor.
 
Liam was sentenced to death any way you looked at it. No matter what, he was condemned by his decision to be my protector. He was literally a dead man walking. Unable to bear the thought, I closed my eyes and tried to focus on the reflection that I saw in the mirror every day.
 
Feeling the electric current caused me to shiver again. Looking down, my body was once more my own.

Memaw tried to be encouraging.
 
“You’re a natural, Ashlyn.
 
It’s incredible.”

It was hard to feel encouraged after hearing what Liam had gotten himself into.
 
Walking into the house, Liam was there to greet us. His eyes were almost completely gone from the gigantic grin taking over his face.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, getting up from the couch and crossing the room.

Not knowing what to say, his immediate embrace muffled the ability to talk anyway. My face was hidden in his shoulder. His embrace was wonderful, but it didn’t take away the numbness that had begun to spread throughout my body at what Tess had told me.

Jesse was practically singing with excitement as his voice emerged from the kitchen. “Emily, guess what we found today?”

Issac sounded nearly as buoyant.
 
“You’re gonna freak.
 
I can’t wait to find Jamie on the other side of this crack.”

Tess had been leaning against the bookshelf on the wall, trying to control her emotions.
 
At this latest information, though, she came alive.
 
“You found a crack?
 
Another one?”

Liam let go of me, sharing in the enthusiasm. “Yeah, Mum.
 
It’s unreal!
 
We found it while you were out to eat.”

“What’s a crack?” I asked.
 
I might as well been talking to a wall.

“That’s five this week,” Memaw said mechanically, ticking off names of cities surrounding Blarney.
 
“There was one in Fairhill, two in Hollymount and one in Tinker’s Cross…”

Once again I asked my question.
 
“What’s a crack?”
 

Nothing.

Desmond chimed in.
 
“Don’t forget the three we found in Donnybrook.
 
I took out one by myself.”

Issac laughed.
 
“Only after that dumb Changeling nearly ripped off your head.
 
You’re lucky I’m a sniper with the iron spear Emily gave me.” He winked at Memaw, who was too engrossed in this turn of events to respond to the gesture.

Jesse wasn’t following the joking nature Desmond and Issac had. “They’re popping up all around us.
 
It’s never been this bad, not even when you’ve been around in the past, Emily.”

Memaw smiled wryly.
 
“You see what this means, don’t you?”

They all turned to look at me.
 
I had found residence in Liam’s arms once more.
 
Tess smiled in approval.

“They know Ashlyn’s here,” said Issac, rubbing his hands together.
 
“You know that Merrow she befriended is just waiting on her chance for another go.”

“WHAT’S A CRACK?”
 
Everyone paid attention now that I was yelling.

Liam tried to calm me down by tightening his embrace.
 
“A crack is a place where Neamar and the human realm connect.
 
That’s where Changelings come through to our side of the world.
 
They can be anywhere, but generally they’re within old trees.
 
To the naked eye they look like a gnarled hole, but if you know what you’re looking for…”

“You can see to the other side,” finished Jesse.
 
“Only protectors and Glaistigs can, though.
 
The Glaistigs give us the ability when we swear our dedication to someone.”

“So having eight show up around us in the week that I’m here…” I said, waiting on someone to finish the sentence.

Liam was the one to finish it, although it was obvious he didn’t like the answer he had to give.
 
“It means Ankou wants you very, very badly.
 
He doesn’t care how many Changelings he sends or how many people he kills in the process to get you.
 
He must want to get his revenge against you something terrible, Emily.”

Memaw didn’t quite meet his gaze.
 
Instead, she just nodded, looking at Tess.
 
“There might be more to it than that to be honest, Liam.”

I looked up to see Liam’s reaction at Memaw’s last comment.
 
His embrace became even tighter, more defensive.

“We’re getting out of here, then,” Liam said, looking at Memaw.
 
“It’s my job to protect her.
 
Let me do it.”

Nodding, Memaw looked at Tess, who nodded back.
 
“Liam, how opposed to becoming a transfer student are you?”

Shocked, I looked back at Liam who was surprisingly grinning ear to ear.
 
The smile didn’t reach his eyes as much as usual, though.
 
He was in protector mode.
 
I hated it.
 
“Well, America’s always seemed like a nice place to visit.”