Gossamer (22 page)

“
This
is what all the fuss is about?” She wore an irritated look.

I looked around trying to find my bearings. This moment would have been one of awe if it hadn’t been for my current situation. It looked like I was still in the forest, the exact one I had just come from but this one was much more beautiful. The colors were richer, the leaves were more defined, it smelled earthy and sweet at the same time. It was glorious, like taking an old analog television and switching it over to digital high definition.

“Yeah, that’s her. Grant lied about her name but when I realized she could sense the portal, I knew she was the right girl. You probably should find out what you need quickly. I don’t know how long I can hold this.”

The girl turned her cold eyes onto Patrick. “You better hold it. If I don’t have time to ask questions, I will just have to cut to the chase and kill her.”

I gasped, trying hard to focus.

“You told me you weren’t going to hurt her. You said you just wanted to find out who she was and maybe scare her into never crossing back over. You can’t hurt her, Brighid.”

She made a sound of disgust and turned her gaze on me, then looked back at Patrick. “Why didn’t you take out Grant, too?”

“He saw me coming, and I panicked. I just made up some story about how Conor got hurt, but I still brought her here. That’s all you asked for.”

“Don’t you just hate weak boys?” She still wore the same disgusted look on her face.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Your worst nightmare.” She smiled as if pleased by her own answer. “And
you
are Kyla, the half-human. What is so great about that anyway? Personally, I find humans revolting, but thought maybe you’d be different.” She turned and paced a few steps then glowered at me. “I expected more, but there is nothing special about you. Why would Liam have any interest in you?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. I don’t even know a Liam.” I tried to stand. I didn’t like feeling so compromised. I rubbed my head and forced myself up. The dull ache subsided, and the fog cleared from my mind.

“Ha!” Brighid laughed. “Like you aren’t in on this little plan.” I was confused. Her expression darkened “You are starting to make me angry, Kyla, and you do not want to make me angry.”

I glanced over to Patrick who still had his body turned toward the portal. Looking at me he shook his head slightly, as if to say don’t anger her. A thin coat of perspiration had formed on his forehead. Whatever it was he was doing was clearly taking its toll. I knew what I needed to do. If I could drag this conversation on long enough, he wouldn’t be able to hold up and I could get out or Grant could get in.

“Why don’t you just tell me what you think I’ve done, because I am not lying. Up until a few days ago I didn’t even know who or what I was.”

One side of her mouth lifted into a smirk. “I’m supposed to believe Grant and Conor, Liam’s personal guards, have come for you, but told you nothing else?”

“They told me about my faery mother.”

“Oh, come on. You think royal guards are just traipsing about escorting humans around for fun?”

“I knew Grant worked for someone at court and that he was some sort of guard, but he told me most grants were, so I thought nothing of it. I assumed Conor was his friend. I had no idea who they worked for.”

She rolled her eyes, clearly frustrated by my lack of knowledge.

“He doesn’t work for someone at court. He works for
the
royal court. Does Grant look like some insignificant village guard to you? Hello, look at him.”

“I’ve never seen a guard before.” I matched her annoyed tone, and she gave me a lethal look, clearly warning me to watch myself. I continued in a more controlled voice, “Or a grant.”

She huffed again, studying me carefully. I thought about what she had said, envisioning Grant’s broad shoulders, significant height and general build. He was lean, but after our night in the hotel room, I knew he was also solid muscle. My stomach tightened, and I focused back on my current situation.

Brighid glared at me “You know nothing about the royal court?”

“I know that I can go there for safety and protection.”

“And how, Kyla, do you suppose you are going to get that safety?”

No one ever explained the mechanics behind everything. I honestly had no idea. I shrugged. “Just go to court I guess.”

Her eyes narrowed, and she stared at me with skepticism gleaming in the bright gaze. “You have no plans to marry?”

“Marry! Are you kidding me? Of course not.”

“You really don’t know, do you? Not a clue as to who Liam is and what has been planned for you.” She laughed. “Well then, I’m sorry to have to get rid of you, since you apparently weren’t in on this little plan, but you see, Liam is the prince and I’m next in line to marry him. It’s my rightful place. But then word of you comes along and suddenly he thinks he wants some half-human, non-royal bride. You can thank your mother. So eager to get you home safely, she agreed to this stupid plan.”

“I–what? Prince? Wait. My mother?”

“Yes. Your mother and Grant. Conor. Everyone. Everyone knows about the plan, well, except you.”

“I don’t want the prince. You can have him.”

“Well, that’s nice of you, Kyla, but unfortunately, Liam made that decision, and until you are gone, he won’t change his mind.” Her voice was icy. It was strange seeing this girl, cute enough to sing or dance on Saturday morning cartoons, talk to me the way she did. She had psycho down to a science.

“I can’t hold it any longer, Brighid. We need to get out of here.”

“Just kill him when he crosses.”

My heart raced. Was Patrick capable of killing Grant? He surely didn’t seem like it, but he did manage to lay out Conor. Fear surged through me.

“You look nervous, Kyla, as you should be. There is no one who will be able to help you. Originally, I thought we could leave Grant unharmed. After all, the only person he could link this to was Patrick, and not to mention he is terribly good-looking. I wouldn’t mind keeping him around the castle, but now since someone is too weak to hold up his end of the bargain, we will have to get rid of him.”

“You set me up,” Patrick yelled “You told me no one would get seriously hurt, but you planned all along to make me your scapegoat.”

“Wow, do I need to draw a picture? Come on, Patrick, even Kyla can keep up, and she’s part human.” Annoyed, Brighid turned to him. “Now if you can’t hold the barrier you’d better kill Grant, or else I will be sure to blame everything on you. I will claim to be your victim as well, and the only witness,” she pointed at me, “will be dead. It will be my word against yours, and after what Grant and Conor witnessed, you know you will be found guilty.”

Patrick’s face blanched as if he would be sick any moment. “Fine.” I could see regret in his eyes, but he didn’t seem to know what else to do.

Panic flooded me, my stomach wrenched. They were going to kill Grant, and they were going to kill me, because of some guy I neither knew, nor planned to marry. My panic and fear metamorphosed into anger. I focused my gaze on Brighid. I wanted to hurt her. I wanted to shove her against a tree like she had done me, I wanted control...and then it happened.

At first, I thought I imagined it. A tree root, sticking up out of the soil, twitched. I stared at it confused. Brighid’s gaze followed my eyes.

“What are you doing,” she said with a hint of nervousness.

“Nothing.” I wasn’t doing that, was I? It twitched again and stretched out of the ground, it snaked its way over to where Brighid stood.

“Stop that,” she screamed as she tried to side step it, but another one had appeared behind her.

“I don’t know how,” I angrily yelled back, not caring what happened to her. My malice mixed with fear for Grant. When that wall came down, he would be hurt.

Patrick watched the snaking roots as they neared Brighid. “Do something–use your magic,” he stuttered.

She shot him a quick glare. “Shut up, you idiot. Do you see water anywhere?”

She lifted her foot, but failed to notice the root coiling its way around her ankle. When it tightened, her eyes grew large and she tried to shake it free, but by that time another root had curled around her other leg. They tugged her feet out from underneath her, and she fell on her back with a loud thud, letting out a stream of profanities in the process. Her full skirt ballooned then settled as another root twisted around her torso, pinning her into place and halting her thrashing. I could see more appearing and wondered if they were going to smother her.

Just then Patrick made a grunting sound and the portal opened. Immediately Grant flew through it, but stopped abruptly when a large gust of wind blew him back. He glanced from Patrick to me and back to Patrick. The wind locking Grant into place was so forceful he couldn’t even take a breath.

I panicked and screamed for Patrick to stop. Now with Brighid restrained, he seemed unsure of what to do. He took an uneasy step back, tripped on a tree root and fell hard onto his back. His head hit a rock. His eyes fluttered, then rolled back.

Grant bent over in a fit of coughing. I rushed over to him. He stood, still gasping for breath and encircled me with his arms, pressing me into his chest.

“I was so worried about you. I’m sorry, I can’t believe I didn’t see that coming.”

“It’s not your fault, Grant. He wasn’t trying to put me in danger. He was just getting me for her.” I pointed to where Brighid laid looking like a crazed ballerina, intertwined with roots and squirming in her poufy dress in a failed attempt to free herself from the tangle nearly throttling her. “He didn’t know she wanted to hurt me.”

“Hurt you? Are you okay?” He stepped back, holding me at arm’s length as he scanned me.

“I’m fine, but she said she was going to kill me and kill you too,” I said, wide-eyed and still dazed over everything that just happened.

Grant’s temper flared as he glared at her, then his expression slipped into surprise as he saw her tangled in roots. “Did you do that?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What happened right before she went down?”

“I was scared, and then I got angry. Really angry. They were going to hurt you, and it made me mad.” His face softened. “Next thing I knew, these tree roots wrapped around her feet and pulled her down, but it didn’t stop there. They just kept coming. It looks like they have stopped now, though.”

“You shouldn’t have worried about me, only about yourself. What happens to me isn’t important.” He looked back at Brighid. “I guess it’s good you got mad. I can’t believe how easily you manipulated your element.”

“I did what?”

“That was you, Kylie.” He pointed to the ground. “I figured you were connected to earth when I noticed your oak tree necklace and then hearing about your dreams and the way the forest spoke to you. But, I have to say, for someone who has never even stepped foot in Tír na nÓg, that’s impressive.”

I stood there stunned into silence. Grant smiled at me as if I had just brought home an ‘A’ on my report card. I chewed nervously on my lower lip.

“It’s okay, Kylie. You will understand it more later, but for right now, it saved you. It saved us. That’s what matters.” He reached for my hand and led me to the portal, “I need to get Conor. These two aren’t going anywhere.” He gave them both a look of revulsion.

We crossed through, and instantly the world seemed dull and lifeless. It lacked the brilliance of Tír na nÓg. I found it almost gloomy. By this time, Conor sat, his eyes open, holding his head in his hands.

“Kylie, you’re okay? We were worried about you. I thought Grant might lose it when he could sense the danger you were in.”

I looked at Grant, who shifted his weight and turned his head, unable to meet my gaze.

“I’m glad to see you’re okay too, Conor. You were out cold. I didn’t expect you to come to this quick.”

The boys exchanged some sort of silent communication. “Kylie, you were in there for over an hour.”

My mouth fell open. “But it only felt like ten minutes at the most.” Then I remembered, time slowed in Tír na nÓg.
Over an hour?
That was insane.

“Longest hour of my life,” Grant muttered. “But, she had everything under control,” he boasted to Conor. “Laid them both out, while I just stood around and watched.”

My cheeks warmed.

“It wasn’t like that.” I looked at my feet.

“You clearly did something right because here you are.”

Conor grunted as he pushed himself up. “Now let’s get me to a healer. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.”

We returned through the portal and suddenly, like Dorothy reaching Oz, the world turned to color again. This time I enjoyed the blissful moment. An emerald carpet of grass padded the ground. A cerulean sky blanketed the earth. Pure, crisp air filled my lungs. The fresh smell of rain tickled my nose. A cool breeze stroked my skin. The sound of trees rustling, birds chirping and water flowing created a sweet symphony for my ears. I stood in paradise–a flawless, beautiful wonderland. My body harmonized with the surroundings, and I was in ecstasy. A part of me, I never knew was missing, had made its homecoming, completing me.

Conor let out a low whistle. “You weren’t kidding. Kylie did take them out.” He walked to where Brighid lay imprisoned and shook his head. “You, of all people.”