The Dark Divide
Authors: Jennifer Fallon
F
OR
S
HARON AND THE
GODSON
Contents
The first thing the Faerie prince, Marcroy Tarth, did when…
‘Onushirano shoguno namaewo mouse?’
Marcroy looked through the shimmering opening of the rift and…
The media circus that had taken up residence in the…
Trása’s escape from the samurai compound had come at a…
Riding around in the trunk of a car, even one…
A couple of the samurai had loosed arrows at Trása…
Brydie’s imprisonment in the amethyst jewel where she had been…
Ren landed heavily against a tree, as if he’d been…
It was raining again by the time Darragh and Sorcha…
It turned out to be a long walk to Kazusa’s…
It was dark before Patrick knocked on Jack’s back door.
The reception Ren got from Kazusa’s brother was in stark…
Pete Doherty hated family gatherings and he’d been dreading this…
The following evening, after Ren spent an interesting — if…
It took Trása two exhausting and worrying days, but finally…
Inspector Duggan was a tough, all-business sort of woman. Until…
It shouldn’t be so easy to take a life.
Trása liked cats. She liked their independence. She liked their…
Kiva Kavanaugh’s house was huge. It wasn’t as big as…
For the second night in a row, Ren spent the…
Brendá Duggan stared at the footage playing on the monitor…
Darragh spent the night in his brother’s bed. With Kiva…
‘It is a necklace fit for a queen, Prionsa.’
As she lay in wait for Warren to appear in…
If it had been up to some of Pete’s older…
Brydie spent much of the next few days in the…
Cuan Mó, in every reality Trása had ever visited, was…
‘He’s killed Hayley Boyle and probably his brother and our…
Sorcha took her time making her way back to Jack’s…
Fortunately for Brydie, once Torcán had officially gifted his future…
Having sworn to kill herself if Ren tried to leave…
Namito had found, or been handed, another katana. He raised…
Once it was clear they weren’t dealing with Chelan Aquarius…
‘Hate to be the bearer of bad news, mistress,’ Toyoda…
The mystery of the relationship between Anwen and Queen Álmhath…
‘What do you think?’ Pete asked Annad Semaj when he…
The massive wooden gates of the Ikushima compound opened slowly…
Darragh was not entirely unfamiliar with the judicial system. His…
Pete spent several days trying to track down his mother…
The Empresses made no attempt to pretend they had arrived…
‘But they’re only little girls!’ Trása exclaimed as she morphed…
Old age was a terrible thing. It was bad enough,…
The investiture of a new Undivided was no small thing,…
Without intending to, Trása had become queen of the Faerie.
Anwen and Torcán were married in the sacred grove at…
The ceremony to transfer the power to the Undivided took…
Sorcha was dying. She knew it in her bones. Especially…
Pete Doherty and his twin brother Logan had made a…
Trása flew back to Shin Bungo in hawk form, and…
It shouldn’t be so easy to take a life. The…
All hell broke loose with Rónán’s collapse, a situation not…
Ren opened his eyes, blinking in the bright, coloured light.
Darragh woke to find himself covered in electrodes with tubes…
It took several blows with a short police battering ram…
‘My real name is Ingrid,’ Wakiko told Ren and Trása,…
Logan was standing in the rain outside Jack O’Righin’s house,…
The gimmick of pretending the Empresses knew her real name…
‘I’m sorry, but Ms Doherty will be in meetings all…
Chishihero waited alone at the stone circle for the rift…
Even though he knew he wasn’t really going to kill…
Trása waited until she could no longer hear the horses…
By Danu, the djinni was right. The Undivided are still…
The World of The Faerie And The Undivided:
There are some real places in this story (obviously), including the Castle Golf Club in Dublin. While I’m sure they’ll forgive me for carving up their fairways with an imaginary car chase, the stone circle hidden in the rough on the ninth hole does not exist (that I know of), nor does St Christopher’s Visual Rehabilitation Centre, something you might have figured out if you realised why I called it St Christopher’s.
If my Gaelic is correct, then it is thanks to the awesome talents and advice of the lovely Josephine Walsh. If it’s wrong, it’s my fault. Thanks also to Gillian Pollack for her advice regarding Druids, bards and ancient Celtic locations, as well as to Lyn Tranter, Mark Timmony, Sharyn Lilley and my daughter TJ, for their incisive advice and proofreading.
As for the Druids and the
Tuatha Dé Danann
, I don’t doubt for a moment there are many readers out there who are preparing to email me as we speak, telling me how wrong I got them. Please don’t. This is a story of alternate realities and, more importantly, a story about how things are distorted over time. Of course, things have changed over the past 2000 years. Even in a reality where the people cling desperately to the status quo, the very act of clinging will force changes on them they could not anticipate.
If, however, you actually know a genuine member of the
Tuatha Dé Danann
, by all means drop me a line. I’d truly love to meet them.
Jennifer Fallon
Oxford, New Zealand 2010
The first thing the Faerie prince, Marcroy Tarth, did when Hayley Boyle arrived in his magical kingdom of
Tír Na nÓg
was to take her clothes away and burn them, replacing them with a gossamer-thin shift that offered only minimal protection for her dignity and absolutely none from the elements. It was something to do with her clothes being tainted by technology, Marcroy said, although she wasn’t really listening to the explanation.
Hayley was too enchanted by
Tír Na nÓg
to notice much of anything. She was still trying to get her head around the events of the past few hours.
Was it only hours?
This morning she had woken up in St Christopher’s Visual Rehabilitation Centre in Dublin, facing another day of ‘life lessons’. Another day of learning to cope with her blindness. Another day of dealing with the aftermath of being hit by a car outside Kiva Kavanaugh’s house in the chaos caused by a frenzied paparazzi pack. Another day of wondering if Ren was dead or alive.
Another day of being reminded that, until that moment, she had been a perfectly ordinary seventeen-year-old girl whose best friend just happened to be the son of a movie star. And now she was here. In another reality. With the Faerie.
And she could see.
Although she still wasn’t sure if Ren was dead or alive.
I might go mad if I think about this too much.
Her skin had tingled as she and Marcroy passed through the magical veil that separated the Faerie kingdom from the realm of man. Although it was still night out in the real world, it was only twilight in the Faerie kingdom. Magic glimmered from every surface. Even the insects seemed benign and drunk on the magical nectar they consumed. The forest pulsed with life, as if every plant were a sentient being, but even they paled in comparison to the majestic trees where the
Daoine sídhe
made their homes. Hayley gasped with awe when they reached the centre of
Tír Na nÓg
. She stared at one wonder only to discover another so marvellous she was almost unable to comprehend their existence — let alone their size and magnificence.
Intoxicated by the magical forest air, Hayley followed Marcroy all the way up the exquisitely curved stairs in wide-eyed wonder. The
sídhe
had coaxed the sacred trees into growing the stairs, Marcroy explained. The sacred trees of
Tír Na nÓg
were full of hollowed-out caves and broad boughs wide enough to act as platforms. His voice was hypnotic and seductive. It felt like warm liquid chocolate, if it were possible for a voice to manifest such a tactile effect. She was enchanted — with Marcroy, with
Tír Na nÓg
and the beautiful people who lived here. Their strange cat-slit eyes stared curiously at Hayley as she climbed ever upward behind Marcroy, no doubt wondering about this human interloper.
When they realised she was Marcroy’s invited guest, the Faerie bowed and smiled and sometimes sang a small refrain in a musical language Hayley couldn’t understand. Although she was unfamiliar with the melodies, the songs were so harmonious it was like listening to a treasured music box that constantly refreshed its repertoire, each song trying to outdo the last in purity and joy.
Marcroy led Hayley by the hand, high into the branches to meet his sister, an ethereal creature of exquisite beauty who seemed puzzled by her visitor. Elimyer had long, white-blonde hair, eyes that seemed carved from emeralds, and pronounced points on her ears. She was naked and flawless, as she emerged from the dark entrance of her quarters in the sacred tree and embraced Hayley like a long-lost child, which Hayley found rather disconcerting.