The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1) (18 page)

 I became aware of the sound of Dads feet on
the carpet in the next room.  “Willow, you there?” he asked, his voice
tightening in worry.

The vision of myself running as the wolf was the
last thing I remembered before I changed.  I closed my eyes and pictured
that image once again in my mind, as Dad’s footsteps grew closer.  Opening
my eyes I saw the same large paws resting on the tile floor.  I hadn’t
changed and I could now hear his hand on the doorknob. I pressed my body
against the door then tightened my eyes and flashed on one more image.  I
could feel Dad exerting pressure, trying to come in. “Willow, are you ok?” he
asked, his voice now sounding desperate. 

“What the…” Dad gasped as he pushed the door open,
sliding my body across the tile.

I kept my eyes closed, unsure of what to do. 
Should I run out? I most probably could get past him, but how would I open the
door to get out of the room.  I lay there planning my escape when I felt
his hand on my head.  My eyes squinted open and I discovered that my hands
had reappeared and were resting on the green tile.  I surveyed the rest of
my body and found myself lying on the floor.  I looked up at Dad and his
troubled expression.

“I’m ok, Dad, sorry.” My voice came out raspy.

“What are you doing down there on the floor?” he
asked as he took my elbow, helping me to my feet.

“I felt a little sick and thought if I laid down
maybe it would pass.” From the sound of my scratchy voice I knew he’d believe
me.

“You were sure making some strange noises in
here.  Did you throw up?” he questioned, leading me back to my bed.

“No; I tried though.” I remembered the whimpers
and yips that forced their way out of my throat and thought how weird that must
have sounded to him.

He got me a glass of water and tucked me back into
bed, saying I’d better get some more rest.  I looked at the clock and saw
that it was now 5:30.  The whole episode with the mist and my shifting had
lasted almost three hours.  I was shocked.  It felt like it had
passed so quickly.

Dad decided to stay up and go check on Grandpa at
the hospital.  At first I was nervous at the thought of being alone in the
hotel room.  Then the realization came that Dad had been there the whole
time, and that hadn’t stopped the mist from trying to… whatever it was trying
to do to me. 

After Dad left I pulled the curtains closed and
stood in the middle of the room, my mind frozen on the image I’d seen of
Grandma.  Looking around, I found the jacket I’d worn when Dad and I went
to Grandpa’s house and reached into the pocket, pulling out the envelope
addressed to me.  I sat down on the bed and pulled the blankets up over my
legs, all the while staring at the letter. I slipped my finger under the sealed
edge, opening my long-lost mail.

My Dearest Willow,

Looking at my calendar today I realized you
will be having a birthday soon.  How I wish your grandfather and I could
be there to celebrate it with you.  You may not know this but every year
since you were born I’ve sent you a birthday blessing.  Unfortunately they
always seem to find their way back to Ireland.  Well, here’s hoping, this
year, this one finds you.

There’s so much I want to share with you, Dear
Willow. Our family is blessed with such an extraordinary history and I would
love to pass it on to you personally.  I pray that one day your father
will make his way back to us here and allow us to become the family we’re meant
to be. Until that day comes, know how much your grandfather and I love you.
Even though we’ve never had the chance to meet I feel very close to you. 
For this, your thirteenth birthday: 

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks
        May your heart be as light as a song
        May each day bring you bright, happy
hours
        That stay with you all the year long

And so, my darling
girl, consider yourself wrapped up in the blanket of your grandparent’s love
and good wishes, and have yourself a wonderful birthday.

Hugs and kisses,

Your Grandma

A small four-leaf clover had been taped to the
letter and framed by a hand-drawn heart.  I smiled as I touched the
clover, reading Grandmas blessing one more time out loud.  I
felt
blanketed by her love.  Reading her letter and having had her appear to me
the way she did, I was reassured that she would be there to guide me. 
Even if she wasn’t there physically she was definitely there spiritually and
emotionally.  A new sense of confidence stirred deep within me. 

I had chased the thing from my room and was
perfectly able to do it again if I had to and I now realized what I needed to
do to shift back and forth.  The image in my mind was the key.  To be
the wolf, I had to imagine the wolf, running in the forest.  To come back
to myself, I had to imagine my human self, but I had to be running in my human
form, as well, and the key seemed to be the forest…imaging the forest and
myself in it.  I wanted to try it – just to make sure that it was all as
simple as that – but my desire to do anything other than sleep slipped
away.   I carefully folded the letter and tucked it into my backpack,
then crawled back into bed.  I drifted off into peaceful and much-needed
slumber, devoid of any mists, or visions or dreams of any kind.

“What do you think it all means, Bram?”  I
asked, playing with the food on my plate and texting at the same time.

Bram’s eyes held tight onto mine before glancing
around the small café. Only three other people sat eating their lunch but I
knew he was uncomfortable going any further with our discussion.  He shot
a quick glance at the door and motioned for me to finish eating.  I
stuffed the last bite of salad into my mouth, then stood and followed him out.

We climbed into his black SUV and I quickly rolled
down the window.  The crisp air felt good against my skin.  I leaned
my head out and let the wind whip my hair around.  Bram started the car
but didn’t pull away from the curb.  I looked over and fell prisoner to
his stare.  His lips turned up slightly. “You look amazing…wild and free.”

“You should’ve seen me this morning,” I laughed,
remembering how I looked in the bathroom mirror.  He broke into a chuckle
and pulled out into the flow of traffic. 

“Are you ok with going to the park?  I need
to go there for my da.  It’ll be private so we can talk more.”  He
glanced over, and then began backing up the car.

I let the wind rush through my hair for a few
seconds more before pulling my head back in and rolling up the window. 
Was I ok?  I had an idea what we’d be doing there and, as curious as I
was, a part of me was still apprehensive.  I looked at him out of the
corner of my eye to find him staring straight ahead at the road.  I lifted
my phone and answered his question. 

He looked over, smiling, “Let’s do this then.”

Unlike our other trips to the park, there were
people here this time, quite a few of them.  It was midday and the park
rangers were escorting groups of tourists around.  We climbed out of the
car and stared at the large crowds.  Bram took hold of my hand and leaned
in. “Looks a bit crowded today.”

I nodded, “Should we leave?”

“I know a spot where the guides don’t go; let’s
head over there.”  He kept hold of my hand and stepped in front, leading
the way.  He searched a trail map briefly, then nodded to the woodlands
directly in front of us.  The first mile was easy and took us past groups
and lone hikers.  We followed a marker that veered off the beaten
path.  After another mile or so, we entered a much deeper part of the
park.  At that point Bram stopped and pulled a couple of bottles of water
from his pack, handing me one.  We sat on a fallen branch and drank for a
few minutes.

“It’s about another four kilometers that way,” he
said, pointing his bottle.

The woods were becoming dark with the denseness of
the trees taking on a gloomy feel.   It made me think of Snow
White.  I half-expected to see branches reaching out to grab us along with
dwarves singing “Hi-ho.”

 I inched closer to Bram.  He put his
arm around my shoulder in response. I looked into his eyes and found myself
lost in his stare.  The rustle of leaves overhead was enough to draw my
attention to small birds flitting about above us.  Bram looked up
too.  “Thanks a lot, you two.” He nodded in the direction of the swallows.

I laughed and stood up, reaching once more for his
hand.  He laced his fingers through mine and led me up a small
incline.  Once we were at the top I was able to make out what was left of
a dilapidated building in the distance.  Without a word we walked towards
the building, kicking pebbles and pinecones along the way.  Once we
reached what had, at one time, been the doorway, Bram stopped and pulled out a
compass.  After studying it, he walked a few paces north then stared at
the compass again and turned east.  At least ten more paces took him to
the edge of a large pine that had died long ago.   He ran his shoe
over the ground until he exposed a basketball-sized rock.  He tugged at
it, moving it aside. Then he pulled off his backpack and reached in, pulling
out a small shovel. 

“What are you doing?”  I asked as I watched
him drop the shovel to the ground.

Without answering he lowered himself to the spot
and began digging.  I watched, curious about what he was looking
for.   He burrowed down a couple of feet, then reached into the newly
excavated hole and pulled out a worn, burlap bag covering an equally worn
wooden box.

He let himself fall back into a sitting position
on the twig and pebble-covered ground.  He looked over to where I stood.
“Curious?”  He grinned, holding the box up into the air.  I smirked
and sat down beside him.  He held the dusty chest towards me and slipped
off the tattered cloth.  It sat there perched in the palm of his hand.

“What is it?” I wondered aloud, my eyes narrowing.

He took hold of my hand and flipped it over spreading
out my fingers.  He placed the small container in my palm.  “Open
it.”

I drew the box closer to my face for better
inspection. Brushing the bits of soil from the surface I was surprised to see
what was left of an ornate symbol scorched into the wood.  I traced the
flowing lines with my fingertip, easing the last remnants of dirt loose from
the design.

“Is this the Tri –” I began.

“Triquetra,” he said, finishing the sentence.
“Aye, it is.”

I ran my entire finger loosely over the top of the
box before opening it.  The lid appeared to be stuck and I was worried
about putting too much pressure on it, but, with a slight turn I felt it
dislodge and gently lifted it.  I placed the lid on my lap and looked
inside.  A faded piece of cloth filled the interior.  I smoothed away
the edges of the fabric.  Resting inside was a tarnished silver key. 
The top of the key was an exact replica of the shape that had been scorched on
the cover of the box.  The Triquetra.

I held it up and examined it in a ray of sunlight
filtering through the trees.  Despite its tarnish, it still had a glow
that became even more pronounced as the rays of the sun rested on it.  I
looked over at Bram, whose attention was elsewhere.  He was staring off
into the distance.  I touched his sleeve and held up the key. “What’s this
to?”

“It opens a chest that Da has.  I needed to
get it for him.”

“Is that why we came here?  I thought you
wanted to try and shift,” I texted, balancing the antique key on my leg.

Bram smiled but didn’t answer my question.

“What’s in the chest and why’s the key buried way
out here?”  Questions flowed from my mouth onto my keypad.

 “Ok, I wasn’t planning on going into this
now, but since we’re here…”  Bram centered his attention to look at me
square on.  “I found out about my ability to shift when I was eleven years
old.  My father and grandfather brought me here to the park and told me
the whole story.  Remember what I told you back at your hotel, about my
grandfather being the shapeshifter?”  I nodded yes; then Bram continued,
“He was ill and hadn’t long to live and wanted to explain ‘the gift’, as he
called it, so he told me on my eleventh birthday.  

“About a month later, we came back here to the
park, just Grandfather and I.  He wasn’t doing well. He was weak but
determined to show me how to shift.”  Bram lowered his head and once again
turned his attention to the distant landscape.  I could see the emotion in
his eyes.  The loss of his grandfather was still very much a part of
him.  After a few seconds, he lightly shook his head and turned his focus
back to me.  “He took me to the very spot that he’d first learned of the
gift when he was a boy.  His grandmother was the one to pass it on to
him.  Along with that news, she gave him this...” 

He reached into the collar of his shirt and pulled
out a silver chain on which hung a pendant.  He lifted it over his head
and placed it in my hand.   I held the chain high and watched it move
freely in the breeze before letting it slip down between my fingers to rest at
my fingertips.  Like the key I clutched in my other hand, this one was
silver, with a similar design.  I held the two together side by side. 
The pendant had only part of the Triquetra shape; in fact, it had only one
third of it. I looked at Bram through my raised fingers and returned the
pendant to him.  He took hold of it and carefully slid it back over his
head, tucking it safely into his shirt.

Bram went on, “It’s said that this pendant dates
back to the time of the first chosen ones, our ancestors. Three were forged,
one for each of the three guardians, with each pendant representing one third
of the Triquetra.  Legend says the pendants were made by Lugh himself, the
god of light, honored for his skills as a craftsman.”  Bram pressed his
hand protectively against his chest where the pendant hung under his shirt.

“The chest that key opens holds your pendant…the
one Shannah wore, along with ancient documents.   Shannah was certain
something bad was going to happen and wanted to make sure the pendant was safe,
so she gave it to Da to hide. When Da took over as
Keeper of the Knowledge,
he
inherited the chest.” I smiled, remembering how much Bram and I had laughed at
his dad’s title.  “He decided it was the best place to hide Shannah’s
pendant.  The key has always been buried out here, far away from the
chest.” Bram stared at the key still resting in my hand. “Da had never even
opened it before Shannah came to him with the pendant.  He said the chest
was only to be opened if there was a threat of any kind.”

“So your dad thinks there’s a threat?”  I
asked, realizing I was stating the obvious.

Bram tilted his head. “Don’t you?”

The memory of the mist and the way I had felt, as
though I was slipping away, made me tremble.  Then I recalled the feeling
of power when I resisted it.  “But I was able to send it away. 
Grandma told me to resist and when I did, it vanished.  Maybe that’s all
we’ll have to do,” I texted, knowing deep down it couldn’t be that easy.

Bram shrugged, “Hopefully yeah, but Da believes
that the mist is still weak and trying to gain more power.  The fact that
you found the claw after the mist appeared on top of your car worries
him.  He thinks it’s getting stronger and starting to manifest itself into
another form.”

“How’s it getting stronger?” I sat up and
positioned myself so that we were now face to face.  I clutched the key in
my hand and rested it on his knee.  Bram took in a long deep breath and
looked into my eyes.

“When Grandfather and I came here that day, he’d
planned on shifting one last time; then he was going to turn the pendant over
to me.  We made our way to the spot where he wanted to take his final
flight, and as he began shifting the weather changed instantly.  It went
from clear and sunny, to thunder and lightning and tornado-force winds. 
Grandfather had just shifted and was in the air when lightning struck
him.  He started falling to earth and his body changed from the eagle to
his human self.  I just stood there, helpless, watching him, not able to
do anything.

“He was close to hitting the ground when I saw him
take hold of the pendant around his neck.  He immediately shifted back to
the eagle and soared up into the storm.  A few seconds later I heard him
screeching and saw a flash of light directly above me.  Next thing I knew,
I was at home.”  Bram turned his face to look up to the sky which was, coincidentally,
becoming overcast.

I gripped his arm tightly. “What happened?”

 “Grandfather got me home.” Bram looked from
the clouds to me.  “The last thing I heard was his screeching.  It
was the last thing I
ever
heard.”

My eyebrows knit together in confusion. “But, I
thought you –”

“You thought I lost my hearing because of meningitis,
yeah.  That’s what everyone thinks.  Da felt it was easier to explain
my deafness saying it was caused by a disease than to say that lightning blew
it out.”  Bram ran his hand through his hair then cupped it over his
ear.  I reached up and touched his face.   He looked at me and
shrugged. “I’m lucky to be alive, you know?”

 “Anyway, Da figured that the tribulation was
trying to re-form when lightning hit grandfather.  When there’s a shift in
power, like there was between grandfather and me, it creates a kind of
opening.  One of the first things that happens is the appearance of the
mist.  It tries to gather strength when the gift is passed from one
guardian to another by taking advantage of the new guardian’s inexperience and
the older guardian’s weakness.  In our case, grandfather was especially
weak because of his illness, and I was pretty young. 

“It was trying to take me out as well as
Grandfather, but, lucky for me, I have a hard head.”  Bram smiled and
rapped himself on his forehead. “Once the mist begins appearing, trying to gain
its own power, weather starts getting weird; it all gets crazy.”  Bram
once again surveyed the skies.  The wind was picking up and I heard
thunder in the distance. 

“Speaking of weather…” he said, standing up.

Tiny droplets of rain fell randomly at first,
then, within seconds, a downpour followed.  In a short time we went from
comfortably warm and dry to chilled and soaked.  Bram suggested we go to
what was left of the building, so we made a run for it – just in time to avoid
a huge lightning bolt, followed by another tumultuous release. 

We stood inside the insect-ridden structure and
looked out at the storm. Its timing seemed more than coincidental.  The
chill in the air left me trembling.  Bram pulled me close and wrapped his
jacket around my shoulders.  He stood behind me with his arms wrapped
securely around me, easing the sudden onset of cold that had washed through
us.  I felt him rest his chin on top of my head.

“Should we be worried?” I typed on my phone then held
it up for him to see.

Bram laughed. “Not yet, I’ll let you know.”

For a brief moment my mind went back home to the
friends I hadn’t seen for what felt like ages.  I thought about some of
the boys I knew, and the difference between them and Bram.  They were
about his age, but lacked the consideration that Bram displayed each and every
time I was with him.  Not that he acted too adult; he was as crazy as any
of them.  It was just that with Bram, he already had his priorities all
ironed out…no question. Maybe it was because of the whole shapeshifting,
guardian thing – but whatever it was, I admired it, and I respected it. 
It was part of what drew me to him.