The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1) (26 page)

I reached up and placed my hand on his
shoulder.  “Grandpa, why then did Lucy leave and go to Italy?”

He turned to face me and with a shaky hand rubbed
his chin.  “Lucy had just found out that she had the beginning of
Alzheimer’s disease.  And when Aaron O’Neill’s father got sick, she
panicked.  He was the air guardian.  Well, when that happened, she
feared ending up like her grandfather so she decided to give everything up and
move away.  Shannah tried hard to convince her to find a replacement but
Lucy said no, she wouldn’t do that to anyone.”

Grandpa was becoming tired.  Relaying the
story and all the emotion that went with it was taking its toll on him.  I
hesitated asking more questions, but he had so much important information for
us that I had to press on.

“One more thing, Grandpa…why did you and Grandma
allow Dad to move away to the US?”   I positioned my head towards the
door once again, trying to hear if anyone was coming or if there was any more
news about the storm.  Short of talk about the patients, nothing was being
said, so I continued. “Wasn’t that like setting him up with the Fomorians?”

“No, at that time, they were back under
control.  There were no new guardians in the Triquetra.  Plus Shannah
thought that Jacky might be safer in the US than here. Things were fairly
quiet.  That is, except for Jacky and me.  I never forgave myself for
not being able to save both my sons, and unfortunately I looked to the bottle
for comfort.  That was a dark period in my life and one I’m not proud of.”
Grandpa grew pale and began trembling.  I took hold of his hands and was
shocked at how cold they were.  I grabbed another blanket from the closet
and covered him.  He smiled and thanked me.

I began to wonder where Dad was and started to
become anxious.  The talk of the Fomorians and their penchant for finding
a loose spot in the Triquetra made me want to get to Bram as soon as
possible. 

I looked back to Grandpa, who had closed his
eyes.  The chill of his hands and the coolness of the room made me think
that the temperature was not holding steady in the hospital.  I looked at
the thermostat on the wall and quickly converted the Celsius reading to
Fahrenheit …fifty-eight degrees.

With an ear to the door I was able to finally
locate Dad’s voice in the basement.  He was discussing the generator with
another man and together they were trying to figure out why it was failing. It
should have been providing comfortable heat to the building, as well as all the
electrical needs for the hospital.  The two of them were getting ready to
lock into a second generator in hopes of transferring all of its energy to the
heating system, thereby freeing up the main generator for the hospitals light’s
and medical equipment.  Hearing Dad’s calm voice relaxed me and left me
feeling like he had the situation under control…at least that part of the
situation.

I stepped back over to Grandpa’s bed and touched
his shoulder lightly to see if he was asleep.  He didn’t respond.  I
felt his hand and was relieved to see that it had warmed up a little.  I
grabbed the last blanket from the closet and put it over Grandpa’s weakened
body.   I pulled it up over his hands to his shoulders and then
walked out of the room.

 I found a door in a darkened corner at the end
of the hall.  I figured unnecessary lights were being turned off to
conserve energy. Opening the door I entered a small waiting room.  The
only light came from the window with closed shades.  I opened them and
allowed the light from the stormy night to fill the room.  Looking out of
the window I saw snowflakes flitting here and there.  The surrounding
buildings were all dark and brought an ominous feel to the whole area.

I sat on the sofa, took out my phone, and tried to
text Bram.  No signal.  I needed to talk to him, to see what was
going on.  The storm had all of Killarney boxed in and that scared
me.  If we were unable to communicate, how could we possibly prevent the
Fomorians from rising?  I had no clue as to what I should be doing to stop
them.  And Quinn hadn’t even shifted yet. 

I lay my head back against the cushion and closed
my eyes, imagining Bram.  Once I had a clear picture of him in my mind I
called his name telepathically.  I did this for about ten minutes and was
just about ready to give up when I heard the faintest, “Yes, Willow,” in my
head.

“Bram, are you there, can you hear me?”  I
sent the thought his way.

“Yes, I can, where are you?” came his voice,
growing stronger.

“I’m at the hospital with Dad.  We came to
see Grandpa.  The power’s out here.”

“It’s out everywhere, Willow.  Are you
ok?”  His voice echoed.

“I’m fine. What should we do Bram? Grandpa knows
about everything.  He says the storm is the Fomorians.”  I then
stopped and wondered what my voice sounded like to him since he’d never heard
it before.

“Yes, I know, Da says we need to get hold of
Quinn. Can you try and reach him?”

“Quinn?”

“Yes, tell him we’ll pick him up in twenty
minutes.  Then we’ll swing by and pick you up at the hospital,” Bram said,
his voice breaking in and out inside of my head.

I wanted to talk to him more and tell him about
everything I had just discovered.  But I knew we had to get moving on a
plan to try and get Quinn to shift, and then decide the best course of action.

I pictured Quinn in my head just as I had done
with Bram.  Much more quickly this time, I got a response from Quinn.

“Willow, bloody hell, how are you doing this?” His
voice reverberated like it was bouncing off the walls of my skull.

“No time to explain now.  Just be ready to
leave with Bram and Aaron in twenty minutes, ok?”

“Ok, don’t know how I’m going to get my parents to
let me out on a night like this, what with the power out all over town. 
But don’t worry, I’ll figure something out.”

“Get Kelleigh to help you,” I offered.

I heard the faint sound of Quinn’s voice but was
unable to make out what he said.  It didn’t really matter though; I got
the message to him and felt confident he’d be able to meet with Bram and
Aaron.  I wasn’t as confident about how I was going to slip away.  I
played it out in my head…going to Dad and telling him that I needed to run out
into the night with Bram and his father for no particular reason. 
Right…like he’d go for that.

I went back to check on Grandpa and found the
nurse in his room.  She was making her rounds and smiled warmly at me
while she adjusted his oxygen and fluffed his pillow.  The room was
starting to feel warmer so I checked the thermostat and was happy to see it
read sixty-four degrees.  Dad’s plan was working.

“It looks like you grandfather is out for the
night,” she whispered as she stepped over to join me.  She touched my arm
lightly and told me that the chair in the corner could be pulled out into a
very comfortable recliner if I wanted to relax.  “I don’t think you’ll be
leaving for a while; your father’s really taken charge.  It’s a blessing
that he was here to help Michael sort out the generator.  The poor lad’s
only worked here a month and I don’t think he could have figured out how to
hook up two generators as quickly as your father did.”

She then told me where I could get something to
eat and drink and left a spare blanket on the chair.  After she left, I
looked at Grandpa’s face.  The room was dimly lit with an overhead light
focused directly on his upper body.  He looked peaceful.  I was
thankful that I’d had the chance to speak with him and get so much brought out
into the open. 

Standing there in his room, I debated just how I
was going to get myself out of the hospital.  I thought about going and
finding Dad and telling him I needed to leave, but I just couldn’t come up with
a good explanation why.  I looked at the wall clock and realized I needed
to get downstairs and fast. 

With no other option available to me I grabbed a
pencil and the tablet from the built-in bookshelf that held all of Grandpa’s
paper work and get-well cards.   I scribbled a quick note, letting
Dad know that I needed to go somewhere with Bram and Aaron and that I’d explain
it all as soon as I saw him and to please not be angry but to trust me.  I
p.s.’d it with a
Grandpa seems to be doing much better…I love you, Wil.
 
I folded the note and placed it on the tray that sat adjacent to Grandpa’s bed,
where I was sure Dad would see it.

I waited until there was no one in the hallway,
then made my way to the stairs.  I opened the door and flew down the
stairs, hoping to avoid Dad returning.  Once I reached the main level I
went to the lobby and out the front door.  Sitting there waiting in
Aaron’s car, just like he said they’d be, were Bram, Aaron, and
Quinn.   I jumped in back and noticed how bitterly cold it really had
become.

“Glad you could make it,” Quinn said, sliding over
to the other side of the seat.  “You really gotta teach me that mind
reading trick,” he added enthusiastically.  He seemed pumped up, as though
he was going out for an evening of fun with the boys.  I hated to burst
his bubble.

Bram looked back and began signing to Quinn. 
When he finished he reached his hand to me.  I grabbed hold and held on
tight.  His hand was nice and warm, in direct contrast to the wintery
conditions swirling around us outside. “You ok?” he asked.

I was now; just being there with him made it all
ok.  I was fully aware of the fact that we were just about to embark on
something none of us could ever be prepared for, yet I could face it – because
Bram was there, I could face it.

 “What did you tell your parents?” I
wondered, looking over to Quinn.

Quinn snickered and shook his head. 
“Nothing, I didn’t have to.  The minute I got Kelleigh involved in it, she
took over.  She told the folks that I was sick.  Then she ordered me
to get bundled up and crawl out my bedroom window when Bram pulled up. 
She told Mom that she’d take care of me, like that wouldn’t throw up a red
flag, right?” he laughed, shaking his head.

Suddenly, the car began skidding and swerving on
the icy road.  Aaron quickly shifted into low gear and slowed down the
skid, but it didn’t keep us from hitting a concrete road barrier.  The
front passenger side of the car slammed into the barrier in slow motion. 
The sound of crunching metal filled the otherwise silent night.  Bram was
jolted to the side.  Aaron quickly put the car in park and made sure Bram
was ok. 

Quinn and I were fine, other than needing to
remind each other to breathe again.  Aaron was out of the car in a flash,
surveying the damage; then, just as quickly, he jumped inside. 

“Was that an accident… or something else?” 
Bram questioned looking at Aaron.

“Not sure, but I’m not going to sit around here
and find out,” Aaron said worriedly.  He started the engine and quickly
got back on the road.  For a guy who’d just spun out of control a minute
ago, he wasn’t letting that slow him down now.  In fact, if anything, he
was driving even faster.

Quinn and I looked at each other.  I shared
my worried thoughts with him. “How are we going to save the world if we die in
a car accident?”  Quinn snickered, then in a squeaky voice uttered, “Um,
Aaron?”

 “Yes, Quinn?”

“In all the excitement, I forgot to ask… where are
we going?” he stuttered.

After a sharp turn onto a dirt road Quinn was
practically sitting on my lap, smashing me up against the door.  Aaron was
driving like a maniac.

“Aaron, where are we going?” I asked this time,
louder and with a definite edge to my voice.

In a matter-of-fact voice he answered, “To the
lake.”

The lake was a completely different place now than
it had been hours earlier.  The gray clouds felt low and imposing. 
They were moving swiftly and changing shape as they raced overhead.  A
faint trace of the moon could be seen every now and then when a mass of the
clouds had thinned out and moved on: only to be replaced by another formation.

I stared into the menacing sky and felt a strange
surging inside of myself.  Looking over at Bram, it seemed as though he
was feeling the same thing.  Our eyes locked.

“Are you feeling this?” I sent the question to him
telepathically.

“Yes,” he answered out loud.

Quinn and Aaron looked over.  “Yes what,
Bram?” Quinn signed.

“Willow asked me if I felt this sensation…it’s weird,
like a charge of electricity, running through me.  She feels it too.” Bram
explained.

Aaron came over and grabbed hold of mine and
Bram’s hands.  “I can feel it as well, a low current, coursing through
both of you.  This must have something to do with the Triquetra,” Aaron
theorized.  “Come along, Quinn, we need to get going.”  Aaron reached
out his hand to Quinn.

“Um, ok, where are we going?”  Quinn
stammered, stepping up to where Aaron stood.

“Why, into the water, of course,” Aaron answered,
urgency building in his voice.  He was growing impatient, which made me
feel even more nervous.  Aaron had been our rock, our calming influence,
the source of all information and encouragement.  To now see him anxious
made me feel that way too.

“Into the water? Ok, yes, I know I agreed to this
whole thing but I hadn’t planned my first trip ‘into the water’ would be when
the temperature was at a record-breaking low and that it would be in the dead
of night!” he exclaimed, visibly shaking, trying to continue his interpreting
for Bram.

Bram walked over to Quinn and rested his hand on
his shoulder.  “I know, mate.  We didn’t plan on it being this way
either, but as you can see…” Bram waved his hand toward the sky and lake,
“things are changing quickly and if we don’t get moving, it may be too
late.” 

Quinn looked down to the ground unhappily.  I
felt bad for him.  It had to be toughest on him to be thrust in the middle
of all this so unexpectedly.  At least Bram and I were sort of eased into
it.  And our shifting was under much better circumstances. Not right in
the middle of the very upheaval we were trying to stop.

Quinn looked up at Bram and nodded, “Ok, so tell
me, what kind of sea creature will I be shifting to?  A shark or a
swordfish or a…ooh yeah, a marlin,” he speculated excitedly, bobbing and
dodging his head like a fish in water. “Something awesome like that?”

“Uh, well, actually, you’ll be shifting into a…a
whale,” Bram mumbled, choking on his words.

Quinn stood motionless, staring at Bram, then
Aaron, then me.  This was the first I’d heard of what the water guardian
would shift to so I just shrugged when Quinn narrowed his eyes my way. 

“A whale?” he repeated, moving closer to
Bram.  He raised his arms in motion.  I didn’t need to be proficient
in sign language to read the sign
whale
coming off his hands and
arms.  He repeated it several times, right in Bram’s face.  Bram just
nodded yes.

“You’re an eagle,” he pointed out to Bram, his
hands acting out the motion of the fantastic bird, “and Willow’s a wolf,” he
continued signing, moving up into Bram’s face.  And I’m a…” He stepped
away from Bram and did an exaggerated whale sign once more, “a whhhhale.” He
stretched the word out emphasizing each letter.

“Well, thank you very much,” Quinn grumbled as he
took a bow. 

I wasn’t clear on why Quinn was so offended at the
thought of shifting into a whale – but he was.  I guess he would have
preferred his animal to be something a bit more sleek or “awesome,” as he’d
said.  I personally loved whales and thought how great it’d be to shift to
one.  Watching him now, I felt like he was clearly overreacting.

“Please tell me that at least it’s an orca?” he
pleaded.

 “Quinn, it’s not an orca and it’s not just a
whale.  It’s a long-finned pilot whale.  Do you remember seeing them
on the coast a few years back?  They’re really magnificent creatures,”
Aaron explained. “They’re actually dolphins, like the orca.”

Quinn began kicking the pebbles lying around, all
the while mumbling now about being a dolphin.  He then ranted on about it
being the perfect job for Kelleigh after all.  “She loves dolphins,” he
chortled, “used to have them all over her room when she was little.  I’ll
be the perfect little dolphin boy, all pretty and perky.”  He was really
whining now and it was starting to tick me off.

“Come on, Quinn, get over it, you’re acting like a
baby!” I scolded, my voice screeching more than I’d planned for it to.

He stopped immediately and looked me over. 
“Oh, ok, this all coming from the wolf girl.  Seriously, how cool is that,
a wolf.  Or an eagle, but no, I’m a precious little dolphin whale.”

“No, what you are, is an idiot,” snapped
Bram.  He stood next to Quinn and let his six-foot-three frame tower over
him.  “This isn’t about you getting to play wild animal, it’s about you
being a part of the Triquetra. That means fulfilling a pledge made long ago,
doing your part to help keep this world as safe as we can keep it!  But,
you know what, if you think you’re just too cool to shift into something as
beneath you as a pilot whale, then, I guess we better start looking for a
replacement.  Right, Da?”  Bram was pretty intimidating and I liked
seeing that side of him.

“Yes, if you don’t want to take this on, Quinn,
then that’s fine.  No one will hold it against you.” Aaron sighed as the
wind picked up and thunder started rumbling over the lake.  “Let’s get you
back home.”  He motioned for us all to follow him.

Bram, Aaron, and I made our way to the car and got
inside while Quinn remained at the shoreline, kicking pebbles into the
glistening waves.  The moon had peeked out from behind the clouds and was
reflecting on the slow moving currents of the lake.  After a few minutes
he signaled for us to come back and join him.  We stood alongside him on
the shore. 

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry.  I’ll do it.  Guess
I’m still getting used to the idea of the whole shapeshifting thing, ya
know?”  he whimpered, looking up to Bram.

“I know, mate, this isn’t easy.  But you’re
not alone.” Bram grabbed Quinn and hugged him, then pulled me in to join
them.  The strange charges of electricity became more pronounced as the
three of us held onto each other.

Quinn looked up with a shocked expression that
quickly turned into a sly grin. “What a rush.”

Bram and I laughed while Aaron stepped over and
mussed Quinn’s curly red locks.  “Good to have you on board Quinn,” he
said just as a jolt raced up his arm.  He quickly drew back his hand and
shook it out.  “You three carry quite a charge… that is brilliant!” he
added with a huge smile crossing his lips.  Another interesting aspect of
being guardians just made itself known to us.

 “Do I have to take my clothes off? Because
if I do, Willow, you may want to turn your head,” Quinn snickered as he stood
at the shoreline, waves lapping up at his feet.

“No, I don’t know how or why, but I always shift
back into my clothes, so no worries.  Are you ready?” Bram asked, holding
onto Quinn’s shoulders.

Quinn let out a deep exhale. “As ready as I’m
gonna be,” he answered, clapping his hands in front of him, psyching himself
up.

He stepped forward a few feet.  The waves had
his shoes submerged now, under a few inches of water.  His chattering
teeth let us know how incredibly cold it was.  The word hypothermia jumped
into my head but I had to remind myself that he was safe, that the cold would
have no effect on him thanks to the shifting and the Triquetra.

“You’re sure this is gonna work?” he asked,
glancing over his shoulder.

“Positive,” Aaron replied.

“Just picture the pilot whale, Quinn,” Bram added.

“Can’t I picture a great white shark?” Quinn
retorted.

“You can, but it ain’t gonna happen,” Bram
laughed.

Bram, Aaron, and I stood away from Quinn and
watched as he stepped cautiously into the frigid water.  He started
hyperventilating and Aaron reminded him to slow down his breathing.  When
he did that, he continued into the water. 

“Just dive in!”  Bram urged.  I punched
Bram’s arm and mouthed the words,
Stop, let him do it
.  Bram smiled
and nodded, “Ok.”

The moon once again peeped out from behind the
influx of clouds and glistened on the water.  It was a wild thing to
see…Quinn standing waist-deep in the lake, his arms held high as he eased
himself in with his back towards us and the moonlight playing on his red hair.

Once he was up to his neck he turned to look at
us, teeth chattering still, and asked, “Have I changed yet?”

“Focus on the pilot whale,” Aaron shouted. “Close
your eyes and visualize the whale.”

Quinn closed his eyes.  A distant clap of
thunder made him jump and look towards the sky.  The moon disappeared
behind the clouds and snowflakes started falling.  Quinn closed his eyes
again and then, slowly at first, almost imperceptibly, he began shifting, his
shape stretching out and contorting.  He rose about three feet out of the
water and I could make out the distinctive bulbous head of the pilot
whale. 

He dove into the lake and stayed down in the water
for a few seconds before rising and jumping into the air.  His deep gray
shape silhouetted against the darkness of the lake.  He dove again and
splashed so much it reached us standing on the shore.

“He did that on purpose… or should I say,
porpoise,” Bram chuckled, jumping back from the splash.

I loved watching him jumping and diving.  He
looked so free.  I forgot for a brief moment why we were there and what we
needed to be doing.  It was just nice to see Quinn shift and connect with
his alternate self.  I remembered how it felt when I saw myself in wolf
form for the first time.  It was so exhilarating…and frightening.

After watching him for about twenty minutes, Aaron
called out and told him it was time to go…to shift back.  Quinn swam as
close to the shore as possible and lifted his rounded head out of the water, opened
his mouth and emitted a laughing sound.

“He’s really getting into this now,” I said.

Aaron went to start the car while Bram and I
watched Quinn begin his transformation.  He was swimming in circles when
his shape began to shift back to the Quinn we knew.  He lifted his head
out of the water and started heading back to us on the shore.  He wasn’t
shivering; in fact he was laughing and talking a mile a minute about how much
cooler a whale was than an eagle or a wolf.  Bram and I just looked at
each other and smirked. “Right,” Bram said under his breath.

After Quinn reached the shore, we marveled at how
warm he was.  He was still excited and rambling when another clap of
thunder made us all jump.  It was followed by lightning which appeared to
strike right in the middle of the lake.  We looked out onto the lake and
could hardly believe our eyes.  A geyser seemed to be sprouting from the
middle, about one hundred feet away, directly from the spot the lightening had
struck. 

As we watched the geyser, it began spinning like a
tornado and stood off the surface of the water a couple of feet.  It just
stood there, spinning.  Aaron jumped out of the car and joined us at the
water’s edge.  The spinning rose and fell, almost as though it was building
some sort of energy.  Lightning struck it once again, and this time a
vision began appearing. I recognized the face as the one that had appeared to
me in the mist.