The Keeper (21 page)

‘That feather lady said I was so brave I could probably be a Wren one day,' Sorcha continued. ‘But I don't think I'll go next year. They don't have any television on
Eachtra
and there's no way I'm missing another summer of TV.'

She rested her head back against the window and smiled, thinking of all the things she could do when she got home. Stephen was doing the same thing. Oisín remembered how eager Stephen had been to get home the first day they had washed up on the beach. He wasn't so sure how he felt now. Stephen had left his sword with Scathach the night before. Mrs Fitzfeather had talked to him about returning as a Wren too, but he had decided not to. He had an odd expression on his face as the train drifted further and further from the Tuatha Dé Danann, as if, now that he was finally going home, he wasn't sure that he wanted to.

Oisín hadn't talked to him about what had happened inside the Book of Magic when they had both faced the Morrígan. Neither of them had really talked to Sorcha about her time with the Morrígan either. But they all felt a strange current between them, as if the past few weeks had bound them together in a way that was even deeper than blood.

The DART passed through the forest of misty seaweed and started to move upwards. Soon it was tilting back and making its way up the cliff towards Howth Head. Oisín, Stephen and Sorcha leant back as if they were on a rollercoaster but none of them said anything. They knew it would be OK.

Moments later, the DART was pulling into Howth station, as if there was no other place it would rather end up on a drizzly Sunday morning. Oisín wasn't sure what the train attendant was more confused by – the sight of a DART carriage without any engine or driver or Granny Keane, standing on the platform in a bright summer dress and fluorescent pink raincoat, her long white hair blowing in the August air. Oisín smiled when he saw her. He wondered how much she knew about the Tuatha Dé Danann and whether she had ever been on the strange DART herself. There were always more questions, he supposed.

‘Ready, Sorcha?' Stephen said, standing up and holding a hand out to his sister. Sorcha leapt up and bounded over to the door, pressing her finger against the red circle.

Oisín stayed on the seat for a moment. He felt the way he sometimes did when their car pulled into its destination after a long trip: excited to be somewhere and also so comfortable that he wished they could just keep driving for another five minutes, that the trip wouldn't have to end. Stephen walked over and put his hand on Oisín's shoulder.

‘You ready, mate? Oisín?'

Maybe it wasn't the first time that Stephen had called Oisín by his real name instead of ‘Peabrain' or ‘Dogbreath'. But it was the first time Oisín remembered and it was the first time Oisín felt that he had a friend as well as a brother. He zipped up his hoodie and stood beside Stephen.

‘Yeah.' He nodded as the doors slipped open. ‘Yeah, I am.'

The three children stepped onto the platform, so happy to be home that they didn't notice the green DART slinking away behind them. The train attendant wondered if he had been doing too much overtime. If somebody had told him that magic was involved he probably would have decided that they'd had a bit too much whiskey and gone back to worrying about how the new ticket machine had got jammed again, which was a real mystery worth considering, in his opinion. He decided not to think about it: ordinary trains didn't move by themselves.

Except sometimes they did, Oisín thought, as he walked past the bewildered man and smiled at Granny Keane, who returned a twinkling grin of her own.

Sometimes the world wasn't ordinary at all, and he quite liked it that way.

Irish words and names

The pronunciations given here are only a rough guide, because Irish (Gaeilge) sounds are not really very like English ones. When
ch
is used here, don't sound it as in ‘church,' but as in ‘Loch Ness' or ‘chutzpah'. Also,
th
is used here to indicate a sound softer than an English
t
but not as soft as an English
th
.

An Freagarach: The Retaliator; pronounce
on fragag-roch

Badb: pronounce
Bav

Bealtaine: the Celtic summer festival, 1 May; also the name of the whole month of May; pronounce
Bal-thin-ah

béal tine: mouth of fire; pronounce
bail thin-ah

Caoimhe: pronounce
Kweeva

Cathad: pronounce
Ca-ha

Cliodhna: pronounce
Clee-unna

Cluaiscín: pronounce
clue-ish-keen

Cnoc na gCnámh: Hill of Bones; pronounce
K'nuck na G'nawv

croíacht: a magical object; pronounce
cree-ucht
(This word does not exist in the real world.)

déan deifir: hurry up; pronounce
dane deffer

Deirdre of the Sorrows: a famous beauty of Irish legend who was doomed from birth and was the cause of the death of her lover and his warrior brothers; pronounce her name
Dear-dra
or
Dare-dra
(not
Dear-dree)

dinnseanchas: lore of place, study of placenames; pronouce din-
shan-ach-as

Droichead an Chlaímh: the Bridge of the Sword; pronounce
Drih-had on Chlee-av

Eachtra: adventure; pronounce
ach-thra

fás: grow; pronounce
fawce

Fionn Mac Cumhaill: famous hero of Irish legend; pronounce
Finn Mac Cool

Gaeltacht: Irish-speaking areas of Ireland; children often go to these places on summer camps, to perfect their Irish; pronounce
gale-thocht

geas (plural geasa): a rule that forbids a person to do something specific; this rule cannot be broken, because it is enforced by magic; pronounce
g'yass (g'yassa)

liathróidí tine: fireballs; pronounce
lee-roady thin-ah

Linn an Bhróin: Pool of Sadness; pronounce
Lin on Vrone

Lughnasa: harvest festival, 1 August, also the name of the whole month of August;
pronounce Loo-na-sa

Macha: pronounce Mah-hah

Medb: pronounce
Mave
(to rhyme with save)

Milesian: pronounce
mile-ee-shun
(This is actually an English word.)

muise: meaningless word, a bit like ‘well' in English; pronounce
mush-ah

Naoise: pronounce
Nee-sha

Nuala: pronounce
Noo-la

Ogham: ancient Irish script; pronounce
Ogg-am
or
Oh-am

Oisín: pronounce
Usheen

Pádraig: pronounce
Paw-rick
or
Pawd-rig

rith ar nós na gaoithe: run like the wind; pronounce
rih err noce na gweeha

scamall: cloud; pronounce
ska-mull

Scathach: pronounce
Ska-hach

Sliabh na Gaoithe: Mountain of the Wind; pronounce
Shleeve na Gweeha

Sorcha: pronounce
Surr'cha

Spéir. Bogha báistí. An ghriain ag taithneamh: Sky. Rainbow. The sun shining; pronounce
Spare. Boa bawshthy. On green egg tha-niv
.

téigh faoin uisce: go under the water; pronounce
chay
or
thay fween ishka

Tuatha Dé Danann: people of the goddess Dana; pronounce
thooha day dannan

Thanks to:

Siobhán Parkinson, Elaina O'Neill and all the wonderful Little Islanders; Faith O'Grady and The Lisa Richards Agency; the Fulbright Program; The Blue Mountain Center; Ruth Lysaght for Irish tips; Gillian Martin for being the first reader and critic; Rachel Jolly, Rachel Waldholz, Maggie Carson, and Kevin Connell for reading early drafts; my own magical siblings for their support and inspiration: Aoife, Gillian, Caroline and Brendan.