Tyger Tyger (18 page)

"You should hear her go on about mollusks," he said. "It's impressive."

Mamieo patted Teagan's hand. "We'll just call it 'creation,' dearie, and get on with the story.

"In the time before time, as I was saying, when all the worlds were new, the Almighty made three peoples more powerful than any others. These three could walk in any world: the Aingeal, first of creation, were messengers and guards; the Highborn, made for leadership and war; and the Fir Bolg, made to mend and tend, and given Mag Mell as their own."

The kettle started whistling, and Finn got up to make the tea.

"Then the Sídhe took Mag Mell away," Aiden said.

Mamieo snorted. "They call themselves the Sídhe, as if they were one people and one flesh, but they are not. They are a chimera of peoples, cobbled together by the Dark Man's will.

"The Highborn—those that served the Almighty but do so no longer—are unearthly beautiful but wicked to their very core. They've lowborn cousins that creep and crawl, afraid of the light because they are too hideous to look at, but they're closely related to the Highborn just the same. Then there are Fear's own servants, the shadows, and many lesser creatures such as the
cat-sídhe.
All of them gathered from worlds here and there, and brought to Éireann long ago."

"Why Ireland?"

"To kill the Irish, I expect, before they could save this world."

Finn set the teapot, cups, and a small pitcher of milk on the table, and settled in again.

"The Irish saved the world?" Teagan asked as Mamieo poured the tea.

"It was the Milesian blood in their veins that did it," Mamieo explained.

Aiden reached for the sugar cubes, but Teagan caught his hand. "Just one," she said, scooping it up with a spoon and dropping it in his cup. "Finn said the Milesians were 'sons of men.' They were just humans, right?"

"Weren't they some of the Almighty's favorites, though? He made them lovers of knowledge, monks and scribes, minstrels and mages. As time passed, they mixed with all the peoples of the isles, and the Fir Bolg as well. By the time history began, they had become the Irish."

"But
how
did they save the world?" Aiden asked as Teagan poured milk in his tea.

"When the world fell into the Dark Ages, who was it that hid the books and kept the learning alive? Who kept the old stories and songs?" Mamieo slapped her hand down on the table. "It was the Irish, and weren't they called to the task by the Almighty himself?"

Teagan took another cookie. Multiverses and magical people were hard to believe. It would have been a lot harder, though, before she saw the shadows and
cat-sídhe.
But even if she accepted it all as true, it felt like pieces of the puzzle were missing.

"Why did the goblins come for my mom?" Teagan asked. "Even if she was part Fir Bolg, why her, and not another Traveler?"

"If I knew that," Mamieo said sadly, "I might have been able to help the girl more. She didn't know herself. I'll tell you what I can. Isn't that night burned into my mind?

"The Travelers had gathered at Selsey, near Chichester and Bosham, on Samhain's Eve. It was the year after my own dear man had passed, and didn't I have trouble sleeping on such a stormy night, with lightning tearing the clouds and punishing the marsh?" She shook her head. "I was just thanking the good Lord that all of mine were safe at home when I heard it—the howling of terrible hounds. It was the Hunt, as sure as there's mold on Pádraig's bones. The sound of it can send grown men cowering under their beds. And those who know—" She shook her head and pressed her lips together.

"Know what?" Aiden asked.

"That evil is hunting some poor child through the night, a girl child stolen from her home with no one to help her, no place to run—the very thought can drive men mad."

Teagan shivered, remembering the blood stained muzzles.

"What did you do?" Aiden asked.

"I'm a
máthair,
aren't I?" Mamieo drew herself up. "I made sure my own were tucked safe in bed, put on my shawl, and went to see what could be done. And by the end of the road, in front of St. Wilfred's chapel, I met the Green Man."

"Weren't you afraid?" Aiden asked.

"Not of himself," Mamieo said. "He's true enough. 'Let me through,' I told him. 'Let me into Mag Mell.'

"'What would you do there, Ida?' he asked.

"'I'm a Christian woman,' I says. 'I'll do what I can. You should be doing something yourself, you leafy ox of a man. Can't you hear the baying?'

"'I'm not strong enough to stop them,' he says, 'but I can do this.' He grabbed the corner of the night and ripped a hole into Mag Mell.

"'I'll leave a light on for you,' he says as I step through. 'You'll never be coming home without it.'

"The storm was worse in Mag Mell, black as Hell itself, and laced up with lightings. I ran towards the sound of the
Sídhe
hounds and the
bean-Sídhes
..."

Teagan glanced at Finn. She couldn't imagine anyone running
toward
that pack, but he was nodding as if he believed every word.

"...and I saw her—a girl stumbling through the woods in a thin dress and bare feet. She was all of twelve, and small for her age. She was terrified out of her wits, and tried to get away from me at first, thinking I was one of those that hunted her, but I'd had plenty of practice herding children. I gathered her up and held on until she stopped fighting and sobbed in my arms. Didn't the Almighty give me the strength to run then? With her in my arms and their hot breath behind us! I ran for the light the Green Man was holding.

"He laid his hand on the child's head and blessed her when we went out, and she stopped shaking. 'Take the child west if you want to keep her,' he says. 'Tomorrow will be soon enough.'

"I took her into St. Wilfred's first. We crawled under the altar, and I prayed for them all—my own babies at home and the one shivering beside me. The
bean-Sídhes
and the hounds screamed and howled around the eaves of that church, but they couldn't come onto sacred ground, could they? And with the dawn they were gone.

"We started working our way west towards America the very next day, and when we boarded the ship we left the goblins behind us for a time. Aileen never spoke a word—not one word but her name for a whole year. When she did speak, she didn't say a word about that place. She could remember none of it. She had no second sight, but there was
draíocht
about her, that's certain. Her mind was easier in the West.

"It took the cats some time to find us in the New World. Your mother was happily married by then, with babes of her own."

"
Draíocht?
" Teagan asked.

"Magic," Finn said.

"Did you know all this?" Teagan asked Finn.

"Of course he didn't," Mamieo said. "The goblins watch and listen, don't they? We keep things quiet. When the cats caught up with us at last, I told the family to stay away from Aileen, alone like she was. The goblins had come with a vengeance, they had. I lost my son and his wife to them. Lost track of my grandson as well for a few years, because he didn't have the sense to come and find me. Not until after..."

Finn was studying his hands. Mamieo sniffed.

"Been on the road some days have you, Finn?"

"A few," Finn said.

"I can tell it." She pointed toward the back of the motor home. "You could use a shower, boy."

Finn turned pink, but he looked from Teagan to Aiden.

"You got them here," Mamieo said. "I can keep them safe while you clean up. There's enough water if you're careful."

Finn nodded. He took his bag and went back to the bathroom.

"It's not much of a shower," Mamieo said as the water started, "but it will do. Why don't you go look at your
máthair'
s books, pratie? They're on the shelf there."

Aiden wiggled under the table, crawled out, and went to the bookshelf. Mamieo leaned close to Teagan.

"I don't know how much time we have." Mamieo nodded toward the shower door and lowered her voice. "The boyo can't hear a thing, not with the water running. He'll not tell you, not after what happened to your
máthair.
"

"Tell me what?" Teagan said.

Mamieo poured herself a little more tea, took a sip, and dabbed at her bright pink lipstick with a napkin.

"Forty-five years ago," she said, "I walked into a room and there stood Rory Mac Cumhaill, big as life. Took one look at him, I did, and my heart stopped beating."

"You've had heart trouble that long?"

"Heart trouble!" Mamieo laughed, and her eyes almost disappeared into her wrinkles. "Heart trouble it was, girl, but not the kind you're imagining. It wasn't something those wee explosives could ease. When my heart started pumping again, it had changed forever." She sighed. "And his had too, of course. That's the way of it. Ah, Rory. A ghrá mo
chroí,
love of my heart. You were a deadly fine man." She sighed, then leaned forward and took Teagan's hands. "My lover's been gone these twenty-nine years, but there never was another for me. That's the way the Almighty made us. The way he made the Fir Bolg."

"I'm ... sorry for your loss." Teagan was not quite sure what else to say.

"I'm not done with my tale yet, am I? I was just trying to give you some understanding. After he had been at your house, Finn came to see me. He was that troubled." Mamieo studied Teagan's face intently. "You understand what I'm saying?"

"Not ... really," Teagan admitted.

"Good Lord, girl, do I have to spell it out for you? There's been just one name pounding in that boy's heart ever since he first saw you, hasn't there? Your name, Teagan Wylltson. I'm thinking his name is in your heart, too, girl."

Teagan blinked.

"Finn's the last of Fionn's line. He'd go to Hell for you. He went into Mag Mell, didn't he? So—so don't you go getting my boy killed. I'm depending on you to keep him safe."

"Me? Keep Finn safe?"

Mamieo nodded seriously. "That's what I'm asking. You are your
máthair'
s **daughter, and Aileen could always..." Mamieo tipped her head. "Will you look at that, now?"

Teagan turned. Aiden was sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of a sunbeam, singing "Down on the Corner" softly as he looked at his mother's book.

"
People come from miles around to watch the magic boy...
"

His hair shone like a golden halo. Even the dust motes around him were glowing.

"Don't let his looks fool you," Teagan said. "He's no angel."

"Of course he's not an
aingeal!
" Mamieo said. "But did you see—"

Something heavy landed on the roof, and Aiden looked up. Footsteps walked the length of the motor home and stopped above the driver's seat.

The roof squeaked as weight shifted, and Kyle's face appeared upside down outside the windshield. He grinned and disappeared.

"Aiden, come here," Teagan said, but before he could move, Kyle flipped into the motor home. The windshield rippled as if it were water as he passed through it, rearranging itself as he landed graceful as a gymnast. Teagan grabbed Aiden and pulled him back against her.

"Get out, goblin." Mamieo was standing up, her fists clenched.

"Not that again. Why do you Travelers insist on using such foul language? I am
Highborn Sídhe.
Sit down, old woman, and I might let you live."

Mamieo turned around and sank back into her seat, groping for her pills at the back of the table.

Kyle laughed and looked at Teagan.

"What did you tell Abby, Tea? She doesn't want to see me anymore. She wouldn't give me her address."

"We won't tell you what it is, either, bad guy," Aiden said.

Teagan glanced at the shower. The water was still on. Finn couldn't know the
Sídhe
was here.

"You won't tell me?" Kyle said. "Oh, well. I'll have to use the Internet, then. I have her phone number. Reverse lookup is easy, isn't it?" He sighed. "Too bad you can't use technology to find your dad. He needs you so badly."

Mamieo had missed her nitro bottle and picked up the peppershaker. She peered at it, holding it at arm's length, then put it back. Teagan didn't dare offer to help her. If Kyle knew she had a bad heart...

"Where is my dad?" Teagan said when Kyle started to turn toward the old woman.

"With Fear Doirich, of course." Kyle turned back to her. "Fear isn't treating him well, I can tell you that. He's stealing the poor man's mind bit ... by ... bit. I don't know how much is left. But I do know that Fear's curious about you two. Very curious. He's set everyone to looking for you." He took a step closer. "Come with me." Kyle offered his hand. "I'll take you right to your father."

The urge to reach out and touch him was so strong Teagan had to grip Aiden's shoulders hard.

"Or not." Kyle smiled again. "How about you, Aiden? You want to come with me, don't you?"

Mamieo stood up again and turned to face Kyle. "I said, 'Get out, goblin.' I don't like repeating myself."

Kyle bared his teeth. "Who do you think you are, hag?"

"Your worst nightmare, boyo," Mamieo said, and tossed a handful of white crystals into his eyes.

Kyle screamed. His eyes bubbled and melted like slugs. As Teagan pulled Aiden away, she caught just a glimpse of Finn coming out of the shower, naked and dripping wet, with his knife in his hand.

"Mamieo, get back!" Finn shouted. "Let me have him!"

Mamieo wasn't listening.

"Help me, girl!" the old lady barked, and then she was after Kyle like a fox after a mouse, pushing him backwards as he howled.

Teagan shoved Aiden aside and jumped to help Mamieo.

"His legs, his legs!" Mamieo shouted when they had him against the dashboard.

Teagan grabbed them and lifted as Mamieo pushed, tipping Kyle backwards. The glass rippled again as he went out, and sealed behind him. He landed on the gravel of the drive, still screaming and clawing at his melted eyes.

"Go n-ithe
an cats thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cats!
" Mamieo shouted after him, shaking her fist. Whatever it meant, Teagan hoped it was just as nasty as it sounded.