Into the Fire (18 page)

“It’s okay, honey,” Nuala said, walking slowly toward the child. “Your mother is dead, see. But you’ll be okay. I’m going to look after you now.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Cedar snapped. “I’m right here, Eden. I’m not dead.”

“That’s just what your mind wants you to believe,” Nuala said, kneeling down to Eden’s level. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. But don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”

“You killed my mum?” Eden asked, her eyes wide.

“No, of course not, my dear. She did this to herself. She was reckless, dragging you all over the world looking for the Lia Fáil. It’s her own fault. She left you alone. But I’m here now. You can trust me.”

Slowly, Eden knelt down beside the body on the ground. Cedar put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder and said, “Eden, it’s okay, I’m right here. This is just a dream. I’m not dead, and I’ve come to get you.” Eden looked at her, but didn’t seem to register what she was saying; her eyes were still fixed on the dead Cedar. Then she stood up, and Cedar jumped back.

Her six-year-old daughter had morphed into someone she had never seen before. This woman had Eden’s wavy brown hair and olive skin, but was taller than Cedar. Holding her head up high, she slowly turned to face Nuala.

“You!” Nuala hissed. The woman tilted her head slightly.

“Did you miss me?” she asked in a teasing voice. “The Morrigan has not yet claimed you, I see.”

“That was just a dream,” Nuala said through her teeth. “
This
is just a dream.”

“Is it? I think we both know that’s not quite true,” the woman said.

Cedar stared at her. She looked a bit like her daughter, or how her daughter might look in twenty years… could it be? “Eden?” she asked tentatively. The woman swiveled around.

“Mum,” she said, her voice suddenly stern. “You’re not safe here. You should go.”

“What are you talking about? I came to get you, to wake you up. I’m not leaving without you.”

Eden nudged Cedar’s body on the ground with her toe. “Let’s get rid of this,” she said, and the body dissolved into nothing. “Now seriously, Mum, you should go. I’ll be right behind you.”

Cedar stood her ground. “I don’t care how old you look, I am not leaving you alone here with
her.
”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I can take care of her,” Eden said.

“Is that what you think?” Nuala’s voice came out in a snarl. “When you fled deep into your own mind to save yourself? You’re not even safe here. You’re not safe anywhere. I will always be able to find you.”

Suddenly Nuala wrapped her hands around Cedar’s throat. Eden let out a snarl and advanced on them, but Nuala sent her sprawling in the dirt with a fierce kick. Cedar gasped for air, but nothing could get through. She clawed at Nuala’s arms, but they were like steel. “Forget about the Lia Fáil. Forget about becoming queen.” She dropped Cedar to the ground and stood over her.

“No,” Cedar gasped through shallow and ragged breaths.

“What?” Nuala snapped.

Cedar struggled to her feet. “I will never stop fighting you,” she said, her eyes locked with Nuala’s. “
You
should be the one who’s afraid. When I find the Lia Fáil and prove that I am the true queen, you’re going to wish you had never messed with my family.”

Nuala laughed derisively. “What are you going to do, human me to death?” she said. “You’ve already used that trick once, and it won’t work on me.”

She wrapped her hands around Cedar’s neck again and squeezed. Already weakened by the first attack, Cedar was powerless to stop her. “I gave you a chance,” Nuala said. “But you just don’t learn, do you? Don’t worry, you won’t die alone. I’ll kill them all; everyone you love. In fact, I think I’ll start with your friends here in Tír na nÓg. They’re being rounded up as we speak. Such a pity you weren’t there to save them this time.”

Cedar could feel her mind shutting down. Great black patches swam in front of her eyes, obscuring her vision. She looked around for Eden, but everything was an indiscriminate blur. And then she was on the ground again, pulling in desperate, painful breaths. As her vision started to clear, she could make out someone standing in front of her. The hem of a black lace gown drifted by like smoke. It was Eden, or rather the woman Eden would become. Her voice was deep, dark, and filled with power.

“Someday, Fionnghuala, we will meet in the waking world, when I have come into my full power. You had better hope you are dead by then.”

Then Cedar felt herself being picked up. The next thing she knew, she was staring at the ceiling of Logheryman’s bedroom. The first rays of dawn were struggling to make it through the grime on the room’s only window. There was shouting, and when she turned her head, she saw that Finn had pressed Liam up against the wall, his hands at the other man’s throat.

“Stop,” she croaked.

Finn dropped the druid and rushed to her side, his eyes half-mad with worry. Felix was there too, she noticed now. He was kneeling at the bedside, his shirtsleeves rolled to his elbows.

“Mummy?” Eden said, looking around groggily, her hair a sweaty mess on her forehead.

Finn fell onto them both. “Ow,” Cedar said, and he quickly shifted to give her more space.

“You’re okay,” he said, holding her hands tightly in his, like he would never let them go. “You did it.”

Cedar shook her head gingerly and then winced. She took one of her hands from Finn’s grasp, and ran her fingers over her throat. Her neck felt bruised and raw, just as it had in the dreamworld. “Yes,” she said. “It wasn’t as easy as I thought.” She looked over at Liam, who had stood up and was hovering in the corner. “What’s going on? Why were you shouting?”

“We thought you were dying,” Finn said, with a glare at Liam. “We couldn’t wake you up, but you were having trouble breathing. It was like someone was choking you.”

“Someone
was
choking me,” she said. “But it wasn’t Liam’s fault.” She told them what had happened. Eden’s jaw dropped when Cedar told them the part about seeing Eden’s older self, and how she had saved Cedar from Nuala.

“I don’t remember that part at all,” Eden said. “I just remember looking for Baby Bunny and being scared. And then… then I saw you on the ground.” Her lip trembled, and she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Cedar hugged her close. “It’s okay now,” she said. “We’re both okay.” She looked at the others. “From what Nuala said, I could tell that she and Eden had shared dreams before.” She turned to Eden. “Honey, do you remember anything like that?”

Eden thought for a moment. “I think so,” she said. “Gran gave us each something to drink, and it was supposed to help me figure
out what Tír na nÓg looked like so I could open the sidh for Nuala. But it didn’t work.”

Cedar stared at her.
“Gran?”
Right before her death, Maeve had told Cedar that she’d tried to help Nuala get to Tír na nÓg in the hopes of saving Eden from all the Tuatha Dé Danann. But she had only mentioned using the starstones, not this.

Liam was pale. “I’m so sorry, Cedar. If I had known…”

“Is that why Nuala’s been able to mess with Eden’s mind? Because she did this dream-thing with her?” Cedar asked.

“It makes sense,” Liam said. “She’s not working alone. This is powerful druid magic. But yes, that dream-share would have created a bond between them that would make Eden more susceptible—”

“How can we stop her?” Cedar interrupted. “What can we do to block her out of Eden’s head?”

“I… I don’t know,” Liam said. “I’ll need to do some research, and maybe some tests. It’s possible, though, especially since Eden is a sidh-closer. Perhaps we can amplify her power or teach her to block Nuala.”

“There’s something else,” Cedar said, looking anxiously at Finn and Felix. “Nuala said that the others back in Tír na nÓg are being rounded up. She said she’s going to kill them.”

Finn and Felix exchanged worried glances.

“Do you think she was telling the truth?” Felix said tentatively. “Maybe she was just trying to scare you so that we’ll stop looking for the Lia Fáil.”

“Can we really take that chance?” Cedar said. “Our starstones were in my apartment—in the fire. We have no way of getting in touch with the others. We’ll have to go back.”

A silence fell on the room. After a few long moments, Finn said, “It might be a trap.”

“Even if it is, we can’t do nothing,” Cedar protested. “We need to make sure they’re okay. And while we’re there I think we should
talk to Nevan. She once told me that people can learn how to block her telepathic ability. Maybe she can teach Eden how to keep her mind closed to Nuala.”

Finn frowned. “That’s the thing—Eden should
already
be able to block Nuala. She’s a closer—there’s no way Nuala should be able to get into her head like this.”

There was another heavy moment of silence, and then Liam cleared his throat and said, “Maybe it’s not her, it’s her druids. Closers like you and your daughter are immune to the abilities of the other Danann. But druid magic works differently. If Maeve really did use this spell to link Eden and Nuala, it may have created a bond that’s stronger than Eden’s natural resistance to Nuala’s ability, making her more susceptible to Nuala… and her druids.”

“Whatever it is, we need to check on the others and talk to Nevan,” Cedar said. “We can’t afford to stop looking for the Lia Fáil for long, but if she comes with us, she might be able to teach Eden how to block Nuala out. And I think we should all go—we can’t afford to split up if the druids are still after us. How is Jane?” she asked Felix.

“She’s doing very well,” he said. “She’s still sleeping on the sofa, and her healing is almost complete. But I don’t want to move her yet. I should stay here with her.”

“I’ll stay with her,” Liam said. “And I’ll put some defensive spells around the house, just in case. But I don’t think she’ll be in any danger. She’s not their target.”

“I think we should wait,” Finn said firmly. “Just for a few hours. You and Eden have both been through an ordeal. And you’ve hardly slept.”

“But—” Cedar started to protest. Finn cut her off.

“You can’t go without food and sleep all day and all night,” he said. “And neither can Eden. Just sleep for a few hours. Let your body recover. That’s all I ask.”

Cedar wanted to argue, but Finn had that look on his face that told her he wouldn’t back down lightly. “Fine,” she said. “
Then
we’ll go.”

Felix and Liam excused themselves from the room, and Cedar settled back into the pillows. Eden snuggled into her on one side, and Finn on the other. Cedar stared at the ceiling. Her body was exhausted, but her mind was reeling. How could she sleep when Nuala might be rounding up her friends at this very moment and plotting her next attack on Eden’s mind? And they were still no closer to finding the Lia Fáil. She lay there for several minutes before sitting up and sliding out of bed.

“Where are you going?” Finn asked sleepily.

“I’m going to make a cup of tea,” Cedar said. “It might help my mind stop whirring.” She tiptoed into the kitchen, where she found Liam sitting alone at the table, his long fingers wrapped around a steaming mug. Next to it was an empty mug and a full teapot.

“I was hoping you’d come,” he said in an undertone.

“You were?” Cedar asked, confused.

“You need to sleep,” Liam said. “But I also know that there’s a lot weighing on your mind. Just as there is on mine.”

“Yes,” Cedar agreed. “I just keep thinking… what if we don’t find it?”

“You’ll find it,” Liam said. “You’re just like your mother—Maeve, that is. When she set her mind to something, there was no stopping her.”

Cedar sat down across from him, and he poured her a cup of tea. She fingered the charm bracelet on her wrist, the one that had belonged to Maeve. She wondered what the charms had meant to her adoptive mother, if there was a story behind each one. “I feel like I hardly knew her at all,” Cedar said. “I know she loved me, and I loved her, but we never really… clicked, you know? We were never close.”

“I’m not surprised,” he said. “She did love you, I’m sure of it. Otherwise she would have handed you over to Rohan when he and the others first came through the sidh, searching for Kier. But you look a lot like your father. I think you brought up a lot of complicated emotions for her.”

Cedar stared down into her tea. She had felt the same way about Eden at times, before Finn had returned. She loved Eden more than anything, but there had been times when her daughter would get a look in her eye or an expression on her face that reminded her so much of Finn she had to turn away. Now that he was back, she delighted in discovering all the things he and Eden had in common. But it hadn’t always been that way. And Eden was her own child… she couldn’t imagine what it would have been like to raise the daughter of a rival.

“Will you tell me about her?” she asked. “I’d like to hear about the Maeve
you
knew.”

Liam smiled sadly. “All right,” he said and paused for a moment. “She was a feisty thing. Very eager to learn, but insistent on doing things her way, which is definitely not the norm for druids, I must admit. She was only my second pupil, but the other one I’d had was a breeze compared to her.”

“Why did Brogan ask you to teach her?” Cedar wondered. “Did you know him?”

“I did not,” Liam answered. “I knew who he was, of course, but we had never met. Up until now, the druids and the Tuatha Dé Danann haven’t had much to do with each other for a very long time. We were happy with our lives on Earth, and the Danann rarely left Tír na nÓg anymore. When he came into my office at the university and told me who he was, I had a hard time believing him. Not that I doubted the existence of the Tuatha Dé Danann; rather, I wasn’t sure what he could want from me.”

“Wait a minute… how old are you?” Cedar asked. “That must have been almost forty years ago. You were already at the university then?”

Liam smiled, the skin around his eyes crinkling. “Let’s just say that I’m older than I look.”

“Are you immortal? Like the Tuatha Dé Danann?”

“No, no, nothing like that. Druids usually live longer than most humans, but no more than an additional human life span. There are certain spells and potions that can lengthen our lives.”