Larkspur (19 page)

“
No, but he probably
does.” Jacob pointed to an old grey gargoyle perched on the boat
ramp.

“
Tá tú ar an Oileán de
Dhéantús an Duine
,” the gargoyle sneered
at them.

“
Wha . . .?” Valerie looked at
Jacob.

“
I’ve got this,” Sam said.
“He said . . . uh . . . We’re on the
Isle of Man. Yes, we figured that, Mr. Sarcastic
Gargoyle.”

The gargoyle snickered at Sam. Confused,
Jacob and Valerie looked at each other.

“
Anyway, wouldn’t just be
‘The Isle of Man’ and not
Oileán de
Dhéantús an Duine
since it’s a name?” Sam
asked.

“
You caught me,” the
gargoyle said in a thick Manx accent. “My Irish is a little
faulty.”

“
I’ve been learning from
those Irish friends you have, Jacob,” Sam nodded. “I figured it
would come in handy at some point. Plus, it gets me free beer at
the Irish Snug.”

Sam held out his hand to the gargoyle.

“
Sam Lipson,” he
said.

“
Gilfand.” the gargoyle
shook Sam’s hand.

“
Servant of Fand,” Sam
translated. “Aren’t you all Gilfand, then?”

“
I am her personal
servant,” the gargoyle said.

“
Will you take us to her?”
Celia asked.

Gilfand gave Celia a long look before
turning back to Sam.

“
My mother asked you a
question,” Jacob said with force.

The gargoyle jumped with surprise. He turned
his whole attention to Jacob.

“
How dare you imitate my
king?” Gilfand leaned to get a closer look at Jacob. “Who are you?
State your purpose!”

“
I’m Jacob Marlowe
Lipson,” Jacob said. “This is my father, Sam Lipson; my sister,
Valerie Lipson; and my mother, Celia Marlowe Lipson. We’ve come to
reverse a curse placed on my family.”

Gilfand locked eyes with Jacob.

“
You are
his . . . blood,” Gilfand gave a soft shake of his
head. “She’s not going to like that.”

“
I would think she would
love to see her own descendants,” Celia said.

“
Too much grief.” Gilfand
shook his head. “You sure you want
to . . .?”

“
My wife is having my sons
tonight,” Jacob said. “If we don’t break this
curse . . .”

“
Yes, Rosenthal told me,”
Gilfand nodded. “There is supposed to be one other.”

They looked around the sandy boat launch.
Jacob pointed toward the beginning of the boat ramp and they
climbed up the stone masonry ramp. They stopped at the top to look
around. The gargoyle landed on the low stone wall.

“
He’s coming.” Gilfand
pointed to a man getting out of a parked car. “He is a
Celt.”

They had to jump back to get out of the way
when the gargoyle took off. He made quick time to where the man was
walking toward them. The man and the gargoyle had a terse argument
as the man walked and the gargoyle flew toward them.

“
Hallo,” the man smiled.
He held out his hand, “I’m James Kelly. You know my brothers Cian
and Johnny.”

“
Jacob, Valerie, and my
father Sam,” Jacob shook James’s hand. “I thought you went by
Jimmy.”

“
Only to my baby brother,”
James said. He gestured to the gargoyle, “This your flying
rat?”

Gilfand hissed at James.

“
Seems to belong to Fand,”
Sam said.

“
The fairy queen, Fand? I
see,” James said. “Seth told me something of your quest. Frankly, I
only came to see how you managed to illegally enter the United
Kingdom. Any of you have a passport on you?”

Jacob, Valerie, and Sam shook their
heads.

“
Where did you come from
then?” James asked.

Jacob turned to gesture toward the sewer
pipe they’d emerged from. It had vanished. He gave Valerie a
worried look. James followed his gesture, and noted Jacob’s look to
Valerie.

“
There’s clearly more to
this than meets the eye,” James said. He looked at Celia. “Are you
going to introduce the ghost?”

“
You can see her?” Sam
asked.

“
I’m Irish,” James said.
“I see everything. Whether or not I acknowledge it is another
thing.”

He sneered at the gargoyle. Gilfand returned
the disdain.

“
This Celt cannot come
with us,” Gilfand asserted.

“
This Celt has to go with
them,” James said. “Because this Celt has to keep track of them,
and keep them from running afoul with the local
authorities.”

“
The Celt will destroy
everything,” the gargoyle said.

“
If by ‘destroy
everything’ you mean keep them out of prison, then you are correct,
little rat,” James said. “It’s your choice — I can take them now or
 . . .”

Gilfand hissed at James.

“
This is my mother, Celia
Marlowe Lipson,” Jacob said.

“
Ma’am,” James said. “Why
are you here?”

“
We’re cursed,” Valerie
started. “Our boys are . . . I lost mine
and . . .”

“
I read that.” James
blushed and looked away. He glanced back at Valerie. “I’m a bit of
a fan. Love your latest, by the way.”

Valerie gave him a dazzling smile, and he
wilted. The gargoyle scowled.

“
Jake’s wife, Jill, is
pregnant with twin boys,” Valerie said. “If we can lift the curse,
we remove the threat to her life.”

“
Wait,
Jill . . . Jacob . . . You wouldn’t
happen to be Alex’s contractor?” James asked. “Father of Paddy’s
best friend, Katy?”

“
Guilty as charged,” Jacob
smiled.

“
You’re practically
family,” James said. “I spent an evening last Christmas completely
charmed by Katy. She’s wonderful.”

“
Celts,” Gilfand hissed
and rolled his eyes.

Valerie scowled at Gilfand and he
shrugged.

“
What do you know?” James
asked.

“
Seth said that we should
go to a Castle Rushen,” Sam said. “We need to talk to a ghost
there.”

“
In the East Tower.
She’s . . .” James glanced at the gargoyle.
“Different.”

“
You’ve met her?” Jacob
asked.

“
Heard of her,” James
said. “Ghosts are not my thing.”

“
I don’t like them
either,” Jacob said.

“
And yet here you are,
traveling with your mother’s spirit to a foreign isle to look for a
ghost in a castle,” James said.

“
Life is kind of like
that,” Jacob said.

“
Maybe
your
life,” James smiled. “Well, the
castle is just past these houses. We may as well head over there
now.”

“
Will anyone be there?”
Sam asked.

“
The castle undergoes a
deep cleaning and repair one week of the year,” James said. “Crews
work all night. As luck would have it, this happens to be the
week.”

“
Seems lucky,” Celia
said.

“
You’ve got good luck,
Marlowe,” James said. “Come on. Let’s go see if we can find a fairy
queen.”

James glanced at Gilfand.

“
Lead on,” James
said.

“
I’m not bound to you,”
Gilfand said.

“
What about me?” Jacob
asked. “Are you bound to me?”

Gilfand turned to look at him. His head went
up and down in a slow nod.

“
Will you take us to your
queen?” Jacob asked.

Gilfand gave a slight nod of his head. Jacob
felt a nauseating whooshing sensation, and then he was standing in
the middle of a room with round stone walls on the east side of
Castle Rushen.

“
Bring my sister, father,
and James,” Jacob ordered.

The gargoyle gave a nod and disappeared.
Jacob looked around the space for a moment. Seeing a window, he
went to look out on the bay. He was about to turn away when the
glass disappeared from the window. Fand, the fairy queen, pushed
him over the parapet.

He caught himself with his psychokinetic
capacity. He flew back into the hall. Spinning in place, he looked
around the hall for Fand. She had vanished completely.

“
You’ll have to demand
that she appear.” Delphie appeared before his eyes.

“
How . . .?” Jacob asked.

“
My class finished,”
Delphie said, as if the answer was obvious. “The queen is bound to
the king. She will continue this dangerous mischief until
you . . .”

“
But . . .”
Jacob started.

“
Be the king of Marle,”
Delphie said. “That
is
where we are right?”

“
Isle of Man,” Jacob said.
“Fand the fairy queen. Manannán the king and sea god.”

“
How fun!” Delphie said.
“Where’s Sam? Val? Your mother left a while ago; she must
be . . .”

“
They were with me,” Jacob
said. “We were supposed to come here together, with James Kelly.
But this Gilfand and . . .”

Delphie shook her head.

“
She is holding them,”
Delphie said. “You must order her to release them.”

“
Me?” Jacob said. “I’m
supposed to demand things from a
ghost
?”

Delphie nodded.

“
Here she comes,” Delphie
said.

The apparition of a woman dressed all in
black flew through the air toward him.

Jacob was struck by two thoughts at once:
His Katy was the spitting image of this Fand the fairy queen, and
he despised ghosts.

The ghost was upon him. She used the depth
of her energy to block out his senses. He was instantly blind and
deaf. He felt the slimy, hot energy all over him.

“
Enough,” Jacob yelled.
Using his skill, he pushed the ghost from him.

When his vision cleared, the ghost was gone.
He looked at Delphie and she shrugged.

“
Any ideas?” Jacob
asked.

“
I think she’s testing
you,” Delphie said, and disappeared.

Jacob sagged, and put his
head in his hands. His Jill was having the twins tonight. He knew
it in his very soul. His family was gone, and he was stuck here
with a
ghost
. His
mind reeled. The more he thought, the bluer he became. He
remembered back to Monday. He’d felt the same feeling of
despair.

Everything seemed so hard.

Every little thing had turned against
him.

He was stuck here in a foreign castle when
the life he’d fought for was being lived without him.

His despair grew. He felt tears press. He
covered his eyes with his hands and dropped to his knees.

He’d never felt this depth level of
hopelessness.

He could barely move.

He took a deep breath and
remembered . . .

Ghosts are made of energy.

They can suck the very life energy out of
living beings. Fand the fairy queen had bound him in psychic
drains. As sure as knives opening his veins, she would drain him
dry. If he didn’t do something, he would die right here.

The only way out of this was to draw in the
power of the earth. He took a deep breath and felt a surge of
energy. This was a powerful spot in the world.

He had to reignite his own psychic power. He
closed his eyes and drew upon the power that lived deep inside. He
felt the faint pulse of his capacity begin to grow within.

His mind was flooded with helplessness. He
fought back with gratitude. He turned his mind toward the things he
was most grateful for and saw Jill in a cloud of bubbles in their
bathtub. In a flash, he saw Katy resting her head on her mother’s
belly, and Delphie planting their first fruit tree. His ears filled
with the sound of his father’s booming laugh. His mind spun with
gratitude. He saw Valerie’s gorgeous smile when Jackie was born,
Mike’s tears, and his mother’s beaming face. He saw the proud faces
of Lipson employee-owners when they came to the agreement to leave
the big project just a few days ago. Images of all of the people
and places of his life flashed through his mind.

Before he knew it, he was free from Fand’s
bonds.

“
My family,” Jacob
demanded.

Sam stood behind Jacob’s kneeling form. His
father put with his hand on Jacob’s shoulder. Delphie stood to his
right and Valerie to his left. Celia floated a few feet in front of
him.

“
We’re here,” Delphie
said.

He hopped to his feet. The moment the soles
of his feet hit the floor, the ghost attacked him. The room became
dark. A fierce wind howled through the tower.

He fought back. He blasted Fand the crazy
ghost with his energy. Caught off guard, the ghost flew
backward.

She recovered in a moment.

“
Duck!” Jacob
yelled.

Lamps, chairs, and books flew through the
air toward them. Jacob drew a quick line of energy around them. The
items hit the wall and fell to the ground. Wind whipped through the
room like a hurricane.

Fand let out a blood-curdling scream.

“
Cover your ears!” Delphie
screamed.

“
Who dares to disturb me?”
Fand screamed at him.

“
Jacob, son of Manannán
and Fand,” he said. “Valerie, daughter of Manannán and Fand, my
mother, Celia, daughter of Manannán and Fand, my human father, Sam,
and the oracle Delphie.”