Larkspur (40 page)

Jacob crossed his arms, and the building’s
history rolled forward. In fast motion, they watched Jacob rebuild
the home to its original glory. Sometimes he had help, and every
once in a while he used his fairy gifts. But most of the work was
done by a man wielding a hammer and fresh wood. Less than a minute
later, they were standing again on Meayll Hill.

“
Speak!” Jacob
ordered.

The ghost blew his horn to the north. He
turned in place and blew his horn to the south. He finished by
blowing his horn to the west and east.

Nothing happened.

“
Give it a minute,”
Gilfand said.

Jacob blinked. When his eyes opened again,
he was standing in front of a great army. There were men on foot
carrying long wooden staffs with points on the end. The men on
horses held sabers. They wore bright, shining armor. The army
snapped to attention and then parted to create a path down the
center.

A man on horseback came down the center of
the army. He rode to where Jacob stood and hopped off the horse. He
was smaller, more tightly compact, and had darker skin than Jacob,
but the two men could have passed for brothers.

“
Who are you?” Jacob
demanded.

The man sized up Jacob before standing in
front of him. The man threw a ball of energy at Jacob, which he
easily deflected. The man snapped his fingers, and the ground
rumbled. Jacob stood his ground. The man squinted.

“
Why did you wake us?” the
man asked.

“
The Queen has been
restored,” Jacob said. “It’s time to retrieve your
king.”

“
My
king . . .” The man said. “You mean my father? He
lost his queen and lost his mind. My brother threw in with the
invaders and cursed me into an unnatural rest. My father is
lost.”

“
You are here because of
Maughold?” Jacob asked.

“
His grandfather,” the man
said. “I am Prince Finegal, heir to Manannán’s throne.”

“
You are the son of Queen
Fand,” Jacob said.

“
I am my father’s son,”
Prince Finegal said.

“
As am I,” Jacob said.
“And yet . . .”

“
We are fairies,” Prince
Finegal said.

Gilfand stepped forward to greet Prince
Finegal. The ghost of Prince Finegal hugged Gilfand. Genuine
affection passed between the two.

“
I see you’ve met my
mother’s rat,” Prince Finegal said. “Where is my
mother?”

“
She will be here,”
Gilfand said.

“
Visiting her fairies?”
Prince Finegal asked.

Gilfand nodded.

“
Where did you
find . . .?” Prince Finegal gestured to
Jacob.

“
It’s a long story,”
Gilfand said. “We must retrieve your father and finish our
task.”

“
Where is he?” Prince
Finegal asked.

“
Manannán circles the
island,” Jacob said. “He is bound in chains held
to . . . something—maybe a boat or a magical buoy.
He has spent millennia walking around the island, just past the
shoreline.”

“
Who would sentence my
father to this torture?” Prince Finegal asked.

“
Your brother’s grandson.”
Gilfand nodded.

Prince Finegal flushed with rage.

“
You will retrieve him?”
Prince Finegal asked Jacob.

“
I need you and your men
to ride out into the surf,” Jacob said. “The king is almost
here.”

“
And my
mother?”

“
Queen Fand will be here
to greet her king,” Gilfand said.

Prince Finegal whistled and gestured. The
men and horses rode down the hill and out into the surf. While they
stood there, a set of twenty light, hand-hewn skiffs appeared with
female fairies aboard. A hundred gargoyles flew just above the
surf. They waited.

“
He is here!” Jacob
screamed.

The fairies looked down into the dark
water.

“
We see him!” a gargoyle
said.

The gargoyle pointed to five others of his
kind, who dove into the water. They reappeared with the end of
Manannán’s chain. Gargoyles dove in to grab the chain. The chain
was passed from boat to boat until every skiff had one enormous
link. The fairies took to their oars.

“
Pull!” they chanted, and
the boats moved an inch. Inch by inch the chain moved toward the
shore until it reached the first of the horsemen. Like the fairies,
they each took a link of the chain and began to ride. The ghost
human’s on horses and the fairies, in boats and in the air, dragged
the enormous chain out of the water until Jacob could see a man
with a deep complexion wearing a simple linen robe stumble from the
sea.

“
Father!” Prince Finegal
screamed.

The army cheered. The fairies screamed. The
gargoyles swooped up and down in the surf.

And the man who was Manannán fell into the
surf. Jacob ran as fast as he could until he was up to his knees in
water. He reached down and grabbed Manannán’s shoulders.

Jacob pulled with all his might and the man
reappeared.

“
It’s the chain!” Prince
Finegal said.

“
Remove the chain!” the
army chanted.

Jacob flicked his hand, and the chain
shattered. Gilfand joined him in the water. Jacob took one shoulder
and Gilfand the other. They dragged, carried, and marched Manannán
out of the water. He slipped from Jacob’s grasp and fell on all
fours to the ground. Dripping wet, Jacob tried to catch his
breath.

The earth restored Manannán before Jacob’s
eyes. His linen dried. His strength returned. He leaned back on his
heels and looked at Jacob.

“
Thank you, son,” Manannán
said in a deep voice. “Will you help me to my feet?”

Jacob put his shoulder under Manannán’s arm
and helped him stand. Manannán wobbled and pitched but managed to
stay upright. They heard a sound and looked up the hill.

Manannán’s face shifted to a look of wonder.
He smiled.

“
My queen,” Manannán said
and ran into Queen Fand’s arms.

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy
-two

Half breeds

Paddie sat down on the ground next to Katy.
She was lying on her side with her back to her mommy. Her mommy’s
arm was tight around Katy’s chest.

“
Paddie?” Katy whispered
and reached her hand out.

Paddie took Katy’s hand. Auntie Sandy had
set Paddie down when she’d gone to help Katy’s mommy. Then Mrs.
Valerie and Delphie came with Mr. Sam and brought Paddie’s Uncle
Jimmy and that dumb fairy, Edie. Uncle Jimmy had seemed really
happy to see Paddie and had picked him up to hug and kiss him.
Uncle Jimmy had said a bunch of nice things in Irish, but when
Katy’s mommy and the stupid fairy started arguing he’d set Paddie
down. So Paddie came over to take Katy’s hand. Katy still couldn’t
see him.

“
Why is everybody so mad?”
Katy whispered.

“
That fairy, you know the
one that was s’posed to protect us?” Paddie whispered.

“
Edie?”

Paddie nodded. “She told your mommy that she
was going to take you.”

“
What?” Katy’s dark eyes
went big.

“
Your mommy got really,
really mad, like I’ve never seen anybody get mad.” Paddie nodded.
“Then your Auntie Heather appeared. She told the fairy to go to
H-E . . ., you know.”

Katy nodded.

“
There’s a lot of arguing
now,” Paddie said.

“
Why did Edie want to take
me?” Katy whispered.

“
She said she was the boss
of you,” Paddie said. “Your Auntie Tanesha said that she’d done
such a
fine
job
so far. Then everybody started yelling.”

Paddie nodded.

“
It’s not really her
fault,” Katy said.

“
I tried to say that, but
then I realized that she wants to
keep
you, Katy,” Paddie said. “And
I . . .”

Paddie’s big blue eyes filled with real
tears. He shook his head.

“
I won’t go,” Katy
said.

“
I don’t think you have a
choice,” Paddie said. He sniffed and tried to be brave, like his
grandfather always told him to be.

“
Nobody can make me do
anything.” Katy nodded. “Don’t be sad, Paddie.”

“
I don’t want you to go
with the fairy,” Paddie said. “I would die.”

“
I won’t go with her,”
Katy said. “Ever.”

Paddie suddenly was not feeling very brave.
He started to cry. Katy heard him, and tears began to slide down
her face. Paddie felt like the whole world was ending. He just held
onto Katy’s hand and cried.

“
Why are you crying?” A
boy about Paddie’s age appeared in front of them. He had long,
curly brown hair and light brown skin. He wore a long muslin tunic
with a darker brown wool sweater on top. He smiled.

“
We’re sad,” Katy
said.

“
Who are you?” Paddie
asked. He sat up straighter to cover Katy. He didn’t like it that
Katy could see the boy but couldn’t see not Paddie.

“
I’m Kirk,” the little boy
said. “I live here.”

“
In the fog?” Katy
asked.

The little boy nodded.

“
Why do you live in the
fog?” Paddie asked.

“
Why are you crying?” Kirk
asked.

“
I’ll tell you if you tell
me,” Paddie said. He didn’t like or dislike the boy, and Paddie was
pretty good at figuring out who to like. He just felt like he
shouldn’t talk to this Kirk because he was a stranger.

“
I live here because I
want to be a boy, but . . .”

“
You have to be a fairy?”
Paddie asked.

The boy nodded.

“
Why do you
have
to be a fairy?”
Katy asked.

“
My great-grandfather gave
up being a man,” Kirk said. “He had a whole life as a man, and then
he decided to be a fairy King. My granddad got mad and decided not
to be a fairy.”

“
But he already was,”
Paddie nodded.

Kirk nodded.

“
You’re like Katy,” Paddie
said.

“
Are you a fairy too?”
Kirk asked Katy.

“
I’m just Katy.” She
nodded. Paddie nodded too because that’s what she always
said.

“
My granddad
declared—‘There can be no more male half-breeds.’ They kill all of
the boys. Forever,” Kirk said. “But
I’m
a half breed. My mom was a fairy
and my dad was my granddad’s son. They were supposed to kill me,
but he couldn’t kill me. He tried a bunch of times.”

The boy held up his arms. They held the
scars of numerous cuts. He pointed to his neck where there was
another scar.

“
He wasn’t able to,” Kirk
said. “My mommy hid me until I was too old to kill easily. That’s
what he said. But they killed her for hiding me.”

“
What?” Katy and Paddie
said together.

“
That’s horrible,” Paddie
said.

“
It was so I would
remember that I was only alive by his choice,” Kirk looked really
sad when he said this. “He said I couldn’t be a fairy, but I am
already a lot of fairy and . . .”

Kirk shrugged.

“
Why were you crying?”
Kirk asked.

“
Katy might have to go
live with the fairies,” Paddie said.

“
They’re not mean,” Kirk
said, trying to be helpful. “You might like them.”

“
I just want to be Katy,”
she said. “Not fairy-Katy, not
not
fairy-Katy, just Katy.”

Kirk scowled like he was confused. He opened
his mouth. They waited. He leaned forward to them.

“
Don’t you have to
choose?” Kirk whispered.

“
Why?” Paddie
asked.

“’
Cuz you’ll go to hell
and burn for eternity,” Kirk whispered

“
Why?” Paddie
asked.

“
You don’t believe in
Jesus.” Kirk gave them the bug eyes of frustration and turned away
like he thought they were stupid.

“
I believe in Jesus. Katy
does too,” Paddie said. “We’re Catholic. Both Katy and
me.”

“
You can’t be Catholic and
be a fairy,” Kirk said. “Next you’ll tell me you’re
left-handed!”

“
I’m not a fairy and I’m
Catholic and I’m not any different than Katy.” Paddie nodded. “And
I am left-handed!”

Katy nodded.

“
I think you’re confused,”
Paddie said.

“
You’re confused because
you don’t have a mommy,” Katy said, in a matter-of-fact
tone.

Katy and Paddie looked at Kirk.

“
My mommy won’t let
anybody cut me into pieces,” Katy said. “That’s what she says. She
wants me to be all Katy, not half Katy, plus she’s about to have my
brothers and they’ll be half . . . What did you call
them?”

Kirk’s eyes went big.

“
Kill the boys, kill the
boys,” Kirk started to chant. “Kill the boys, kill the boys, kill
the boys . . .”

His voice echoed through the fog, and the
adults looked around. Katy’s mommy was scared and pulled Katy
closer. Auntie Tanesha put her hands on her hips and scowled at the
fog. Auntie Heather stepped to the edge of the pocket try to see
where the voice was coming from. Auntie Sandy leaned down to
Paddie.