Worlds of Obsession (Celtic Otherworlds) (2 page)

             
When Liv arrived at the office, bursting through the doors after sprinting from the station in record time, she could feel the tension in the air immediately, a much different kind of tension than she had felt that morning in her apartment.  The usual milling around and chatter that filled the open-plan space was missing, and an almost eerie quiet seemed to have descended on the entire building.  She had just set her things down on the desk in her tiny cubicle when one of the guys from I.T. walked by.  “Hey Liv, there’s a company-wide meeting staring in five.  Doesn’t look good.  From what I heard earlier this morning, we might all be packing our things.”  With a frown, Liv took her coffee and followed a bee-line of her co-workers to the large conference room down the hall, where she quickly slid into one of the upholstered swivel chairs. The CEO, whom she’d only ever seen once before today, was already standing at the head of the long table, his expression professionally inscrutable, his dark blue suit and red tie setting him apart from the business-casual attire in the rest of the room. 

When the l
ast person was seated, he rocked back on his heels with his chest thrust forward a little and cleared his throat.  “Ah hmmm.  We’ve called you all here this morning because we have an exciting announcement.  Miller Inc. has recently received a buy-out offer from a larger company, and this move will give us incredible opportunity for worldwide distribution of our products and services.”  He beamed at everyone as if they had all just won the lottery before he switched to an overly-practiced look of regret.  “Unfortunately, due to redundancy issues, this branch of the company is going to have to be dissolved.”  Lottery face again.  “However, all of you will receive
very
generous severance packages,
and
the opportunity to apply at any of the other Miller Inc. branches that will be going forward.”

             
Liv sat utterly still as the words sank in and the room around her erupted in shuffling noises and frantic whispers.  Well hmmmm.  She was waiting to be hit by the fact that she was now officially unemployed, but she just didn’t feel as upset as she thought she probably should be.  Instead, a strange sense of relief, of rightness… came over her as packets of paperwork were distributed around the table by one of the women from HR. 
This was supposed to happen today
, she thought. 
It’s a sign that things are gonna change, it has to be…
  She took her stack of papers, then stood and walked out of the room, back to her cubicle.  She packed up the few personal belongings scattered around, all of which fit into her bag, turned in her key card at the front desk, and made her way back to her apartment in a strange state of calm anticipation.

As she turned the key in the lock and pushed open the door, h
er mind still hadn’t quite processed the fact that she had just been laid off.  She had
so
not seen that one coming.  She had no job, but she had looked over the papers on the train, and at least she had three month’s severance pay to keep her going until she found something else.  Maybe something that she really liked.  Maybe she had been laid off because she was about to find her dream job… something with a little more adventure, maybe some travel, anything that didn’t involve spending her days in a four-by-four box. And there was that intriguing little tingle of anticipation again.

She dropped
her bag on the kitchen table before she kicked off her black kitten heels and grabbed a glass of water.  Her gaze landed on the letter and book she had left there, what… an hour ago?  She picked up the letter and read it again.  Glasgow? 
Hell, why not, I’ve always wanted to see Scotland.
 
And it looks like I’ve got a little vacation time. 
She automatically picked up the phone to call Jess, her best friend and habitual sounding board, and the closest thing to family she had, well, besides her mostly absent grandmother.  Since Jess worked out of a home office as a real estate agent, Liv knew that unless she was out with a client, she would be free to talk.

             
Jess picked up on the first ring.  “Hey Chicky, what’s up?  You playing hooky on your birthday?”

             
“Yeah, permanently.  I got laid off.  The whole company did.  We got bought out.”

             
“Oh my god Liv!  That’s wonderful!”  There was a rusting sound, most likely Jess tucking the phone under her chin to free up her hands.

             
Liv’s mouth dropped open, and she quickly snapped it shut.  She should have known that Jess wasn’t going to say anything conventional, or even appropriate.  That was just the way she was.  “What do you mean that’s wonderful?  I don’t have a job anymore…”

             
“Liv, you
hated
that job.  And you shouldn’t be spending your life pushing papers around anyway.  You were meant for bigger things.  This is a sign, you see?  You were wasting away at that useless company, but now you’re being forced to make a change.  I think it’s great.”

             
Though she would never admit it, Liv did spend an awful lot of time with her head in the clouds, dreaming about great loves and epic adventures… everything she probably had no hope of ever experiencing.  Completely ignoring the mundane reality of her life and constantly wondering what she might be missing had a tendency to make her restless and occasionally impulsive.  But if she found a way to get it out of her system, or maybe even make reality compete with her imagination…

She sighed, blowing a strand of wavy dark
brown hair out of her face at the same time.  “Well… to be honest, I was kind of looking at it that way too, especially with what happened this morning before I left.”

             
Jess sucked in a breath so loudly Liv could hear it over the phone, and she knew what was coming next.  “Did you meet a guy?”

             
Liv laughed.  “Did I meet a guy this morning before I even left for work?  Um, no.”  Jess was forever teasing her about her total lack of a love life, but Liv was just particular about the guys she dated.  Jess…well, not so much, as long as she was having fun.  Still, ever since she had moved in down the hall from Liv last year in the old brownstone apartment building, they had been the best of friends.  “Not a guy, but I got a special delivery by courier.  From a lawyer, no less.  A letter and a book, and I have absolutely no idea where they came from or who could have sent them.  It’s actually a little creepy.”  Liv went to the counter and poured herself some still-hot coffee from the carafe, splashing a little half and half into the cup and taking a long sip.

             
“Hmmm… that is kind of weird.  But if it came from a lawyer’s office, it must be from a long-lost relative or something, right?  Maybe you’ve just inherited a fortune, or a villa in the South of France!  What does it say?”

             
Liv picked up the letter from the kitchen table and read it out loud over the phone.

             
Jess was quiet for a long second, but then she practically burst with excitement.  “Oh. My. God.  Liv… it
is
a sign!  You
have
to go!  In fact, I’m making you go.  I’ll go on line right now and make your reservation, then you’ll have no excuse.  I still have your credit card number from the time a got us those concert tickets.” 

And she was
doing it too, Liv could hear the click of the keyboard in the background.

             
“Wait, Jess, you don’t have to convince me.  I was kind of thinking of going anyway.  I mean, why not, you only live once, right?  I have a little money put aside, so that gives me a few weeks before I have to seriously start looking for another job… And I have to admit, I’m beyond curious, because this is the kind of crazy thing that
never
happens to me.”  Liv put the letter back on the table and began pacing around her apartment with the phone.  “But what if I get there and it turns out some psycho-killer is waiting for me?”

             
“Liv”, Jess said with exaggerated patience.  “Psycho-killers rarely hire lawyers to hand-deliver messages to their victims.  Too traceable.  And psycho-killers that live in Scotland probably don’t need to lure their victims all the way from Boston.  I would think there’s more than enough victims in Glasgow alone to keep them busy.  Seriously, it’s probably just some crazy old uncle you never knew you had.  Maybe he’s on his deathbed and he wants to give you the keys to the family castle.”

             
“Yeah, that’s probably it”, Liv scoffed.  “In my dreams.  I’m sure I’m probably royalty, too.  But what about the book?  Why send me a book on Celtic mythology?”

             
“Because he’s
crazy
, Liv” Jess said with a little snort.  “Ohhh! I wish I could go with you, but I have three really big deals about to close.  You have to call me every day and tell me exactly what happens.  And if you get a castle, I’m shutting down the business and coming to live with you.”  The sound of typing continued in the background as Jess babbled on about how exciting it was going to be and how jealous she was that Liv was going to have an adventure while she had to stay home and work.

             
Liv took another long swallow of coffee and rolled her eyes.  “If I inherit a castle, I’ll give you an entire wing for your very own, but I wouldn’t give up your day job just yet.”  Liv hadn’t seriously considered the possibility of a long-lost relative, but she supposed it was plausible enough.  She’d been raised by her grandmother… her very
flighty
grandmother who had never bothered to tell her much of anything about their family.  Not even when she asked outright.  She could have a slew of aunts and uncles and never even know it.  She couldn’t ask Gran, though, because the moment Liv had turned eighteen, her grandmother had kissed her goodbye and taken off on a trip around the world that apparently she had always wanted to take, and couldn’t because she had been saddled with raising a child at a time in her life when she wanted to be out having fun.  Talk about a life-long guilt trip.  Liv never heard from her anymore except for an occasional postcard, but she understood.  She was just lucky the woman postponed her travels long enough to raise her.

             
“And… done!  All right, Liv Johnston, you’re all booked.  You leave tomorrow on the 5 PM out of Logan.  And it’s a non-refundable flight, so there will be no backing out at the last minute, young lady.  No wasting all the money you just spent on this trip.”

             
Liv grinned.  Leave it to Jess to give her just the push she needed.  “Holy crap Jess!  I’m going to kill you!  And I’m going to
Scotland
!”

             
“Check-in is at three.  Call me from the airport, ‘kay?”

             
The next day,
the very next day
, Liv was on a plane with her stomach twisting in knots of excitement.  Part of her could still not believe she was doing something so crazy, but then she was well known for following through on her whims, usually with behind the scenes encouragement from Jess.  Like the time last month when she had actually gotten up on the bar in their favorite Irish Pub on a dare and danced, or the time just before that when she bought all new lingerie, the expensive, lacy, barely-there kind.  That little shopping trip had been inspired by a date with a guy she thought was going to sweep her off her feet and straight into bed.  Not so much, but then she hadn’t had the best of luck with men.  Maybe she should have her first-ever real fling on this trip.  The kind that was purely for fun, where you really didn’t even care if you ever saw the guy again.  Other women did it all the time, why not her?  Just maybe, if she met the right guy, and she was really attracted to him…

After the plane took off and the stewardess had come around with the requisite little package of trail mix and
a drink, Liv pulled the book out of the backpack under her feet. 

The Celtic Myths and Legends
. 

She opened it
gingerly and flipped to a page near the middle.  The thing read kind of like an encyclopedia, with various entries and definitions.

             
Fomoiri
:  An ancient race of demon-kind associated with all that is wild or uncontrollable, such as storms and the sea.  They are the oldest race of all and are the dark to the light of the Tuatha De, which has resulted in repeated bouts of conflict between the two races. Said to have great powers, the Fomoiri are most often dark of hair and olive-complected, and though some sources describe them as quite hideous creatures, others count them among the most beautiful ever to walk the earth. The best known leader of the Fomoiri is a god-king called Balor.  It is said that he has only one eye, and all creatures which he looks upon, be they man or god, and are killed instantly by his gaze.  There are two tribes of Fomoiri, one good, one evil, both of which traditionally reside in different realms of the Otherworld, although they can also walk the earth at will.  

Already confused, Liv turned to the ‘O’ section to look up
Otherworld
.