When I agreed to help Daire I thought we’d get started right away on doing his spell. He knew the deadline, a holiday that the Aos Si called Samhain and that I called Halloween (and by weird coincidence, my birthday). It was their new year celebration and if we didn’t finish the spell by then he’d lose his opportunity. That gave us three months his time with no idea how long would go by in my world. He still had to find the next ingredient, though, so that left me waiting.
Seeing Daire’s mom, Etain, reminded me of mine in the depths of her depression right after Abuela passed. She spent her time sleeping and shuffling between the bathroom and the bedroom. She’d only eaten when I made her something, handed her the plate, and watched her swallow every bite. She got away with not washing herself for a week straight before I walked her to the shower and sat on the toilet until she finished. Daire’s mom had looked like that, moving slower than a zombie with the same empty stare. At least mine had the opportunities to come out of it: access to medical resources to help her and me to take care of her, until she was ready to do it herself. Daire’s mom was trapped in that cell with only a little more light than Rio’s burrow and nobody but a guard for company. I shuddered every time I thought about staying with Rio so long I’d wither away to that, losing all hope of escape even in death.
Daire gave me two weeks until I should visit next, and by then he should find the next step of the spell. I measured those days with a set routine. I woke up to an empty cavern—Rio disappeared every day to see her secret boyfriend, the same guy Daire and I were trying to undermine. After doing what I could for my basic hygiene with the always-full water pitcher and rag Rio left me, I spent the next hours keeping myself busy. I made lists of what to do after I got home, jogged laps from my cot to the boulder sealing up the cavern, tried to remember every My Chemical Romance song I’d memorized in middle school. Right about when I ran out of ideas for what else to do, the cave walls closed in and all the panicked thoughts I kept pushed down rushed back. Was anyone waiting for me back home? What if Mom, Nate, and Nico thought I was dead? By the time Daire and I finished the spell, years could pass over there and I’d be stranded in the middle of Tampa Bay with no money and missing a chunk of my life.
Then Rio came back and we sat down to dinner/question time. It felt like a therapy session with Mom where the psychiatrist asked me a bunch of probing questions and wouldn’t stop until I’d spilled my life story. Rio laughed at Abuela’s guilty love of telenovelas and begged me to teach her how to salsa after I told her about the dancing socials at my old church. She threw out her own ideas about how Nate and Nico could perfect their microbrew. We tried Rummy a few times, but she didn’t catch the fun of card games until I showed her Poker. It calmed the frenzy running through my head enough for me to fall asleep and start the cycle over.
* * *
Five days straight and I went stir crazy, cooped up in that cave with nothing but time and myself. Even though I grew up an only child, there was only so much I could do to entertain myself without something to break up the silence. Without a computer, a phone, a book, or even elevator music, I ran out of activities fast.
I broke and made a beeline for Daire’s mirror. Our deal made him my way out and I shouldn’t let it go any further than that, but he was one of two people who didn’t want to kill me in a place I didn’t belong. I’d take the risk of getting friendly if it meant having someone else to talk to when Rio wasn’t around.
I held my breath as I stepped through the glass. The liquid goop sucked me through like silly putty. I’d have to get used to that feeling if I wanted to secretly visit this guy on the regular.
It spit me out in Daire’s room. Sunlight streamed in through the hole in his ceiling. If I had to guess it was the middle of the day. Daire sat at his desk tracing his finger over an open book while scribbling notes on a stack of papers. I let out my air in a gasp.
Daire jumped and slammed the book shut. As he whipped around, his hand slipped on the papers, sending them flying all over the floor.
I gave him a little wave. “Hey there.”
“Oh. It’s you.” He blinked and at first his words had the same undercurrent as Rio’s. He gathered his papers back into their stack and when he spoke next, no other language lilted underneath his formal English. “It’s a few days early isn’t it? I haven’t made much progress, and there’s no telling how long this interruption will set me back.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
“Then why, pray tell, are you risking discovery like this?”
“Because if I have to stay in that place by myself another minute, I’m going to do something stupid.”
“Like this?”
“Better than poking into the other mirrors.”
“Where did Riona head off? She should be spending every waking moment she has with you with how protective she acts.”
“Beats me.” A half lie, but it wasn’t my business to tell. Better to play it safe by keeping that info close to my chest instead of pissing Rio off by gossiping about it to her kid brother. “All I know is every day she goes somewhere and stays out until dinner.”
“Very well.” Daire sighed and set himself back in his chair, opening the book again.
I looked around the room, exploring it better with more time on my hands. It was like any royal bedroom from a fantasy video game, full of medieval wall hangings and bright green fabric, only it didn’t have any trunks or dressers for storage. The feature that stood out most was his desk, specifically its soil mound with little white flowers growing out of it. They were like tiny stars with delicate stems and fuzzy yellow stamens.
“Those are pretty.” I pointed over at them. “What kind of flowers are they?”
“Lily vines, called Kerry Lilies by modern humans,” he replied in a monotone.
“Why’re those flowers in here instead of outside with your other plants?”
“I have my reasons. Don’t touch them.”
I left the flowers alone and edged closer, trying to catch a peek at what was in his book instead. He opened it to a spot about two thirds of the way through. All the pages he flipped through were blank. I came up and hovered over his shoulder as he read the top page of his notes. He’d written rows of long straight lines with tiny slashes sticking out of them, not like any letters I’d ever seen. He touched a corner of the book, and glowing gold lines like the ones on his writings appeared under it.
“That’s some weird invisible ink,” I said. “What’s it say?”
“Nothing relevant. Aengus likes to blather on when he’s hiding something.”
“Who’s that?”
“My uncle.” Daire paused his copying and leered at me with a sober scowl. “Don’t ask Riona about him. They don’t get along.”
“Why?”
“He’s the one who killed her mother. It was an act of vengeance for trying to kill my mother.”
No wonder Rio didn’t talk about her family. I wouldn’t either if mine had that kind of soap opera drama. “Is he as bad as your dad?”
“Oh no. He’s far more pleasant. He taught me everything I know of magic and spell work.” Daire went back to drawing those lines and skimming his fingertip over the page.
“You’re looking for the next step, right?”
“Sadly, yes. I have already read this massive tome twice. It’s slow work, and the enchantments upon it are meant to make it difficult.”
“Me being here won’t distract you, will it?”
“You’re not a bother, yet. Aos Si excel at languages and academics because we can concentrate on many things at once.”
“I guess that makes sense, but your mom’s human. Doesn’t that make you more like me?”
“Technically, yes. However, Mother has a complicated situation. She was an Aos Si before magic changed her into a human. While I must sleep and eat as a human must, I have stronger Aos Si traits because of my mother’s former heritage.”
“Wait… What?”
“I suppose ‘The Wooing of Etain’ isn’t well known in the Americas.” He scrunched his nose and rubbed his eyes.
“If you need a break, you could tell me the story.”
“It is an epic spanning many years.”
“I’ve got the time to kill if you do.”
“I suppose a diversion couldn’t hurt.” Daire tucked a cloth bookmark into his place and shut the book. When he turned his folding chair toward me, he snapped his fingers. “Do have a seat.”
A hard lump butted against my calves. I stumbled back into a chair-sized mound that wasn’t there before. Unlike the other places to sit in his room, that one didn’t have a cushion. My tailbone ached for a hot second. “Some warning next time?”
“I make no promises. The surprise is half the fun.” Daire smirked as he folded his hands in his lap. “Now, how do they phrase it in fairy tales? Ah, yes. Once upon a time…”
* * *
The last time Daire told me one of those long-winded stories, I’d been too suspicious to enjoy it. Now that I had nothing better to do, it was more like watching a one man show. Daire got into it, doing impressions of his family and gesturing along with the action. He referenced the woven art on his wall for a couple of scenes and added a brag about how his mom made them.
It all started when the Dagda, Daire’s grandfather and the High King before Bodb, had an affair with a married lady and got her pregnant. He tricked the lady’s husband into staying away long enough that she had the baby, gave him away, and returned back to normal before the husband got back. That baby was Daire’s uncle Aengus. The one who adopted him was Daire’s dad and Aengus’ older brother, Midir. Midir was the best fit to take on another kid because he already had a ton. None of them were from his first wife, Fuamnach—Rio’s mom. So Aengus grew up thinking he was one of those many illegitimate sons and that Midir was his real dad. But eventually Aengus found out the truth—that his real father was the boss of everybody—and wanted some land of his own. Aengus worked with the Dagda to cheat his real mom’s husband out of his land and took over as its new king.
“So you have a bunch of other brothers and sisters running around somewhere?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“No. Most of my older brothers perished in conflicts with other factions of Aos Si. The rest of my siblings were left stranded in the mortal realm after the walls of Tir Na Nog closed and died at the hands of humans. Only Riona and I remain of Father’s natural children.”
“How does he treat you two?”
“With Riona, he has disowned her. With me, he tends to be indifferent at the best of times and disappointed at the worst.” Daire’s shoulders slumped as he glanced up at a wall hanging. It had a family portrait of two happy swans with their baby. “It’s strange to hear Aengus speak of Father as if he was the best parent a son could have.”
“Where does your mom fit into this?”
“Well, the story truly begins much later, when Father first laid eyes on fair Etain. But it will have to wait for another time.” Daire pointed up at his skylight, orange rays streaming in. The sky had changed from a clear blue to a mix of red blending into purple. “We can’t have you being missed.”
“Another time?” I pushed myself up, my butt numb from sitting so long. “Is that you inviting me to visit again?”
“I suppose it is. It’s been quite some time since I had any friendly company, besides Uncle Aengus.”
“You don’t have any other friends?”
“Family, yes. Occasional lovers, yes. Friends, no.” He turned his chair back to his desk, rearranging his notes into new stacks. “Most see me as nothing more than the Key Bearer. The few that do know me better are quite a bit older and watched me grow up. I’m still a child to them, despite that I have grown to my maturity. And, unlike them, I have never touched the mortal world. I cannot commiserate about ‘the good days.’ It leaves finding common experiences difficult.”
“I get it. Ever since I dropped out, I lost touch with the friends I had in high school. Most of them either went off to college or work as much as I do. My only friends now are the people I work with and they’re all older than me.” I debated patting him somewhere. He seemed like he needed it, but I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Hard to keep up relationships if you don’t have the time.”
“Well, now you have too much time don’t you? Off with you before you’re caught.” Daire shooed me away, waving toward the mirror. “I shall see you when next you visit.”
* * *
The next time I went over there, Daire continued the epic. While Midir got with any lady that wasn’t Fuamnach, he’d never been in love with any of them. Then he met Etain, a young heart-breaker with an overprotective father who was asking for a huge dowry from anyone who wanted to marry her. Midir promised he’d never touch another woman again if he could have Etain, and Aos Si couldn’t break a promise once they made it. But Midir was already married. There was no way Etain’s father would allow that wedding to happen.
Midir visited Aengus’ new place to hang out and get some advice. But an accident happened there where Midir almost lost his eye. Aos Si law said that Aengus was responsible, since it happened on his land, and that he owed Midir big time. Midir told Aengus that the only way to make things right was if he helped get Etain.
Aengus pulled through, pulling a fast one on Etain’s dad, and brought Etain back home to his place where Midir waited. But on the way back, Aengus got a huge crush on the same woman his big brother/father figure wanted. They were the same age, and Etain was the sweetest, prettiest lady that ever lived (Daire stated that like indisputable fact). But Aengus did the honorable thing, stuck by his bro, and kept his feelings to himself.
“Did anybody ever ask what Etain wanted?” I rubbed my neck and massaged some of the stiffness out of it. “I get it was a different time, but if your dad and uncle loved her so much they should’ve cared what she thought.”
“Very true. She didn’t mind the prospect of marrying Uncle Aengus before he revealed the truth that her intended groom was Father. She did have reservations at first, but Father refused to wed her without earning her love in return. They agreed that she would give him a year. If she still rejected him after that, he vowed to return her to her home unsullied and cease pursuing her. In the end, she fell for him and they were married.”
“And he didn’t have to dupe her into being with him?”
“No. Before her condition deteriorated, Father always gave her the choice to stay with him even after she became human. That doesn’t mean he never did anything she hated.”
“Even after she knew how he treated his first wife, Foo-ahm-something—”
“Fuamnach.”
“Yeah, her. He cheated on her a bunch of times, had all those other kids, then decided he wanted to trade her up for a younger model. He didn’t even divorce her first.”
“Aos Si don’t have divorce. Since marriage is more of a contract, a pledge, their nature makes it so that they cannot break it. The only way to remarry, as it were, is to marry a second time.”
“My point is he could’ve treated her a lot better. She must’ve freaked when he brought Etain home.”
“Not at first. She deceived Father into believing she had no qualms about him bringing another wife into her household. Their marriage had been a farce for for hundreds of years, and all their attempts to have children failed. Father was eager to believe she wanted to move on as much as he did. He was very wrong.”
“What did she do?”
“Next time.” Daire snickered as he pulled his all important book into his lap. “It’s twilight already.”
“Come on. Give me the short version.”
“No true storyteller rushes their art.” Daire waggled his finger at me and pointed to the mirror. “Away with you until tomorrow.”
I groaned and trudged back to Rio’s cave.
* * *
As soon as I woke up, I checked to make sure Rio had left and rushed through my hygiene routine. Once I washed the superficial layer of grime off, I charged through Daire’s mirror like Abuela went for the futon when her show had a new episode.
Daire had reshaped my dirt mound to be a small armchair. A steaming slab of ground beef shoved between two thick slices of bread waited in it. I lifted up the top piece of the meat sandwich. It had chunky red gravy slathered on it. “Is this supposed to be ketchup?”
“Good day to you too.” Daire glanced up from his copying. “It’s supposed to be a hamburger.”
“You made me a burger?”
Daire’s cheeks went as red as his tomato concoction. “I wanted to see how it compared.”
“Oh, so I’m a test subject.” I sat in the dirt chair and set the plate in my lap.
“You need not eat it.” Daire rearranged his seat to face me.
“I’ll scarf down anything if it means you finishing that story.”
“Of course!” Daire smiled so big his eyes twinkled. “Last we left Midir and Etain, Fuamnach had lulled them into trusting her…”
Before setting up her plan, Fuamnach met with her godfather and got a spell to kill Etain. She made a big dinner for her husband and his new wife when they got back home. Everybody thought Etain was safe as Fuamnach played the nice hostess. That’s when she cast her magic. Etain dissolved into a puddle of water on the spot.
Fuamnach thought she’d won and ran off while Midir was trying to revive his true love. After Fuamnach left, the spell backfired and a butterfly flew out of the water. Etain had survived.
Points to Midir, he stuck by Etain even though all she could do was flutter around his ear. It was only a matter of time before Fuamnach found out her spell hadn’t worked and that Midir was still happy. She did the ultimate overkill and sent a tornado that blew Etain all over Tir Na Nog.
Butterfly Etain managed to escape to the human world. However, her luck didn’t hold out when she landed in a noble lady’s drink. The liquid weighed down Etain’s wings too much and the human woman swallowed her whole.
I winced, both for butterfly Etain and the lady that drank her.
“That wasn’t the end, though,” Daire corrected. “The chieftain’s wife became pregnant shortly after that. Her child grew to be the most beautiful woman in Eire, with the same red-gold hair and fair features as Midir’s lost love. And what do you think that girl was named?”
“Something Irish?”
“Well of course. That goes without saying.” Daire deadpanned me, breaking character a second. “The chieftain and his wife named their new daughter Etain, for her striking resemblance to the fairest maiden of the Aos Si.”
“Did Fuamnach find out?”
“No, she thought her deed finished. But she set back to Midir’s home in Bri Leith for one final task…”
Before Midir found out Etain had been reborn as a human, when he was about to give up looking for her, Fuamnach visited him for the last time. She went back home, disguised as Etain, and spent the night with her husband. Daire wasn’t sure why she did it, but he figured it was nostalgia, wanting to capture the old days when their marriage wasn’t as bad. Of all the times they were together, that was the one that got her pregnant.
“Fuamnach ran to her godfather’s grove and lived there in hiding. She raised her secret child there for many years, and none but Riona knows quite what happened inside those trees. When Midir realized he had been tricked by his first wife once more, he scoured the human world for his dear Etain, knowing in his heart she had to be alive.” Daire swiped his hand through the air like it was Midir taking off on his search. “Lest you not forget, though, that Uncle Aengus still had tender feelings for his brother’s new wife. He had given up hope that she still lived and knew Fuamnach was to blame. While his brother quested across the mortal realm, Aengus ventured across Tir Na Nog seeking revenge. He found the grove and slew its master. But Fuamnach was nowhere to be found. Aengus wound between the trees, silent as the death he meant to deal, waiting for his prey to make herself known.”
As I listened, I munched on Daire’s “burger,” which went down more like a sloppy joe. Everything came to life in my head. Fuamnach must have hidden Rio somewhere and left to take on Aengus. In my version, she crouched behind a clump of bushes, peering over them and watching Daire’s uncle as he crept around. She waited for him to either give up and take off or let his guard down so she could attack.
“Aengus shouted taunts into the air, ‘Afraid you cannot best me, witch? Do you tremble now that you must face someone mightier than a helpless insect?’ Still, it didn’t rile Fuamnach to action. He felt her power lurking somewhere among the shrubs. ‘Very well, it’s clear no one else is here. I should move on,’ Aengus said aloud, trying a different tact. He changed to a swallow and disappeared into the canopy overhead. Unknown to Fuamnach, he perched on a branch and masked his aura to make it seem as if he had truly left.”
I froze mid bite as the Fuamnach in my imagination rose out of her hiding spot, looking around for any signs of Aengus. If she couldn’t feel him or see him, she was duck waiting to get shot.
“Fuamnach showed herself, having hidden as a vixen among the underbrush. She changed to her true shape, the majestic former lady of Bri Leith. Aengus leapt from the branches and shifted form as well. He bared his sword and sliced for Fuamnach’s neck.” Daire pulled out the itty-bitty knife hooked on his belt and slashed it through the air. “He struck true and rended Fuamnach’s head from her shoulders. Her corpse collapsed to the ground, finally slain.”
The air got clammy as I sucked on my labret stud. My brain flashed forward to later when Rio crawled out of whatever hole Fuamnach had put her. She would’ve called out, asking where her mom was. Then she’d walk into that grassy patch and find the body. The woman who’d raised her would be sprawled out and staring with empty eyes. The details of the forest were a fuzzy blur of greens, but the way my imaginary Fuamnach’s hand clutched her chest and one of her legs was folded under the other matched Abuela.
“Maya?” Daire bent toward me, biting his lip. “You’re pale. Was I too graphic?”
“A little.” I rubbed my eyes hard enough to snuff out that image burnt to my retinas. “I think I’ve had enough for today.”
“You may borrow the bed if you must lie down a moment.”
“I’ve got to get some sleep.” I held my stomach as I started for the mirror. Acid churned inside it, fighting to upchuck what I just ate.
“Will you return tomorrow? I can make something better.”
I stopped. He liked me coming over? I figured he was entertaining me so he’d stay on my good side. But if he’d stoop to bribing me with bad food, he must’ve either been having fun or he was as desperate for company as I was. He did say he didn’t have any friends that weren’t relatives. I threw him the best grin I could manage. “Yeah. I’ll be back.”
* * *
I went back to Rio’s burrow that night in a fog. The quiet that had been so oppressive before welcomed me. The dim light helped me process my swimming thoughts as I got ready for bed.
I should’ve predicted that as soon as I took off my bra and settled down into my cot that Rio would come flowing out of her boyfriend’s mirror. She walked over and greeted me with a warm smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Their steely sheen made her seem tired, worn out.
“How’d it go?” I didn’t usually ask how her visits with Bodb went, but I couldn’t help it after knowing what I did.
“I’d rather speak of pleasanter matters.” She knelt to the cabinet and opened it. The smell of roasted pork filled the cavern. “What did you get up to today? I hope you weren’t too restless.”
“I did alright.” The deception came a little harder than it should, my already nauseous stomach twisting. I shouldn’t feel guilty about lying. She wasn’t there a ton and, like any pet, I needed company sometimes so I didn’t become a neurotic mess.
We stared at each other for a hot second, the air thick with secrets neither of us was ready to give up.
Rio looked away first as she set out one plate for her and one for me. I munched at my dinner while she picked at a raspberry or two. If Tir Na Nog had crickets, they’d be chirping somewhere.
“You don’t feel like talking, huh?”
“No.” She sighed. “Not tonight.”
“Maybe we could play something instead?”
“I’m afraid my mind isn’t quite in that place either.”
“What would you usually do?”
“Change to my other shape, the one you call Queenie.” She peeled off a strip of the meat and twisted it between her fingers. “I might go for a scamper in the woods, but you have been alone for too long already.”
“A walk outside sounds nice.”
Rio shook her head.
“Hmm.” I paused, mulling over our options. She was right that I wasn’t eager to send her off while not knowing when she’d be back. Plus Daire needed to work sometime. If I visited twice in a day, he’d get worried. The strip of meat in Rio’s hand dripped with juicy goodness, a perfect scrap for Queenie. “You could change and we could play like that.”
“I thought you disliked interacting with that form, now that you’re aware it’s me.”
“It’s not as weird now now that I’m used to it. It’s a compromise I can live with.”
“As you wish.” Rio grinned, some of it reaching her eyes this time. She shrank, her features narrowing, melding and shifting, sprouting a fluffy tail and sonar dish ears. She folded her dainty brown paws under her and wiggled as she got ready to leap at something.
I tossed her a strip of my pork and she caught it with a proud little yip as she scarfed it down. She nosed her plate over to me and I threw her the rest of her dinner.