A Place Beyond

A Place Beyond

Book Three of
The Danaan Trilogy

Copyright ©2014 by Laura Howard

Formatting by CL Foster of Phoenix’s Quill Formatting

Publishing by Finding Bliss Publishing

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products references in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Pronunciation Guide

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Epilogue

Ackowledgments

About the Author

For my Dad,

for always believing I could be

more than I believed I could.

1

Liam {Lee-um}

Niamh {Neev}

Aoife {Ay-fuh}

Breanh {Bran}

Diarmuid {Der-mott}

Niall {Neal}

Bláithín {Blaw-heen}

Eithne {En-ya}

Aodhan {Ay-den}

Saoirse {Sare-shuh}

Deaghlan {Deck-lun}

Ciarán {Kee-run}

Seamus {Shay-mus}

Padraigh {Pad-ric}

Máiréad {Mah-re-ad}

Geis {Gesh}

Tír na n’Óg {Tur-na-nog}

Bruidhean {Brood-ian}

Fháillan {Fah-lan}

Magh Mell {Mah Mell}

I drew in a deep breath as I recalled the expression on my father’s face as he fell into the depthless canyon of the fháillan mine.

Liam’s dead.

No. That couldn’t be right. Not after everything that had happened. How could he have found my mother and me only to be ripped away so suddenly?

I stared at the small patch of moonlight on my bedroom floor. It was only eight o’clock, but it was completely dark outside. The absence of crickets and peepers felt unnatural, the silence suffocating. The change of seasons seemed abrupt after being in Tír na n’Óg. A few days in the other realm had been weeks here and it was already the second week of November.

I rested my chin on my forearms and closed my eyes. When I’d walked through the front door in the afternoon, I’d expected the worst. I’d been sure because of the geis, my mother would be lost forever in the recesses of her mind. Or worse.

But she’d appeared just as always. Heartbreakingly beautiful, yet empty. She was tuning her violin in the den when I’d come in. Her blonde hair forming a curtain over her face as she concentrated on the instrument in her hands. When I’d cleared my throat to let her know I was there, she’d startled and jerked in my direction. She looked at me without really seeing me, her green eyes hollow and emotionless.

For almost as long as I could remember, this was how my mother was. She’d been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when I was only a small child.

Even though I knew it was because of the geis, the ancient curse placed on my parents, and not actually schizophrenia, a tiny voice in the back of my mind still cringed at the thought of my mother as a normal young woman. I still had deep feelings of guilt. Before I was born, she was a bright student in the prime of her life.

And now, with Liam gone, she would never be that woman again.

It had been an awkward dinner for me after being away. While I’d been in Tír na n’Óg, someone had been here in my place. One of the Danaan glamoured, or disguised, to look and talk just like me. She’d worked at the hardware store my grandfather owned, she’d eaten the food my grandmother cooked. She’d even slept in my bed. I felt like I might mess up the whole ruse if I said or did the wrong thing.

Claiming a headache, I’d managed to slip up to my room without Gram fussing too much. It hadn’t really been a stretch to say my head hurt. Being in this world again caused me to feel worn thin and disoriented. It was worse this time than before. Maybe because I’d gone back and forth twice in such a short period of time.

The silence in my bedroom felt like it was closing in on me. I couldn’t go for a run, not after I’d come to bed with a headache. But there was no way I was going to be able to sleep. I needed a distraction.

I pulled my phone from my nightstand and stared at it. There was only one person I could count on to divert my attention from this endless self-reproach.

“Hey you.” Ethan picked up after just one ring. Just hearing his low, familiar voice was almost enough to make me smile.

“Tell me a joke,” I said, climbing onto my bed. “Distract me.”

“Okay. I can do that, give me a minute.” He chuckled. “All right, it’s not my best, but it’ll have to do. This guy calls 911 and the operator says ‘State your emergency.’ The guy says ‘I need help! Two girls are fighting over me!’ The operator groans and says ‘Sir, what is the emergency?’ And the guy says ‘The ugly one’s winning!’”

The joke was so bad I actually laughed. “That was perfect. Thank you.”

“You hanging in there?” he asked, all signs of joking leaving his voice.

I sighed. “I’m trying.”

“Well, sounds like you need to try harder. I can hear you beating yourself up from here.”

“I know. I don’t want to talk about any of that right now. I was hoping you could help.”

He was quiet for a minute and I started to regret saying it. Ethan had a particular way of twisting my words.

“How about I tell you a story? One I’ve never told anyone,” he said. “Do you remember in middle school when we went to that amusement park, the one with those really old roller coasters?”

“Of course. It was Rocky Point. We went at the end of every school year.”

“Yeah, that’s right. So, this one year it was hot the day we went. It must have been 95 degrees or something. I remember waiting in line about half the day to get ice cream. Do you remember?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Nobody even wanted to go on any rides. It was too hot.”

“Well, I was in the ice cream line about four or five people behind you. You probably didn’t even know who I was back then.”

I laughed, mostly to myself. Because I certainly did know who Ethan Magliaro was. I couldn’t think back to a time when I didn’t have a crush on our town’s biggest flirt. I remembered freaking out that he was standing so close to me. Not that I’d ever admit it to him.

“So you ordered your ice cream and were waiting at the pick-up window. The mom in front of you handed her little boy his cone, and a second later the ice cream fell to the ground.”

“Yes, that was awful.”

“And I’ll never forget the look on that kid’s face when
you
gave him your ice cream.”

I felt the blush creeping up my neck. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew what his expression was. His deep brown eyes daring me to argue.

“It wasn’t a big deal.” I laughed and bit my lip.

“Al?”

“What?” I asked.

“It was then that I
knew
. I knew no matter what, I was going to make you mine. And I’ve never forgotten.”

I was speechless. There were so many times Ethan had said things like that over the years, loaded with sarcasm and mischief. But this time he sounded sincere. And for just a moment I couldn’t think of a single thing I wanted more than for it to be true.

But it was a short-lived moment. “You’ve definitely distracted me,” I said.

The spell he’d cast disappeared and he sighed. “I’m glad. But I’m serious, you know.”

I swallowed and whispered, “Thank you.”