A Place Beyond (4 page)

A muffled voice from the next stall asked her a question.

“Oh, of course,” she said. “Al, I’m just going to run out front for the measuring tape. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” I said, starting to get dressed in my regular clothes.

A moment later, I stepped out of the dressing room, but Nicole hadn’t come back. The girl from the next stall walked out at the same time as me. Ours eyes met as she shut the door behind her with a click. I smiled politely and headed for the door.

But I could feel her still looking at me as I walked toward the exit. One second she was behind me and in an instant, the girl blocked the way out into the main part of the store.

She smiled, her blonde hair framing a pretty, yet unremarkable face.

“Excuse me,” I said, taking a step back.

“Hello, sweet thing,” she said in a sultry voice I recognized immediately.

I tried to look past her shoulder where Tagdh stood guard, but her laughter rang out and I met her icy blue eyes. Black curls appeared to ripple over her shoulders as the blonde girl transformed into none other than Aoife.

“But, how...” I began, glancing where Tagdh stood moments ago before she cut me off with an eye roll.

“Oh yes, Niamh’s guards are loyal. But even the most loyal servants will fall when they’ve been stabbed with cold iron.”

I looked around the dressing room frantically, trying to come up with a plan of escape. “Where’s Tagdh?”

“My guards have disposed of him,” she said, inclining her head to look into my eyes. “Don’t even bother trying to get away.”

Unable to tear my gaze away from hers, I willed my feet to come unstuck, but I may as well have been standing in quicksand.

“It will be better for everyone if you just come with me. You aren’t going to struggle or make a sound.”

I nodded as a warm, relaxed feeling spread through my limbs. I didn’t want to make a scene in the bridal shop. I would do whatever she asked of me.

We walked out of the dressing room and passed the checkout counter where Nicole still waited to ask for measuring tape. She never even turned around as I walked out the door and into the parking lot.

“As much as I loathe these things, I refuse to carry you,” Aoife said as she stopped beside the passenger door of my small SUV.

“But, my cousin...” I said.

She quirked one dark brow at me. “Not my concern.”

I nodded and opened my door. Aoife climbed in beside me and closed her eyes in disgust.

“How can you stand the smell? Humans are repulsive.”

“What smell?” I asked, confused.

“Pick one,” she said, wrinkling her delicate nose. “The iron, whatever you have in your hair, that blasted air freshener. I can scarcely breathe.”

“Oh.”

I started the engine and looked at Aoife for direction. I wasn’t sure where she wanted me to take her.

She listed off one command after another without telling me our destination. As I drove, I wondered what happened to Nicole. I hoped she remembered to set aside the dress for me. It really had looked nice.

Other than giving me directions, Aoife didn’t speak much. When my phone rang in my pocket, she held her hand out and told me to give it to her, she rolled down her window and tossed it out.

After about five hours of driving, my eyelids started to droop. I blinked and tried to keep alert.

“This is taking far too long,” Aoife sighed, tapping a finger on the arm rest. “Perhaps carrying you wouldn’t be so bad after all.”

“Do you want me to pull over?” I asked, glancing at her.

She huffed out a breath. “I suppose so. Pull off there, I’m growing tired.”

For a moment, I just tried to absorb how beautiful she was. She made every gorgeous starlet from Audrey Hepburn to Megan Fox look plain with her glossy black waves and porcelain skin. Even with the pinched look on her face, no creature was more stunning.

Shaking my head, I turned onto a sloping dirt road. A hundred yards in, a broken down log cabin was set just off the road. Aoife was out of the car and pacing before I had a chance to wrap my fingers around the door handle.

I stepped out and stood, waiting for her instructions. A small duck pond behind the cabin rippled as a chilly wind raised goose bumps on my skin.

Aoife cocked her head to the side and looked at me. “You’ve been easier to manipulate than I expected,” she said, tapping her lip with her fingertip.

“Manipulate?” I said, not understanding.

“I don’t know why it surprises me, however. At least Samantha put up a little bit of a fight.”

“Where is Samantha?” I asked, mirroring the tilt of Aoife’s head.

Her lips twisted up into a joyful sneer. “Would you like to go find out?”

And just like that, I was airborne, flying through space and time. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the skull crushing pressure on my body. Humans were not built to support the speeds the Danaan could reach. By the time the pressure eased, I was sure my skin had been flipped inside out.

Aoife let my body slide from her shoulder to the ground and my head hit the crunchy dead grass with an audible
thwack
.

“Oh, by the gods. Get up,” she said as I rubbed my palms over my eyes. A silvery glimmer wavered around Aoife’s body as she walked away, and I almost thought her raven hair was streaked with gray as she moved.

I clambered to my feet even though the world felt like a giant tilt-a-whirl. Blinking furiously, I took in the enormous white house. The paint was peeling and several windows were broken out.

Following her, I walked up the deteriorating wooden steps of the old Victorian. I closed my eyes, still fighting the sick feeling in my stomach. When I reopened them, what had originally appeared as a dilapidated old house shifted and morphed into a glorious Norman Rockwell version.

Once inside, I held out a hand and leaned on the door frame, trying to get my bearings as the door clicked shut behind me.

“
What
is taking so long?” Aoife’s curt voice called from somewhere beyond the foyer.

I followed the sound into an opulent living room. Green velvet curtains covered tall windows and a plush settee sofa and high back chair completed the elegant arrangement.

The clearing of a throat brought my gaze to where Aoife stood in a doorway. “Follow me.”

A rickety staircase led down into the musty basement. The rest of the house had been restored to its original splendor, but this space was full of cobwebs and smelled like decaying earth.

Aoife walked around the staircase and stood in front of the wall, her back facing me. After a moment, she glanced back at me. “Shall we?” she asked, placing a slim hand on the crumbling stone wall.

Searing light invaded my vision, and a tiny seed of wrongness took root in my mind.

My legs moved despite my foreboding thoughts. Pure, white light swallowed me, stretching me taut before it disappeared, pulling the bright glow with it.

I took another step forward and crumbled to my knees on the cold, stone floor. Picking up my head I found myself in a familiar stone chamber.

Aoife stood a few steps away watching me as I pulled myself to my feet.

“It broke your heart to watch your father fall to his death, didn’t it?” she asked.

I frowned at her question. Several answers came to my lips, but I couldn’t decide which one was right.

I went with the simplest. “Yes.”

She laughed, the sound echoing and bouncing in the chamber. I blinked back at her, not understanding her reaction.

Aoife took two slow steps toward me, looking deep into my eyes. As she did, I began to see everything more clearly. A fog lifted from my mind and I sucked in a breath as realization spread.

She’d compelled me so efficiently I hadn’t even noticed the change. And now she was releasing my mind from her hold. Why?

“What are you doing?” I whispered through gritted teeth. My head was spinning and I couldn’t come up with a reason for her to bring me back here. Back to this place I now recognized as the cave she’d brought us to on Halloween.

“Now, Allison,” she began. “I was content to live a simple life with Liam. There wasn’t much glory in it, but I had accepted it. He was the only thing I wanted, you see?”

I gaped at her, unsure what she was trying to say.

“I didn’t see you coming. I’ll give you that. But here we are now, and you’ve stuck your nose in one too many times for my liking.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I can’t live the life I once dreamed of now, can I? No, you saw to that. The worst part is you don’t even know what you’ve done.”

She was pacing as she spoke, an angry glint in her lapis blue eyes.

I opened my mouth to respond, but she continued.

“Well, I have a little surprise for you. Would you like to see it?”

This time I found it impossible to keep my mouth shut. “Do I have a choice?”

Her laughter once again rang out in the chamber. This time it wasn’t a lovely sound, but a harsh chuckle of triumph.

“Come,” she said. Curiosity had me following her without a word.

She led me through the passage I’d seen Ciarán and Samantha sneak through shortly before Ethan and I escaped.

A short hallway led to another chamber. But this one wasn’t empty.

My mouth dropped open. On the floor, exactly as I had seen in my dream, was Liam. He lay on his side with his back to us, shackles on his pale wrists and ankles.

I started to move toward him, but slammed against an invisible wall. I bounced back, nearly falling, and glared over my shoulder to where Aoife still stood.

She remained there, watching me with an eerie intensity. “This is your doing,” she said, her eyes never leaving my face.

I spun to face her. “
My
doing?”

“Liam will come to realize what a fool he’s been. In time, he’ll understand we were meant for each other,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve got all the time in the world.”

At that moment, Liam’s body jerked. A low rumble sounded deep in his chest and he pulled himself to his knees. He supported his weight on his elbows as a coughing spasm tore through him.

This was no common cold, but a painful sound, raw and harrowing. Each breath came in short, desperate gulps.

“How is Liam still alive?” I demanded, unsure if this was one of Aoife’s tricks.

She watched me with a predator’s grin. “You really know nothing of our power, do you?” she said, shaking her head like a disappointed parent.

“As if I would allow Liam to die while I lived,” she said, as though I was a fool.

My mouth dropped. “You have him
chained
to the ground,” I said angrily. “He’s filthy and sick. How can you
allow
that?”

She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just for a time. He needs to remember this the next time he thinks to be disloyal.”

“Disloyal?” I said, thunderstruck. “Liam hates you, he wasn’t being disloyal.”

“Did you not hear any of what I said?” she asked, icy blue flames dancing in her eyes. “In time, he’ll understand what side his passion falls on, and you and your mother will be nothing but dust. A distant memory, perhaps. Nothing more.”

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked.

“I admit that killing you had been very tempting, but I wasn’t thinking clearly. Now I realize you have much more important uses. I was willing to settle, as I told you. But now I see I can have everything I ever wanted, and more still. And you are the key to it all.”

“Now we’ve reached a whole new level of crazy,” I muttered, rolling my eyes up toward the cave ceiling.

When I met her gaze, my spine turned to ice. “Who are you calling crazy?”

“If you think I’ll help you with any of your plans,” I said, trying with all I had to sound firm. “Then you
are
crazy.”

“I see,” she said in a soft voice that filled me with cold fear. “But you will help me. You’ll do anything I ask. And I won’t even have to compel you.”

I swallowed and took a step backward. Aoife raised her hand toward my father.

With a tiny movement of her wrist, the sounds coming from him turned animalistic. He trembled and bucked violently as his eyes bulged.

“Stop! You’re killing him,” I shouted and started to run toward him.

Just before I hit that invisible wall again, she laughed. “Very well.”

And with another hand gesture, Liam stopped coughing. He stayed on all fours for another moment trying to catch his breath before pulling himself up on his knees. His eyes passed over Aoife and landed on me. Swallowing hard, he attempted to speak but the sound was like nails down a chalkboard, raw and alarming.

“Shh, Liam. Don’t try to talk, everything will be okay,” I said with a calm I didn’t feel.

“That is up to you, Allison,” Aoife said, the smile never leaving her face. She reminded me of the Evil Queen from Snow White with her chilling composure.

I raised my eyebrows, prompting her to continue. If I could get her to explain what her plan was, maybe I could come up with a way to stop it. Going along with her, or acting like I would, seemed to be my best bet.