Celtic Magic (6 page)

Aine waited while Abby collected her
thoughts, “What kind of spells?” she asked her.

“The only ones my powers could allow. I
locked away your magic deep within you, and decided that the only
way to unlock them was to fall in love and to make love with the
person you love. I have sensed that something inside of you was
changing, and that some of your magic was being unlocked, so I have
been watching over you, but with you overhearing Jasmine’s
conversation with your father, I knew you had to know more before
you did something to hurt yourself, or your relationship with
Tom.”

Aine suddenly looked up into the sky,
looking worried and said, “Time is running out for you to be here,
I only have time to answer one short question for you, and then I
have to send you back.”

Abby blurted out the first thing that came
to her mind, “Who is Jasmine, is she a Goddess too?” she hurriedly
asked, becoming angry at herself for using her last question for
something she could have just asked Jasmine herself.

Aine nodded, “Jasmine is what we call a
Magical Hybrid, something we don’t see happen very often. You see,
the two most powerfully magical beings in all of Ireland are the
Gods, and the Fairies. Jasmine is both, her father was a powerful
God, and her mother a beautifully tender faerie that no longer
lives in the Other World.”

She looked as though she wanted to say more,
but she looked back up to the sky and jumped up, pulling Abby up
with her.

“I’m sorry Abby, but you have to go back,
now!” she yelled at her.

Abby suddenly jerked awake and looked over
at the clock and saw that she was only asleep for thirty minutes.
She groaned and rolled over, exhausted.

Chapter 10

The next morning she hurriedly got dressed
so that she could make it to work and talk with Jasmine. There were
still questions she wanted answered, and since she knew the secret
of who and what Jasmine was, maybe she would answer some of them
for her.

As she unlocked the door, she was surprised
to see that Jasmine wasn’t there yet, so she went about setting up
the new stock and getting her register ready to open. Five minutes
before they were set to open, Jasmine finally walked in, looking
flustered.

“I’m so sorry I’m late Abby, I just had an
awful night.” She said, looking around the store.

“It looks as though you have everything
ready to go, we might as well open the doors.” Abby grabbed her arm
and turned her around so that they were facing each other.

“I spoke with Aine again last night, and we
really need to talk.”

Jasmine nodded, “Yes, we do.” She said to
me, sighing.

Jasmine walked over to the door and turned
on the open sign, but luckily there were no customers waiting
outside, as there usually are. They walked around the desk and sat
side by side behind the cash register. Abby thought that before
Jasmine started to talk about things she already knew she would
just come out and ask her some questions.

“I know Aine is my mother, and I know who
you are now. But, there are a few things that I didn’t get
answered.”

Jasmine nodded, urging her to go on.

“Well, my mother told me that the place
where we were was the entrance to the Other World, which is a place
for lesser gods and magical beings, but you can only go in with a
certain kind of magic. My question is, how do I know if I posses
the right kind of magic to even get in?”

Jasmine looked at her with an odd expression
on her face, almost as if she couldn’t believe she didn’t know this
already.

“Aine did not question you about the
entrance at all? That is not like her to leave things out, she is
usually very thorough.”

Abby shrugged not knowing what to say as she
didn’t really know what kind of person her mother was, or goddess I
guess.

Jasmine continued, “Answer this question for
me Abby, what color were the flowers that surrounded the
gazebo?”

Abby thought this was an odd question to ask
but figured she knew more about this magic than she did.

“They were bright orange, unlike anything I
have ever seen before.”

Jasmine nodded, “Well, that is the answer to
your question. You see, mortals see purple flowers, magical beings
see them as orange, which is how you know you can get in.”

Abby shook her head, “Flowers? Really? This
whole magical land is guarded by flowers?”

Jasmine laughed, “I know it sounds silly,
but it is an easy way to distinguish magical beings and gods from
ordinary mortals. But, I never said it was guarded by the flowers,
they are just an indicator of what you are. The entrance is guarded
by some very tough fairies that can smell the magic on you.”

Just as Abby was about to ask Jasmine
another question, the bell on the door rang and a handful of
customers walked in.

“Let’s have dinner tonight at my place Abby,
I will answer more of your questions then. We do not want anyone to
overhear us, even in a place like this” she said winking.

Abby nodded and just as
Jasmine was walking away her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. She
pulled it out and saw that she had a text from Tom.
Can you have lunch with me today?
she read, smiling. She texted back to him,
sure, usual time usual place?
She closed her phone and waited for his reply while watching
the customers look through the case of crystals, talking excitedly
as they did.

Finally after a few
seconds her phone buzzed again and she opened it up,
yes, see you at 2.
She
was really starting to like having someone to date.

***

Later that afternoon she yelled at Jasmine
that she was leaving for lunch and walked out of the store and was
surprised to see Tom standing there waiting for her, looking
nervous.

“Tom, what’s the matter? You look upset
about something” She asked him.

He grabbed her hand and made her face him
straight on, “Are you hungry?” he asked her. She shook her head no,
“I had a late breakfast” she told him.

“Can we sit in my car and talk?” he asked
her.

She nodded her head, but her heart felt as
though it had dropped down into her stomach. She had heard from
people before that it is never good when someone tells you they
wanted to talk. They walked to the car in silence as she braced
herself for what was to come. After they sat in the car and closed
the door, he turned to her.

“I really need to ask you something, and I
want you to be completely honest with me.”

She was starting to get worried, “Of course
Tom, what’s the matter?” she asked him in a whisper, nearly holding
her breath.

He fidgeted with the steering wheel, no
longer looking at her as she finally said, “I told my father about
you, and he wants to meet you. I know that we just started seeing
each other, but I really like you and want the whole world to know
we are dating.”

Abby’s heart started pounding, “You scared
me Tom, I thought you were going to break up with me, not invite me
to meet your father.”

He shook his head, “No, you don’t
understand, my father can be the biggest snob in public, and he
insists on having a big banquet to introduce you to the family. I
know you are a very shy girl, and I don’t want you to do it if you
don’t want to. I can tell him to shove it if you want me to” he
said.

Abby nodded and laughed, “Of course I will
do it, any excuse for a girl to get all dressed up is a good one,
especially when they have a guy like you on their arm.” She said,
blushing even as she said it.

Tom smiled, looking relieved, “I’m so happy
you said yes, I have never taken a girl to meet my father, so this
is kind of a big deal, thank you so much.”

Abby punched him on the arm, “Don’t you ever
scare me like that again Thomas Murphy.”

Tom laughed, “Uh oh, she used my whole name
so I better be a good boy.”

She leaned forward and kissed him, wrapping
her arms around his neck.

He pulled away smiling, “Now that’s a good
way to spend a lunch break” he said, pulling her into another
kiss.

Chapter 11

Once they closed up the store, Abby and
Jasmine walked back to Jasmine’s apartment, enjoying the warm night
air without talking. When the elevator doors opened to Jasmine’s
apartment, Jasmine turned to Abby.

“I’m not really in the mood to cook tonight,
would you mind if we just ordered a pizza or something?” she asked
her.

Abby nodded, “Yeah sure, that will be fine”
she told her as she started to walk around the apartment, just
taking in all of the beautiful paintings she had on every wall.
Once the pizza was ordered, they sat on the couch and started to
talk.

“What if I don’t want to be queen of the
Other World, what happens then?” Abby asked her.

Jasmine looked at her with a serious look on
her face, “Ultimately that is your decision, but the only problem
is the Faerie Queen. Did Aine tell you about her?”

Abby nodded, “She mentioned her, and told me
that she wanted to rule, but she didn’t get to tell me much more
than that” she answered.

“Well, you see when she was younger she was
married to a male faerie who was a warrior, and they both worked
for your grandmother, who was the queen at the time. Then, she
found out that he had fallen in love with a goddess, and had
cheated on her many times with her. She was furious and vowed a
sort of revenge against the gods, though most people did not know
this.”

Abby stopped her, “How is it that you know
this?” she asked her.

Jasmine smiled, “You said that Aine told you
about what I am, so you know that I am a hybrid, half god, half
faerie. Well, the Faerie Queen is my mother’s sister, and when my
mother became pregnant with me, she had to tell her that my father
was a god. She was not happy about that and banished her from
‘Oilean na siog’, which means Island of the Faerie.”

“Is that Gaelic?” Abby asked.

“Yes, it is” Jasmine answered right away
before returning to her story.

“So, my aunt hated the gods, but had to play
nice with them, and eventually she became the Faerie Queen. When
she found out that your mother was pregnant with a half mortal
baby, and that baby was to become queen someday, due to the
stipulations your grandmother had put on the throne, she took that
as an opportunity to finally get what she had always wanted.”

Abby wanted to asked questions, but was too
entranced to interrupt, so Jasmine continued.

“She wanted to rule all of the magical
beings, not just the fairies. There will be a war, and people could
lose their lives, including you and me, but if we let her rule, the
world as we know it will end.”

Jasmine stopped as the door bell rang and
she jumped up to get the pizza from the delivery boy. Once they had
their pizza and were sitting back on the couch, Abby asked Jasmine
the one thing that was bothering her about the story.

“So, how exactly will the world as we know
it end if the Faerie Queen were to take over? Ireland is a long way
from here, and the Other World is completely unknown to the
mortals” she said, using air quotes for the word mortals. It still
felt a little odd to not think of herself in that way too.

“So how would it impact us?” she
continued.

Jasmine took a bite of pizza and thought
over her answer as she chewed her pizza.

“Well, you see, the Faerie Queen has a
thirst for power running through her at the moment, and if she was
to become powerful enough to rule the Other World, she wouldn’t
stop at just ruling the magical creatures. She wants to rule the
entire world, mortals and Gods alike, and I’m pretty sure there are
plenty of her evil fairies that would do her bidding and kill
anyone that gets in the way.”

For the first time Abby actually felt
scared, “I can’t let her do that, but my magic isn’t even unlocked
yet, and who is to say that I will even be able to use it correctly
once it is unlocked?”

Jasmine nodded, “I know how you feel, but
you have to trust in yourself and the love you feel for Tom. He is
the key to this entire battle, because the more pure love you have,
the more powerful you will become” she explained.

“She cannot even begin to understand pure
love, she has too much hatred running through her veins. Anyway,
who is to say yet whether this is true love or infatuation? The
only thing that gives me hope that this is love is that you have
already started to show signs of magic, which is a very good
sign.”

Abby put her head into her hands, “All of
this is just too much, I don’t think I’m ready” she said feeling
desperate.

Jasmine patted her on the arm, “Once the
time comes, you will surprise yourself and you will be ready. Do
you have any more questions that need to be answered right now, or
do you think you need some time to digest all of this
information?”

Abby sighed, “I think I need some time” she
said.

Jasmine nodded, “That’s fine, how about you
take the rest of the week off, and come back to work on Monday
morning. I will pay you for the time off, just like vacation time.
Plus, if you need to talk, you know I’m not far” she said, patting
her on the arm.

Abby nodded, “Thank you, that is so nice of
you. I think I will take you up on that offer. Tom wants me to meet
his family this weekend anyway, so I can use the time to do some
shopping for a new dress.”

Jasmine’s eyes grew wide, “Meeting the
parents is a big step, I am very proud of you. Just don’t try to
rush things too much, the magic will know when you are ready.”

Abby nodded and gave Jasmine a hug, “Thanks,
I will see you soon” She said as she pushed the button for the
elevator. She really wanted to get home and soak in a big tub of
hot water and bubbles and let the stress just wash away.