Larkspur (39 page)

James and Edie looked at Valerie. She
gestured around them.

“
Oh, yes, sorry, ” Edie
said. “This is the Place of Confusion. Usually people get here
when
they
are
confused. We are here because Maughold is confused. You can see
that each entity is compartmentalized, and thus kept separate from
each other. Katy and Paddie are separate from the women over there,
who are separate from us. Because there’s no synergy, everything is
stuck. We can see each other because someone, probably a great
healer given the task at hand, turned on the lights. But we can
only see this part of the confusion. The field is vast, huge
even.”

“
You mean this is like a
depression,” Valerie said. “Each thing is walled off from the next
so it feels like there’s a lot of nothingness, when really it’s a
lot of fullnesses all separated from each other.”

Edie nodded.

“
How do we heal the
separations?” Sam asked.

“
That’s the question,
isn’t it?” Edie asked.

“
Jill,” Delphie
said.

“
Who’s Jill?” Edie
asked.

“
The woman in labor over
there,” Valerie said. “My sister in law. She’s a great
healer.”

“
I’ll go see,” Edie said.
She shrank to her usual size, changed back into uniform, and tried
to cross the confusion. She was back in an instant, transformed in
to her larger form. “I can’t get there. Usually, fairies can move
from section to section.”

“
This confusion is
Maughold’s,” Delphie said. “Only non-fairy-kind can get between the
sections.”

“
It looks like Jill is
trying to get to Katy,” Valerie said.

They watched Jill kneel down to Katy and try
to hold her.

“
She has to heal the
confusion,” Edie said.

“
What does that?” James
asked.

“
Love, of course,” Edie
said. “Your Jill must have a tremendous capacity to
love.”

Sam looked at Edie for a moment. He glanced
at Valerie and then at Delphie. Without saying a word, he stepped
off into the fog.

“
Sam!” Delphie
screamed.

He was afraid that if he turned back he
would lose his nerve. As far as he was concerned, his family was
threatened, and that was all he needed to know. He saw only
horrifying wispy clouds and the air pockets containing Jill and her
friends, Katy and Paddie, and the one he’d just left. He kept his
focus on Katy and Paddie because looking down was simply too
terrifying. Step by step, he moved closer to the children.
Somewhere to his right, he saw Jacob look up at him.

“
I’m going to get
Manannán,” Jacob said. “I’ll bring the army back with
me.”

Sam nodded that he understood, but he didn’t
stop walking.

“
I’m proud of you, Dad,”
Jacob said.

Sam felt tears come to his eyes. The best
thing about the last few years was getting to see the man Jacob was
becoming. Sam remembered the recent events in the park and at the
site. Nothing was better than seeing the tiny baby he’d held in his
arms become a man he wanted to call “friend.”

And he was there. He kneeled down.

“
Katy,” Sam
said.

“
Granddaddy!”

Katy threw herself in the direction of his
voice. Sam caught her in his arms. She was shivering and weeping in
his arms. At the same moment, Paddie woke up.

“
Katy?” Paddie asked. He
looked up at Sam. “Mr. Sam, why is Katy crying?”

“
She can’t see you, son,”
Sam said. “She’s been here all alone.”

“’
Cuz she’s a fairy and
we’re not?” Paddie nodded.

“
I think so,” Sam
said.

“
Katy hates to be
alone.”

“
I know,” Sam said. “You
have to break through the wall between you.”

Paddie screwed up his face with
determination. He leaned over and touched Katy’s back.

“
Katy?” Paddie asked. “You
can’t see me, but I’m right here.”

“
P-P-P-Paddie?” Katy’s lip
vibrated with fear and sorrow.

Sam took her hand and put it on Paddie’s
chest. Undeterred by any convention, Paddie mashed himself against
Katy’s back. And then the great knight Padeen and the regular old
Sam held on while the fairy princess Katy cried. When she seemed
through the worst of it, Sam picked her up. The little girl pressed
her face into his neck.

“
We have to bridge these
gaps, son,” Sam said. “Take my hand and whatever happens, don’t let
go.”

Paddie made the same determined face. He
grabbed onto Sam’s hand. Sam looked down at the little boy and
nodded.

“
Here we go,” Sam
said.

He took a step forward. Jill seemed to be
right there, less than a foot ahead of him. But each step brought
him only inches toward her. Sam was determined to not give up.

“
We’re not getting very
far,” Paddie said.

“
Yes,” Sam said. “But we
are getting there. Are you ready to give up?”

“
Never!” Paddie said.
“It’s just . . .”

Paddie tightened his grip on Sam’s hand, and
Sam smiled. This white fog was not for the meek of heart. Step by
step, in this crazy fog, they were getting closer. Or so Sam
thought.

“
We haven’t moved,” Paddie
said.

Sam realized that, for all their walking,
they were still in the pocket where he’d found Katy and Paddie.
Dazed by her experience, Katy wasn’t talking. Paddie was starting
to get scared.

What had Sam done that had
brought him to Katy? He replayed those moments. He was looking at
Jacob and thinking about all he’d become when,
wham
, he was there. Sam snorted a
laugh.

He’d thought he’d gotten to his son’s
daughter by his skilled and powerful walking.

Of course, it was his heart had done the
work.

He thought about Jill.

He remembered the first time he realized
Jacob was in love with her. They were having breakfast at Pete’s
Kitchen, and his son couldn’t take his eyes off this pregnant
woman. Sam had worried that she was pregnant with Jacob’s baby,
which of course she was. As Jacob’s only living parent, Sam wasn’t
sure what he’d do about his son having a baby out of wedlock with a
married girl. Sam snorted at himself.

“
They just got closer,”
Paddie whispered. “Keep doing it.”

“
What?” Sam
asked.

“
Whatever you’re doing,”
Paddie said.

He remembered Jill at the engagement party.
His entire life had been a complete mess. He would wander in a daze
from work to home. On good days, he stayed at the Castle and prayed
for Celia to take him. If he’d had the energy, he would have killed
himself. Most days, he lived with Tiffanie, his ex-secretary, and
her four daughters. Sam let out a sigh.

Then one day, out of the blue, Jill showed
up and everything changed. She’d looked like a warrior in those big
leather boots. Her back was straight. Her jaw was set with
determination. He’d seen the vultures moving in. He tried to get
across the room to her before his nasty step-daughter sliced her
open with her bare claws.

Jacob got there first, and their lives had
changed. Sam took a step forward.

Jill was still kneeling trying to get to
Katy. Tanesha was holding her up.

“
Sam!” Sandy said. “Jill,
it’s Sam! Tanesha!”

“
He has Katy!” Tanesha
said.

“
She’s in my arms,” Sam
said.

Jill popped to her feet and grabbed her
daughter from Sam.

“
Mommy?” Katy started to
cry again. Jill felt a contraction and they crumpled down together.
Jill moved Katy’s soggy hair from her face and kissed her cheeks.
She clasped her daughter close.

“
She can’t see us,” Sandy
said.

“
Is she blind?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I don’t think so,” Sam
said.

“
She just can’t see us
non-fairies,” Paddie said.

“
Paddie!” Sandy picked up
the little boy and hugged him tight. “Tanesha, look! It’s
Paddie!”

Tanesha looked up at Sandy and shook her
head.

“
These babies are coming,”
Tanesha said.

~~~~~~~~

Jacob stood on the steep slope of Meayll
Hill. In his near-human form, Gilfand stood to his left. Standing
stones made out of enormous blocks of crude stone stood in an open
circle in front of him. Jacob looked through the larger opening to
the sea. It was a gorgeous sight.

“
Are you sure I don’t get
a sword?” Jacob asked.

“
No sword,” Gilfand
said.

“
Something cool?” Jacob
asked. “How ’bout an ancestral dagger? A staff of
power?”

“
You don’t need them,”
Gilfand said. “You are Manannán’s living heir. You only need to
claim your place and the army will appear.”

Jacob scowled. They always had a sword in
the movies. He thought back to every historical war movie he’d ever
seen.

“
Maybe a horse?” Jacob
asked. “How ’bout some blue face paint?”

“
You’re not Scottish,”
Gilfand said. “Stop stalling.”

“
What
if . . .?”

“
Won’t know if you never
try,” Gilfand said. “And frankly, I’m freezing my balls off
here.”

“
It is cold,” Jacob
said.

“
Maybe we could finish
this and get out of the wind?” Gilfand suggested.

Jacob chuckled. He looked out to the sea for
a moment and then closed his eyes.

“
Hands cupped at your
solar plexus.” Gilfand helpfully went through the steps he’d taught
Jacob.

“
Give me a minute,” Jacob
said.

“
You’ve had a whole
lifetime of minutes,” Gilfand said. “Stop being such a wuss. Your
daughter would have been done with this and sipping tea by
now.”

Katy. His sons. Jacob remembered the reasons
he was standing on this hill in the early morning dark.

Jill. He smiled at just the thought of her
name.

He gave Gilfand a nod. He closed his eyes,
cupped his hands at his solar plexus, and took a breath. He felt
dizzy with the power that surged through him from the island. He
opened his eyes.

“
Army of Manannán! It is
time to awaken!” Jacob yelled at the top of his lungs.

Nothing happened. He was pretty sure the
heroes in those guy movies had done a better job.

“
Army of Manannán! I
demand you appear before me, the rightful heir to the throne of
Manannán!”

Nothing happened. Jacob strained his ears
and heard only the crash of waves on the beach.

“
Are you sure they’re
here?” Jacob asked.

“
Patience!” Gilfand said.
“This isn’t a video game or a movie. You’re waking creatures that
have been asleep for more than a thousand years.”

Jacob scowled and wondered when he’d eaten
last.

“
Hold the energy,” Gilfand
said. “You’re letting it fade.”

“
But I did it,” Jacob
said. “I called them.”

“
And when you call the
dog, and she doesn’t appear?” Gilfand asked. “Do you give up and
have breakfast?”

“
No but I love her,” Jacob
said.

“
Well, there is that,”
Gilfand said.

That love thing again. Jacob scowled. He
focused on a memory of Katy digging up potatoes while Jill watched.
And his sons were due today!

“
Army of Manannán! It is
time to awaken! It is time to retrieve your king! Rise now!” Jacob
said.

He let out a little yelp when a ghost on an
enormous horse appeared in front of him.

“
Who are you?” the ghost
asked. “Why do you call us on this day?”

“
Queen Fand has been
returned,” Gilfand said.

“
It is time to retrieve
Manannán,” Jacob said.

“
How do I know you are
flesh of Manannán?” the ghost asked.

“
See, I need a sword,”
Jacob said under his breath.

“
No sword,” Gilfand said.
“
Show
him who you
are.”

Jacob clapped his hands together, and the
standing stones rose from the ground.

“
Fairy tricks. Fairy
magic,” the ghost said.

“
Who are you, Jacob
Marlowe?” Gilfand asked.

“
I am a carpenter.” The
words just popped out. They were his usual answer to the
question.

“
Prove it,” the ghost
said.

“
What?” Jacob asked. “Who
are you to ask me to prove that I’m a carpenter? You’re a ghost.
Why would I waste my precious time on this planet proving myself to
a ghost?”

The ghost grinned.

“
You have him in you,” the
ghost said. “Prove that you are a carpenter like my king, and I
will raise Manannán’s army.”

The ghost held out a trumpet like
instrument.

“
Oh, you’re a herald,”
Jacob said.

The ghost gave him a sour look.

“
Fine,” Jacob
said.

He clapped his hands. Meayll Hill
disappeared, and they were standing in the Castle’s main living
room in Denver. The building was silent and empty. Jacob nodded,
and then they were standing in the building Celia had originally
bought for Delphie. More like a tenement than a Castle at that
point, there were holes in the floor and ceiling where the fire had
burned through. The wood paneling was blackened and rotting. In
places, the wood flooring had been peeled up for kindling. The
majestic marble fireplace had seen the better end of a ball-pein
hammer. Snow fell through the roof to the dirt.