Read Stone of Destiny (The Danaan Trilogy) Online

Authors: Laura Howard

Tags: #Book Two of The Danaan Trilogy

Stone of Destiny (The Danaan Trilogy) (5 page)

BOOK: Stone of Destiny (The Danaan Trilogy)
11.82Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

The school bus pulls up in front of the house. Three little girls pile out of the open doors. The first one, the one with a blonde bob, is Nicole. She is pulling on a taller girl’s hand. The tall girl, Tina Donnelly, looks over her shoulder at the last girl and smiles, her two front teeth missing. The third girl with the light brown braids is me. I return her smile, but look away shyly. Aunt Jessie is sitting on my front porch with my mom, waiting for us. They look so much alike, except Aunt Jessie is smiling and waving at us and my mother is staring at her hands in her lap.

I bite my lip and hesitate at the bottom of the stairs. This is the first time I’ve had a friend from school over. Nicole is so excited to have another girl to play tea party with and I don’t want to ruin this for her because I’m nervous.

They follow me up to my bedroom where I proudly show them my white table and chairs with a perfectly displayed rose tea set.

We play and laugh and I become more comfortable with Tina. She’s so nice and she really likes my toys.

Nicole announces that we need to get snacks for our tea party and I follow them down to the kitchen, caught up in the flurry of little girl giggles.

Aunt Jessie sits next to my mother on the couch and when we come bustling into the kitchen, my mother’s eyes dart over to where the three of us stand. She jumps up off the couch and starts rubbing her hands over her face and shaking her head. I freeze when she begins mumbling about a castle and Liam and needing to get inside the door. Most of what she says doesn’t make sense at all. I look over at Tina, her eyes wide and chewing her bottom lip.

It wasn’t even light out when I woke up. I’d tossed and turned, remembering the first and last playdate I’d ever had. Aunt Jessie had sent us back up to my room so she could calm my mother down. Tina wouldn’t talk to me or Nicole, she just kept saying she wanted to go home.

The kids in school all looked at me funny after that, she must have told the story of my crazy mother to the entire class.

I needed something to take my mind off the dream, and the mound of laundry I’d been avoiding finally summoned me.

I made a quick trip to the bathroom and as I washed my hands I looked at myself in the mirror. Despite how different my life had become, my reflection hadn’t changed much in the past couple months. Pale skin, blue eyes almost too big for my face. My light brown hair was a little longer. Funny that Nicole hadn’t complained about that, since she was my hairdresser. Admittedly she had other things on her mind. Normal, human things like getting married and what to have for dinner. I fought to contain my anger over my own fate.

I thought back to the times when, even as a little girl I stood in front of the same mirror wondering what was so different about me. Why wasn’t I like all the other kids at school?

Before she completely succumbed to madness, my mother would sometimes stand behind me and run a comb through my hair. I’d watch her face in the mirror as she hummed tunes to me. Her eyes were an extraordinary shade of green, her hair a pale gold. I wished so many times that I looked like her, the way Nicole did. I sometimes wondered if Nicole was really her daughter and I was adopted.

I was about eight years old when I found the old photo booth shots of my parents together before I was born. That’s when I discovered that I looked just like my father, which even now caused a bittersweet feeling in my chest. Knowing where you come from might not be essential, but it can change the way you see yourself. Knowing that my father loved my mother somehow made me feel like I was part of something I’d been missing. Little did I know that what I was part of was a life that felt more like a fairytale to me with each day.

Allison?

Niamh’s thoughts reached in to my mind, and I shook my head to clear it.

If you’re not busy, I thought we could work on glamour in Liam’s yard.

I looked at my reflection one last time before heading down the stairs to meet Niamh next door. The rising sun cast a warm glow over the backyard. I walked through the little path in the wooded area between my house and Liam’s.

Niamh sat on a large boulder wearing something I never thought I’d see her in — jeans and a T-shirt with flip-flops. She normally dressed in pencil skirts and pant suits straight out of a Neiman Marcus catalog. The change made her seem less intimidating, she could almost pass for human.

“Good morning,” Niamh said in her usual self-assured manner.

“Morning,” I said, lowering myself onto the boulder beside her.

“I hear my father has been giving you a hard time,” she said, a glimmer of amusement in her eyes.

I huffed. “You could say that.” If giving me a hard time translated to reveling in making me squirm at every opportunity.

Niamh smiled and I knew she heard it all. “This is what happens when my mother is focused on something. He gets bored.”

“What’s your mother so focused on?” I asked.

She stood up. “Mainly Aoife. And you.”

A surprised laugh escaped my lips. “Why me?”

“We can talk about that later,” she said, gesturing for me to get up. “Right now I want to show you how to see through glamour, while there’s nobody around.”

I got up and blew out a slow breath. My hands hung limply at my sides, not sure what I was supposed to do.

“Just watch me for a minute. You don’t have to do anything yet.”

Faster than a thought she appeared just a foot in front of me. Her clear blue eyes met mine and like a snake shedding its skin, she disappeared.

People can’t see me if I don’t want them to. I’ve basically compelled you not to see me. But you have The Sight, so you just have to look harder.

My father had taught me to see through glamour. I looked away from where I knew she stood and attempted to see her out of the corner of my eye. A silver sheen shaped like her body came into view. I looked straight at her outline until she came back into focus. Most humans couldn’t do that.

“I can tell the instant you see me, not only because I hear your thoughts, but because your eyes naturally meet mine.”

I nodded and shifted my weight.

“Let’s try something else, so you can get an idea of what’s possible.”

Before she finished speaking, her form melted into Nicole. I blinked. It was eerie that nothing gave her away. Her posture was a little bit sassy, just like my cousin’s.

“I don’t actually look any different, it’s all in how you perceive me,” Niamh said in Nicole’s voice. “I don’t sound any different either.”

“That’s amazing,” I said, tucking my hair back. “But, what would someone else see?”

“Glamour has a wide range. It’s not like altering the memory of a single person. I send out a broad compulsion that affects everyone within about a half-mile radius, give or take.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “Do you think I could do that?”

Niamh shook her head. “I don’t. We can test your strength, but I would bet the most you could do is compel someone enough to distract them or get their attention.”

“Okay,” I said. And that was totally fine with me. Even that ability freaked me out. Knowing I wasn’t able to perform some kind of Jedi mind tricks was actually comforting.

“Focus on staying alert and watching for glamour. Always look beyond what you see. Once you form the habit, it will come naturally.”

“How?” I asked.

Niamh rubbed her hands together. “Here’s what we’ll do. I want you to close your eyes and count to five. When you open them I’ll be invisible to you. Find me.”

“Are you serious?”

She quirked an eyebrow up. “Very serious. This will be the most difficult for you, so it’s the best place to start.”

I closed my eyes and began counting. I reopened them and roamed around Liam’s yard trying to catch a glimpse of Niamh’s outline. There was no grass. It was still just a rectangle of packed dirt right up to the tree line.

You’ll never see me if you’re looking straight ahead.

I groaned at her voice in my head, but scanned my peripheral vision. After a few more minutes I almost gave up. I walked back to the boulder we’d been sitting on and a crow’s loud caw had me nearly jumping out of my skin. That’s when I saw the faint outline of Niamh sitting on the boulder, exactly as I’d first found her.

“Very clever,” I said as her image came back into focus.

A wry grin lit up Niamh’s face. She stood gracefully and like an old-fashioned film, her steps toward me were stilted as her form shifted from her own to my grandmother’s to my mother’s and everyone she’d apparently ever seen me interact with.

The sound of footsteps on soft dirt turned my body to stone. Niamh dropped her glamour and for a fraction of a second I thought I saw a flicker of alarm pass over her face. She watched whoever was approaching make their way over to us.

“Allison?” It was Ethan’s voice, full of confusion and possibly fear.

My breath stopped. What had he seen?

Don’t worry Allison. I’ll take care of this.

I spun around. Ethan stood with his booted feet planted firmly in the dirt. He wore his hunter green work shirt and faded blue jeans. He was staring over my shoulder at Niamh, eyes wide, like he was looking at a circus freak. And he probably thought he was.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Ethan. I’m Allison’s friend Niamh. I’ve heard so much about you.”

It was my turn to stare at Niamh wide-eyed.

I can easily convince him he never saw us.

I started to nod, hating that Ethan’s mind had to be tampered with again but not knowing what else could be done.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you two doing back here?” Concern clouded his tone.

Niamh smiled sweetly, an odd look for her, and moved closer to him. She stared directly into his eyes and they instantly began to glaze over.

Niamh turned to me after a couple of minutes, her eyebrows scrunched together.

Something isn’t right. His mind is a tangled mess.

My heart sank as I answered her with my thoughts.
What do you mean?

My father has really outdone himself this time. I can see where he wiped out the memories of Ethan’s time in Tír na n’Óg easily enough, but he’s also altered Ethan’s perception of you.

I looked at Ethan and swallowed thickly. His lips were slightly parted and his eyes were even more glazed-over.

Ethan’s love for you is very strong, but he’s been compelled to treat you as though he despises you. The two emotions are at complete odds. This isn’t good.

“What are you saying? I thought you compelled people all the time. What’s the big deal?”

Niamh hesitated, pursing her lips as she thought about how to answer me.

My father placed a compulsion working against Ethan’s love for you. Love and loathing are battling for dominance. But no matter how much Ethan cares for you, the compulsion to be cruel to you always overrides his true feelings. If this isn’t fixed, his mind could be permanently damaged.

I realized with horror what she was saying. Deaghlan had done this. He’d messed with Ethan’s head on purpose. Anger seeped into my chest as I pictured the smug smile on Deaghlan’s face whenever Ethan’s name came up.

“You have to fix this. Fix
him
.” Fear shot through me and I couldn’t keep the panic out of my voice.

I’m going to take him inside. Nobody else is here now.

I nodded, fighting back the familiar guilt. People I cared about went mad, and whether I meant for it to happen or not, it was directly related to me.

We walked into Liam’s house. He’d added several pieces of furniture. An overstuffed couch, some chairs and two end tables were arranged in his living room. Niamh got Ethan to lie down on the couch without speaking a word out loud. I didn’t ask how she did it.

She knelt by his head and closed her eyes as she placed her hands on his temples. Seconds ticked past as I waited for her to tell me whether she could help him or not. I started getting anxious that something was wrong when she fell back, eyes bright and chest heaving.

“Oh my god, Niamh. Are you all right?”

She blinked and turned to meet my eyes. Her placid mask slipped back into place, but not before I saw her troubled expression.

BOOK: Stone of Destiny (The Danaan Trilogy)
11.82Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Where Death Delights by Bernard Knight
A Farewell to Yarns by Jill Churchill
Surrender by Stephanie Tyler
Sarah Gabriel by Highland Groom
A Kiss Goodbye by Audrey Penn
The Aztec Code by Stephen Cole
Fall For Me by Melanie Marks
Love My Enemy by Kate Maclachlan