The Star Child (The Star Child Series) (15 page)

“More salvation than if we
don’t
proceed and are all destroyed. This is not a child’s quest, Mother. If we don’t save Father there will be no sunlight, only darkness. We cannot let Arawn win. You and I both know that we have a greater chance of stopping him if we surprise him.”

“How do we do that?” Breaking open a Snickers candy bar, I bit into the candy hungrily. I knew that I wasn’t going to like her answer.

“You have to find the gateway. It is called the Ellipse,” Brigid explained. “All beings may enter the Underworld willingly, as long as they know the way in. There is no guarantee that they will be able to get back out. There are stories and legends of mortals wandering into the Underworld and leaving what they feel is only a few days later, to find that hundreds of years have passed and their families have all died. Time stands still there and advances here. There are also several creatures that could stop you from passing through—faeries and demons, creatures who would seek to end you.”

“But aren’t those ‘creatures’ your family?” Even though I didn’t have a high opinion of family, I thought her situation was a little bit better than my own.

“It would be better if they didn’t know me as such,” Calienta explained. “They have never forgiven Father for surviving, for remaining in the light while they were exiled to the dark. The dark has turned them and they aren’t the same.”

“What you’re saying is that we have to go through this crazy Underworld, and that leads us to Heaven?”

“Not Heaven as you would know it, but it’s in the same realm,” Calienta clarified for me.

“That is if you get past Arawn. I think it is too dangerous, Calienta. You put yourself and Kellen in great danger.” Brigid looked at her daughter pleadingly.

“Yet he’ll be in danger regardless. Don’t you see, Mother? If I take him with us, he’ll die; if I leave him here, he’ll die; if we go below, he could die. There’s no one option that’s better than the other.” Calienta was almost yelling now.

“Not that anyone’s asking me, but I think the only way that gives us a shot is to go the creepy, spooky Underworld way. Cabhan won’t be able to see you there, otherwise Lugh would have been able to find his family easily, right?”

“That is a good observation, Kellen,” Brigid said. “You might be right—you could be safer there than here.”

Calienta smiled, I assumed because of my impressive intellect.
Not
. “Kellen, more important, Cabhan won’t be able to see you once you are below ground. You’ll be safe from him even though you are with me. However, there’ll be many dangers that will come your way. We must take as many precautions as possible.”

Brigid placed her hands on my head and pure heat traveled through my body. It wasn’t painful, and actually felt pleasant when compared with the feeling of dampness that seemed to permeate the house. We only had a moment of contact, but when she stepped back and removed her hands from my head, Calienta gasped.

Curious, I looked past Brigid and into the mirror on the wall behind her. At first, I noticed only its gilt frame and couldn’t process the likeness within it. It was only when the figure moved that I realized I was staring at myself. I jumped.

My hair was a long shock of red against my nondescript cotton pants and a thick beige sweater. On my feet were work boots, which clearly had seen better days. This all seemed very odd as I stared at the mirror through turquoise-blue eyes, a distinct departure from my normal emerald color.

“Why did you do this to me?” My tone was deliberately calm, but inside I was freaking out. There was not one feature in the mirror that was familiar to me, which was both unexpected and unsettling.

“Do not worry, Kellen. You will need protection on your journey. This change is only an illusion and it will give the impression that you are the same as any creature that you encounter. The spell will allow you to act, in effect, as a chameleon. You will be able to tell friend from foe because you will only change your appearance when you are in danger.”

Looking at myself again, I made a face at the image before me. Calienta chuckled.

“I hope that you play your part well. They are very suspicious,” Brigid added.

“Don’t worry, I’m pretty good at acting,” I promised.

Brigid smiled.

I had the distinct impression that I was being laughed at and shoved my hands into my pockets. “Hey, where’s my candy?” I’d expected to find my multiple Snickers candy bars in my pocket and they’d apparently not transferred to my new pants.

“Kellen?” asked Calienta.

“Look, if you expect me to go into some underworld and risk my life, I need some food. Where are my other pants?”

Brigid tried to hide a smile as she pointed to the pile of clothes on the couch. Trying not to sulk, I went to the couch and grabbed the goods from my pockets. There was no way I was fighting evil without my chocolate caramely (yes, that’s my own word) goodness.

“When do we leave?” I held out my hand to Calienta, who took it at once.

“Immediately.” Brigid gestured to the sky outside. “The night is their daytime and many of them will come above ground until the morning. You must use this to your advantage.”

I nodded and extended my hand to shake hers politely.

She ignored my hand, choosing instead to hug us close. “I love you both.” In an instant, she vanished.

I looked around for Calienta and found that she, too, was gone. However, before I could panic, she reappeared. “She gave me a gift too, Kellen: the gift of invisibility. Whenever we encounter someone who is not a friend, I’ll disappear from view.”

“Cool.” I sounded way immature. However, she smiled in response, so she must have thought it was “cool” as well.

We walked to the door and I grabbed my coat from the hook, briefly touching Gran’s work coat as I did so. Taking Calienta’s hand, I opened the door to begin our journey. I looked around Gran’s cottage for a moment and wondered if I’d ever see it again.

Be brave.
Gran’s voice was there again. As I listened to the words on the wind, I hoped that bravery would be possible, for I had no idea what lay ahead.

***

We traveled on foot as we made our way away from the cottage, following the tree line past the woods. Neither of us spoke, but that was mostly due to our unsettling surroundings. It was eerie, like a million tiny eyes were watching us, though physically there was nothing but trees.

Calienta had become transparent, so I was not able to hold her hand as I’d have liked to. Only her occasional touch, her scent, and light steady breathing gave away her presence. Then she took my arm and I relaxed at the connection.

We walked at a fast pace, past sleepy houses and lonely fields, staying out of the woods and restricting ourselves to the more populated areas, mowed fields and country roads.

Suddenly she pulled me sideways into a field, and we continued again, this time through high grass that pressed against me from all sides. I could tell that Calienta wished to go faster but we kept pace, all the while with her gripping my arm.

“Where are we going?” My voice was low.

“Cahercommaun.”

I’d heard of that place; it was a stone cliff fort in the Burren. Though the term “barren” would have been more appropriate, as there was little sign of life in this rugged land.

The way became steeper as we moved onward. Weathered stones barred our way as the climb continued. I found myself stumbling over rocks and into ditches in the landscape, but neither of us spoke. At first, I looked at my watch about every fifteen minutes or so, but then after a time I gave up.

When Calienta finally came to a stop, I glanced at my watch. It had taken us roughly four hours to arrive at our destination. We were about fifty feet from a small mound in the earth. Though the site was quite popular on the tourist path, it would have been difficult to find within the craggy system of gray rock unless of course you knew what you were looking for.

“Is this a rath?” Gran had warned me about these as a child. I’d never seen one.

“Yes, it is a faerie fort, or rath.”

Stay away from the woods, and for goodness’ sake, don’t go climbing into any holes in the ground.
The memory of Gran’s voice echoed a long-forgotten warning in my mind.

Calienta whispered into my ear. “When I pinch your arm, you must say ‘leannan’. That will grant us entrance. That way we don’t need to sit here and wait for them to find us.”

Did goddesses get scared? Was it possible to have all of that power and be afraid of anything? I didn’t know, but I was afraid, so how could she not be?

“Hey, let me see you for a moment,” I whispered. As she reappeared, I pulled her to me, hugging her close and closing my eyes as I held her.

Her hair smelled like rain: clean, pure, and calming, her skin like the scent of cinnamon. It was a warm, homey smell that soothed me. I never wanted to leave this place, to go anywhere else, with anyone else, despite the life-threatening circumstances.

Her dark eyes met mine. This time any trace of fear was absent in them. “It’s time.”

“Leannan.” That was the last word I uttered before we were sucked into the hole and out of sight.

CHAPTER TWELVE

INTO THE UNDERWORLD

“Whoa! Oh,” I cried out as we were pulled through a waterfall. It was almost like taking a shower with one of those elephant-sized showerheads and stepping directly into the spray.

Drowning was at the forefront of my mind and I held my breath in the overwhelming onslaught of wet. However, when I began to get concerned about passing out, the water subsided and we found ourselves completely dry and standing in a wooded glen in the middle of the day. It would have seemed normal, like a public park, except that the grass and the leaves were fuchsia-colored.

Looking back behind me, I saw that we’d traveled between two tall pine trees with nothing but a narrow opening between them rather than the raging waterfall I’d been expecting. Calienta squeezed my arm, which was our unspoken signal. I was reminded that we were unwelcome here; silence was our cloak.

After a brief glance around the glen, I started heading down the path to our right. It was a dirt path, covered with rocks in shades of purple and turquoise. The rocks would make the journey uncomfortable, but the path seemed well traveled, and I remembered Brigid’s warning to blend in.

Walking confidently, I did my best to appear as though I was not having any trouble whatsoever. The landscape seemed gloomy despite the beautiful colors and the faint glimpse of sunshine overhead. The trees pressed so close together that there was very little space for the light to filter down. We were trapped.

Although I enjoy the quiet as well as anyone, this was certainly more than I was used to. It allowed me to focus too much on the magnitude of what we were attempting, and my mind began to dwell on negative thoughts. I didn’t like that.

The rocky path got steeper as we continued. Higher and higher we walked until the path ran alongside a precipice that overlooked a sea of pine trees.

In that instant, the enormity of what we’d taken on completely overwhelmed me. I wanted to bury my head in the dirt or curl up in a ball and go to sleep. Anything but continue this quest. How could I have put myself in this position?

Do it. Just jump. You don’t need to go on
. Perhaps it was because I was so used to hearing voices by now that I noticed that this one was different, or maybe it was because Calienta’s posture suddenly mimicked mine. Whatever the reason, it dawned on me that we were both leaning slightly toward the sheer drop with one foot outstretched over the edge. Abruptly, I grabbed her and slammed us both back against the rock wall.

Bag, bag,
I thought,
what’s in the bag?
It came to me. I reached into the backpack, pulling out the packet of ordinary household salt that I’d collected earlier, and sprinkled it around us in a circle. Instantly the emotions vanished. All of my senses had been turned off and they were suddenly restored. Sound and thought hit me all at once. I was struck by what had almost happened. Calienta was herself again, but she was angry, shaken.

“What was that about?” Catching my breath, I placed my hands against the sides of my face; it was cold and clammy. My heart started to pound as I realized how close I’d come to the edge.

Calienta grabbed my arm and tugged. We ran quite a distance away from the bluff, neither of us speaking for several moments. It wasn’t until we were back on open land that she spoke.

“It was a Glacadóir Anam. It means Soul Snatcher.”

I didn’t know what a Soul Snatcher did, but I could guess, and I didn’t like the sound of it. Not one bit. “What do they do?”

“Exactly what their name implies. They depress you and try to force you to end your life. When you do, they take your soul.”

“That’s disgusting.” I looked around, back down the road that we’d taken. The weathered path seemed foreboding, certainly, but I didn’t see anything.

“You saved us, Kellen. How did you know what to do?”

“Gran. She said that salt was a ward against evil, a purifier, and she always put it around the perimeter of the house. I have a knack for remembering things, I guess.”

“Thank you for saving my life.”

“Aren’t you immortal?”

“I am, but if I were to die here, life as I know it would end though I’d continue to live. They probably know we’re here now, at least some of them anyway.”

“Did I give us away?”

“We both did. Most of the creatures in this land have no fears for the Glacadóir Anam to play upon. It is only in the mortal world that they can wreak havoc. Down here, they are soulless.”

Seeing my expression as I berated myself for my own stupidity, she said, “Kellen, it was unavoidable. We could have been taken. You did the right thing.”

Soul Snatchers were too much for me to process. “Let’s get out of here.” Our stay couldn’t be extended.

We continued to walk again, encountering a host of animals in all shapes, sizes, and colors. All were apparently tame, since none of them chose to attack. The animals were almost as strange and diverse as the landscape. It wasn’t every day that you passed a pink cow or a chartreuse pig. What was worse was not being able to comment on such an oddity.