Among the Unseen (15 page)

Irial was still staring at her as though he wasn’t quite following. “How?” he asked.

“I’m going to show them who I am. What I can do,” she said. “Once they see my abilities, they’ll
have
to believe. It’s the only way.”

Slowly, Irial drew out his arm from under the blankets. He reached out a thin, pale hand to Cedar, his palm open.

“It’s okay,” he said when she shrunk back. “I can’t hurt you.”

She placed her hand in his, and a thrill of warmth ran through her veins.

“You would do that…for us?” he asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“Then you are the greatest queen the Tuatha Dé Danann have ever known,” he whispered.

“Thank you, but I’m not so sure about that,” she said. She forced herself to stand up. She had already lost too much time. “My friend Jane is wandering around somewhere in Tír na nÓg. I have to find her before I go.”

Irial nodded. “Will she be okay?”

“She’s getting there. It’s not your fault. You can’t help how you were born.”

Irial didn’t say anything, but he was still staring at her as she left the room. Niall was waiting for her in the hallway, hopping from one foot to the other.

“I need to ask you a favor,” Cedar said. “Stay here until your father comes back. Don’t let anyone in except him.
Especially
not any humans. Okay?”

The boy looked slightly bewildered, but nodded sharply.

“Jane, Jane, Jane, what are you up to?” Cedar muttered as she wound her way to the entrance of Felix’s house and stepped out into the evening air. And then she saw her—a slight figure wearing an oversized hooded cloak, walking straight toward her. Throwing her hands into the air, Cedar raced to intercept her.

“What the hell, Jane? I told you to stay put! If anyone sees you…”

Jane shrugged. “I didn’t know when you’d come back to get me. I was just going for a walk.”

“I know exactly where you were going,” Cedar retorted angrily. “You were going to see Irial.”

Jane glared at her. “So what if I was?” she said. “It’s not what you think. I just wanted to see him again. Then I’d know for sure that I was over him.”

“You
can’t
see him,” Cedar said. “
Ever
. You don’t Facebook-stalk a succubus. Don’t you want to patch things up with Felix?
He’s
the one you have
real
feelings for. But if you don’t start making an effort, you’re going to lose him.”

Jane stared at the ground and pulled at the cloak, cinching the hood around her head. “I think…I think maybe it’s too late,” she said, her voice so low that Cedar had to lean in to hear her. “I don’t see how he could want me back after…after what I did.”

“Oh,
Jane
,” Cedar said, not sure whether to hug her or throttle her. “He
does
want you back. He knows it wasn’t your fault. He just wants to go back to normal—or whatever normal is for you guys. You have to trust him.”

Cedar pulled her inside Felix’s house, and through the still-open sidh that led back to her home.

“So what happened with the vampire-zombie-dwarf?” Jane asked once they were back in the willow-lined courtyard. “Did he lead you to the jewels?”

Cedar quickly brought her up to speed.

“I dunno,” Jane said when Cedar finished. “Are you sure? I have to agree with Finn and Felix. It sounds awfully risky.”

“It probably is,” Cedar admitted. “I’ll have to be really, really careful, and I’ll need to pretend there’s just one of me, like I’m the last of the fairies or something. But hopefully that will be enough. We’re running out of time, and I really think it will work. But I want to talk to Eden first. I don’t know how long it will take or how many humans I’ll have to convince before the Unseen start getting better. Can I trust you to stay here for a few minutes? Don’t even think about going back to Felix’s house.”

Jane rolled her eyes, but nodded. Cedar went into Eden’s room and looked up. She could see Eden sitting on a branch, her nose stuck in a book. She climbed her way to the top and sat down beside her.

“Mum!” Eden leaned over and wrapped her arms around Cedar. “You’re back! How was Abhartach? Did you tell him I said hi? Is he sick too?”

Cedar drew back and looked at her. “What do you mean,
too
?”

Eden froze. “Oh, I just heard something about the Unseen being sick. Is he?”

Cedar frowned. Word about Irial must have gotten around. But she had intended on telling Eden what was going on, anyway. If Cedar was really going to go through with her plan, Eden deserved to know why.

“Well, yes. Abhartach and the rest of the Unseen are sick. It’s a long story, but it’s because humans have stopped believing in them.”

“Like Peter Pan,” Eden said, nodding wisely.

“Kind of, yes. So we have to help the humans believe in magic again. That’s what I came back to tell you. I’m going to show them what I can do, and hopefully that will convince them.”

“But you always told me that we should
never
show them what we can do,” Eden said.

“Normally, yes,” Cedar said. “But in this case it’s the only way to save our friends. Remember Brighid? She’s sick too.”

“But what if…what if they lock you up in a zoo? Or do experiments on you?” Eden asked.

“They won’t,” Cedar said. “I’ll be really careful. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’m coming with you,” Eden said. Her little face was intense. She looked far older than her seven years.

“Absolutely not.”

“You just said there was nothing to worry about!” Eden cried.

“There isn’t. It’s just that…you’ve been through so much lately. And we don’t know what will happen.”

“So?
You’ve
been through a lot too. I want to help.”

Cedar wrapped her arms around her daughter and pulled her close. “I know you want to help, baby, but this is something for the grown-ups, okay?”

Eden squirmed away and glared at her.

“Eden, listen to me,” Cedar said. “It’s not that I don’t think you could help. I do. I know that you are strong and brave and I’m really proud of you. But someone has to stay here in Tír na nÓg, right? They need your help
here
.”

Eden huffed. “How can I help here? No one lets me do anything.”

“You’ll be the only person here who can open the sidhe, in case someone else needs to come to Earth,” she pointed out.

Eden was silent for a moment. “Fine,” she finally said. “I guess.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Cedar assured her. “And I’ll make sure to take my starstone so you can keep me up to date on what’s going on back here.”

Eden nodded, but her eyes were still uncertain.

Cedar took a deep breath. “Daddy will be back soon. He’ll come say good night in a bit. I’ll see you soon, my heart.”

She jogged down the staircase carved into the tree trunk, afraid to look back, afraid of what she might see in Eden’s eyes. She had heard everyone’s objections…but the more she thought about it, the more convinced she was that she was doing the right thing—the
only
thing. She thought of Logheryman’s body lying at the bottom of the grave she had dug for him, of how sunken and defeated Brighid—the most alive person she had ever known—now seemed. She wondered if
this
was why the Lia Fáil had chosen her, to save the Unseen from extinction.

When she reached the courtyard, she discovered she was not alone.

Gathered around the waterfall in the center of the room was her entire Council—Rohan, Gorman, Anya, Nevan, Maran, and Amras—plus Riona, Seisyll, Sam, and Murdoch. Jane was hovering in the back. Finn stood in front of them all.

“You wouldn’t listen to reason,” Finn said. “I had no choice.”

Cedar’s insides twisted. She could see with her eyes what was happening…but her heart wouldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t do this to her. Not Finn. “What is this?” she asked.

“Finn told us what you’re planning to do,” Riona said. “You can’t, Cedar.”

He would.

“Did he also tell you that all of the Unseen will die if I don’t?” Cedar said, once she had found her voice. She could feel her cheeks burning, and she clenched her fists to keep the fire inside. “Did he tell you that
Brighid
will die?”

“I told them everything,” Finn said. “But this is not a road we can go down. Abhartach might have been wrong. We should keep looking for the jewels. We’ll start near Kells and go from there. We’ll seek out all of the Unseen. One of them might know something. You don’t have to do this.”

“You’ve been very admirable, Cedar,” Riona said, her voice low and soothing. “No one will accuse you of not trying. But this isn’t your fight.”

“It
is
our fight!” Cedar said, looking around the circle for some sign of support. “We have the chance to save their lives! Why
wouldn’t
we take it?”

“You don’t know for sure your plan would even work,” Rohan said. “At the first sign of your powers, the humans might sweep you away.”

“And what if you lead them back here?” Gorman said. “Forgive me for saying so, Your Majesty, but your first duty is to your
own
people, not the Unseen.”

Cedar shook her head, refusing to believe what she was hearing. “Do none of you agree with me? You all think we should just let them keep dying one by one while we look for jewels that may no longer exist?”

“You’re so new to this world, Cedar,” Nevan said. “But the reason the Tuatha Dé Danann have lasted so long is that we didn’t get involved in the conflicts of others. And above all, we do not reveal ourselves to humans.”

“I’m not saying we should do nothing,” Finn interjected. “I want to help the Unseen too. But I don’t think we’ve exhausted all our options yet.”

“If you do this, your actions could have devastating consequences for all of your people,” Murdoch growled. “Do you really want to cause a war with Ériu? Humans have always feared any beings that are different from them, and rest assured, if they find out about us, they
will
want to destroy us. You know better than anyone what they’re capable of, and how dangerous their weapons are. If they find a way into Tír na nÓg and attack us, I do not think we could withstand them. Many lives would be lost on both sides.”

Cedar sank down onto one of the benches beneath the willow trees. It didn’t have to be that way—not if she was careful. She could hear Maeve’s voice in her head, the voice from her dream.
If you had just listened to me, you would be living a normal, peaceful life. We all would. But you’ve always had to do things your way
.
Is that what this was? Was she just doing things her own way again? Was she just supposed to ignore what was happening to the Unseen so they could all live a normal, peaceful life? She looked around at the faces of her friends, family, and advisers, all of them fixed on her. Some looked sympathetic; others looked worried. Some were threatening. No one spoke. They were united against her.

She stood up and took a deep breath. “I’m going to go back to see Brighid,” she said. Out of the corner of her eye she could see several of them exchanging glances. Perhaps they had expected her to yell some more.

“So you agree—you will not reveal yourself to the humans?” Gorman asked.

“No,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m going to make sure she’s still alive, and then I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep her that way.”

Several voices broke out at once, renewing their arguments.

“That’s enough!” she roared, and the room fell silent. She stood perfectly still. “The Lia Fáil chose me. I know that some of my people think that it made a mistake, that I shouldn’t be queen. Maybe they’re right; maybe I’m
not
fit to be a ruler. But I believe that turning our backs on those who are dying would be far worse—for them
and
for us—than taking the risk to help them. Are we really the kind of people who would turn away from the suffering of others? Are we not better than that? If not, consider this my abdication.”

Without another word she turned her back on them and returned through the air to Brighid’s balcony. She could hear Finn coming through behind her, but she ignored him. Maeve had been right. She was on her own now.

“How is she?” she asked Felix. Brighid’s eyes were closed, but Cedar could see the shallow rise and fall of her chest.

“Still very weak,” Felix said. “What’s going on?”

“She’s still bent on this mad plan of proving that we exist,” Finn said from behind her. Jane had followed him through the sidh. She moved to Felix’s side, but stopped about two feet away from him.

“But—” Felix said.

“Just…leave her alone,” Finn said. His voice sounded wooden, and he stayed several steps behind her, his eyes on Brighid.

“Where will you go?” Jane asked in a small voice.

Cedar didn’t know how to answer. She hadn’t thought this part of the plan through yet. “I’m not sure,” she said. “CNN? The BBC?”

She looked down at Brighid’s wasted body again. If she was going to go through with her plan, this was the time. She closed her eyes and imagined the local TV station in Halifax—she’d start small. If she tried to transport herself into one of the large networks, she’d probably get jumped by security before she had time to do anything. She spared a glance at Finn, his face a mirror of her own misery. He was looking at her imploringly, but he didn’t speak. She forced herself to look away. She had to do this now, before she lost her nerve. “I’ll be back soon,” she whispered. Then she stepped toward the sidh.

“Stop.”

Cedar froze midstep at the sound of Brighid’s frail yet forceful voice. She was trying to pull herself up into a sitting position. “Close it,” she said to Finn, who snapped Cedar’s sidh shut at once, his eyes wide and full of hope.

“You must not do this,” she said, her sunken eyes trained on Cedar. “Fionnbharr is right—it would be madness. It would mean the end of all of you. There is…perhaps another way.”

They all stared at her, waiting.

“It is a very slim chance,” she continued. “But you have a knack for achieving the impossible…I know where the jewels are.”