Once (Gypsy Fairy Tale) (14 page)

I could see Alec’s shadow on the floor, shaking its head.

“This isn’t a right,” Alec argued. “I won’t hurt her.”

“So you have no stomach for it,” one of the others barked. “You forget your roots and where your loyalties should be.”

“Let him stay in town with the women then,” the eldest one ordered.

I gathered all of my strength and began crawling. If I could just get to the door...

Someone grabbed me and lifted me to my feet. I told myself that this was it. It was all or nothing.

I turned on my captor, scratching and biting, hitting and kicking. He tried to fight me off, swearing as I clawed at his eyes.

“Get this wildcat off of me!”

A hand clamped down on my shoulder and spun me around. At the same time, a fist struck me square in the face. I fell backwards with my eyes burning and my ears ringing.

The room was spinning when they took my arm and dragged me out store and into the blinding white ligh
t of the day. I caught a hazy glimpse of Alec’s worried face him and then world went black.

Chapter 18

In the distance there was a hum. At first, it was far away and low, and then it came in close and was high pitched before fading away again.

So this is what it’s like to be dead... Where is the white light and the angels?

Suddenly the pain came, sneaking into the darkness. I didn’t really feel it because... Well, because I was dead, but it was there, knocking at the door in the blackness.

So what happens now?

The hum came again, lower and softer than before, but there nonetheless. It faded again and I thought it was gone for good, but then it came back faster and higher. Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, the hum slowed to something resembling voices.

“Still no sign of anyone?”

“No, I don’ think we were followed.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Stop fretting. If anyone saw us, the police would already be here.”

Wait... Those were voices... I’m not dead...

I remembered the pain then, the reminder of what life felt like. Where was the pain? If I wasn’t dead, where did the pain go?

Pain meant that I was alive, that I wasn’t dead, and that the voices weren’t just some memory that I carried into the next world.

Focusing, I tried to find something in the darkness where I was stuck. Where was the pain? Could I find it? Could I find any sort of feeling to prove that I was indeed alive?

There it is...

It was small and it was distant, nothing more than a dull ache in some faraway place, but it was definitely there

I concentrated on the pain. The more I did the further away the hum moved and gave way to actual words.

“When do you think they will come?”

“I don’t know, it will be dark soon.”

I ignored the voices and tuned into the pain. Little by little, the feeling began to come back in my limbs. At first, it was just a tingling and then it grew to a soreness like I had run or exercised too much.

Okay... I can feel my arms... I think I can feel my legs... I know they’re there... So why can’t I move them?

I began to realize that the pain I was experiencing was radiating from my head. As the rest of my body was slowly waking up, I could feel my head all big and swollen hanging on my neck.

I tried to lift my head, but it was so heavy. No matter how hard I tried, my head just kept rolling from side to side.

This shouldn’t be so hard...

Taking a deep breath, I tried again, focusing all of my energy on the muscles in my neck.

I can do this... I can do this...

I lifted my head slowly, actually shaking with the effort. My eyes ached as I struggled to open them. I blinked a few times and squinted against the blurry bright.

“Well, well, look who is waking up.”

I snapped to attention, realizing that I was not alone. I felt the scratchy burn of the rope over my skin and saw that I was tied to a chair.

“Let me go damn you.”

My words sounded so loud in my head, but they came out as barely an audible mumble.

Out of the blur of brightness came a stinging slap to the side of my face. My head fell the side and I tasted the salty coppery taste of blood.

A voice came at me, “You need to quiet down and just be a good girl.”

I turned back to the voice, blinking until the world came back into focus. I seemed to be in an old wooden barn somewhere and across from me stood one of the three men from the feed store.

“Who are you?” I asked.

Another slap rocked my head again. I felt my eyes roll in for a moment the world spun in a sickening way.

Suddenly he was there beside me, touching my face and kissing my cheek that still stung from the slap. I tried to turn my head away, he was too close and taking my air, but he held me there.

“Are you going to be a good girl now?”

He moved his hand down my throat, squeezing my neck. He stroked where my neck met my shoulder, that little bit of skin that was pulled tight my arms were secured behind my back.

Get off me... Don’t touch me...

I froze, too afraid to even whimper. I wish I could go back to that nowhere place where I was separated from my body.

Unfortunately, instead of fading away, the world was just getting more and more real as his hands moved down to my chest.

“Adam!”

The voice came from somewhere behind me. I held my breath as a hand came around and pushed the man away.

I turned my head and saw that it was Alec’s uncle that came to my rescue. He pushed the other man out the door that was somewhere behind me.

“I’m ashamed to be your father!” He said as he pulled the door shut again, stirring up dust a little bit of straw.

I let out my breath, going limp with relief. I was muttering some form of a weak thanks when he turned back to me and I had to wonder if I wasn’t in even more danger.

He walked back over towards me, actually coming close enough to kneel by my chair. I cringed away from him.

“Don’t worry,” he said as he reached for my wrists. “I’m just going to make you a little more comfortable. I have to apologize for my son; I swear I raised him better than that.”

He loosened my ties, not enough for me to pull free, but just enough that I could feel the return of circulation.

“Please let me go,” I begged him. “I won’t tell anyone what you did. I promise.”

He shook his head as he stood up, “I can’t do that, but this isn’t anything against you personally.”

How can kidnapping me and tying me to a chair not be personal?

Taking a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, he lit one and leaned back against the barn wall to enjoy his smile.

“I swear,” he said. “I am just using you to lure the devils out. Our quarrel is with them, not you.”

“I don’t understand. Why do you hate them so much?”

He kicked at the black plastic bucket near his feet; it flipped across the ground a few times before landing upside down. Walking over, he crushed out his cigarette and sat down on the bucket.

“The Tuatha De Danann ruled Ireland when my ancestors came to the island,” he said. “No one knows their true origins, but they are called dei terreni, or God’s of Earth.”

God’s of earth?

He shook his head and frowned, “They weren’t content to keep to their own unnatural ways, no, they would come in a mist and steal the sons and daughters of the villages, leaving the families to grieve.”

“They kidnapped children?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, the disgusting creatures came through town in a fog and then took them as their mates. So, along came my ancestors, the sons of Mil, went to war against them, and drove them away so that Ireland could be ruled by man.”

“But that was centuries ago.”

He smiled, “It was, but now every generation selects the best man of Milean line to protect Ireland and the world from these Devils should they appear again.”

“And that’s why you’re doing all of this?” I asked. “Because you think you’re some sort of self-appointed world savior?”

“Yes,” he said with a smile. “It’s a simple duty. I promise, your part will be over soon.”

I shook my head, “But no one knows that you took me.”

“Trust me, they know. They still have some among them that know the things that are not spoken.”

He said nothing else. He stood, kicked the bucket away, and walked past me to the barn door. I heard it open and shut, and then there was only silence.

Oh Kieran.... Please stay away...

Chapter 19

The day passed into afternoon, the shadows grew longer across the dirt floor as the light between the wooden barn slats took on that hazy almost evening glow.

In another life, one that seemed so long ago, this was the time of day when Gran
dma and I would be finishing dinner and moving out to the porch for the evening. Could it really be just a few weeks ago?

I dozed off and on, slipping into that nowhere place were none of this mattered and the Tuatha De Danann didn’t even exist. It was a strange, deep sleep that made me wonder if it was really sleep or I was losing consciousness again.

Part of me wanted to care, to fight it, but I just couldn’t make myself. I just hoped that Kieran and his family were far away by now and somewhere safe.

In my time awake, I was aware of the miserable heat in the barn. My skin was sticky with sweat, making the scratches from the rope burn and sting. Even the air was hot, scorching my nose with the smell of wood and straw.

It will all be over soon...

I licked my lips. They were dry and cracked. I could feel them pulling tight over my teeth. I was thirsty, more thirsty than I could ever remember being in my life.

Just outside the barn, I could hear my captors talking to each other and even laughing now and then. As if to torture me, every once in a while I would hear the hiss and pop of them opening a can of soda or beer.

How long before they just gave up and turned me loose? I wanted to believe that they would really let me go and not just kill me and leave me to be found by someone months from now.

I tried to push that picture out of my mind. It really didn’t matter. I was going to die of thirst long before they would have the chance to kill me.

I hung my head and tried to think of something, anything, other than how delicious an ice cold drink of water would be at the moment.

As I sat there, picturing a crystal-clear stream in some perfect wilderness like Alaska, and lone butterfly fluttered to rest on my leg. I watched it gently fan it swings back and forth, balancing perfectly on the frayed string from a hole in my jeans.

This can’t be happening...

My heart started pounding wildly against the walls of my chest. I looked down at the tiny creature, but I didn’t want to believe it.

No... No... It’s a trap!

I wanted to cry out in protest, but before I could utter a sound there was a commotion outside. I was too terrified at first to even scream. There was shouting from every direction, loud and frantic. It was too distorted to make sense out of the words, but there was no mistaking the note of panic.

It seemed like only moments later gunfire broke out. Even from inside the barn, there was something about the cracking shots that made me think of the rifle shots during deer season.

I pulled at my ropes as the butterfly flew up toward the hay loft. I had to get free. I had to warn Kieran to stay away.

“No!” I screamed, the word staring at my parched throat. “It’s a trap! Go away!”

My scream seemed to have no effect. I could hear the pounding feet of people running about; there was more shouting, and even more gunshots.

Suddenly, someone opened and closed the barn door. I stretched my neck trying to see behind myself.

“Who is it?” I demanded, “Who’s there?”

Someone was pulling at my ropes, jerking at the knots roughly.

Megan’s voice came from behind me, “Hold still.”

“No, you have to go,” I begged. “It’s a trap! They want to kill all of you.”

My ropes fell away and Megan helped me to my feet. I hadn’t noticed until then the tingling numbness going down my legs again.

“Are you all right?” She asked as she studied me, “Did they compromise you?”

I shook my head and feebly tried to push her way, “No! Aren’t you listening to me? They want to kill you!”

“It’s okay. Come on; let’s get you out of here.”

I couldn’t understand why she was so calm, but I tried to follow her out of the barn. I only made a few steps before my weakened legs made me stumble and fall.

“Go,” I told her. “Get away while you can.”