The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1) (29 page)

Bram suggested that he focus on sending out some
sort of sound waves, just like the pilot whale does with its
echolocation. 

“Ok, just how would I do that?” Quinn scoffed, and
then went into clicking and squeaking sounds.  He hadn’t had any luck in
trying to distinguish how his ability worked.  He’d been trying to send
out vocal sounds in an attempt at getting them to return to him.

Bram explained, “Maybe that’s not how your
echolocation works. I think you’re trying too hard, mate. Quit using your
voice.  You need to get more into your head and use your feelings. 
Think about the pilot whale.  He sends out something like thought waves
that bounce off whatever they happen to hit, then they come back and let the
whale know what lies ahead.” 

“I know how echolocation works, man!” Quinn signed
angrily.  “It’s not as simple as closing your eyes and picturing yourself
somewhere.”

“I don’t close my eyes,” Bram answered, unfazed by
another angry attack.  He then sat on the couch and grabbed a handful of
chips.

“Quinn, come here,” I offered my hand. 
“Let’s try and do what Bram is saying.  How about you think of someone…a
person would be easier to focus on; what about Kelleigh?”

 She and Aaron had gone out to check some
things at the library and get more food.  We were eating the poor guy out
of house and home.

“Why would I want to think of her?” he grunted.

“Because with her you’d be able to find out
whether or not you actually saw her, meaning you could ask her when she gets
back, ok?  Now, just do it. It’s somewhere to start.  Close your eyes
and think of your sister.  Not where she is or anything else like that,
just think of her.”  I pushed him down on the couch next to Bram. 
Quinn took a deep breath then let himself slump into the sofa.

“I’m usually trying NOT to think of her…” he
mumbled, then closed his eyes.

I squeezed between him and Bram and tried not to
stare at him.  He fidgeted a few times but then finally grew still. 
I looked over and noticed that he was lost in thought.  Bram had just
munched another chip and Quinn hadn’t even responded to it.  I nudged Bram
and he looked over at Quinn and nodded approvingly.  Something was
happening with him, we could tell.  Several minutes later Quinn shook his
head and began laughing.

“That was bloody marvelous!” he shouted, standing
up and facing us.

“What happened?” Bram urged.

“I saw her!  I saw Kell, or should I say, I
felt her.  Whichever, I’m not sure how to describe it. I was thinking of
her, like you said, Willow, and then my mind went black.  Next thing I
knew I was shooting out something like arrows, dozens of them.  They were
white, shooting out of my vision into the darkness.  I watched them go in
different directions, up, down, straight ahead, then they became dim and it was
like they disappeared.  I was almost ready to quit trying to feel anything
when out of the darkness I could make out the arrows.  Only now they were
red in color, not white.  They were aiming right at me but I wasn’t
worried or anything.  I knew it was my ability at work.  When the red
arrows caught up to me, it was like they entered my body and my brain. 

“I immediately knew where Kelleigh was when that
happened.  I could feel it, like when you know someone is standing behind
you; it was like that, as though the arrows mapped out her location and sent me
the map.  Only thing was, I didn’t see the map, I just felt it, the
direction that is.  I let myself go with the flow, and next thing I knew a
picture of Kelleigh was in my head. It wasn’t like a normal picture, like
that,” Quinn motioned to the painting above the fireplace. “It was more like an
x-ray but instead of the black and white of an x-rays, this was red and white,
no other colors.  I was able to kind of zoom in and out with hardly any
effort.

 “But it was Kelleigh, all right. She was in
the grocery store standing in an aisle looking at ice cream.  Leave it to
her to be shopping for ice cream.  It was wild; almost like I was looking
at her through water.  She was sort of moving, you know, like when you
look into the water ripples of a pool.  I just kept thinking of her and
then next thing I knew I was watching her pick out ice cream!”  He plopped
back down on the couch running his hands through his hair. 

“She grabbed the strawberry; typical, she knows my
favorite is chocolate.”  Quinn rested his head on the back of the cushion.
“That was amazing,” he mumbled, still thinking about his first experience with
his ability.

We decided to take a little break and go
outside.  Bram grabbed a football and tossed it to Quinn.  The two of
them threw the ball back and forth while running out for passes and then trying
to tackle each other.  I sat on the porch, laughing at their antics.

 I decided to show them how it’s done so I
jumped up and intercepted a pass intended for Bram and quickly had the two of
them on my tail.  I crossed an imaginary end zone and spiked the ball to
the ground. “That’s how you do it in the USA!” I teased, laughing at their
breathless faces.

Just then, Aaron and Kelleigh pulled up. 
Kelleigh jumped out of the car and rushed over to us.  “Glad to see you’re
out enjoying some of this lovely day.  Now come on inside, we’ve got a
treat for you,” she trilled, pulling a container out of the grocery bag,
raising it high into the air. “Strawberry ice cream!”

Bram, Quinn, and I looked at each other and
cracked up laughing.

I’m not sure if it was the strawberry ice cream or
just that she had been able to get away from everything for a while, but
Kelleigh was now flitting around the house like a hummingbird.  She was
talking to herself incessantly as she jumped from Aaron’s office to her tablet
on the coffee table to the basement and back again.

“Aarrrrron!” she called in a singsong voice. 

Aaron ran out from the kitchen and joined Bram,
Quinn, and me as we stared at Kelleigh’s excited face.

“Aaron!” She rushed up to him and held her tablet
inches away from his nose.  “I think I have it.  Look here…I
translated the final line of the poem.  It says,
Pilasters of crimson
once lofty… reduced to earth…burial chamber of evil.”

Aaron took hold of the tablet.  He read the
translation slowly out loud again, emphasizing each word.  “Burial chamber
of evil has to be referring to the Eye.  He was known as Balor of the
Evil
Eye.  I’m trying to think where there are pilasters of crimson, or
should I say where there
were
pilasters… of crimson…”  Aaron
trailed off, handing the tablet to Kelleigh.  “Excellent job, Kelleigh,”
he said, smiling absentmindedly. He paced around the room trying to piece
together the clues from the poem.

Quinn grabbed the tablet and began studying the
words.  Bram and I joined him, each of us focused on the screen. 
Kelleigh swayed in place behind us, mumbling the words softly to herself. 

As everyone wrestled with the clues buried inside
the poem I found myself thinking about ancient Rome for some reason.  “Are
there any ruins on the Northern coast, you know, like in Rome?  I guess
when I hear the word pilaster, I think of The Pantheon with its columns. 
I know it’s not in ruin but…”

Aaron stared at me for a few minutes. “Hmm,
columns…” he said as he rushed out of the room into his office.  He came
back holding several postcards.  “Remember this, Bram?” he asked,
spreading the postcards out in his hands and holding them up for Bram to see.

“Sure, Da, that’s from a couple years ago when we
went to County Antrim…” a smile crossed Bram’s face.  “Of course, it’s so
obvious.”

“What’s so obvious?”  Quinn asked as he
grabbed hold of the postcards shuffling through them.  I stood by his side
and looked at the cards.  They were snapshots of incredible seascapes with
imposing columns that shot up into the sky. 

“Holy cow,” I said.  “Where is that?”

“It’s called the Giant’s Causeway,” Aaron began,
“an environmental wonder.  It’s an area made up of basalt columns,
gorgeous bays, and cliffs, rich in history.  The columns are a result of
ancient volcanoes. They’re connected in intricate and extraordinary
patterns.  It’s quite magnificent.”

Quinn began snickering as he signed to Bram.

“What?”  I asked.

“You’d think they’d come up with a better place to
hide the Eye.  I mean, c’mon.  Balor’s was a giant so they hid it in
a place called the
Giant’s
Causeway?”
  Quinn said.

“Quinn, Lugh hid the Eye long before we humans had
ever seen or named the Causeway.   There wasn’t even a record of it
until 1693,” Aaron said as he stared at the postcards. 
‘Pilasters of
crimson, once lofty, reduced to earth;’
this clearly refers to the pilasters
that have been broken down over time.  What isn’t so clear is the
reference to crimson.  Kelleigh, bring your tablet here, please.”

The two sat on the couch and proceeded to look up
anything they could about the Causeway on the internet. After about fifteen
minutes Aaron announced excitedly, “Ah ha, an explanation.  It says here
that the pilasters are ‘
subject to weathering which involves the
decomposition of aluminium silicates; the extensive leaching of silica,
magnesia, and calcium hydroxide, and the formation of residues rich in ferric
oxide, aluminium hydroxide, and free silica. Complete decomposition results in
a residual layer comprising iron and titanium oxides. However, along the
Causeway Coast, incomplete decomposition has resulted in a mix of ferruginous,
lateritic material that is predominantly red in colour and rich in iron and
aluminium.’”

“English please,” Quinn said with a smirk.

Aaron stood up and removed his glasses.  “The
pilasters that have been subjected to decomposition have been reduced to earth
and the ones along the Causeway Coast… the decomposition there is incomplete
which gives what’s left of the pilasters a red, or crimson color.  That’s
our answer.”

“Actually, Aaron,
this
is our answer,”
Kelleigh chimed in as she rose and took her place next to Aaron showing him her
tablet.  “It says here that ‘
within the Inter-Basaltic Bed it is
possible to find in situ, rounded corestones of partially weathered basalt
blocks, known locally as Giant’s Eyes.’” 
Kelleigh eyes grew large as
she finished the sentence.

Aaron rubbed his eyes, then put on his glasses and
read the text from the tablet.  A smile ran across his face.  He
looked at Kelleigh. “The mounds we see in the ancient documents aren’t the
sidhe, they’re weathered basalt blocks.  You’re quite a girl, Kelleigh
Whelan, a future researcher to be sure.”  He wrapped an arm over her
shoulder and gave her a hug.

“Awesome job, Kell,” Quinn added as he joined his
sister, hitting her left arm.

Kelleigh curtsied and bowed, “Happy to be of
service.”

I joined the others and hugged Kelleigh, “What
would we do without you?”

“I know, right?”  she answered.

It had been hours since I’d seen Dad, leaving him
to deal with my transformation.  My head was starting to hurt after all
the practice and emotion of the day, so I was relieved to go back to the hotel
and hopefully get some rest. 

 We hadn’t spoken anymore about what Bram
believed he saw.   I knew it was weighing on his mind as we walked
down the path to the hotel.  The night air was crisp and calm with a hint
of rain.  The sky overhead was mostly clear and I stared at the sparkling
stars, thankful for an uneventful day, knowing full well that this was the calm
before the storm. 

Bram’s fingers were laced through mine. “Something
tells me that tomorrow’s going to be a much different day,” I said, locking
eyes with Bram, using mindspeak.  He looked up at the night sky and
nodded.

“Right, we really needed today to try and get our
act together.” He wrapped his arm over my shoulder, pulling me
closer.   Without a word we made our way into the lobby and waited
for the elevator.   As we drew closer to the room Bram turned to face
me.  “Can I say hi to your dad?” he asked cautiously.

I explained that it would be better for me to go
in alone and see him; after all, he’d had all day to think about what was going
on and I was sure he’d need to talk.  Bram agreed and stopped a few feet
shy of our door, drawing me close.  “I’m sorry again for what happened
today, about your dad that is,” he whispered, touching his forehead to mine.

“I know, it’s ok.” It amazed me how I could lose
track of everything when we were close like that.  All I wanted to do was
rest my head on his shoulder and feel him close in tight around me.  I let
myself bask in the warmth of his arms before looking up into his eyes and
leaning my head towards the door.  He smiled lightly, then bent down and
kissed me.  The tenderness in his lips left me breathless and in no hurry
to leave his side. After a few minutes he pulled away and gently stroked my
hair.

“It’s hard to go,” he said, tangling his fingers
in my hair.

I reached up and held onto his hand.  “I
know.”

A hotel guest smiled and nodded as he walked past
us.  I hugged Bram, then opened the door to our room before looking back
and kissing him one more time.  I watched him return to the elevator and
stared as he waited at the door.  He was looking down, hands in his
pockets, his brown hair tousled and wild.  Then he turned, like he knew I
was looking at him, smiled and waved, then entered the elevator.  I smiled
back and found myself aching at having to leave his side.

Dad was lying in bed, asleep with the TV on. 
No doubt he was trying to stay awake until I got back.  I went into the
bathroom and got ready for bed.  It felt so nice to put on my comfortable
pajamas and to wash my face.  I looked at myself in the mirror.  “Who
are you anymore, Willow Whelan?” I wondered aloud.

I watched my father sleep.  He was snoring so
I knew he’d been out for a while.  That’s the only time he snored, or when
he was dead tired.  I turned off the TV and sat down on the edge of my
bed.  Fatigue was taking over now and I found it hard to keep my eyes
open.  The minute I turned the light off I heard, “You back Wil?”

I sighed under my breath.  I’d really hoped
to be able to get some sleep before we started talking.   “Yeah,
Dad.”

I glanced over at his bed and saw him silhouetted
in the darkness.  He was sitting up now with his head lowered.

“You ok Dad? Sorry if I woke you,” I said in the
dark room.

“It’s ok, I wanted to know when you got in. 
Everything go ok today?” he asked, raspiness in his voice.

I sat up and leaned against the headboard, letting
the back of my neck rest on the oak frame.  “Yeah, it went well. 
We’re trying to get familiar with what we’re able to do.  It’s pretty
amazing, the abilities that have been passed down to the guardians.” I sat
there, thinking about Grandma and wondering how she felt when she began using
her powers.  She was a wife and mother when she came upon her
skills.  It must have been difficult.

“Did you ever notice Grandma using her powers?” I
asked.

A long silence filled the shadowy room until
finally Dad let out an exhale. 

“Since you told me everything earlier today I’ve
been thinking about her and trying to remember.  The thing that sticks out
in my mind was how she always seemed to know when I was up to no good. 
One time in particular I was sneaking out with my friends; we were going to get
some beer.  I crawled out my bedroom window after she and Dad had gone to
bed and the minute I got to the end of the driveway, there she stood, in her
robe and slippers.  Scared the hell out of me; I thought she was a
banshee.  She didn’t say a word, just stared at me.  I went back into
the house and she never mentioned a word about it.”

Dad leaned forward and turned on the lamp to the
lowest setting.  I covered my eyes and let them adjust to the light.

“I never stood a chance, what with her super
hearing and all,” he chuckled as he lay back down on his bed.

I laughed, picturing the scene in my head.  I
looked over to my father and tried to imagine him as a teenager, going out,
getting into trouble.  The man was so responsible; it was hard to even
think of him as anything but that.  As we sat there, he told me more
stories about Grandma and things he remembered.  I loved hearing him talk
like this.  After having denied the very existence of my grandparents for
so long, to finally have him share his memories meant so much. 

I watched his face fill with expressions of joy
and sadness while he grew nostalgic.  I was more convinced now than ever
that Bram was mistaken about what he’d seen.  It was dark, after all, and
he was using his sight ability, something he had yet to master. There was no
way that this man, my father, was the apparition he had seen in the
sidhe.  It just didn’t add up; how could Dad be there performing some
rituals, and then here, reminiscing about his mother. No way.

We sat and talked for about an hour when Dad
noticed how hard I was trying to keep my eyes open.

“You need to sleep, sweetheart,” he whispered as
he kissed my forehead, “we’ll talk more in the morning.”  He turned off
the light and crawled back into his bed.  In a matter of seconds he was
once again snoring.  I found the sound comforting.  I closed my eyes
and let the muffled noise transport me into slumber.

The high-pitched scream of an emergency siren
pierced the night.  I jumped out of bed, disoriented and unsure of where I
even was.  Dad quickly had hold of my shoulders and switched on the
light.  He had been startled awake as well.

“What the…” he began, turning in circles, trying
to orient himself to his surroundings.  “That’s an emergency siren,” Dad
exclaimed, racing to the balcony.  He opened the door and a torrential flood
of water came pouring in, drenching him as he stood on the threshold.  He
quickly closed the door.  I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a towel,
tossing it to him as I returned to the room. 

I scoured the room for the TV remote and found it
lying on the floor by Dad’s bed.  I switched on the TV and read the
flashing banner running across the bottom of the screen… “Signal lost.”

I grabbed my jeans, a sweater, and boots and went
into the bathroom to get changed.  My heart was racing.  I knew the
moment had arrived.  The Fomorians were on the attack and, from the looks
of it, were hitting hard.  I looked at myself in the mirror and leaned in
close. “You can do this, Willow,” I said to myself, and before I turned to
leave I swear I saw my grandmothers face looking back at me through the mirror.

When I came out of the bathroom Dad was already
dressed and putting his coat on.

“Where are you going?” I asked, grabbing my own
coat.

“With you,” he answered, reaching into his pocket
and pulling out my phone.  It was ringing.

“Dad…” I started, but then stopped midsentence,
grabbing my phone as he held it to me.

It was Bram; his text read,

“It’s begun, the car is dead, can’t pick you or
Quinn up.”

I rubbed my forehead, unsure of what to do. 
I needed to rattle myself back into thinking mode.  I closed my eyes and
flashed on my wolf self.  When I opened them again, Dad was pressed back
against the wall, looking very nervous. 

I felt the change and saw my transformed feet
beneath me.  I stretched my front legs ahead and then stretched out each
of my rear legs.  I felt strong and fierce and ready to move.  I
looked at Dad and tried to speak.  Nothing came out.  I tuned into my
mindspeak.

“Dad, it’s ok, I need to go, please keep yourself
safe.” I sent the thought into his head.

“Willow? How are you talking to me?” he asked,
looking around as if I was throwing my voice or something.

“It’s one of my abilities.  Bram says their
car is dead so I’m pretty sure yours is too. I need to go. You stay
here.”  I had locked onto his eyes and held firm.

Dad just stared at me but was then jolted back
into consciousness when a huge bolt of lightning hit right outside our balcony.

“I should go with you, you could use my help!”

“Not really, Dad, I need to stay focused.  If
you went I would just be worried about you.  Please!” I was screaming
within my own thoughts now.

His shoulders sagged as he nodded his head. “Ok,”
he said aloud, “but I’m going to go to the hospital and check on Conor.”

I knew there was no way I could prevent him from
going there to do what he needed to do.  He wanted to be there for his
father and part of me agreed it was a good idea.

I ran down the corridor with Dad to the frightened
stares of the other hotel guests gathering in the hallway.  The sirens had
them all looking for answers and now here I was, a wolf, running right in the
middle of them.  As we passed, Dad told them to get back into their rooms.

We stepped out into the madness of the
night.  There was a mix of hail and snow along with sheets of rain. 
The wind was whipping the trees and bushes into a frenzy, stripping them of
their remaining leaves and tossing them everywhere.  Dad ran to the car,
insisting on trying it.  It didn’t turn over.  The hospital was about
five miles away and the thought of Dad trying to get there in this storm wasn’t
sitting well with me.  I locked into his thoughts.

“Dad, get on my back,” I ordered.

“NO, you’re not that big!  I can get
there.  Go do what you need to!”

I thought about Grandma and asked her to help
me.  My mind flashed on the gray wolf of my dreams, the wolf Grandma had
become.  As I stared at the image in my head, the wolf grew larger. 
She was sending me a message.  Without even thinking I lowered my head and
focused all my energy on growth.  I let out a small howl and felt myself
shift again.  Only this time, it didn’t feel as though I was transforming;
it felt like I was growing.  When I opened my eyes Dad had that frightened
expression once more and was now staring up at me, way up.

 I was pretty sure my plan had worked. 
I looked down at my feet and saw that my two front paws had grown from the size
of large dog feet to that of an elephant’s.  They were huge.  When I
approached my Dad I was towering over him.  I lowered myself. “Get on,” I
ordered telepathically.

Without any hesitation he pulled himself onto my
back.  I felt him grip tightly around my neck.  Once I felt like he
was secure I rose.  The rain was pounding down, blinding me with its
nonstop torrents.  I channeled my hearing to the hospital and made my way
there against the storm.  The streetlights were all out and most of the
buildings along the way were dark. 

I shook my head, dislodging the rain from my face
and took off running as fast as I could.  I stayed tuned into the hospital
but had a hard time connecting to Grandpa’s room.  The place was in
chaos.  The generators were both out and patients were in dire
straits.  I made no mention of it to Dad; I just needed to get him there
and let him do what he could to help out.

 I rounded the curve leading to the hospital
entrance when suddenly something connected to my right side, sending me rolling
over and over.  I landed on my side and shook my head, clearing my
eyes.  I saw Dad laying about ten feet away, not moving.  Above him,
standing at least fifteen feet high from head to toe, was the shape of a
man.  The darkness hid its features but I knew it was a Fomorian. 
Its hunched-over form was bulky and monstrous and in its hand it carried a
gigantic club, the size of a tree.

It reached down and took hold of Dad’s arm. 
I lunged towards it and saw its awful features in the lightning flashing from
above.  Its one eye, bugling and encrusted with Lord only knows what, was
focused squarely on Dad.  I shot up on my rear legs and opened my mouth
wide, taking aim at its sagging neck.  I pierced the loose skin with my
teeth and clamped down as hard as I could before I felt an awful pain on my
back.  The club he had been wielding was now pounding onto my body. 
We both fell to the ground.  I released his neck and saw Dad rise and run
towards the hospital entrance.  That allowed me to launch another attack
without worrying about where Dad was.

I stepped back and bared my teeth as the giant
pulled himself up slowly.  I felt an instinctive need for survival and
allowed myself to get lost in it, knowing that was how I would survive…to let
the wolf in me take over.

The giant let out an angry groan and raised his
club over his head.  He walked slowly towards me, rattling the very ground
with each step.

A low, threatening growl emanated from deep inside
of me.  My teeth were still bared and I became aware of the buildup of
saliva along with an intense desire to attack.  He paused for a second,
then lowered his club and started to run.  I wasn’t frightened at all; I
welcomed the challenge. I lowered my head and inhaled a deep breath, then
thrust myself forward.  I knew the monster was directly in front of me so,
without even opening my eyes, I aimed myself at the pungent stink of his body
and opened my mouth, clasping hard onto his right ankle.  I heard a snap
followed by a painful wail.  I held tight even after he slammed the mighty
club onto my side, loosening but not releasing my grip.