Dark Isle (Celtic Legacy Book 2) (17 page)

Quinn, you must hurry now. I think it knows what you are.
Cora paused then said
,
Food.

If one can scramble in water, I did. Limbs all but flailing, I fought for every inch that I swam away from the creature, but it wasn’t enough. A thick tentacle whipped around my middle, squeezing down on my ribs until I heard them creak under the pressure.
I couldn’t use my power on it. What the hell was I going to do?

My dagger, I still had that.
Gritting my teeth, I focus
ed
on
my dagger, propelling it as I’d
done with the Banshee. The blade
looked like a blue
burning
arrow shooting through the murky depths, straight into the beast’s eye
.

With a burst of flame and a
roar that reverberated through the
water,
my dagger hit home, the fire cauterizing the wound even as it burst open. The
creature let
go of me, writhing above me in pain
.

Where
had
Luke
gone
? Had the creature grabbed him too?

There was n
o time to consider
anything more than that.
I
turned
back
towards
th
e dark water again
,
lighting an
orb in front of me. I did my best not to think of the fate that waited behind me
nor what had happened to Luke. My only chance lay in reaching Lir
.

My orb stopped moving; at first I worried that there was another creature
.
But as I drew
closer
to the light
,
I realized it was illuminating a
rock
sitting on the bottom of the lake,
covered in algae
with
the distinct line of a door carved into the old stone.

You can’t wait for Luke, Quinn. You must go
,
Cora said, her voice heavy with a sorrow I didn’t want to hear from her.

I paused and again she urged me forward.
How long has it been since you last felt a quake? You must hurry.

Damn it, she was right. I laid my hand on the stone, wondering how exactly I was to get in, but I needn’t have worried. My hands moved of their own volition, tracing a pattern that lay under the algae, a perfect figure eight with a notch
i
n the middle
, the same sign Aednat had used to ward off evil
. As I depressed the notch, the doorway slid open,
leaving
a shimmerin
g veil between me and the inside
. I pushed my orb through first and it hung suspended on the other side, seemingly
unimpeded
. Of course, it didn’t occur to me that there wasn’t water on the other side of the barrier. I swam through, my body falling hard onto a stone floor that was as dry as I was wet. I let out a groan and rolled to my side, then to my hands and knees.

“That was uncalled for
,
”
I muttered.

Shaking, I stood up and looked back, putting my hand through the shimmering veil to feel the water on the other side. In the darkness I could see the creature swimming about, but no Luke. Fear clutched at me. What had happened to him? Why wasn’t he here with me?

Biting down on the bile that rose at the thought of losing Luke
so soon after realizing the feelings that were between us
, I forced myself away from the shimmering veil and deeper into the dusty old cavern. Cora was right, it had been a long time between earthquakes; I didn’t like it.

With a
slow
breath out, I lifted my hand and the orb grew brighter, pushing the shadows away. Determined to find Lir and then Luke, I jogged down the dusty tunnel,
surprised
that it was so dry. Even in the Labyrinth the water had been dripping and leaking
through
every crevice. Here, there was nothing.

If there was even the smallest amount of water, Lir could use it to escape
,
Cora said, answering my question without me having to ask.

My feet kicked up dust bunnies the size of my foot, but there w
eren’t
even any critters. Empty
;
the whole place was completely empty. My footsteps echoed between the walls and the sound of my breathing was loud in my ears
—s
o
loud, that I didn’t hear him till he reached out and touched my hand.

“Quinn?”

I spun on the spot and found myself staring, for real this time, into Lir’s face. My father’s face. I had a sudden and overwhelming urge to cry, throw myself into his arms and demand that he fix everything
,
make this mess better. But I knew that was a fantasy, before it even finished forming.

“Hi
,
”
I said.

“What are you doing here, I told you not to . .
.
how did you get past Morty
?”
h
e
asked, his eyes widening.

“Aednat sung to it
—
”
I said.
“Morty is the water monster?” Lir nodded. I shook that off, focused on what I needed to focus on.
“
Luke was in the water with me
, you’ve got help me find him.
And then
we’ve got to stop
Card
. You know where he is, don’t you? We have to stop him.
”

Lir’s jaw clenched. “Card has gone too far. But how is it you found me?”

“First Luke
,
”
I said taking his hand and tugging him back towards the entrance. “Then we’ll deal with Card
and . . .Chaos
.”

“We will?” Lir asked, his hand cool in mine. He squeezed my fingers. “Let us go get your Luke.”

We jogged back down the way I’d come. “You
might
know him as Lugh
,
”
I said.

Lir hauled me to a sudden stop. “No, you don’t mean to tell me that you believe all the prophecy
, the one the Tuatha have twisted
?”

“Can we discuss this some other time
?
Like when I don’t think someone I care about is hurt or dying?” I snapped, unable to stop the anger flowing out of me. “It’s the least you could do
after leaving me with Darcy. I know you knew I was your daughter before this past year
.”
A bloom of hurt and anger welled up. Why was it that I got the short end of the stick when it came to both parents?

Lir nodded, his lips tight. I didn’t want to
be a bitch
, but he had to understand how important this was. A life could be hanging in the balance. The worst part
was that
t
his time, I was right.

There was no issue with “Morty” as we swam to the
surface of the lake. Lir made a small motion with his hand and the beast floated backwards, humble to the core, though it did give me the hairy eyeball
with its remaining eye
and
a snap of its parrot beak
.

“Yeah, well, I ain’t too fond of you either
, Morty
,
”
I said to it, giving it the
one
-
fingered salute.

“Don’t tease the wildlife, daughter
,
”
Lir said, giving me his hand
and
helping me out the last few feet of
the lake
. Cars slowed down along the edge of the highway, people staring at our bedraggled forms.
But their stares were the least of my problems.
Luke was no
where to be found.

“Are you sure Luke isn’t in the lake?”

Lir nodded. “I would
have sensed him. I would
hazard a guess that the new
Banshee
Queen
has him.”
He looked at me with compassion
.
“We don’t have time to find him, you know. We need to stop Chaos.”

I hesitated, hating myself, knowing that I was about to do something very stupid.
“I
have to find
him,
I can’t leave him.
B
ut you
can still
stop
Card
?
”

My father, the man I hoped I’d get a chance to know at some point
,
stared down at me.
Then h
e gave me a smile. “Be brave, Quinn. You are making hard choices, but good ones. I will contact you to let you know if I am successful in stopping your brother.”

He turned and dove back into the water, his words ringing in my ears. My brother, father. They were foreign to me, in so many ways.
I shook those thoughts off, no time for them now. Right now it was about finding Luke.

The ground felt squishy under my wobbling legs
though I could see it was firm. T
he fatigue from the swim
had
exhaust
ed me
.

A shout ripped the silence apart,
quickly shifting into
a
blood
-
curdling scream. The adrenaline I’d thought I’d run out of flipped back on and I was running towards the source of the scream with very little thought.

Quinn, it’s a trap
;
you can’t fight in this
condition
!
Cora said, her voice bringing me to a stop. She was right, damn it.

Another scream, from an
all
-
too
-
familiar voice.
Luke!

“I can’t leave him there
,
”
I said, my voice cracking under the strain of standing still. All around me the trees seemed to crowd in. “They’re killing him.” I gulped out, my throat tight, my body trembling and on the verge of collapse.

Aednat’s voice behind me caught me by surprise
.
She stood
still
, her hands lifted in supplication. “They won’t kill him. Torture yes, but kill, no.”

I
had
spun
upon hearing her voice
, falling to my knees with the speed of my movement
.

“That’s not really a comfort, Aednat
,
”
I said, glaring at her. “Why’d you stop singing?”

“Shining boy came out of water to protect me from
Banshee
s, but they overwhelmed him.
Aednat
sang as long as
she
could
,
”
s
he
said, her eyes filling with tears. “He’s a good Tuatha, only one
Aednat
know
s
who would protect a
Banshee
with his own life.
They take him deep into forest, no hear him now.
”

“
You have to
help me save him
,
”
I said, grabbing her arm
, my fingers tightening over her tiny bones.

She shook her head. “There are too many. First we must take the bad
Queen
’s power
;
if we don’t do that, we can’t save him. It will be impossible. But if we take away her power, t
hen we can stop them from hurting the Shining boy.
That is most important of all.
”

“Are you sure? Is there no other way?”

A sharp shake of her head. “It is only chance to save your Shining boy. There is no other way.”

Another task
;
it was like I was living in some twisted tale of ‘how much can Quinn handle without dying, or losing her mind
?
’
At least she was right about one thing
—
I couldn’t hear him anymore. It was a small blessing, one I felt guilty about even as I thought it. I was worried about listening to him scream, while he dealt with being tortured.
Nice, real nice, Quinn.

“Lir is on his way to
try and stop
Card
,
”
I said, getting to my feet, though each time a muscle flexed, my body quivered with the pain.