Prophecy Girl (5 page)

“Just like you did,” Eva interrupted, awed by his tale.

“Yes, just as I did. But in Cormac’s case, his mother had put a spell over the house, so that he couldn’t teleport. So he was forced to stay inside. But…that wasn’t the only special skill he had. Cormac found out that he could enter people’s minds, making them believe whatever he wanted. He is the
true
Father of the Leprechauns today, but his line has been so diluted over time that not all of his descendants turn out to be Leprechauns.”

Eva was shocked. “Can you do that? Enter someone’s mind?”

He nodded. “I can, but I don’t. It’s a…violation of someone. All Leprechauns can do it. Their abilities start out around the age of twelve or thirteen, but it is the very skilled Leprechaun that can enter someone’s mind when they are awake, for you see, it’s easier to affect someone while they’re asleep. Cormac was especially skilled, but the one mind he couldn’t intrude on was his mother’s. She was still quite powerful.”

“Are they still around?” she asked, fearful of such beings out in the world, with so much power.

Mr. Quinn shook his head. “They may have been powerful, but they were mortal. They are long dead,” he said, waving his hand.

Eva wasn’t sure. “Couldn’t they have found a way to cheat death?”

“Many things are possible, Eva, but immortality? That’s quite farfetched,” he said with conviction.

Eva tried to process all this information, but it wasn’t like learning basic math. It was nuclear physics.

“So all the boys at this school—”

“Green Clover Academy,” he reminded her, tapping the green shamrock on his shirt.

“Oh. Okay, but why not the four leaf clover? Isn’t that lucky?”

He shrugged. “That they say, but no one has ever found one…not at the school anyway. Shamrocks grow all around the school, and they only have three petals. It’s sort of our symbol…and mascot if we had a team.”

“So…no sports at Green Clover?”

“There’s P.E., but no, no sports which I know the boys hate, but there are more important matters to attend to—like their education, controlling their vanishing acts, teleporting.”

“They can only do it when they’re nervous or upset?”
“At first, that’s how it happens, but as they master their feelings, it happens very rarely, and after some time, they can disappear, teleport, and reappear at will. It’s quite extraordinary,” he said, smiling. 

“What about going inside people’s minds?”

She hated to think that on her first day, all the boys tried to get inside her mind.

“When Leprechauns are thinking of someone, and that person is sleeping, they can very easily link the two minds, and enter. But in the beginning, they become confused, and can’t find a way out. As they master this, Leprechauns can stay in a person’s mind while they sleep and affect their dreams. Very skilled Leprechauns—there have been a few—can enter a person’s mind in an awaked state. Very dangerous that skill.”

“Have you ever done it?” she blurted out, and then slapped a hand over her mouth, embarrassed.

He hesitated, but then said, “Not while someone was awake. That takes a strong desire on the part of the Leprechaun to invade the person’s mind—to inflict harm. Leprechauns can be a devious race, but we’re not evil.” He shrugged. “Well, not most of us. When I was younger, but in more control, I slipped into people’s minds—people I knew—and saw their dreams.” He smiled. “I was a bit of a rascal and sometimes I would interfere in a dream, or tell a girl I liked that she should choose me…things like that.”

Eva was appalled. As a Banshee, she was forced to see people die, but Leprechauns, of their own free will, could go anywhere they wanted,
and
enter anyone’s mind.
That
was an abusive and terrifying power. 

She held her face in her hands. “I can’t believe I’m going to live with such…such—”

“What?” His voice was wary, but with a slight cold edge. 

She turned to him. He was her elder and her new headmaster. She didn’t want to insult him, but she couldn’t help it.

“Horrible people!”

He turned away from her, staring at the seat in front of him. “We can’t help who we are, Eva, just as you can’t stop seeing death, but we have to accept it, and try to control it.”

“But I don’t want to see people dying!” she exclaimed.

Suddenly, the male flight attendant started walking their way.

“Quiet!” Mr. Quinn ordered in a harsh whisper.

Eva fell silent. She didn’t want to cause a scene, and eventually the annoying attendant left.

“I don’t want to be a Banshee,” she whispered harshly. “I want to be normal, and I don’t want to go to bed at night thinking some boy is going to invade my mind.”

He turned to her. “That won’t happen,” he said softly. “Leprechauns can’t enter a Banshee’s mind.”

Well, that sounded good.

“Why not?”

He gently touched her temple. “No Leprechaun has ever been able to see inside a Banshee’s mind. There’s a
barrier
keeping us out. Your mind is concealed, containing your curse, your omens.”

“But…it’s possible?”

“Many things are possible.”

“Except immortally,” she reminded him.

He nodded. “Except that, but a Leprechaun would never want to enter a Banshee’s mind, even if he could.”

“Why not?”

“Take no offense at this, but to a Leprechaun, a Banshee’s mind is…messed up.”

Eva didn’t disagree. It was messed up to see people die and cry for hours about it.

“A Leprechaun is all about…pleasure,” he continued. “We want to have excitement, not visit a place of…death.”

So as far as Eva understood it, Green Clover Academy was full of weeping girls and player boys. It was sort of like regular high school. Except everyone was either a cursed Banshee, made to suffer for an ancient deception, or a Leprechaun, descended from the offspring of a witch and a warlock. And they all lived together. 

She leaned forward, resting her head against the seat in front of her. The captain came over the intercom and announced they were landing at Boston Logan International Airport in ten minutes.

“Thank goodness,” Mr. Quinn said.

But Eva couldn’t share his joy. They were about to descend to a faraway place where legend was real. And she didn’t know what was true and what was false. It was a bad feeling to have just before the start of school.

5

Vision, Interrupted

The airport was full of people, departing and arriving. Eva held on to her bag, allowing Mr. Quinn to navigate a trail through the crowded airport. 

“The students at your school…do they come from all over?”

He nodded. “Yes, all over.”

“The world or just America?”

“Just America. Of course, we’d accept anyone from another country, but Green Clover is for the American descendants of Banshees and Leprechauns. However, the school is run by wealthy benefactors back in Ireland, who run their own grand school as well.”

Eva had been excited, thinking she would meet someone from Ireland, wondering if the student would greet her with a stereotypical, “Top o’ the mornin’ to ya!” 

“So? No Irish?”

They separated to allow a family of six with a screaming baby to go through, and then resumed their earlier position at each other’s side.

He smiled. “Well,
no one
from Ireland, but we’re all Irish in a way…just born in the good ol’ US of A.”

“Where were you born?”

“Chicago.” He adjusted the brown and orange patchy cap on his head. “Miss it sometimes, but my home is Boston with my children.”

“You have kids?” She viewed his left hand, but didn’t find a ring there. Not even the trace of a wedding band.

He held the door open for her that led outside. “A good hundred,” he answered, smiling.

Eva exited the airport building and immediately felt the afternoon sun on her face. It was warm in Boston, and she was comfortable, despite being so many miles from home. 

She shook her head. “I meant biologically.”

He kept the door open for a couple holding hands, obviously newlyweds by the wide grins of their faces. Eva watched Mr. Quinn, noticing a touch of sadness on his face. The couple nodded their appreciation to the headmaster and went inside.

He closed the door. “No, no children of my own. You and the other ninety-nine youngsters at Green Clover are all the children I need.” He smiled weakly, as if he truly didn’t believe that.

For some reason, she felt very close to Mr. Quinn, as if he were a second father. She loved her own dad, but after the divorce, when she lived with her mom, her dad didn’t come around that often, except on the weekends, when he would take her to the movies. That seemed like a lifetime ago. 

Her reverie was interrupted by a car horn honking. She turned to see a metallic gray BMW with black tinted windows and black wheels, parked alongside the curb. 

Mr. Quinn shook his head. “Finally.”

“What?” Eva asked, confused.

“Our ride,” he explained, holding out his hand for her bag.

She gave it to him, hearing the trunk pop open. Then the driver door opened and out stepped a tall guy, older than her, but still a teenager. He had sandy blond hair that fell below his ears, glistening under the sunlight. He was tan, well-built, and had a surfer look to him. Very cute. 

After Mr. Quinn put Eva’s bag in the trunk, he approached the young driver, and said sternly, “I’ll take the keys.”

The guy sighed, handing them to the headmaster. Then he walked over to Eva, smiling. His outfit was plain, but she thought peculiar, like a uniform: black dress shoes, black pants, a white short-sleeved dress shirt tucked neatly inside, a black slim tie, and a black vest with a green shamrock stitched on the upper right side. In the crook of his arm was a black cap styled like the headmaster’s that he removed and adjusted on his head. 

“Hey,” he greeted, holding out his hand. 

She held out her hand, trying to contain her trembling. “Hi,” she squeaked back.

He took it and gently squeezed. She felt a rush of excitement when their skin touched, and didn’t want it to end, but he let go, slowly. 

“I’m Lucas Daly and you must be Eva Nolan. All the school is talking about you.”

“Me?” she asked, nervous. 

Back at her old school, everyone did talk about her, but only to call her “that crazy chick.”

“Yeah. We always love it when someone new arrives.” He smiled, looking at her as if she were extra special to him.

She looked in his warm blue-gray eyes, like soft clouds on a tranquil rainy day. “You…love it?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, nodding. “We’re all outcasts in the world.” He glanced at the travelers. “We’re called
freaks
, but at Green Clover, we’re all the same, except of course for the differences.” He leaned in closer, smelling of intoxicating cologne, but also of tobacco, and she assumed the cigarette odor had attached to him from the last driver. “You know about Banshees and Leprechauns, right?” he whispered.

“The headmaster told me.” She tried to answer evenly, despite her heart thumping against her chest. “You’re a Leprechaun, right?”

He smiled and leaned back. “Yep! And in my fourth year.” He thumbed in the direction of the car. “That’s why I was allowed to come and pick you two up, and I’m also the most reliable student at Green Clover,”—he smirked—“but I do have my moments.”

Despite his good-boy charm, Eva sensed that he could be a rascal if he wanted to, and it filled her with a rush of that “bad boy” excitement that girls secretly crave in guys. 

“Daylight’s burning,” Mr. Quinn said loudly, staring at them from where he stood next to the driver’s side. 

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Well, back to it. C’mon!” He opened the back door and held it open for her.

She smiled, amazed at his chivalry, and got inside, settling on the forest green leather seat. Mr. Quinn finally sat on the driver’s seat. Lucas walked around to other back door, and got inside next to Eva with only a small space between them. 

“The tank’s almost dry,” the headmaster remarked, narrowing his eyes at Lucas from the rearview mirror that had a green shamrock air freshener around it. “
Where
have you been?”

Lucas hesitated, and then said, “Uh…well, there was a lot of traffic. Had to…drive around. Find a…spot.”