Page 33 of Heart of the Wren (Haunted Hearts: Season of the Witch #2)

DARA

THE DOGS took one look at Mairead and scuttled under the kitchen table, whimpering all the while.

“You must be freezing.” Lorcan brought Mairead upstairs to the third bedroom. He pushed open the door and walked inside.

At the top of the stairs, Eddie tugged on my sleeve. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure. Go back down and keep Bullseye in the living room. Go on, we’ll make sure Lorcan’s alright.”

Carol and I crept to the bedroom door and held the handle, expecting resistance.

The door opened fully. Gone were the old mattresses and boxes of clothes.

Gone was the oppressive musk and decades of dust. Instead, the room had flowery wallpaper in a style popular in the 1950’s.

Small bluish petals on thin stems, repeating over and over.

A pretty blanket covered the bed and a single pillow, buttercup yellow sat on top.

A doll lay in the corner, next to a stack of books.

Unlike the ephemeral wisps of Ross Castle, this was the past brought bodily into the present.

Lorcan opened the wardrobe while Mairead sat silently on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling over the side.

“I’ve got your jumper here,” he said. “Your favourite one. Do you remember?” He took a moss green jumper and shook it out.

She lifted her arms as he put the jumper on, making sure her hair — silver and bright as moonlight on fresh snow — didn’t get caught in the neck.

“Lorcan, what are you doing?” I tried to keep my voice calm but my whole body lit up from the inside out. Electricity raced through every fibre of my being.

“She was outside in only this little dress.” He lay the backs of his fingers on her pallid cheek. “She’s stone cold.”

“Why is her hair white?” I asked. “You said her hair was chestnut brown, like yours.”

“She’s been away,” he said. “When her body drowned, they took her spirit away to the Otherworld. Just like the groom in that story you found. They kept her safe.”

“Who?” Carol asked. “Who took her away? ”

“Why don’t you wait downstairs?” he asked.

And still Mairead was silent.

???

I reluctantly left the room, closing the door behind me. I ran my hands over my head and exhaled, loudly.

“Who is she?” Carol lingered at the top of the stairs.

I nodded in the direction of her bedroom and followed her inside.

“I don’t know but she’s not what she appears to be.

Whatever she is, she walked through my magical wards like they were nothing…

” I thought of how easy it must be for a goddess like Clíona to shrug off the hasty spells of a mere mortal.

“She feels wrong,” Carol said. “It’s like… like there’s a big spider in the room. A huge one.” She rubbed her arm. “She makes my hair stand on end.”

I couldn’t help but grin at her. “You’re coming along well. Your ESP is getting sharper.”

“Has she got Lorcan under some kind of spell?”

“Ah, I wondered about that as well, but no.” I sighed and rubbed my face. “No, I think she’s showing him what he wants to see. She’s communicating with him somehow. Talking to him in a way I can’t hear.” I stopped pacing. “But maybe you can.”

Carol stepped back. “I don’t know, Dara.”

“It’s scary, I know it is.” I wanted to hug her, to set her at ease, but I wasn’t sure how she’d react.

Instead I rolled up my sleeve. “But I’ll be right here.

We’ve been waiting for a chance to find out what’s been going on and this is it.

” I found my best protection sigil tattoo and clasped my hand over it.

In an ideal world, I would have gotten some oil from my van to augment the spell but it lay splashed across the snow on the farmyard.

I closed my eyes and channelled the power, casting it out into the world, visualising a blazing ring of white light encircling us. “I’ll keep you safe.”

She sat on the edge of the bed, as Mairead had in the other room. With her hands on her knees, she centred herself by breathing deeply like I’d taught her.

“Good, very good,” I said. “Now, to make magic work you've got to get into the right state of mind.

It's second nature to me, I can slip in and out easily.

You'll need practice but I can teach you.

Clear your mind as best you can. How good is your imagination?

Can you picture things in your mind clearly?

You can? Great. Imagine a red number 7. As clearly as you can.

Then an orange 6. Yellow 5. Green 4. Blue 3.

Indigo 2. Violet 1. Okay. Try to remember how you're feeling right now.

This is the state you need for magic to work through you.

Picture the outcome you want, the goal you're trying to achieve, and boil it down to its simplest expression. And avoid any negative phrases like never , or not . Phrase everything in a positive light. Magic is about two things: belief and intent. Your intentions must always be pure, and today, they most certainly are. Today, you want only to help Lorcan. Today, you seek only knowledge and understanding.”

Carol pulled a face. “This is a lot to take in, Dara.”

“I know. I know it is. But don’t lose focus.

Keep your eyes closed. Now imagine standing up and walking out of this room.

” I made my voice monotone, unobtrusive, and calm, though my insides fizzed.

“See every floorboard. Hear them creak as you go. Feel the carpet of the landing under your feet. Reach out for the doorknob of the other bedroom and turn it. Feel the cool metal in your hand. See the door opening.”

“She’s there.” Carol squeezed her eyes closed more tightly. “There are birds with her. Three small birds, they’re flying around her head. She can see me. She’s talking.”

“You’re safe; you’re safe,” I said. “What is she saying?”

“I can’t…” Carol tilted her head. “Oh. I can. She’s telling me to get out. She doesn’t want me here. She only wants Lorcan. She’s here for Lorcan.”

A scream split our ears and cracked the atmosphere.

Carol gasped and juddered. “It came from the other room.”

I hurried out to the landing as the other bedroom door opened and Lorcan came thundering out and roaring at the top of his voice. “What are you doing to her?”

He tried to get into Carol’s bedroom but I stopped him, grabbing his arms.

“Let go!” Lorcan said. “Let me go! She’s hurting Mairead!”

He struggled to get free but I was stronger, my grip like iron. “Lorcan, your sister is not in that room.”

“She is.”

“Whatever is in there, it’s—”

He bellowed again. “It’s her! It’s her, damn it! It has to be. It has to be. Dara, it has to be.” His eyes start to well up. I loosened my grip and he fell into my arms. “Please. Please let it be her, Dara. Please don’t make her go away again.”

A bleeding wound should have pressure applied and so I held him close, not to prevent Lorcan’s heart from entirely breaking, but to prevent my own from doing so. I kissed the side of his head. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m so very sorry.”

Carol waited in the doorway, not saying a word. Lorcan sobbed into my chest, deep, mournful cries, years in the making.

The noise drew Bullseye and Eddie out of the living room. They dashed upstairs but Carol held out her hand to make them wait and keep them quiet.

“I have to check on her,” I said.

“No, please.” Lorcan squeezed me more tightly.

“Come with me,” I said. “Come with me.” I took his hand and together we went back to the small bedroom.

I shoved the door but it thumped against a bed frame. The mattresses had returned. And the boxes of old clothes. Gone was the flowered wallpaper, and the doll, and the buttercup yellow pillow. And hanging on a bedpost was a dishevelled moss green jumper.