“Could have fooled me,” I said, and pushed past her. I wouldn’t tolerate Ashling’s bad behaviour growing up, and I sure wasn’t going to tolerate Aednat’s—especially if she was very old and just showing us a childlike body. That was even more reason for her to act like an adult.
Silence reined for sometime after that, none of us speaking, though Luke gave me a wink and a smile. I squeezed his hand and let go of him so I could focus on making small flames over and over again above my fingertips. I worked at it until I was sweating.
Slipping up beside me, Aednat put her hand in mine.“Aednat is sorry. You are right; Aednat needs to be more grown up. Friends?”
I smiled down at her. “Of course, that never changed.” With a squeal that made me think she had no idea what it meant to be an adult, her grip tightened on mine.
With a jerk, she pulled me forward to a curved arbutus tree, the bright red trunk twisted over in an almost perfect arch, just like the one that had brought us here. “This is the right archway,” she said. “This gateway takes us back to Enchanted forest, close to water’s edge.” She was tugging hard on my fingers; I dug my heels into the dirt.
“Wait, we need a plan, we can’t just go charging in there again.” The remembered feel of the water beast’s tentacles on my legs sent shivers through me. There was no way I wanted to face that creature again if I didn’t have to. I could too easily recall the feeling of my power being sucked through me, and into the beast.
Luke nodded. “Aednat, can you sing to the lake monster, be-spell it for a time?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Luke though seemed determined. “Come on Aednat, you were the queen, surely you have some powers left?”
Though I thought perhaps I should step between them, I was curious to see how this played out. Something about Aednat’s lack of power seemed strange, even if she had been usurped.
The banshee glared at Luke. “Aednat knows how to lure beast. Large chunks of Tuatha.” She spat at him.
“Hey!” I said, “We are all on the same side.”
I crouched down so that I could look Aednat in the face. “We need your help. Please, can you lull the beast?”
Luke’s hand brushed along the back of my neck, sending a not unpleasant shiver down my back. “Thank you,” he murmured, quiet enough that only I could hear him.
Snorting, Aednat shook her head at me, then after a moment nodded. “I sing to baby beast, you and Shining boy dive for Lir.” She snapped her fingers. “Like that, we get him out. He can tame baby beast for real.
“That’s a baby?” I squeaked out.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a baby or not, Quinn. You aren’t going,” Luke said, loosening his sword, checking the blade over.
My eyebrows climbed.“What did you just say?”
He didn’t make eye contact with me; instead he focused on his sword. “You aren’t going. You’re hurt; it’s too dangerous. I’ll go, you stay here.”
“I’m not staying behind, Luke. You can’t make me.” God, that made me sound like such a child, but it was the truth.
Luke frowned. “I don’t think you understand. We are going to have to run hard, which you haven’t been able to do since you’ve been bitten, then swim hard and maybe have to fight off the creature. I know you could do it under other circumstances, but you’re too weak right now; you’re injured.”
“You are not leaving me behind.” I held my ground.
Be careful you don’t overestimate yourself, Quinn, Cora said.
I put a hand on the archway and looked over my shoulder at him.“I’m going; are you coming with or staying here?”
His jaw twitched and I could see the struggle in him.
“You said I would lead and you would follow. Are you backing out of that now?” It was a dirty shot, but I refused to be left behind.
He gave me a sharp nod, his eyes almost sparking with anger. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.” He handed me the flask of Fairy Honey, the cap already unscrewed.
“Here, take some more of this; it will help you make the sprint and swim,” he said. I took it from him, the flask cool against my skin, the scent of lavender and honey swirling around me, then took a deep gulp of the drink.
“Why isn’t this affecting me worse?” I asked, immediately regretting the fact that I spoke out loud.
Luke tipped his head to the side. “Your body must be adjusting to it. But you’ve only had it once or twice, right?”
Face going red under the memories that surfaced, I tried my best not to think of Bres’ half-naked body, muscled and glistening in the firelight. I’d been hurt and he’d given me a dose of Fairy Honey to help me through the pain. Only it’d been much stronger, and it had acted more like liquor than medicine.