“Uh, yeah. Ciarán and I had a talk about that. I honestly had no idea. I don’t know why he never told me that iron was like kryptonite to all of you.”
I started to ask her how she got through the portal, but she beat me to it.
“I looked in your thoughts while you were going. I saw Niamh put her hand up on the wall in the root cellar, so that’s what I did.”
Niamh looked uneasy, but Liam looked impressed. I didn’t know what to think.
“We’re on our way to see my mother,” Niamh said as she started walking. Samantha hesitated. Niamh glanced over her shoulder. “Come along.”
`
Samantha looked so relieved I thought she’d burst. She scampered over to my side and gave me a tentative smile.
“It’s really cool here,” she said, a grin peeking through.
“It’s incredible,” I said, looking at her. She was at least two inches shorter than me. I realized I didn’t even know how old she was.
“Twenty-three,” she said, walking along.
I rolled my eyes at Ethan and laughed. “It was bad enough having Niamh answer my thoughts out loud, now I have you doing it too.”
Samantha’s hand flew up to her mouth, eyes wide. “Sorry about that,” she said. “I’ve really gotten a lot better at not doing it, I swear.”
“I was just teasing. So, you’re twenty-three and so am I. That’s pretty weird. For sisters.”
“Yeah, I guess. I’ll be twenty-four next month, so we’re almost a year apart,” she said.
“How did you know how old I am?” I asked.
“Oh, when you were telling me how old you were, you were thinking about your birthday and how it’s in June,” she said, shrugging as though this happened all the time.
“It does happen all the time,” she said, giving me an apologetic glance. “I mean, I don’t really have many friends. People are always weirded out by me. My parents can’t even stand being in the same room as me. So, yeah I try not to answer thoughts out loud, but it doesn’t always work.”
My heart did a little flip-flop. Aside from the whole answering people’s unspoken questions, I could totally relate to what she’d just said. It might have been for different reasons, but my whole life most people never felt comfortable around me. A lot of that had to do with not knowing what to say to the daughter of a schizophrenic. But it had been a while since I’d let it bother me.
Ethan was quiet as we walked. I glanced at him and he was transfixed looking at the flowers and trees, taking it all in. I did feel much more lucid during this trip to Tír na n’Óg. Samantha seemed to be fine, too. I assumed it was her Danaan blood that kept her from being affected.
Without turning around, Niamh said, “That’s right, Allison. You have some too, which makes the transition between worlds a little easier.”
“Have some what?” Ethan said, looking at me with a lopsided grin.
“Danaan blood,” I said. He might not admit it, but I could tell he was feeling it. His eyes were just a little shinier than usual and his smile was just a little goofier. “I was thinking about Samantha being part Danaan and that’s why she isn’t overwhelmed by the differences here.”
No matter what my frame of mind was, Tír na n’Óg was magnificent. I took in the cornflower blue sky. Here, it only rained at night. Fluffy white clouds had just started floating in overhead, which told me it was late afternoon.
We reached the top of a hill, which held a spectacular view of a river valley below. Just beyond that river, a mountain range stretched up and along as far as the eye could see. Within the tallest mountain lay the Bruidhean. Hundreds of Danaan lived in its walls. At the heart of the palace was where the king and queen lived.
“Whoa,” Samantha said as we made our way down toward the river. “It’s like we’re stepping onto the set of The Fellowship of the Ring.”
“That’s funny. I thought the same thing the first time I saw it. Those movies were fantastic, but of course the books were better.”
Samantha looked horrified. “You actually read all of those?”
I was going to defend my love of all things Tolkien, but Ethan spoke up. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? You can’t tease Allison about books or you’ll get the Look of Death.”
My eyes narrowed, and for a minute I considered pushing him into the river. But instead, I had to laugh. “Hey, say whatever you want. I’m a proud book nerd.”
Samantha laughed too. “Books aren’t really my thing,” she said, and quickly added, “no offense.”