“She’ll kill us if we can’t,” I said.
“We can do this, Al. Don’t talk like that,” Ethan said, rubbing my knee.
I sighed. “Sorry, you’re right. So we bring her back to the castle. Do we leave her there? Do we bring her to Tír na n’Óg?”
“The only way we can end this is if we bring her back to Tír na n’Óg,” Liam said.
I tried to think positive, but my fear was stronger than my optimism. “Who’s to say it will end if she’s brought back there?”
“I don’t know,” Liam said. “At this point, we just have to have faith that it will all work out.”
I didn’t like that plan. Relying on faith or hope sounded too much like a fairy tale, one where everyone lived happily ever after and the bad guys were banished, never to be seen again.
“If Aodhan is still in charge or setting things right, he’ll make sure she’s secure.”
As much as I trusted Aodhan, the idea of leaving my family’s fate in someone else’s hands was unacceptable. I imagined myself face to face with Aoife again, a dagger in my hand. But this time, instead of giving her a surface wound, I imagined plunging it deep into her chest.
“Al?” Ethan said, concerned.
“Hmm?”
“What’s going on in that head of yours? You look like you’re ready to kill someone,” he said.
I straightened my spine and tried to clear my expression. How right he was. “I’m just thinking of how this will go.
“I can’t help thinking Saoirse let Aoife out of the fey globe, and what if she just lets her go again? Will she kill my mother? She could come after us all.”
“That’s not doing you any good, thinking about that right now. Why don’t we go for a little walk?” Ethan said.
“We should probably find someplace to hunker down where we won’t be seen,” Liam said.
He pointed at a large clock across the street from where we sat. “It’s quarter after two. We can look around at the gift shop over there for a bit, I suppose.”
“I see two things I know Allison would like to do more,” Ethan said, grabbing my elbow and turning me. He pointed at one sign that read Kerrigan’s Books, and another that simply said The Ice Cream Parlour.
“I don’t see myself having much reading time in the near future, so let’s go with the ice cream.”
Liam pushed up from the bench and started walking toward the ice cream parlour. Just as quickly, he stopped and spun on his heel, pulling a napkin out of his pocket and grinning. “My treat.”
Not much eased my mind like ice cream. Ethan found us a seat and said he wanted to surprise me. He and Liam got in line, which was unexpectedly long for October. I guessed I wasn’t the only one who found solace in hot fudge and whipped cream.
When they returned, Ethan carried a bowl big enough to feed ten. My eyes widened at the unearthly amounts of ice cream and toppings.
He placed the bowl in front of me, and I think I may have sighed in anticipation. “This is a Forbidden Chocolate Lava Sundae,” he said with a flourish.
“Wow.” It was all I could say. “Where’s yours?” I asked when he sat down across from me.
Liam snickered and took a bite from his ice cream cone.
Ethan shook his head and laughed. “I thought you might let me have a bite or two.”
I pulled the bowl closer and frowned. “You’re kidding, right?”
“I told you to get your own,” Liam said, his shoulders shaking with laughter.
Ethan rubbed a hand over his chest. “You wound me.”
I shot him a look, trying not to laugh. “Fine, you can have a bite,” I said, handing over the extra spoon.
Ethan had made a good call. Eating something delicious and talking about unimportant things definitely made the time go by much faster. When we finished, it was almost time to go. We grabbed our bag of steel leashes and went on the lookout for a cab.
Once Liam pre paid our fare, we climbed into the cab. I turned in my seat to wave to Liam, swallowing the lump of fear in my throat as we pulled away from the curb.
Ethan put his arm across the back of the seat and angled his body toward mine. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he said in a low voice. “Okay?”
I nodded and tried to put on a brave face. “I just want to be done with it.”
It was weird traveling on the left side of the road. Before June of this year, I’d never even left New England. Someday I hoped to come back to Ireland under better circumstances. It was so beautiful and I’d only been able to see a small part.
Ethan must have sensed my need for quiet. We didn’t speak much during the drive, but he kept his arm over my shoulders.