Liam turned, his eyes searching mine. “Are you ready?” he asked.
I nodded, and Ethan handed me two of the leashes. I stuffed them into the front pocket of my hoodie. He threaded his fingers through mine and we followed Liam out from behind the hedge.
A crisp wind stirred my hair around my face. It was time. Everything we’d been through had led us here. Ethan squeezed my hand, undoubtedly sensing my tension. I looked up and the clouds blew across the star studded sky. The air was thick with the smell of wet grass and burning wood.
Liam slowed, glancing back at us over his shoulder. “No signs of her yet,” he whispered.
The hill where the Stone of Destiny sat was empty. We moved through the people circled around the bonfire, getting closer to the base of the hill.
“Stay close,” Liam said, tension seeping out of him. “Don’t leave the crowd yet.”
Nodding, I watched the spot on the hill. My heart was beating as fast as the drum behind us. The moment I heard Liam’s sharp intake of breath, I knew Aoife was there.
I licked my lips, trying to see. Squinting and tilting my head away, I saw her form melt out of the darkness. She had her back to us, her hands extended so they rested on the Stone of Destiny. She was wearing tight jeans and a cropped black jacket, her black curls half pulled up on top of her head.
“Can you hear what she’s saying?” Liam asked.
“No,” I said. “I can’t hear anything besides the music and the fire.”
He motioned for us to move in closer. “I’m going to walk around the south side of the hill so she’ll see me coming. You two get yourselves just to the bottom until you see me raise my right hand. When I do, you strike.”
We nodded and Liam disappeared into the night. Ethan and I edged closer to the hill, away from the crowd.
For several minutes, I couldn’t see anything beyond Aoife. But then I could just make out Liam’s pale skin and dark sweatshirt as he approached her. A sense of foreboding travelled up my spine as I watched him move in.
He was speaking, but it was too low for me to hear. He looked angry, and I could see the fiery look in his eyes.
“You go for her legs, I’ll get her arms,” Ethan whispered.
I pulled the chains out of my pocket and wrapped them around my hands. Without tearing his eyes from her, Liam raised his right hand, and Ethan and I took off up the hill running.
When we were just a dozen yards away, I could make out a knife in one of her hands and a cup in the other. Liam said her name and she dropped the cup, which clattered on the stones under her feet.
Liam reached out to knock the knife from Aoife’s hand. She grabbed his arm with her other hand just as Ethan and I reached them. Bright light enveloped the hill and when I lunged to wrap the chains around her legs, the ground fell out from under me.
The light was too intense. I ducked my head into my elbow to keep it from burning my eyes. I tried to make sense of what was happening, but I felt like I was falling blindly into an abyss. Voices were shouting all around me, too muffled and distorted for me to understand.
My knees hit something hard and I fell forward onto my hands. When I raised my head, the light had faded and I was no longer on the Hill of Tara. I blinked and turned my head. Ethan was on his back a few feet from me. To his left, Liam still had his hand wrapped around Aoife’s wrist where they lay on their sides.
One minute we were capturing Aoife and the next we were on the floor of a cave.
Aoife staggered to her feet, and Liam shot toward her. She waved a hand and he fell back as though he’d hit a stone wall.
Her eyes darted to where Ethan and I were starting to get to our feet. I met her gaze and our eyes locked.
“You again,” she said with a sneer. Her gaze traveled over to Ethan and I felt my pulse spike as her lips formed a wicked smile. “And you brought your friend.”
Liam was on his feet again. “Aoife, what is going on?”
She froze and looked to the side. “I guess you met our daughter, hmm Liam?”
“Yes, Aoife. I have met my daughter. The one you’ve kept from me all this time.”
She waved her hand. “Oh, now. It’s not uncommon for my kind to foster their children with another family.”
“But you never told me about her. How could you do that?”
“Would that have made you want to stay?” she asked, spinning around to face him.
“That’s not the point. I had a right to know I had a child.”
Aoife’s lips curved up. “None of that matters anymore, don’t you see?”
I snapped out of my fog of disbelief. “What in the world are you talking about?”
She turned her sinister smile to me. Her eyes were the brightest blue, the color of the azure sky. “You’re so quick to trust, aren’t you little human girl?”