The Druid site was on no map, as it had been hidden and forgotten from time. With deforestation, farming and boundary changes, no one else would be able to find it unless they were led to the location. Even Callum hadn’t outlined the boundaries of the invisible forest and how far it stretched, only given Kyan coordinates.
But Kyan’s mother had taught him how to feel her magic and the magic in the land.
Thesoulsblood.
When they finally came to the coordinates of Callum’s cabin, Kyan pulled over on the slightly sloped side of the road, where a hedge separated it from a field. The deep drag in his core increased as if drawn to the ground, as if even his Empyreal knew what slumbered here.
He wanted to reach for Nicole’s hand, but he kept his eyes trained through the window, watching for that tell-tale flicker of concealing magic that hid the ruins.
But there was no forest. No cabin. The whole place was countrysideand lush green farmland, gently rolling this way and that. No ancient trees spired up as far as he could see. Just an overcast, silvering sky, the air warm and charged.
A storm was coming.
As he went to get out of the car, Nicole grabbed his arm.
‘Kyan,’ she breathed.
A lone white horse now stood in the centre of the road.
It had come out of nowhere and watched them with an omniscient gaze.
White animals were deemed creatures of the Otherworld. Magical beings capable of traversing worlds, particularly between those of the gods and Ireland. It reminded him of what Remi said about the harmony of the spheres. If that was the case and the Otherworld was inaccessible now, it meant this horse had come from another magical location.
Cold fingers of intuition stroked over his skin, and he found his mouth had gone dry.
Nicole brushed her hand over his and he allowed himself to look at her. She smiled softly and, beyond the power in his veins, beyond the blood, he felt all those feelings for her warm him. Bolster him enough that he swallowed and restarted the car.
The horse turned to its right, and ran, disappearing into a ripple of air where it should have met a hedge.
‘I think we’ve found the spot,’ Nicole murmured.
Kyan put the car in drive and turned in the direction the horse had gone.
The world shimmered around them as they passed through the boundary and a forest replaced it. It rose up, the light suddenly a dappled, shadowed green. A simple dirt track wound deeper until Callum’s cabin came into view.
He must have Influenced anyone who came in here to build it to forget, because the sleek, mostly glass structure was too modern for him to have built alone. Despite its triangular shape, it blended so well it almost disappeared into the surroundings.
‘The Wake will have no eyes here, no power,’ he said.
They were hidden. But that didn’t mean they were safe, depending on who was inside.
Kyan parked the car and they got out, the soil rich beneath hisdark, worn boots. The horse bolted into the thicker trees, as if guiding them to the lost heart of the ruins. The great, sylvan feel of the place near choked him with memory. That charred, smothering hellscape from the days of theTáinwas gone, replaced by new life, drenched in the fresh scent of a forest before it rains.
He imagined finding the Druid here, asleep in a grove. Defenceless. Then, the Druid using Nicole as leverage to stop Kyan taking them to the Wake.
‘Maybe this was a mistake.’
He couldn’t remember when he’d last said that word. He’d always known what to do, led by that Empyreal urge. But in this, his Empyreal was so quiet he felt mildly frantic. He didn’t want to feel this way again. He didn’t want to make the decision. To discover if the memories would tear through him, or he’d feel nothing.
Then the Wake would have well and truly sundered that connection to his origins.
‘We can go and sit somewhere and think about it first,’ Nicole said.
He looked down at her, chest warm with unspoken words.
‘No, I – we should go in. Just, be on your guard in case they’re here. We don’t know what they might do.’
Nicole nodded, eyes full of understanding and awareness.
