“Is that it?” Brigid asked.

  The walls of the mountain pass pinched to a width of fifteen feet—five of which were occupied by a pair of hawthorn trees standing on either side. Unlike the pair that greeted them at the beginning of the pass, the entire space between them was a tangle of interlocking boughs. The branches fanned out over their heads as the trees reached toward the night sky.

  “It would seem so,” Siobhan said. “Now to get through this mess.”

  “Give me a lash at it,” Ciara said. “Lía?rit—”

  “—What in the hell are you doing?” Brigid yelled as she shoved Ciara off-balance.

  “Getting us through,” Ciara said, “or would you want to walk these hills all day as well?”

  “Tír na nóg lies on the other side of these hawthorns,” Brigid said. “You’re willin’ to just burn them down without a second thought?” She stepped after Ciara but her brother intercepted her.

  “Take a moment, Brig,” Brendan said. “We’re tired, hungry and bruised.”

  “Some of us could stand a few more, I’m thinkin’” Brigid said.

  “Brig, stop.”

  “Stop yourself,” she said as she poked her brother's chest.

  Siobhan swatted Donal on the back. “Help me with this,” she said. She slid her staff between the siblings and leveraged enough space to insert her free hand between them. Donal wedged himself in front of Brigid while Siobhan eased the wizards from the tension.

  “Is this truly the best use of our time and dwindling energy?” she asked.

  “How much have we spent on this nonsense?” Brigid asked, gesturing at Ciara. “She’s against us at every turn!”

  Ciara pushed against Siobhan’s staff. “You self-righteous—”

  “—Ciara!" Siobhan said. "Shut your gob."

  Ciara scoffed. “I should have known.”

  “But you don’t know, do ya?” Siobhan said. “Brigid, at this point she’s as far into this as we are. If you can’t see that by now, then accept that the rest of us do.”

  Ciara stopped struggling and averted her eyes from Siobhan.

  Brigid let out a hollow chuckle. “Do you, now?” She stared at Donal until he dropped his eyes to the ground. “I’m not so sure.”

  Maura took two steps toward the group. “You are—all of you—unbelievable,” she said. “Squabbling, back-biting wild dogs. Is this truly the company my father keeps back on íriu? Now I’m left to wonder which one of my parents has the poor judgment, himself for choosing to associate with you, or herself for holding such high esteem for my da.”

  “She’s not wrong,” said a lilting voice above their heads.

  Sitting on a bough within the tangle of wood and leaves sat a woman in a long silver dress shimmering in green light. Thick, pale blonde hair hung around her face. Her mouth pressed into a dour position incongruent with the twinkle in her cobalt eyes.

  She closed her eyes and inhaled. Amber light radiated as her eyelids parted, and as she brought both hands to her sides the bough on which she sat lowered to the ground.

  “Were you there the whole time?” Donal asked.

  “So I was,” she said, the twinkle in her eyes fading. “You just couldn’t see me.”

  “You can turn invisible?” Donal asked.

  The corners of her mouth raised and her eyes softened. “I was hiding as one of these big tree branches.”

  “That’s even more impressive,” Donal said, unable to hold back his smile. “What’s your name? Are you the one meant to let us through these trees?”

  The woman stood from her seat, her body rigid. “My name is Oonagh,” she said, “but I have no inclination to let you pass.”

  “Can we ask why?” Siobhan said.

  Oonagh turned to Siobhan. “You’re the leader of these… wild dogs, as your friend called you? Your clothes and weapons smell of the mortal world.”

  “Nothing wrong with your nose,” Siobhan said.

  “What I can’t suss out is how you made it this far,” Oonagh said. “Carrying on as you have. Eating each other's heads off. The utter disharmony of it all. Niamh asleep at her post, no doubt. Why are you lot standing before me?”

  “We met her,” Siobhan said. “Herself and I reached an understanding. Do you want our entire story or our current task?”

  Oonagh tilted her head in the opposite direction. “Surprise me.”

  Siobhan explained the impending invasion and their mission to bring back the Treasures, and how it tied into finding Maura’s mother.

  “Caragh?” Oonagh asked. “She’s mixed up in this? I can see the resemblance, though, lass. Both on your face and in your demeanor.”

  “Thank you,” Maura said. “I think.”

  “Now that you know our plight,” Siobhan said, “do we have your blessing to move on to find her mother?”

  Oonagh pursed her lips. “You do not.”

  Siobhan sighed. “Sure look—”

  “—You mean to trample through our land, fouling the home of the Tuatha Dé with both foot and mood and leave here with two of our treasures? You need to set yourselves right if you want to get one toe past me.”

  “We’re knackered to the point of collapse,” Brigid. “If we could just find a safe place to sleep for a night—or even two—it would go a long way towards easing our troubles. It would go even further if we could forage for some food.”

  Oonagh eyed each member of the group. “It’s more than that,” she said, “and I think you all know it.” She pointed a hand apiece at Brigid and Ciara. “Prove me wrong, you two.”

  “And how would we do that?” Ciara asked.

  “Say something nice about yer wan here.”

  Ciara’s eyes flitted between Brigid and the ground. Brigid flashed a smirk, but a swat from Brendan to her upper arm chased away just as quickly.

  “She’s got to do this, too?” Ciara asked, pointing to Brigid.

  Oonagh did not react to the question.

  “Grand,” Ciara said. “Well, Brigid, I like how you’re so quick to defend your brother.” She shrugged. “Even if it is usually at my expense. It is what your parents should have done for you.”

  The glib look in Brigid’s eyes faded. “I… I thank you for that,” she said.

  “Your turn,” Oonagh said to Brigid.

  Brigid scratched the back of her head and rubbed her cheek with her palm.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  “Are you joking?” Brendan asked.

  “We’re not exactly on level ground, are we?” Ciara asked Brendan. Her eyes darted toward Donal for a second.

  “About that,” Brigid said. “If what you say happened is true, then it’s truly awful what happened to you. Bein’ able to protect your uncle in a situation like that, I’m not sure there’s many who could.”

  The women shared a look. Ciara nodded and turned to Oonagh. “How are we faring?”

  “Less violence than I had anticipated,” Oonagh said. She pointed to Donal. “It’s his turn now.”

  “It’s alright,” Siobhan told Donal with a raised hand. “Oonagh, there are special circumstances with this lad here. If you’re sensing anything off, it’s because he’s been battling a malady for years.”

  “I sensed something similar to what you’re telling me,” Oonagh said. “That’s not what I’m talking about, however.” She waved a finger between Ciara and Donal. “There’s something wrong here. It’s so bad I can see it rising from them like smoke.”

  Brigid stepped forward. “A simple trade of flattery can’t solve that.”

  “This is your doing?” Oonagh asked Ciara.

  Ciara bit her lip and stared at Oonah before closing her eyes and nodding her head.

  “Go to him. Look him in the eye.”

  Ciara dropped her shoulders and tipped her head back. “Brigid’s right, you know.”

  “You’re not getting through unless you comply,” Oonagh said.

  Ciara looked to Brendan and then Maura. They both gestured toward Donal. She crossed the clearing and escorted Donal out of the group’s earshot with a hand on his back.

  Donal couldn’t look at her. Why is that lady punishing me? he thought. Ciara’s the one in the wrong here. We can get along fine enough without the hugging.

  Ciara brought her hands up to shoulder height and muttered something. Her eyes glowed lavender as she rested her hands on Donal’s cheeks and raised his face to meet hers. A new din sounded in Donal’s head.

  “This is the dumbest manner and reason to have this talk,” Ciara said.

  Hang on, Donal thought. Her mouth didn’t move.

  “It’s not that kind of conversation,” Ciara’s voice echoed in his mind.

  “You can hear me?” Donal asked in thought.

  “Of course I can,” Ciara said. “That’s how the spell is meant to work.”

  “What about himself?” Donal asked. “Can you hear that as well?”

  “Who’s ‘him?’" Ciara asked. “Is there someone else in here?”

  “I don’t know how to answer that,” Donal said.

  “And I don’t know how I’m supposed to respond to that,” she said. “I don’t hear anyone else, but it’s awfully noisy in here. And I feel awful, like I immediately want to run in three different directions at the same time. I’m trying to stop this urge, but I can’t keep it down. It won’t relent.”

  Donal squirmed in place.

  “Is this my doing?” Ciara asked.

  “Oi! Ciara,” Brigid yelled. “You’re meant to actually speak with him.”

  It was Donal who waved Brigid off.

  “I asked you a question,” Ciara said.

  Donal pressed the bottoms of his palms against his eyebrows. “This is too much. This is too loud.”

  “Donal—”

  “—Siobhan already told you at camp,” Donal said. “You didn’t help matters any, but I was fighting this long before you did what you did to my family.”

  I hate that she can read my thoughts right now, Donal thought.

  “I’m sorry, lad,” she said. “It’s part of the spell. That’s why the sorcerer has to make physical contact to make it work.”

  “Of course you heard that,” he said. “Enough of this!”

  He squeezed his face and held his breath. He stared through the backs of her eyes and tried to picture the inside of her mind.

  “Lad,” she said, “why are you making that face? Do you need to go behind a hill or something?”

  “I wanted to see if I could see into your mind as well,” he said.

  “That’s not a place even I like being sometimes,” she said. “Why would you want a thing like that?”

  “I want to know if you were truthful when you told everyone you’d—” The next words lodged in his throat, forcing him to find others. “If you’d do it all again.”

  She nodded and canted her head. “I see. Why would I say something like that if it wasn’t true?”

  “Same reason I would,” he said. “Equal parts anger, helplessness and annoyance over people questioning your intentions.”

  She raised her eyebrows and looked over his shoulder and she took a deep breath. And then another. Her face wasn’t square with Donal when her eyes returned to meet his. Her mouth opened and then closed.

  Donal didn’t need a spell to read her mind in this moment. “Would you do again?” he asked. “Knowing what you know now?”

  “It’s not that simple,” she said.

  “It couldn’t be simpler.”

  “I’ve been in your head long enough, Donal. You know better than that.” She paused for a second. “What would you do for Niall?”

  Donal exhaled and sagged his shoulders. “Ciara—”

  “—I’d do it again! Put me in the same situation and I’d do it again. Aillil’s the last family I have left. I don’t have what you have, all these people standing in front of you. So I’d do it again and, knowing what I’d know now, never get another decent night’s sleep ever again.

  “I’d know you and your brother. And I’d likely see your faces haunting me everywhere. But I’d do it again, because I’d have to. It’s not the answer you want. It’s not the answer I want to give. But it’s the truth. My family meant as much to me as yours does to you.”

  Ask her, Shadow told him.

  Donal looked over at the group and then at the arboreal fence.

  Ask her!

  “Shut your gob!” Donal said.

  “Excuse me?” Ciara asked. She put a finger in her ear and wiggled it.

  Donal furiously scratched at the hair above his ears. “I didn’t—it’s not—”

  “Why did it get louder?” Ciara asked. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Fine,” Donal said. “That extra bit. Would you do that again too?”

  “What ‘extra bit?’”

  “What are you two doing?” Brigid yelled.

  Donal and Ciara both waved her off without a word.

  “What are you talking about?” Ciara asked.

  “I don’t know. Siobhan and Maeve wouldn’t tell me. They only said you did something to—” He swallowed hard. “What did you do to my parents' bodies afterward, Ciara?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “What would I—what else could be gained from doing something to them after the fact?”

  “You tell me.”

  “Nothing, Donal.”

  “Did you tell one of your people to do something?”

  “I did not. I honestly don’t know what you’re talking—hang on.” She knitted her brow and pursed her lips. “Your smithy made a similar comment back at his house, didn’t he?” She bobbed her head. “Dother. Your people laid him low last year? You knew him?”

  Donal nodded.

  “I’ll assume what his people did was as foul as it was needless,” she said. “The same words I’d use to describe him.”

  Donal took one step backward and rubbed his chin, his eyes still locked on hers.

  “You’d truly do it again?” he asked.

  “Same circumstances as last time?”

  “The very same,” he said. “But knowing what you know now.”

  Her eyes welled as she looked over his shoulder. She closed the distance between them and whispered, “Yes.”

  Donal bobbed his head. “Well, you’re wrong,” he said.

  It was her turn to step backward. “Wrong? About what?”

  “If you knew us, you wouldn’t be in that same situation," Donal said. "You’d never do what you did because you wouldn’t have to.”

  Ciara sniffed and pulled away the leak from her right eye. “You’re an arse.”

  “Ciara, this is a rare moment of clarity for me,” Donal said. “I’d appreciate it if you didn't poke at me right now.”

  “I can’t face Brigid and Siobhan like this. One more thing to lord over me.”

  “Face them like what, crying? It’ll be fine. They’re nice enough people.”

  “To you,” she said.

  Donal scratched his chest and stared at the ground for a few seconds. “I have an idea to give you cover. It’s going to ache a bit, however.”

  “Why would it—”

  Donal stamped her foot, catching fewer toes under his brogues than it appeared to the crowd near the second gate. Ciara yelped in pain and turned her entire back toward the crowd to mask the wiping of her face.

  “We’ve come to an understanding,” Donal said to Oonagh as he approached the group. “One foot for two parents.”

  Siobhan put herself in the path between Oonagh and Donal and frowned. “Donal, that’s not—”

  “I accept your terms,” Oonagh said. She raised her hands and pushed them behind her hips. The branches blocking the passage detangled and twisted themselves into two doorjambs.

  Siobhan held her frown as she surveyed Donal.

  “You all were truthful about needing rest,” Oonagh said. “Look to the north after a while. You’ll see a small lough through the trees on the right. Drink from it. Eat the apples and hazelnuts from the trees that surround it. You’ll feel as if you had feasted on many courses and slept for many hours. But do not forget that you are guests in our home.”

  “Thank you, Oonagh,” Brendan said.

  “Wait a moment,” Brigid said. “I don’t mean to risk our newfound cooperation, but Ciara and I had to make up in front of everyone. She and Donal just batted eyes at each other in the corner. I didn’t hear a word spoken between them.”

  “Truly?” Oonagh asked. “That’s odd. I heard them just fine.”