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TEAGAN RACED UP THE stairs feeling the tears about to burst forth. She swiped at her cheek and felt that it was burning. Teagan slid the frosted-glass door to the bedroom open and dashed inside. She paused, standing uncharacteristically still for a moment, her head spinning wildly. Something was wrong. This was more than just her emotions at Colin’s leaving. A dark, eerie feeling brushed her, and she blacked out for a few seconds. She barely caught herself before she hit the wall.
She pushed through to the bathroom, thinking she was going to be sick, and braced herself with her hands on the sink, preparing for the worst. Teagan’s vision blurred and dark spots appeared in front of her face.
“Aoife?” she screamed.
She’d felt this before, right before she’d been sucked through the portal into the Veil. It felt like she was being ripped in two, like part of her was in another place, yet she could still see herself in the mirror. Teagan shook her head, hoping to clear her mind, but the vision remained.
The darkly hooded figure, the same one from her dream, materialized in front of her from out of nowhere.
“I see you, Aoife.” He hissed malevolently.
Teagan shook her head. “No. I’m not Aoife.” Teagan said wishing he would vanish as quickly as he’d appeared. She thought Aidan’s house was warded; he shouldn’t have been able to sense her magic.
“Oh, but you are Aoife, my dear. I can feel her magic sparking inside you as we speak.” The possessive tone of his voice made Teagan shiver with trepidation.
“Come to me.” The hooded figure said. It was not a request. He was summoning her. Calling to her, and she didn’t seem to be able to resist the darkness of his magic.
“No, Teagan. Back up,” Aoife yelled at her, but still the dark stranger held her in his thrall.
He laughed, a wicked sound.
“There you are my little princess. Don’t you want to come and play with me?” His voice dripped with evil. It ran from his mouth thick like molasses oozes from a tree.
Teagan felt her body moving away from him, but she wasn’t in control. Aoife was. She held her hands out in front of her to fend him off, maybe break the hold he had on her, but an orange haze seemed to surround her. The more she struggled, the more firmly it rooted her.
“Well, perhaps you need some persuasion then.” He said.
The scene changed instantly to the image of a handsome man, kneeling. He was chained with his head bowed and seemed to instantly materialize in front of Teagan. The pose he was forced to hold made him look submissive and weak instead of strong like the warrior he obviously was. The hooded man stepped into view. Teagan could feel his evilness seething around him. When he looked her straight in the eyes, his were soul-less black voids. He grabbed the head of the prisoner, his long fingers seeming to sink into the skin of his face and into his skull. A thick cloud of blackness streamed out from the prisoner into the hooded man as he sucked the guy’s essence from his soul.
The hooded man spoke, his voice sounding as if it were in a million places at once.
“The longer she hides you from me Aoife, the more guardians I will hunt down and kill. Rest assured the guardians I choose will have a definite impact on the outcome of this situation. I will find you; you cannot protect her forever.”
The man with the soul-less black voids for eyes drew up his arms and flash spiraled out from him. Shriveled like a thousand-year-old mummy, the prisoner fell to the ground lifelessly. She watched helplessly, her horror coming out in a ear-piercing scream. The evil man’s dark eyes flashed swiftly towards the sound of her terror, and a malicious grin darkened his horrid face. Black smoke swirled around Teagan and engulfed her vision.
“Do something, Aoife,” she yelled.
A brilliant white flash flared out around Teagan, and a searing agony exploded in her body. She screamed again as she fell to the floor of the bathroom, the tile cool against her burning skin. Her eyes felt as though they were on fire, and she curled up in a fetal position holding her head.
“No.” Teagan kept saying, “No, not because of me,” repeatedly.
It was mere seconds that Teagan lay there on the floor, but to her it felt like hours. She could hear the others now; they were at the door trying to get in.
“Teagan? Teagan, answer me.” Aidan called again.
She could just vaguely make out Aidan’s frantic voice. It sounded so far away. Aloneness engulfed her and chilled to the bone. Some kind of force field, an orange glow, surrounded the door, keeping her friends from her. She was trapped. Aidan would never get to her. Great sobs of sorrow racked her body, and she convulsed on the ground like an addict going through withdrawal.
“Teagan, please answer me,” Aidan cried in frustration as he pounded on the door.
Finally, the door heaved, then heaved again, and shuttered one last time as it gave way and splintered open.
“Oh, Jeanie Mac! What happened to her?” Teagan heard Katie say. Then, she felt Aidan’s strong arms surround her.
Katie’s voice was usually so much louder. In fact, all their voices sounded distant, as if they were only faint murmurs, and Teagan strained to make out their words. That’s when she realized that she couldn’t open her eyes. It felt as if they were glued shut. Whatever had just happened had changed something inside of her. Teagan felt as if her soul had been burnt, deep inside the recesses of her body. It was strange. She could feel the pain internally, but it felt as if that pain belonged to someone else. Teagan was scared to the point of absolute shock and she rocked herself gently as she held her rebelling stomach.
“Aoife?” she whispered.
“Teagan?” She felt Aidan lift her in his strong arms and carry her to the bed.
She turned her face into his neck and sobbed.
“It’s because of me, it’s my fault.”
“Where is Aoife? Is she there with you?”
“I don’t know. She won’t answer. I don’t know what he did to us.” The words flew from Teagan’s mouth, but they didn’t seem to be her own. It was like she was the own ghost of her humanity. As Aidan bent to lay her on the bed, Teagan made a small sound of protest and clung to him, wrapping both of her arms tightly around his neck.
“Shh, it’s okay. I won’t let go I promise.” He soothed her gently.
“I’m so scared. Please don’t leave me with the darkness. It’s evil, pure evil. I can feel it hovering around me. This is all my fault. I used the magic when she told me not to. He’s found us, Aidan.” Teagan mumbled.
Teagan continued to cling to Aidan in her half-conscious state as he tried to pry her arms loose.
“Katie, you need to help her now! Can’t you do something?” Aidan demanded.
“Aidan, she has no external wounds I...I can’t do anything. I can’t heal something that isn’t there physically. This is mental.”
“He attacked her in her dreaming? Is that even possible?”
Katie looked at Aidan with concern, “I don’t know, but it’s like she’s a shell, like her soul is floating. I can’t even reach her through an empathic link. Aidan she’s not herself right now. She’s just different.” Katie shook her head and shrugged her shoulders in a defeated response.
Aidan finally pried Teagan’s arms loose, and he watched helplessly as she shook her head from side to side hysterically. He stilled her head in his hands and held her face gently but firmly.
“Teagan, I need you to open your eyes and look at me. It’s Aidan. I’m right here, so just open your eyes, and it’ll be okay.”
Aidan turned and looked at Ian.
“Go get Maggy, and hurry.” Then to Teagan he said, “Teagan baby, come back to me and open your eyes honey, please.”
Teagan responded by opening her eyes, but she couldn’t see him. She couldn’t see anything. She heard a few audible gasps. He kept his hands on her face. Warmth. Light. He was goodness. Teagan tried to focus for him, but there was nothing but blackness all around her. She wanted Colin. Why had he left her when she needed him so much? Teagan heard Aidan’s soft hiss, and she shuddered unintentionally.
“Her eyes, Aidan, look at her eyes. They’re all clouded over.” One of the guys said.
“What? What’s wrong with my eyes?” Teagan said, panicking. “Why can’t I see? Everything is so dark. I can’t see anything.”
She grabbed for Aidan’s arms. He stopped her flailing with his strong hands. After a few moments, she calmed but noticed that he kept one of his hands on her wrist. His thumb gently moved over her skin in a circular, soothing motion.
“Aidan, please don’t leave me alone. He’ll come back for me. He said he would come back. I can’t feel Aoife. How did he get past the wards?” Teagan asked.
Trying to rely on her other senses, Teagan realized she could smell Aidan’s nearness. His masculine honey and cloves scent smelled right and it, along with his touch, did wonders to sooth her and calm her havoc wrecked nerves. She finally let go of the death grip she had on Aidan. He thoughtfully kept his thumb moving on her wrist so she would know he was right beside her.
Why can’t I see anything? Teagan wondered helplessly.
“Aidan?”
“I’m right here Teagan. I’ve got you. You’re safe. I won’t let go; I promise. You’re not alone, I’m here.” Aidan spoke soothingly as he gently pulled Teagan’s still wet hair back from her face and shoulders and tied it loosely at the base of her neck.
The wet tendrils sticking to Teagan’s skin irritated her and she sighed at the relief his small action afforded her.
“Did you see the door Aidan?” Teagan asked anxiously, as she wrung her hands in frustration.
“You locked it Teagan, I had to break it to get in, it’s okay I’m not angry,” he said smoothing Teagan’s wet bangs back from her face and tucking them behind her ear.
Teagan sat up and strained again, trying to see the door to the bathroom, to see if the strange, orange glow still surrounded it, but it was no use her eyesight was completely gone.
“No,” Teagan said, “I didn’t lock it. What I meant was, did you notice that it was glowing and orange, like there was a force field around it? You couldn’t get past it, and I was all alone. I was alone with that evil and the darkness.”
She grasped out around her, feeling with her hand like a blind person would, and found Aidan’s solid arm. Teagan held on to him tightly, feeling anxious and scared. The awkward silence that filled the room made Teagan aware that the others might be questioning her sanity now, like she’d been judged in the past. But nothing like this had ever happened to her before. Aidan moved, and she felt his weight as it shifted when he sat down on the bed next to her. He pulled her close and wrapped his arm around her. Under it, she felt warm and protected. Teagan let herself curl into him, finally feeling safe.
“It’s okay. You’re not alone now. I’m here and Katie’s gone to get Maggy for you. Just try to relax. I promise, I won’t let you go.”
It took quite a while for Aidan and Katie to convince Teagan to lie down on the bed so that Katie could put a damp cloth over her burning eyes. Teagan still would not let go of Aidan’s arm. Maggy arrived shortly after Teagan calmed, and the older woman hurried directly to the bed. The first thing she did was remove the cloth from Teagan’s face, and then told her to open her eyes.
As Teagan followed Maggy’s instructions and opened her eyes, Maggy spoke very surely. “Just as I thought. I believe someone has used dark magic to try to force their way into her mind. Day-walking.”
As Maggy explained, Teagan found herself wondering why she hadn’t noticed the age-old wisdom that emanated from Maggy before.
She heard Katie suck in a breath and Aidan cursed.
“The darkness that lingers here clings to her soul; the remnants of dark magic that remain from the spell are causing her vision loss. We’ll need to do a spiritual cleansing. Katie, run home and bring back my bag with the lavender, sage, and lemongrass. You boys get out.”
Maggy briskly handed out tasks for everyone, immediately taking charge of the situation. When the room was quiet, Teagan sat up slowly. She started to panic again, afraid they’d all left her alone.
“Maggy?” Teagan whispered hoarsely, wondering if she was still there.
“Yes dearie,” Maggy answered immediately.
“Please don’t leave me alone,” Teagan pleaded. The feeling desperation wash over her again.
“Hush now dearie. Maggy is here, and you’re going to be just fine. Don’t you worry about anything,” Maggy said, and she placed the cool towel back on Teagan’s forehead while chanting softly.
Teagan could smell the sage burning, and Maggy rubbed something slick and warm on her forehead over each temple. It had the feeling of oil and smelled of lemongrass, and it left a calming effect on Teagan.