Chapter Twelve
In Between Moments

“So how freaked out do you think Ken was?” Brendan asked his car full of travelers.

“He’ll be fine,” Garnash replied. “Now that he knows that he lives in a house of Magicks he’ll have a lot more contact with our world. Who knows, he may find himself excited about it.”

“Let’s not get carried away. Not every human will be as accepting as Brendan and me.” Meghan looked at Brendan from the backseat by way of the rearview mirror. Brendan glanced up and their eyes met momentarily.

“Hopefully he won’t have to be too immersed in the world of Magicks.” Brendan moved his eyes back to the road. “It will all depend on the real reason Conchar and Dullahan are in New York.”

Dorian shook her head. “Nothing good will come from this. We have to stop them no matter what they are planning!”

“We’ll find out more once we talk with Lizzie,” Brendan said just before a strange, yet familiar feeling began to overtake his mind. The world around his vehicle faded into a blank, white canvas. Only the interior of the car and the passengers remained visible to Brendan. Dorian, Meghan, and Garnash seemed not to notice the change. That was probably because they became frozen in place. Brendan reached out and waved his hand in front of Dorian’s face in the passenger seat, but she didn’t even blink.

“Strange, isn’t it?” whispered a discorporate voice.

“I suppose, but I am getting used to it,” Brendan replied nonchalantly. There was silence for a few uncomfortable moments until Brendan felt the need to fill the empty air. “Why am I here?”

“There is a purpose to all of life’s experiences,” came the reply.

“Usually, there is a point to my visions, but I’m having trouble seeing what it is at the moment. Plus, there’s the little problem that I’m driving a car right now.”

“Worry not, Brendan O’Neal, this conversation is but an infinitesimal moment between moments.”

Brendan shrugged having not fully understood what the voice was saying. “Okay. If you say so.”

“Listen carefully, Brendan O’Neal, because the fate of the Earth depends upon your actions. For millennia, forces that are beyond your comprehension have been locked in battle for control of this world. Humans and Magicks alike have been made into mere pawns in the plans of gods.”

“Did you say gods?” Brendan wasn’t sure what to think. Morna had called him Nuada’s champion last summer, but she was dying at the moment and was a bit insane so that kind of talk was easy to brush off. But didn’t it make sense? He considered the visions and the powers that stayed with him. “Go on.”

“Nuada came to Earth early in its infancy and saw the potential of what could be in a world that could have such joy and compassion, a world of intelligence, courage, and love, a world that could exude the very qualities that Nuada held most dear. But Nuada was not alone when he stepped upon the Earth. Elathan came as well and he also saw potential in this world. He saw hate, loathing, violence, and pride. He saw cruelty and trickery and murder. Elathan saw the qualities that he held most dear.”

Brendan was silent. He had read about this sort of thing when he was studying the Greeks and Romans, but to hear about it firsthand from some bodiless voice like this was something else!

“Elathan and Nuada each have had their influence on the beings of this world. Each god has allowed clans from Otherworld to come to Earth. Each god has sought out and empowered bloodlines of human families.” The voice paused, hesitating to continue. “While many attempts were made by each godly combatant to destroy the other and all that they stood for, neither was successful, until Nuada came up with an extreme idea.”

“What did he do? What is Otherworld? What clans did they bring from there?” Brendan had so many questions.

“First, Nuada captured Elathan’s army of Diaibhlins and trapped them in the Land of Arawn. Next, Nuada was able to take his battle with Elathan into the realms of Otherworld and sever the tether to Earth, banishing both he and the golden god from the world that they both so desired. In the process, many clans of Magicks were stranded on Earth as well, cut off from Otherworld and their kinfolk.”

“Why would he do that if he loved this place so much?”

“It was better to give up that which he loved to protect it than to see it destroyed by a savage war. In his stead, Nuada selected the bloodline of a righteous family to be the protectors of Earth’s inhabitants, both human and Magick alike. The clan O’Neal was given a very important task.”

It didn’t really surprise Brendan that his family had been selected, especially after all they had been through. He still didn’t know why they were chosen, or why their choices meant so much to the world. “You were saying something about my actions?” Brendan prodded.

“The choices of the O’Neal bloodline, more than any other, will impact the path the Earth takes going forward.”

Brendan shrugged. “This Elathan guy is gone, so right now I’m dealing with the leftovers. Conchar and Dullahan seem so insignificant by comparison.”

“Recall your encounter with the witch. Recall how you brandished the weapon of evil.” The voice was growing louder and louder and when it spoke it vibrated right through Brendan’s chest. “That action gave rise to the Bringer of Death! You have unleashed Elathan upon this world! That was your choice, Brendan O’Neal!”

Brendan was floored! How could that be? He had only reacted when the witch tried to kill him. He didn’t have a choice, did he? “Elathan is here, now?”

“Yes.”

“Where is he?”

The voice was silent momentarily before it spoke again. “He maneuvers in secrecy, but understand that the golden god means to destroy this world and to smite all that is good from it.”

“Which translates to ‘you don’t know where he is or what he’s really doing.’ Great!” Brendan was overwhelmed with a rush of emotions and thoughts. His mind was scrambling for a solution to a problem that he didn’t understand. “What do I do?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?” Brendan was flummoxed. “Are you kidding me? An evil god is back, my father’s missing, and two of the most deadly beings on the planet are basically in my backyard, and you say that I should do nothing?”

“When you killed the witch you set in motion events that cannot be stopped, Brendan.”

“So I’m just supposed to accept defeat and forfeit the planet? I don’t think so!”

“You must have patience. Hope is never lost.”

“’Hope is never lost?’ Really? That’s what you’re going with?”

The voice was silent and the colors of the world washed over the white backdrop bringing Brendan back to his reality—only this time he knew that the situation was much more dire.

…

Elathan and Sean were joined by a dozen or so Ruas on The Clair, and the red-eyed dozen successfully launched the old ship out of the port and onto the open water without the help of the ship’s captain.

“I’ve always enjoyed being out on the open water,” Elathan noted casually. “I remember one time Nuada had set this small armada of Vikings to sail from the North. He assumed they would be able to invade the British Isles and destroy my Druids. He hadn’t counted on me calling Niseags from Tech Duinn to annihilate his paltry navy.” The Bringer of Death laughed at the thought. “The idiot sailors told all sorts of tales about sea monsters and creatures from the deep, but Nuada knew where they came from.”

“I’m not sure why you think I would care about this,” Sean stated bluntly. Sean leaned heavily on his cane, his palms sweaty and his knees shaking. Sean had been around long enough to know when he was dealing with dark magic, but in this case he was in the presence of pure evil.

Elathan causally kicked Sean’s cane out from under him and the old Leprechaun fell to the deck. “Well, that was the true beginning of Magicks on the Earth, Sean. Your kind can thank me,” he said, leaning over the fallen sailor. “Nuada countered with bringing in griffins and Sidhes and I with demons and Banshees. Back and forth it went, each of us trying to gain the advantage until now. Now, I have the advantage and in part it’s due to your family.”

“You’re insane,” Sean said from his back. He had one eye on Elathan and the other on the gathering Ruas.

“Your niece led two of Nuada’s chosen to my castle where they sacrificed Morna using my blade to bring me back! Your very own brother’s flesh helped me to reform here on this pathetic rock and now you are going to start me on a path to reclaiming what is rightfully mine.”

“I will never help you!” Sean said defiantly.

Elathan reached down and snatched the old Leprechaun by the throat and stood upright. He began to increase the power of his grip as he brought Sean to his eye level. “I don’t need you to take this ship into the depths, Sean. I wanted you to know that you and your clan have not only failed to prevent the inevitable, but that you contributed to it.”

The Bringer of Death’s eyes glossed over in a golden hue as his body began to emit pulse after pulse of golden energy waves. It only took three waves to slam into Sean before he burst apart and his ashes scattered on the salty air.

Elathan dusted his hands off in front of him and snickered. “Burial at sea… how appropriate.”

He strode across the ship, happy that his powers were growing stronger with each passing day, only they weren’t strong enough to take him to where he needed to go at the moment. That was why he needed the ship. Elathan reached the small cauldron and extended a single finger out to touch it. Immediately the cauldron became filled with a golden, roiling smoke that flowed out of the container and surrounded The Clair.

A few of the Ruas retreated to the center of the deck, while others just stared up with blank red eyes. Elathan enjoyed the spectacle, admiring his handiwork, and then with a single thought made the ship into a submersible. Dark plans awaited the dark waters.

…

Flums dropped off Biddy and the Blanchs at the nearest megalithic structure to Corways and then vanished. No good-bye or good luck was offered.

“Stupid little wank!” screamed Biddy, even though it had been a few hours since the drop off had taken place.

“Calm down, Biddy,” urged Brett. “Flums got us here, didn’t he?”

“He didn’t say a word to us,” Biddy howled. “He didn’t offer any help or nothing!”

Vivian was nodding her agreement. “He has his own things to deal with, Biddy.”

Biddy heard their words, but it still irked her. Her anger began to subside a little as they entered her beloved Corways. The townsfolk had done a splendid job of decorating for the Midsummer Celebration, and seeing how nothing was on fire or turned to rubble, she knew the attack had not started yet.

She quickly spotted Griffin lying under the shade of a cluster of oak trees. The lazy oddity had better have delivered her note, she said to herself. Some of her friends and relatives were out and about casually doing their daily business. The whole scene seemed too calm.

Biddy pulled Colym aside as he stumbled by. “Where’s Rory?”

“Well, that’s a fine hello, now isn’t it?” Colym was a semi-sober Leprechaun who always enjoyed dressing in the stereotypical Leprechaun attire with his green ensemble of a bowler hat, vest, and green jacket like he had won the Masters golf tournament. He was a bit of a scoundrel, but a likable enough sort of chap. He wasn’t an idiot, however, and read the look on Biddy’s face. “He’s in the square.”

“Thanks,” she replied as she led Brett and Vivian towards the center of town.

“By all that’s holy, you have wings,” Colym called after her. “I need to quit drinkin’,” he said to himself.

Rory was where Colym had said he would be, and looked up with a huge grin as his love and her two companions arrived.

“I see you have brought us some rather tall visitors, Bid,” he said, waving to Brett and Vivian.

“Did you get my message?” Biddy said in a rush.

“Message?”

Biddy turned to stare down the griffin, but he was slinking behind a tree. “Shameful!”

“What’s going on?” asked Rory.

Biddy, Vivian, and Brett took parts of the story and told Rory all about the coming attack on Corways. Rory shook his head.

“I tried to ignore it, but I saw a glimpse of this and let me tell you, it will not end well for Corways.”

After Biddy gasped, Brett asked, “What’s he talking about?”

Rory answered, “I get glimpses of the future, nothing too concrete but usually on the mark.” He looked up at the visitors and then back to his love. “What do we do?”

Biddy took a deep breath. “We prepare Corways for war.”

…

“You were pretty quiet on the way over here, Brendan,” observed Dorian as she, Brendan, and Meghan stepped out of the car. Garnash just melted into the surroundings, hiding himself from the neighbors.

“I’m fine.” He shrugged. “I’m just worried about Dad.” He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to tell her about the vision. Maybe it was shame. If the voice was right about his actions leading to this Bringer of Death coming to Earth, then what would she think of him? He needed some time to wrap his head around it all.

Dorian reached her hand out and grasped his. Her eyes were sympathetic and he could see the concern etched on her face. “We’ll get him back.”

He nodded and they walked hand-in-hand to the door. Brendan reached out, turned the knob and entered the house. Out of the corner of his eye he watched as an object came blazingly fast at his head. Brendan reacted on instinct and caught the end of a wooden staff and gave it a pull and a twist to disarm his attacker, and in the process he flipped the guy onto the floor. Brendan leapt up to stand over the guy and pulled back his fist primed for a punch.

“Who are you?” Brendan shouted.

“Stop, stop, stop! That’s Frank, my boyfriend,” Lizzie yelled as she entered the living room.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Frank with a stupefied expression, his arms raised trying to protect his face. “How on Earth did you do that?” The big teen turned to Lizzie. “You called me boyfriend.” He glanced up to see Brendan’s fist still cocked and his eyebrow raised.

Brendan relaxed and held out his hand to help Frank to his feet. “Just a reaction, Frank. Sorry about that.” He walked over to his sister and they embraced.

“What is it with this family?” heaved out Frank, steadying his balance. “You all related to ninjas or something?”

Dorian followed Brendan’s hug with one of her own. “What happened?”

“This is a touching reunion,” Garnash made himself visible and surprised Frank who stumbled backwards and plopped down in Oscar’s recliner. “Let’s get to the bottom of this.”

Meghan followed Dorian and Brendan into the living room where Brendan introduced her to Frank and Lizzie.

“It’s grand to meet you,” Meghan said, shaking Lizzie’s hand.

“Yeah, you too,” Lizzie replied, eying Meghan suspiciously. “You seem familiar. Have we met before?”

Meghan’s eyes flashed to the top of the stairs as she thought about it. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Well, everyone have a seat,” Brendan said. “I want to know what happened.”

The others joined Frank in the sitting area and urged Lizzie and Frank to describe the incident at the pizza place. “It was insane, Brendan. Everyone in the place just all of a sudden became Ruas. They jumped up and attacked us and then Conchar sicked the woman on us and—”

“—and she kicked our butts,” Frank finished, sounding embarrassed.

“It sounds to me like the woman was a Banshee,” Meghan offered.

“You’re right,” Dorian agreed. “I should have known that from your description.”

“A similar thing happened to me and Meghan while we were watching a guest speaker at school, only the Banshee wasn’t there.” Brendan got up and stood by the wall. “Conchar is someone that we are going to have to deal with as quickly as we can.”

“He’s probably one of the cruelest and most powerful wizards to have ever lived,” Dorian added. “It is not going to be that simple, Brendan.”

Garnash selected an M&M from the candy dish on the coffee table and crunched into it. “He’s a legend in the wars. He killed tons of Magicks and used humans to help him. He was the one wizard that perfected making Ruas even without physically touching the person.”

“So you’re saying that this guy can just enter a room and look at people and make them into red-eyes?” Lizzie asked. Garnash nodded. “Makes sense with what we saw, but it still sucks!” Lizzie thought back to the fight at Rosalina’s Pizza. “Oh, I just remembered, Dad knew Conchar, only he called him Charlie.”

“Where would they have even met?” Dorian wondered.

“He said they met last year in Ireland, but that was all,” Lizzie answered.

Everyone thought about the strangeness of that friendship and then Brendan called the attention of the group back to him by saying, “There’s more. Dullahan is back and he’s here in New York.” Lizzie’s look of fear was enough for him to know that she understood the gravity of his presence. “What we don’t know is why the headless horseman, a powerful evil wizard, and a Banshee are here.”

“Nor do we know why Conchar took Dad,” added Lizzie.

“You’re right,” Brendan said. He thought about the vision on the ride over and decided that he needed to bring everyone up to speed, no matter how humiliating it might be. “Look, I have something even bigger to tell you guys.”

“What is it, Brendan?” Dorian asked.

Brendan took a deep breath. “Okay, I know it’s bad that Dullahan, the Banshee, and Conchar are here in America, but it gets worse.”

“How could it get worse?” Garnash asked.

“Elathan has been resurrected,” Brendan said bluntly. He chose to leave out that the spirit put the blame for Elathan’s return squarely on Brendan’s shoulders.

Garnash nodded. “That is worse.”

“Why is that worse?” Frank asked. “And who is Elathan anyway?”

Garnash crunched another M&M. “This is bad.”

“Let me put it this way,” began Brendan. “Elathan is a god and he hates pretty much everything that is good about the Earth and he has the power to destroy it all.”

“What are we going to do?” Dorian asked, trembling with fear.

“I don’t know yet.” Brendan really didn’t know what to do. The voice had told him to do nothing, but how could they just sit back and do nothing? There was one thing they could do. “Look, I can’t tell you what we should do about Elathan, but I think we can do something by looking for Dad.”

“How about we search the house for anything that might give us a clue as to why they took the professor in the first place?” Frank offered. The others agreed.

“Okay,” Brendan said. “We’ll start here. Fan out and see if you can find anything that might link a college professor to Conchar.”

…

Frank excused himself and walked into the kitchen. He pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed his Aunt Janice. “Hey, Aunt Janice,” he greeted her. “I’ve got a favor to ask.”

Frank didn’t want to impose on his aunt, but Lizzie’s father was in trouble, and he felt the need to help. “Look, Lizzie’s family invited me to go away with them for a long weekend, so I was hoping that Grandma CeCe could go out to your place for a visit.” He felt bad about not telling her the real reason he needed to be gone, but he could imagine her reaction to hearing about wizards, Banshees, and the Headless Horseman!

His Aunt Janice was his father’s sister and one strong—willed woman. Janice had actually offered to take Frank in when his father passed away, but he chose to live with his grandma out of a sense of duty to help look out for her. He was not surprised when his aunt instantly agreed to host CeCe for however long Frank needed her to. Frank thanked her profusely and ended the call.

“I’ll check the kitchen!” Frank called out to the others.

…

Dullahan rode his horse down the middle of a seedy New York street. There was no traffic since the hour was late and it was not a good idea to be out in this neighborhood after dark. Dullahan, however, was not concerned.

The clip-clop of his demon horse’s hooves echoed off of the run-down apartment buildings that lined the dilapidated street. It was a warm night and a few homeless people were rummaging through a trash bin in a nearby ally. They glanced over and saw the large form of the headless rider and scattered into the shadows. None of them saw which building the demon went into. None of them wanted to know.

Dullahan led his steed into a rundown building and left the horse in a large room at the front of the space. The demon rider knew that Conchar had claimed the condemned building out of necessity to help carry out Elathan’s plans. He hoped that the wizard was up to the task of seeing out their master’s plan out to the end.

Dullahan stomped into the room adjacent to where he left his horse and in an instant drew his ax. “Die, human!”

Oscar was oblivious to Dullahan’s presence. He was standing near a torn up couch, trapped in his own mind by Conchar’s influence.

Dullahan charged across the room, intent on decapitating Oscar with the sharp edge of his ax blade.