Chapter Three
Bréagha stretched and yawned as she woke up.
Man, she had the strangest dreams. Shadows attacking, strange giant men, and a tiny pink woman appearing from nowhere.
She sat up, then went to move her old quilt off her legs as she climbed out of bed.
She glanced up as her legs got tangled and she tumbled out of the bed where she hit the hard floor with an oomph.
She looked up from her space on the floor.
“This is NOT my bedroom!” She glanced around as panic began clawing up her throat.
She couldn’t see much from her pretzel-like position on the floor except a wide window in front of her with a carved window seat and built-in bookshelves.
She untangled herself frantically, her heart pounding, then pushed herself up to stand. “Aiden!!”
“Dude, I’m right here. No need to blow my eardrums out.
” She spun around so fast she almost face-planted again.
He was seated at a small table that had what looked like tree trunks as chairs.
He was sipping calmly from a large mug, and the table was covered with fruits and pastries.
He gestured to the bed and then to her. “That looked like it hurt.”
She growled at her friend and stomped her way to the small table, plopping down on the other tree trunk chair.
She looked around the room, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
The room was circular with a large window on one side, and a small door that looked barely large enough for anyone to walk through directly across from the window.
The bed she had been in was tucked under a set of stairs, carved into the side of the room.
They disappeared onto what she assumed was a second floor.
The table where she sat with Aiden was on the last remaining side of the room.
“Are we inside a tree?” she asked Aiden incredulously.
“It would seem so, yes. I slept upstairs. Coffee?” Aiden handed her a mug filled with half cream and half hot coffee. Bréagha absently took the mug and sipped at the warm liquid for a few minutes before she turned back to Aiden.
“Why are we inside a tree? Am I still dreaming?”
“Nope, not a dream, unless somehow we’re sharing the same messed up dream.”
“Nope, not a dream! You’re both in the Garden where you belong!” Bréagha jumped as Rozengwyn popped into the small room and pinched her arm. “See? You wouldn’t feel pain if you were dreaming.”
Bréagha rubbed her arm and glared at the person in front of her. “Was that really necessary?”
Roz nodded, grinning impishly. She waved her wand towards the bed that Bréagha had exited so gracefully, lifting the quilt and sheets off the floor. She then smoothed them back where they belonged.
“The elders are waiting. Hurry up now!” She waved her wand at Bréagha and Aiden.
They both stood and headed for the door without consciously deciding to move.
Bréagha turned and grabbed a couple glazed doughnuts, to go with her coffee, as she was magic walked out the front door.
Once Aiden and Bréagha had cleared the tree, they got the use of their own limbs back so they both turned and looked at their temporary lodging.
It was a large oak with towering branches but not nearly large enough for even the small room they’d just come from.
They both looked at each other and grinned.
“It’s bigger on the inside!” They both exclaimed excitedly in unison as they looked back at the oak tree. They high fived, then cracked up laughing.
“Did you break them, Roz?” All three turned to find Killian, Liam, and Cathal waiting a few feet away. Bréagha recognized Cathal’s voice and grinned at the curly haired giant.
“Guess you don’t have the BBC on…wherever we are,” mumbled Bréagha as she stuffed half a doughnut in her mouth.
“The Garden. We’ve already explained this to you. Come, we don’t have time to dally or crack up.” Killian turned, then started walking down a path cut through the dense forest that surrounded the group. Bréagha glanced at Aiden who shrugged and followed the grumpy man.
“I don’t think we’re getting any answers just standing here. Maybe the elders Roz mentioned will explain it better than he did.” Bréagha nodded and followed her friend as she finished her sugary breakfast, trying to enjoy the miracle of caffeine called coffee.
“Hey, is coffee created by magic like the laugh of a baby?” Bréagha grinned at the growl that came from their esteemed leader and Aiden chuckled beside her.
They were led through the dense woodland; streams of golden light broke through the canopy here and there, creating an ethereal environment that felt infused with magic and mystery, as well as keeping the deep forest area from being completely dark.
Floating orbs danced in and out of the streams of light.
They were a kaleidoscope of colors from reds and oranges to purples and blues.
Some shone brilliantly while others were barely visible.
“It definitely feels and looks like pure magic,” whispered Aiden to Bréagha. His voice was hushed in reverence for the beauty surrounding them. Bréagha could just nod as she watched the orbs dancing with butterflies and listened to birds as they added a soundtrack to the picture in front of them.
“Those are the Lumenfae, the souls that have returned to the Garden. As long as someone remembers them, they stay. Once they have been forgotten they have the choice to be reborn or to rest in the spirit realm,” explained Roz from behind the couple.
“Wait, so the soul of Abraham Lincoln is still here?” Aiden asked.
“Or William Shakespeare? Or Jesus?” Bréagha cut in.
“I don’t know those names, but if you do and they’re dead then, yes, their souls are still here in Lumenfae form,” Roz answered.
She watched the orbs as they moved slowly through the forest, smiling as one in particular came closer to her, brushing her cheek before floating off again.
“Every soul comes from the Garden and returns here no matter where the soul resided in their most recent life. The brightness of the Lumenfae is how close they are to being reborn. The brighter they glow, the further from rebirth they are; the duller they are, the closer they are.”
“Do the colors signify something, or is it just random?” asked Bréagha, keeping the same quiet tone that Aiden had used.
“It reflects the person’s main aura,” interjected Liam from his place beside Roz.
“The aura reflects the soul so it makes sense that the soul would be that color once it enters the Garden. Mine will be blue since I’m the calm one of the group, Cathal’s will be orange, which is confidence and thrill seeking, while big man up front is red which is for strength and determination. ”
“What am I?” asked Bréagha.
“What about us?” Aiden asked, at the same time. They grinned at each other and laughed. They’d always been in perfect sync.
“That’s weird,” called Cathal from a few feet ahead of them. Liam hit him on the back of his head, and he cringed. “What? It’s true. They speak in unison way more than is normal.”
“It’s not polite to call someone weird.” Roz interjected. “Especially two Sentinels.”
Liam turned back to the two new members of their little group. He tilted his head, and his eyes lost focus as he looked around Aiden and Bréagha. “I’m not as good at aura reading as Killian or his brother, Jaxx.”
“Aiden’s is deep green, and Bréagha’s is red/pink…a strange swirly mix of the two,” answered Killian from the head of the group without looking back.
“Hmmm…. yeah, that makes sense,” muttered Liam as he looked at the two again. “Green denotes a grounded personality. Red is, again, strength, while pink is loving and compassion. That’s Roz’s color too.”
“Twinsies!” exclaimed Roz as she flew forward to hug Bréagha around the waist.
“Except Roz's aura is just pink. Bréagha has red in there. Think candy cane.” Killian spoke up from the front once again. “It’s weird.”
“Thanks. I think we got that I’m weird,” stated Bréagha sarcastically to the back of his head. He shrugged.
“Just saying, never seen one like that before,” he answered.
Finally, they reached a clearing in the woods that opened into a large meadow with a clear stream running through it.
A small brick bridge spanned its width, leading to a cobblestoned pathway to a medium sized cottage that was towards the back end of the meadow.
The cottage was surrounded by a low stone wall covered by blooming ivy; the purples, pinks, and blues vibrant against the grey stone.
From where they were, Bréagha could see a small garden in the front yard.
She saw sunflowers peeking over the fence on one side and corn stalks on the other.
“This is where Kat and Mary live. They’re the Magic Keepers elders.” Roz said.
“Elders?” Bréagha asked.
“In the Garden there are four groups. They’re the Sentinels, Magic Keepers, Soul Keepers, and Record Keepers.
They all have two elders each. The Sentinels are Drago and Colin.
Colin is Killian’s father,” explained Roz.
“The Magic Keepers have Kat and Mary. Soul Keepers are Donegal and Isadora, and then the Record Keepers are Marcus and Lily.”
Bréagha figured they weren’t stopping at the pretty cottage once they left the meadow behind them and headed towards a towering mountain range.
Dotted across the landscape were different styles of cottages, as well as cabins, and large manor houses.
Some had gardens while some were surrounded by trees and others were austere and plain.
Roz pointed to a row of austere manor homes. “Many of the Sentinels live in those with their assigned teams. The grey one on this end is Killian’s team’s house. The one next to it is his brother, Jaxx’s team.”
Of course Killian would have a boring plain old house, Bréagha thought as she glanced in that direction.