Chapter Eleven #2
“How do you know?” Roz looked up at her new friend, her face streaked with tears. Bréagha reached up, wiped the tears away and smiled.
“Just put duct tape across my mouth so I can’t scream and don’t invite the boys.” She offered with a wink.
“Fairly certain we would’ve a full-fledged mutiny if we tried to spirit you away to a mountain without those guys,” announced Marcus from his chair as he finished sipping his tea. Donegal may be right. He might need something with a bit more kick by the time they figured this out.
“Well, Roz, pop me back to my place and I’ll grab what we need, then you can portal us all to the mountain. Isadora and I can set up while you go get the boys.” Bréagha gave Rozengwyn one more squeeze before she took the Soul Keeper and teleported him out of the room.
“Do I get to wear another pretty dress like I did before?” Bréagha asked those left in the room and Marcus laughed. Lily stood up and walked to the fireplace. She took down a wand and handed it to Bréagha.
“If you can make this work, you can have whatever you want.” She chuckled then walked back to her books.
Bréagha stared at the wand for a few minutes.
She pictured a long diaphanous gown in the lightest of periwinkle blues, long sheer sleeves that belled from the shoulder and clasped at the wrist with pearls, round neckline with a bodice embroidered with delicate lace wildflowers.
One second the image was in her head, the next she was standing in the library with that exact dress on, her hair up in a fancy chignon.
Everyone looked up from what they’d been doing when they saw a red flash and they all gasped as they stared at Bréagha, who was looking down at herself.
“Wha? How? Who?” Bréagha stuttered; her arms stretched out at her sides.
Just then a pink portal popped up and Killian’s entire team, as well as Jaxx’s team, Donegal, and Roz walked through.
All the Sentinels had taken to being armed everywhere they went, just in case.
When they felt the energy in the air, eight weapons of various designs and sizes came out.
Every single Sentinel stood ready to fight whatever was causing the tension in the room.
“Bréagha, you, okay?” called Killian as his eyes searched the library for the danger.
He stepped forward so he was positioned between Bréagha and the door.
When he didn’t get an answer he looked back at her, taking in the bewildered look on her face, the pretty gown, the arms outstretched and the hand clutching an unknown wand. “Bréagha?”
He took in her appearance and suddenly forgot why he was holding his sword in a battle stance. This dress was even better than the one she was wearing a few weeks ago. He hardened his stance and mentally shook himself back to focus on what was going on.
“Huh? Did you ask something? When did you guys get here?” Bréagha came out of whatever trance she had been in, then she looked down at herself and over at the wand she still held.
She dropped it, like it had burnt her, but didn’t put her arms down.
She looked over at Lily and Isadora who were both frozen, then over at Marcus who also looked entirely shocked. “How did I do that?”
“Hey, where did you get that dress? Did the tailors pop in?” Roz fluttered over to Bréagha and reached a hand out to the pretty gown.
Bréagha gasped and took a step back. “Don’t touch!
I don’t know what happened! I just thought of it and the wand…
. then pop!! …. then whoosh.” She gestured toward herself before her arms outstretched again. “And now…well here we are.”
Donegal nodded through the explanation making hmm…
and yeah sounds, like he understood exactly what Bréagha was saying.
They all turned to him to see if he could explain.
He nodded a few more times. “Hmm…yeah, I see. Absolutely.” He looked at everyone else in the room who was looking back at him questioningly.
“I have no idea what the hell she’s rambling about. But it seems to me like it’s best to agree with her than not,” he explained and they all growled or scoffed at him.
“I gave her the wand and told her if she could figure out how to work it, she could give herself a new dress. I found that thing years ago and figured a Magic Keeper had dropped it and they would come looking for it eventually, but no one has, and it has been gathering dust for decades. I totally forgot about it until earlier today when someone was dusting and knocked it off the fireplace. I had no idea it would work, especially for a Sentinel and not a Magic Keeper,” explained Lily, her astonishment clear in her voice.
“So, you just pictured that dress and then boom it happened?” Roz clarified.
“Exactly.” Bréagha nodded eagerly, glad someone understood. Roz walked over and picked the wand up, closing her eyes. A small unknown talent of hers was being able to feel what materials things were made of and where they came from.
“This wand was made with the same Lunara tree that your trunk was made from. Maybe, it was your mom’s?” She glanced over to Lily questioningly. The Elder lifted her hands helplessly.
“As good an explanation as anything else. Makes sense that Azara would use as much of the piece of tree she had as she could. Also makes sense, that’s why Bréagha can use it. Residual magic from the mother.”
“Does it work on other people?” Aiden asked as he put his sword in its sheath on his back and stepped forward. He was past being surprised by Bréagha.
Roz handed the wand back and Bréagha gingerly took it.
She stared at Aiden, then flicked the wand and suddenly he was standing in front of her with the same suit he had worn for her first Soulbinding.
She waved it at the others and then they were all wearing black suits with various colored shirts.
She turned to the Elders who had been wearing casual clothes, she waved the wand, and they were all wearing their ceremonial Elder robes.
She grinned and hugged the wand to her chest.
“This is AWESOME! What else can I do?” Marcus grabbed the arm with the wand before she could fling it at anything else.
“Maybe we should do the Soulbinding again before we delve into any more Bréagha mysteries,” he stated firmly, taking the wand out of her hand and putting it in his robe pocket.
“Right. One problem at a time. I have a feeling you’ll give us all plenty of problems to work through,” muttered Donegal. He motioned to Roz who was staring at Bréagha with a wide-eyed, open-mouthed gaze. “Roz, let’s get this done.”
Roz shook herself out of her stupor, then drew her portal rune, pushing her pink magic into it to form a large portal that everyone could walk through.
Bréagha found herself in the same mountain clearing as before.
Wildflowers carpeted the area with blues and yellows, pinks and purples, oranges and reds.
The stone arch was still in the middle as before.
Donegal and Isadora moved to start setting things up while the others fanned out around the stone circle and arch.
Bréagha walked towards the arch, her eyes searching for any damage done by the fire, but there was no sign that anything out of the normal had occurred.
The stones were unblemished, the flowers unwilted, even the orb in the middle that Donegal was adding herbs to, was left untouched.
She was relieved that it seemed the only thing damaged had been herself.
“Okay, Bréagha. Come stand in the middle and let’s see if we can coax your phoenix to say hello,” said Isadora from her place beside Donegal who was lighting the herbs he had just placed in the thurible.
Bréagha took her place with the Soul Keepers.
Donegal started the chant just like before with Isadora joining him, their voices mixing into one.
The burning herbs created a cloud that swirled around Bréagha, thickening into a dense fog that blanketed the clearing.
She braced herself for the fiery flames to take her again but felt nothing.
Off in the distance she heard a screech and the sound of wings.
In a flash of reds and oranges, a large bird with flaming wings came flying into the clearing, landing a few feet from where Bréagha stood.
The two stared at each other for a few minutes.
The bird was beautiful, standing about four feet tall, its wingspan as it flew into the clearing looked like it was about ten feet wide.
Its feathers sparkled with fire, the color of the deepest ruby and the bright blue of a lake in summer.
Its eyes were golden and intelligent as they looked up at Bréagha.
“Hello Bréagha.” She heard a soft voice in her mind and gasped. She kneeled and the bird came closer.
“Are you, my phoenix?” she whispered as the bird stepped ever closer.
“Yes. I’m sorry you went up in flames last time.
I was worried about approaching again. I didn’t want that to happen to you a second time.
” Bréagha reached out a hand, and the phoenix nuzzled it gently.
It walked even closer and placed its head against Bréagha’s chest. A bright light shot out of the sky, swirled around the pair and shot into both of their chests.
Unbeknownst to the two, a shockwave also flew across the clearing, down the mountain, and through the Garden itself.
Bréagha’s heart stopped beating for a second and when it started beating again, she knew it beat in the same rhythm as the phoenix in front of her.
“Do you have a name?”
“Sperwa Pyre…. or Fire Sparrow.”
“Sperwa Pyre. I love it!” She swore the bird looked up and smiled at her. “Why are we different than the others?”