Chapter three
stretch and groan
T he gentle crackle of fire roused me. Smoke tickled my nose, and I squinted into the flames. The campfire burned bright, a stark contrast against the night sky. My back ached as I sat up. Pain flared up my side. I froze.
A man watched me through the flames.
“Darragh?”
Across the fire, Darragh sat, leaning rigidly against a fallen tree. At the sound of my voice, his shoulders relaxed. Crossing his arms, Darragh turned his gaze to the flickering flames. He didn’t look at me when he said, “How do you feel?”
“My side hurts,” I rasped. “A lot.” Darragh pursed his lips and raised a brow but remained silent. I studied the darkness around us. “What…what are we doing here?” My night vision returned, and thick tree trunks appeared. How did we get here?
I couldn’t remember anything .
I gulped a shallow breath and rubbed my chest. What was the last thing I remembered? The café. Working. Sasha left early, and I closed on my own. After that, my memory faded. I ground the heel of my palm into my forehead. Turner’s face popped into my mind—
Turner’s dead body.
“Hhh!” I covered my mouth. Turner’s lifeless, smoking corpse. Followed by Darragh, his face close to mine as he pushed me and told me to go—and then here. My memory was blank between Turner’s mangled body and here.
Darragh watched me through the haze from the fire. This wasn’t the man who’d ordered coffee from me. The gentle smile was gone; Darragh’s lips formed a thin, serious line. It reminded me of the way Sasha looked at me when he was pissed.
What happened?
What had I done?
And why was Darragh so angry with me?
“You’re safe here,” Darragh said. “Sleep while you can.”
“I just woke up in the woods with a stranger. I’m not going to sleep.”
“Afraid you might end up in my freezer?”
My mouth dropped. Darragh heard that? What else did he hear? My legs shook, but I stood and said, “Take me home.” Darragh blinked twice, surprised by the command. Truthfully, I’d surprised myself.
“Only danger awaits you there. In good conscience, I cannot take you back.”
I examined the surrounding trees. Can I outrun him?
“Are you thirsty?” Darragh asked, interrupting my escape plan. I was glad. Sort of. The firelight did nothing to penetrate the darkness beyond the first line of trees. Darragh offered me a worn, terra cotta mug. Suspicious of the contents, I just stared at it. The awkward tension of Darragh’s outstretched hand became unbearable, and I took it. I knew better than to accept a drink from a stranger, but I was so thirsty. I looked at the mug, back to Darragh, and back to the mug. It gave off a spicy, cinnamon scent. I drank deeply.
The moment the mug left my lips, exhaustion settled on me like a soft blanket. With my last ounce of strength, I threw the mug at Darragh. He leaned, dodging it easily. I slurred, “You piece of shi—” before my eyes closed and my legs buckled beneath me.
***
I blinked against the sunshine poking through the canopy and struggled to sit up. “Ugh.” I stretched and cracked my neck. Oblivious to my waking, Darragh rushed around the campsite, packing. He wore a loose flannel shirt, the sleeves shoved roughly to his elbows, and fitted brown pants. Darragh moved silently, padding around in high boots of walnut-coloured leather. He bent and picked up a knife, which he tucked into a sheath that wound around his thigh. There was a strange…old-timey-ness about it all.
Still unaware I’d woken, Darragh shoved a cast-iron pan into his satchel. As quiet as I could, I got to my feet. Careful not to step on anything crunchy, I backed into the trees. I turned from the campsite and—
“Where are you going?” Darragh’s face was inches from mine.
“OH FUC—” I raised my fist.
“Sorry!” Darragh thrust both hands toward me, like I was some frightened animal.
“What did you do to me?” I shouted.
My voice rang through the wood and Darragh’s eyes darted nervously around. He waited for something to happen. Nothing did. Brows raised in disbelief, Darragh’s voice was nearly a whisper when he said, “What did I do to you? ”
“Yes. Why am I here?”
“You were”—Darragh paused, choosing his words carefully—“You were injured. I brought you here.”
“Where’s here?”
“This is where I live.”
Annoyed by Darragh’s deliberate attempts to misunderstand me, I took a deep, calming breath. “Where do you live, Darragh?” I enunciated every word, hoping clarity would get me answers.
Darragh stared at me as if mulling over what to say. The silence stretched on. It was uncomfortable, and I struggled not to break it. Darragh ran a hand through his hair, and his shoulders sagged. “You wouldn’t have survived…had I left you on Earth.”
“What?” I spit the word and then wiped my lips. “What does that even mean ?”
“You needed magic—”
“What happened last night?” I’d never experienced anything like this before. Even the rare occasion I overdid it with Sasha, I’d never had memory lapses. I patted down my pockets. “Where’s my phone?” Fear crushed my chest and I cried, “Where’s my cat?”
“Your phone is in your apartment where you left it. It’s useless here. Sasha is watching your small friend.”
“Right.” Vaguely, I recalled asking Sasha to take care of Watney—but why? Why did I do that? My brain loaded, and I heard what Darragh said a few minutes ago. “Did you say magic ?”
“Nell, time is against us. You must trust me.”
“Why would I trust you?!” Darragh recoiled from the shrillness in my tone as if it were a rock I’d picked up and thrown at him.
“Stop shrieking like a banshee!” he whispered. “You’ll bring every creature in the woods upon us—”
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The slow, deliberate rapping carried through the trees. The lively morning chatter of birds quieted, and an eerie hush permeated the wood. “What was that?” I whispered. It sounded like someone striking a trunk with a rock.
Darragh inched closer, and when he spoke, I could barely hear him. “You will die if you don’t come with me right now. That’s the truth.” Darragh searched my face for something that didn’t exist.
Trust.
“Am I your captive?” I asked.
“What?” Darragh’s eyes bulged. “No!”
“So, I can just…leave?”
“Yes!” Darragh exclaimed. He scowled, regretful of the answer he’d given so quickly. “You will die though.”
I crossed my arms. “So, I can’t leave?”
Darragh’s jaw slackened, at a loss for words.
“If the alternative to staying with you is death, it kinda sounds like I’m your captive.”
Darragh blew out a loud, frustrated breath. “I should let you wander off,” he growled. “See what awaits you in those woods.” He ran both hands through his hair and closed his eyes.
Three, slow knocks sounded again.
Closer this time.
Darragh headed back to camp and said, “Follow me—if you’re so inclined.” His mock politeness was snider than I cared for, but I did as he said.
Next to the firepit, Darragh pulled on a lengthy forest green jacket, well-worn and thin at the elbows. If he held still, I half expected to lose him in the trees. Next, he rolled up the mat I’d slept on, and shoved it in his bag. The mat, though much larger than the satchel, disappeared neatly inside. Pulling a length of cord from his wrist, Darragh tied his hair in a half ponytail. “I can show you why we must leave.” He walked away, pausing to glance at me. “Unless, of course, you’d like to save us the trouble and trust me?”
“I’d love to see for myself.”
Darragh’s response was a squinty eyed smile that said, ‘ Of course you would .’
I followed Darragh to a break in the trees. A brown flatland, interspersed with dull shrubs and large grey rocks, stretched before us. Against the far-off sky, white tipped mountains jutted from the horizon. The view was spectacular, but—mountains?
I’d never seen a mountain range in my life.
Where am I?
In the middle of the plain, grew a grove of trees. Eerily green, the grove looked nothing like the brown shrubland around it. It reminded me of those old Scooby Doo cartoons, where the book that stood out on the shelf was always the key to a secret passageway.
“What am I looking at?” I asked.
Darragh pointed to the grove.
“Is it behind the trees?”
“No, it’s not behind the trees,” Darragh replied hotly. “Give it a moment.”
Nothing happened.
Darragh stiffened, his impatience palpable. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he shouted, “Hey!” My body tensed against the sudden shout. Still, nothing happened.
Then, as if woken from a slumber, a ripple passed through the trees. At first, I might have dismissed it as a breeze, but one by one, the trees came to life. Dirt erupted as roots tore free from the ground. Slowly, the trees dragged themselves in our direction.
“We should leave.” Darragh tugged my arm. “Hastily.”
“I don’t understand.” I resisted. “The trees are…walking?”
“They’re not trees,” Darragh said, pulling me away. The trees quickened; the entire grove scuttled forward like a giant centipede. As the distance between us lessened, I gave in to Darragh’s insistence. Without letting go of my arm, he pulled me into a run. We headed back into the wood, dodging trunks as we ran. From behind, Darragh’s voice shouted, “Hey!” again. I tried to look, but Darragh yanked me ahead. “It’s mimicry. Do not stop running.”
If I were to construct a list entitled, One hundred things Eleanor Noll is good at , you wouldn’t find cardio on it. If I were to construct another list entitled, One thousand things Eleanor Noll is good at … No. You still wouldn’t see cardio. If Darragh hadn’t dragged me along after him, I surely would have fallen behind to be eaten. We hurtled through the wood, ducking under branches and avoiding thick trunks. Darragh halted. A wide stream flowed at our feet.
Booming crashes erupted as trees snapped and fell behind us.
Yanking me close, Darragh scooped my legs and swung my arm around his neck. He ran and leapt across mossy stones scattered throughout the stream. How he did it without falling, I’ll never understand. We landed safely on the bank; Darragh put me down and backed away. He started to apologize, but several loud thuds, like heavy logs hitting the dirt, snapped our attention back to the other side of the stream. The sparse riverbank was now dense with massive trees, which hadn’t been there moments before. They stood on the bank like sentinels.
I swore there were faces in the knots of their bark.
“They won’t cross the stream,” Darragh said, and walked into the golden plains that stretched before us. Struggling to catch my breath, I hurried after him.
“Uh, won’t? Or can’t?”
“Let’s not find out.”
We walked in silence until the stream was out of sight. While Darragh seemed content to continue that way, I couldn’t contain my curiosity any longer.
“Where are we?”
“Hiraeth.” Now free of danger, Darragh resumed a cold, grumpy demeanor. He spoke in short sentences and one-word answers.
“Where’s that?” I prodded.
“Far away.”
“How far?”
“Far.”
“Like, Europe?”
“No.”
“Farther than Europe?”
“Yes.”
Were the veins behind Darragh’s temples always so prominent?
Where on Earth could we be ? I thought to myself. A raindrop struck me. Odd, there wasn’t a cloud in sight. I touched my hair. Dry.
“We’re not on Earth,” Darragh replied.
“What does that mean?!”
“We’re just not on Earth!”
I scrutinized Darragh. After ten seconds of silence, I continued. “Why did you bring me here?”
Wherever here is.
Rather than answer, Darragh asked, “What do you remember from last night?” I scrunched my nose. I hated when people answered a question with a question. I tried to remember, but everything was fragmented and foggy. Had someone put something in my drink? Is this what roofies felt like?
“I remember leaving the café…” Turner’s face appeared again. This time, I recalled an intense, stabbing pain in my side. “Did Turner hurt me?”
The muscle in Darragh’s jaw clenched. “He did.” I remembered Turner lunging at me, and a furious, burning rage. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted to…a sickening weight settled in my chest.
“Did I kill him?”
Perhaps reluctant to upset me, Darragh grimaced. “He wasn’t alive when we left.” I looked away. My sniffles broke the silence. “Hey,” Darragh started. “That man attacked you. He’s lucky he was allowed to die so quickly. Do not grieve him.”
“I don’t remember anything else,” I muttered. I groaned and massaged my temples. “So, it’s true. I’m one of those people. The ones on the news.” The words quivered as they left my mouth, and I bit my lip, refusing to cry again.
“Would that be so horrible?” Darragh watched me for an answer.
I didn’t give one.
“What do you have against people with magic?”
“I’m not prejudiced, I just…”
Why was the thought of possessing magic so frightening? “What if I hurt someone—” I caught myself, realizing I’d already done so. My side ached, and I rubbed it. Freak bitch: that’s what Turner had called me. I thought of all the articles I’d seen about people with magic, the horrible names and death threats left beneath them. “And what if someone hurts me?”
Darragh remained silent.
“I’m just—I’m so tired. I just want to be left alone with my cat. I’m not strong enough to handle anything else.”
Why was Darragh being so defensive, anyway?
Oh.
I thought myself idiotic for not figuring it out sooner. “You’re one of those people, too?” A disheartened chuckle escaped Darragh’s lips. He raised his hand and a ball of flame kindled to life in his palm. “Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”
Clenching his fist, Darragh extinguished the flame. “You would have fled.”
He was probably right.
I kept that to myself.
“Well, what else can you do?”
Perhaps anticipating an entirely different reaction, Darragh seemed taken by my enthusiasm. The corner of his lip turned up in a tiny, crooked smile. For a moment, the charming man I’d met at the café returned. “Lots of things,” Darragh replied. “Like everyone else on Hiraeth.”
“You’re all…magic?”
“Most of us. To some degree.”
“And it’s magic, like, actual magic?”
“It looks like magic to you but, it’s just energy we convert into power.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” Darragh shrugged. “We’re born that way.”
Unconvinced, I repeated, “You’re all magic?”
“Yeah. The amount varies from person to person, but yeah. We’re all magic.”
“So, what—you just pop out of the womb, and can do all this powerful stuff?”
Realizing this would not be a quiet walk, Darragh heaved a great sigh. “When we’re born, our parents train us in the basics. Pulling.” Darragh’s hand shot out. A large, dead log that lay next to the path lifted and flew toward him. My hands shot up to protect my face, but the log stopped in front of us, suspended in midair. Darragh continued. “Pushing.” The log arced away and crashed on the ground. “Stuff like that.”
“And what about the…not basics?” I nodded at his hands. “Can everyone do the fire thing?”
Darragh’s face clouded. “They cannot.” I watched him expectantly and he sighed. “Most of us are good at a few specific things. We inherit it from our parents.”
“And then what?”
“Children are trained based on whatever magic they excel at. If a child has a propensity for healing, they’ll train with a healer. It’s just like Earth, if you’re good at something, and you have the means, you can make a career of it.”
“Is it hard to learn?”
“Magic is powerful, and sometimes unpredictable.” Darragh’s voice was bitter when he added, “Learning to control it can be difficult. But it’s necessary to avoid outbursts.”
“Can you teach me?”
“Teach you what?”
“Magic. How to control it.”
Darragh grimaced and scratched his nose. “I don’t think I’m the right person to do that.”
“Why not?”
Darragh rubbed the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t know where to start. You’re an adult; it’ll be a lot more difficult. You could kill someone.”
I winced.
“Sorry.”
“So, what do you do?” I asked.
“Hm?”
“What sort of a career does a fire-starter have?”
It seemed an obvious question, yet Darragh seemed surprised. His jaw tightened, and he lowered his gaze. “Don’t call me that again.” An uncomfortable tension settled between us. Darragh was done talking.
On one hand, I really wanted to know more about his magic, but…
I’m worlds away from home.
I’m trapped here with him.
The first day we’d met in the café, Darragh looked at Turner and said, ‘ Do you want me to get rid of him ?’
A shadow of unease crept into my bones.
I didn’t ask any more questions.
For now, I followed the strange magical man into the wild. Over my shoulder, both the stream and the tree monsters were nearly out of sight. As my feet carried me farther and farther away, I wondered:
How am I ever going to get home?