Ashes on the Waves Read online

  Two men pushed Pa to his knees and one held him in a grip around his neck. Francine, likewise, was restrained.

  After another hard shove from MacFarley that sent Anna to the ground, Ronan pulled her back. “Stay out of it or they will kill you as well. It should never have come to this. They are out of control.”

  “No!” Anna screamed.

  This is not how I’d intended events to unfold. I’d expected to hold her, soothe her, and then leave the world peacefully—well, as peacefully as a hanging death could be managed. Hangings on Dòchas weren’t like those I’d read about. They were more sporting than a typical lynching. The victim wasn’t bound or restrained in any way. Nor was it a quick, neck-snapping death. The object of a hanging on Dòchas was simply raised from the ground and left to struggle until his strength waned. Sometimes it was a lengthy event. For me, it wouldn’t last long. With only one arm, I had half the power of the usual man to keep my windpipe from being cut off.

  “Any last words, MacGregor?” MacFarley asked.

  I looked straight at Anna, the rough fibers of the rope irritating the skin on my neck. “All words of any worth have been said.”

  When she slumped to her knees, I closed my eyes. I imagined her face in the candlelight as she hovered over me in the secret passage. Her beautiful laugh.

  The rope tightened and my feet left the ground. Again, this was not what I’d expected. I thought I could simply remain limp and allow gravity to shorten my suffering, but something in me resisted passivity. I kicked in the hopes of contacting a solid surface and reached above my head with my only good arm to relieve the unbearable pressure on my neck. A loud whistling sound filled my head, but I refused to open my eyes. White stars bounced around on the inside of my eyelids, and over the shouting of the crowd, one piercing scream brokg screame through.

  “Stop! NO! He did not kill my mommy!”

  It felt as though the ground came up to slam into me rather than my falling down to it.

  “He didn’t! He didn’t!” Megan continued to scream.

  I rolled to my side and loosened the rope around my neck, too weak to remove it over my head.

  “Let me go,” Anna said.

  Anna. My Anna. I opened my eyes to find her on her knees beside me. She pulled the noose from around my neck and ran her hands through my hair.

  “What happened, Megan?” Mrs. Byrne asked.

  I sat up and MacFarley moved just behind me. “It is not over yet. You stay put.”

  “Mommy went to put a candle on the water for Daddy’s birthday and she started talking to somebody. I couldn’t hear who she was talking to, but I think it was Daddy. She walked down the steps to the water to go swim with him, but she must have forgotten how to swim because she splashed around and then stopped moving.” Her eyes darted to her mother’s corpse and she burst into sobs.

  “How dare you subject her to this,” Francine said. “All of you should be ashamed.”

  Polly Byrne crouched down to eye level with Megan. “How did the paintbrush get there?”

  Megan shook her head violently. “I don’t know, Aunt Polly. I thought she was waking up because she moved once, but I don’t know. It was just there when they pulled her out.”

  “Did you ever see Liam last night?” Anna asked.

  Megan shook her head. “No. The demon was not there. He didn’t do it.”

  MacFarley threw the noose back over my neck. “Everything she says is irrelevant. She’s nothing but a child. We all know what happened.”

  “No!” Francine shouted. “We do not know what happened, but we do know it had nothing to do with this boy.” She helped me to my feet and then pulled Megan close. “We know this child saw her mother die and we’ll not subject her to another death.” She put her hands on her hips. “Show’s over. Everyone go to work.”

  28

  We loved with a love that was more than love.

  —Edgar Allan Poe,

  from “Annabel Lee,” 1849

  you left a witness!” the leader said. “You are never to leave a witness.”

  “We had no choice. We are forbidden to lure children and you told us the woman had to die no matter what.”

  Muireann closed her eyes and leaned against the cave entrance, ignoring the burning need to take a breath. She would not miss anything this time.

  “They are stronger than I thought. Certainly not typical humans. There is one thing they cannot resist, though—something that makes even the strongest human male weak.”

  Muireann’s lungs ached and she grew dizzy, but she knew she couldn’t surface and let her Liam down again. She had to stay and discover their plan.

  “No human can resist a Selkie.”

  * * *

  Francine poured tea into three cups and delivered them to the table. I had a throbbing headache and my neck still burned, but other than that, I felt nothing but bliss. I’d been given more precious time with Anna.

  “I don’t want you alone anymore,” Anna said. “It makes it easier for them. Please move into Taibhreamh.”

  Francine joined us at the table. “That’s a wise proposal, lad. Taibhreamh is better fortified and you will have a full-time alibi if you are with Anna.”

  “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

  “Impose! What part of this do you not get?” She stood and paced from the sink to the door and back again. “The crazy villagers want to kill you, which we would like to avoid, and I want to be with you. This takes care of everyone’s business, right?”

  “Right,” Francine said, holding up her teacup in salute.

  I almost couldn’t bring myself to point out the real problem with the plan. Any time I had with her was a blessing, but I was becoming selfish. “What happens when you leave?”

  She stopped pacing. “You’ll come with me.”

  I shook my head.

  “Why not?” She took my face in her hands. “I can go to cooking school and open a restaurant and you can paint.”

  “Your parents already hate me. You heard Miss Ronan.”

  She sat in her chair next to me. “Yeah, but they don’t know you yet. Once they meet you, they’ll love you, just like I do.”

  Again, I shook my head. I understood how deep discrimination could go. I’d experienced it all my life.

  “Look, Liam. My trust fund from my grandparents vested a few days ago on my eighteenth birthday. I don’t have to rely on my parents. We can buy our own place if that makes you feel better.” She ran her finger over the burn mark on my neck. “Nobody will try to hurt you. No one will treat you badly ever again. You can leave this all behind and we can be together. Forever.”

  Forever. Surely I would be struck down on the spot if I even dared to entertain a dream so fine.

  “Say yes.” She leaned toward me. “I need you to say yes, Liam.” Her lips met mine, and I was undone.

  “Yes,” I whispered, unwilling to resist her—unable to resist her.

  Francine cleared her throat, bringing me back to earth. “Did you ever find out anything about Anna’s uncle or your mother?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Not much, though. The books and bathtub she left came from the mansion.”

  “And there are hidden tunnels everywhere,” Anna added.

  “We found this.” I pulled the folded portrait of the dark-haired woman out of my pocket. “Do you know who this is?”

  Francine took the portrait from me. She stared at it a long time, brow furrowed. “Where did you get this?”

  “It fell out of a book in the Taibhreamh library. Do you know her?”

  She nodded. “I do. It’s your mother.”

  My mother. The torment in her huge brown eyes spoke directly to my soul.

  “I need to know everything about her. You’ve nev You’ver told me a thing,” I said.

  Francine took a sip of tea. “You’ve never asked.”

  “I’m asking now.”

  She set her cup down and stared into it as if the answer were within it. “She
just appeared out of nowhere one day. She was found on the beach by Brigid Ronan. Brigid took her in and she worked at Taibhreamh.”

  Anna took the portrait from Francine. “How long was she there?”

  “Not long. Brigid brought her to me several months later saying she could no longer stay at Taibhreamh because the Leighton family wanted her removed. The poor girl was with child and had no place to go, so I let her move into the shed. That’s all I know.”

  Anna stared at the portrait. “What did the girl tell you?”

  Francine shook her head. “She never spoke a word. It was as if she had no ability to speak.”

  I took my cup to the sink. “How did the bathtub get to the shed?”

  “Ah, that was an unusual bit of business. Frank Richards hired a group of men from the village to deliver and install it for her. She filled it with ocean water and spent a great deal of time in it. I visited her daily to check on her, and she was either reading or bathing. Very strange, but then, she was a strange girl.”

  “What did Ronan say about her?” Anna asked.

  Francine refilled her teacup from the kettle on the stove and topped Anna’s off. “Not a word. Other than telling me the girl could no longer stay at Taibhreamh and spreading the awful lies about Liam being the spawn of a demon, she’s never talked about her.”

  Before Francine sat, the phone rang in the other room. “Excuse me,” she said, hustling out the door.

  Anna kissed me and a soothing calm radiated out from where our lips met to my outermost extremities. “You’ll love New York,” she said, and every bit of calm fled as quickly as it had come.

  “Anna, darlin’, your mother is on the phone.”

  Her eyes flew open wide. “Wow. Perfect timing. I was just about to call her.” She winked and ran to the phone.

  Francine gestured for me to join her at the door. I felt awkward listening in on Anna’s conversation. “Lovers have no secrets,” Francine whispered. “You need to know what’s going on.”

  “Today?” Anna said, twirling the phone cord on her finger. “That’s soon.”

  She shifted her weight foot to foot as the person on the other end spoke.

  “I want to bring someone with me,” she said, shooting a look over her shoulder at me. “Yes. Liam MacGregor . . .”

  Her rocking continued as she listened.

  “Why not? . . . That’s a terrible reason. I don’t care what Nicky or his parents think.”

  She stopped rocking and her shoulders slumped. “Okay, fine. That reason makes sense. But I want to come back here the minute the wedding is over . . . Yeah, I love you too. I’m excited to see you as well. . . .”

  She kept her back to us for a while after placing the handset back into the cradle. When she turned, her eyes were full of tears.

  “They only have the two-person helicopter available because they’re se theyusing the other one to bring in people from everywhere for Charlie’s wedding.”

  I wrapped my arm around her. “But they want you there for the wedding. That’s fantastic. Maybe this’ll be the time to mend your relationship with your family.”

  “I wanted you to come,” she said into my shirt.

  “I think my presence would impair your ability to make it right between you and your parents, which is much more important.”

  She looked right into my eyes. “Nothing is more important than you.”

  And with those words, whatever minuscule remaining cautious part of me had been reserved fell the rest of the way in love with Annabel Leighton.

  “I only have a little while before the helicopter arrives. The pilot left already. Will you come with me to get ready?”

  I didn’t want to yield a second of my remaining time with her. “Of course.”

  “I really want you to stay at Taibhreamh while I’m gone. You’ll be safer, and you might find out something about my uncle or your mother. Besides, I need you to keep an eye out for Deirdre until I can find a way to get her off this island. I’m going to talk to some people about it while I’m home.”

  My first inclination was to say no, primarily because of Brigid Ronan, but on consideration, it was an excellent plan. The bedroom doors had locks, which the new house didn’t, and Anna was right, it would give me the opportunity to look around. Miss Ronan, though troubling, didn’t present any real danger that I could tell. She backed down easily when I confronted her. It appeared she derived some of her power from the fear of others. I would no longer give her any power.

  Francine pulled out a package from behind the counter. “Here’s the other set of clothes, and don’t bother coming in to work. I’ll be fine.”

  “No. I’ll stay at Taibhreamh, but I want to come to work.”

  Francine nodded. “Suit yourself. I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

  We didn’t see a living soul on the way to Taibhreamh. It was as if all the angry people we had encountered hours earlier had dissolved into the rugged landscape of Dòchas. Even the mansion itself seemed devoid of life.

  “I moved Deirdre into the green room this morning when we woke up,” Anna said, pulling a long tube with caps on both ends and a duffel bag out of her closet. “I want you to stay in my room while I’m gone. Is that okay?”

  I eyed the secret panel. “Yes. Any idea how long you’ll be gone?” I shoved a dresser in front of it. If anyone wanted to sneak up on me, they would have to climb over the furniture to do so.

  She put some folded clothes into the bag. “Only a couple of days. The wedding is the day after tomorrow and Mom said I could come right back after the rece

  ption.” She zipped the bag. “I really want you to come with me,” she said again.

  “This is for the best. The transition would be difficult enough for me, but being thrown into a high-society wedding wouldn’t be the best introduction to your world.”

  She crossed to me. “You are so smart.”

  I smiled and leaned back against the dresser. The light streaming in through the stained glass flitted across her skin like a rainbow. “I have my moments.”

  She ran her fingers over the rope burn on my neck.n on my “This would’ve been hard to explain as well.”

  I laughed as she kissed my neck.

  “I love you, Liam MacGregor. You know that, right?”

  “And that makes me the luckiest person alive.”

  She looked at her wristwatch. “Mmm. Still some time. What on earth should we do to pass it?”

  “I leave the pre-departure itinerary in your lovely, more-than-capable hands.”

  29

  There was something in the tone of this note which gave me great uneasiness.

  —Edgar Allan Poe,

  from “The Gold-Bug,” 1843

  Please don’t make me do this,” Muireann pleaded.

  “If you want to survive the day, you will do as instructed,” the Na Fir Ghorm said. “The next test is fidelity, and who better than a Selkie to test that?”

  She couldn’t believe her father was allowing this. They’d always lived in fear of the Na Fir Ghorm, but she never dreamed they held this kind of power over the pod.

  “It’s only for one night,” Keela whispered. “Then everything will go back to normal. That’s what they promised Dad.”

  “And you think they’ll keep a promise?”

  “Do we have a choice?”

  The Na Fir Ghorm were watching them closely, but on land, the sound didn’t travel well and they certainly could not be heard.

  “This could be your chance to help him,” Keela said. “Who better than you to go interact with him? All you have to do is spend until sundown tomorrow with him. Isn’t that what you’ve been dreaming about?”

  “No! I have not been dreaming about tricking him.”

  Keela turned so that her back was to the Na Fir Ghorm. “Listen to me, little sister. If you do not do this, they will most likely wage war on us. Is that what you really want? Is it so awful to have to go ashore and shed your pelt for some
human you have already been longing for? Would you rather I do it?”

  “Yes.”

  She snorted. “Well, that’s not an option. They want you because you were a troublemaker in the harbor and defended him. Maybe next time you won’t interfere.”

  “Your time is up,” the leader called. “What will it be?”

  Muireann searched her parents’ faces, but all she found there was a pleading for compliance. Her father nodded.

  “I’ll do it,” she whispered. Never had she imagined that her wish would turn into her worst nightmare.

  * * *

  I arrived at the store right as the sun broke over the harbor. I loved this time of day. There was so much promise in new beginnings, and daybreak always filled me with hope. Today was no exception.

  Anna loved me, and that alone made my soul soar. As much as it pained me to be apart from her, the promise of her return made her absence endurable.

  She would come back and we would leave together. We’d travel far away from Dòchas and the Cailleach. Far from misery and persecution. We’d be together forever. This thought made me want to shout and rejoice. I’d finally be free. Free and totally bound to Anna.

  Something splashing off the end of the pier caught my eye. Perhaps it was a seal trying to break into the lobster pen.

  I ran down the steps, ready to shoo the creature off, but stopped short about halfway down the pier. It was a girl about my age. She appeared to be unable to swim, clinging desperately to the wire pen.

  “Hang on,” I called. “I’ll help you.”

  I grabbed a long-handled net from the rack and sprinted to the end of the pier.

  By this time, she had made her way down the side of the pen and was close to the barnacle-covered piling.

  “Wait,” I said. “Stay there. The piling will cut you.”

  She froze, still clinging to the pen. In the morning darkness and murky water, it was hard to tell for certain, but it appeared she was naked. The water was cold year-round. Cold enough to induce hypothermia if someone were in it long enough. I had to get her out right away. Her lips were tinged with blue.