The Last of the High Kings by Kate Thompson

Author:Kate Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780061975721
Publisher: HarperCollins

2

As they watched, the púka lengthened and straightened. He was still mostly goat, but he was man-shaped now. Jenny noticed that whenever he did this, his knee and elbow joints changed direction. That was always the bit she liked the best. He sat down languidly on a rock. Jenny made to go toward him, but J.J. grabbed her by the collar.

“Let her come,” said the púka. “If I’d intended to harm her, I would have done it long before now.”

J.J. let go of Jenny, and she skipped over the lumpy ground and sat at the púka’s feet. Donal, petrified, clutched at J.J.’s sleeve.

“Not a bad day,” said the púka in a conversational tone.

J.J. cleared his throat. “Not bad at all,” he said.

“And where would you be going on such a fine day?” said the púka.

J.J. shrugged. “Oh,” he said, “just strolling—”

“Tír na n’Óg,” said Jenny. “Through the souterrain.”

“How interesting,” said the púka. “Taking the fairy child home, were you, J.J.?”

“Fairy child?” said Jenny.

“Um, well…” J.J. stammered.

“But she’s only half grown,” said the púka. “You can’t take a half-grown fairy child home, can you? Surely that can’t be right?”

“Fairy child?” said Jenny again. J.J. was trying his best to think, but he wasn’t having much success. It was none of the púka’s business what J.J. did with Jenny, but he found himself extremely reluctant to tell him so. The púka’s eyes were yellow with black slits of pupils, more like a reptile’s than a mammal’s. And J.J. remembered how the púka had grown and towered over him in Tír na n’Óg and how he had mesmerized him. He didn’t want to do anything to get on the wrong side of him now.

“No,” he said finally. “Maybe it isn’t right. Not strictly. But Aengus didn’t keep his side of the bargain, and I—”

A delighted laugh from the púka cut him short.

“Aengus Óg?” he said. “You made an agreement with Aengus Óg and you expected him to stick to it?” He laughed again, as though he had never heard anything so hilarious in his life, and J.J. struggled to swallow his irritation. Donal was still hanging on to his sleeve, peering out from behind him. It made him feel protective, and it gave him courage.

“I don’t see why that’s so funny,” he said.

“It’s funny because of all the feckless—”

The púka stopped, because J.J. wasn’t paying attention to him. He was looking at Jenny, who was staring at him with a bewildered expression. Her eyes were wide, and there were tears glistening in them.

It cut J.J. to the quick. Jenny hadn’t cried since she was a baby. Not once, as far as he knew. This was never supposed to happen. It hadn’t been part of the plan. Once Jenny saw Tír na n’Óg she would be so delighted to be home that she wouldn’t mind at all about any kind of deal.

“Who’s Aengus?” she said in a quavering voice.

“You’ll find out,” said J.J., “as soon as the púka lets us through.”

But the púka had no intention of letting them go anywhere.

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