The Night Mage by April Swanson

Author:April Swanson [Swanson, April]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-04-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Faol placed the heads on the floor, in the middle of his room. He pushed the chairs up against the hearth, the table too. He walked to the sky door and whispered words I couldn’t hear. I sat on the edge of the bed to rest my legs. I kept my eyes on Faol at all times. Couldn’t let them drop to the monstrous heads curled up on the floor.

“Time is not straight,” Faol said.

I recalled something Moranda had said, about the Otherworld. A world of magic and demons, where time is twisted, and names carry power.

“In the Otherworld,” Faol continued, “time does not move in a straight line, from here to there.” He crossed the floor briskly, avoiding his mother’s shrunken head, and sat beside me on the bed, his back straight, hands folded neatly in his lap. “All of time is wound up in a ball. Everything that was, everything that could be, it’s all pressed together. You’re at once alive and dead and unborn.”

“I’m trying to understand.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter if you understand it fully. I only wanted you to know where I’m taking you.”

“To the Otherworld?”

“Yes. To the past. To the moment my mother and the demon merged as one. The moment she was possessed. It’s possible because of the heads. Because of Moranda’s magic. She believes it’s crucial to understand how demons enter our world, so we can stop it from happening again.”

“And both of us are going?”

“I need you, Aideen.” He reached for my hand. “I need you beside me, to make sure I don’t falter. I’m frightened, Aideen. I’m frightened of what I might find.”

And I was frightened too. Terrified, in fact. But I said, “I’ll be with you, Faol. If something goes wrong, I’ll scream at the top of my lungs.”

He smiled – it had been too long since I’d last seen him smile – and said, “I have no doubt. Can you stand?”

“I can stand.”

“Are you afraid?”

“No. I trust you to keep me safe.”

“You’re a good liar, Aideen.” He lifted his arm, bringing up our entwined hands. “Don’t let go of this, no matter what happens.”

“I won’t.”

His face hardened. “There’s nothing left to say or do. I have to face whatever’s waiting for me.”

“You are strong, Faol. You can do it.”

We stood on the floor beside the shrivelled heads. I squeezed Faol’s hand with all my strength, no matter the pain in my arm. I wanted to believe I could do the same: face my own mother’s death. It was true I had some of my father’s steel, but possibly not enough.

Faol began his spell. This time, there were no other magical objects, not even his wand; only the three heads on the floor.

The room darkened. The details blurred. A shimmering door appeared before us. Colour licked the edges, pulsing all the colours of the rainbow – even more colours than Faol’s hair and wardrobe combined. When he stepped forward, I did too. And the door opened for us, revealing light of glittering gold.

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