Dolmarehn - Book Two of the Otherworld Trilogy Read online

  “I just haven’t been able to sleep. Restless, I guess.”

  I had considered telling my friends who, what, I was at some point in the future, but that consideration only lasted for a few ridiculous seconds. True, it would make my life a whole lot easier if they knew of my Faelorehn ancestry, but they would never believe me. And I’d no idea what the repercussions might be for flat out telling mortals about the Otherworld. Finding out on their own was one thing, laying it all out in front of them was quite another. Besides, I didn’t want that to be another tool the Morrigan could use against me.

  A brisk wind rustled through the eucalyptus trees and forced a few of the remaining leaves on a sycamore to break free from their branches. I tilted my head back and shut my eyes again. My friends were free to form their own ideas, as twisted and inaccurate as they might be. At least it would keep them safe for the time being.

  The bell sounded in the distance and I groaned. I just needed to survive the next few days of school and the game, and then I could sleep all day Saturday. Well, as long as Meridian did the same.

  * * *

  Friday night held a crisp chill, typical early November weather on the Central Coast. Robyn picked Tully and me up that evening, all three of us wearing long jeans, a jacket and our warm shoes. We had made some effort to wear our school colors, pale turquoise and black, but on the whole, we valued comfort over style. Definitely not the most school-spirited lot, my friends and I. That sort of enthusiasm belonged to the jocks and popular crowd.

  The parking lot was jam-packed so we parked a block away from campus. Robyn grumbled the entire five minutes it took to walk from where we’d left the car to the stadium. Tully and I only hid our grins. Perhaps complaining made Robyn warmer.

  The stands brimmed with people, the Black Lake High fans on one side, our opponents, dressed in red and silver, on the other. The fact that I didn’t even know the identity of our team’s rival should have been a good clue as to how much I wanted to be at the game. You’re here for Thomas and Will, I told myself. Robyn’s aptitude for tardiness brought us in just as the floats drifted by.

  Michaela West, wearing a tiara and what appeared to be a red robe some long dead king might wear, stepped down from a convertible, grinning like an idiot and waving to the crowd. I snorted. Homecoming queen. Big surprise. I paid little attention as she shed her royal attire and joined the cheerleading squad moments before the whistle blew for the kickoff.

  “How about the top?” Tully asked, jerking her thumb towards an empty section on the far end.

  I nodded. Not only would we be furthest away from the spirit section, but we would also be a bit closer to the band. I grinned and waved at Thomas and Will as we climbed the steps. Finally we were settled and the game started. I tried to pay attention for the first half, following the plays and giving my own, subdued cheers whenever our team earned a first down or stopped the other team’s offense.

  By halftime neither team had scored, so we found ourselves staring blandly at a basic routine from our own cheerleading squad. We shouted the loudest, however, when the band spread out on the field.

  The third quarter rolled around and I went back to watching the game and trading remarks about the lemmings with Tully and Robyn. What we would usually do on any weekend, except tonight we happened to be sitting out in the cold with stadium lights glaring in our eyes and hundreds of other high school students cheering and taking part in some form of drama all around us. I let my mind wander after the opposing team scored their third touchdown, although that fact made me smirk a little. Adam Peders may be the best track athlete we had, but his quarterback skills were definitely lacking.

  Being in my self-directed haze, I didn’t notice anything odd until I caught the edge of Robyn’s horrified gasp. “What the hell?”

  I blinked, temporarily blinded by the lights, and gazed in the direction her finger indicated. I almost fell off my bench.

  “Are those bats?!” Tully gasped in disbelief. “But, bats wouldn’t do that, would they?”

  No. Certainly not bats. They were easily the length of my forearm, and no bat I’d ever heard of purposely swooped down on people, especially not in huge numbers. I understood why Tully thought they were bats, though. They did have leathery wings, but when they passed in front of a stadium light I caught a glimpse of red, a shade that conjured up thoughts of dried blood. No, I didn’t know what they were, but I knew one thing for sure: they were Otherworldly.

  Either their glamour was minimal, or they hadn’t spent enough time recharging in the Otherworld. The screams and shouts of confusion around me suggested other people could see them, but apparently everyone believed they were bats. Perhaps they’re merely disguising themselves by using the image of an earthly animal, I thought. Regardless, they made my skin crawl and my mouth dry up.

  One of the faelah swooped down near us and we screamed, lurching back into the people sitting behind us. This time I got a better glimpse as it swiped long, needle-sharp claws at me. The face was cruel, not cute like a bat’s, and four curved horns protruded from its ugly head.

  As the demon-bat dove at us again, raking its claws for a second time, I covered my head to protect my face. A sharp sting, followed by a burning sensation, blistered across my exposed hand. I gasped and pulled my hand close. A long, nasty cut ran from my pinky to my thumb. The edges of the incision looked burned.

  I bit my lip and risked a look. There seemed to be more creatures, but they weren’t really attacking anybody, just diving at them and sending them scrambling from their seats. As one crossed in front of the lights again, I noted a long tail ending in a barb. Was that what had cut me? Far below, the game continued on, the players and refs un-harassed. To my great relief, the opponents on the other side of the field seemed safe from this attack as well. Oh, of course. The faelah were after me.

  “Come on,” I hissed to Tully and Robyn, “let’s get to a lower level. Maybe there are a lot of bugs up here or something.”

  They nodded and, using our jackets as some sort of cover, we climbed down the stadium steps and made our way to the understructure. The last thing I wanted was for my friends to get hurt because I happened to be sitting next to them.

  I felt safer under the stadium seats, but the screams of the spectators chased after us as the faelah dove at them, trying to get to me. They must have been programmed to hunt Faelorehn, or me in particular, because between the spaces in the seats and other peoples’ legs, I spotted the demon bats, trying to sniff me out. Maybe being under the stadiums wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  “Gross!” Robyn hissed as she avoided a wad of gum. “This place is like a dump!”

  I couldn’t help but agree as we kicked aside old soda cans, water bottles and empty food wrappers.

  The whistle blew on the field above us, announcing another touchdown for the opposing team.

  “I say we get out of here,” Tully mumbled.

  “Good idea,” I agreed, grateful I didn’t have to come up with some other excuse.

  We’d seen Thomas and Will, and the faelah didn’t seem to be going away. I didn’t even want to think about what might happen once we reached the parking lot.

  We picked our way towards the edge of the stands, Robyn cursing when she almost got hit with a wad of something being spit out from above.

  “Cretins!” she hissed.

  Once we were out in the open my anxiety took over and I started noticing the cut on my hand. I stole a glance at it, using the orange street lights to get a good look. I grimaced. The gash was worse than before.

  “What did you do to your hand?” Tully asked, concern etched in her voice.

  “Nothing,” I mumbled, trying to hide my fist in my jacket pocked.

  “Lemme see.” She pulled my arm free and I winced as she turned my palm over to assess the damage.

  “Meghan! How did you do this?”

  “Um . . .” One of those demented faelah bat things scratched me with their talons . . . “
I cut it on a piece of metal under the stadiums.”

  “You’d better get a tetanus shot then,” Robyn said, not breaking her stride as we drew closer to the street where she’d parked.

  A sharp screech made me flinch and pull my hand free of Tully’s examination.

  “Watch out!” Robyn yelled as she broke into a run.

  Apparently, the faelah had found me.

  We ran the rest of the way back to the car, Tully and Robyn shrieking like a pair of helpless girls from some horror movie, me just praying we’d reach the car before those things attacked me again.

  Robyn whipped out her key and got her car unlocked in record time. We all piled in and I managed to slam the door shut right before one of the faelah dove for me, its grotesque form slamming into the window instead.

  “What the frick!?” Robyn exclaimed, breathing hard as she gripped the steering wheel. “First that stupid crow before summer, and now these bats. What have you done to piss off the wildlife, Meghan?”

  I blinked at her, my face draining of color. I’d hoped they’d forgotten the incident with the raven . . . I took a deep breath. Things could be worse, Meghan; at least they aren’t seeing these creatures for what they truly are.

  I merely shrugged and said, “I have no idea, but let’s get home before anything else weird happens.”

  “Yeah, really,” Robyn muttered as she turned the key in the ignition. “What next? Goblins and werewolves?”

  I’m not sure if I covered my flinch well or not. Stick with me long enough and you might get your wish.

  * * *

  The next morning I woke to an intense pain in my hand. I groggily climbed out of bed and cradled my right arm against me. I shuffled into the bathroom only to be greeted by a hungry Meridian peeking up over her box.

  “I’ll feed you in a little while,” I groaned, my eyes still half closed. As much as I dreaded what I would find, I had to examine my injured hand.

  I fumbled for the switch and squinted as the light glared on. Eventually, my eyes adjusted and I stole a peek at my right hand. I almost sobbed in shock. The cut from the night before appeared to be in much worse shape. My hand was swollen and pussy and I could barely move my fingers. If only I hadn’t broken my geis last spring, I wouldn’t be suffering from the nasty side-effects of a faelah attack. Oh well, too late now. And even worse: there was no way I was going to be able to hide this from my parents.

  Soap and water made the wound sting. Peroxide made it sting even more. Gritting my teeth, I dabbed on some ointment and wrapped it up in gauze, but it didn’t do much good. The pain lingered and my entire hand felt hot.

  Fergus was at my door when I emerged from the bathroom. To my vast relief, he had captured something small. Meridian had grown much faster than I had thought possible, and she was able to strip off her own meat as long as whatever I gave her wasn’t bigger than she was.

  I picked up the animal’s reedy tail with a paper towel and marched back towards the bathtub. My spirit guide let out a screech of impatience and pounced eagerly when I dropped the Otherworldly rodent in her box. When I stepped back out into my room, relief flooded me as I caught sight of the white wolfhound. I cleared my throat and moved forward.

  “Fergus,” I said, feeling ridiculous, “I need you to take a note to Cade.”

  I grabbed some paper and a pen from my desk and quickly wrote a message describing what had attacked me and how the cut had become terribly infected overnight.

  Carefully, so that I didn’t agitate the wound, I folded the note and tied it to Fergus’ collar.

  “Take that to Cade as fast as you can,” I whispered, patting his head with my good hand.

  He whined softly and turned away, jogging back down into the swamp. I hoped he had understood.

  I stood up and got dressed, careful not to bump my hand. As I had predicted, Mom threw a fit when she spotted the cut.

  “What on earth did you do to your hand?!” she demanded.

  I wanted to chuckle. Well, nothing on earth did this . . .

  Instead, I stuck to the story I told Tully. “Cut it on a sharp piece of metal on the stadium seats last night.”

  Mom grabbed her keys and purse. “Peter, watch the boys. Meghan, we’re going to the emergency room right now to get you a tetanus shot.”

  I groaned. I hated shots, but there was no way to get out of this one. Although I knew a vaccine probably wouldn’t do any good, I suffered the visit to the health clinic and came home with a polka-dot band-aid on my arm. The doctor had also insisted on cleaning the cut, which hurt ten times as much as the shot. I tried not to grimace too badly when she washed it and re-bandaged it, but I’m sure I acted like a wuss.

  “I’m going to go take a nap,” I muttered once we got home.

  “Good idea,” Mom said, “let that nasty cut heal.”

  Meridian greeted me with her usual chatter as I entered my room, so I took her box out and placed it on the table beside the bed. I was amazed at how big she’d grown. She had most of her feathers too, and only a few patches of fuzz remained. I’d never heard of a baby bird getting all its feathers in only a week or so after hatching, but perhaps spirit guides were different.

  Yawning, I pulled on a pair of boxer shorts and an old t-shirt before snuggling into bed. To my relief, sleep came almost instantly.

  * * *

  I must have slept much longer than expected, because the next time I woke it was to the sound of something tapping on my sliding glass door. I groaned and tried to open my eyes, but a searing headache made that feat impossible. I shifted under my comforter and gasped. My whole body ached and I felt clammy, but from the way my hand throbbed I imagined some flesh-eating virus was wreaking havoc on my skin.

  Fighting the tears of pain that were gathering in my eyes, I curled up into a ball and took slow, deep breaths.

  This couldn’t be good. The tapping at the door grew more urgent, but I ignored it. Whoever wanted in could just go away. Couldn’t they see I was sick?

  When the annoying noise didn’t stop, I turned my head on my pillow to glare at them. I could barely make out a human-shaped figure against the dark night sky, but I had no trouble recognizing the ghostly white dog beside him.

  Crying out in joy and exhaustion, I used my uninjured hand to push myself up. I think I fell out of bed, but I managed to crawl across my floor, stretching my good arm upwards. With a final burst of energy I switched the lock so Cade could get in. The swish of the door sliding open and a breath of frosty air greeted me as I collapsed to the floor.

  “Meghan!”

  Strong, gentle arms lifted me and carried me back to my bed. I turned my head, not caring about how needy I appeared, and pressed my face into Cade’s shoulder. His scent filled my nostrils and immediately my headache eased off. I found comfort in the smell of the wild winds and deep forests of the Otherworld. I smiled and allowed myself to doze off.

  “No Meghan,” Cade murmured.

  His voice sounded deeper than usual, raw even. I would have wondered why if my mind hadn’t been so fuzzy.

  “Drink this,” he said, pressing a flask to my lips.

  I obeyed without hesitation. The liquid cooled my throat and reminded me of mint and raspberries. I took one more sip, then another.

  “Good girl. Now you can rest.”

  Nothing more than a whisper. Before I drifted off, something soft and warm pressed against my forehead. Cade’s lips, I realized. I wanted to giggle. Why did he only kiss me when I was about to die? But I felt nothing beyond that and soon I succumbed to darkness.

  * * *

  “Meghan.”

  I was having the most wonderful dream. An old castle with a hidden waterfall loomed behind me, and a garden full of colors spread far past my vision. A light summer breeze fingered my hair, and the air smelled of wildflowers.

  “Meghan.”

  I stood on the stone roof overlooking a small river snaking through green fields resting below tall, forested hills. My heart fill
ed with warmth and a wave of bliss lifted me. Someone called my name. I turned to answer them, but before I could glimpse their face, someone drew me away from the enchanted place.

  “Meghan, you need to wake up now.”

  I blinked in irritation. Who kept bugging me and why would they take me from this wonderful world? Whoever it was put their arms around my shoulders and started lifting me up. I swatted at them.

  “No,” I mumbled.

  “Meghan, look at me.”

  The voice again, stronger this time. I opened my eyes.

  “Cade?” My voice crackled silently. “What are you doing here?”

  I turned my head to make sure I was still in my room. Yep. I’d recognize that messy desk anywhere. The sudden realization that Cade held me close, in my own bed, made the grogginess vanish with a flash. I tried to push myself up, but cried out when I put weight on my right hand.

  “Easy now,” Cade murmured.

  He loosened his grip and eased himself away from me, letting me lean back against my pillows.

  Embarrassed, I smiled sheepishly and instantly became aware of the mild throbbing of my hand. That is when everything from the weekend flooded my mind. The football game. The flying faelah, their sharp claws raking at my skin. The sickness I experienced afterwards. And then last night . . . I shook my head and winced at the remains of the pounding headache. I’d been terribly sick, but Cade had come.

  Taking another deep breath and pushing aside my humiliation at how awful I must’ve looked, I glanced back up at Cade. He stood only a few feet away from my bed, his hands relaxed at his sides, his gaze focused on me.

  I bit my cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  Cade’s sigh sounded overly relieved. Was he afraid I’d be mad at him? Of course he was. I had just acted as if he’d been a stranger barging into my room to take advantage of me.

  Putting on a face of bravado, I reached out my good hand and sought his. He stiffened, but took it gently, his fingers warm and dry. Mine were still clammy.

  “Really, I’m sorry Cade. I didn’t mean to act so crazy just now, I-”