‘I’m leaving today, ‘I said. I can’t thank you enough for all you did for me. I’ll miss you.’
He nodded and said, ‘Goodbye.’
That’s all he said. I think I would have been disappointed if he said more.
I hesitated before I knocked on Essa’s door. This was going to be difficult. She stood up like a nervous schoolgirl when I came in, and brushed down her dress. She looked fantastic.
‘You’re leaving today?’ she asked.
‘Yes.’
‘I wish you wouldn’t.’
‘It’s not because of you,’ I said. But if I was honest with myself, a lot of it was. I couldn’t get over what she had done to me in the Chamber. I just didn’t think I could trust her again. ‘So I guess this is goodbye.’
She threw herself into my arms. I could feel her warm tears fall down my neck.
‘Oh, Conor, I am sorry. I am so sorry about everything.’
‘I know,’ I said, stroking her hair. ‘I know.’
Then we kissed. Not counting that attack kiss in the Hall of Knowledge, or the movie kiss in the Reedlands, this was our first real kiss. It almost made me want to stay.
Mom, Nieve and Dad were waiting for me in the Room of Spells. Mom explained that it was the most magically charged place in the castle and she could get me back to the Real World from there.
Nieve’s arm was in a sling. I know it was mean of me, but I hoped it hurt like hell.
‘I was wrong,’ Nieve said. ‘I will never again try to force the hand of fate.’
‘Well, I’d certainly be a happier guy if you quit the prophecy-fulfilling business.’
‘I’m sorry you are leaving, I’d like to be a proper aunt to you.’
‘Well-maybe I’ll put you back on my Christmas card list, if you promise to behave.’
‘What is a Christmas card?’ she asked, as another joke bit the dust. Then she kissed me on the cheek. ‘That is what I really wanted to do when I first saw you,’ she said, and left me alone with my parents.
Mom was wearing her new rune around her neck. It appeared to be made of amber but it was almost insubstantial. It looked like if you tried to touch it, your hand would pass right through. Engraved in it was a marking that I didn’t recognise-no one did. ‘Have you figured out what your rune means?’
‘No. When things calm down around here, Oisin and I will organise an expedition to see if there is any new land.’
‘If it is your land, then I know it will be wonderful.’
Mom hugged me even harder than Essa. ‘I only just got you back.’
These women, who were so strong in battle, were killing me with just their tears. ‘I know, Mom,’ I said, ‘but I…’
She pushed back and wiped her eyes. ‘No, no, you don’t have to explain. You have to make your own way.’ She wasn’t the first mother to have to say that. ‘Here, I have a present for you.’ She picked up a velvet bag and took out two Emain slates and handed me one. ‘Write to me.’
I looked down at the wood-framed sheet of gold. ‘Will it work?’ She smiled-my mother is the most beautiful woman in The Land-in any land.
‘It is worth a try,’ she said.
I embraced her again-I thought my heart was going to break.
My father stood in front of me-all of him, right hand included. That was going to take some getting used to. He looked ten years younger, a picture of vitality in his royal clothes, standing in his castle. For the first time I can remember, he looked like he belonged somewhere.
‘You know, you look great, Pop.’
‘Deirdre here thinks I have my immortality back. We’ll see.’
‘What about Cialtie?’ I asked.
‘We’ll find him, and if not, I’m sure he will find us.’
‘Maybe he didn’t survive.’
‘Maybe, but if I know my brother, he probably did.’ He put on his concerned father look. ‘There is nothing back there for you,’ he said. ‘This is your home.’
‘I think I have to find that out for myself.’
Boy, had things changed, he didn’t even try arguing with me. His face softened and he said, ‘I guess you’re right.’
‘Dad, I want to thank you, not just for the recent stuff but for everything.’
‘If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m proud of you, son.’
And then we did something that I never thought would happen. We shook hands.
I woke up on the floor of my living room. I was back. I was back in the Real World and it amazed me how fast Real World concerns flooded into my brain. Believe it or not, it was the first time I wondered, Just what in the heck am I going to tell Sally-or anybody, for that matter? I pushed those problems aside for a minute and stood up.
The room was completely trashed. The tables and chairs were mostly smashed. There was a horrible odour, which I soon discovered came from a pile of horse dung behind an overturned sofa. I surveyed the disaster area and almost said out loud, ‘There’s no place like home,’ but there wasn’t anyone around to hear it, and nobody ever gets my jokes anyway.
