told me to stay put.”
“That’s why there was a whirlpool!” Michael announced.
“A whirlpool?” the brothers replied in unison.
“Yeah, just like the one that sucked up Amir last year,” Michael explained.
Ronan had never been prouder to be a water vamp. “That’s why The Well told me not to get involved,” he said. “Everything was under control, thanks to Him.”
“Or Her, or It,” Michael added.
“Whatever,” they said, laughing as one.
Ciaran, however, failed to see the humor. Not because he wasn’t a water vamp, but because he was a scientist. A scientist whose experiment had just exceeded his wildest expectations. “Boys, I hate to strip the gilding from your lilies,” he interjected. “But this isn’t about either of you. It’s about Saoirse.”
After a moment of silence, Ronan was the first to follow Ciaran’s train of thought. “Blimey! You think the whirlpool meant that The Well was somehow protecting Saoirse?”
“Yes!” Ciaran cried.
“That would be borderline amazing,” Michael shared. “Without, you know, the borderline part.”
“Let me guess, Michael. Just before the whirlpool started, Morgandy was about to attack Saoirse,” Ciaran hypothesized correctly. “Is that right?”
“Exactly!” Michael confirmed.
“I was right all along!” Ciaran shouted. “Saoirse
“What do you mean?” Ronan asked.
“Saoirse didn’t sneak out of here without anyone seeing her,” Ciaran explained. “She was taken to a safe place. And there’s no safer place than that Well of yours.”
As Michael and Ronan ran out of the gym on their way to Inishtrahull Island to visit a particular spot buried deep within the Atlantic Ocean, Saoirse was sitting with her back against the cold, stone wall of The Well. Arms wrapped around her knees, Saoirse sighed, half-scared, half-bored, and wondered how in the world she had ever gotten there. And, more important, if she was ever going to be able to get back home.
chapter 25
In three different locations, three different revelations were beginning to unfold.
“What are you two doing here?” Saoirse asked.
“We should really be asking you that question,” Ronan replied. And then, suddenly, he felt incredibly awkward.
Because they weren’t visiting The Well after a feeding he and Michael remained clothed, wearing their Double A track pants over their swim team Speedos, all now soaking wet. They looked like they had gotten pushed into a pool and had only had enough time to rip their shirts off, a look that Ronan, especially, found to be a bit too casual in the presence of The Well. But it was more than that.
Whenever they had made the journey to this sacred place it had been ceremonial and just the two of them; they never ventured here merely to visit, nor did they ever have company. Seeing Saoirse sitting on the ground and leaning against the base of The Well like she was resting against a tree trunk in The Forest in between classes was just a little too weird. “How did this happen?” he asked, his voice a hushed whisper.
Reaching overhead, Saoirse gripped the top of The Well and stood up. “You’re asking me?” she snapped. “Aren’t you the authority on all things water vampire-esque?”
Michael couldn’t help but smile. Even here, standing in the shadow of The Well, the God-like entity that was worshipped by an entire race, Saoirse wasn’t intimidated, not the least bit awestruck.
Standing in her bikini, she rubbed her hands together to wipe away the sea grime and noticed some pieces of dirt still clinging to her skin. She dragged the palm of her right hand down the edge of The Well’s rim and upon inspection wasn’t completely satisfied with the result. “Guess the maid forgot to come in this week,” she mumbled to herself.
This time Michael did laugh. Ronan, however, grew even more tense. Watching his sister act so informally in a place that commanded reverence and respect made Ronan uncomfortable. He knew The Well was protecting Saoirse, he knew that the two were indeed connected in some strange way, but he also knew The Well demanded obedience and decorum and could dispense punishment with the same ease as it bestowed mercy. Then again, maybe Ronan didn’t know The Well at all.
He looked around the cave and saw that the rocks near the ceiling were shimmering with a golden light; he had never noticed that before. The ceiling itself was sprinkled with a silvery dust that sparkled and twinkled, making the entire cave glow. Ronan didn’t know if he had never taken in these details before or if The Well was somehow changing the physical shape of its home, redecorating to welcome its latest guest. Was Saoirse really that special? When he heard the water within The Well ripple, sounding as if someone was plucking the strings of a harp, he was convinced The Well was laughing at him.
Folding his arms across his bare chest, Ronan smirked. “My guess is that when The Well sensed you were in danger of being attacked by Morgandy, the pool turned into a portal and whisked you to safety,” he explained. “Bringing you right here to home base.”
If that were true, then they weren’t kidding. This Well really did have super duper magical powers.
Mimicking her brother’s stance, Saoirse folded her arms. “Plausible, rabbit, very plausible, given, you know, the implausibility of our circumstances,” she agreed. “Even though Michael was doing a jolly good job of rescuing me without any outside help.” Saoirse felt the warmth of her flesh seep into her arms and was overcome with shyness, suddenly all too aware that she had never completely gotten over her crush on Michael and that her bathing suit was quite revealing. That was the last time she would ever be manipulated into trying to impress a boy. “This is all Ciaran’s fault, you know?” she declared. “Him and his bleedin’ experiments.”
Glancing sideways at Michael, Ronan had to give their brother his due. “C’mon, Seersh,” he said.
“You have to admit, this one turned out to be pretty successful.”
“We’re like miles and miles below water, right?” she asked.
Marveling at the truth of the situation, Ronan finally unleashed his enthusiasm and grabbed his sister by her shoulders. Decorum be damned! “We’re in uncharted territory, Saoirse!” he exclaimed.
“Besides that, do you realize that you are the only non-water vampire to ever ... ever! ... cast your eyes on all of this?”
Unable to move her body, Saoirse twisted her head as much as she could, but all she could see was rock and stone. “You realize it’s just a cave, right?”
Laughing hysterically, Ronan let Saoirse go, but held onto his excitement. Needing some sort of physical contact he hugged Michael tightly, twirling him around a few times as Saoirse watched with a stunned expression. “She thinks this is just a cave!”
Equally bemused, Michael was laughing just as hard as Ronan. However, he also understood Saoirse’s indifference. Even though the bulk of her family was comprised of water vamps, she was an outsider, excluded from this miraculous part of their lives. “It might look like just a cave, but it’s sacred ground,” Michael said, his voice more gentle than preaching. “I don’t really know how it works or all of its mysteries, but trust me, Saoirse, your being here is nothing short of a miracle.”
Saoirse did trust Michael, and she got what he was saying. She understood that she was standing amid majesty, touching blessed dirt. She just didn’t feel anything. This place meant nothing to her.
And for one of the first times in her life she understood that she should keep those feelings to herself.
Ronan and Michael didn’t want to hear that she would rather be back in St. Sebastian’s or in her dorm hanging out with Ruby, so she self-edited and joined in with the merriment. “Well then, three cheers for Ciaran!”
