“You clumsy genius you!” I threw my arms around her.
“What? What did she do?” LeAna crowded in, along with Nichole, who took the book from my hands. She opened it, began carefully flipping through the pages. We all circled around her as she began to translate.
“Well, it confirms legend. Before the Danu came to Ireland, they lived on an island. There they had four mythical cities, and each of them contained a Druid skilled in magic and lore. As the Danu mastered the arts of sorcery, they decided to leave, to migrate to Ireland. However, before they left, the master Druids forged five magical items, and gifted them to the Tuatha Dé Danann, to help them succeed in their new home.
The first was the Sword of Light, from which no one could escape. Then the Spear of Lugh, which always met its intended mark. The Stone of Destiny would roar when the rightful king would touch it. And the Cauldron of Dagda, which could provide an endless supply of food. These four, they took with them to Ireland.” She paused, reading on. “But lastly, the Druid masters forged The Bone Knife of Donn. A weapon which could kill any man or beast… or also, any god or immortal being. However, before they left, Dagda the All Father feared that if the Bone knife got in the hands of his enemies, it could mean the downfall of his people. So, the night before their departure, Dagda took the knife, and hid it somewhere on the island, in a place only he would know.”
“You mean the Tuatha?” Katie asked.
“Yes, who else?” LeAna replied with a roll of her eyes.
“Wait. There is a little bit more,” Nichole continued. “The day of their departure Fand, Goddess of the Sea, transformed into a sea bird. Fand cloaked their boats in a heavy fog. This helped shield the Danu from enemies, until they arrived in Ireland. But this fog also cloaked the island. As soon as the Danu left, Fand returned to sea, and the island vanished.”
“Well, that helps. Now we’re looking for a non-existent island,” Katie sighed.
“Not quite,” Nichole said. “You’re looking for the original home of the gods.”
“Oh, that’s easy then. We all know where Mt. Olympus is. Valhalla is a hop skip and a jump away, and Atlantis is a short flight from there. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” Katie ranted.
But for once, she wasn’t exaggerating, and I said “How the hell are we supposed to find some phantom island, that may or may not exist!”
“What did you just say?” LeAna asked, as wheels began turning in her head.
“What part? Olympus, Valhalla, or Atlantis?” Katie said.
“After, about the island.” LeAna said over her shoulder, as she started searching through a collection of ancient maps.
“You mean the mysterious phantom island that went ‘POOF’ and vanished?”
“Yea, that part.” LeAna looked up from her search. “Katie, I think you just did it again.”
“Oh. Thanks… What did I do?”
“You hit on the answer to a question that’s several thousand years old.” LeAna rolled out two ancient parchment maps on the table in front of us.
Nichole looked doubtful, but she started weighing down the corners of the maps with books. “You’ve got to be shitting me.”
“Well, there had to be a reason why the Fomorians couldn’t find the island after they were banished.” I mumbled. “It disappeared.”
“Exactly,” LeAna said. “Look at these two maps. Can you spot the difference?”
We all crowded in, studying the two maps. Both show the United Kingdom. One map was obviously older than the other, but other than that, I couldn’t find any other difference. But then, a small overlooked island off the west coast of Ireland caught my attention. “What is this?” I asked, pointing. “Hy-Brasil? It’s on this older map, but I don’t see it on the other.”
“And not on this map,” LeAna said, rolling out another map. “Or this one,” she said and places the newest map down.
“I see a pattern here,” Katie said. Thank you, Captain Obvious.
“Exactly, Hy-Brasil is only recorded on the earliest maps we have. It’s missing from all the rest. The ones that came after.”
“After what?” Katie asked.
I smiled at Katie. “After the island disappeared, genius.”
Katie nodded, then did a double take. “Hang on. Are you telling me that Hy-Brasil, this phantom island on the ancient map, is the original home of the gods?”
“Right,” Nichole said. “And, we just found out where you need to go.”
“Marvelous,” I said. “Only it’s not there anymore.”
“Not quite,” LeAna went on. “I know of several legends where people claimed to have seen an island surface, just off the coast of Bantry.”
Nichole cuts in. “Yes! It’s supposedly appears only once every seven years, for twenty-four hours right?”
“And after the Summer Solstice. Then it appears during the next full moon.” LeAna finished.
And because I was absent from school the day we memorized all the tide tables in the world, I had to ask. “When is the next full moon?”
“Three days from tonight,” all three of them blurted at once. Apparently they had all studied the Fairies’ Almanac.
“Well dip me in batter and fry my ass crispy,” I said, as we all just stared at each other. I couldn’t be happier. Girl power at its finest! Problem solved.
That’s when the next problem cleared its throat, stuck its fingers in its mouth, and blasted out a shrill whistle. I guess the others saw the problem, too.
“…Yeah…” Katie said, face drooping. “All we need to do is find a phantom island in the middle of the ocean.
I nodded. “How hard can that be?”
“We must go,” Katie grabbed my arm, adding, “We have to tell the guys, and get our asses in gear!” She was already dragging me out of the Vault’s library chamber. I called back to LeAna and Nichole, “Thank you so much for helping us!”
“Remember you owe me one!” LeAna yelled back.
Just as we turned the corner, I stopped in my tracks, next to a small display case with a gleaming knife, sitting
