“Then, all is as it must be.”
“That’s very trusting of you…”
“I’ve seen your soul, Skye Williams,” she declared with a smile. “I know you speak the truth.”
“Oh, goodie,” I muttered.
Aibell laughed and swept her arm wide, her armor clinking. “On behalf of the fae, I welcome you, Skye Williams of the Crescent Witches, and all your people to our world. May we unite once more.”
“Thank you,” I murmured, gazing out over the vista. “The first step to a better future…”
“A fine first step, indeed.”
**
Stepping through the portal underneath the hawthorn was a rush.
I burst out of the trunk with a yelp, almost falling flat on my ass.
“Skye!” Aileen flung her arms around me and squeezed.
Everyone was still assembled in the clearing, waiting to see what happened. Mairead and Boone held the painting between them, Roy and Sean breathed a sigh of relief, and Mary Donnelly hugged Donkey around the neck.
“Everything is fine,” I said. “The fae…”
“Did they hurt you?” Aileen drew back and began checking all my extremities.
“Mum,” I whined, twisting away.
“Just checkin’.”
“The fae have united,” I explained. “They were gathered on the other side ready to fight Carman.”
Her mouth fell open.
“They were just like us. Waiting for an unknown terror to come and take them, but they found us instead. What a booby prize!”
“Far from it.”
“Things are going to be okay,” I murmured, looking over the extended family I’d found in Derrydun. They were staring at me in wonder, tears in their eyes. It was all a little overwhelming. “No war, no apocalypse. Just peace…and justice. It’s over. It’s finally over.”
“What was it like?” Mrs. Boyle asked, much to everyone’s surprise.
“I’ll tell you all about it at Molly McCreedy’s,” I said with a tired smile. “How about lunch tomorrow? I think we’ve all earned a rest.”
“Hear! Hear!” Roy bellowed.
“Here’s to Skye!” Sean shouted, fist pumping the air.
“Miracles do happen,” I quipped, scratching my head. “Sean McKinnon likes me?”
“Don’t press your luck,” Maggie said with a wink. “All right you lot!” she called out to the villagers. “Let’s go back to Derrydun! We’ve got a pile of snakes to sweep up.”
As they made their way from the clearing, I was showered with more hugs and kisses than I could keep up with.
“We’re still on for spring,” Mary Donnelly whispered in my ear. “I never canceled anythin’, just so you know.”
One by one, they went until I was standing with Aileen, the painting, and an exhausted Boone. My mother muttered something and took the painting to the other side of the clearing to give us a moment. It was a long time coming.
Boone’s gaze was fixed on the ground, his shoulders slumped. The battle had been hard, but his journey had been the most difficult of all. I stood before him, unsure of what to say. After everything we’d been through, it was difficult to know where to begin.
“You have matters to attend to,” he murmured. “And so do I.”
“But…”
Knowing Dub and Dother were still lying on the road in the center of the village made my heart twist. I couldn’t leave Boone to bury his brothers on his own. No matter what they’d done, they were still his flesh and blood. I had to help him.
“I must do this on me own,” he said, combing a hand through my hair.
“Are you sure you’re not telepathic as well?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.
“Just…” He sighed, and let me go.
I nodded and brushed my thumb against the engagement ring on my finger.
“If you need me,” I began.
“I will find you,” he replied. “I always do.”
I was frozen to the spot as I watched him go, a strange melancholy blooming in my heart.
“Let him be,” Aileen said, coming to stand beside me. “He’ll come back when he’s ready.”
“You were right about the spirit.” I glanced away from Boone’s receding form, unable to watch him walk away again. “It was Siobhan. Carman’s sister.”
“Carman’s sister? Oh, cac…”
Now that we were alone, we sat on a fallen log overlooking the hawthorn, and I explained it all to her. The vision, Carman’s story, what had happened to Boone’s father, Finn. I left nothing out, and she didn’t interrupt, letting me get it all out.
“I was going to marry my cousin,” I said, my heart more confused than ever. “Siobhan’s blood is mine. That’s why the ritual needed to be performed on me. Siobhan’s blood was the key to breaking the curse she put on Carman.”
“You’re right about that, but Boone isn’t your cousin, Skye,” Aileen said. “He is half Crescent, but he never shared blood with you.”
“How…”
“In the beginning, all witches were one, and when the first covens were formed, they took their bloodlines with them. The Crescents were of many different strands a thousand years ago. The Crescent Legacy was passed on through spirit and still is, though we are the only bloodline remaining. That’s why Siobhan’s blood was mixed with yours even though she was from a different family. When you touched the hawthorn, and it showed you those visions, it allowed her spirit to attach itself to yours. It’s been growing ever since.”
“When I hit my head… Those dreams…”
“I don’t know what that’s about, but I suspect it was her spirit trying to come forth and give you what you needed to face her sister.”
“Where is she now?” I held out my hands and stared at them like they would reveal all the lost secrets of the witches. “I can’t feel her at all. Not that I ever did, but…”
“Her spirit likely lives on beside yours,” Aileen explained. “Her task has been completed, and she can either stay or return to the hawthorn and watch over the doorways with the other ancestors. That’s a conversation you and her will have to have. When you’re ready.”
I rubbed my tired eyes, smearing my mascara.
“It’s over, Skye,” she said, wrapping her arm around my waist. “The witches are finally free,
