Bridger Read online

  It was impossible to fight Liam’s embrace. Even more frustrating was the fact that I didn’t want to. There was no way Liam was doing anything other than whatever job Jesse had given him; he didn’t really care for me. I wanted this to be real more than anything. I felt the bed shake from Tess’s laughter.

  Tess pretended to shudder. “I don’t think I’ll be able to use that apron again. It may be beyond repair.”

  I was getting annoyed that they weren’t answering my one, simple question. Preparing to sit up, a new voice stopped me in my tracks before even getting a syllable out.

  “Ashlyn Marie McVean, didn't I tell you we’d be picking you up in a matchbox if you came to Ireland with Jamie?”

  My eyes were probably as big as saucer plates. I shot up before even thinking about it.

  I had to be dreaming.

  Standing there was the young woman from my dream at Christmas. Complete with bloody skirt and bow slung over her shoulder, she strode forward, hands on her hips, surveying the damage I had incurred. “Well, Jamie didn’t take too much of a chunk out of you. Maybe you have a little more fight in you than I’ve given you credit for.”

  “Memaw?” I squeaked out, completely at a loss for anything more competent.

  Tess laughed, “I’d say you age well if she already knows who you are, Emily.”

  This was getting ridiculous. Did I have any clue who anyone was? There had to be one normal person in my life. Right? My world had effectively been turned inside out. There was no way Liam had made his story up. I was part of it now. Swaying from the blood returning to my head after sitting up so quickly, I saw black spots in my vision.

  “Liam, get her before she goes out again,” Memaw said, but it was too late.

  Once again my world went black.

  ELEVEN

  Hushed whispers brought me back to the land of the living.

  “Emily, how much does she really need to know? If we can keep her protected, get her out of the country before…”

  “Tess, it’s like I told Sarah. This was set in motion from the minute she met that wretched pixie at school. I’d love to know how Ankou tracked her down in the first place, though. We were under the impression we’d done a fairly good job at keeping her under the radar.”

  Silence. “Why is Ankou even involved? It’s not normal for him to meddle in human affairs.”

  Memaw sighed. “This isn’t completely a human affair, now is it? This has been going on for centuries.”

  Centuries? Jeeze, Memaw was old, but that was pushing it. This Ankou character, however, had looked the bill from the brief but terrifying introduction we had…how long ago? I couldn’t be sure, since Desmond made it seem like it had been old news.

  Irritated, I rolled over to get closer to the conversation. Hopefully it looked like a move that someone who had been practically run over by a truck, then sliced to pieces by their best friend would make.

  Memaw and Tess stopped talking. My eyes were shut tight. They were probably looking for any sign of life from my part. Staying still was crucial to hearing more of this story.

  There was creaking and then a hand was over my chest, checking my breathing. I continued to breathe slow and even breaths, knowing the least variation would give me away. Seemingly satisfied with the charade, the footsteps faded away.

  “I can’t leave her alone. She looks so fragile. I’m already attached to her,” Tess said. “How did you keep her in one piece all these years, Emily?”

  “It wasn’t without effort. It was a miracle she made it through the first three years. She almost died nearing her fourth birthday. That’s when she finally took control.”

  This was something I couldn’t afford to miss. Memaw was giving Tess a rundown of things she had never told me. Why was Tess privy to this knowledge when no one else had been allowed to know? It was all I could do to not lean forward more.

  “I knew Ankou was after Sarah’s child. We had all thought she was having a boy. Really, was there any other chance? We hadn’t had a girl since my daughter, MaKenna, in the 1800’s. You can imagine my shock when the nurse said it was a girl. Ankou didn’t know what to do; he couldn’t steal her away like he’d been planning. As you know, Changelings don’t want females generally. The only female they’ve ever taken is my daughter, MaKenna. That’s how I knew Ankou had come for Peter. I had seen it before.”

  “You had a child stolen, too?” Tess said. The shock in her voice made me feel like I wasn’t the only one getting new information.

  Memaw shifted in her seat. “Right after the war broke out. I thought we were safe since I was supporting their attempts of reign. Ankou and I were in charge of the rebellion. However, MaKenna was too beautiful of a child for Ankou to ignore, even with our intentions in the same place at the time.

  I wasn’t sure what was wrong at first. MaKenna was no longer a happy child. She screamed bloody murder every waking hour. Nothing could calm her or make her smile. She ate constantly, yet never gained weight. Instead, she was withering away before my eyes. I became suspicious. Ankou had not been to any of our meetings for ages, yet no one knew where he was. One evening I came home and heard beautiful music. There was no question as to what would be waiting inside.

  I opened the door and my worst fears were confirmed. Instead of my beautiful MaKenna, a hideous Changeling sat in her crib, playing the pipes that sat by her crib at night. I could see from the jet black eyes this Changeling was eons old. No Changeling’s eyes were that black without years of experience. I knew it was Ankou although I had never seen him in his true form. So when Ankou came for Peter, there was no question of whom it was. I threw him in the fire and called on Morgan le Fay.”

  Tess sucked in a breath. “You didn’t.”

  Memaw laughed. “Tess, I wasn’t always on the straightest of paths. I battled alongside her sister, Morrigan, in the Celtic wars that inevitably sent the Changelings and the turned faeries to Neamar. The only reason my life was spared was because I turned spy for the Glaistig before the war ended. I was human at one time. Morgan and I never saw eye to eye, but she does fight alongside the Glaistig from time to time now. She came and cursed Ankou to live a life of death for eternity; he gathers the dead and near dying."

  “The Grim Reaper,” Tess said, making the connection I hadn’t seen yet. “You’re the one behind the stories.”

  “Indeed I am, unfortunately. For the most part, Ankou leaves others well enough alone and does his job. He just holds the grudge of my causing him to live in his own personal hell, forever aging and never able to die, instead leading everyone else to the other side. There’s no reason for him to interfere in anyone else’s daily lives. The Changelings have given him reign in Neamar, but even they’re afraid of him. He’s vowed revenge for my cursing him and will not stop until he gets it. He knows his Changeling failed that he sent for Ashlyn. In his eyes, I believe he thinks that if he takes Ashlyn, he’ll make up for giving Peter back.”

  Reeling, everything suddenly made perfect sense. I couldn’t believe it, but pieces of my life that had never made sense were all coming together. Memaw wasn’t human. That explained the mood swinging, body snatching tendencies I had encountered with her the past day and a half. Well, week, if you included the dream I had. Apparently I was more on top of things asleep than awake. Realizing the other implications one by one, I finally realized what was wrong with me. My eyes. My constant eating. My horrible infant years. I was a Changeling. An aberration. How had this happened? Before I could scream, Tess broke through the ringing in my ears.

  “Why did they want MaKenna in the first place? Why did they want a female?”

  Memaw let out a low hiss. “I’ll never forget what Ankou said as he left me childless. He said she would make a stronger Changeling than they could alone.”

  Tess gasped. “You don’t mean –”

  “I do. MaKenna is enslaved as a breeder. Once she was kidnapped, I went to the Glaistig. You know they have the power to give Faerie nature to
others. I begged them to change me, telling them the entire story. Once they heard of the treachery the Changelings were capable of, along with their plans, they granted my wish. I became one of them, forever twenty to those in the know, but to humans I would age in time. The perfect ability to be an assassin for the committee of Adaire, yet live inconspicuously to the Changelings. They were under the impression I was still human. That was the trade: an eternal commitment to fight the committee’s battles in order to find MaKenna. It was perfect until Ankou realized I’d crossed over, but I would gladly do it again. Ankou has been trying to create a more powerful half-breed Changeling. He wants to create the bridging race, so that Changelings can survive with humans. Getting revenge on everyone who has ever crossed him is his goal, I believe.”

  “Why Ashlyn? Why now? He already has MaKenna. He has my son, Aiden. He has what he needs.” Tess whispered so low she was almost inaudible. It seemed she was on the edge of her chair. I agreed. Why was I so important if I was already a Changeling?

  “Can you not see it? She’s the same as you, Tess. You’re no longer alone. She’s what Ankou wants to create. She’s a Bridger.”

  TWELVE

  I couldn’t take it any longer. Swinging my feet off the bed and sitting up, I looked directly at Memaw. “You need to explain. Now.”

  Tess and Memaw were sitting at the small table in the corner of the bedroom. Tess opened her mouth in protest by the look on her face, but Memaw held her hand up, stopping her before she began. “You’re right, Ashlyn. How are you feeling, though?”

  Not sure if she meant physically or emotionally, I answered for both. I shrugged and fastened on a sarcastic smile, ticking off ailments one by one. “My chest hurts. My face hurts. My leg feels like it’s been skinned. I’m confused. Other than that, everything’s peachy. Best winter break I’ve ever had. How are you?”

  She smiled at my acceptance of the life-altering news I had overheard. She patted the armchair between her and Tess as she chuckled. “Tess, go get my granddaughter over here in one piece.”

  Tess came over and scooped me carefully in her arms, afraid to injure me any more. My ribs protested at the embrace and I winced.

  As she sat me down in the chair, she apologized. “Sorry, Ash. Maybe this should wait until you are more healed up.”

  This wasn’t getting put off any longer. My attention was solely on Memaw. “What happened?”

  Memaw took a sip of her coffee. “That’s quite an open-ended question considering the circumstances. What would you like to know first?”

  “Well, I’d like to know why Jamie turned into some swamp thing gone wrong on me. And Andy, Ankou, or whoever the heck he was – who he is and why does he want to kidnap me?”

  “You finally met who Jamie really is. She’s a water pixie, or what Faeries call a Merrow. She was assigned to find you, which she did quite well. She also accidentally took your father from us at Ankou’s bidding. She thought it was you on the ice with Chris, not Peter.”

  I recoiled in my seat. Jamie had killed my dad for Ankou. Everyone had a secret life, it seemed. “She said she wanted to kill me. She didn’t say why.”

  “Yes. Ankou has wanted to kill you since you were born. Since you were a girl, technically he was not supposed to send a Changeling for you. Changelings only want male children – they do manual labor for the faeries in Neamar and are taken advantage of as slaves for eternity. You see, humans cannot die in Neamar. They will reach adulthood, then age no more. They spend eternity there, working for the Changelings and the faeries that have decided to be loyal to Ankou. It’s what the religious would call hell.

  When Ankou found out you were a girl, he was in the delivery room with your mother and me. I could feel his presence from the cold air that was hovering around the floor. He had a Changeling with him. Infuriated that you were not the male child he could steal to be my undoing, he left to plan a different attack. Instead, he decided to send a Changeling for you after all, his intent to make you a breeder like my MaKenna so many years before.”

  Memaw’s voice cracked, pain coming through. She closed her green eyes, steeling herself to continue the story. When she opened them again, they were jet black, just like mine.

  “Memaw, your eyes…they change.”

  “Yours do as well, my child. A very rare gift. Actually, you’re the only Bridger with that ability.”

  Tess laughed, “Well, since there are only two of us, that isn’t too rare. Fifty percent chance, right?”

  Memaw looked at Tess, rolling her eyes. “You know exactly how rare it is. Only Glaistig can change their eye color to their will. She has that because of the gifts I was given and passed on to my children.” She handed over a mirror that was on the dresser behind her. “Look.”

  Pulling the mirror up to see my reflection, I gasped. My eyes were a brilliant shade of green. “Memaw, what’s happening to me?”

  “What was going to happen eventually when Ankou caught up with you. You’re doing what your name means: you’re bridging the gap between faeries and humans. You’re the very anomaly Ankou so desires to create. Close your eyes and concentrate. You’ll be able to control it. Your eye color at first, then other things in time.”

  Closing my eyes, I focused on the color purple. I opened my eyes once more and looked into the mirror. Although still green, there was a purple ring beginning to overtake the green. I couldn’t believe it.

  Frowning, I looked back up at Memaw. “So, what happened to me? What am I?”

  Glancing at Tess, Memaw opened her mouth to answer and then closed it. “This is just a theory, but it’s an educated guess, as we’ve lived together your entire life. Ankou did indeed send a Changeling for you. For the Changeling to take a child’s place, they must assume the same body for a short period time as the Changeling takes all the characteristics of the child. When the Changeling attempted to steal your mind and soul, somehow you fought back. In doing so, you trapped the Changeling in your body. Instead of the Changeling taking you, you actually took control of the creature. At this point, you own the creature inside of you and have won your freedom. You’re the second to ever do it. Tess is the only other.”

  “But how’d I do that?” This was confusing, but I knew to trust Memaw implicitly, despite not completely understanding.

  Tess was thoughtful; she was as engrossed in the conversation as I was. Both of our worlds were changing. We were both learning as we went along. “How did I do it? Why are we different?”

  Memaw shrugged, looking outside where Jesse was leading the rest of his gang over the lawn. The sun was rising, which was the indication that they were free to leave their jobs at the university. “We’ll have to finish this conversation later. The boys are back.”

  “Why can’t they know? Are they all human?” I asked.

  “Yes, they are,” Memaw said. “But that isn’t why they shouldn’t hear our conversation.”

  “Then why?”

  Tess looked apologetic. “They aren’t just security guards at the university, Ash.”

  Well, that figured. Nothing was as it seemed; they were probably all running around, beating down crazy green pixies like it was a favorite pastime. Desmond sure seemed to have gotten a kick out of it.

  “Liam told me the folklore before you. He said he wanted to kill the Changeling that took Aiden. Is that what they’re trying to do?”

  Something said I wasn’t far off. Tess and Memaw exchanged a glance. “Tess, head them off and feed them something. I’ll explain this to Ashlyn.”

  Tess nodded. “Will do, Em.”

  With that, Tess strode out of the room and shut the door behind her.

  “Get back in bed, just in case,” Memaw said, hopping up to go to the bed with me.

  Young Memaw was a very hard sight to get used to. She moved with such grace that it seemed as though she was floating. Her bow still slung over her shoulder, I noticed that the ivory was the same color as her cane.

  “Memaw, have you always ca
rried that bow? Like, even when you were old?”

  She grinned. “Yes, actually. I really hated when your mother forced that awful walker on me for a while. I felt quite vulnerable without the bow. The cane is the bow, just concealed.”

  This information was both comforting and disconcerting at the same time. I was sure there were going to be a lot of things to learn about Memaw in the coming days.

  Easing back into the bed, I propped myself up against the wall and the headboard. Picking up where we left off, Memaw continued her explanations. “The boys know who I am. They know they must protect you and Tess because of me. Tess and I met about eighty years ago. That was before she had Aiden and Liam, of course. I realized she was different and we explored what exactly had happened together. The best we can assume is that her drive to live was so strong that it beat out the Changeling. Unable to expel the Changeling completely, she instead locked it away. From what I’ve seen, Changelings cannot control females as easily as males. She was forever altered in the process, though. Tess will not age anymore. When she realized what she was, it triggered the faerie portion of her. I took her to meet the Glaistig, assuming that she would not be able to cross the divide that separates Adaire from the world here. Instead, she was able to cross just fine. From that moment on, we classified her as the Bridger of worlds, which is what you’ll be able to do as well. You can go to either side.

  You’re much more, though, even than Tess. You’re directly descended from me. Although once human, I was a Glaistig when your father was conceived. He was human, but through me he carried the gene to create a Glaistig, something no one ever dreamed possible. You see, Glaistigs are made, not born. You’re living proof that faeries can create the middle race the Changelings are after. You’re everything Ankou set out to create, but he doesn’t know what you’re capable of. He simply wants to take you away from us, assuming he’ll finally break my will and cause me to regret ever cursing him. In the end he wants me to give up my immortality to save you. Then he can ferry my soul to the other side…or hold it hostage forever.”