“Your hair’s going to dry terribly curly,” Deirdre said, “but I’ve got the worst tangles out. Clodagh, I can’t believe how brave you were to go and fetch Finbar back. And even braver to rescue this man of yours. I could never have done that. I’m sorry you’ll be living at Inis Eala. It’s so far away, we’ll hardly ever see each other.”

I turned and put my arms around her. “I know, and I am sad about it,” I said. I would miss her. She would always be my twin, the sister with whom I shared a special bond. But I knew in my heart that the prospect of living on the island with the man I loved had quickly relegated the rest of my family to second place. My world had changed. Over the season since Johnny had brought Cathal to Sevenwaters, I had changed more than I could have believed possible.

CHAPTER 17

CHAPTER 17

I had expected to fall into a death like slumber as soon as Deirdre left, but my thoughts kept spinning in circles and after a while, realizing I would not sleep, I rose and dressed again. I went to find my younger sisters, wanting to thank Sibeal once more for her help. Sibeal said there was no need for thanks; she had simply done what a sister should do. Eilis bombarded me with questions about my visit to the Otherworld.

“Were there people with wings, Clodagh? What kind of horses did they have? And what about the food? In the stories it’s supposed to be so delicious that humans can’t stop themselves from eating it and then they have to stay there forever. Or they get back home and then pine away with longing because human food tastes like ashes.”

“The only thing I tried was water from a stream,” I said, feeling as if I were a disappointment. “It doesn’t seem to have done me any harm.”

“But what about Cathal?” Eilis was insistent. “You said he was there ages and ages. He must have eaten the food.”

“Well, yes,” I said with some reluctance. “But the rules would be different for him.”

“Why—oh, you mean because he’s a sort of half and half?”

“That’s right.”

“And perhaps the reason Clodagh could drink the water safely,” put in Sibeal, “was that there’s one of the Old Ones in our ancestry, so even we have a little thread of the Otherworld in us.”

This had not occurred to me, but alongside the other oddities of the last few days it sounded perfectly plausible.

“Did you see Deirdre of the Forest?” Eilis asked.

“No,” I said. “I thought I did, but it was someone else. Eilis, it may not be a good idea to talk about this too openly, not while there are so many visitors in the house.”

“Can I talk to Coll about it?”