CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 10

The three of them walked by a park a ways down from the Garda station. Catherine found a wooden bench to rest on. She felt weak from the exertion of their errand. She hadn't been out of bed, let alone the house, for some time. Bowen and Danny gave each other glances of concern when they saw how exhausted she was. Bowen leaned against a tree not too far from the bench. Danny sat down next to his sister with a worried look on his face.

“Catherine.” He put his arm around her.

“I'm okay, Danny. I'm just tired,” she lied.

“You're stupid if you actually think you can fool me. Who do you think has been staying at home making sure you weren't suicidal?”

Catherine looked at her brother. He was too right for her to roll her eyes at him.

“You need to start regularly eating again, no excuses. I don't care if you don't feel hungry,” he said.

“Hmm.” Catherine wrinkled her nose and frowned. “You're a good brother, Danny,” she said with a smile. The first smile Danny had seen in a while.

Danny grew more serious now. “Catherine, why is this guy hanging around us still? I mean, who is he really? Did he ever tell you?”

Catherine turned away as she thought of how to explain.

“Too many weird things going on. Without answers about him, it's just creepy.” He sighed and scratched the back of his head with his free hand.

Catherine looked down, fidgeting with a piece of string from the fabric of her pants. She knew he would believe her, but she was still reluctant. A moment passed before she looked back up at Danny and said, “Yeah, he told me who he was.”

Catherine glanced over at Bowen and then turned back to her brother to tell him about Bowen's true identity, the curse, and who the strange woman at the Garda station was. Danny seemed to take the news well, considering. Afterwards he was silent, then excused himself to take a walk alone. Before leaving, he passed Bowen. Danny furrowed his brow and seemingly tried to examine his face for evidence of his very advanced age. Catherine held her head in embarrassment. Bowen stared right back at him, making the awkward moment complete. Bowen's eyes followed Danny until he disappeared into the park. He sighed to himself as he came over to sit next to Catherine.

Catherine had gotten over her brief embarrassment. She leaned back on the bench and looked up at the sky like she usually did on a nice day. The sun was covered by clouds today though. There was no warmth on her face, which always brought her happiness, but rather a chilled breeze that brushed her cheeks and made her shiver. She embraced it. The clouds appeared to be moving quickly above her. The leaves on the trees blew wildly around their grasping branches. Catherine smiled to herself and shut her eyes. She wanted to feel something familiar that she enjoyed again; a feeling she'd had when life was more real to her, more normal. She missed that time. It felt like so long ago.

Bowen looked at the grass between his shoes. He wondered how many blades, if any, were the exact same shade of green. Realizing his mind was wandering, he brought himself back to think of what to do next. He felt lost and frightened, but he knew he had to find a way to stop Conall. He took his right hand off his knee to place under his chin.

He became distracted again, this time by the beautiful Catherine at his side. He found himself fixated on her every feature and movement. He noticed her thick eyelashes that gently brushed against the top of her cheeks, the curve of her lips as they moved into a smile. He wondered what she was thinking about. Her lovely neck was stretched as her head was tilted back. The red hair normally dangling well past her shoulders was in a thick braid that laid casually over a shoulder to hide in-between the folds of her jacket. Bowen's own dark brown mass of hair usually covered most of his forehead but was blown aside in the increasingly cold wind that swept around them. He cocked his head sideways on his hand.

“Bowen?” Catherine said with a smooth tone, unchanged from her position, her eyes still closed peacefully.

Bowen's eyes remained fixed on her. “Hmm?”

“Do you know what we should do about the bad druids yet? Got a plan?”

Bowen chuckled to himself at her phrase. “The bad druids.”

“What's so funny?” Catherine asked, curious.

“Never mind. No, I don't have a plan yet,” he said.

Catherine caught the hint and peeked sideways over at her bench companion. He stared back intently. She snapped back, eyes shut, and ignored the flushed feeling that spread from her chest up to her face and into the roots of her hair. She continued on and said, “I'm going with you, Bowen.”

“It's too dangerous,” he said. “Though there is no point in you leaving Ireland to run from them. No, I must hide you somewhere close by,” he mumbled.

“I'm not leaving you to deal with this alone. Wherever and however you're going to stop them, I'm going to be right behind you.” She rubbed her face with her palms and looked at him. “So, you might as well let me handle it with you.”

Bowen just smiled slightly. This made Catherine uncomfortable. He was too handsome to be how she imagined an ancient druid would look. For a moment she wondered what his ancient clothes had looked like. Even when he annoyed her, she found him charming. This bothered her. She smiled a quick smile back and busied herself with something, in the small purse she'd brought. Though Catherine didn't see it, Bowen's smile got bigger.

Catherine and Bowen heard some footsteps rustle the grass not too far away and they twisted to see Danny returning. Síne was with him.

“I've agreed to be her surety,” Danny said immediately.

“What?” Catherine yelled and stood up.

“If what you told me is true, then she can help,” he said with confidence as he stopped behind the bench.

“But Danny, she's one of Conall's followers. Who knows what her motives are? She could be just as mad as he is.”

“It doesn't matter.”

“Oh, it's okay if she's insane then?”

“Don't. I'll watch her. That's what a surety does.” Danny was more than frustrated now.

“And precisely where did you get the money to bail her out? You're supposed to be saving, not blowing it on just anything right now.”

“Catherine, please,” he said, closing his eyes and taking a breath. “The Gardaí have no idea who she is or what to do with her. They'll be less suspicious if she's not hanging around them.”

“What about how dangerous she could be? You're going to watch her like a hawk every waking moment?” she asked.

“I said I'd watch her.”

Catherine took a deep breath and controlled her voice. “Okay, I'll trust you. I'm sorry, I know you're just trying to help. What I told you was a lot to take in, after all.”

Danny nodded. He figured if Síne did try to escape, she would lead them to Conall. Either way would be a win-win, he thought.

Catherine looked from her brother to Síne, noting her angry gaze, then looked back to her brother. She threw up her arms in exasperation as she abruptly walked away. Bowen stood in silence. When Catherine walked away, he caught Síne's glare toward him before he turned to follow.

Danny shifted his weight where he stood and glanced at the woman next to him. Síne was persistently defiant, but less so whenever Bowen wasn't around. Danny was an intelligent person, and he felt this was the right choice to make. It was going to help bring about the end of the horrific nightmare that had caused Kathleen's death. Danny kept holding onto that thought. He had to stop Kathleen's killer. He had to protect Catherine. Danny felt guilty about not being there for both of them. Maybe he could have stopped it. Fraught with guilt, he buried it deep. He wouldn't dare burden Catherine with it. He could see she had enough problems to deal with.

Bowen caught up with Catherine as she paced around the park. “Catherine, it'll be okay. I'll watch out for both of you. I won't let Síne get away with anything,” he said.

Catherine seemed a little calmer at hearing this.

“I do have a plan, Catherine. Remember, since we can't kill them, we have to trap them again."

Catherine's eyes got wider. “How are we supposed to do that with that many people? We can't involve the Gardaí, and we don't have an army to drag them away to jail.”

“No, we don't. Nothing will hold them.”

“What do you mean then?”

“We have to cast the curse again,” he said seriously as he looked down at her.

Catherine wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stop the chill that went up her spine. She did not have a good feeling about this. “How?” she asked.

“We have to find the remnants of my people, and,” Bowen stopped to think, then he mumbled, “Arlana may have left something for me to fix this there, in case it happened.”

Catherine figured Arlana must have been the priest's daughter who cast the curse in the first place. She put one hand in her pocket and massaged her temple with the other. “So, we have to somehow find a message from two thousand years ago in the ruins—which could be buried, by the way. Also cast a powerful curse, and that's only if we can figure out how?” Catherine couldn't help but sound skeptical.

The corners of Bowen's mouth curved into a small grin, but he was quite serious when he said, “It's the only way.”

Catherine saw the grin but chose to ignore it. “Fine, so what do we do first?”

“There are a couple of things we need to retrieve. The first is easiest I think.”

“What is it?” she asked.

“A staff. It belonged to the high priest,” Bowen answered.

“Okay, where do we find this staff then? Buried in the ruins, I suspect?”

“No, traditionally it stays with the high priest.”

“What does that mean?”

“It's buried where his ashes are enshrined, which isn't where the ruins of my people are.”

“Okay, enough with the cryptic speech, please. Just where do we have to go to get the staff?” Catherine huffed.

“He's hidden away in the mountains, with the staff next to him. When the people of our religious order die, it was always said they should be buried in a secret and sacred place so that enemies couldn’t disrupt their remains, or rob them. The mountains were both sacred and a place of secrecy.”

“Do you happen to know which mountain, Bowen?”

“Traditionally, yes. The same mountain was used for many generations. However, since he died after the curse was enacted, I wasn't around to know for sure. It's possible they moved on to another one, but I doubt it.”

“Great. How is this easiest?” Catherine sighed.

“The journey shouldn't be long, but we should go right away,” Bowen stated.

“I still have my job. I can't just leave, especially after being absent for so long already,” Catherine said. She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of work for who knew how many days more without losing her job. They were understanding before, since they believed her sister was missing, but she would have to return on a regular basis soon.

“It will be a mistake if we wait. There isn't time.” Bowen seemed agitated.

“I'll just go in now and see if I can talk to them.” She turned to go.

Bowen gently grabbed Catherine's shoulder. “What about Danny?”

Catherine looked over at the distant figures of her brother and Síne. She hadn’t realized they had walked so far away.

“I'll call him later. I can't be around that hateful woman right now,” she said, meeting Bowen's eyes with her own again. With that, she left, Bowen following close behind her.