Part 38 (2/2)

'You hesitated and I was lost,' said Declan.

'But you're not lost, Decco. Don't you see? At that moment, at the moment when the sun rose, I became fifteen. A fifteen year old boy, destined to become a man and a father, and then grow old and die. But you ... You, Dec ...'

Maurice's words tailed off as emotion choked him.

Declan looked long and hard at his brother, and something seemed to give; some hardness in him seemed to melt away and allow s.p.a.ce for understanding to enter.

With a ma.s.sive effort, Maurice succeeded in gaining control of his emotions. 'It never occurred to me before now that you should feel aggrieved,' he said. 'As far as I was concerned, I was the one who had been left behind. Stuck in a black and white world, while you're out there in the colourful one.' He paused, and then, before his sorrow could silence him again, he continued, 'For ever, Dec. For ever.'

For a long moment, the two brothers stared at each other, and then, quite suddenly, the resentment that had stood like plate armour between them for twenty years dropped away.

'I'm sorry,' said Declan. 'I never thought of those things. I never saw it like that.'

'You're not as sorry as I am,' said Maurice.

The two brothers contemplated each other for a few moments, then Maurice said, 'Are you solid? Can I touch you?'

Declan stepped forward and held out his hand. Maurice took it, held it, then pulled his brother close and hugged him tight. When he released him and stepped back, Tess could see a new light in her uncle's eyes, as though years of bitterness had dissolved away, revealing him as he had been; youthful and hopeful and kind.

'I'll let the children go, Mossy,' said Declan. 'Will you keep the land?'

'You have my word on it,' said Maurice. 'As long as I live, I'll never sell it, nor touch it in any way at all.'

'If I trust you on that, will you trust me?' said Declan. 'Will you let the children visit me?'

Uncle Maurice laughed, a new kind of laugh that Tess had never heard him make before, light and exuberant.

'I will of course,' he said. 'And I'll come myself as well. Picnics with the fairies. You can be sure of it!'

The two brothers embraced again, then broke apart and shook hands. Then Declan took two steps backwards and melted away in the moonlight.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

TESS SCANNED THE SURROUNDINGS, trying to get a fix on where Declan had gone. But apart from a fresh breeze that was swis.h.i.+ng around in the treetops, there seemed to be nothing moving. Uncle Maurice sat himself down to wait for the children and, after another minute or two, Tess returned to the sidhe.

Now that her mind had dispelled the illusion that hid the door in the rock, Tess had no difficulty pa.s.sing through. Inside, she found that the easiest way to negotiate the dim hall was as a bat, and she was still in that form when she whisked through the crawl-hole. The moment she entered the second hall her hearing and her sonar perception were both a.s.saulted by chaos.

She needed eyes. As quickly as she could she Switched into human form and tried to make sense of what she was seeing. In the middle of the hall an enormous bear was throwing its weight around in what seemed like a terrible rage. Beside it, C3PO was trying to calm it in a terribly British sort of voice, while a jackdaw fluttered around its face in a way that was clearly intended to distract it. A few feet away, Kevin was in the process of overturning the table, and the piles of food were cras.h.i.+ng to the floor. 'Help, Tess,' he shouted. 'He's gone berserk!' At last she realised what was happening. Little Colm had finally had enough of being thwarted. His hunger and frustration had become bear-sized, and so had he. It was a frightening situation, but Tess didn't realise just how dangerous it was until she saw what was in the bear's paws. He had succeeded in reaching the table before Kevin overturned it, and he was clutching a bear-sized fistful of sausages. The only thing preventing him from getting them into his bear-sized mouth was the persistent irritation of the jackdaw, which was in grave danger of being swiped by a flailing paw.

There wasn't a second to lose. Tess allowed her instinct to guide her as she Switched, and was surprised to find herself in the shape of a wolfhound. She was already springing forward as she took on the form, and an instant later her jaws clamped tightly around the bear's forearm. But she had underestimated Colm's power. With a bellow of rage, he swung the arm in a great arc, cras.h.i.+ng her into Kevin and knocking him over before sending her hurtling through the air to the other end of the hall. It all seemed to happen infinitely slowly. Even as she was. .h.i.tting the wall and struggling to her feet she was watching what was happening in the fray. The bear knocked the flapping jackdaw aside. His paw, with sausages sticking out like fingers, approached his mouth. And then, when it seemed impossible for anything to stop the terrible progress of fate, the bear turned into a tree.

For a moment, Tess thought that the collision with the wall had jellified her brain. From the expression on Kevin's face as he scrambled to his feet, he was having similar thoughts. But beyond him, just inside the crawl-hole, Declan's smug expression revealed the solution.

'How did you do that?' asked Tess, testing out her bruised limbs as she walked towards him.

'I'll show you,' he replied. 'As soon as I have sent this lot home.'

Orla and Brian had returned to their own forms, and if they were surprised by. what had happened, they didn't show it. But Kevin was shaking his head in disbelief.

'I see what you mean,' he said. 'About the rules changing.'

Declan was picking sausages out from among the branches of the tree and eating them. 'He'll have to be careful, this one,' he said. 'He doesn't know his own strength.'

'He just gets hungry,' said Orla. 'He's good at home and at playschool. He understands.'

Declan nodded and, as soon as all the sausages were safely out of the way, he turned Colm back into a small and tearful human being.

'Don't worry now,' he told him. 'Your daddy's outside. You're going home.'

Colm did a red-booted dance of delight at the news, and Brian hefted him up on to his hip and hugged him. But Orla's face fell.

'Is he cross?' she said.

Until that moment Tess had completely forgotten about Orla's asthma. It was only now that she realised there hadn't been the slightest hint of a wheeze in her cousin's breath the whole time they had been inside the hill.

Declan was shaking his golden head. 'He's not cross at all,' he said. 'In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't half so cross now as he used to be.'

Colm wriggled to be put down and headed for the crawl-hole. But at the point where he had become accustomed to turning into a pig he stopped and looked over at Declan.

'Go home, now?' he said.

Declan nodded. 'Go home, now,' he said.

And Colm was a red fox, scooting out through the small s.p.a.ce as though a pack of hounds was on his tail.

'Me too,' said Brian, and was gone. But Orla hesitated.

'Will you be back soon, Tess?' she asked.

'I ... I don't know,' said Tess. The question had brought back the terrible question of choice, and Tess knew that the ordeal of that night was very far from being over.

'I know it's your birthday,' said Orla. 'Maybe you'll come back and visit us anyway. Whatever you decide?'

Tess was surprised to discover a new respect for her young cousin. Maybe it was the illness that had caused it; the continual struggle for breath and for life, but the girl seemed wise beyond her years.

'I will, of course,' said Tess. 'Even if ...'

Orla nodded. 'Even if,' she said. And then she was gone.

'How did you do that?' Kevin asked Declan.

Declan shrugged. 'Desperate circ.u.mstances call for desperate measures. Like a sausage?'

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