Chapter 2: That Night

Georgie sunk low in her chair and attempted to make herself disappear from the crowded bar. Unfortunately, Kass happened to have different plans.

Climbing up onto her chair, she shouted, "We've got a birthday girl in the room!" for the third time. "Wish her the best!" She called out and lead a drunken, out of tune round of Happy Birthday.

Georgie was in Wales for her nineteenth birthday. She had expected to feel wonderfully liberated at this point in time, but all she felt was mildly embarrassed for her unfortunately tipsy friend, and massively uncomfortable with the amount of attention she was receiving.

Her table, which had started out with just the two of them had grown considerably. Georgie wondered if Kass had even spent any money tonight on her alcohol. The girl had never been drunk before, but had frequently drank with friends. In her father's house, alcohol wasn't permitted as he was a recovering alcoholic. Tonight, specifically, there seemed to be a questionable guy a couple years older than them practically hanging off of her.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

Georgie was pulled out of her musing by decent looking guy, perhaps a year older than her, who was avidly attempting to gain her attention, "No thanks." She replied and offered a rather weak smile. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, but her head was starting to pound, and he was the seventh offer of the night.

She got to her feet and Kass grabbed her arm, jumping up unsteadily herself. "Where ya goin'?" She asked, a little loud- over compensating for noise of the busy bar.

Georgie sighed and rubbed at her head. Before she could answer the pretty boy pulled Kass around and kissed her, then handed her a new drink, since she'd finished her last. While she was preoccupied he winked at Georgie and pointed to a booth in an almost empty section of the pub.

Georgie sighed to herself and pushed her way through the group of school boys, and tried to make it to the washroom. "Excuse me," she muttered repeatedly as she finally made it... and found what seemed like, the only five other women in the busy bar lined up waiting to use it. It was a small place, one where the washroom was a single room and not given over to the stalls that were used in most other places.

Growing impatient in line, Georgie ran her hand through her hair. She really didn't have to go that bad. It was more that she needed a moment away from the noise and silly pups who thought buying her drinks would make her more likely to fall for them. When the only guy using the washroom came out, and there were still four women ahead of her in line, Georgie decided that words on doors were stupid. A washroom was a washroom. And these ones clearly had locks on them! She ducked into the men's room and took her moment.

Georgie wondered how in the world she was going to get Kass, who she thought was having a bit too much fun, to agree to leave. It was supposed to be a fun night out for the two girls, but it really wasn't turning out that way. It hadn't been more than a couple minutes after they'd gotten to the bar when Kass's new friend Cal had come up and used what was, perhaps, one of the cheesiest pick up lines she'd heard and then started buying the drinks. He'd seemed to be followed by a group of well meaning lads who had, apparently, found out they were 'yanks'.

Surfacing from the washroom, Georgianna walked over to the section Cal had pointed out for her, and chose a seat at one of the darker corner booths. A couple seats over, there seemed to be a couple who really should have been looking at finding a room, and Georgie rolled her eyes at their obliviousness.

"Can I help you?" Came a rather dry and obviously male request from across the table and Georgie's head shot up. She met the eyes of a man who was very definitely not one of the rowdy school boys. For the first time in her life, Georgie blatantly checked out another member of the opposite sex and was pleased with the result.

He was good looking, had hair that looked red but the exact tone was hard to tell due to the lighting, and he was completed by muscles she knew couldn't have been made in a gym. However, the eyes looking back at her with little interest said he would rather be left alone.

When she didn't immediately drop her gaze and reply, the hunk across from her sighed, and asked with a very blatant Irish accent whether she was planning to just sit and stare, or explain why she'd barged into his booth.

“Um, sorry." She said, deciding he did actually deserve an explanation, "It's my birthday and apparently everyone wants to celebrate with me.” Although she would rather just have sat and stared, she blinked and added, “I'm not much for a party...”.

"So," he said, speaking deliberately slow, "you decided you would sit with the one man in this entire section," He raised one light colored eyebrow, "in fact, the one man in the entire pub who simply wants to be left alone?" Having finished his piece, he drained the rest of his drink and set it aside.

“Well, I," she paused, stammered, "I didn't know you were here..." Her embarassment was getting the best of her even though she did not want him to make her feel like she needed to apologize. "I was just trying to get away from the noise.” He left his glare in place and simply continued to look, until she felt overly uncomfortable. “I'm sorry." She gave in at last, "I'll, um, I guess I'll go back over there then.”

As she to get to her feet, he shook his head and gave a small, slightly mocking laugh. It irritated Georgie, but when he sat up a bit straighter and said, "No, you don't have to then, if it will bother you that much." She stopped raising and lowered herself back down.

She moved herself into the opposite corner, "Thanks," she said gratefully, refusing to acknowledge the fact that he was still glaring at her. She dug out a couple of ibuprofen, decided it wasn't worth getting up for a drink and raised her hand to her mouth. Only to have her arm grabbed and her hand pryed open.

“That had better not be...” he stopped mid-sentence when he realized they were only pain killers. “They are only pain killers? Not some new drug designed to look like pain killers?”

Georgie pulled her arm out of his hold, and rubbed her wrist, he was just as strong as he looked. Deciding that this time he did not deserve an answer she popped the pills into her mouth one at a time, silently daring him to stop her again. Instead, he sat and glared at her and Georgie, deciding he need a piece of his own medicine, glared back.

"What are you doing so far from home?” he finally broke the silence. Without waiting for an answer he continued in a ridiculing tone, "Wait, let me guess. You're an American and you just graduated college so you're backpacking across Europe, staying in hotels, seeing all the tourist sights, living the life...”

“I am from Canada and I just finished high school. I am here with my friend, Kass” Georgie was starting to get defensive as she pointed Kass out, among the ever growing group of boys. “She's going to school in Ireland so we are spending the summer touring before school starts.”

“Well she better be careful with those lads. Some of them can be real trouble. Trust me.”

“I think she can take care of herself. And what about you? You look like trouble, sitting over in the corner brooding. ” Georgie snapped at him, who was he to criticize everyone and expect her to trust his word.

“You sure are fiesty for your size.” He looked her up and down before continuing. “At first I thought you had just finished college, but now that I look at you there's no way you're older than 17.”

“Wow. I'm not even going to stoop to your level and tell you my age.” She looked him up and down mockingly and grabbed his empty glass. “I mean look at you, buddy, you're a 24 year old man sitting in a pub full of college boys drowning his sorrows in the drink.”

The look on his face confirmed that she'd guessed his age right, and he didn't like that. The fact that she was putting up a fight and not just leaving was both surprising and annoying.

"You'd want to drown your sorrows to if you were me.” he replied taking the glass from her hand and slamming it on the table.

For a second Georgie thought she had gone too far, pushed him past his limit, but he started it.

“Oh c'mon. Your life can't be that bad.” Georgie said, getting herself ready for a real argument. “Judging by your clothes and watch, you're pretty well-off. And seeing how you're in wales when you're from Ireland, you have money to travel. I'm going to take a guess that the drink you had was the real stuff, not a cheap one. Did you know there are people in the world who live on lesss than a dollar a day? I bet your life isn't so hard compared to them.”

The silence went on for quite some time while the two stared each other down. Neither one was willing to back down and admit they were wrong or they had gone to far.

“I'm sorry.” Georgie finally broke the silence as she realized how ridiculous the situation was. She was arguing with a complete stranger. “I get really worked up when people whine about their lives. I shouldn't have said anything.”

“A little activist are you?” he asked mockingly as if there was something wrong with being one.

“More of a humanitarian.” Georgie corrected him. They weren't really that different in Georgie's eyes but she didn't want him to be right. They both stood up for what they believed in and tried to alleviate global issues just in different ways. “So, what's so terribly wrong with your life? I promise I won't lecture anymore.” It could be interesting to hear about his life. Georgie always did love a good story.

“Are you sure you want to hear it?” He raised one eyebrow at her, daring her to back out now as if what he said would be a burden to her. “I mean you could go party with your little friends.”

“I'm only here with one friend, and as I said earlier, i'm not a big partier."

Georgie listened as he talked of the arguments with his father, it was always the same thing. He wanted to travel a bit and get his own place, learn carpentry or even become a teacher. His father was demanding him stay at home and take over the family business. It wasn't that he had anything against the family business, he'd been raised on the farm and he loved it but he wanted to explore the world before settling down.

He repaid the favour as Georgie talked about her mothers demands. How Pamela wanted Georgie to be a doctor but had never once asked Georgie what she wannted. Of the pedestal Georgie's older sister was on and Georgie could never reach. Antoinette, or Tony as Georgie called her was only two years older but she was the perfect daugher in Pamela's eyes. Pamela had never really wanted Georgie, she had Antoinette so why would she need another child?

He told her of his dreams to open a furniture shop as he loved carpentry. He had started carving and making things when he was 12 but his father never let him study the art of carpentry. She told him that he should go after his dreams because the regret of not doing it would be worse than anything else.

She told him of her dream to go to third world countries and help people. He told her of his first crush, his first pet and when he learned to play the guitar. She explained to him that sketching helped her escape the world she was in, that being away from home made her happier than anything else and that she dreaded going home. He told her that he often wished he had the courage to defy his father and not just argue with him. She said that her favourite colour was purple, she loved the ocean and she wanted to fall in love. He told her about his mother's death, how he thought it would kill his father and how that was the beginning of all their problems.

The talked until the bar was empty, until the bartender demand they leave. That was when Georgie noticed that Kass was gone.

“Um, I think I have a problem.” She confessed to the Irish stranger. “I don't see Kass anywhere...I mean it's empty here.”

“Well, I don't want to say I told you so but...” He grinned as he grabbed his jacket. “Don't worry, i'll help you find her. She couldn't have gone far, this is a wee lil town.”

“How does an Irishman know so much about a wee lil town in Wales?” Georgie asked as they left the bar.

They headed towards town and Georgie started to shiver. All she was wearing was a purple sun dress and it was past three in the morning.

“Here, put on my jacket. It's cold out.” he said as he slung it over Georgie's shoulders.

“Thanks.” Georgie blushed “I wasn't thinking about having to go searcing for Kass when I got dressed for tonight.”

“You're still wearing more clothes than the average girl wears to the pub.” And for the first time that night he smiled at her. “I know abou this wee lil town because I have friends here. I went to a school in Ireland but a lot of my friends came from Wales. I was actually here visiting some, only I didn't realize how immature they'd gotten.”

“Maybe it was just you that matured?”

“Either way, we don't seem to have much in common anymore. They want to drink the night away and I, I'd rather talk.”

“Me too. I've never really seen the point to getting drunk.” Georgie stopped when she saw Kass on the othe side of the streed. “KASS!”

They walked across the street, and Georgie noticed that Kass seemed 1. sober and 2. out of it. Kass grabbed Georgie and tried to pull her away, before she even noticed that Georgie wasn't alone.

“Wait a sec,” Georgie walked back to her stranger. "Thanks."

"Before you go, my name is Finn.” This time when he smiled it was spread to his eyes.

“I'm Georgie. It was nice to meet you.”

Chapter 1: Ready to Go

“Did you pack your toothbrush?” Pamela Kyteler questioned her daughter.

“For the third time,” Georgie began, brushing her hand through her short, brown hair, “yes.”

“Georgianna,” Pamela said, a warning note in her voice, “do not sass me.” It was almost as if she was daring her daughter to argue with her. Instead of waiting, however, she turned to the other half of the teenage pair, “What about you, Kassidy? Do you have your toothbrush? You never know where you might be able to buy one over there.” There, of course, did not apply to her home of England, but rather, referred to the other three countries they were planning to visit.

Kass nodded, “Yes, Mrs. Kyteler,” she smiled, “And don’t worry. I’m sure we will be able to find toothbrushes in the UK, in the event that one of us did forget.” Kass was not about to admit that, when asked, she had reviewed and realized she had forgotten her toothbrush. And hair brush. And pajamas.

“Well…” Georgie’s mother paused, reviewing her own list of items to ask about. The toothbrush, she believed, was the last. The girls had assured her of toothbrush and toothpaste, hairbrush, emergency money, emergency phone card, and all their contact information. They had custom approved snacks for the flight, and, much to her surprise, the girls had even remembered to call their hotel and confirm their check in and rooms.

"Fine." She said at last, pulling Georgie in for a quick, grab-and-release hug. "Have a good time- but remember your manners.” Pamela was not one for displays of affection, and this was as close as she would come to breaking down in public. She looked her daughter over and approved of her appearance- except for the hair but that was a different battle. Kassidy… she focused an extra moment as she looked over her daughter’s best friends. There was little doubt in her mind that the rather relaxed Kassidy would be most likely to get the pair into trouble.

Pamela knew that her daughter, at least, had been properly raised and brought up with a high level of respect for her elders and held good, well established manners. Kassidy… well. One never knew about those who did not have such a proper upbringing.

"Do not," she emphasized, glaring at both girls equally, "get into trouble, or take unnecessary risks."

‘Or have any fun,’ Kassed added in her head, snorting out loud. Now, however, was not the time to joke. Kass forced herself to remember that and bight her tongue. Had her father been present at that moment, it may have been appropriate. There would have been someone there to appreciate it. He wasn’t there, though. When she had insisted on following through on the trip, her father had refused to wish her luck, and hadn’t even said good bye to her before she had left. They had been stuck asking Georgie’s mother to take them to the airport.

Perhaps it was even a good thing he hadn’t come. There was all sorts of trouble one could make in an airport, and Kass might even have decided not to go, last minute. Perhaps the fact that he hadn’t talked to her in over two days was a blessing to her trip. Who knew…

“We will be fine, mom.” Georgie encourages with a remarkable ability to mask her impatience. She was nearly as frustrated as Kass at their lack of movement. In truth, she was even more enthusiastic than her friend at the prospect of getting away from her over-bearing mother. “I promise, we’ll call you when we land in Wales.”

Never prone to shirking her motherly responsibilities, Pamela nodded and moved to the entire point of her drop off routine. "Good." She said, adding: "If you don't call me by 4:00, you are going to make me regret allowing you to go on this trip..." she allowed her sentence to trail off, and an abyss to open in, filled with unsaid threats.

Never one to shirk her motherly responsibilities, she nodded and went straight for the entire point of her drop off routine. “If you don’t call by 4:00, you are going to make me regret allowing you to go on this trip…” she let her sentence trail off, and left in the abyss what seemed like an unknown threat.
“No worries, Mrs. Kyeteller,” Kass butted in, “We don’t want that to happen. I’ll make sure she calls.”

“Don’t worry,” Georgie said, her assurance meaning much more to Pamela than Kassidy’s ever would, “We’ll be fine.” Deciding it was now or never, Georgie grabbed her purple suitcase and started to back away.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Kass gave in to her more sarcastic self. “We’ll be more than fine,” she muttered, “once we get off this leash.”


Kass had never flown anywhere before and the anxiety of going to a foreign country, even if it was her dream, was starting to get to her. She would be an ocean away from everyone she knew, at a school where she knew no one.

“Hey, it's gonna be okay.” Georgie tried to relax Kass. “Millions of people fly all the time. It's really simple, trust me.”

“I'm not worried- I'm excited. I have a new beginning,” Kass wrapped her arms around herself. “there's nothing for me to worry about.”

“Ya, okay. I can tell you're freaking out. You haven't stopped rubbing your arms since we got in the car. And when my mom was talking to us you kept tapping your foot. I know my mom annoys you, but not usually this much.”

"It's not that," she said, smiling a little, as she shook her head, "I just... it's weird. I just need to jump, but sometimes I've learned to regret when I jump," Kass said, giving a small laugh. "Doesn't help Dad hasn't talked to me in three days," she added, shivering a little bit. She's always been that way. When she was upset, she lost body heat, so she wound up shivering and rubbing at her arms.

"Yeah I guess, look that'll change a bit once you've been away. You know he'll miss you like mad." Georgie couldn't help but envy that a little. The only thing her parents were going to miss was having her under their complete influence.

"Yeah," Kass said, forcing herself to relax and dropping her arms, "You're probably right. Even if you're not I'll be just as far away. I might not even think about them once I'm gone." There was a small snort added onto the end of that statement, but neither commented on it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying Air America with non-stop service to Cardiff, Wales. Please turn your attention to the flight attendant nearest you for our safety demonstration...”

“Ugh, this is my least favourite part about flying.” Georgie whined, reaching for her book. “I mean we're not idiots. I think we can figure out what to do if the plane crashes.”

“Shh, I've never flown before,” Kass was rubbing her arms again. “I need to hear this.”

“No you don't.” Georgie turned to Kass, “Calm down. If the plane crashes, there's a life vest under your seat. If something goes wrong, oxygen masks shoot from the ceiling. Don't unbuckle when that light is lit up. That's it. Unless you're going to puke, and you better not.”

“I don't think I will.” Kass wrapped herself in the airplane's blanket, “Man, it gets cold in here.”

“Yup.” Georgie was already engrossed in her book and didn't bother with more of an answer.

“Are you just going to read the whole flight? What am I supposed to do?"

“Whatever you want.” Georgie replied not looking up. “I told you to bring a book or two.”

“Well...” Kass took a deep breath. “I put them in my suitcase.”

“How smart of you.” Georgie grabbed her bag. “It's a good thing I know you, and that you're so forgetful. Here read this.”

The book Georgie tossed to Kass was an autobiography of a humanitarian aid worker. That seemed to be all Georgie read these days, books about people making a difference in the world.
Georgie hoped that one day she too would be written about, that one day people would admire what she did to change the world. That was why she was going to become a doctor. Her parents had been encouraging her for years to go to medical school and to become a surgeon. Her mother wanted Georgie to become a doctor so she could brag to her friends about her two daughers, one a lawyer and the other a doctor.

Kass on the other hand wanted to study Cultures, she wanted to learn all about people.
Her mother had left when she was only seven and now her father wasn't talking to her. He didn't understand that she needed to make this journey, that she needed to see her mother's homeland and to start fresh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kass was jolted awake when the lights suddenly turned on and a voice once again came over the PA.

“Welcome to Wales everyone. The current time is 3:30 in the afternoon and it's a beautiful day out...”

“Hey, sleepy head.” Georgie looked wide awake and totally relaxed. “How'd you find your very first flight?”

“It wasn't so bad. Once they turned off the lights I fell asleep.” Kass slid up the window shield and looked below. “Wow, you can see the airport!”

Georgie burst into laughter, and a few others turned and smiled. Their anxiety was practically gone now that they were actually here. It felt real now that they were going to spend the summer travelling, they didn't have to worry about parents, school or anything at all.

The next two weeks would be spent exploring Wales, seeing castles, cathedrals and visiting musuems. The next two weeks would be spent in England, the palace, Westminster abbey and little country cottages. Scotland was what Georgie was most excited for, the rolling highlands, the vicious ocean and gorgeous land. The final two weeks would probably be the hardest for Ireland was where they would part.

Kass was literally sitting on the edge of her seat now, pressing her face against the window to watch as the scenery went by. This made Georgie think of the first time she was on a plane, flying to Tanzania where she spent two weeks volunteering at an orphanage. She had been the same way, pressed against the window, shaking with excitement.

“Alright, here goes nothing.” Georgie said with a wink as the plane started to descend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There's only one thing to do now,” Georgie stated as they walked out of the airport and into the sun.

“Find our hostel.” Kass replied dropping her bags and turning in a circle to look at everything. “And then we can explore.”

“Nope.” Georgie contradicted with a grin. “We must give thanks to the earth.”

And with that Georgie knelt to the ground and kissed the grass. There's not many opportunities to kiss another continent and Georgie planned on kissing the soil of every country they went to.

“Before we find our hostel I need to find some kind of pawn shop.” Georgie said as she stood up, grabbed her suitcase and started walking.

“Why do we need a pawn shop?” Kass inquired, placing her hiking bag on her back and following after.

“You don't really think I'm going to take this giant, perfect condition, purple suitcase to backpack across the country?”

Prologue

~ 1799~

Muireen Kyteler held her head high as she was marched through the village. The people who had once loved her and whose lives she had saved time after time stood watching silently. The priest stood on the platform watching her make her way to him. He was the one to blame for all this, he was the one who had turned the whole village against her. Stórbeg had always been a peaceful village, full of magic but the church ruined all that. Ever since Douglas O'Hara had arrived with his Bible and godly ways. Preaching against magic and saying Stórbeg must rid itself of the evil presences.


All it took was one brew, to help a farmer's back, and Douglas had decided Muireen was a witch and must be dealt with. At first, the people of her village protested for she was a giver and healer of life but the power of the church is hard to fight. Muireen had thought of running away but she knew she could not escape her fate.

“My dear people” the priest began his speech “we are here to rid the village of the evil that has been living amongst you. The Lord tells us to denounce all demonic activity and here we have the demon's mistress herself. Moses wrote in Deuteronomy18 that no one amongst us should engage in sorcery. The good Lord has laid down the law and we must obey him."

“As with all things bad, you have the chance to repent! Repent and be saved.” every word was said louder than the last. “Repent and you may live eternally with the Lord. Submit to the Lord of the earth, creator of all that is and you may be free. Repent and your suffering will end. Do you repent of your sins?”

The village cheered, the screamed that they repented and for Muireen to repent as well. Muireen was not so weak that she would be brainwashed by a man who knew nothing.

“Imeacht gan teacht ort. Titim gan éirí ort.” Muireen's voice was strong and steady. “You know nothing of my ways. You know nothing of your god. You do not know of that you do. This will haunt you for the rest of your life, and your children to come. I am a healer and I help...”

“Blasphemy. You are a witch and you bring death.” The priest was so sure of his god and what must be done. “Nothing evil can bring good, and you are evil.”

By now Muireen was placed on the stool with the noose about her neck. The priest took holy water and went to anoint Muireen but she pulled away.“I will have none of your religious way enforced on me. I will die as I am, I do not need any last rites or prayers.” Muireen looked directly at the man who was holding the switch. “Kill me now Paddy, before this madman has any effect upon me.”

Muireen had brought Paddy into the world, when his own poor mother had not had the help of the accepted doctors, and pulling the switch to kill her was probably among the hardest acts he would ever have to do in his life. He wished the priest had never come to his village, that the church had left them alone. However, he knew wishing would change nothing and if he did not kill Muireen then he would be next. And so he pushed the switch that would drop the floor from under Muireen's feet and she died while looking him the eyes.

Paddy could do nothing for Muireen but he could do something for Aoife and Cathoair. Paddy knew their father, Lachlan had died a few years back. Douglas was planning on placing Muireen's children in a church-run school in Dublin. He was going to raise them to know nothing of their mother or their power.

Paddy went to the church where the twins were being watched by a nun. All he had to do was tell her that the priest wanted the children and then he was walking out of town with them. He would send Aoife to the South with his Aunt, who would make sure that Aoife knew of her powers and the dangers that came with them. He would take Cathoair and raise him himself in a remote village in the North. The church would only ruin them and they must not be raised to fear what they were.