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first kiss with Essa like? I didn’t find out. Araf came bounding up to us, shouting our names in the dark. We were both on our feet in a second.

      ‘Araf, what is it?’

      ‘Fergal’s gone,’ he said, ‘and he has taken your sword.’

TWENTY-ONE

      AUNT NIEVE

      ‘Where could he have gone?’ Essa asked.

      Araf shrugged.

      ‘I know where he’s gone,’ I said. ‘He’s going to kill Cialtie.’

      ‘That’s madness!’ Essa said.

      ‘I don’t think Fergal is thinking all that straight at the moment.’

      ‘I’ll head south,’ Araf said. ‘He might try to get out the way we came in. May I borrow a firefly?’

      Essa mumbled. One of her fireflies danced into Araf’s hand and he was off.

      ‘I’ll talk to the Fili and see if they can help,’ Essa said, and ran off, leaving me alone and in pitch darkness.

      ‘Hey!’ I shouted into the black. I couldn’t see a thing and I had no idea where I was, so I did something I had always wished I could do. I shouted – ‘MOM!’

      Deirdre was there within the minute. ‘Are you alright?’

      ‘I’m lost and can’t see a damn thing.’

      Deirdre spoke quickly to a nearby tree and picked up a pinecone. She smeared it with a bit of sap and ignited it. When she handed it to me I was half expecting to be burnt, but the Shadowfire felt of nothing.

      ‘Fergal is missing and he took my sword. I think he is trying to get to Castle Duir.’

      ‘Oh my gods! He will never get past the blackthorns.’

      ‘Will they hurt him?’

      ‘They will kill him if he tries to cut through.’

      ‘You have got to stop them.’

      Mom whipped out her wand and touched it to the ground. A small plant pushed through the grass. Mom touched it with a finger. After what seemed like an eternity, she stood.

      ‘He’s this way,’ she said, pointing west.

      ‘Is he OK?’

      ‘I don’t know. He is contained. We had better hurry.’

      We found him in the same area where Dad and I found the Pooka. Unlike the Pooka, Fergal wasn’t on the other side of the blackthorns, but then again he wasn’t on this side either. He was in the thorn wall. He had tried to climb the thorns at the same time that Deirdre had spoken to them. Instead of stabbing him, the thorns encircled him. He was off the ground and trussed up like a smoked ham in an Italian supermarket. It must have hurt like hell. The only thing he could move was his head. And let me tell you – he was not happy about it. He was beyond words, thrashing his head, cursing and ranting with sounds that were before language, like a high-pitched mad dog. His mouth was foaming to match.

      Mom took some sap out of her satchel and spoke to a nearby tree, then threw the sap into the air. The top of the tree exploded into flame and light – Shadowfire.

      ‘Fand will be here in a few minutes,’ she said.

      ‘Can you let him out?’

      ‘I think we should wait till he calms down. Fand will have something.’

      ‘Can I climb up to him without the thorns perforating me?’

      Mom placed her hands on the thorn wall and said, ‘Go ahead.’

      The spikes turned away from me as I climbed. Fergal was still raving when I reached his eye level. He noticed me and his head whipped in my direction – there was murder in his eyes. Mom was right – if we had let him go, I think he would have attacked us. His mind had snapped.

      Fand and some other Fili appeared out of the darkness. They had run without any lights – amazing. Upon seeing Fergal, Fand put away the vial she was holding and took out some greenish sap. She lifted the cuff of Fergal’s trousers and rubbed the stuff on his skin. Fergal snarled at her but then started to relax. Mom released him enough for me to get a hold of his shirt and lower him down to the throng of waiting Fili hands. Fergal winced but didn’t fight. I jumped down, and the blackthorns creaked back to their original position. Fand sat Fergal up. She was just about to give him something that would knock him out when he opened his eyes and saw me.

      ‘Conor?’ he said. The mad dog that had taken over his face was gone. He was Fergal again, without the smile.

      ‘I’m here, Fergal.’

      ‘He’s my father,’ he said. His voiced quivered and his eyes welled with tears.

      ‘Yes,’ I said. What else could I say? It’s OK, Fergal, don’t worry about it? That would be a lie. One thing this was not – was OK.

      ‘Oh, Conor.’ He sounded like he was five years old. ‘He killed my mother.’

      I put my arms around him. His head shook on my shoulder with silent sobs, his warm tears fell down my neck. I don’t know how long we stayed like this but when I looked up, everyone else was there: Essa, Araf and my father. Dad leaned down and stroked Fergal’s hair.

      ‘Nephew,’ he said. Fergal looked up, confused. Dad smiled at him. ‘That’s right, I am your uncle.’ He wiped some of the tears from Fergal’s cheek. ‘Listen to me, Fergal, I know what it is like to lose all and I know despair, but I promise you – it will get a little better every day. I know you feel as if you can’t go on, but it will be better tomorrow and the next day. The pain will never go, but it will get easier. You can do it. You are a son of Duir.’

      I saw hope enter Fergal’s eyes. I loved and admired my father at that moment more than I ever had.

      Then Fergal’s eyes went dark again. ‘What about Cialtie?’ he hissed.

      ‘He will be dealt with soon,’ Dad said, ‘but we must not seek revenge. Revenge is an evil motive that corrupts the soul.’ Dad grabbed Fergal under his arm and helped him to his feet. He looked his nephew in the eyes, and then looked at me. ‘We shall seek justice.’

      Fergal wanted to walk back to the village but Fand wouldn’t hear of it. He didn’t fight. He drank what she gave him and the Fili carried him unconscious on a stretcher. I was a bit jealous – I could have used a lift myself.

      I didn’t fall asleep as fast as I thought I would. One reason was the lump I was sleeping on – I had stashed the Lawnmower under my mattress. I didn’t think Fergal would run off, but if he did, I didn’t want to lose my sword again. The other reason I didn’t drop off was because I was afraid to. This was my first undrugged night in the Fililands, I could sense the power in the place and I had a feeling the dreams here were going to be intense – I was right.

      This dream was big. It was a full-blown battle. I watched from the ramparts as Castle Duir was under attack from an army made up of not just Leprechauns and Imps but all manner of beings. The odd thing was that the soldiers around me weren’t even looking at the invading army. At first I thought they couldn’t see them, but then I realised that they just didn’t see this attack as a threat. They knew something I did not.

      Cialtie showed up with a big red button, like you would see in a crappy movie about a nuclear war. He smiled as he pressed it. I tried to stop him but like all good nightmares, I was moving in slow motion. I reached the edge of the wall in time to see a golden shockwave hit the first group of attackers. To my horror I knew them all: first was

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