Centering herself and slowing her breathing, Jenna exerted her will. The glowing ball of energy that swirled inside her expanded, sending out tendrils that fused with the magic of the anchor stone, strengthening it and making it glow in her mind’s eye like a fallen star. Slowly, oh so slowly, she pushed her magic out along the net, towards a dark hole that lay nearby.
She wove a patch from her own energy and placed it over the gap, weaving it in place with tendrils of magic. The repair grew bright, brighter than the rest of the web, and Jenna felt a rush of exhilaration rush through her. She’d done it!
But the exhilaration lasted only an instant. The next moment, the tendrils of magic snapped with a silent concussion and the hole once again went dark. With a yelp, Jenna withdrew her consciousness before the magic could recoil and blast her across the cave like it haddone the day before.
She opened her eyes. The stone and the cave looked exactly as it had before, with only Jenna’s rapid breathing and racing pulse to indicate that anything had happened.
Jenna pounded her fist into the ground. “Damn it!” she yelled. “Why won’t it work? Why can’t I do this?”
She felt tears of frustration gathering in her eyes and wiped them away with her sleeve. That horrible sense of despair was creeping up on her again, that feeling like she was falling into an oubliette she couldn’t escape from. It had been kept at bay by Arran’s confidence in her, but now it came rising up to the surface. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t strong enough or skilled enough. Arran had chosen the wrong MacFinnan spellweaver. She was going to let all these people down. She was going to let Arran down. The thought was unbearable.
“What am I doing wrong?” she whispered to the impassive face of the stalagmite. “What am I missing?”
“Ah! Now ye ask the right questions,” said a voice.
Jenna spun with a yelp to find a woman standing behind her. Jenna scrambled to her feet in sudden fright.
“Who… who are you?”
The woman was willowy, with long hair that seemed to move of its own accord. But it was her eyes that caught Jenna’s attention. They were completely silver. The woman smiled. “My name is Lir. And ye are Jenna MacFinnan.”
Lir? Wasn’t she the one who’d sent Arran through time to find her? But that meant…
“You’re a goddess!” Jenna gasped.
Lir cocked her head, her silver eyes alight with warmth and amusement. “Aye, I suppose I am, although right now I’m just a concerned friend. I can feel yer sorrow and frustration, lass. It reverberates across the land. What is it that ails ye?”
Jenna opened her mouth and closed it again. She could feel thepower that emanated from Lir even more strongly than what came from the anchor stone. It was like standing too close to a bonfire.
“I… I… can’t fix the magic,” Jenna blurted. “You brought me all the way here, and I can’t do it. It won’t work.”
Lir studied her. Her face was ageless but her eyes were ancient, full of knowledge and wisdom. “That’s because ye are missing a key ingredient.”
“What?” Jenna stepping forward eagerly. “What key ingredient? Tell me so I can find it!”
Lir smiled. “Love, lass. That is the ingredient ye are missing.”
Jenna blinked. “Love? What has that got to do with magic?”
“Everything, that’s what.” Lir raised her hands to indicate the cave around them. “The original spellweavers who wove the magic that protects Skye loved this land. They loved the mountains, the valleys, the streams, and the lochs. They loved the people. Skye was a part of them and they were a part of it, and it was from this love that the magic was born. Without it, there is nothing.”
Jenna stared at the goddess. Love? She needed to weave the magic withlove? Then no wonder she had failed. There was nothing here she loved. Her presence here was a simple business transaction, cold and clinical. With a sinking sense of despair, she realized there was no way she would be able to restore Skye’s magic.
“Can’tyoudo it?” she asked Lir in desperation. “Can’tyoufix the magic? You’re a goddess! You could do it with a wave of your hand!”
Lir shook her head. “I am of the sea. Skye’s magic is of the land. I cannae touch it.”
“But… but what am I supposed to do? I’m going to let all these people down!”
A soft smile curled Lir’s lips. “Do ye think I would have brought ye through time if ye couldnae do this? What ye need is already inside ye. Ye just have to find the courage to recognize it.” She took a step forward and placed a hand on Jenna’s shoulder. Her touch sentprickles of electricity across Jenna’s skin. “Ye hurt, child. Ye are full of pain and loss and confusion. But that is yer past. It need not be yer future. Look inside. Find yer truth, and ye will find yer strength as well.” Her fingers squeezed Jenna’s shoulder until it was almost painful. “Trust yerself, Jenna.”
Jenna’s eyelids suddenly felt heavy. Her eyes closed for an instant and when they opened again, Lir was gone.
Jenna sat down heavily on a rock, despair washing through her. She could think of no way to do what Lir suggested. No matter what angle she thought about it from, she came to the same conclusion.
She was going to fail.
Chapter Fifteen
