I shiver. ‘What happened to my dad?’
Meg sighs. ‘He… When he gave himself to the past, to the Morrigan…she grew stronger. He called her back to this world. He was her stepping stone.’
The shadow enveloping him.
‘She needed him. He was to be her channel. But he was too weak – the drinking, I guess.’ I flinch. ‘So I offered myself instead.’
‘What will happen to him now?’
Meg’s eye twitches.
‘Meg, that’s my dad.’
She looks away and with a crunch of bones the Morrigan’s voice fills the air as she whirls back, her eyes black. It’s deep, but pulses with a high discordant frequency. ‘He made his choice by leaving, and now he pays the price.’ The crow on her shoulder takes to the sky.
‘No.’ Nanny Bet’s voice is hoarse.
The anger inside me crumples and a chill digs at my insides. ‘You have to help him. I thought we were friends.’
Meg returns, but it’s a strain. A line of blood drips down her chin as she whispers, ‘I can’t, Michael. I have to do her will. And so do you.’
Something snaps and there’s a ripping sound in her jaw as her eyes darken. Meg’s skin glows brighter as the black in her veins forms rivers and streams across her face and arms. Crows fly from all directions into the shadows behind her and the darkness rises up like black flames.
‘You are a file báis. You are the last death poet. Your line made a blood pact.’
‘Meg, I—’
‘Silence!’ Her words slice through the air.
Nanny Bet reaches her arm across my chest. ‘Use me instead.’
‘I want nothing from you. You are a liar.’
Nanny Bet shakes her head. ‘No, I—’
‘LIAR!’ the Morrigan screams, and an ice-hot pain explodes in my ears. Crows take up the call.
‘I had no choice!’ Nanny Bet shouts over the cries. ‘You don’t know what they took from me.’
Meg’s body shimmers then she flows across the grass and grips Nanny Bet by the throat. The voice of the Morrigan hisses, ‘We took what is ours.’
‘Meg.’ I lurch forward, but my legs are still bound by the shadows. I reach out and grab Meg’s wrist. Her skin is freezing. I let go as my skin blisters.
Meg loosens her grip on Nanny Bet and steps back. The screams stop, her eyes return to her own, but her skin is still criss-crossed with black veins. ‘I didn’t mean to do that. It was her. I…’ She points at my nan. ‘She lied to you, Michael.’
Nanny Bet rubs at her throat. It’s red and raw like my hand.
‘She’s told me everything now,’ I say.
The Morrigan’s voice pushes through, twisting in with Meg’s. ‘She didn’t tell you about the warrior.’
Nanny Bet closes her eyes and mumbles something.
‘What is it?’
Meg steps towards me as the Morrigan speaks. ‘You must know the truth.’ She reaches into my jacket and takes out Dad’s wallet. She slides a finger behind the bank-card slots and extracts a photo.
Nanny Bet gasps as I see Brigid – the girl from my visions. She’s a teenager here, hugging Dad as a child. Their eyes are the same as each other’s. The same as Nanny Bet’s.
