Free Shades of Avalon by Carol Oates Page B

her eye, smudging black makeup to the side. “I’m not so sure I want them. I need them. I’ll drive myself crazy otherwise.” She walked a straight line beside me, heel to toe.
    We passed fewer people here, but I lowered my voice regardless. “Do you believe in magic?”
    Her eyes widened. “Do you mean Vegas magic or Dungeons & Dragons magic?”
    I arched an eyebrow.
    “I’m with John Lennon on this one.”
    “John Lennon?”
    “The Beatles,” she exclaimed, aghast and shook her head dismissively. “Americans…”
    “I know who the Beatles are. I didn’t realize they were magicians too.” I grimaced and bumped her shoulder, earning a smile.
    She was teasing. “In answer to your question, I believe everything exists until it’s disproved.”
    I rubbed the back of my neck, easing the knotted muscle there because I wasn’t sure why I wanted to tell the truth. It flew straight in the face of keeping her out of this. I compromised by telling myself I wouldn’t share everything. “Way back in time, the world consisted of two types of beings living in symbiosis, humans and magical beings called Guardians. They lived in a place legend now refers to as Atlantis.”
    I waited for a reaction. Emma hardly twitched. Her eyes stayed trained on her feet, and her red lips crushed together tightly, so I went on.
    “Time passed, and the Guardians left to explore the world. Guardians live for centuries so when they returned generations later, humans took them for invaders. A war ensued, and the human civilization rose while they drove Guardians underground. The Guardians were called Tuatha Dé Danann—”
    “I’ve read about this,” she cut in. “You’re talking about Ireland.”
    My mouth opened, but words failed me for a moment. I knew nothing about my real heritage before last summer, but it seemed Emma had read up on European legends. That would make this considerably easier.
    “Yeah,” she rambled on, walking a few paces ahead of me. “They possessed a spear, a sword, a cauldron, and a stone.” She stopped and bit her lip, counting something off on her fingers, then began walking again. “Lia Fáil. They lived in the underworld and began stories of the Fae and banshees and leprechauns.”
    “They were never leprechauns,” I corrected her.
    We both halted mid-step. The surrounding trees in the secluded area dampened the sounds of the city and daylight faded quickly. Emma met my eyes, her false eyelashes fluttering like butterfly wings. I noted how they looked deeper into me now. Her inquisitiveness had multiplied tenfold.
    “We…” I experimented with the word tentatively. “We were driven to live in secret, forbidden to mate with humans. Those exposed were often hunted down and killed.” I broke off speaking and measured her steady heartbeat and constant breathing. If her direct gaze didn’t tell me otherwise, I might have sworn she wasn’t listening to me at all.
    “You’re talking about Ireland,” she mused aloud. “My brother went to Ireland last year.”
    “Our father was human, but Triona and I also carry the royal bloodline of the Guardians, straight from Dagda. Triona took your brother’s memories because he knew things he didn’t want to know.”
    “Why give them back?” she asked with interest, devoid of accusation.
    “Triona’s soul mate is missing. She believed John might be in danger too. When she saw him, she knew something had gone wrong.”
    “So she came back to protect him?”
    I nodded.
    Emma rolled her neck back and stared up at the darkening sky, breathing deeply. The action echoed John’s earlier physical reaction, and I saw the similarity between them for the first time. She looked back at me and opened her mouth to speak. Her lips slapped shut, and she turned away, walking in a small circle, heel to toe. I began to recognize this as a habit.
    “I’m attempting to disprove,” she murmured to herself in a voice choked with uncertainty. “Lennon was