Free The Forest of Aisling: Dream of the Shapeshifter (The Willow Series Book 1) by D.S. Elstad Page B

brow and narrowing her eyes to a thin slit, deep in
thought.  Quinn and I looked at each other almost waiting for permission
to speak.
    “This is incredible, do you realize that?” Her
eyes shot back and forth between Quinn and me.
    “Really?  We didn’t realize that,” answered
Quinn mockingly as he leaned back on the bench stretching his legs out in front
of him.
    “No, I mean, the whole thing is...it’s hard to
explain, just have a look here at this.” She pulled a small book from her
purse.  It was old, the binding was coming off and the cover edges were
bent and torn.  She opened the page to a drawing of a wolf running in the
woods.  It was a relief etching similar to the technique used in the
1700’s. I knew because I had studied seventeenth-century art one summer at art
camp. The text above it was in a language I didn’t recognize.
    “What does it say?” I leaned in closer for a
better look.
    “It’s in Gaelic.  It speaks about wolves that
once roamed Killarney Park, along with other regions of Ireland.  These
wolves were rumored to have been shapeshifters, sent from the gods to help
protect humans.
    “It says that the shapeshifter wolves were humans,
hand-chosen by the gods to help fight off the evil one.  They would travel
all of Ireland trying to keep communities safe, but then humans began to hunt
the wild wolves and eradicated the whole wolf population.” Kelleigh pointed to
a hideous picture of a hunter standing on top of a pile of dead wolves.
    Quinn began snickering, “You’re crazy, Kell. 
There’ve never been wolves in Ireland.”
    “And you’re an idiot Quinn.  If you’d look at
something other than the screen of your phone you might learn something. 
Ireland had wild wolves at one time. The shapeshifter wolves moved into
Killarney Park because that was the only place where they were safe. Only it
wasn’t called Killarney Park back then, see here?” Kelleigh turned the page and
traced along an ancient looking map.
    “I can’t make out what the area was known as; the
info in this book is hundreds of years old and the language is still new to
me.  But this says that those wolves only appear now during times of
extreme danger.”
    “What are you saying, Kell?  That Willow is a
chosen shapeshifter wolf sent here to protect us humans?”  Quinn asked in
a sarcastic tone. “Protect us from what?”
    Kelleigh shifted forward and cleared her
throat.  She turned the page of the small book and began reading aloud in
the Gaelic language.  “Here, this part,” she said after reciting the text,
“I’m not quite clear on what the meaning is here but I get the feeling it’s
saying something about what that evil might be.”  Kelleigh once again
pointed to another picture of a wolf standing on top of some sort of symbol
with what appeared to be an eyeball in its mouth.
    Quinn started laughing uncontrollably, clutching
at his sides.  “Priceless, Kell! So the evil that threatens humans is an eye . 
Hear that, Willow? You need to go out and attack the next renegade eyeball that
you see rolling along the countryside.”  Quinn stood up, smoothed his
pants and shook his head, still laughing.  “And I thought you might be
able to help.  I’m surprised you didn’t say that Willow was going to have
to save us from the puca.”
    Kelleigh squinted her eyes as she stared at her
brother.  “Ara be whist! You’re a complete idiot when it comes to the
supernatural and you best be quiet lest something unnatural comes to you
in the middle of the night.” Her voice took on a frightening tone that froze
Quinn where he stood, and even sent chills down my spine.
    “Ara be whist to you, Kell,” Quinn responded in a
meek voice without looking at his sister.  He glanced in my direction,
“It’s her way of telling me to shut up.”
    I sat and waited for the smoke to settle from
their spat before continuing. “Puca?” I asked quietly, almost afraid to look at
Kelleigh.
     “A