Tír na nÓg Trilogy, Book I: The Trials of Cuchulain

Dark, Death, and Evil

Somehow, in the midst of it all, the mists settled, and Emery found herself in a sun-lit, daybright field, moving slowly through the tall grasses, brushing flower tips with her outstretched fingers. Small furred animals hopped amongst the brambles, down in the undergrowth, and twittering birds took to the air at her every step. She was barefoot, she knew, toes pressing against soft mosses. Buzzing insects, little fluttery things with translucent wings, radiated in a drowsy hum about her head, and the sunlight grew steadily more golden and pure as it swam slowly in its haze toward the horizon. Everything was illuminated with an embrous, fiery orange. Above, the sky was clear beyond a few puffs of cloud, drifting toward endlessness, toward where it was that clouds went. Behind, only meadow, and beyond, only meadow. Left and right--she couldn't see, though she knew that somewhere, in the thick of the summer air, someone waited for her . . .

Emery's mother woke her with a start, calling her name, asking her to eat a quick dinner. The girl was unsure when exactly she'd fallen asleep, but the sun was setting, and she needed to get ready to head out with the search party. It'd been organized that afternoon, and they were all meeting at seven o'clock in the field behind the middle school. Those fields ran far back and into a wooded area that stretched the length of the whole town. Someone had found Adam's truck in the middle school parking lot, empty of him, full of things he'd never have left behind, like his phone, and his wallet . . . and his clothing. The panic had really set in after that.

Emery and Tess had gone to the police station prior to that discovery or, actually, were there when the phone call had come in. So Emery had managed to get out only that Adam had left the party early but never made it home; she hadn't gotten to the part about the stranger before she'd been interrupted. Her story suddenly became unimportant as the station began to bustle and figure out who to send to the middle school, and even though Tess had encouraged her to mention the stalker, Emery hadn't been inclined to--as she put it--"hold the police back by rambling about her personal life."

She and Tess had biked to the middle school, and even though the whole area around Adam's truck had been cordoned off, they'd seen it. They'd known it was serious at that point. No way would Adam just leave his truck. And when the added gossip had spread about all the items he'd left behind, well. That was beyond worrisome.

Emery and Tess had gathered with other friends at one of their houses, and the group had talked and brainstormed about what they could possibly do. Some had wanted to head over to the middle school and start searching the woods, but word had come from parents that the police were absolutely against anyone being near the crime scene. They were calling it a crime scene. Emery and the others had picked up on that and freaked out, but at length, they'd all been advised to head home and go about their business, that a search party was going to head out into the woods at seven PM. That the police were there now, but that barring them finding Adam, the community was encouraged to gather and help.

So Emery had forced herself to go back to her house. She and Tess had parted ways for a bit, because Tess had to visit her grandmother, anyway. The rest of that afternoon had been awful. Emery's anxiety was sky-high, and she was unsure how she'd even fallen asleep on her bed.

But she had, and that was where the dream had come in. The beautiful, beautiful dream. When she'd awakened, her heart had immediately sunk. The contentment of the dream . . . just the way it had wrapped its peacefulness, its carefreeness around her. To awaken and remember that Adam was missing was nightmarish.

Something terrible must have happened to him. Emery was sure of it. She'd desperately wanted to call Mrs. Lir but figured the woman probably had enough on her mind, so as she went down to eat some food, Emery checked her chat groups and found them awash with gossip. Who knew what of it was true and what of it wasn't? Adam had been eaten by a wild animal; Adam had been sucked into some catfishing scam and been abducted; Adam had lost it from all the school work and parental pressure and wanted to just run wild and free in the wilderness; Adam had been straight-up dragged into a spaceship by an alien beam. Most of the rumors were the worst--clearly rumors. Nevertheless, Emery couldn't bear thinking of Adam being dead or hurt. She tried to remain positive, threw her phone across the room at one point to avoid looking at it, until at last, her moodiness was sated when six thirty arrived and she was able to leave the house to do more than just sit in it.