Yesterday

Chapter Fourteen

Gaia lowered herself to the floor in front of the mirror. Crossing her legs, she stretched her thighs before settling her ankles on the opposite legs. Placing her hands on her knees, she began to center herself, breathing in from deep down in her belly. The Indian yogi who taught her came to Ireland to be with his daughter.

If she was going into the mirror world, she needed to be at her best. Calm, no panic allowed. Her eyes closed, she focused inside.

"Goddess Gaia, mother of us all, watch over me, keep my body safe. If others follow where I have gone, give them strength, courage, and calm. As I ask, so mote it be. And it harm none, one times three."

Gaia understood she had to get Tatia out. The fairy woman was close to death, her wings transparent, and her body translucent. Getting to the classroom, and possible scrolls there, mattered not. Her body stiffened as her soul floated free. Surprise made her heart stutter, and she paused to watch her body, wondering why it didn't move.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Gaia!" Harry touched her shoulder, standing behind her. Her head came almost to his chest, her auburn waves of hair sweeping the floor at his feet. "She's stiff. Barely breathing, and her heart beats so slowly I fear she will die."

Oberon extended his hand, touching his finger to her forehead as if he were caressing a newly born child. "She's gone. Out of her body. Flying free in the stars."

"She's never done that before. I would have heard. I know her parents, and her mother always tells me when she's found another lost soul, or completed another drawing," Harry said.

"We have to follow her," Oberon declared. "Or at least anchor her tether."

"What are you talking about? How?" Harry slid to his knees, wrapping his arms around Gaia's stone like waist, and leaning his cheek between her shoulder blades.

"Exactly like that, Harry. She needs those who love her to be here to guard her as she travels. I'm coming to help as well, behind you, and Pippin, make yourself useful, get over here now."

Oberon's command brought the miscreant in from the hallway.

"Aumia?" The fairy Prince called.

"Here, what can I do?" He watched the shivers and goosebumps run across her arms as she rubbed them.

"Go, find my father. He knows the legends of Draoi and the God Lugh."

Aumia's golden hair flew out as she whirled to leave. "I'll drag him back by his wings if I have to." She paused to push Pippin toward Oberon. "Maybe you can undo your foul deed. Help them!"

"Here, Pippin. Put your hands on her right shoulder, and I'll take the left. Harry, listen to me. This is what you have to do."

The fairy men arranged themselves on either side of the miniature wizard. Placing one hand on Gaia's shoulder, each of the put the other on Harry's as well. The three uniting their strength as Oberon spoke.

"Clear your mind, blank like a child's school slate. Erase all thought except one. Picture yourselves as anchors as mighty as Neptune's trident. I will say the spell which set us free to follow Gaia. We should have gone together from the start, but this will have to do."

He closed his eyes, picturing the trident as it stabbed into the wooden boards of the floor. A lock to keep all safe where they were as their spirits soared.

"Protect us please, Mother Goddess. Morrigan, Lugh, Cerannous too. We go with honor, right and might. Give us valor, for we know the risk to life and limb, we'll give it all. As we ask, so mote it be, three times three, set us free."

Oberon felt his body transform, as he slipped away.

"Father, be here, keep us safe."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gaia felt a tug and whirled to see who was behind her.

"You!"

"Me, I'll follow you anywhere to keep you safe. I'll be your rock, your way home no matter where you travel," Harry declared. "Remember, I've loved you from our first sight of each other. I knew. You just have to figure it out."

She didn't dare let him know how relieved she was to see him. Looking past him, she saw thin green threads spinning out behind them.

"Oberon, Pippin, why? This is my duty, to help lost souls. Except this time, Tatia is still alive. I've never had to rescue one who is trapped in another world. What is this place?"

"Pippin is here to redeem himself, I'm here because Tatia is my aunt, and our teacher. What possessed you to leave like this? Harry says you've never done it before."

Oberon's accusations were like arrows to her heart.

"I had to go, right away. I cast a spell, It came to me as I spoke. I've called for protection from our great Mother Gaia. She won't abandon me." She scooped her hair together and flipped all over her shoulders, so it rained down her back. The last thing she need was for it to fly free and blind her.

"The mirror world, Gaia." Pippin's voice trembled. "It's a place where spirits can stay if they're not ready to go over, and it's not a place where a living soul should ever be. I regret making this cursed deal with Draoi. Tatia didn't deserve this."

"A little late, don't you think?" Gaia snarled sarcastically. "Where from here? I feel darkness over there." She pointed toward a creeping cloud of ebony mist. "We'll have to go through to find her. She's calling for help, and she's dying, Oberon. Did you not notice how her wings were transparent?

"Tatia is dying?"

The voice wasn't one of the three she knew were with her. Gaia whirled to face her companions, noting tendrils of emerald green floating behind them, disappearing into the mist. What were they? She knew her way back.

"She is," Gaia stated with conviction. "We don't have forever to bring her back. Draoi has been feasting on her essence for too long."

"Aye, my dear Gaia. But my sister isn't the only one who has been trapped here in the mirror world. Others are willing. Waiting for reasons known only to them. Those are the ones you have helped to move on. Draoi has no power over them."

"Why have you come with us? You leave your kingdom with no one if we do not succeed." Gaia studied King Olen's determined face.

"Because my sister, my twin is here. Because I owe my people the honor of closing the door Draoi has opened. There are probably others he amuses himself with. The temptation for such as he, is beyond resisting. The trickster himself belongs on the other side of tear he made. It will be my duty to protect our tethers. And to find Tatia's."

"Why have I never noticed these?" Gaia asked.

"You hear their voices and sense their essence. Besides, there are places where the mirror world is thinly veiled. Aine, your tiara ghost lived there. As did your first tiny friend. I'll teach you, Gaia. I owe for this. Now, let's go. Do you not hear?" Olen moved toward the mist swirling to their right.

"I do. Tatia is crying. She's losing hope." Gaia turned her back to the King and reached out to Harry. His hand slipped into hers.

"Together, Gaia. Use the energy around you." Harry stepped forward to stand against her side. He fit under her arm like a brace she finally understood. He belonged.

Gaia shuddered. The icy cling of evil sucked at her soul. Draoi revealed himself in slow inches. His hand tugging a thick rope of dark, evergreen threads.

"You dare? Insolent wench. I'll have your soul too!"