Gryffynhall (the Danu Cycle: Fiann Trilogy Book 1)

Chapter Two

The day dragged on.

Niamh watched the hands on the clock tick, ignoring everything the teacher said with gusto. Three more minutes and she could go home. Three more minutes and it would be holidays. Niamh felt like the last holidays had been years ago. It was, of course, only a few months but, with six weeks stretching before her, she could barely contain her relief.

The bell finally rang and Niamh rushed to her locker. She pulled out some books and shoved others back in, balancing her bag on one raised knee.

Suddenly, hands were around her waist and she dropped her bag on her toe. She felt a kiss on her neck.

"Brendan!" She swivelled in his grasp and tried to frown at him. "Now, how will I walk home with a broken foot?"

He smiled. "I'll have to carry you, my dear." His blue eyes twinkled gleefully and his blonde hair flopped in his face. He pushed it back.

She gave up pretending to be angry. "It's fine, you loser." She punched him playfully and finished packing her bag, shouldering it.

She took his hand and they walked out of the building.

There was a slight breeze, bringing to Niamh's nose a faint smell of rain mixed with Brendan's aftershave – not that he had to actually shave very often.

As they walked, they chatted about their holiday plans. Well, Brendan chatted, Niamh just wandered happily, content to listen to his voice.

"There are a few good movies we should go and see," Brendan was saying. "And, I want to try... Are you listening, babe?"

Niamh wanted to cringe when he called her 'babe', but it was always said with such irony and humour that she didn't.

They'd known each other since the first day of school. Niamh's parents had died the day before her fifth birthday and she'd gone to live with her aunt and uncle. They'd decided that five-year-old Niamh could do with the distraction of school to take her mind off her troubles, so she started school the Monday after her birthday. Still crying and sniffling, Niamh had gone to school, but kept to herself. At lunchtime, a young Brendan came over to her, sat next to her, put his arm around her shoulder and said 'babe' in a very surfer-dude kind of way. It turned out, Brendan heard his brother - who was ten years older than them - say this to his girlfriends on multiple occasions – usually, the last time Brendan ever saw them as they walked out the door.

And so, Brendan had always called her 'babe'. Though, as they got older, it became more of an in-joke between them. But, since they'd started dating the year before, she felt that the 'babe' was starting to mean something more to him than her, and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.

But, she was perfectly happy in his company and decided that any of that more serious stuff was a problem for Future Niamh.

"Are you listening?" he asked again.

She laughed. "No. No, I wasn't. I'm sorry."

"That's..." he stopped and looked around. He reminded her of a startled animal.

"What is it?" Niamh tried following his gaze, but she had no idea what he was looking for. All she could see were the nice houses and manicured gardens they walked past almost every day for the last nearly twelve years.

"I thought I... There!" Still holding her hand, he took off at a run, leaving her no choice but to follow.

They ran around a corner, hearing a shout. Absolute chaos was ahead of them. Despite being early summer, the sky had darkened on this street and a chill ran up her spine.